It’s payback time

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/07/2015 (3755 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It would have been patronizing had Mike O’Shea been all warm and cuddly with the media Monday. Worse, it would have screamed of desperation.

For O’Shea to have stooped to pandering would suggest a state of great fragility.

No, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ head coach was his usual defiant self, with a hint of condescension.

“That seems like a strange question,” said O’Shea, when asked what was wrong with his 2-3 team and what could be done to rectify it. “I would never use that term. Wrong? There are things on a daily basis that you install and you coach. There’s film that you watch. There’s players that need correction, on a daily basis, on every team, in any sport. So that’s the process that football teams go through.”

OK, coach. Fair enough. How about we try it this way — what is preventing your team from achieving winning results at this juncture?

“This last game, Drew (Willy) goes out, we give up a big return right away. They score, we’re down 15 points until 10 minutes to go in the fourth and then we take some penalties, we give up a big run, we give up a turnover, interception down in the red zone there, so their quarterback, their third-string quarterback comes in and he’s got a short field to rack up some points,” said O’Shea. “Certainly not the way we want to play the game, and I don’t know that we played for 60 minutes. We played pretty tight up until midway through the third, still winnable. Still a contest we can come back in part way into the fourth, and then from there we just didn’t execute. The effort was there, but the lack of execution, the penalties, the turnovers, adds up to the loss.”

And what causes this, coach?

“Lack of focus, right there. Lack of focus. They need to pay attention to the details on each and every play and make sure they execute them. It’s pretty simple,” he said before being asked how one can coach focus. “Remind them on a daily basis, on a play-by-play basis in practice and meetings. We talked about (focus) today.”

Notice the constant use of the word “we.” No calling out individuals. If one is waiting for O’Shea to turn on his team, well, they’d better have packed a lunch.

O’Shea doesn’t shy away from the media and he’s available on a near daily basis during the summer. He may not say what you want to hear or in a manner in which you want the message presented. But ask him a question and he’ll give you an answer.

When he doesn’t want to reveal something or refuses to put the blame on his own people, he’s perfectly willing to stick to a script — even when it borders on the ridiculous.

When the defensive line sucked last season and everyone in Canada knew the Bombers couldn’t stop the run, O’Shea refused to pile on and repeatedly stated he wasn’t concerned with his run defence. Even when it was clearly costing his team games. He would have had to be a fool not to recognize it. But O’Shea determined no good could come from him publicly pointing a finger.

For some, it was both frustrating and galling. But for the players and coaches he was protecting, it built loyalty.

O’Shea holds himself accountable to the people in his organization. To his bosses, Wade Miller and Kyle Walters, to his fellow coaches and to his players.

It’s not that O’Shea doesn’t appreciate the fans. He’d have to be a stump after 20-plus years in the CFL not to understand the people who buy the tickets in this league are its lifeblood.

But O’Shea believes the ticket-buying public, and in this case the fans of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, will be best served by him providing a winning team. And O’Shea has determined, from his career as a player and as an assistant coach and now head coach, the most beneficial public relations policy is to protect his coaches and his players.

Remember Jets head coach Paul Maurice and his “I could make you f—ing cry in that room,” quote regarding accountability within the Jets organization? O’Shea is cut from the same cloth. Some of what he says and does just isn’t any of our business, and don’t expect him to apologize for that.

Word around the Bombers complex is when the coach is mad, he’s scary. He has complete control of his ship and when he’s on deck, everyone is at attention. O’Shea just prefers to treat his players like men and not embarrass them or point out their faults in front of a camera or a notepad. Probably the way you would like your boss to treat you, I’m guessing.

All this is great. Except it means squat when a team is losing. And O’Shea’s teams have lost more than they’ve won here in Winnipeg. So the questions become more pointed and at some juncture, fans refuse to accept what is being served. They go from wanting answers to wanting blood.

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If the Walters and O’Shea regime is going to distinguish itself from the past, sound and winning football needs to become the norm. Wins are the best answer of all. Just ask Bill Belichick.

Another thing one hears from players and staffers around the Bombers is people love playing and working for O’Shea. They should show it.

The coach has been willing to stand up for his players. Even when they haven’t deserved his protection. It’s about time they start to deliver for him.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @garylawless