Five takeaways from Bombers crazy victory over Eskimos

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This article was published 28/06/2019 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s called the Crazy Football League for a reason, and Thursday’s game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Eskimos certainly lived up to that billing.

In the end, it was the Bombers (2-0) who squeaked out a 28-21 win, combining a streaky offence with a bend-but-don’t-break defence to remain perfect and give the Eskimos (2-1) their first loss of the season. Winnipeg will face another unbeaten club next week, facing a familar face in quarterback Dominique Davis and the Ottawa Redblacks (2-0) next Friday at TD Place.

But there’s still plenty to unpack from Thursday. Here are five takeaways from the Bombers’ nail-biting win.

1) The numbers aren’t flattering… again.

For the second straight week, the Bombers defence surrendered more than 300 passing yards, bringing their two-game total to 669 – an average of 334.5 per game. Total net yards against have ballooned to 788.

Still, there’s no disputing that for a second straight week the play of the defence was the primary reason why the Bombers left with another two points. Up against a formidable Eskimos offence led by quarterback Trevor Harris, who entered the game with a league-leading 741 passing yards and six touchdowns, the Bombers defensive dozen managed to keep the lid on threatening drives.

Edmonton was forced to settle for seven field goals — a franchise record — despite knocking on the doorstep on a number of series. Just consider that of all the field goals made by Sean Whyte, only two were from beyond 33 yards (30, 20, 10, 45, 31, 37, 33).

But what was most impressive was the defence’s effort down the stretch. As was the case against the B.C. Lions in Week 1, the unit limited their opponent to fewer than 10 points in the final two quarters. When the Eskimos were pressing on two potentially game-tying drives late in the fourth frame, it was the defence that swarmed the ball, providing tight coverage to force a pair of turnover-on-downs and secure the win.

“Defences love that s—t,” said Bombers safety Jeff Hecht. “I try to tell the young guys when the offence is out there trying to close out the game, you should be on the sideline hoping that they give it back. We want to be out there to finish it.”

I have a feeling fans would disagree; finishes like those can be tough on the heart.

2) Though there was plenty to like on defence, there were also some areas in need of improvement.

A glaring weakness in the secondary reared its ugly head again. Chandler Fenner, occupying the field-side corner position in the secondary, was picked on for a second straight week. Harris delivered pass after pass to the wide side of the field, leaving both Fenner and field halfback Brandon Alexander chasing down ball carriers for much of the night. The two combined for a whopping 18 tackles, with only a couple of those being takedowns of running back C.J. Gable.

Fenner’s lack of speed was also exposed, resulting in a number of costly penalties, some of which extended drives. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bombers look to Marcus Rios, back after missing time with a suspected concussion, to take some reps with the No. 1 defence when the team returns to practice next week.

Also, it’s hard not to be a tad underwhelmed by the Bombers’ defensive line. Willie Jefferson, the prized free-agent signing, hasn’t had the impact that many expected. And though there’s more to the game than statistics, two sacks through two games just simply isn’t enough from this unit. It would be one thing if Harris were running for his life; problem is he wasn’t. They’ll need to be better against Ottawa next week.

3) The defence is deserving of a free pass for now. After all, the Bombers’ struggles on offence had the defence working on an empty tank.

Edmonton dominated time of possession 36:20 to 23:40, as Winnipeg struggled to control the clock all night. Credit Winnipeg quarterback Matt Nichols and the offence for four touchdown drives, which gives them an impressive eight through two games, but concern goes far beyond the points scored.

It was a tough night for the offensive line, with Nichols under pressure far too often. That wasn’t surprising, given how effective the Eskimos’ D-line is — they had seven sacks vs. B.C. last week — and that Winnipeg is still working with a mostly inexperienced interior on the O-line. It’s safe to assume they’ll only improve with time.

Then there was the rare occurence of Harris fumbling twice, though that’s not likely to happen again.

What’s less excusable is the Bombers’ inability to move the chains with consistentcy. The offence came in quick spurts, and then suddenly vanished for long stretches. No points were scored in the second and fourth quarters.

What’s most troubling, though, was how invisible they were in the final 15 minutes. Here are the results from the final five drives before Nichols kneeled to end the game: punt, punt, punt, punt, fumble.

4) Some of that has to fall directly on the play calling of offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice. Case in point: after stealing all the momentum with back-to-back touchdown drives in the second quarter, the Bombers found themselves once again marching downfield.

But when faced with second-and-short at midfield, LaPolice decided to reach into his bag of tricks instead of going with what’s always worked.

Backup pivot Chris Streveler is arguably the league’s best bet to pick up a few yards on a quarterback sneak. Instead, LaPolice calld for the ball to be pitched to slotback Lucky Whitehead on an end-around sweep that was snuffed out for a loss of two yards, forcing the Bombers to punt. In what was another clear example of the Bombers OC getting in his own way, the offence was unable to recover for the remainder of the first half, following that series up with a punt and two turnovers on the next three possessions before clinging to a 14-12 lead at halftime.

And when asked to help milk the clock in the fourth, and give the defence some much-needed rest, again nothing seemed to work. In four meaningful drives in the fourth quarter, Winnipeg ran a total of 12 plays, lasting 5:04.

“Obviously it’s something we’ll go back and make some minor corrections. A lot of it just starts from getting some yardage on that first-down play, not being in second-and-long because then you’re kind of at the mercy of the defence,” said Nichols. “You don’t know if they’re going to bring a lot of pressure or drop nine people into coverage, and it’s hard to come up with certain calls in those times.”

The Bombers were 6-for-17 (35 per cent) on second down, averaging 2.5 yards per play.

5) The good news, of course, is that despite not playing their best game the Bombers still found a way to win. That’s a trait of any good team, and it must have been particularly rewarding to have it come against a divisional foe.

Another big positive was the play of first-year receiver Whitehead, who accounted for a big chuck of Nichols’ 200 passing yards. The former NFLer reeled in all seven of his targets for 155 yards and two touchdowns. The next closest was running back Andrew Harris, who had two catches for 17 yards.

On both of Whitehead’s scoring drives, the Bombers needed just one play to hit pay dirt.

The first was a 75-yard bomb down the right sidelines with Whitehead beating his defender with a quick double-move. What followed was a 41-yard touchdown that required surgical precision by the 27-year-old, including retrieving the ball behind the line of scrimmage before cutting outside and then back inside with barely a finger touching his jersey.

“It was a breakout (game) for me, just to show my speed,” said Whitehead after the game. “It was definitely fun, just that feeling with everybody in the end zone.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton