Bombers, as expected won a tight affair vs. a feisty, hard-hitting Stampeders, possibly playing their best game of the season in front of another paltry crowd at dilapidated McMahon Stadium.
Downtown Dru Brown didn’t quite live up to his superb relief outing last week vs. The Elks but the Bombers did as Bombers usually do - they elevated a lesser opponent to higher status. In pro wrestling its called ‘Putting Opponent Over’. Bombers are past masters in this dark art.
The goat in the Stamps 1 pt loss was perennial kicking machine Rene Parades. He went 4 for 6 with one attempt hitting a high post and the last win for the win from 49 yds out coming up 3 yds short (with the wind) and run out by a mistake-free Greg McRae to the Bomber 8. Bombers took control of the game from there and were able to dutifully run out the clock.
Notes:
Dru Brown was more a game manager this time around. Didn’t make a ton of mistakes but was molested continually by a surging Stamps D. Unable to go long - Brown was tossing short to intermediate and was slightly off most of his tosses - enabling Calgary defenders to pounce on his throws, disrupting Bomber WRs immensely. Olivera had a solid outing as lead Bomber RB - 14 runs for 80 yds but was stuffed a few too many times for Mike O’Shea’s liking.
Brown’s refusal to roll out of the pocket was his undoing as he was sacked or near-sacked repeatedly and got off the hook a couple times via undisciplined roughing penalties courtesy Stamp pursuers.
As per usual Richie Hall’s disciplined Bomber D carried the day - but Hall’s D was haunted by a ghastly number of big plays. Long bombers by Maier that roused a sagged Calgary audience.
Sergio Garcia showed who the top FG kicker in the league is now. Might be Parades last year as he looked awful on the 49 yd winning attempt that fell a few steps short.
Couple Stamps WRs dropped easy Maier passes that a 14 yr old bantam would have caught. Unforgiveable.
Dickenson’s best coaching game of the year. Bombers were defeated in Special Teams and Offense but won the Defense & Discipline battle.
Concern for O’Shea:
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Stamps d-line and Linebackers really rag-dolled his o-line, continually putting Brown under pressure. Brown’s magical ball-handling wasn’t as prominent this game.
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#2 Bomber QB Skip Prokop looked awful at ball-handling last night. Nervous in the service, I’d say. But Prokop made the necessary 3rd & 1 near game’s end.
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as predicted, Zach Collaros was on the sidelines but not allowed to don a uniform. Good decision - if he wasn’t cleared to play - why make him a 3rd string QB? Of course, if Prokop and Brown both went down I suspect they might have sent to Zach to the dressing room to suit up.
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Bombers special teams were in a word (or 2) DOWNRIGHT AWFUL - continually allowing huge returns by Stamps returns, blocking a Bomber punt too easily and holding McRae to miniscule returns. Was Jeff Reinbold back coaching Bomber special teams last nite?
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Worst Bomber penalty was Adam Bighill’s PI penalty. Bad coverage technique by Biggy and it could have ended up costing Bombers the game. Other than that - Bighill was mostly solid last nite, perhaps his best game of the years.
Thats all folks!
