What happened? Montreal was dominant all game long in the season opener. It is a good thing that the Bombers were not considering this a Grey Cup rematch as they looked absolutely like they were sleep walking.

I suppose none of that is too much of a surprise since Winnipeg rested their starters in the pre-season. However, that did not stop a large contingent of us from picking the Bombers to win.

When it came to the defense and the special teams this year, earlier I asked the question, “Will those units be on the same page with their new coordinators?”

Leading up to the game, some of my final thoughts were, I do not think it will be a dominate win by the Bombers. Not enough of their starters played in pre-season and I expect it will take a while for them to get on the same page.” I just did not expect it to take the whole game!

Game Ball

The Bombers sure did not make this one easy! Losing 27-12 never does. Looking at the score, it could have been closer. Castillo left 7 points off the boards with 2 missed field goals and 1 missed point after attempt.

But should Castillo have all the blame for the missed tries. Many now are saying that chipped footballs are to blame.

And it is not like the offence did much better.

And with that, that Game Ball must be handed out.

I will keep it simple and quick as a game like that does not warrant much hype.

For me, the Game Ball goes to Chris Streveler! Why? Because he put the team on his back and pulled out the win? No. Rather, because in a game that saw excited fans deflated, Streveler brought the excitement simply with him entering the game!

Jock

It would be easy to give a jock to many player, as well as the Bomber’s Head Coach. However, Mike O’Shea took full blame and said that he did not do a good enough job getting his team ready and that he overestimated his team’s readiness.
O’Shea demands accountability from his players, and showed a great deal of accountability himself. That alone saved him from receiving the Jock.

However, I am going to go off script and give the officials the Jock. Why? The CFL continues to be a wildly inconsistently officiated game. The call that seals the deal was the facemask call against the Bombers tackling Fajardo on the sideline. The game was likely out of hand already at that point…the Bombers had no flow. But I do have to wonder if the officials took the same approach as the Bombers did during the pre-season, and rested their starters.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments section wherever you are reading this.

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