Bombers’ dismal defence up against Montreal’s capable Cato

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This article was published 07/07/2015 (4080 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Montreal Gazette proclaimed it one of the greatest debuts in CFL history.

And while that might sound like breathless hyperbole, you’d be hard pressed to find better numbers in a CFL debut than those put up by Rakeem Cato for the Montreal Alouettes last weekend. In Montreal’s dominating 29-11 win over the Calgary Stampeders, Cato went 20-for-25 with 241 yards, three TDs and zero interceptions.

The question now is can Cato do it again, now that the rest of the league has game film on him, something the Stamps were without last weekend?

That is a compelling question — and one of particular interest in River City. Winnipeg will host Cato and the Als Friday night at Investors Group Field, which is home to the worst defence in the entire CFL, at least statistically speaking.

The Bombers defence is dead last in 12 of 25 defensive categories the CFL tracks on a weekly basis. The prospect of putting that defence up against Cato (some are already calling him the second coming of Anthony Calvillo) should be enough to deprive even the most optmistic of Bombers defenders of a little sleep.

But if they’re worried, they weren’t admitting it Tuesday afternoon following practice.

To a man, Winnipeg defenders continue to believe they have both the scheme and the personnel to stop Cato and every other offence in the CFL. So why haven’t they been doing so through the first two weeks of the season?

“This is a very sound defence and it works when we do our job,” said Bombers defensive end Greg Peach. “The scheme works and it’s been proven to work. And we have good players here — proven players…

“The mindset right now in our room is simply correcting mental errors. You can see on the film on every play where the mistake was made… As players in the room right now, we’re just trying to fix those mistakes.

“We’re not panicking at all. That’s the big thing — we’re not pointing fingers, we’re just trying to do what’s best for us as far as fixing those little things.”

They might be little things, but there are a lot of them. Winnipeg’s defence was shredded for 212 yards on the ground in a Week 1 win over the Saskatchewan and then dissected for 395 yards through the air in a Week 2 loss to Hamilton.

So, if you cannot stop the run one week and cannot stop the pass another week, where’s the room for optimism?

Head coach Mike O’Shea likens the problem to growing pains. His defence has four new starters playing a brand new scheme under new defensive co-ordinator in Richie Hall.

“I’m not at the stage yet where I’m worried about it,” said O’Shea. “I see guys getting better every day. In practice, I see them improving their football IQ. I see them improving their thoughts around this specific defence and having ‘aha’ moments — ‘Aha, I get it now.’

“And as long as we keep improving, as long as we keep getting closer to the ball on every play, then I believe we’re headed in the right direction.”

One of the defenders heading in the right direction has been rookie cornerback Johnny Adams. While no one on the starting defensive dozen has much to brag about through Week 2, team staffers say the film suggests Adams has been mostly a part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

So what’s Adams’ prescription for what ails this Bombers D? He’s got pretty much the same solution as Peach and O’Shea.

“As a defence, collectively, we just need to get better,” said Adams. “The offence has been pretty good and we need to buckle down on defence.”

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Middle linebacker Sam Hurl — one of three new starting linebackers for the team in 2015 — has seen his unit victimized in both run and pass coverage. But Hurl insisted things aren’t as bad as those humbling league numbers suggest.

“I don’t think it’s scheme or personnel — I think it’s just a matter of coming together as a unit,” he said. “It’s only been two games and this is a very long season. We’ve still got a long time to go…

“Yeah, we’ve struggled at times, but we’ve also improved some things. I really think it’s just a matter of putting it altogether and executing.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek