Bombers D humming along

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This article was published 06/08/2018 (2644 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After the last meeting between the Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the defence of the Blue and Gold was being heavily scrutinized.

Hamilton came out on top 31-17 on June 29, dropping the Bombers’ record to 1-2. Hamilton quarterback Jeremiah Masoli proved to be as good as advertised, as he completed 31 out of 41 pass attempts for 369 yards with one touchdown and an interception. The Ticats also gave the Bombers troubles on the ground, as Sean Thomas-Erlington scampered for 92 yards on 11 carries, while Mercer Timmis rushed for two touchdowns.

Bombers defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall was asked after Monday’s practice what went wrong in Hamilton in Week 3 and he used an interesting analogy to describe the inconsistent play of his defence.

“It’s like a car running on gasoline. You’re purring along and then it seems like at times we had water in our tank, and we were just puttering, puttering, puttering,” Hall said.

Since the loss to the Ticats, the Bombers defence has had no signs of water in its tank, as they’ve been cruising along just fine with a full tank of gas. In the four games since, the defence has allowed an average of 18 points per contest — with the Bombers winning three out of the four games to improve their record to 4-3.

The secondary has especially impressed, as they have eight interceptions in the past month and have only given up one touchdown pass, which came at the hands of B.C. Lions quarterback Travis Lulay in a 20-17 Week 5 loss. Those four games did come against the Toronto Argonauts and the Lions, who are a combined 4-9 on the year, but still, even though neither team is an offensive juggernaut, it’s no easy task to only surrender one touchdown pass in 16 quarters of football.

“We’re getting there,” said Hall of his defence’s improved play before the bye week. “We still make a lot of mistakes, maybe not mistakes you guys see, but mistakes that I think can help us become a better unit. We’re progressing along, they believe in what we’re doing, and they’re seeing some success out there. Our whole thing is, we want to keep going upwards and we’re getting there. We’re a long ways away from where we need to be, but we’re in a good position right now.”

The Bombers defence might be even stronger for Friday’s home-game tilt with the Ticats, as defensive backs Chandler Fenner and Anthony Gaitor were back at practice on Monday.

Fenner has missed the last three games and Gaitor has been out for the past five. Gaitor hasn’t been removed from the six-game injured list yet and it hasn’t been confirmed that he’ll be good to go for Friday’s game, but Fenner expects to be back in the lineup.

Fenner said he tried to be an extra set of eyes on the sidelines to help the team during his time out of action with a lower-body injury, but he much prefers to be suiting up with his teammates.

“I can’t say it went by fast, it went by fast because I’m here now, so in hindsight, it went by fast,” Fenner said when asked about being out for a month. “During the time, agonizing (emotional) pain. I did not appreciate the tempo. Time goes by so much slower when you’re out.”

You never really know what you’re going to get from a team coming out of a bye week, but veteran defensive back Chris Randle, who spent the week off in Mexico with his family to recharge his batteries, said he has no concern about the defence losing their momentum. He said it was a much-needed break for their bodies after seven weeks of games, even though they were starting to play their best ball of the season.

“Today in practice we were still building on the foundation that we set,” said Randle, who has two interceptions this season. “It’s our mental aspect of the game we’re trying to advance every single week. We got our bodies in a position where we want them to be and I think mentally we’re still as sharp as we want to be.”

Maurice Leggett, who spent some time filling in for Fenner and Gaitor during their absences, did not practise on Monday, but is expected to participate today.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @TaylorAllen31