Bombers short on long returns

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This article was published 19/09/2018 (2623 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four-game losing streaks are often triggered by a laundry list of problems.

That’s certainly true for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the funk they currently find themselves in. One of the most glaring issues has been the club’s struggling return game, which has produced few yards and game-changing plays.

Winnipeg’s lone return touchdown of the 2018 season came on Kevin Fogg’s 110-yard return of a missed field goal during a Week 1 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos.

Injuries and roster shuffles have surely had an impact, but during their four-game skid the Blue Bombers have averaged a paltry 16.4 yards per kickoff return and a miniscule 6.3 yards on punt returns. Not a winning recipe.

“These last two weeks we’ve struggled a bit,” said slotback Nic Demski, who returned seven punts for 43 yards in a Week 13 Banjo Bowl loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. “Punt returns and kick returns. We kinda struggled in more than one phase in the games. We’ve gotta get back on track and back on schedule, and some big plays are going to come from it.”

In Friday night’s showdown between last-place teams — Winnipeg in the West and the Montreal Alouettes in the East — Demski appears destined to reprise his role as a kickoff returner, while Fogg is expected to come off the inactive list to be added to the punt-return squad.

At the Labour Day Classic in Regina, Demski had five kickoff returns for 65 yards, while Fogg chipped in with 34 yards on six punt returns.

“In a perfect world, (Demski) could be a kick returner and a punt returner, but he’s so valuable to what we do offensively that we can’t risk using him in all those phases and giving him all those hits,” special teams co-ordinator Paul Boudreau said earlier this week. “It kinda does take away from productivity in terms of yards and explosiveness.

“That’s something every team has to go through at some point, we’ve gotta find that missing piece that can help us get that spark.”

Added Demski: “I think they had some good schemes for us, and I don’t think everyone’s executed blocks, I don’t think returners were finding the holes in them. I think it was a little bit of everyone.”

Boudreau’s units have earned a reputation for excellence in his two previous seasons in Winnipeg. In 2017, the Blue Bombers allowed the fewest return touchdowns in the CFL, while also posting the second-highest kickoff return average in the league.

This season, Ryan Lankford registered Winnipeg’s longest kickoff return — a 60-yarder in Week 1 — while Fogg posted the longest punt return — a 55-yarder in Week 6.

“I keep telling these guys, we’ve done the same stuff for three years, and for some reason this year we just haven’t had the consistency maybe on the back end,” Boudreau said. “This year, I think we’ve probably used seven different returners on the kickoff-return phase. So we haven’t really had the guy. (Lankford) was pretty much the guy (last year), and we haven’t been able to get him on the roster.

“It’s kinda just been moving pieces around. We had Fogg at the punt return, and with him being out, we had Nic go in. But it’s hard, because Nic’s got a lot on his plate on offence.”

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Concern about the return game has sparked an influx of practice-roster talent. Earlier this week, the club added three Americans with special-teams credentials: Charles Nelson, Boobie Hobbs and Kenny Lawler.

Three days of practice is probably not enough of a sample size to spark a lineup change.

“We wouldn’t try a new guy just for the sake of trying someone,” head coach Mike O’Shea said. “You have to see evidence that there will be something positive to be gained out of making a change. But, these guys were brought in because our (management) group feels they have something to offer, and we need to investigate that thoroughly.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14