Waiting 'til next year

*sigh*

Us Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans will have to wait until next year for a Grey Cup championship, as our team lost to those nasty Saskatchewan Roughriders, 23-19, on Sunday.

It was a good game, and could have gone either way. Ryan Dinwiddie was in at quarterback for us, and he did OK I thought, for someone who was starting his first CFL game ever (might as well start at the top, eh? it'll be a bit downhill from here though). Our number 1 QB and nominee for league MVP, Kevin Glenn, broke his left arm in the previous playoff game, so he was out for this one.

Dinwiddie finished up that game, a win over the Toronto Argonauts last week, and got the start this week. He did make some mistakes: 3 interceptions and a fumble, but the mistakes weren't of the "What the hell were you thinking?!?" variety. More like little errors.

Sadly, one of those errors, an interception, got run back for a TD, and the fumble led to a field goal, so the Roughies got 10 points off our turnovers. They turned the ball over a couple of times too, but no points directly resulted from them.

I found the play calling to be questionable, as we didn't give the ball to our star running back, Charles Roberts, enough times. He got in the first quarter, and a bit in the fourth quarter, but not much in the second or third quarters. Also, it seemed Dinwiddie was being asked to throw the ball longer than we typically have this year. Some short 8-12 yard passes might have been better.

The pass calling might have been justified by the scouting report that the Saskatchewan defense was weak - relatively - in the secondary.

Our defense played well. Quite a bit of pressure on Kerry Joseph, the league's MVP, who produced their only big plays in the first half by scrambling out of the pocket to run the ball for large gains. He made a couple of medium size completions in the second half, but that was about it for their offense.

We also did fine on special teams, with Troy Westwood having a good game, punting very well and hitting both of the field goals he attempted.

So, it was a good effort, where we just didn't get the one or two breaks necessary to come out on top. The saddest result from this is that our star receiver Milt Stegall, the CFL's career touchdown leader, will likely end his career without a championship ring, as the Grey Cup was probably his last game. He's been threatening retirement for about three years now, but I think this will be it for him.

Stegall's had a great career, and will surely be missed if he does decide to pack it in.

If only he could have gone out with the cup.

*sigh*