2008 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season

The 2008 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season was the 51st season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 76th overall. The Blue Bombers attempted to win their 11th Grey Cup championship, but they lost in the Eastern Semi-Final game against the Edmonton Eskimos, who crossed over from the West.

2008 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season
Head coachDoug Berry
Home fieldCanad Inns Stadium
Results
Record8–10
Division place2nd, East
Playoff finishLost East Semi-Final
Uniform

Offseason

CFL draft

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers moved up in the CFL draft without even making a trade. The Bombers moved into the sixth spot in the CFL's college entry draft when the Montreal Alouettes lost their first choice. The Alouettes lost the choice because the club exceeded its salary cap by more than $100,000.[1]

Round Pick Player Position School/Club Team
16Brendon LaBatteOLRegina
215Aaron HargreavesWRSimon Fraser
324 (via Edmonton via Saskatchewan)Daryl StephensonRBWindsor
431Marc BestwickDBSaint Mary's
539Don OramasionwuDLManitoba
647Pierre-Luc LabbéLBSherbrooke

Transactions
  • On May 20, the Bombers officially signed former U.S. college stars Bryan Randall and Cleveland McCoy.[2]
  • On Tuesday, May 27, Milt Stegall announced that he will not participate in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers training camp after undergoing knee surgery May 2.[3]
  • The Bombers also announced they've released veteran cornerback Juran Bolden. The 33-year-old Tampa native spent the 2007 CFL season with Winnipeg, but didn't play in the Grey Cup due to a hamstring injury. The six-foot-three, 210-pound Bolden was originally a fourth-round pick of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons in 1996. Bolden twice played for the Falcons ('96–'97, 2002–'03). Other NFL teams included the Carolina Panthers ('98), Kansas City Chiefs ('99), Jacksonville Jaguars ('04) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers ('05–'06).[3]

Regular season

On September 12 at Rogers Centre, Milt Stegall became the most prolific receiver in the history of the CFL.[4] The slotback caught a 92-yard pass at 9:02 in the second quarter to raise his career total to 14,983, breaking the mark of 14,891 yards previously held by former Stampeders receiver Allen Pitts.[4] Stegall took a pass from Kevin Glenn and scored a touchdown, his second of the game. It put the Bombers ahead 28–3.[4] The touchdown was Stegall's 14,983rd career receiving yard.[5] With the record broken, the announced crowd of 28,453 stood to applaud the milestone.

Season standings
East Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Montreal Alouettes18117061044322Details
Winnipeg Blue Bombers18810043549016Details
Toronto Argonauts1841403976278Details
Hamilton Tiger-Cats1831504415936Details

Transactions
  • September 9: Winnipeg acquired middle linebacker Zeke (And Destroy) Moreno and a conditional draft pick from Hamilton for its first-round draft pick in 2009 and the rights to Canadian defensive lineman Corey Mace.[6]

Season schedule
Week Date Opponent Score Result Attendance Record
1 June 27 vs. Toronto Argonauts 23–16 Loss 26,155 0–1
2 July 4 at Montreal Alouettes 38–24 Loss 20,202 0–2
3 July 11 vs. BC Lions 42–24 Loss 26,735 0–3
4 July 18 at BC Lions 27–18 Loss 37,174 0–4
5 July 24 vs. Calgary Stampeders 32–28 Win 26,882 1–4
6 Aug 1 at Toronto Argonauts 19–11 Loss 28,523 1–5
7 Aug 8 vs. Montreal Alouettes 39–11 Loss 27,674 1–6
8 Aug 14 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats 37–24 Win 25,484 2–6
9 Bye 2–6
10 Aug 31 at Saskatchewan Roughriders 19–6 Loss 30,985 2–7
11 Sept 7 vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders 34–31 Loss 29,770 2–8
12 Sept 12 at Toronto Argonauts 39–9 Win 28,453 3–8
13 Sept 19 at Hamilton Tiger-Cats 25–23 Win 19,102 4–8
14 Sept 26 vs. Edmonton Eskimos 30–23 Win 29,794 5–8
15 Oct 4 at Edmonton Eskimos 36–22 Loss 40,453 5–9
16 Oct 10 vs. Toronto Argonauts 25–16 Win 27,368 6–9
17 Oct 18 at Calgary Stampeders 37–16 Loss 30,110 6–10
18 Oct 26 at Montreal Alouettes 24–23 Win 20,202 7–10
19 Nov 1 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats 44–30 Win 24,595 8–10

Roster
2008 Winnipeg Blue Bombers roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Receivers

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Inactive List

Practice Roster

Italics indicate Import player
Roster updated 2008-10-11
Depth Chart • Transactions
46 Active, 10 Inactive, 7 PS

Statistics

Passing
Player Att Comp  % Yards TD INT Rating
Kevin Glenn45429364.53637202085.6
Ryan Dinwiddie1609358.112995679.2
Bryan Randall22940.9990136.0
Fred Reid100001(−414.6)
Timmy Chang100.00002.1

[7]

Rushing
Player Att Yards Avg. TD Fumbles
Fred Reid1017097.030
Joe Smith1246175.050
Kevin Glenn291023.502
Ryan Dinwiddie211014.811
Bryan Randall12786.500
Terrence Edwards4328.000

[8]

Receiving
Player No. Yards Avg. Long TD
Romby Bryant63115618.3859
Derick Armstrong81101012.5635
Terrence Edwards76101013.3647
Arjei Franklin5262011.9731
Milt Stegall3047015.7923

[9]

Milt Stegall Has 14,750 receiving yards

Awards and records

CFL All-Stars
  • Dan Goodspeed, Offensive Tackle
  • Doug Brown, Defensive Tackle
  • Zeke Moreno, Linebacker

CFL Eastern All-Stars

[10]

Playoffs

East Semi-Final

Date and time: Saturday, November 8, 12:00 PM Central Standard Time
Venue: Canad Inns Stadium, Winnipeg, Manitoba

TeamQ1Q2Q3Q4Total
Edmonton Eskimos3188029
Winnipeg Blue Bombers870621

References
  1. CANOE – SLAM! Sports – CFL – Winnipeg: Bombers movin' on up
  2. CANOE – SLAM! Sports – CFL – Winnipeg: Blue strike QB gold
  3. CANOE – SLAM! Sports – CFL – Winnipeg: Bombers veteran Stegall to miss training camp
  4. https://sports.yahoo.com/cfl/news?slug=cp-cfl_stegall_record&prov=cp&type=lgns%5B%5D
  5. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Winnipeg/2008/09/13/6755816-sun.html
  6. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Winnipeg/2008/09/10/6722231-sun.html
  7. "CFL.ca". Archived from the original on 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  8. "CFL.ca". Archived from the original on 2008-10-18. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  9. "CFL.ca". Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  10. "CFL.ca - 2008 East & West Division All-Stars". Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
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