Blue Bomber Odell Willis faces difficulties against the run

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This article was published 23/10/2011 (5155 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He’s in the league lead in sacks and has been one of the most dominant defensive ends in the CFL all season.

But Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice says — and Odell Willis agrees — that he has to play better against the run.

Lost amidst the celebration at Canad Inns Stadium Saturday afternoon of a dramatic 26-25 comeback victory by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the Montreal Alouettes was the fact Willis saw his role in the Bombers defence reduced rather dramatically in the first half because of a coaching decision — and then disappear entirely in the second half because of a rib injury.

Willis — who’s been used to playing almost every down this season — spent large parts of the first half on the sidelines as LaPolice substituted for him in running situations in a bid to neutralize Alouettes running back Brandon Whitaker, the CFL’s rushing leader.

Willis was blunt after the game when he was asked why he’d suddenly found himself doing so much spectating on first downs. “The coaches felt like I wasn’t playing the way I was supposed to play every play,” said Willis, “so changes had to be made.

“And the changes were made. That’s just part of football. It’s all good. You make changes as you go. It’s all about ebb and flow — you just want to flow more than you ebb.”

LaPolice was asked Sunday afternoon if Willis was correct in his self-assessment. “Yeah,” LaPolice said. “In the run package, how we stop the run, some of the other guys have performed pretty well and it’s an area he’s struggled with. So he’s focussed on trying to get better.”

Willis did not register a sack or tackle against the Alouettes. Montreal rush end John Bowman got two sacks, and is now within one of Willis, at 13 to 12.

With Willis doing only spot duty on first down, the Bombers defensive line still had a challenging day against the run on Saturday, yielding 109 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries to Whitaker. But they had a great day pass rushing, sacking Anthony Calvillo six times as Fernand Kashama and Jason Vega both registered a pair and Clint Kent and Bryant Turner had one apiece.

Further reducing Willis’s playing time Saturday was an injury LaPolice said Willis suffered in the first half. LaPolice offered conflicting versions of the nature of Willis’s injury, describing it as a rib injury Saturday night and then broadening that description to an “upper body injury” by Sunday.

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LaPolice claimed Sunday he still didn’t know if the injury was serious, saying Willis would be monitored this week and agreeing with the word “questionable” to describe Willis’s status for this Friday’s game against the Toronto Argonauts at Canad Inns Stadium.

LaPolice suggested two other personnel moves he made prior to Saturday’s game against the Als are likely to stay in place for at least another week.

Although punter Jamie Boreham muffed a third quarter punt badly, LaPolice said he was overall pleased with Boreham’s performance as a replacement for Mike Renaud. “He did some good things.”

And on the offensive line — where LaPolice moved left guard Brendon LaBatte over to centre in place of Obby Khan and gave Chris Greaves his first start of the season in place of LaBatte at guard — LaPolice said the result was mixed but probably good enough to stay in place another week.

“What I don’t want is to make change and then just keep flip-flopping. And I don’t think what we saw put us in a position to start flip-flopping.”