Hey Reid, shut up and run

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/09/2009 (5863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There seems to be a correlation between what Fred Reid’s mouth does and what his legs do. Run the mouth, don’t run the legs. Shut the mouth, watch the legs churn.

Reid has established a quirky pattern of late based on his decision whether to trash talk. Three games ago, prior to the Bombers hosting the Montreal Alouettes, Reid called out the Als front seven and was then held to 49 yards on 10 carries in a 39-12 loss.

Two games ago, Reid was silent in the leadup to the Bombers game in B.C. against the Lions and exploded for 260 yard on 26 carries in a 37-10 win.

Last week, as the Bombers were preparing to travel to Regina, Reid suggested he would make a run at the 260 mark and felt like he could run for 300 yards, but was then held to 41 yards on 12 carries in a 29-14 defeat.

So Fred, do you see the pattern?

“I don’t know if it matters what I say. We just have to come out and play football and execute,” said Reid. “I always want to run for 300 yards, no matter what. That’s the goal every week. It just doesn’t always happen like that.”

Reid, who leads the CFL in rushing with 836 yards on 127 carries, says he just wants to keep a positive outlook. “Every week I want to have that mindset that I can run for 300 yards. I’m not making any predictions. But hopefully we can do it this week,” he said.

Reid said the reason for his lack of production against the Riders had more to do with Saskatchewan’s game plan than his bold talk.

“Man, they put eight and nine guys in the box and they pulled the safety in and they played the gaps really well,” he said. “We need to have a different game plan for them and try to outsmart them.”

The Riders pulled their defence up to the line of scrimmage and challenged the Bombers to beat them with the pass. Reid says balance is key if Winnipeg is to have offensive success.

“We have to get our passing game down so we can back them up and open some running lanes,” said Reid. “They won’t back that safety up. They know we’re a running team. We have to stick to that, but hopefully we can execute. We didn’t do so great last week but maybe we can this week.”

Bombers coach Mike Kelly says having just one aspect of the offence working in a game will eventually backfire.

“We just need to be consistent in what we’re doing. We can’t have a great running game one week and then a 300-yard passing game the next week. We have to be able to blend them in together,” said Kelly. “We can’t seem to find that consistency and balance.”

Offensive lineman Brendon LaBatte isn’t concerned with what comes out of Reid’s mouth.

“Freddy can do what Freddy wants to do. He’s a helluva back and he’s going to say what he’s going to say,” said LaBatte. “It wasn’t his fault what went down in Saskatchewan. He was barely getting the ball into his hands and there were guys all over him. That happens for a number of reasons, whether it’s a missed block or they have more guys in the box than we can block. It happens.”

LaBatte doesn’t expect the Riders to alter their game plan.

“I can’t see it. They held us in check real well. They won’t change a thing. We need to be better at what we do,” reasoned LaBatte. “We have to make big improvements.”

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca