The heat is on

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This article was published 28/07/2016 (3362 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And no CFL team is more desperate these days than the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

At 1-4, Winnipeg is in must-win territory. To create a spark, the Bombers have turned to quarterback Matt Nichols, who will make his first start this season tonight against what is sure to be an angry Edmonton Eskimos (2-2) club.

The Eskimos return to Commonwealth Stadium after last week’s disastrous 37-31 loss against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, in which Edmonton dropped a 25-point lead in the second half.

Needless to say, both teams will hit the field with something to prove.

With that, here are five storylines heading into tonight’s game:

NICHOLS TO START… FOR NOW

When Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea told Nichols he would be starting in favour of Drew Willy, he left him with just one other message. Nichols, who repeated the story in an interview just hours after the Sunday morning meeting, said O’Shea told him to take the ball and run with it; a figure of speech, of course, as Nichols isn’t known for his mobility as a quarterback.

Simply put, the job is now Nichols’ to lose. The leash, as is the case for most backup quarterbacks, is a short one. He’ll need to prove he can move the ball down the field, much like he did in last week’s 33-18 loss to the Calgary Stampeders after he replaced Willy midway through the fourth quarter and led the Bombers to a touchdown on his first drive.

The motivation to succeed is there. Nichols will face his former team — he was 5-2 as a starter with Edmonton in 2015 before being dealt to Winnipeg for next to nothing (a conditional seventh-round pick) — and, at 29, this will likely be his final shot at proving he can be a viable No. 1.

DUO DEBUT IN BOMBERS SECONDARY

The Bombers’ 1,564 passing yards this season are just 16 fewer than the Eskimos’ 1,580. It’s not a bad comparison, until to you realize Edmonton has played one fewer game.

Mike Reilly, the Esks’ starting quarterback and last year’s Grey Cup MVP, has been lights-out this season, averaging 395 yards per game. He’s already victimized the Bombers, throwing for 465 yards in a 20-16 win at IGF in Week 4.

This week, the Bombers will be without Chris Randle, arguably their best defender against the pass, and safety Macho Harris, arguably their hardesthitter. Also missing due to an injury is Julian Posey, who is among the team’s leaders in turnovers.

With those three out, two players will make their first CFL start: Terrence Frederick, a seventh-round pick of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012 (who signed with the Bombers in late June), will fill in for Randle, while Taylor Loffler, the Bombers’ third-round selection in May’s CFL Draft, will start at safety. Halfback Bruce Johnson, who has missed the last three games with an injured right hand, will replace Posey.

THREE-HEADED MONSTER

The key to stopping the Eskimos’ offence will be limiting their excellent core of receivers, including the three-headed monster of Adarius Bowman, Derel Walker and Cory Watson.

The trio reeled in a combined 22 receptions for 387 yards and two touchdowns in the win over the Bombers two weeks ago. They’ll once again look to feast on a Blue and Gold defence that has yeilded a league-worst average of 438 yards of net offence each week.

But as much as it will be up to the defensive backs to limit the big plays downfield, it will be equally important for the defensive line — with help from the linebackers — to get pressure on Reilly. The Bombers spent big money in the off-season upgrading the D-line, adding tackles Euclid Cummings and Keith Shologan, a duo that combined for 15 sacks in 2015.

In five games this season, Cummings and Shologan have yet to register a sack, and defensive end Jamaal Westerman, who finished second in the CFL last season with 17 sacks, has just two.

If the Bombers have any chance of winning, it starts and ends with getting to Reilly.

CURSE OF COMMONWEALTH

It’s been dubbed the Miracle Catch: on July 20, 2006, with no time left on the clock, Milt Stegall caught a 100-yard touchdown pass to beat the Esks, 25-22.

The catch and ensuing run is one of the most memorable touchdowns in Bombers history — a moment many watched in disbelief as Stegall split two defenders before marching the final 55 yards untouched to the end zone.

As improbable as the play was, the fact the Bombers havn’t won at Commonwealth Stadium since — a stretch of more than a decade — is even more unbelievable.

The Bombers are 0-8-1 in their last nine games in Edmonton. Furthermore, in the last four games at Commonwealth, the Bombers have been outscored 140-29, an average margin of victory of more than 30 points.

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O’SHEA ON THE HOT SEAT

It’s been almost a week since the topic of O’Shea’s job security has come up. That’s considered a long time for a head coach with a record of 13-28. His seat will only get hotter with another loss.

But if a turnaround does begin tonight, it will also mean a change in fortune for O’Shea and his history against the Esks. Edmonton is the only team he has yet to beat as a head coach, with O’Shea’s record currently 0-5.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

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Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.