Will home be sweet for Blue?

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This article was published 02/08/2016 (3360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 30-23 win over the Edmonton Eskimos last week was the first time in a decade the Bombers (2-4) have left Commonwealth Stadium with a victory.

They’ll look to snap another dreadful streak Wednesday night, when they welcome the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3-2) to Investors Group Field. This time, in search of back-to-back wins for the first time in more than two years — a stretch of 36 games, the equivalent of two full seasons.

With that, here are five storylines to keep in mind for Wednesday night’s game:

HOME SWEET HOME

You would have to rewind all the way back to weeks 5 and 6 of the 2014 season to find the last time the Bombers won consecutive games. As troublesome as that statistic may be, there is another, perhaps even more troubling concern for this year: the Bombers inability to win at home.

The Bombers’ victory over Edmonton last week improved their road record to 2-1 this season, but Winnipeg has been unable to find that winning formula on home turf.

Winnipeg is 0-3 at home this season — 7-23 since IGF opened in 2013 — with losses to the Montreal Alouettes, Edmonton and Calgary Stampeders. The loss to the Stamps, 33-18, was the sixth straight loss here, dating back to last season.

“This is big for us — this is a huge game,” said running back Andrew Harris. “We want to continue the momentum and get this city excited again about the football team. The win was big last week but we haven’t won at home this year… it’s a must-win at home for us right now.”

Hoping to spoil the party will be a Tiger-Cats team that has won all three of its games on the road this season; meanwhile, Winnipeg has had just two practices this week, one of which was shortened due to lightning.

The timing is also right for the Blue and Gold. After Hamilton, the Bombers are set to hit the road for the next three games — with stops in Toronto, Montreal and Saskatchewan for Labour Day — and won’t be back in front of the home crowd until Sept. 10, when they take on the Roughriders in the annual Banjo Bowl game.

NICHOLS’ ENCORE

When Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea made the decision to start Matt Nichols over Drew Willy, his hope was by changing his starting quarterback he could provide a spark to the offence.

The Bombers puttered to a 1-4 record through five weeks, and with his team averaging fewer than 20 points per game — second worst in the CFL — a shakeup needed to happen.

Nichols wasted little time validating the move, leading the Bombers to a 85-yard touchdown drive on the first series in last week’s win over the Eskimos. He completed close to 80 per cent of his passes, totalling more than 300 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions.

As impressive as Nichols was, it will mean little, if anything at all, if he can’t provide the same energy against Hamilton.

He’ll have to do so without his two favourite receivers, Weston Dressler and Darvin Adams, who combined for 232 yards and the game’s lone touchdown — a 20-yard strike to Adams. Both pulled up lame in the game and are expected to miss considerable time.

Nichols may have proven he was the right choice last week, but this week he proves whether he’s the real deal.

A FAMILIAR FACE

With Adams expected to miss as many as seven weeks with an upper-body injury, Dressler’s lower-body ailment deemed only “slightly less” severe, and Ryan Smith still out of the lineup for another week or two, the Bombers have recalled a familiar face in receiver Clarence Denmark.

Winnipeg released Denmark, 30, in March after signing Smith and Dressler, making his return to Winnipeg an unusual one. Denmark, who said earlier in week he never expected to hear from the Bombers again, is now likely to be featured prominently in the pass game, lining up at his familiar inside slotback position.

The Bombers brought in Denmark as a last-ditch effort in order to gain some stability — he spent five seasons with the Blue and Gold before his release and is familiar with offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice’s playbook — but it doesn’t necessarily make him just a quick fix.

Under what is surely a more cost-friendly contract, if Denmark can come even close to his form from 2014, when he led the Bombers in receiving yards with 1,080 — second best among receivers in the CFL — there is no reason to think he won’t stick.

“Just excited to get another shot,” said Denmark.

Denmark provides leadership in the locker room, too, which should only help a receiving corps that currently features three rookies in Thomas Mayo, Jace Davis, and Kris Adams.

MASOLI ON A ROLL

It’s the second and final time these two teams will face each other this regular season. Winnipeg edged the Ticats 28-24 at Tim Hortons Field in Week 3; led by a stingy defence that forced six turnovers.

As good as the Bombers defence was, quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was equally terrible. Masoli was credited with five of the team’s turnovers — two interceptions to go with three fumbles — including losing the ball on the final play of the game.

That was then, and this is now. Masoli seems to have found his groove. In Hamilton’s win over Edmonton two weeks ago, Masoli set a new CFL record by completing 23 consecutive passes to start the second half — a show of brilliance that finished with 273 yards through the air and three touchdowns, erasing what was a 25-point lead for the Eskimos.

“I just think we started clicking,” Masoli said Tuesday. “Even with the bye week a lot of guys are still feeling confident, still feeling the momentum from that game and I think we’ll be able to capitalize on some of that.”

Though impressive, a strong second half has been a bit of a theme for Masoli this year.

Of his eight touchdowns, seven have come in the second half; 952 of his 1,532 passing yards have come in the final two quarters. His completion rate — 80 per cent compared to 65.9 — is much better and so, too, is his second-half QB rating, which sits at 120.7 — more than 40 points higher than the 78.6 rating in the first half.

MAKING A CASE

To counter Masoli’s air attack, the Bombers will field the same group — corners Terrence Frederick and C.J. Roberts; halfbacks Bruce Johnson and Kevin Fogg and safety Taylor Loffler — that kept Mike Reilly and the Edmonton offence in check last week. Reilly still passed for 346 yards, but much of that came late in the game with the Bombers holding the lead.

“It will be a big test for us to see if we can complete that task and do it back to back,” said Johnson.

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As much as it will be about limiting Masoli, it will also be about making a case to stay in the lineup. With Macho Harris, Chris Randle and Julian Posey all set to return in the coming weeks, and Johnny Adams not much further behind, O’Shea will soon be faced with making some difficult decisions in his secondary.

Frederick, Roberts, Loffler and Fogg are all rookies, but all have shown they can play. Another solid performance against Hamilton and it’s just going to make it tougher. Can’t say that’s a bad thing.

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.