2011 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season

2011 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season
General manager	Joe Mack
Head coach	Paul LaPolice
Home stadium	Canad Inns Stadium
Results
Record	10–8
Division place	1st, East
Playoffs	Lost Grey Cup
Team MOP	Jovon Johnson
Team MOC	Cory Watson
Team MOR	Clarence Denmark
Uniform

The 2011 Winnipeg Blue Bombers was the 54th season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 79th overall. The Blue Bombers finished in first place in the East Division with a 10–8 record. The team clinched their first playoff berth since 2008 on October 7, 2011, after a 33–17 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. On November 20, 2011, The Blue Bombers defeated the Tiger-Cats 19–3 in the East Final, advancing to the 99th Grey Cup and extending their Grey Cup appearances record to 24. However, the Bombers lost the Grey Cup game 34–23 to the BC Lions, extending their drought to 21 years without a Grey Cup championship. Their Grey Cup appearance marked their final playoff game played in five seasons, failing to make the playoffs in the four subsequent seasons following their loss to the Lions team. Incidentally, their first playoff game subsequent to their four-year playoff drought was also against the same BC Lions team they lost in the Grey Cup game in 2011, losing in a 32-31 come-from-behind victory for the Lions, ending the 2016 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season. Additionally, the Blue Bombers wouldn't host another playoff game again until the 2017 CFL season, this time losing to the Edmonton Eskimos 39–32.

The Blue Bombers set a franchise record for season tickets sold with 21,155 with 2011 being marketed as the last season at Canad Inns Stadium before the move to Investors Group Field. This record was in turn broken in 2012 after more than 22,000 were sold.^[1]

Offseason

CFL draft

The 2011 CFL Draft took place on Sunday, May 8, 2011.^[2] The Blue Bombers had six selections in the draft, and, for the first time since 1975, had the first overall selection in the draft. Winnipeg selected linebacker Henoc Muamba with the pick, making him the first St. Francis Xavier X-Men player to be drafted first overall. The Bombers also had the fourth overall pick after trading Steven Jyles to the Toronto Argonauts, in which they selected Jade Etienne from the University of Saskatchewan.^[3] Winnipeg also selected Kito Poblah in the 2011 supplemental draft, and must forfeit a first-round 2012 draft pick.^[4]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	1	Henoc Muamba	LB	St. Francis Xavier
1	4	Jade Etienne	WR	Saskatchewan
3	17	Brendan Dunn	DL/OL	Western Ontario
4	24	Paul Swiston	OL	Calgary
5	32	Carl Volny	RB	Central Michigan
6	41	Liam Mahoney	WR	Concordia

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Attendance	Record
A	Thurs, June 16	at Montreal Alouettes	27–15	Loss	21,223	0–1
B	Thurs, June 23	vs. Toronto Argonauts	30–23	Loss	29,117	0–2

Regular season

Season standings

East Division view talk edit
Team	GP	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pts
Winnipeg Blue Bombers	18	10	8	0	432	432	20	Details
Montreal Alouettes	18	10	8	0	515	468	20	Details
Hamilton Tiger-Cats	18	8	10	0	481	478	16	Details
Toronto Argonauts	18	6	12	0	397	498	12	Details

Season schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Attendance	Record
1	Fri, July 1	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	24–16	Win	23,852	1–0
2	Fri, July 8	vs. Toronto Argonauts	22–16	Win	27,638	2–0
3	Thurs, July 14	vs. Calgary Stampeders	21–20	Loss	27,890	2–1
4	Sat, July 23	at Toronto Argonauts	33–24	Win	21,189	3–1
5	Thurs, July 28	vs. BC Lions	25–20	Win	29,533	4–1
6	Fri, Aug 5	vs. Edmonton Eskimos	28–16	Win	29,533	5–1
7	Sat, Aug 13	at BC Lions	30–17	Win	24,131	6–1
8	Bye					6–1
9	Fri, Aug 26	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	30–27	Win	30,338	7–1
10	Sun, Sept 4	at Saskatchewan Roughriders	27–7	Loss	30,048	7–2
11	Sun, Sept 11	vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders	45–23	Loss	30,518	7–3
12	Sun, Sept 18	at Montreal Alouettes	25–23	Win	24,642	8–3
13	Sat, Sept 24	at Toronto Argonauts	25–24	Loss	19,108	8–4
14	Fri, Sept 30	vs. Montreal Alouettes	32–26	Loss	30,447	8–5
15	Fri, Oct 7	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	33–17	Win	23,268	9–5
16	Sat, Oct 15	at Edmonton Eskimos	24–10	Loss	30,734	9–6
17	Sat, Oct 22	vs. Montreal Alouettes	26–25	Win	30,360	10–6
18	Fri, Oct 28	vs. Toronto Argonauts	27–22	Loss	29,751	10–7
19	Sat, Nov 5	at Calgary Stampeders	30–24	Loss	29,076	10–8

Roster

2011 Winnipeg Blue Bombers roster
Quarterbacks  7 Alex Brink 18 Justin Goltz  4 Buck Pierce Running backs 33 Nick FitzGibbon 19 Chris Garrett 43 James Green FB 39 Michel-Pierre Pontbriand FB Wide receivers 84 Greg Carr 15 Aaron Hargreaves 27 Kito Poblah Slotbacks 89 Clarence Denmark 82 Terrence Edwards 81 Cory Watson		Offensive linemen 68 Kelly Butler OT 59 Andre Douglas OT 64 Chris Greaves OL/DL 69 Glenn January T 60 Obby Khan C 57 Brendon LaBatte G 62 Steve Morley OL Defensive linemen 97 Doug Brown DT 45 Rodney Fritz DL 56 Fernand Kashama DL/LB 54 Kenny Mainor DE 93 Don Oramasionwu DT 90 Dorian Smith DL 92 Bryant Turner DL 98 Jason Vega DL 40 Odell Willis DE		Linebackers 38 Marcellus Bowman WLB 46 Merrill Johnson LB 41 Clint Kent SLB 47 Pierre-Luc Labbé MLB 10 Henoc Muamba LB Defensive backs 20 Deon Beasley CB 25 Brady Browne S 23 Jonathan Hefney HB  2 Jovon Johnson CB 31 Ian Logan S 22 Darrell Pasco DB  0 Johnny Sears DB 21 Alex Suber HB Special teams 30 Jamie Boreham P 50 Chris Cvetkovic LS 17 Justin Palardy K  9 Mike Renaud P		Injured List 16 Joey Elliott QB (9 Game) 88 Jade Etienne (1 Game) 29 Jerry-Ralph Jules DB (1 Game) 67 Chris Kowalczuk OL (9 Game) 58 Joe Lobendahn MLB (9 Game) 32 Fred Reid (9 Game)  3 Brandon Summers QB (1 Game) 55 Paul Swiston OL (9 Game)  8 Brandon Stewart DB (1 Game) 24 Carl Volny (9 Game) Practice Roster 86 Kurt Adams WR 34 Dustin Doe LB 26 Bloi-Dei Dorzon RB 80 Cassidy Doneff WR 51 Javon McKinnon LB 94 Deji Oduhole DL 66 Justin Sorensen OL Italics indicate Import player Roster updated 2011-06-26 Depth Chart • Transactions 46 Active → More rosters

Coaching staff

2011 Winnipeg Blue Bombers staff
	Front office Owner – Community owned (non-profit corporation owned by members) Chairperson of the board of governors – Bill Watchorn President/CEO – Jim Bell Vice president and general manager of football operations – Joe Mack Director of football operations – Ross Hodgkinson Director of player personnel – Ken Moll Head coaches Head coach – Paul LaPolice Assistant head coach – Richard Harris Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks – Jamie Barresi Receivers – Chris Wiesehan Offensive line – Pat DelMonaco			Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Tim Burke Defensive line – Richard Harris Linebackers – Casey Creehan Defensive assistant – Markus Howell Special teams coaches Special teams coordinator – Kyle Walters Special teams assistant – Markus Howell → Coaching Staff → More CFL staffs

Player stats

Passing

Player	Att	Comp	%	Yards	TD	INT	Rating
Buck Pierce	411	261	63.5	3,348	14	18	82.0
Alex Brink	140	89	63.6	1,023	5	4	85.5
Joey Elliott	18	10	55.6	87	0	0	68.5
Justin Goltz	6	3	50.0	36	1	0	124.3

^[5]

Rushing

Player	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Fumble
Fred Reid	181	759	4.2	4	1
Chris Garrett	92	576	6.3	4	0
Buck Pierce	51	324	6.4	2	1
Alex Brink	43	148	3.4	6	4
Clarence Denmark	7	81	11.6	0	1
Carl Volny	9	71	7.9	0	2

^[6]

Receiving

Player	No.	Yards	Avg.	Long	TD
Terrence Edwards	66	1,124	17.0	63	8
Clarence Denmark	65	818	12.6	82	5
Cory Watson	69	793	11.5	92	1
Greg Carr	46	648	14.1	59	4
Terence Jeffers-Harris	29	347	12.0	84	2
Aaron Hargreaves	30	292	9.7	21	0

^[7]

Awards and records

• CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award – Jovon Johnson, CB

2011 CFL All-Stars

• OG – Brendon LaBatte, CFL All-Star
• DE – Odell Willis, CFL All-Star
• CB – Jovon Johnson, CFL All-Star
• DB – Jonathan Hefney, CFL All-Star
• S – Ian Logan, CFL All-Star

Eastern All-Stars

• WR – Terrence Edwards, Eastern All-Star
• OT – Glenn January, Eastern All-Star
• OG – Brendon LaBatte, Eastern All-Star
• DT – Doug Brown, Eastern All-Star
• DE – Odell Willis, Eastern All-Star
• CB – Jovon Johnson, Eastern All-Star
• DB – Jonathan Hefney, Eastern All-Star
• S – Ian Logan, Eastern All-Star

Playoffs

Schedule

Week	Game	Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Result	Attendance
20	Bye
21	East Final	Nov 20	12:00 PM CST	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	19–3	Win	30,051
22	Grey Cup	Nov 27	5:30 PM CST	at BC Lions	34–23	Loss	54,313

Bracket

November 13: Division Semi-Finals

November 20: Division Finals

November 27: 99th Grey Cup BC Place Stadium – Vancouver

E3

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

3

East

E1

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

19

E3

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

52*

E2

Montreal Alouettes

44

E1

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

23

W1

BC Lions

34

W2

Edmonton Eskimos

23

West

W1

BC Lions

40

W3

Calgary Stampeders

19

W2

Edmonton Eskimos

33

*-Team won in Overtime.

East Final

Hamilton at Winnipeg

1 2 3 4 Total Tiger-Cats 3 0 0 0 3 • Blue Bombers 0 10 3 6 19 Date: November 20 Location: Canad Inns Stadium Winnipeg, MB Game start: 12:00 PM CST Game attendance: 30,051 Game weather: Clear; –13°C; wind 19 km/h S Referee: Andre Proulx TV announcers (TSN): Rod Black (Play by Play), Duane Forde (Colour), Sara Orlesky (Sideline)

Grey Cup

Winnipeg vs. BC

1 2 3 4 Total Blue Bombers 0 6 3 14 23 • Lions 11 3 10 10 34 Date: November 27 Location: BC Place Stadium Vancouver, BC Game start: 5:30 PM CST Game attendance: 54,313 Game weather: none (closed dome) Referee: Andre Proulx TV announcers (TSN): Chris Cuthbert (Play by Play), Glen Suitor (Colour)

References

1. "Blue Bombers set franchise record number of season tickets sold; general sale for season tickets commences monday". Archived from the original on 2012-05-28. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
2. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=188882771141305 ^{[user-generated source]}
3. "Muamba taken first overall by Bombers". CFL. May 8, 2011. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
4. "Bombers select Poblah in Supplemental Draft". CFL. May 30, 2011. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
5. "Passing 2011 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
6. "Rushing 2011 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
7. "Receiving 2011 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2017-08-23.