Five storylines to consider before Sunday’s game

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/09/2015 (3903 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five storylines to consider prior to Sunday’s Labour Day Classic in Regina:

1. FLOGGING THE DEAD HORSE, EDITION 4,963 AND COUNTING

This horse has been beaten repeatedly, but it’s always about the quarterback in this league and especially so in the annual Labour Day Classic. And let’s face it, this is hardly a marquee matchup at the position, what with the Riders tossing out Brett Smith — yanked from last week’s game in Ottawa — and the Bombers countering with Brian Brohm.

So, Dunigan vs. Austin, this is not.

Smith, option No. 3 for the Riders with injuries to Darian Durant and Kevin Glenn, has shown an ability to get outside the pocket to extend plays, has a 61.5 completion percentage, a TD-to-interception ratio of 6:5 and an efficiency rating of 82.4.

Brohm, meanwhile, has shown an ability to bounce throws to his receivers, has a 50.0 completion percentage, a TD-to-interception ratio of 0:4 (of which two of the picks have been returned for TDs) and a efficiency rating of 32.0. This game, in effect, not only is about Brohm attempting to stop a skid that has seen the Bombers drop three straight and five of their last six, but salvaging his career.

But with those numbers it’s little wonder the Riders — at 0-4 and after whacking their GM and head coach this week — are four-point favourites. Asked what that means to him, Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea cracked:

“They drink a lot in Vegas, don’t they?”

2. CLASSIC? TRY CLUNKER

Just to set the record straight, the evidence of the Bombers’ last win at the Labour Day Classic is not a grainy black-and-white silent film featuring men in leather helmets. Officially, the last Bomber victory in the LDC came in 2004. To put that in perspective, Paul Martin was prime minister, Usher was atop the charts, Shrek 2 was the top-grossing film and the Bombers — with Jim Daley having replaced Dave Ritchie after a 2-5 start — rallied in the second half as Kevin Glenn threw touchdown passes to Milt Stegall and Kamau Peterson in a 17-4 win.

Since then it’s been one nightmare after another, with 10 straight losses.

There have been heartaches, like last year’s 35-30 loss that featured the Riders jamming the ball down the Bombers throats, including the winning score with 28 seconds left. And there most certainly have been blowouts, like the 52-0 massacre in 2012. During the 10-year LDC losing streak the average margin of victory for the Riders is a whopping 18.3 points. That’s a whole lot of tears in a whole lot of beers for Bomber fans who still loyally make the trip.

So, what’s the key for the Bombers, aside from the thick skin they’ll need for all the abuse that will rain down on them from the crowd and — if history repeats — from the Riders?

“It’s most important when you go into a hornets’ nest or a place with a lot of opposing fans is to hit them right in the mouth right after the whistle,” said Bomber defensive tackle Zach Anderson. “Try to get a touchdown right off the bat, try to make some momentum plays that quiets the place quite a bit. And if you can quiet that place and get the momentum on your side then it’s going to be a smooth-sailing game.”

All-righty, then.

3. A GOOD OFFENCE IS A GOOD DEFENCE…

… Or is it a absolutely horrific offence desperately needs a good defence?

That’s the backdrop for the Bombers as they head to Regina, needing their defence to come close to pitching a shutout and the special teams just to not cost them a game with a series of catastrophic mistakes.

Just for kicks and giggles, let’s review the offensive totals from last week’s loss to Calgary: the Bombers managed just six points offensively, half of them gift-wrapped by a punt block by the special teams. Robert Marve threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for a TD by Jamar Wall on the second offensive play of the second half with the Bombers down just 8-3, effectively snuffing out any long shot hope of a comeback. The other pick set the Stamps up at the Bombers’ seven-yard line as part of an offensive nightmare that saw the home side manage just 136 yards net offence, including just 101 through the air.

Mistakes have been absolutely critical for the Bombers this season — 19 giveaways is middle of the pack in the CFL, but the 93 points from those turnovers is by far the worst in the league, 23 more than Edmonton, which has turned the ball over 10 more times than Winnipeg.

4. NEW/OLD FACES IN NEW/OLD PLACES

The Bombers welcome back deep threat Darvin Adams to the attack and will have Ottawa Redblacks castoff Chevon Walker in the backfield as the starting running back. Those additions will give Brohm some speedy weapons to get the ball to, if he has time. In his four games before being injured, Adams had posted two 100-yard efforts, finishing with 16 catches for 320 yards and two scores. The knock on Walker in Ottawa, meanwhile, was that he too often ran east-west rather than north-south when hitting a hole. But when he was in Hamilton, circa 2012-13, he was deadly both along the ground and as a receiver. Case in point: in ’12 he had a 5.6-yard average and four TDs while pulling in 27 passes for another four scores.

“You can’t blink your eye on us,” said Adams. “We’ve got a whole bunch of playmakers from our O-line, to the receivers, to the running backs to our quarterbacks. We have a whole bunch of faith in our guys, no matter who it is. We’re ready. Everybody can make plays.”

5. THE DYCE/O’DAY ERA BEGINS

The Bombers may have their own tire-fire thing going on right now, but those diehards in Rider Nation are still dealing with the aftershock from this week’s firings of GM Brendan Taman and head coach Corey Chamblin. So now what? Jeremy O’Day steps into the big chair once held by Taman while former Bomber/Bison assistant coach Bob Dyce takes over the big headset.

Universally respected during his years an assistant, Dyce’s first move this week was to declare Smith his starting quarterback and to activate running back Anthony Allen after three weeks of inactivity. That just further confirms the Riders plans to try and go old school and smash-mouth their way to victory. But after that, what a Dyce football team might look like will be one of the biggest mysteries heading into this contest.

“There’s a certain amount of speculation that goes into it,” said O’Shea on game-planning for the Riders. “You delve into their backgrounds. Where they came from, who they’ve been under (as assistant coaches), who they’ve coached with and some of the ideas they might have liked when they were assistants elsewhere.

“It’s a bit of fun for the co-ordinators, too, to go through that scenario in their head.”

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