The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will start the 2012 season 0-2 after falling to the Montreal Alouettes 41-30 on Friday night.
There were penalties, injuries and broken plays but there is still some good to take out of their loss, surprisingly coming from the offensive side of the ball.
From a week ago when the Bombers lost to the B.C. Lions and the offence combined for a total of 204 yards, Buck Pierce and company surpassed that by the second quarter.
There was a completely different offence on the field last night as two Bomber receivers, Terrence Edwards and Chris Matthews each surpassed the 100 yard plateau and running back Bloi-Dei Dorzon rushed for 52 yards on seven carries.
A farcry from last week when the leading receiver was Chris Matthews with 48 yards or a fake run by Brandon Stewart lead the Bomber rushers.
Looking at special teams, it appears the Bombers have finally found themselves a return man who can take over for defensive back Jovon Johnson in Demond Washington.
Although Washington had a return for a touchdown called back last week on a penalty, he set up the Bombers with good field position and did the same once again this week.
The difference for Washington this week was his 83-yard punt return for a touchdown was good and continued to put the Bombers in decent starting field position.
The offensive line improved greatly this week with the return of Glenn January at left tackle, followed by a shift of Justin Sorensen starting at center over Chris Kowalczuk allowing the line to open holes for Dorzon and give Pierce time to allow plays develop.
That was a big indicator in a long pass to Terrence Edwards which allowed them to set-up a touchdown pass to Chris Matthews.
Last season the Bomber defence was known as Swaggerville and made plays on almost every down.
They seemed to be non-existent Friday night as Brandon Whitaker had his way with the field, rushing for 98 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown and catching 11 passes for 137 and two touchdowns.
Everyone questioned whether Anthony Calvillo of the old was no more following last weeks debacle. He came out quick and answered his critics putting the Alouettes up 14-0 early in the first quarter, finishing the night with another 400 yard game.
Tough break for the Bombers on defence during the Alouettes first drive where Johnny Sears was called off-side, resulting in a first down and evidently a touchdown.
Follow that up where Brady Browne was called for the off-side during an Alouette punt, resulting in a first down conversion and eventually a touchdown.
It seemed that Brandon Whitaker was able to run anywhere and everywhere he wanted to Friday night and made the Bombers pay sorely around the middle of the field mostly.
While it looks like the Bombers defence has come back down to Earth, the Winnipeg offence appears to be picking up speed. Putting up 30 points is no slouch, especially against a Montreal team.
Kicking wise, Justin Palardy made all three of his attempts. Palardy was under the microscope during training camp but held his own against kicker Eric Wilbur to keep his job.
In the end, the defence continued to grow tired after having to run off and on the field, add in humidity and it ended as disaster.
Although the Bombers are in a hole down 0-2, there is still plenty of football to be played this season and the season isn’t certainly lost just yet.
Good come back victory for the Alouettes following last weeks beating and another solid week of upcoming practice for the Bombers as they will head West next week to face the Edmonton Eskimos.
