Tim Burke says “We could get blasted in this game,” Bombers promptly blasted 35-0…by half

Following Daniel Alfredsson's "Probably not" moment in the annals of self-deprecating statements made about one's own team, Winnipeg Blue Bombers' head coach Tim Burke made some rather depressing comments before Thursday's preseason clash with Hamilton. Burke told Bob Irving of CJOB and CFL.ca that he was planning to play mostly rookies, and that he didn't expect the game to turn out well on the scoreboard:

Burke may not make it onto a list of great motivational football coaches, but he's a pretty good prophet. The Bombers promptly went out and gave up 35 points while scoring none—and that was just before half. Their nadir came just seconds before the half, when Winnipeg drove to the Hamilton three with 15 seconds left and had a chance to get on the board. Quarterback Justin Goltz promptly threw an incomplete pass, though, and he followed that up with an interception that Tiger-Cats' rookie defensive back Ray Brown returned 114 yards for a half-ending touchdown. Whether it was the team's inexperience showing or Burke's less-than-high-expectations triggering worse play, things certainly didn't go well for the Bombers in the first two quarters of play. (Update: They didn't get better later, either, as the team lost 52-0.) That motivated Winnipeg fans and media to do a little blasting of their own on Twitter:

When considered together with the underwhelming 24-6 performance they put in during the first preseason game, it hasn't been a good start to the year for Burke and the Bombers. Of course, he's partly right: preseason scores don't really matter, and seeing how young players perform under game conditions is always important. Still, with the first unit on both sides of the ball getting little preseason action, it will be interesting to see if they're able to do better once the season kicks off in Winnipeg next Thursday. If they don't, Burke might be blasted as well.