Improved Redblacks first test for two time Grey Cup Champs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/06/2022 (1191 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ pursuit of a third consecutive Grey Cup championship begins in earnest Friday night when the Ottawa Redblacks visit IG Field.

The Bombers enter the 2022 CFL season with a bullseye on their backs, the byproduct of winning consecutive league titles. Winnipeg has the rare chance to ‘threepeat’ — which would make it the first team to achieve the feat since Edmonton won five Cups from 1978-82.

It’s also the first meeting between the Bombers and Redblacks since the 2019 season.

The 2020 campaign was wiped out owing to COVID-19, and the CFL schedule maker oddly set no battles between the two sides in 2021. (Probably a good thing for Ottawa, as the Bombers were 11-3 last season and the Redblacks just 3-11.)

“It doesn’t matter what the team did the previous season,” said quarterback Zach Collaros following Thursday’s walk-through. “Obviously, it adds to the storyline and all those kinds of things, but from our perspective, we’re getting ready to play a great football team and it happens to be Ottawa this week.”

With that, here are five storylines to keep an eye on Friday.

1) Marc Liegghio was given every opportunity in training camp last season to become the Bombers’ sole leg. But he failed to win the job outright, resulting in a carousel of kickers throughout the season. Give him credit. He won the job this year, with Ali Mourtada relegated to the practise roster.

While O’Shea didn’t come right out and say it, he definitely alluded to Liegghio having a short leash by mentioning the roster could change.

The decision to go with Liegghio makes sense, as he and Mourtada were almost identical in place kicking and punting through two preseason games. But Liegghio is one year older and more experienced, and the hope is he can evolve into the confident kicker at the pro level that he was when he was setting records at Western University.

He’ll be under the microscope, to be sure, and even an average performance might be enough to trigger a change in what is the most questionable area of the defending champions’ lineup.

2) The shock of losing Andrew Harris has diminished in the months since the future Hall-of-Fame running back signed as a free agent with the Toronto Argonauts in February. While his absence will certainly be noticed by his former teammates, Friday’s game marks a new era for the Blue and Gold run game.

Winnipegger Brady Oliveira will earn the start and is expected to carry much of the workload, at least early on, with Johnny Augustine more than capable of chipping in as the relief back. Given how effective Augustine can be — he has an average rush of 7.13 yards compared to Oliveira’s mark of 4.56, albeit with fewer than half the number of carries — perhaps it evolves into more of a two-headed monster approach as the season rolls on.

How quickly the Bombers adopt that approach will likely have to do with how Oliveira fares throughout the game, and with Ottawa’s weak spot on defence being its front line, it’s a good position to make a strong first impression. The Bombers take a lot of pride in running the ball — as well as it being a key ingredient to opening up the passing game — making it a significant part of the club’s overall success.

3) The Bombers defence in 2021 was a force to be reckoned with, putting up the kind of numbers not seen in these parts for decades. It led the league in turnovers forced (38) and fumble recoveries (11), while also having the fewest touchdowns allowed (16), including passing TDs (nine), and the fewest average points surrendered (13.4).

While several members of the defence have suggested they want to be even better this season, those claims ignore the hits suffered by the team’s secondary. With safety Brandon Alexander still recovering from off-season knee surgery, and defensive back DeAundre Alford (Atlanta Falcons) and dime back Alden Darby (Hamilton Tiger-Cats) moving on to different teams, there are a fair number of moving pieces in Winnipeg’s last line of defence.

Malcolm Thompson impressed in training camp with his hard-hitting style and will take over for Alexander, while Tyqwan Glass, who signed as a free agent after 30 games split over three seasons in Montreal and Edmonton, will replace Alford at field corner. Rookie Donald Rutledge Jr. slots in at Darby’s old spot at strong-side linebacker.

The group didn’t look all that impressive in one half of play in the preseason against Edmonton, but that’s too small a sample size to draw any conclusions. It will be interesting to see what the unit has been able to clean up over the last two weeks to get ready for when the real bullets start flying.

4) The Bombers will be without one of their most important players in defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat. The University of Texas product, who led the team in sacks a season ago, was sidelined for the majority of training camp and hardly practised this week. His rather large shoes will be filled by rookies L.B. Mack III and Cedric Wilcots II.

At 6-0, 235 pounds, Mack is certainly on the smaller side for the position, but O’Shea raved about him in camp and downplayed his stature. Regardless of his frame, Mack knows how to find his way into the backfield as he left the University of Rhode Island with the second-most tackles for loss (39) in program history.

Behind Mack on the depth chart is Wilcots II, who was cut at the end of training camp in 2021 but was given another shot this year.

With Jeffcoat out, Ottawa can give more attention to the man on the opposite end of the line, Willie Jefferson. Jefferson has proven before he can get to the quarterback without his running mate. In six games without Jeffcoat in 2019, Jefferson registered seven sacks.

5) Two weeks after winning the 2019 Grey Cup with the Bombers as an offensive co-ordinator, Paul LaPolice signed on with Ottawa to be the squad’s new head coach.

The CFL did LaPolice a favour last year by allowing the Redblacks — the laughing stock of the league — to sidestep the Bombers. However, the eastern team has had a makeover, with 10 new faces on offence including former Bombers wide receiver Darvin Adams.

The most notable addition is quarterback Jeremiah Masoli who spent the past eight seasons in Hamilton. Now with some real talent, including 2021 East all-star receiver Jaelon Acklin (from Hamilton), another dismal 3-11 record will not be acceptable in the nation’s capital.

With a pair of games against the Bombers to open the season, LaPolice better hope his new troops can get on the same page immediately or else they could be staring at a 0-2 hole.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Taylor.Allen@freepress.mb.ca