Five storylines for Bombers vs. Redblacks

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This article was published 23/10/2015 (3723 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five storylines to ponder prior to today’s CFL game between the Ottawa Redblacks and Winnipeg Blue Bombers:

1. STOPPING THE 40-YEAR-OLD SURGEON

Henry Burris has ripped apart many a defence this season en route to leading the CFL in passing. But what he did against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last week in Ottawa was especially surgical. Consider this: he was 10 of 11 for 68 yards on his first drive; was 14 of 16 for 114 yards and a 10-point lead at the end of the first and 23 of 29 for 268 yards and a 16-point advantage at the intermission.

There are quarterbacks in this league who would take those numbers in a practice, let alone when facing a real defence.

The challenge for the Bombers defence this week is to break up his rhythm by making him far less comfy in the pocket, whether that’s through pressure, disguising coverages or gnawing on his ankles if they ever get him at the bottom of a pile.

“You’ve got to get to him,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea earlier this week. “You’ve got to find a way to cover down long enough on their first read and get the pressure there when you get that opportunity. But that’s exactly right — you’ve got to throw him off that rhythm. And we need to do something different to do it.”

Bombers linebacker Khalil Bass said Burris was especially effective in using a hard count with his cadence to get a read on where the defence might be bringing pressure.

“He saw what we were in and made his adjustments by changing the play to beat what’s coming,” said Bass. “Hopefully, with our crowd noise he won’t be able to do that because he won’t be able to hear. That should help us. We’ve got to do a better job of not showing (their defensive look), holding our water and not jumping so fast.

“That’s his veteran savvy, for sure.”

2. IT’S NOT HOW YOUR START, IT’S HOW YOU FINISH

Actually, we call B.S. on that old sporting axiom, especially as it relates to the Bombers.

This bunch has started horribly often this season, meaning its finish is frequently of no consequence. Winnipeg was down 16-zip at the half last week and only some late scoreboard cosmetic surgery made the result — a 27-24 loss — look respectable. They were down 23-9 to B.C. the week before that before rallying in a win.

Consider the Bombers have trailed at some point by at least 10 points in six of their last eight games and by at least a touchdown in every single one of them.

“It’s a matter of execution, the entire offence being on the same page,” said slotback Nick Moore on getting off to a faster start. “One play we’ll have a miscue by one guy, on another play it’s somebody else. It’s a matter of putting it all together.”

This is where we try really hard, but fail miserably, not to trot out our old line and mention that the Bombers pre-game prayer probably shouldn’t begin with:

“Now I lay me down to sleep…”

3. JOVO COP

Jovon Johnson vowed to make the Bombers’ life “a living hell” last week — this dates back to being dumped by Winnipeg — and then backed it up by picking off two Matt Nichols passes and forcing a turnover on downs on the Bombers’ first possession.

“I’m never going to back down from a challenge, I’m always up for it,” said Johnson Friday. “But for me it’s more so whether we play well or not. I’m really not into talking about it again. I did that last week. I’m just going to go out and play and let the play take care of itself.”

Of note: Nichols is 2-1 against Ottawa this season — the two wins coming while he was with Edmonton — but has been picked off seven times in those three games. Three of those mistakes have been gobbled up by Johnson, who pointed out Friday he had another earlier in the year called back by penalty.

“He’s a great player. I messaged him after the game and told him he made a couple of great plays on me,” said Nichols. “You make a little bit of a mistake and they make you pay for it. I’ve just got to be better and make some better throws.”

Asked if the competitive juice might have him tempted to go after Johnson, Nichols added:

“That’s not my mindset. I’m going to go where the defence tells me to throw the ball and trust what I see and not second-guess myself. That’s something I’ve been doing all year. As soon as you start thinking about individual guys or things start creeping into your mind you’re going to make more mistakes.”

4. SOME SPECIAL TEAMS MAGIC?

It seems crazy to even bring this up, considering how the Bombers special-teams were under the microscope for so much of this season. But the Bombers special-teams unit had its fingerprints all over the win against the Lions a couple of weeks ago, from Sergio Castillo hitting on all five field-goal attempts — including the winner — to a punt block for a TD by Ian Wild, two successful fake punts and a forced fumble on a B.C. return.

That kind of production again would be huge for a team that has been inconsistently offensively. The Redblacks, if they have a weakness, might be vulnerable on special teams. They rank dead last in net punting average (31.3 yards) and in punt-return average.

5. TACKLING 101

The Bombers put on a how-not-to tackle clinic in Ottawa, by O’Shea’s count missing 20 tackles. Of course, the other guys get paid, too, but the mistakes extended drives and were a big part in why the defence was on the field for 36 minutes and 52 seconds.

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Of course, football’s a violent game and dictating the physicality and tone of a game can he affected by a big hit. What the Bombers need is to just be smarter in when to bring the wood and when to just wrap up.

“Everybody was going for the big hit at the wrong moment,” said Bass.

“You take the big hits when you get the opportunity for them. But you’ve got to play conservative when the guy’s got you in space and he sees you coming. You can’t really launch and go for the big hit at that point.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait