Another round of CFL nods came out on Thursday and this time, it was the East and West Division All-star teams.

Let’s just get this out of the way by saying there were a few eye-brow raisers in the bunch, but that’s what makes the debate fun.

Among the seven Winnipeg Blue Bombers chosen to represent the East were defensive backs Jonathan Hefney and Jovon Johnson.

While we are quick to appreciate their talents on the field and on the microphone in interviews, neither Hefney or Johnson lived up to their lofty standards this season.

Part of that was due to the fact both men took turns playing out of position at SAM linebacker, but there were probably a couple of more deserving candidates out there.

Having said that, in order for the Blue Bombers defence to get its “swagger” back, both Johnson and Hefney (a pending free agent who has said he’d like to come back if he doesn’t get another shot in the CFL), will need to have true All-star seasons in 2013.

For now, let’s focus on the five others who were recognized, including DE Alex Hall and DT Bryant Turner.

Hall was the best pass rusher on the Blue Bombers, racking up nine sacks in his first CFL season before he was sidelined by a knee injury. It’s clear he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in 2013.

Turner, meanwhile, made strides in his second CFL season and Blue Bombers head coach Tim Burke said he was the leader of the D-line, despite his limited experience.

“It’s a big thing, coming from your head coach. It’s something I take pride in and I look forward to leading the defensive line,” said Turner said, who recorded three of his six sacks in the season opener against the B.C. Lions. “I’ve kind of adopted that role, since we had a lot of leaders leave. Somebody had to step up.”

On the offensive side of the ball, a trio of Blue Bombers were saluted: RB Chad Simpson, WR Chris Matthews and OL Glenn January, who made a smooth transition back to left tackle after getting recognized at right tackle in 2011.

“It wasn’t an accomplishment I was focusing on, but when you focus on the big-picture stuff, the individual stuff comes along on its own,” said January, noting the selection was merely a reflection on the growth of the entire Blue Bombers O-line.

January was the left tackle before suffering a torn pectoral muscle prior to the 2010 season, shifting over to right tackle for 2011.

“When I was coming back from my injury, truth be told, I was a bit disappointed I wasn’t going to get an opportunity to play left tackle again,” said January. “But I rolled with it and was able to have success on the other side. In the off-season, when I heard this was going to be a reality, with me being the left tackle, it was news I was excited to hear about. But at the same time, I was like ‘wow, I just got comfortable on the right side.’ Having to switch back over after you’ve taken two years away from the position was a difficult task, that was compounded by the fact I missed the two pre-season games and the first game of the season.

“When I finally got back out there, I was re-learning on the fly.”

The Montreal Alouettes and B.C. Lions each had 10 players chosen, while the Calgary Stampeders had eight, the Edmonton Eskimos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats had six (including a two-time selection in Chris Williams, at receiver and returner), while the Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders each had three.

Two Winnipeggers also were recognized as first time All-stars: Lions RB Andrew Harris and S Donovan Alexander.

Harris had an outstanding season, his first full campaign as a starter, picking up 1,112 yards rushing to go along with 718 receiving.

Prior to the season opener in B.C., Harris wasn’t shy about telling reporters that his goal was to be a 1,000-yard rusher and he reached that goal.

Alexander, who played for the St. Paul’s Crusaders in the Winnipeg High School Football League, had 43 defensive tackles, a forced fumble and four interceptions while starting all 18 games at safety for the Eskimos this season.

“It’s nice to be recognized for doing your job properly. It’s a really big honour,” Alexander told Edmonton Sun writer Gerry Moddejonge. “The essence of free safety is to be the last guy back, the safety net for everybody and just protect everything deep. If you don’t hear my name, it’s probably a good thing. That’s the way I like it.”

Here’s the entire list of CFL All-stars, voted on by members of the Football Reporters of Canada, CFL head coaches and CFL fans:

Feel free to weigh in with your opinions on who should have been on the team and perhaps who should have been left off.

Chris Matthews isn’t ready to declare himself as the CFLs Most Outstanding Rookie.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver is too humble for that.

But that’s okay, we’ll do it for him.

With all due respect to B.C. Lions defensive lineman Jabar Westerman, Matthews is as close to a lead-pipe lock as you can get when it comes to the 2012 Gibson’s Finest CFL Awards.

As the nominees were officially unveiled on Wednesday, Matthews was the lone member of the Blue and Gold to get a nod.

No surprise there either.

When you go 6-12 and are one of only two teams to miss the CFL playoffs, you aren’t expected to dominate the individual awards.

We spoke with Matthews on Wednesday afternoon from California and he was quite pleased about being nominated for the award.

He dished out plenty of thanks to teammates — especially in the receiving corps — and coaches for showing trust in him and helping make his transition to the CFL game a smooth one.

The numbers themselves are pretty darn impressive: 81 catches, 1,192 receiving yards (six games of 100-plus yards) and seven TDs.

Matthews became the first true Blue Bombers’ rookie in franchise history to eclipse 1,000 yards and his total left him sixth in the CFL in receiving yards.

It’s clear that Matthews easily filled the void created by the departure of fellow giant Greg Carr to the Edmonton Eskimos via free agency (eventually ending up with the Saskatchewan Roughriders).

Matthews, who turned 23 last month, was a great find in free agency and showed tremendous growth after studying at the school of Terrence Edwards, who took a shine to the rookie and helped show him the ropes.

To celebrate the news of his nomination, Matthews picked up a brand new suit to wear at the awards ceremony on Nov. 22 in Toronto.

Matthews is excited to take part in the festivities and plans to stick around for the weekend to see who comes out on top in the 100th Grey Cup game.

“I’m definitely going to be there for the game, I want to see what the outcome is and who wins,” said Matthews. “Whoever does, they deserve it. I can’t wait to see the game. It will be my first Grey Cup game.”

Matthews is hopeful it isn’t the only Grey Cup game he sees — or takes part in, for that matter.

“The first of many, exactly,” said Matthews. “Hopefully, we’re in it next year.”

Here are the nominees for the other categories (we’ll supply predictions for these at a later date):

Most Outstanding Player: Calgary Stampeders RB Jon Cornish vs Toronto Argonauts WR/R Chad Owens

Most Outstanding Canadian: Calgary Stampeders RB Jon Cornish vs Montreal Alouettes LB Shea Emery

Most Outstanding Defensive Player: Edmonton Eskimos LB JC Sherritt vs Montreal Alouettes LB Shea Emery

Most Outstanding Special Teams Player: B.C. Lions R Tim Brown vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats R/WR Chris Williams

Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman: B.C. Lions tackle Jovan Olafioye vs Montreal Alouettes tackle Josh Bourke

So, it’s officially the first game of the Tim Burke era — the one without the interim tag in front of the words head coach.

The 5-12 Winnipeg Blue Bombers host the 11-6 Montreal Alouettes at Canad Inns Stadium on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the Hall of Fame Game.

It’s also the final CFL game to be played at the old barn on Maroons Road and this time, there’s no doubt about it.

“I heard the new marketing slogan was: The last game at Canad Inns, this time we’re serious,” joked Blue Bombers offensive tackle Glenn January.

Make no mistake, January doesn’t think the Blue Bombers season is a laughing matter.

But there’s clearly not the same pomp and circumstance as last season, when the Blue Bombers defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East Final, advancing to the Grey Cup in the process.

“I love this stadium. There’s a lot of great history here,” said January. “While it will be nice to step into a new stadium, this has  been a stadium where we’ve had a lot of highs and lows. Last year’s final game of Canad Inns history was very memorable, not only did we get a good win, in the fashion we got the win — on the O-line’s backs, that was pretty special. But you know what, we still have an opportunity to end this old barn out on a good note and that factors into the motivation for sure.”

I also asked January what he remembered about his first visit and he shared a rather funny story about getting crushed by former Blue Bombers DE Tom Canada.

“Tom Canada is really good. That’s what I remember,” said January. “I was a rookie in Toronto. I was chasing a fumble downfield and obviously lost track of where Tom Canada was and he chased me down and decleated me and stood over me, straddling me and praising the Sun god and giving up a barbaric yelp. That was my first memory. There’s a lot of blue in the stands, but after that hit, I was definitely seeing green.”

As for Saturday’s game, there are some intriguing storylines, although the stakes are understandably low — given the fact the Blue Bombers are out of the playoff picture and the Als are basically trying to stay healthy going into the East final in two weeks time.

* The quarterbacks (plural) on both teams are holding an open audition. Most people know the Blue Bombers aren’t exactly sure what direction they’re going to go next season but at least three guys in Saturday’s game could factor in: Alex Brink and Justin Goltz of the Blue Bombers and Adrian McPherson of the Alouettes.

We’re not about to make any bold proclamations, but Burke was rather complimentary of McPherson and knows him well after spending two seasons with the Alouettes himself as the defensive coordinator.

One last comment from Goltz, who made a good point this morning when asked if he felt he could factor into the Blue Bombers’ plans.

“I don’t think they would keep me around as a developmental guy and then just let me go,” said Goltz. “There is some merit in (Saturday’s) game and if I take advantage of my opportunities, I feel like there’s a good chance I can be back here.

“I’m a young guy, so being patient with anything is a learning curve. This year has definitely humbled me and I feel I can take advantage of it in the future.”

Goltz and McPherson are both entering free agency in 2013 and Goltz made it clear he’d like to be back and in the mix to take on more of a role.

“I’m a pretty loyal guy and I understand Winnipeg gave me the opportunity and I feel very fortunate for that. First and foremost, I would look into coming here,” said Goltz. “Obviously, I don’t have a ton of game film to market myself elsewhere. At the same time, I think if I can do some things (Saturday) and show some people what I can do, it will be an interesting situation.”

Interesting indeed.

* Both teams have been ravaged by injuries, especially at RB, where the Blue Bombers will start non-import Carl Volny on Sat while the Als counter with Chris Jennings. Both are the third starting tailbacks for this season.

* It’s the Hall of Fame Game and Bomber greats Milt Stegall and the late Tyrone Jones are among those being honoured. Former Blue Bomber stalwart James West is in town to support Jones and had plenty of kind words for his close friend earlier this week.

* The Blue Bombers are dressing a number of fresh faces on Saturday (many because of injury) and it will be interesting to see how many players perform. Some have an opportunity to get a leg up for next season. Others may vanish into obscurity.

* The playoff match-ups are settled following the Calgary Stampeders 30-27 win over the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday night. That leaves the Esks as the crossover team in the East, heading to Toronto to take on the Argos. Meanwhile, the Stamps host the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who close out the regular season on Saturday against the B.C. Lions.

That will do it for now. Be sure to check out our expanded Home Turf game-day edition at www.winnipegsun.com and in the pages of the Winnipeg Sun.

You’ll find a host of stories from Kirk Penton, columnist Paul Friesen and yours truly.

And be sure to check out our You be the Boss feature over the next few days to weigh in with your opinions on what the Blue Bombers should be doing moving forward.

Enjoy the game.

As for the prediction, let’s go with Alouettes 22 Blue Bombers 20

Well, it turns out the answer to the quarterback quandary came at least a day earlier than expected.

Joey Elliott (knee) will indeed skip the Winnipeg Blue Bombers regular season finale with the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday, leaving the offence to be guided by Alex Brink.

Not a real surprise and in some ways, a fitting way for Brink to end what has certainly been an up-and-down season.

Brink was quite candid in his comments with the media this afternoon, sharing some of the emotion and offering how some perspective on what it was like for him to go from 2nd string to starter to third string over the course of 2012.

Here’s what Brink said when asked if he felt he was still on trial, in some regards.

“As a professional football football player and more importantly as a professional quarterback, our job is on trial every time we step on the field,” said Brink. “Whether it’s a pre-season game, a game late in the year with no playoff implications, whether it’s a playoff game, you’re going to be judged, based on that performance. There’s really no if’s, and’s or but’s about it.

“On game day, you’ve got to go out and perform, because if you don’t, the fact is they’ll find somebody else who can get it done.”

Blue Bombers interim head coach Tim Burke believes Brink will show quicker decision-making from Brink, noting he’s progressed in that area during the season.

Burke also reiterated that Justin Goltz will see some playing time on Saturday. Primarily that could come in the Wildcat-inspired package, but not necessarily limited to.

RJ Archer will be summoned from the practice roster to dress as the third QB, but Burke wouldn’t commit to giving him any snaps.

Speaking of the practice roster, Wallace Miles is getting a promotion and will start at WR, along with Doug Pierce. They’ll fill in for Terrence Edwards (foot) and Isaac Anderson (shoulder).

Today was our first real look at Miles and he has some impressive skills. Will be interesting to see what type of impact he could have in an actual game. Certainly some potential there.

Also spoke with RB Carl Volny about his opportunity to start in the finale. Naturally, he’s excited. That was expected. What wasn’t expected was Volny’s assertion that Saturday’s performance could help give him some tape to get some consideration to start next season.

Every player wants to be a starter, but the Blue Bombers are pretty well stocked at RB with Chad Simpson, Will Ford and Chris Garrett set to come back in 2013 from a torn Achilles.

Volny actually said it was his goal to be a 1,000-yard rusher in the CFL and join the list of Canadians making an impact at the position. I commend him for his honesty, but don’t expect him to be near those totals next season.

However, he has talent and this is a good chance for him to showcase it.

Burke was able to clear up one other mystery on Tuesday when he announced that Demond Washington has been cleared to play, meaning he’ll move back to SAM LB since Johnny Sears was downgraded to out with an undisclosed injury.

The 5-12 Blue Bombers are back on the field Wednesday morning to prepare for their match-up with the 11-6 Als in what will be the final game at Canad Inns Stadium.

It will be one of the more closely monitored questions of the week for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the chances are pretty good that Tim Burke won’t know the identity of his starting pivot until at least Wednesday – and perhaps later.

As the interim head coach of the Blue and Gold met with the media on Monday morning, he revealed that starter Buck Pierce is out with a shoulder problem and that Joey Elliott was questionable for Saturday’s regular season finale with the Montreal Alouettes.

That leaves Alex Brink as the next option, while Justin Goltz will run the Wildcat-inspired package and might get some other snaps as well. Burke said it was possible that RJ Archer might have to be activated from the practice roster as well.

In case you’re wondering — and we’re guessing more than a few of you are — Pierce’s shoulder injury isn’t overly serious.

“It would not be a long-term injury,” said Burke. “It’s just one of those things where he got banged up and is out this week, which happens to be the last week.”

Burke was also asked directly if he felt Elliott has what it takes to become a full-time starter in the CFL?

“He’s progressed throughout the year,” said Burke. “I didn’t think he had his greatest game last week (against the Tiger-Cats). But I do think he has a chance to be a starting quarterback in this league.”

Injuries continue to mount for the Blue Bombers who will be without these players on Saturday: Pierce, RB Chad Simpson (foot), RB Will Ford (shoulder), WR Terrence Edwards (foot), WR Isaac Anderson (shoulder) and DE Jason Vega (toe).

Questionables include Johnny Sears and Demond Washington, so the SAM LB position might get a 7th different player this season.

Burke left open the possibility that an import RB might be brought in to play on Saturday.

“There might be a guy we could bring in that’s been with us in the past, but I don’t want to say his name until he would actually be here,” said Burke.

We wondered if that might mean the return of Bloi-dei Dorzon, while a fan brought up the possibility of Fred Reid. We’re not sure Reid ever got full medical clearance after tearing his ACL last season, so our best guess is Dorzon, who opened the season as the Blue Bombers starting tailback because of injuries to Simpson and Chris Garrett.

Burke was unable to provide an update on his job status moving forward and noted that no negotiations with the Blue Bombers had taken place about him possibly becoming the full-time head coach.

“That’s completely up to (Blue Bombers CEO) Garth (Buchko), (Blue Bombers general manager) Joe (Mack) and the board,” said Burke.

In other CFL news, the league has decided to suspend Toronto Argonauts LB Brandon Isaac for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Saskatchewan Roughriders QB Darian Durant on Saturday.

The Argos chose not to comment on the ruling on Monday afternoon.

Blue Bomber fans remember Isaac for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Piece that left him with a concussion but resulted in a fine and not a suspension.

The Blue Bombers are back on the field Tuesday morning.