Bombers head coach says changes will be made following closer examination

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This article was published 15/11/2017 (2914 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On a day when Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea let slip that an extension had been signed by offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice, it’s what he wouldn’t say about his defensive co-ordinator that was perhaps most revealing.

Just days removed from a 39-32 loss at home to the Edmonton Eskimos in the West semifinal Sunday, a defeat that ended what had been a promising 12-6 regular season, O’Shea said he hadn’t had time to think about much beyond exit meetings with his players.

“Tuesday, I think I talked to 20 guys in a span of 11 hours and just was in my office all day doing that,” said O’Shea during his season-ending press conference Wednesday morning, which was held in the corner of the Bomber Store at Investors Group Field.

“It still stings, the loss still stings, obviously. We’re not where we want to be but talking to the players and getting their sense of the season can certainly help.”

Once player meetings have concluded, O’Shea said he will sit down with the coaching staff to discuss the past six months. It’s there where they will begin having conversations to determine what led to another early post-season exit.

“We will sort of dissect the season and look at what was good and what wasn’t and how do we go about changing some of those things,” he said.

What is sure to be at the top of the list is the play of the defence, a unit that for a second straight season ranked statistically near the bottom in yards given up and points surrendered. Defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall will bear most of the responsibility for what unfolded and the numbers should leave his future with the team in question, even though he is under contract for 2018.

Unlike the offence, where LaPolice led the charge in a group considered to be among the best in the CFL, the defence was often the main reason why the Bombers lost a game. Against Edmonton, the defence surrendered four touchdowns in the second half — five in total — and three were delivered through the air on passes that seemed to fool the secondary.

Add to that mounting pressure from a fan base that has been calling for the Bombers to fire Hall and his staff, and it would seem going in a new direction might be the best route. But that isn’t how O’Shea viewed the situation Wednesday, adding a closer examination was in order before making any decisions.

“I’m not there, yet,” O’Shea said. “We do need to change what we’re doing on defence. We can’t expect to do the same thing and get the results we want. Every player on the defence knows that, every player on the team probably understands that. Every coach on the defence knows that. What does that involve and entail? We’re not even close to figuring that out yet.”

For many, the case against Hall is easy. The Bombers allowed the third-most net yards per game (an average of 397) and the most passing touchdowns against (33). Opposing quarterbacks registered an average of 321 yards each week against the Bombers — the worst in the CFL — and the 97 rushing yards a game they surrendered on average was fewer than only the Eskimos and Montreal Alouettes.

But there are other parts of the defence, said O’Shea, that need to be considered before making a final analysis. For example, he argued no other offence benefited more from turnovers than Winnipeg. The Bombers led the CFL in points scored after takeaways, with 166. That was 36 more points than the Saskatchewan Roughriders in second place.

In fact, the Bombers were one of the best teams when it came to forcing turnovers this season, just three short of the 45 put up by the league-leading Calgary Stampeders. Last season, Winnipeg led the way with 59 turnovers — 14 more than the next team. In both seasons the Bombers finished first in interceptions.

“I have to look back in the stats to find a team that took away 100 balls, provided opportunities like we do over the past two years for our offence,” said O’Shea, when asked how he could justify returning next year with Hall in charge of the defence. “Scoring, I think we scored seven times ourselves (on defence) and had one to the one-yard line. We increased our number of pressures, we did really well getting pressure on the quarterback this year. Do we need to be better at it? Absolutely. But the one elephant in the room is the yardage given up.

“I also thought there were some missed opportunities that we had for takeaways that obviously stopped some yardage and stopped some points. I got to look at what that added up to — how many yards that is, how many points that is — if we would have capitalized like we did the year before with an ungodly number of takeaways.

“We were still pretty damn good. Most teams would be pretty happy. We finished second in the league with 42 (turnovers). Not trying to cover up the fact we gave up a lot of yards but I’m not throwing it all out. There’s a way to maximize our takeaways and pressures and minimize the yards we give up.

“I have to figure out how to do that.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @jeffkhamilton