Return unit in need of kick-start

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This article was published 23/08/2023 (806 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Greg McCrae took over kick return duties for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers following an injury to Janarion Grant, the transition looked to be seamless.

Grant, who is considered among the best return men in the CFL, injured his ankle during a play on offence partway through a Week 5 matchup against the Calgary Stampeders. McCrae took over from there, helping guide the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to victory, including reeling in a 68-yard catch for a touchdown and a 102-yard return off a missed field that led to another score.

Suddenly, with McCrae at the helm, the loss of Grant didn’t seem all that bad. Fast-forward to today and the return game, still led by the 25-year-old Miami native, has struggled to find its rhythm, and fans are starting to wonder when Grant might be back.

“I don’t think it’s new for him, but the speed and things we ask him to do, right? It would help if it’s a cleaner picture, but that’s for every returner, not just Greg McCrae,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said following walkthrough Wednesday, the day before the Bombers welcome the Montreal Alouettes to town. “You’d like just a fraction of second longer or a fraction of a second cleaner when he gets the ball and gets his eyes up there and he sees the initial starting point. Some of that’s being taken away.”

McCrae doesn’t have a lot of reps under his belt. In fact, with only 15 punt returns and seven kickoff returns so far this year, he doesn’t even qualify for the CFL’s league-wide statistics report.

If McCrae were eligible, the results wouldn’t be pretty.

With an average of nearly seven yards per punt return, McCrae would rank last among regular returners across the league, averaging three fewer yards than Edmonton’s C.J. Sims at eighth. As for kickoffs, McCrae, who is averaging 20 yards on his returns, would be just ahead of Toronto’s Javon Leake, who is averaging 19.7 yards, but is leading the pack in average punt-return yardage.

McCrae said he feels like he’s been improving each week, noting there are always areas he can improve on. When asked if there was anything he needed to adjust, McCrae said he felt like he needed to be more true to himself.

“When you’re replacing a guy like Janarion, one of the best I’ve seen, you get in this mode of trying to be like them, wanting to be spectacular like them,” McCrae said. “But at the end of the day, what got you to where you are is being you. That’s something I’ve focused on more recently is just continuing to be myself and let the game unfold naturally. That’s what got me this far and that’s what’s going to allow me to push forward.”

While the returner is often the main focus — earning praise when things are good and criticized when they aren’t — there’s an entire 12-man unit responsible for his success. Field position is an extremely important part of winning, too, and if the Bombers are going to improve, they know it will take a full-team effort.

“It’s just about us doing our part, blocking our guys and we can get back to scoring touchdowns,” Bombers special-teamer Les Maruo. “We’re going to show the fans our special teams can really step up this game. And not just in the return game, the kickoff and punt cover has also been struggling a little bit. So, we’re going to do a better job this time.”

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It hasn’t helped that the Bombers have been without arguably two of their best special-teamers in Mike Miller and Shayne Gauthier. Gauthier has returned from his stint on the six-game injured list and has been cleared to play against the Alouettes.

Gauthier has spent the last six games watching his club and is eager to get back in the mix, hoping his physical play can give his teammates a boost. As for McCrae, Gauthier feels the Bombers are in good hands, so long as everyone else is doing what they can to chip in.

“Block my guy for him. On those types of plays you have one job and it’s mostly blocking one guy. It’s about winning your one-on-one battle,” Gauthier said. “If everybody wins his one-on-one battle, then Greg has a one-on-one with the kicker. Win your one-on-ones every play is the best thing I can do for Greg. He knows what his job is and I know what my job is, and if I do my job well then Greg can do his better.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.