WINNIPEG - Kevin Glenn would only let a small smile cross his face
after his Hamilton Tiger-Cats eliminated his old Winnipeg Blue Bombers
team from the playoffs with a 39-17 trouncing Sunday afternoon.
But his teammate Otis Floyd wasn't shy about offering his opinion on
the path Glenn has traveled since Bomber head coach Mike Kelly
dumped the nine-year CFL quarterback in the off-season.
"It's satisfaction because we get a home playoff date," Glenn said
to reporters as Floyd yelled in the background that Kelly was "stupid"
to let Glenn go.
"I'm not one to make those comments. I can't worry about things that I don't control. All I can do is go out and play football."
The
Ticats (9-9) will host the CFL East Division semifinal next week -
their first home playoff game since 2001 - against the B.C. Lions
(8-10), who cross over from the West in place of the Blue Bombers
(7-11).
The crossover kicks in only if the fourth-place team in one division
finishes with more points than the third-place team in the other.
The winner of the East semifinal travels to Montreal to play the
15-3 Alouettes on Nov. 22. Winnipeg will watch from the
sidelines for the first time since 2005.
Glenn threw one 25-yard touchdown pass to Arland Bruce III and ran
another one in from 16 yards out. He completed 28-of-42 pass attempts for 316
yards with the one TD and two interceptions.
The Ticats signed the 30-year-old Glenn to be Quinton Porter's
backup, but he grabbed the starting job four games ago and helped
the team rack up three straight wins.
Hamilton led 22-16 early in the fourth quarter in front of 29,038
fans at Canad Inns Stadium (just short of a 29,533 sellout), but the
nail was soon pounded into Winnipeg's coffin.
Bomber quarterback Michael Bishop was intercepted by Ticats linebacker Markeith Knowlton, who ran 35 yards for the TD at 8:28.
With less than two minutes to play, defensive back Jykine Bradley
returned another pick 49 yards for a score.
Floyd, a 10-year linebacker, didn't pull any punches in saying the controversial Kelly got what he deserved.
"I don't believe he'll be around for much longer," Floyd said of Kelly.
"(Glenn) has too much class (to say anything). I'm a little bit more on the rough side. I'm going to say what has to be said.
"You sit down one of your best linebackers in the whole league, you
let go of one of the best quarterbacks in the whole league, you let go
of one of the good receivers and this is what (Kelly) gets."
Kelly's job security will undoubtedly be an off-season topic
in Winnipeg. When his team was 3-8 in September, there were plenty of
calls for his firing.
However, he reportedly has two more guaranteed years on his contract,
plus an option, so it would be expensive to get rid of him. Plus, some
people say he's made positive changes to the squad, which went 8-10
the year before, lost in the division semifinal to Edmonton and saw
Doug Berry fired.
Kelly was talking after the loss like he had no doubts he'll be at the helm next season.
"We're an awfully young football team and I think what we've done
structurally and organizationally, I'm excited about what the future
will bring," Kelly said.
"Our shortcomings, I think, are fairly evident as to what areas we
need to address. And we'll start tomorrow in addressing those
shortcomings and start looking towards 2010 and get this thing right."
Despite an inconsistent offence, Kelly said he wants the future to
include Bishop, who was parachuted into Winnipeg in July to replace
Stefan LeFors after the team opened with a 1-3 record.
Bishop tied his season-low completion total (eight) in Sunday's
loss, which included a number of miscues between him and his receivers.
The eight-year veteran completed 8-of-26 pass attempts for 122 yards
with two interceptions and a 60-yard TD pass to Titus Ryan.
He only had two completions for 10 yards in the second half.
In the Bombers' locker room, with his teammates sitting quietly in
their stalls, Bishop said he has no regrets about the season and wants
to come to training camp.
"You definitely want to get back in when you go out the way we go
out and go through all the things we went through this season," Bishop
said.
"You want to go out and get a fresh start from the beginning with
the guys, so if the opportunity is there I would love to take it and
battle from Day 1."
Hamilton led 17-16 after a first half that included a 58-yard
interception return for a TD by Bombers defensive back Lenny Walls; his
first of two picks in the game.
Walls' second interception (his seventh of the season) came in the
fourth quarter. Bishop was immediately picked off by Knowlton to give Hamilton the ball back.
Ticats rookie kicker Jeremy Ito, replacing the injured Nick Setta, had
the only scoring in the third quarter: a 34-yard field goal.
Ito, 23, finished his pro debut with three field goals, including makes from 24 and 29 yards.
Bombers kicker Alexis Serna was wide right on a 39-yard field-goal
attempt as time expired in the first half. Winnipeg punter Troy
Westwood had three singles.
Hamilton head coach Marcel Bellefeuille said he still didn't know
the extent of Setta's quadriceps injury or whether he would be able to
play in the semifinal.
Bellefeuille's demeanour was pretty much business-like after the
crucial win, which came in his first full season as the Ticats' head
coach.
"There's so much more work to do," he said. "We're trying to win every week now.
"I want the players to celebrate for 24 hours and then we'll get this thing back to work."
