Season in balance

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This time we mean it ... this is a must-win game for Bombers



First, there are must-win games, then there are MUST-WIN games.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will play their most important match of the current CFL campaign when they take on the Argonauts in Toronto tonight.

The Bombers are tied with Hamilton for last place in the East at 2-8 and challenge the second-place Argos (4-6) at the Rogers Centre -- with all sorts of drama on both sides leading up to the contest.

The Argos fired their head coach, Rich Stubler, and replaced him with Don Matthews, the winningest mentor in CFL history.

The Bombers acquired middle linebacker Zeke Moreno from Hamilton, then dealt with the illness of defensive end Tom Canada.


Now, the Bombers need to catch Toronto if they have any sniff at the playoffs.

"All the other ones (before tonight) were considered must-game, must-game, must-game but, as the East continued to struggle, there wasn't as much emphasis," Bomber linebacker Cam Hall said on the eve of tonight's battle. "Now, the reality is, with eight games remaining, we have to get this one because, if we get it, that puts us right in the game with seven games left. Also, it will give us a chance to be in a tie-breaker with them.

"Ultimately, if we lose it, we'll be down three games and won't have a chance for a tie-breaker, which will actually put them four games up with only seven games left. So realistically, if you do the math, it wouldn't look very pretty. So, this is essentially THE must-win game of the season right here."

The Argos have already beaten Winnipeg twice this season with a fourth match to be played in Winnipeg.

"We still believe, we're still optimistic," insisted Bomber slotback Milt Stegall. "Mathematically, we're still right there. Toronto is two games ahead of us and Hamilton is right there with us. Can we catch (first-place) Montreal? I don't know about that. But we still have a chance to get second. That's what's going to be needed to make the playoffs. I don't think third place is going to do it right now.

"We're going to have to get that second place and this next game is important. Is it a must win? It's not a must-win, but we must win. We're right there."

However, it seems like just about every week, the Bomber opponent has made a major change and this week, Matthews has returned to the Argo helm for the third time in his illustrious-but-controversial career.

"All I can do in the short term is make the players more accountable and let them know they're accountable to me," Matthews told Toronto reporters earlier this week. "I don't have a clear picture of this football club and I have to catch up.

"But if you talk to the players I've coached, they expect to win because I exude that attitude. A lot of times, my teams have been called cocky because they expect to win but, to be successful, you first have to believe you can be successful."

And that attitude is catching on already.

"I don't think a swagger is something that was expected of us," said veteran Toronto linebacker Michael O'Shea. "In very short order, he is working that into our fabric."

Meanwhile, the Bombers are hoping to work winning ways back into their own fabric.

"Every game's a must game the way this works," said Bomber defensive end Gavin Walls. "We dug ourselves a hole, now we've got to climb out of it and make a statement. It couldn't come at a better time if we get the win this week."

 

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Stegall set to write new chapter in history book


Bombers on the road Winnipeg at Toronto, Rogers Centre




The Blue Bombers may be one of the worst clubs in the CFL right now but Milt Stegall is about to clinch his spot as the best pass catcher in league history tonight.

The scintillating Winnipeg slotback is sure to get the 17 yards he needs when the Bombers play the Argos in Toronto to move past Allen Pitts to become the CFL's all-time passing yardage leader -- a year after he became the circuit's all-time touchdown-getter.

"My main concern is winning the game," Stegall told reporters in Toronto yesterday. "When it happens, I will celebrate it for a second. We've got 'The Don' back, he is going to pull out some tricks; we know that. Hopefully, I will get the record and it comes along with a victory.

"I took some advice from (ex-CFLer) Mike Pringle and he said, 'Enjoy it. Once it is over, (the media) won't ask you about it.' I might go out and have me a shot of double orange juice. We will see what happens."

'The Don' would be Toronto's new head coach Don Matthews, who has a lot of respect for the 'Turtle Man.'


"He's all-time," Matthews said.

However, there are apparently no plans to interrupt the game to salute Stegall if he does break the record.

DORSEY DEADLY: Toronto kicker returner/running back Dominique Dorsey is on a record pace of his own. Dorsey currently leads the CFL with 1,854 combined yards and is projected to finish with a record 3,907 combined yards. And the ex-Bomber has been a thorn in Winnipeg's side.

"The last time we played Toronto, he took back a (punt) return for a (55-yard) touchdown," said fullback Graeme Bell, Winnipeg's leading special teams tackler. "We missed three tackles on the play and that's what happened in the end.

"Dominique Dorsey's a great returner. He can make you miss, that's why we've got to gang tackle and swarm the ball."

HIRED TO BE FIRED: Bomber head coach Doug Berry was asked about his own job security yet again in Toronto after two other CFL head knocks were canned this week.

"I have been coaching for over 30 years and I am well aware of (the possibly getting fired)," he said. "I guess it's something we understand when we take the reins. We can get knocked off the horse."

Berry was also asked if the contract extension he signed before the season started is giving him a cushion.

"I don't know," he replied. "It does not matter to me anyhow. I am not going to change my approach. Always the same, no matter what."

BEWARE THE DON: Matthews, Berry's mentor in Montreal, has taken the reins from Rich Stubler in Toronto.

"I've played under coach Matthews and I think he's a phenomenal man, a great coach," said Bomber DB/LB Kelly Malveaux. "I'm sure he'll put a few wrinkles in there and if I know Don Matthews the way I knew him in Montreal, the first place he'll start is with special teams.

"They'll challenge us and make sure we're playing with integrity, and make sure we're covering the ball well."

HASHMARKS: Both sides will wear retro uniforms tonight ... Both LB Joe Lobendahn (knee) and DE Tom Canada (spleen) have been moved to the nine-game injury list. LB Ike Charlton (groin) was moved to the one-game injury reserve ... More NFL cuts are expected to be in Winnipeg this weekend.






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Player to Watch ...

Kerry Joseph, No. 4

Just like Saskatchewan's Michael Bishop, the former Roughriders quarterback has had Winnipeg's number, going back to last year's Labour Day Classic when he scored the winning touchdown on a draw play that the Bomber defence still does not know how to stop. Joseph, of course, also led Saskatchewan to victory over the Blue Bombers in last year's Grey Cup and will be determined to prove to new head coach Don Matthews that he deserves to be the No. 1 signal caller.

 

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Matthews issues rallying cry

Hopes Argos can 'kick ass'



Had Don Matthews been standing on top of the CN Tower with a bullhorn, the message from the new Argos head coach would not have been more clear yesterday.

"When you cross that stripe, give me your best football and kick those sorry bitches' ass!" the 69-year-old Matthews yelled at his players after their walk-through at the University of Toronto's Erindale campus.

Subtlety is not, and never has been, in Matthews' dictionary. Not that it should be, given that he is the winningest coach in CFL history and has to lug five Grey Cup rings to wherever his coaching career takes him next.

What Matthews wants to do is instill a swagger in his players again. If it was there under the departed Rich Stubler, it was not worn on the sleeve.

"I don't think it was ever a part of what we were doing," veteran linebacker Mike O'Shea said. "I don't think a swagger is something that was expected of us. In very short order I think (Matthews) is working that into our fabric."

To get it back within grasp, the Argos have to start winning with regularity. The hoped-for trend could begin tonight when the Boatmen take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at the Rogers Centre as the CFL kicks of its first retro week.

The clubs will wear uniforms designed on those worn by the teams in the 1950s, and Argos alumni will be featured throughout the game. The festivities will dress up the game, but the Argos only care about getting a victory. Two of their four wins have come against the Bombers, and if Toronto wins tonight, the Argos would claim the tiebreaker with Winnipeg in the event they tie in the East Division.

"(Matthews) makes (getting motivated) pretty easy," said O'Shea, who played for Matthews when the Argos won back-to-back Grey Cups in 1996 and 1997. "Playing with passion rings true with every football player. Don has always been a guy who lets you be a man. A lot of guys respond to that."

Matthews has been known to put his stamp on a team by demoting or cutting a player not long after taking over. With free safety Orlondo Steinauer already gone, and another defensive veteran who was among the starters, Chuck Winters, put on the nine-week injured list because of a chronic shoulder problem, a sudden change might not happen as quickly.

Kenny Wheaton, who took over from Steinauer, probably will play, Matthews said, even though Wheaton has a bum shoulder. Also activated for the game are three players signed this week -- offensive tackles Jonta Woodard and Kenyatta Walker and defensive tackle Walter Curry. Linebacker Willie Pile returns after missing a game with a sprained ankle, but another linebacker, Michael Fletcher, still is out with a foot injury.

"Are we going to make wholesale changes? I hope not," Matthews said. "(But) these nine guys (the Argos signed this week) are not here for a vacation."

O'Shea knows what could be at stake, referring to the game tonight as a "one-game audition" for Matthews.

With just two practices in Toronto, Matthews was not sure how much his presence would rub off on his players.

"I will have zero influence on this," the man they call The Don said. "The ball is in the hands of the players and I am going out there to have the time of my life. I would be fooling myself to see if I could change anything around in this short period of time. The biggest change we will see is maybe the passion with which we can play."