# 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.

## 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.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | School/Club Team |
| 1 | 6 | Brendon LaBatte | OL | Regina |
| 2 | 15 | Aaron Hargreaves | WR | Simon Fraser |
| 3 | 24 (via Edmonton via Saskatchewan) | Daryl Stephenson | RB | Windsor |
| 4 | 31 | Marc Bestwick | DB | Saint Mary's |
| 5 | 39 | Don Oramasionwu | DL | Manitoba |
| 6 | 47 | Pierre-Luc Labbé | LB | Sherbrooke |

### Transactions

* On May 20, the Bombers officially signed former U.S. college stars Bryan Randall and Cleveland McCoy.
* 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.
* 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).

## Regular season

On September 12 at Rogers Centre, Milt Stegall became the most prolific receiver in the history of the CFL. 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. Stegall took a pass from Kevin Glenn and scored a touchdown, his second of the game. It put the Bombers ahead 28–3. The touchdown was Stegall's 14,983rd career receiving yard. With the record broken, the announced crowd of 28,453 stood to applaud the milestone.

### Season standings

East Divisionviewtalkedit :
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pts |
| Montreal Alouettes | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 610 | 443 | 22 | Details |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 435 | 490 | 16 | Details |
| Toronto Argonauts | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 397 | 627 | 8 | Details |
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 18 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 441 | 593 | 6 | Details |

### 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.

### 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 | Bye | Bye | Bye | 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
## Statistics
### Offence
#### Passing

| Player | Att | Comp | % | Yards | TD | INT | Rating |
| Kevin Glenn | 454 | 293 | 64.5 | 3637 | 20 | 20 | 85.6 |
| Ryan Dinwiddie | 160 | 93 | 58.1 | 1299 | 5 | 6 | 79.2 |
| Bryan Randall | 22 | 9 | 40.9 | 99 | 0 | 1 | 36.0 |
| Fred Reid | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | (−414.6) |
| Timmy Chang | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.1 |

#### Rushing

| Player | Att | Yards | Avg. | TD | Fumbles |
| Fred Reid | 101 | 709 | 7.0 | 3 | 0 |
| Joe Smith | 124 | 617 | 5.0 | 5 | 0 |
| Kevin Glenn | 29 | 102 | 3.5 | 0 | 2 |
| Ryan Dinwiddie | 21 | 101 | 4.8 | 1 | 1 |
| Bryan Randall | 12 | 78 | 6.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Terrence Edwards | 4 | 32 | 8.0 | 0 | 0 |

#### Receiving

| Player | No. | Yards | Avg. | Long | TD |
| Romby Bryant | 63 | 1156 | 18.3 | 85 | 9 |
| Derick Armstrong | 81 | 1010 | 12.5 | 63 | 5 |
| Terrence Edwards | 76 | 1010 | 13.3 | 64 | 7 |
| Arjei Franklin | 52 | 620 | 11.9 | 73 | 1 |
| Milt Stegall | 30 | 470 | 15.7 | 92 | 3 |
Milt Stegall Has 14,750 receiving yards

### Defence
## Awards and records

* Doug Brown, James P. McCaffrey Trophy

### CFL All-Stars

* Dan Goodspeed, Offensive Tackle
* Doug Brown, Defensive Tackle
* Zeke Moreno, Linebacker

### CFL Eastern All-Stars

* Doug Brown, CFL Eastern All-Star
* Dan Goodspeed, CFL Eastern All-Star, Offence
* Kelly Malveaux, CFL Eastern All-Star, Defence
* Zeke Moreno, CFL Eastern All-Star, Defence
* Fred Reid, CFL Eastern All-Star, Offence
* Gavin Walls, CFL Eastern All-Star, Defence

### Milestones
## Playoffs
### East Semi-Final

Date and time: Saturday, November 8, 12:00 PM Central Standard Time Venue: Canad Inns Stadium, Winnipeg, Manitoba
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
| Edmonton Eskimos | 3 | 18 | 8 | 0 | 29 |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 8 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 21 |