Bombers host Ticats: Five storylines

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/07/2015 (3753 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five storylines to ponder before tonight’s CFL game at Investors Group Field:

1. DOES MR. EFFICIENT HAVE AN ENCORE?

A good indicator a quarterback has had a dandy day at the office: when the numbers he has piled up have broken a club record held by a Canadian Football Hall of Famer, which stood for 34 years.

Willy’s completion percentage last week against Saskatchewan — 88 per cent, on 22 of 25 — broke a Dieter Brock record that dates back to Oct. 3, 1981, when he eviscerated the Ottawa Rough Riders by hitting on 41 of 47. Willy threw for 325 yards and three scores against Gang Green, connecting with seven different receivers in total and finishing with 14 completions for 10 or more yards.

Another chunk of numbers that speak of how comfy he was in the pocket — the order of his attempts/completion percentages went like this: five completions, one incomplete; nine completions, one incomplete; three completions, one incomplete and then five in a row to wrap up the game.

That, folks, is the precision of a diamond cutter.

“We were being efficient as an offence, taking what they gave us and going through our reads,” said Willy on Wednesday. “Sometimes you get hot out there and it doesn’t really matter what the defence does, it’s just us as an offence and everyone is playing to their highest level.”

On that efficiency: the Bomber attack piled up 452 yards on 10 possessions and of those 10 drives there were zero two-and-outs.

Just how incredible is that? In 460 games since 2008 (when the league first began recording possession results), only five CFL clubs have gone through a game without a two-and-out drive. The only other time was by Hamilton on July 21, 2012.

2. THE BOMBER D: BENDING IS GOOD, BREAKING BAD IS NOT

Somewhat glossed over in winning in Saskatchewan for the first time since leather helmets (2004, actually) was the work of the Bomber defence. Winnipeg’s defensive dozen was lit up for 497 yards by the Saskatchewan attack, including 285 through the air and another 212 along the ground.

Both of those numbers are concerning but, in fairness, it was Week 1 with the Bombers operating behind their fifth defensive co-ordinator in as many years. But still… 497? Including an average of 12.5 yards per rush?

Hello.

“It was our first real game, our first real test as a defensive unit,” said Bomber defensive tackle Zach Anderson. “It’s a new scheme this year and we had some holes and we have some things to put back together. But the bright side of playing Sask is now we’ve got game film and we’ve got a week to look at it and put the parts back where they needed to go and fix some things that needed to be fixed.”

The Bombers were especially vulnerable to the big play, surrendering a 53-yard TD run by Jerome Messam, a 53-yard TD pass reception by Ryan Smith, a 36-yard reception by Taj Smith and runs of 47 and 32 by Anthony Allen and Nic Demski, respectively. That’s a whole lot of real estate in huge chunks.

“We call them ‘explosion plays’ and I think there were seven explosion plays,” said Anderson. “It’s just one or two guys being out of position at the wrong time. We’ll get it sorted out. We’re coming together.”

3. THE HORROR, THE QB HORROR

The CFL quarterback fraternity took some massive hits last week, with Darian Durant and Dan LeFevour gonzo for the year and Jonathan Crompton and Mike Reilly now on the DL for a spell. So it was not only big that the Bombers Willy was rarely on his back — he was sacked just one time — his receiving numbers and the productivity of the offence speaks volumes of the work of the big eaters up front: tackles Stanley Bryant and Jace Daniels, guards Chris Greaves and rookie Sukh Chung and centre Dominic Picard.

Just FYI: the Ticats can get after it — they had four sacks last week and 50 a year ago.

“They did a tremendous job,” said Willy of his O-line. “Dominic’s been putting in a ton of work with us in the mornings, going over some different blitz looks. That’s huge for us this year. We’ve really been doing that every single practice: making sure we’ve got every blitz look taken care of. Stanley is a premiere player in this league. His athleticism and the way he can control that left side is huge. For guys like Jace, Sukh and Greaves… they played a great game as well. Everyone did their role and came out and played at a high level.”

4. BEWARE: SPECIAL TEAMS

The Ticats feature arguably the most dangerous return man in Brandon Banks — who could have easily been the hero of the 2014 Grey Cup, if not for a penalty that wiped out a score — and he did his thing last week in Calgary with a 67-yard punt return. Hamilton wasn’t without its issues on specials, what with a high snap sailing over Justin Medlock’s head for a safety — in a game the ‘Cats lost 24-23 — while Calgary’s Tim Brown had a punt return of 35 yards and a kickoff return of 30.

The Bombers got solid work from Justin Veltung in their return game, but it was the performance of kicker Lirim Hajrullahu that was a tad unheralded in the work of the team’s offence and the concerns about the D. Hajrullahu did not attempt a field goal, but was outstanding in the punting department and on his kickoffs.

Winnipeg’s foot soldiers, the dudes on special teams, did get a bit of a break this week as head coach Mike O’Shea tried to manage the short turnaround for the troops from a Saturday debut to Thursday home opener, including travel.

“You just try to keep them off the field and limit the amount of reps that they’re out there on he field,” said O’Shea of his approach to practice. “Fresh is best and you try not to overload them with the playbook, give them enough to win. You try and keep them fresh so they’ll be able to play fast.

“We ran enough plays to give us what we need.”

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5. BACKFIELD BEAST(S)

The Bombers got some outstanding work from running back Paris Cotton in the team’s 2015 debut, as he rushed 13 times for 108 yards and a score — 35 in the last two possessions as the club effectively killed the clock. Cotton had also had four receptions for 59 yards and accounted for seven first downs of his own.

“It was the balance,” said Cotton, who pointed to the offence rushing 25 times and passing for the exact same amount. “We had execution all the way around from the quarterback to the receivers to the centre, the interior of the O-line and the outside. When everybody does their job like that, it makes my job easier.

“The new guys on the O-line came in, they communicate well already. The sky’s the limit.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait