Blue consistently awful at protecting QBs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/10/2014 (4074 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We have all been warned by our parents, at one time or another, if we did not take care of our toys and keep them in good condition, they would break and we wouldn’t be able to play with them any longer.

Apply this principle to professional football, and at the rate with which Drew Willy is being bludgeoned, it simply is not realistic for him to have a long and productive career as the quarterback of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

In the 14 games Willy has played this year, he has been sacked 52 times. That’s an average of almost four sacks a game, and puts him on pace to be dumped for a loss around 67 times this season by much larger players with bad intentions. This is not what you would call a sustainable fact or figure.

Yet sacks aren’t even the most accurate measurement of how badly your quarterback is being pin-balled around the league; hits are. Without consulting any bean counters from the football team, the general rule of thumb is for every four times you hit a QB, you usually sack him once. So if that was true of this season, let’s just say that it is a small miracle that Willy is still walking upright.

Every franchise has traits and/or characteristics that define it — a reputation for great defence, or coaching, or running backs or whatever — but over the last 15 years or so, Winnipeg has not been a safe place for pivots to come make a living.

Khari Jones was 29 when he was traded to Winnipeg, and even though he put up some historic numbers and was a league MVP during his time here, he actually only played three full seasons before the abuse he incurred started affecting his game and he was traded to Calgary. He would never again regain the form that made him an all-time top-five QB in Blue and Gold, and would move around four more times in his final four years.

Kevin Glenn took over from Jones in 2004 and had a mixed bag of results before he was released after the end of the 2008 season. In his best season he had his arm broken in the Eastern final, and his inconsistent results would lead you to believe when he was properly protected and complemented, he was capable of producing at an all-star level. Buck Pierce was next up to face the firing squad, and with his fearless style of play and not enough self preservation instinct, he incurred physical punishment at an almost unprecedented level.

Protect and serve

After scores of misfires and disappointments, the Bombers have finally found the next quarterback to lead the team into the foreseeable future. Yet, how long will that future be if drastic steps and systems are not put in place to preserve and protect these expectations? How much more punishment can a player endure before his luck runs out and the bumps and bruises turn into functional problems, or affect his confidence and style of play?

It would seem sensible if this franchise has waited this long to find a quarterback that has the talent and skill set to match their aspirations, every conceivable measure would be taken to protect that asset. While we may not know or be privy to the intricacies of this offence and the protections that are called on any given down, we can be sure keeping the quarterback clean is not the No. 1 priority. If it were, we would see an offence much more similar to what Marc Trestman used to run in Montreal when Anthony Calvillo was there, where quick throws and max protection were the norm, not a situational exception.

Judging from what history has taught us about other pivots with great talent and potential that have rolled through this city, maybe it is time to put the long-term betterment of a player ahead of any perceived short-term gains, and see that reflected in the play calling and systems on the field.

Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.

Twitter:@DougBrown97