After starting the season 9-1 with 6 of those games being on the road Mike O’Shea was asked on the CJOB post game show what he hoped his players would do or focus on during the bye week.
While his response was not quite the lyrics to Bye Bye Bye song by NSYNC
“I know that I can’t take no more It ain’t no lie I want to see you out that door Baby bye bye bye,”
“I need them to move on very quickly and make sure they have a bye week that they can relax and get refreshed so they come back in a good frame of mind ready to go.”
I know it is the game all Winnipeg fans would love to forget, but in Week 10 the Bombers gave up an uncharacteristic 5 sacks! That number really could have been 6 sacks had Zach Collaros not thrown one away while being dragged down.
Additionally, a usually ball-hawking/quarterback stalking defence only generated one quarterback sack and no interceptions – though they were close a couple of times.
Kicker Marc Liegghio looked out of sorts as well. Missing a 32 yard field goal to win the game, even though he hit one from 45 yards earlier. Then in overtime Liegghio missed a 37 yard field goal, even though before that game he was converting 90% of his field goal tries on the season.
If we wanted to pile on we could all the procedure penalties that should never occur for the home team, and the dread offside toe when Bighill had stopped Dom Davis from scoring on 3rd down and goal from the 1 yard line.
I have absolutely no clue what type of music the Bombers listen to but I would not criticize them at all if after the game they were all singing
“I just want to tell you that I’ve had enough Might sound crazy but it ain’t no lie Baby bye bye bye.”
So what are the Bombers doing this bye week?
*Well Jackson Jeffcoat and others such as Maruo, Jeffcoat, Rose went fishing at Crow Duck Lake.
*For his part, Coach O’Shea had a pretty uneventful bye week, as long as you call having a field named in your honour uneventful. That is right! Coach O’Shea headed home to North Bay were a field was named Mike O’Shea Field at the Steve Omishchl Sports Complex.
“Heading home to my hometown of North Bay is always special…They don’t need to do that or honour me in order for me to feel good about going home.”
*Jermarcus Hardrick took the bye week to go back to his birthplace of Nebraska and spent some time at the Cornhuskers field.
Not to be outdone by the rest, Chris Kolankowski used the bye week to get married, and probably go on a honeymoon!
After The Bye Week
When the Bombers finish their bye week they will be set up good for the last 8 games of the season.
It looks like it is going to be a battle all the way to the end for first place in the West between Winnipeg and BC. Winnipeg is up 2 games on BC but BC has 2 more games to play than Winnipeg does.
Is that good news or bad news? Well, it all depends on how you look at it.
The bad news for Bomber fans is that BC has more remaining games to play games so they can put up more wins than Winnipeg can. It is kind of like going second in overtime – BC will see what Winnipeg does and will know what they have to do to leap frog into first place.
The good news for Winnipeg fans is that while BC is trying to take over first place in hard fought games, Winnipeg will get two more bye weeks to rest. One of those will come at a pivotal time near the end of the reason where the Bombers play the Lions, have a bye week, and play the Lions again to close off the season.
The Lions have this as their remaining schedule: vs Saskatchewan, at Montreal, at Calgary, vs Calgary, vs Ottawa, at Toronto, vs Winnipeg, at Edmonton, at Winnipeg. For a team that plays in a dome the last two weeks could be a very big challenge for BC.
The Bombers’ schedule the rest of the way is: vs Calgary, at Saskatchewan, vs Saskatchewan, at Hamilton, bye week, vs Saskatchewan, vs Edmonton, at BC, bye week, vs BC. So 5 of Winnipeg’s remaining games will be at home.
If you are wondering what it will be like for the Bombers to be back at home after the bye week and after the disappointing loss at home to Montreal, I expect the Bombers to be singing some lyrics from Diddy Coming Home ft Skylar Grey
I’m back where I belong, yeah I never felt so strong (yeah) (I’m back baby) I feel like there’s nothing that I can’t try And if you with me put your hands high
I’m coming home I’m coming home Tell the world I’m coming home Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday
I know my kingdom awaits and they’ve forgiven my mistakes I’m coming home, I’m coming home Tell the world that I’m coming… home
Think that song is not the right choice as Bomber fans are soured over a loss to Montreal before the bye week?
Think again! The Banjo Bowl is officially sold out!!
Once the Bombers get back at it I fully expect they will be well rested, had a chance to get their heads away from football, will be ready to roll, and will be fully in sync!
What did I get right? What did you disagree with? Let me know in the comments.
