It’s Matty Ice vs. the Sackmaster

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/09/2017 (2907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON – During Week 5, it was an on-side fake field goal perfectly executed against the B.C. Lions. In Week 6, it was a deftly staged short kickoff, recovered by Brandon Alexander, that was a big part of a miracle comeback against the Montreal Alouettes.

During the Banjo Bowl earlier this month, a mind-blowing bit of misdirection on a punt return allowed Mo Leggett to rumble untouched for a back-breaking, 97-yard touchdown against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

What do each of these plays have in common?

Well, each one was conceived and directed by Paul Boudreau, the unassuming 42-year-old special teams guru of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Yet Boudreau is not just interested in trickery. The meat and potatoes of the special teams work in the CFL is basic stuff — sharp downfield coverage, no-nonsense tackling and effective blocking are essential. The Blue Bombers have also been flagged for the fewest special teams penalties in the CFL while leading the league in average kickoff returns.

But in Boudreau’s world, trickery can also be good football.

“Special teams is a little different, because you can’t be the Charlie Brown school teacher — wa, wa,” said Boudreau earlier this week. “You’ve gotta come up with some creative things. It’s almost like you’re a magician sometimes, you’re trying to pull something out of a hat.”

Good fortune also plays into Boudreau’s scheming.

Prior to Leggett’s Banjo Bowl gallop, for instance, regular return man Kevin Fogg’s antics were crucial to sell the idea he was preparing to return the football even though the ball was bouncing near the opposite sideline 40 yards away.

“That one you’ve gotta be a little bit lucky,” said Boudreau, laughing as he recalled the frantic overselling, with Fogg eventually falling down on the play. “You’ve gotta get the right punt. Fogg was not a good actor — he was terrible. I gave him a little grief in the meeting after.”

Head coach Mike O’Shea, a special teams assistant coach with the Toronto Argonauts before he joined the Blue Bombers, has given Boudreau room to be creative.

“He’ll come down to my office during the week or he’ll come to my office, just to give him the head’s up on what I’ve got drawn up,” said Boudreau, who honed his skills with the NFL’s St. Louis Rams for four seasons before coming to Winnipeg in 2016.

“During the course of the week, he may say, ‘Hey, think about tweaking this.’ He’s good at letting his coaches coach. Obviously, he’s good to have if there’s a question about rules, I can bounce something off him.”

With the all-important special teams battle likely to figure prominently when the Blue Bombers and Edmonton Eskimos clash tonight (8:30 p.m., TSN, CJOB 680), here are five storylines to keep in mind:

 

THOSE TRICKY BLUE BOMBERS

On Friday, Edmonton head coach Jason Maas admitted facing Winnipeg comes with an extra headache.

“Any time you play a Mike O’Shea-coached football team, he has a great acumen for special teams,” said Maas. “He’s been part of this league forever, he knows every single play you could possibly run, he’s thought of every single angle, every single thing that could catch you off guard. I think that’s what he thrives on, but he’s still fundamentally sound. That’s still a sound football team.

“So, yes, any time you play them, you go over every single thing you could possibly go over.”

 

CAN ESKIMOS GET OFF THE SCHNEID?

Edmonton defied injuries and the experts with seven victories to start the regular season. Since then, beginning with a 33-26 loss in Winnipeg in Week 9, the Eskimos have lost five straight and are four points back of the Bombers with six regular-season games remaining. “We’re hungry. We are hungry,” said four-time CFL all-star defensive tackle Almondo Sewell. “Losing five games, that’ll do something to your soul. Especially in football.”

The third-place Eskimos are feeling the heat from behind, with both the Saskatchewan Roughriders and B.C. Lions only two points back in the ultra-competitive West Division. In addition, a loss to Winnipeg would hand the tiebreaker edge to the second-place Blue Bombers.

“It’s time to get back on track,” said wide receiver Adarius Bowman. “I think the guys flushed everything we had going on. Like I say, the CFL season’s long — some split it up in threes, some split it up in twos, but however you take it, it’s go time right now.”

 

HEATHIER, IMPROVED ESKIES?

Sewell and receivers Bowman and Brandon Zylstra all return to the lineup after missing the Winnipeg game with injuries while head coach Jason Maas has also added two key veterans with wide receiver Derel Walker (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and defensive back Aaron Grymes (Philadelphia Eagles) returning from NFL camps.

Edmonton had 16 players on its six-game injured list the last time the teams met. This week, they have an astounding 19 players on the six-game list and two more on one-game injured reserve.

“We’re a different team,” said quarterback Mike Reilly. “Every team right now is a different than they were five, six weeks ago, whatever it is. Every team has that over the course of the season… certainly, over a month or two you’ve transitioned based on injuries, based on figuring out what you’re good at or strengthening your weaknesses. The same with Winnipeg, they’re a different team. Personnel-wise maybe not as different as we’re gonna be but they’ve had five or six games since the last time we played ’em and they’ ve progressed as well. It’s going to be a different matchup — personnel wise and scheme wise — but they’re very good at what they do and they stick to that. We know what our strengths are as well.”

 

ODELL VS. MATTY ICE

Edmonton defensive end Odell Willis is one of the CFL’s finest pass rushers and he can also talk trash with the best of them. 

“I talk to all the quarterbacks, you can ask them all,” said Willis. “I don’t know if it’s trash talk to them or what. I just like to have friendly conversations during the game. I have fun, talk to them between plays, even during the snap count. It’s just fun.”

Saturday, the man who gave Matt Nichols the “Matty Ice” nickname, will be chasing his former Eskimos teammate.

“I like Matty Ice, man,” said Willis, who is 10th in the CFL with six sacks. “He’s one of us, man, he’s just wearing a different uniform. I’m going to be trying to get after him and rattle him tomorrow and hopefully I can do that.

“I don’t feel like I’m gonna rattle him unless I hit him. Any quarterback is standing there under pressure because that’s what they get paid to do but once you get hitting him and sacking him and really getting to him, that’s when you get the rattle because the clock is speeding up in his head, from three seconds to 2.5, from 2.5 to two. Once you get to him that way, then he’s rattled. If you don’t get to him, he’s going to sit back there and slice and dice.”

Nichols, for his part, doesn’t expect to be rattled.

“I never hear him,” Nichols deadpanned. “I was around him a long time so, I developed this… super power to block out anything he says… You guys want the secret? You spend hours and hours in the locker room and on the field to develop that and I’m sure he’ll be talking out there but that’s all it is, is talk.”

 

CONTROLING THE CLOCK

The Bombers and Eskimos are first and second, respectively, in net offence per game (401 to 398.3). But Edmonton has a lead in time of possession, with a league-leading 31:54 per game. Winnipeg is sixth with a 30:24 mark.

“We try to keep time of possession on our side every game,” said Reilly. “I think we’ve done a good job of that so far this year… ball control is always a big part of the CFL in general but when you play against a team with a very good offence, the longer you keep them off the field the better off you’re going to be. That’s not something we sit there and worry about based on our opponent. We worry about staying on the field, moving the chains and finishing drives with touchdowns. That’s always the goal.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14

Bombers+at+Edmonton+Sept+30