Blue ground attack needs help

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/07/2015 (4036 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Remember way back in Week 1 when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers rushed for 145 yards in a stunning victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and it seemed like maybe, just maybe, they finally had a running game again?

Upon further review, that assessment might have been a tad optimistic.

The Bombers have rushed for just 142 yards in their last two games combined and, once again, there are hard questions being asked about why Winnipeg cannot seem to find traction on the ground.

You will recall, of course, the lack of an effective running game was an anchor around the neck of this team’s offence all last season. Winnipeg rushed for fewer yards in 2014 than any team in the CFL except the expansion Ottawa Redblacks and it’s not coincidental the Bombers also surrendered more sacks than any other team in the league last year.

As the Bombers running game goes, so goes the Bombers offence. It was the case last year and the early evidence suggests it is the same case this year.

Consider: With an effective running game to complement the passing game, Winnipeg erupted for 470 yards and 30 points in that Week 1 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Since then, the Bombers running game has been almost non-existent — just 69 yards in a beat down in Week 2 from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and just 73 yards last week in a win over Montreal — and the offence has struggled right alongside.

There was an excuse in Week 2. With QB Drew Willy knocked out of the game in the first quarter, the Bombers simply collapsed and the score got out of hand so quickly, Winnipeg was forced to abandon the running game to try and get some quick scores through the air and get back into the game.

But last week, a tight and gritty game with the Alouettes was exactly of the type the Bombers need a good running game to be effective this season and it simply never materialized no matter how hard they tried.

Yes, Winnipeg still beat the Als despite failing to score an offensive TD. But if you’re counting on TDs from your defence and special teams to win you games every week, you’re in big trouble.

And don’t just take our word for it.

“We didn’t run it at the rate we wanted to against Montreal. If we can run at a high rate, I think it can open the pass and that’s what we are going to try and do every single week,” said Bombers QB Drew Willy after his team’s final full practice this week at Investors Group Field before they travel to Calgary to face the Stampeders Saturday.

As Willy sees it, an effective Bombers running game is both the fuel and the lubricant for everything else the team does on offence.

“I think it helps any quarterback when you can get the run game going,” Willy explained. “Play action passes open up. When you’re running on a defence, it kind of takes their will away. It all works together. When you’re passing well, the run opens up. Any time you can be balanced, I think that’s the key to success for us, personally.”

So what went so wrong with the Bombers running game against Montreal? No excuses, said Bombers right guard Sukh Chungh — those Montreal dudes are just very, very good.

“We just played a really good front last week,” said Chungh. “All the credit to them — that’s a very good defence. We needed to run the ball against them and we just weren’t able to do that.”

Bombers tailback Paris Cotton was fighting for every inch on every carry last week.

“They were swarming to the ball on every play,” said Cotton. “That’s just a great defence.”

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So, is this the week the Bombers running game gets back on track? If it is, the Bombers will have to first overcome a Calgary defence that has given up the third fewest yards in the CFL this season and which always seems to be difficult to run against, particularly at McMahon Stadium.

Cotton heads into Week 4 as the top rusher on the Bombers but just sixth in the CFL with 174 yards on 32 carries. That translates into a 5.4-yard average, which is lower than four of the five tailbacks ahead of Cotton in the rushing race right now.

Cotton says in the same way the running game sets up the pass, the opposite is also true. “I think we want this offence to be as even as possible,” Cotton said.

“And we need to show that in the play calling. The run sets up the pass, the pass sets up the run and if we can execute as an entire offence, good things will happen.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek