Bombers’ D on the rebound, driven by youth

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This article was published 02/10/2018 (2544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Chris Randle, it was a day of reckoning for the Winnipeg defence.

On Aug. 17, the Blue Bombers were drubbed 44-17 by the Ottawa Redblacks and there weren’t many, if any, positives to draw from the experience.

Winnipeg’s D had been manhandled by the visitors to the tune of 361 yards through the air, 493 net yards and four touchdowns.

It was humbling to be picked apart by Trevor Harris, one of the CFL’s finest quarterbacks, but it also seems to have provided motivation in the Winnipeg locker room for a turnaround.

“That’s the game that kinda changed things for us,” said the veteran cornerback after practice at Investors Group Field on Tuesday afternoon. “For me and the secondary, I think we took it as ‘Let’s try to be better,’ because it’s unacceptable to lose in this fashion at home.”

The makeover didn’t materialize overnight but Winnipeg’s much-maligned defence has shown dramatic improvement in recent weeks, allowing only one offensive touchdown over its last three games, capped by a remarkable 30-3 throttling of the high-powered Edmonton Eskimos in Week 16.

Winnipeg got stellar performances from defensive backs Brandon Alexander, Kevin Fogg and Marcus Sayles (a group with a combined six years of CFL experience) in the shutdown of all-star quarterback Mike Reilly. Winnipeg held the league’s 2017 most outstanding player to 164 yards passing and zero touchdowns and recorded two interceptions.

Alexander and Fogg both contributed “Adam Bighill hat tricks” (interception, forced fumble and fumble recovery) while Sayles chipped in with six tackles, including a devastating but clean hit that knocked the league’s top receiver, Duke Williams, out of the game with a dislocated shoulder.

Randle believes the improved play of the unit’s youngsters is driving the upgrade.

“You see things you don’t normally see from first- or second-year guys,” Randle said. “You see Sayles stepping up, you see Brandon Alexander, his role has expanded tremendously on this team. His impact, his play, his production is on a high scale, an all-star scale.

“That comes with reps, that comes with preparation. That comes with understanding the concepts of the defence, understanding your opponent. Everyone is putting those components together and, you know, this is the product that we’re getting.”

Alexander, who has three interceptions and two forced fumbles in 11 games, kept the faith.

“We always knew we were a good defence,” Alexander said. “If you look at the first half of Calgary (in Week 11), if you look at the first half of Hamilton (in Week 3) — if you look at any of those games where we had a half or three quarters or three quarters and a half where the defence played lights out, we just dropped the ball in the last quarter or the last couple of minutes of the game.

“We hadn’t put a real complete game in, and we finally did that.”

Sophomore linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox believes the unit’s younger players are playing faster, more instinctively and with fewer mental mistakes.

“What you guys saw was everybody doing their job,” said Santos-Knox, who is tied for seventh among CFL defenders with 68 tackles. “When everybody does their job, all you have to do is make the play that comes to you. It’s only a matter of time… We didn’t do anything crazy, anything extraordinary. We just kept it basic, kept our fundamentals and it came down to knowing our assignments.”

Alexander understands why newcomers rarely thrive upon reaching the CFL. Repetitions, seasoning and study have helped to speed up his reaction time.

“Just coming in this year, we knew it was going to slow down just a little bit,” Alexander said. “I said that in training camp and it’s been shown, from people like myself, Jovan and a couple of others, being able to take what we’ve seen last year and put it on the field. Also, being able to help the younger guys in a different fashion.”

Facing an old nemesis like the Redblacks (8-5, first in East) again Friday night will be a good test.

This time, Winnipeg (7-7, tied for third in West) will be venturing into hostile territory.

“What we told them is this week we’ve got to be better than we were last week, because if you’re the same, you’re really going backwards,” said defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall. “It’s a short week. Make sure we’re mentally focused. You’ve got to play with that same urgency, know what you’re supposed to do and we’ll see what happens at the end of the day.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14