Bombers need to find killer instinct

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This article was published 20/07/2018 (2636 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – Despite their position at the bottom of the West Division standings and just a week removed from a humiliating loss to the B.C. Lions, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers insist there is no panic seeping into the dressing room.

A win over the Toronto Argonauts Saturday afternoon at BMO Field, in the first game of a home-and-home series before the Bombers head their separate ways for the bye week, will go a long way to changing the team’s current narrative. A loss, however, will only add more doubt to what’s been a rocky first five weeks.

The Argonauts are facing similar challenges and are coming off a heartbreaking 16-15 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos. At 1-3, they, too, are looking up at their peers in the standings and also face the prospect that a loss would mean falling deeper into an early season hole.

With that, here are five storylines to keep an eye on in Saturday’s game.

FLUSHING THE PAST

At 2-3, it’s not exactly the start many predicted for the Blue and Gold. They have yet to earn wins in consecutive weeks and have been hampered by a lack of consistency in all phases of the game.

If not panicked then should they at least be considered a desperate team? They’re adamant that’s not the case, either.

“There’s nothing wrong with being desperate but there’s an expectation when you’re desperate that you’re grasping at all straws and you’re panicking,” Bombers running back Andrew Harris said earlier this week.

“I don’t think we’re panicking; I don’t think we’re desperate. We’ve got a lot of veterans in this room that know what we need to do and it filters down throughout the rest of the team, and it’s about coming to game day and executing 60 minutes. We just got to show up.”

Week 5 was a tough one for the Bombers: they led B.C. 17-0 at halftime and went on to lose 20-17. It a cruel twist of irony, the Bombers suffered a similar Week 5 fate last season, taking a 42-27 lead into the fourth quarter against the Lions only to get blanked 18-0 in the final frame to lose 45-42. The Bombers said much of the same things back then and followed through with their words, winning the next five games. They can only hope history repeats itself.

FINDING THAT KILLER INSTINCT

The main takeaway from last week’s loss to the Lions, in which the Bombers were outscored 20-0 through the final two quarters, was the need to play a consistent game from the first to final whistle.

That focus fell particularly on the offence – a unit that despite leading the CFL in points scored, averaging close to 30 points per game (nearly double that of the Argonauts, at 15.3) – has struggled to find that touch late in games.

Of the Bombers’ three losses this year, in two of them they’ve held the lead heading into the fourth quarter. In the last three games, Winnipeg has yet to eclipse 10 points in the second half and have been limited to seven points or less in two of them.

“We’re showing spurts of it and that’s the thing: it’s just spurts. If you want to be the top-echelon teams in the league we’ve got to be a full 60 minutes of that,” Harris said. “We want to keep our defence fresh and be the ones who are controlling the line of scrimmage and winning the time of possession battle. Those are all huge factors in winning football games, and obviously scoring points is one thing, but that time of possession is a beast, and just keeping our defence off the field is absolutely crucial.”

The Bombers defence has shown a steady improvement over the past two weeks, allowing just 20 and 19 points against, respectively, but they have also been susceptible to breaking down late in games.

Defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall referred to it this week as needing to have that killer instinct, knowing when you have a team on the ropes you must do whatever necessary to deliver the knockout punch.

“It’s one of those things you think about and you say but you have to go out there and do it. Is it easy? No,” Hall said. “Things that happen right now, whether it’s injuries, whether it’s our loss the other night…it’s going to help us down the road because it makes us a better team, it makes us a tougher team.”

THIRD AND SHORT NOTHING TO SWEAT

It’s not often that short-yardage packages become a main talking point heading into a game, but when you aren’t able to execute what are often crucial plays in a game, and the play calling is questioned not only by the media but also the man in charge, it’s suddenly a hot topic.

It wasn’t just the fact the Bombers failed to convert on three different occasions deep in enemy territory against the Lions, but that they failed by calling plays that seemed more complicated than required. While there’s certainly an argument to be made that the ball should have been handed off to Harris — offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice admitted as much this week – there’s also a case the Bombers might have been better served to take the easy points on field goals.

Asked if he would have changed anything from the game, Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea was firm in his response.

“He knows when it’s third and short, I wanna go,” O’Shea said. “I mean, we told the O-line that for a bunch of years, that’s when we want to go for it. We want to be in control of the ball and in control of the game as much as possible.”

Bombers left guard Patrick Neufeld said it wasn’t necessary this week to give extra attention to short-yardage situations.

“That was kind of an anomaly for us; it was a hiccup that shouldn’t have happened. We have to be better up front but we’re not going to change anything,” he said. “We feel like we have the best short-yardage and goal-line package in the CFL and we’re going to have to go out and prove it this week.”

RETURN OF TJ THIEF

Defensive back T.J. Heath earned an all-star nod in both his seasons with the Bombers. He was a big part of the team’s ball-hawking defence in 2016, when he was traded from Toronto to Winnipeg midway through the year, recording seven of his 12 picks over that stretch with Winnipeg.

But when it came to signing him to an extension this past winter, the Bombers elected to go in another direction, despite Heath showing a desire to continue his career with the Bombers. No matter: he’s happy where he landed, back with the team that gave him his first shot in the CFL.

Though he referred on multiple occasions that Saturday would be just like any other game the team needs to win, he certainly would love to add to his interceptions total. He already has a bet with Bombers corner Chris Randle about who can collect the most interceptions this season. They are currently tied at one apiece.

“I’m getting to play against a whole bunch of my homeboys… that’s really all it is,” Heath said. “At the end of the day you love each other, but you still want to get that win, and that’s how I look at it.”

Heath said he used to chat with Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols all the time at practice when the two played together, and his goal every workout was to finish the day with an interception off him. Nichols is coming off a rare night of bad ball security, giving up three picks to the Lions.

“I know how he doesn’t like to give them up and he does a very good job as well of keeping the ball. I try to go into the game just letting it come to me and that’s what I plan on doing. I’m looking forward to the matchup.”

THE UNDERSTUDY RISES TO NO. 1

The emergence of James Franklin in Edmonton during the 2015 season was one of the main reasons why Nichols was deemed expendable by then-head coach Chris Jones. In fact, it was a game against the Bombers that year that would mark the beginning of the end for Nichols and his time with the Eskimos.

After Nichols was unable to get things going on the offence, putting up just four points in just under three quarters of action, Franklin entered the game and went five-for-eight passing for 83 yards and three touchdowns, en route to a 32-3 win. Nichols lasted five more games in Edmonton, finishing 5-2 as a starter, before he was traded to Winnipeg.

“I thought James grasped the game quickly and he pushed me to be a better player,” Nichols said. “I enjoyed our time together and I’ve enjoyed watching him grow as a player and I think he’s doing a great job.”

Stuck behind last year’s most outstanding player, Mike Reilly, in Edmonton, Franklin was shipped to Toronto in December, where he signed a two-year deal to be the backup behind veteran Ricky Ray. Ray then suffered a serious, potentially career-ending, neck injury in Week 2, making way for Franklin to finally get his start under centre.

In two starts, the 26-year-old Franklin is 1-1, playing both games against Edmonton. He has yet to hit the 300-yard passing mark this season and has just one passing touchdown. He was asked if the pressure of being the No. 1 guy has gotten to him, especially with the Argonauts at 1-3 despite high expectations coming off a championship year.

“You don’t want to have a losing record and then being the quarterback, who is seen as a natural leader and a big face on the team, there is a lot of pressure from other people,” Franklin said. “You can just feel that but you really try not to think about it and take it one game at a time and, truthfully, too, just with how Toronto last year, with their record, still winning the Grey Cup, I think that has also given me a lot of comfort to where it hasn’t felt like too much of a deal.”

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