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Posted

first star terrence frederick. A sack / tfl that forced a turn over when he was the only guy who could make the play. Ton of tackles, and some great coverage.

second star kevin fogg, a huge strip, another td return called back. 

third star Dressler 7-135 with a few of our first downs. All round great play today.

HH Was gonna go to jfg for that one deep catch, but im giving it to nichols for that clutch tackle on that missed fg return. 

Posted

D!!!  Riders almost never went deep. 

Good choices.

Good HHs.  Nichol's tackle irrelevant with penalty, but has to be very relevant for team love/respect.  JFG expert in timely unexpected contributions.  Hardrick -- wish I still lived in Manitoba.

 

 

Posted (edited)

Well fans, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers entered today's game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders trying to do something they hadn't done in a long time. You see, in 26 prior tries when faced with a back-to-back series, the Bombers had failed to come away with a sweep. In fact, you would have to go back to 2004 against these very Roughriders to witness a Winnipeg win against the same team in consecutive games. And the Bombers were also trying to win their 6th straight contest, something we haven't seen in these parts since 2001, a span of 15 years. So a lot of negative history to battle. 

And of course the Green and White would have something to say about it, on the heels of last week's loss where they felt they deserved a better fate, and struggling through a dismal 1-9 season to date. And what we witnessed today was a physical, nasty, chippy, some might say dirty slugfest, with many players at both benches ending upon the injured list before it was all said and done. But for our purposes, it means that we got to see more back-ups come in and make plays, and means that there were more candidates for our Happy Honker Award.

Now I've often said that the Happy Honker Award goes not to the player who had the best game, and not necessarily the player who made the game-deciding play per se, but someone who did that something extra special in the game. And we saw a ton of special plays out there today. We had Bruce Johnson, who had a very tough week last week, make a couple of big tackles on Kendall Lawrence sweep runs that could have turned into big plays had he not been there. And we had Johnny Adams make a big stop on Ron Bragg at the one yard line on the first series of the game that kept the 'Riders from getting a touchdown, and they ultimately settled for only 3 points there. And Terrence Frederick had 2 huge plays, the first a shoestring tackle on 'Rider receiver Terry Holley, not to be confused with singer Buddy Holly, to keep the 'Riders from a first down, and of course and even bigger tackle on a third down gamble late in the 4th quarter off of a failed fake field goal that was the last big chance for Saskatchewan. And there was Tony Burnett, not to be mistaken for singer Tony Bennett, flying all over the field today. And Matt Nicholls with what would have been a game-saving tackle on a Jennifer Lawrence return, had a penalty not made the play pointless anyway.

No, all of that was good, but this game was all about momentum. The 'Riders scored first and the Bomber offence struggled for much of the first half, before a long drive gave them the lead which they would hold until late in the third quarter. And when Kevin Fogg returned a punt for 76 yards to put the Bombers up 17-3 I figured we had our Happy Honker winner, especially since I promised I would give it to him once he got a return that counted, having had 2 prior runs negated with penalties. Well if we didn't see another orange flag on the field to wipe out his third punt return TD of the season, which must be some kind of record, maybe Matt, er, Gord Cook can look that one up for us. So he would have to wait for his glory. And with that called back touchdown we saw a big change in momentum, as the 'Riders would respond with a touchdown of their own to tie the game and make the Bomber collars a bit tighter. But needing to wrest back momentum from the 'Riders, and facing a 4th quarter drive where Saskatchewan appeared poised to take the lead with the ball deep in Bomber territory, the defence came up big once again, and wouldn't you know, it was Kevin Fogg, undeterred by his earlier lost score, who made the big play. With the ball at the Bomber 20, and a pass to receiver Buddy Holly being completed, Fogg came in a ripped the ball from his hands, forcing a turnover deep in Winnipeg territory to stop the scoring threat. And after a big catch by Ravioli-Gambino on the next play, the Bombers were on their way to the game-deciding touchdown. So for not quitting when so many would have thrown their hands up in frustration, for changing the momentum at the key time in the game, and for causing the big turnover that this team has thrived on for so many games now with the 'Riders on the verge of taking the lead, a turnover that turned into Bomber points in the end, Kevin Fogg gets today's Happy Honker Award.

Edited by TrueBlue4ever
Posted

All 3 star positions. The Happy Honker Award. The "I'm-very-sorry-on-behalf-of-the-special-teams" apology, should all go to Kevin Fogg for missing out on his THIRD return for a TD this year.

No wonder O'Shea was more than pissed.

 

Posted

Beeeeep beep beep beep beep beeeep. Great for Fogg! Beep didle beep beep beep. Beeeeeeep. Beep da da beep beep beeeeeeeeeeep! Go blue! Beeeeeeeep hey cross at the corner be be be beeeeeeeep!

nice write up TB 4E! That's another gem.

Posted
34 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

HH to JFG.

He was my runner-up. That catch was ridiculous and very Happy Honker-esque, especially from a back-up Canadian unsung player, which was Cactus' favourite type, but without that turnover just before it, that play doesn't happen. And Fogg deserves some love after having a third TD stolen from him by a dumb penalty which had no impact on his return AGAIN.

Posted

JFG made spectacular catch despite the defender trying to tackle him before the ball got there. If the Rider fans complain about the officiating today they can go to hell because they should have been called on a ton of other plays today. Their right tackle was jabbing his hand in the face of our defence most of the second half and there were at least three clear PIs which went uncalled (two the Bombers caught it anyway).

Posted
7 hours ago, Captain Blue said:

Even though it ended up irrelevant, that tackle by Nichols to prevent the return TD was impressive. That was all about effort. That's a leader to rally around.

Yes, very Willy-esk.

Posted

Three Stars:

  1. Dressler - 135 yard night
  2. Fogg - Great returns and the strip the turned the game around.
  3. Frederick - Tackle on 3rd down created a turnover plus a sack and 9 tackles 

Happy Honker:

JFG - That deep catch was a thing of beauty and got us out of a ton of trouble

Posted

JFG to the rescue.....Don't know what it is about this guy but every time O'Shea needs a clutch play...there he is...Maybe the opposition just forgets about him....I know we do until it's absolutely necessary...He gets the honourable mention .....First star has to go to Dress....Second Frederick....third the rest of the D too many great individual efforts to start numbering them, so they all get the honker.

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