Courtesy Vancouver Province:

After narrowly missing out last season on the team’s first Grey Cup title since 1990, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers elected to go with the status quo heading into 2008.

“This team has been there and although we haven’t quite done that, there is a lot more experience and I think that these guys are going to be able to rely on each other to motivate themselves to get to where we need to be,” Bombers head coach Doug Berry said Tuesday during the state of the franchise conference call.

The 23-19 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 2007 Grey Cup in Toronto is still fresh in the coach’s mind.

“Our window of opportunity was last November,” Berry said bluntly. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in this coming season.”

The Bombers’ core from last season remains intact, with quarterback Kevin Glenn signed to an extension, the CFL’s all-time touchdown king Milt Stegall postponing retirement for one more year and key free agents defensive lineman Tom Canada and offensive linemen Dan Goodspeed and Matt Sheridan all agreeing to return to Winnipeg.

On Tuesday the Bombers also announced that receivers Terrence Edwards and Derick Armstrong signed contract extensions.

The Bombers head into 2008 as one of the favourites to win the East Division, a position the team hasn’t been in since they last won the division title in 2001, but Berry said that won’t change the way the team approaches the season.

“I know what my expectations are, I know what my players’ expectations are,” he said. “They wouldn’t have changed from 2006 to 2007 and they certainly won’t have changed going into 2008.”

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