Do Blue have it in them?

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This article was published 06/07/2016 (3366 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON — The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will hit the turf at Tim Hortons Field Thursday looking to right a wrong.

For Hamilton, that wrong came in the form of last week’s 28-3 loss to the B.C. Lions on this very field, a game in which the Ticats posted their lowest point total at home in almost a decade.

As for Winnipeg, it’s much bigger than just responding to a loss, which they, too, must do. For the Bombers, it will mean not only putting one back in the win column, but also putting a fan base that is all but ready to declare the season a writeoff.

Dramatic? Absolutely. But it’s the reality of a team that’s won half as many games as it’s lost the past two seasons and is already 0-2 this year. The Bombers’ past has dug them a hole, making it no better time than the present to starting climbing out.

With that, here are five story lines to keep in mind for tonight’s game:

Willy or won’t he?

A quick look at his stat lines and they look good. In fact, they look great. Drew Willy has a combined 661 passing yards — the second most of any quarterback in the CFL through two games — three touchdowns and a 105.8 passer rating.

Here’s the kicker: most of his production has come in the fourth quarter with the Bombers trailing big and a victory far out of reach. Of Willy’s 661 yards through the air, a whopping 464 have come in the final frame, along with all three of his scores.

Willy doesn’t need any reminding the Bombers need a strong start to this one — he has preached as much every time he’s stepped in front of a microphone this week. Instead, it’s he who needs to give a reminder to a fan base that has started a campaign to run him out of town, showing them why they once appointed him the mayor of Willy-peg.

If the Bombers are to win this one, they’ll need their leader to lead.

Dressler returns

Willy will get some much-needed help when veteran receiver Weston Dressler makes his return to the lineup tonight. Dressler has played just eight snaps this season — the last resulting in a catch that ended with a helmet-to- helmet collision with Montreal’s Ethan Davis that forced him to leave Week 1 and sit out Week 2.

His injury and pending return has dominated the headlines for the better part of the last two weeks. Now, the Bombers hope Dressler can dominate opposing defenders, much like he has done over his eight-year CFL career.

Dressler has been particularly effective against the Ticats. In the last four seasons, while a member of the Riders, he has 34 catches for 507 yards — an average of 14.9 per grab — and six touchdowns. They’ll need every bit of that punch and more against a feisty Hamilton defence that finished atop the CFL last season.

Sack attack

All week members of the Winnipeg defensive line have downplayed the fact they only have one sack this year, the lowest total of any CFL team. And even that one came from rookie defensive end Trent Corney, who is out with an injury.

With defensive end Jamaal Westerman, who finished second-best with 17 sacks last season, and the additions of Keith Shologan, who had a career-best seven QB takedowns with the Ottawa Redblacks in 2015 and Euclid Cummings, a fierce defender who came over from the Toronto Argonauts, many believed it would be sack city for the Blue and Gold this season.

To turn things around, they’ll have to do it against a Hamilton front five that allowed four sacks on quarterback Jeremiah Masoli last week. Ticats lineman Brian Simmons called it “embarrassing” and said he’s ready for the challenge this week.

“I know it’s going to be a battle,” said Simmons. “It’s a statistical position so I know that they’re going to be coming and we’ll be ready.”

Road to victory

It’s been one of the wackiest trends this season. Of the eight games played through two weeks, the visiting team has won six times, with the average margin of victory exceeding 15 points.

It’s a pattern that hasn’t favoured the Blue and Gold, however, as they are one of the two teams — the other being the Calgary Stampeders — to fall short on the road this season. They do face a Hamilton squad that has struggled to put up wins at home lately. The Ticats were a perfect 9-0 since the official opening of their new field back in September of 2014, but have gone 2-5 since, including last week’s blowout loss to the B.C. Lions.

If Hamilton’s walk-through Wednesday suggested anything, it’s the Bombers are going to need more than luck on their side.

“Every game matters,” said Kent Austin, head coach of the Ticats. “You can sit here very easily and say, ‘There’s 16 more games so the record is less important’ — that’s not true.”

One more for the road: last season, the Bombers finished 0-2 against Hamilton while being outscored 90-34.

Banking on it

At just 5-7 and 153 pounds, Brandon Banks is the CFL’s biggest threat in the return game. Banks led the CFL last season with four punt returns for touchdowns, just one shy of the league record. He also returned a missed convert 127 yards, making him the first player to do so in CFL history.

For the most part, Banks has been held in check this season, hauling in eight punt returns for 84 yards and seven kickoff returns for another 162, meaning he’s overdue for a breakout game — or at least he hopes so.

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“We got a plan that I will,” said Banks.

Countering for the Bombers will be Quincey McDuffie, who posted a league-high 176 combined return yards in Week 1. He followed that up with 108 yards against Calgary last week for a total of 279 yards – good enough for second in the CFL.

Field position has been an issue for the Bombers this season. Against the Alouettes, the Bombers began all 15 of their drives in their own end. Against Calgary, all but one of their 12 drives were from their own 35-yard line or deeper; the lone one being the blocked field goal that ended up on the Stamps’ two-yard line.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.