A new attitude in Blue

Three games does not a season make, but there's something different about the 2014 edition of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Banished it appears are the troubles of the last few seasons, where wins were few and comeback performances but the thing of rumour.

The 2014 Bombers led by head coach Mike O'Shea have one important intangible in them, there doesn't appear to be any quit in this years edition of the Blue.

Friday night the Bombers took for the first road trip of the season, heading off into Molson Stadium and a rendez-vous with the Montreal Alouettes, a good measuring stick for O'Shea to see how his squad was going to shape up outside the friendly confines of Investors Group field.

And while he no doubt has a bit of material to work with in the video review of the week to come, O'Shea must have been impressed with the nature of his teams will to win, or is that Willy to win?

Drew Willy once again provided Bomber fans with a glimpse that perhaps their long desired quest for a starting quarterback has finally come to an end, as the Bomber QB orchestrated a last minute drive down the field, offering once again the theme that No lead is ever really safe in the CFL.

For the Alouettes the game was another reminder of the work in progress that their team has become in this post Calvillo year, as Montreal let opportunities slip by to put some distance between themselves and the Bombers, settling for field goals when touchdowns were in reach.

A situation that allowed the Bombers to hang on through the fourth quarter to eventually launch their late game heroics to steal the two points out of McGill, with a thrilling 34-33 last minute shocker.

Not quite the parting gift that the Alouettes perhaps wanted to provide for their former coach Marc Trestman, who had been feted and saluted during much of the game.

There were some positive steps for Montreal, defensively the Alouettes put pressure on Willy, taking him to ground four times on the night, while Troy Smith offered up a glimpse of what coach Tom Higgins hopes to see as the season moves forward.

Some of his passes were crisp and effective, some not so much, two key turnovers on the night by Smith told the story of the evening, one a fumble, the other an interception both set the Bombers up with fourteen points, costly miscues that provided Winnipeg with its momentum towards their fourth quarter comeback.

For the CFL historians, Friday night was the night that Chad Johnson recorded his first CFL touchdown, a statistic that Montreal fans are no doubt hopeful of having repeated through until November.

However, the story of the night was the undefeated status of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who at 3-0 find themselves the talk of the league and for a change it has more to do with their winning ways, than the spiral of frustration that the last few years provided for.

For Bomber fans, who perhaps entered 2014 with a bit of trepidation, the season is off to a smashing start, winning can at times become infectious, in Winnipeg they're hoping that the virus takes hold.

Some items of review on Friday's game can be found below:


Montreal Gazette-- Als couldn't put the Bombers away when it counted
Winnipeg Free Press-- Amazing 3-0 start for Blue
Winnipeg Sun-- Three cheers for Blue Bombers
Canada.com-- Last-minute Feoli-Gudina TD catch lifts unbeaten Bombers over Alouettes