 |
 Bombers head coach Mike Kelly (r) watches quarterback Stefan LeFors unload the ball during practice. (Brian Donogh/Sun Media) |
Is it just me, or does it seem unusually quiet in the land of the Blue Bombers this week?
No player mutinies, no shouting matches behind closed doors, not even a clash between head coach Mike Kelly and a TV crew.
One win and the land of the misfit toys becomes the land of fuzzy bears and butterflies.
What's a guy like Kelly, who thrives on turmoil, to do?
The man's been Captain Chaos since taking over, setting off bombs wherever he goes -- and welcoming the fallout. Seems he's not comfortable until he's dodging shrapnel.
He's actually got something in common with journalists that way: a little conflict never hurts a story.
|
So, going into Saturday's tilt in Hamilton, where's the edge going to come from, we wonder?
"I saw one paper this morning, we're three point underdogs," Kelly was saying yesterday.
"Hamilton certainly deserves everything they're getting. They're a much improved football team. We'll just try to show up on time and do the best we can at Ivor Wynne."
The man was trying to hold back a smile, but doing a lousy job.
You see, if there's one thing Kelly likes more than conflict, it's being counted out. Actually, the two go hand-in-hand.
Hardly anybody gave the Bombers a chance against Calgary last week because of the perception of chaos within. You know, the whole Derick Armstrong affair.
Without something like that stirring the pot this week, the coach will have to settle for the simple underdog role.
He'll do it with plenty of relish, too.
"I love it so much, you have no idea," he said.
When the Tiger-Cats beat the Lions in B.C. last weekend, Kelly was the happiest man not wearing black and gold in the CFL.
Suddenly, they're not the lowly Ticats anymore.
I'm not sure they should be favoured this weekend, but the Bombers probably shouldn't be, either.
In case you hadn't noticed, this team has the CFL's worst offence through two weeks, the only one averaging less than 300 yards per game.
No shotgun
Kelly's no-shotgun attack -- the only one of its kind in the league, he'll tell you -- is also the only one that isn't completing passes at even a 50% clip. It's last in first downs passing, number of completions, average gain per pass and yards passing per game, too.
What do you think of that, coach?
"That we're averaging close to 30 points a game. And that we got better from Week 1 to Week 2," Kelly said. "Those (stats) things are great for baseball players."
So, if you're scoring at home: the shotgun formation is for flag football, and stats are for baseball players.
Former coach Doug Berry was a bit of stats nut. Kelly, not so much.
"The only stat I know right now is 1-1," he said. "I don't really care. It's how you put it together to win. That's the bottom line."
We certainly won't argue that.
Kelly pointed out how the '88 Bombers won a Grey Cup largely on defence, and he could have said the same for the '90 outfit. All the fancy-schmancy, blue-and-gold offences since then have come up empty when it counted most.
The '88 team, coached by Mike Riley, was only 9-9, too.
So a .500 record, a strong defence and a quarterback who's just getting by can do the trick, just fine.
Sean Salisbury (49.5%), meet Stefan LeFors (46.6%).
"I expected a lot higher number than that," LeFors said of his completion rate. "Obviously in this league it's a passing game. And we've been fortunate to have a really good running game the last two games. That's helped. But our passing game needs to come around."
Maybe. Maybe not.
If the Bomber offence comes around, this team might actually be favoured one of these weeks.
To have no chaos and be the choice of the pundits?
Now that would be Mike Kelly's worst nightmare.
Contact Paul at paul.friesen@sunmedia.ca or 632-2788.