Who’s to blame for Bombers’ blues?

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This article was published 25/07/2017 (2996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s an old adage in professional sports that the key to a great offence is good defence.

But if the early going of the 2017 CFL season has shown anything about this year’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the opposite is a more fitting expression.

The Bombers are 2-2 through four weeks and the overwhelming sense is the defence is to blame for the team’s shortcomings.

Though many have aimed their pitchforks in the direction of head coach Mike O’Shea recently — see: fake punt vs. B.C. Lions last week — and many seem content with the progress made by offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice in his second year, there has been a constant call for the firing of defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall.

This is the third year Hall has been in charge of the defence and — to be sure — the results are mixed.

In 2015, which was Hall’s first season with Winnipeg, the defence put together by the Blue and Gold was among the worst in the league.

But everything about the Bombers was bad that year, including an offence that placed last in almost every statistical category (offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille was fired at the end of the season). They finished 5-13.

Last season, Matt Nichols was able to play the role of saviour perfectly, sweeping in at quarterback for an underperforming Drew Willy in Week 6 before leading the Bombers to seven straight wins and an 11-7 record.

And while he definitely played a role in the Bombers resurgence, anyone who watched even a single game would notice the Bombers defence — and its penchant for turnovers, including a league-best 31 interceptions — was the clear identity of the team and most difficult task for other clubs to scheme against.

But as was the case last year, when the Bombers allowed a CFL-worst 408 yards of net offence per game, opposing quarterbacks are once again picking the defence apart this season (399).

Better execution is needed — and, per Hall, expected — but it also has to do with the high degree of talent the defence has faced early on, and the injuries that the defence has suffered.

Linebackers Maurice Leggett and Ian Wild, halfback Bruce Johnson and defensive end Tristan Okpalaugo have all missed notable time and only Leggett has a sliver of a chance of playing in Thursday’s game against the Montreal Alouettes.

The Bombers have had six players on defence this season either earn a first start or make their CFL debut. In comparison, not one starter on offence has missed a game in 2017.

Add in the fact new rules have been put in place in recent years — new pass interference restrictions, the implementation of coaches’ challenges — and the CFL, who said it was part of a mandate to “open up the passing game,” has all but handed over future success to the offence.

But despite all that, it can be argued the biggest challenge facing the Bombers defence this year is its own offence — one that has shown flashes at times, but is glaringly inconsistent.

“If you can show me a game film of a team that rolls up and down the field and scores touchdowns on every single drive I’d love to see it,” a defensive Nichols said after practice Tuesday.

“Every single team has points in the game where it’s tough to move the ball.”

That’s true, of course.

But it’s also true that when the Bombers offence has lulled, it has helped to set the stage for a tired defence on most nights.

Strong starts and finishes to each game are constantly preached by O’Shea and his staff, but the message is just not getting through to an offence that has been outscored 32-14 in the first quarter and put up only a dismal 42-9 in the final frame.

“Usually that comes down to execution,” LaPolice said, when asked about his team’s trouble in the fourth quarter. “My job is to make sure I’m calling things that I feel they can execute well and go let them play and then look to make the plays next time.”

The offence has also benefited from key plays by the defence and special teams, with the favour often going unreturned.

Consider this: Winnipeg has averaged the second-most points per game as offence in the CFL, with 29. And yet they rank second-last in net offence per game and are third from the bottom in time of possession.

In a win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the season-opener, it was a T.J. Heath interception in the second quarter that finally gave the Bombers an ounce of momentum and stopped the bleeding on a struggling offence.

Before that, Nichols had run five series that included four two-and-outs and one interception.

Heath would do it again the following week against Calgary, intercepting Bo Levi Mitchell in the second quarter to set up the Bombers’ first touchdown, en route to a 10-9 lead at halftime. The offence was then blanked in the second half, putting together drives that ended with four punts and two turnovers, one of which was a pick 6.

Finally, last week against the Lions, Nichols put up an impressive five touchdowns, going perfect in five trips to the red zone.

Full credit to Nichols for three of those, before which he was able to march the offence down field. But a blocked punt and a fake field goal aided the other two touchdowns.

Perhaps the most promising part of this season is the Bombers remain a solidified group — unwavering in their support for one another.

O’Shea has preached the importance of team and, indeed, it will take a full-team effort for the Bombers to compete for a Grey Cup this year.

As for the effort of his defence, O’Shea said he is pleased with what he’s seen.

“Nobody can ever question these guys’ effort,” he said. “They’re out there flying around, working their tails off. If you’re saying that they’re not happy with the result then I can see why fans aren’t happy with the result. But the effort… you can’t question these guys’ effort. They work extremely hard out there. They’re not happy with the results some times.”

O’Shea was asked if he felt like the offence, given all that has happened this season, at all owed the defence.

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“I’m not looking at that… I just don’t think it fits with our team,” he said.

“Defence wants to hold the opponent to one less than what we can score and the offence wants to score one point more than our defence can hold them to.

“When we lose, the bottom line is it didn’t work out that way.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

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.