Give me CFL anyday. An amazing game, one reason why I stay to the end of any sports game I'm at. 500+ total yards for both teams, almost 100 points, last-second heroics that you wouldn't have seen in the NFL...
Blue just don't quit
By PAUL FRIESEN -- Winnipeg Sun
How Bomber boss Dave Ritchie doesn't have a heart attack standing in the middle of those pre-game fireworks every home game, I don't know.
Then again, watching his football team through the first half of the season hasn't exactly been good for the ticker, either.
If Ritchie had more hair, he'd be pulling it out trying to figure out what happened to the squad that rang up a 14-4 record and marched to the Grey Cup game a year ago.
Here we are, halfway through 2002, and everybody's pick to win it all is a ho-hum 5-4, barely good for second place in the CFL West.
Actually, ho-hum is about the last word you'd use to describe this team's recent performance.
Over the last two weeks, the Bombers have shown both a maddening tendency to self-destruct and a stirring ability to come from behind.
Take last night's 51-48 overtime shootout win over the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders.
With all their problems -- a strange fascination with turnovers and penalties, plus a ravaged offensive line and over-matched secondary head the list -- the Bombers have something you've got to like.
They simply don't quit.
With just over two minutes to go last night, this looked a team about to fall into last place in the West.
But they made just enough plays to pull it out.
They say every game has a handful of moments that determine the outcome. Here are a few of last night's moments the Bombers absolutely had to seize, and did...
Trailing 14-0 in the second quarter, Troy Westwood nails a 46-yard field goal to put his team on the board. A relatively small success, sure, but the type of thing you can build on.
Just when it looked like they'd shot themselves in the foot again -- a penalty wiped out a 58-yard Milt Stegall touchdown -- Khari Jones, facing a second-and-25, finds Jamie Stoddard for a 31-yard gain and an invaluable first down. Three plays later, Jones hits Arland Bruce III for the major, and it was 14-10 Stamps with just seven ticks left on the first-half clock.
Trailing 21-11 in the third quarter, Westwood comes through again, this time from 54 yards, and the Bombers continue to hang around.
Down by 17 now, with just 10 minutes left, Jones and Stegall hook up for a 59-yard pass-and-run to the Calgary 16. Three plays later, Bruce III turns Lawrence Deck inside-out for the touchdown, and the exodus to the Stadium parking lot subsides just a little.
On the next Calgary possession, Ryland Wickman breaks through for the Bombers' first sack of the night, killing a Stamps drive that simply had to be killed with just over six minutes to go.
Just when it looked like all hope was lost, Charles Roberts turns a short pass into one of those now-you-see-him, now-you-don't touchdown runs, and 30 yards later Winnipeg has cut another 14-point deficit in half with less than two minutes left.
The Stamps get the ball with 1:44 to go, but the Bomber defence forces a two-and-out, giving the home team, trailing 41-34, one last shot.
Battered on a second-down incompletion -- drawing a Calgary roughing call -- Jones gets up to lead his team into the end zone. It's Bruce III again, out-leaping a pair of defenders for the 16-yard strike, and the Bombers have salvaged what appeared to be a lost cause.
There were a few more moments in overtime -- another Bruce major, another defensive stand and Westwood's winning kick.
Add it all up, and you have a team that may have turned a corner last night.
Whether that corner leads to Edmonton in November remains to be seen, of course.
You get the feeling, though, that turning the other way, and dropping to 4-5, would have started the Bombers on an ugly course to nowhere.
www.nflcanada.com/Slam020824/cfl_wpg2-sun.htmlWinnipeg 51, Calgary 48, OT
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Ticker) -- Troy Westwood's 29-yard field goal in overtime lifted the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to a 51-48 victory triumph over the Calgary Stampeders in a rematch of last season's Gray Cup.
The Blue Bombers rallied from a 17-point deficit as Khari Jones connected with Arland Bruce III on a 26-yard touchdown with 24 seconds left in regulation.
Bruce scored two of his four touchdowns in the fourth and capped his night with a 16-yard TD catch that gave Winnipeg a 48-41 lead.
However, Calgary running back Scott Deibert dove in for a one-yard score, tying the contest at 48-48.
The Stampeders had a chance for victory, but a bad snap to kicker Mark McLoughlin wiped out a potential game-winning field goal and led to Westwood's fifth field goal of the night.
Jones was 29-for-43 for 462 yards, while Bruce caught six passes for 79 yards.
WINNIPEG (CP) -- CFL Friday night:
SUMMARY
First Quarter
Cal -- TD Moore 17 pass from Crandell (McLoughlin convert) 7:49
Cal -- TD Moore 16 pass from Crandell (McLoughlin convert) 13:28
Second Quarter
Wpg -- FG Westwood 46 4:24
Wpg -- TD Bruce III 20 pass from Jones (Westwood convert) 14:53
Wpg -- Single Westwood 61 14:56
Third Quarter
Cal -- TD Moore 44 pass from Crandell (McLoughlin convert) 3:43
Wpg -- FG Westwood 54 8:32
Cal -- TD Peterson 30 pass from Crandell (McLoughlin convert) 11:10
Wpg -- FG Westwood 19 14:43
Fourth Quarter
Cal -- FG McLoughlin 22 1:25
Cal -- FG McLoughlin 23 4:35
Wpg -- TD Bruce III 3 pass from Jones (Westwood convert) 6:49
Wpg -- FG Westwood 29 11:00
Cal -- TD Peterson 43 pass from Crandell (McLoughlin convert) 12:47
Wpg -- TD Roberts 30 pass from Jones (Westwood convert) 13:16
Wpg -- TD Bruce III 26 pass from Jones (Westwood convert) 14:36
Overtime
Wpg -- TD Bruce III 16 pass from Jones (Westwood convert)
Cal -- TD Diebert 1 run (McLoughlin convert)
Wpg -- FG Westwood 29
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