5 Bombers Storylines

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This article was published 18/07/2015 (4035 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five storylines to ponder entering tonight’s CFL game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the host Calgary Stampeders:

1. Contain Cornish

Easier said than done, as it were. But putting a lid on the Canadian tailback’s dominance of the Winnipeg defensive line has to be top priority if the Bombers want to keep this one close.

Jon Cornish has feasted on the Bombers to the tune of some 561 yards in four games since 2013 — a 140-yard-per-game average, including a whopping 208 yards on 17 carries in Oct. 5, 2013.

“It’s a big challenge, a main focus of ours,” Bombers defensive lineman Greg Peach said. “He’s been a great back since I’ve been in this league. It’s going to be fun and that’s what it is all about. Not letting him break the big run, because that’s what gets momentum going their way.”

Peach said the goal isn’t to keep Cornish under 100 yards rushing on the day.

“He could rush the ball 50 times for 100 yards and I’d think that’d be a success,” he said.

Cornish has been quiet to start 2015. In three games, he’s put up a combined 185 yards on the ground, a 4.7 yard-per-carry, his lowest average in his nine-year career. But the season is young, and Cornish can run wild on the Bombers if given the chance.

2. Western woes

The list of adjectives that can be used to describe road trips out west for the Bombers increases by the season.

Graveyard, wasteland, nightmare, auto-loss, etc.

For whatever reason, the Bombers have been simply terrible out west.

Only recently, as in Week 19 of the 2014 season, did the Bombers finally overcome their demons at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, after not seeing a ‘W’ there since 2002.

It took until the first week of this season for the Bombers to end an 11-year drought in Saskatchewan. And their opponents in Week 5, the Edmonton Eskimos, have stymied the club at Commonwealth Stadium since 2006.

Heading to the home of the defending Grey Cup champions poses its own set of challenges.

“It’s a old-school football atmosphere,” Bombers defensive back Lin-J Shell said.

“Great fans, it’s going to be loud and it’s going to be exciting. McMahon Stadium is a total professional production, and when the fans are up it’s an amazing to be there on both ends of it. When you can quiet them down on their end, it’s always an advantage.”

3. Yards for days

Yards upon yards. That’s what the Bombers have given up this season — some 1,321 yards to be exact. Hell, perhaps the only thing longer in Winnipeg this season might be the beer snake created in their 52-26 loss in Week 2.

But back to the facts: Winnipeg has allowed a league-high 440 yards per game and they rank second-last out of nine teams in rush defence, with opposing tailbacks registering 130 yards on average.

The Bombers have also given up the most first downs by way of rushing with 22 and the second most first downs through the air with 43. Winnipeg is giving up 6.8 yards per carry, and nearly a first down every pass completion with a 9.8 yards per completion average. Both are league lows. But yards don’t necessarily equate to wins and losses, as is the case for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who lead the CFL with 1,513 net yards through three weeks but haven’t a win to show for it.

It’s a sentiment echoed by Bombers’ defensive back Lin-J Shell.

“Who gets paid off of yards? Nobody. You get paid off wins and losses,” Shell said. “At the end of the day, the goal is to get the ‘W.’ “

4. A time to execute

The old adage that defence wins championships in sports is certainly true, but unless you’re the 2000 Baltimore Ravens or the mid-’90s New Jersey Devils, you’re likely going to need a boost from your offence every now and then.

Sure, Winnipeg’s defensive corps stepped up in Week 3’s win over the Montreal Alouettes. Special teams did the rest and the Bombers got a thrilling victory in front of their home crowd.

Nevertheless, the Bombers need Drew Willy and Co. in the end zone with some consistency to keep the Bombers in contention.

The Bombers were 6-3 through nine weeks last season and Willy contributed 10 of his 14 touchdowns during that time.

“We’d like to get touchdowns in the red zone, that’s huge for us,” Willy said. “We moved the ball decently well (against Montreal). Getting the running game going, play action — just being versatile. Whatever the defence gives us, we want to make the most of it.”

A return to Week 1 form for running back Paris Cotton would certainly help.

His 13-carry, 108-yard line from opening day has since been follow up by 66 yards combined between Weeks 2 and 3.

It’s just a matter of execution, according to Cotton.

“The last couple of weeks the defence has given us some new looks and we didn’t adjust to them as well as we’d want to,” Cotton said. “We just didn’t execute, that’s all. Once we execute, we can’t be stopped.”

5. Hog wild

The list of expletives used by John Hufnagel Tuesday morning when made known he’d be losing his two bookends on the offensive line must have been long, and perhaps incoherent.

It’s almost unprecedented to see two-fifths of your starting offensive line go down like that in one game. But it did.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that, and two high-calibre O-lineman,” said Peach. “I don’t like seeing that happen to anyone because it could happen to any of us on any play.”

But one man’s stumble is another man’s gain, as it’s said.

The immediate benefit for the Bombers is it might slow down Cornish, Mitchell and the rest of the potent Stampeders offence. A blessing in disguise, of sorts.

The Stampeders will attempt to patch the holes with Gary Williams after reports Wednesday indicated he was taking the starting reps at left tackle. Spencer Wilson could see the start at the right tackle spot.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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