Argos will help Blue douse junkyard tire fire

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This article was published 11/08/2015 (3951 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last week’s suggestion in this space the Blue and Gold didn’t yet have an identity was entirely incorrect.

It was right in front of us the whole season, but we just couldn’t see it; like one of those 3D stereograms where the picture doesn’t look like much of anything until you stare at it the right way. No, the identity of this football club appears to be one of duality. It is a team that, seemingly on a week-by-week basis, alternates from being a supremely competent and promising squad, to a three-alarm tire fire billowing black smoke into the air, and back again. It alternates from one to the other, and each distinct personality seems to trigger the next upheaval and subsequent ascension or descent.

If you need further convincing, go back to Week 1 and tell me this trend and pattern doesn’t have legs. In the regular-season opener against Saskatchewan the Blue were flawless. Quarterback Drew Willy had a perfect passer rating, the run game was formidable, and the offence was balanced. Sure it was Saskatchewan, a winless team now, but the Riders couldn’t yet have known they would be this bad, that soon.

The next week the Bombers were a disaster against Hamilton, where they gave up 52 points and had their pivot knocked out of the game. Then they switched back to respectability with a moderately impressive win over Montreal, which preceded the self-destruction of losing to Calgary when they had them on the ropes.

Another tire fire erupted the following week in Edmonton — which broke the pattern a little bit, since it was back to back — but shortly thereafter, they had their most balanced game of the season against B.C. So how did they follow up the tremendously encouraging and entertaining performance against the Lions? You see where I’m going with this? With another environmentally damaging plume of junkyard smoke that could be seen for miles in Hamilton.

The identity of a football team is the personality and traits you come to count on, on a week-by-week basis. Whether you rush the passer with great success and regularity, or stop the run, or run or pass the football well, no matter what trait it is, it’s something you’re doing well most every week.

If you look at these seven games as individual entities, this team has few things they can repeat from one game to the next. Yet when you look at the schedule as a whole, and see how they trend from playing well to poorly and then back again, only then do you come to realize that this is who they are right now. They are wildly erratic, or consistent in their inconsistency. The only habit they have to this point, is following up a solid performance with one that is substandard.

Looking for answers on Sunday night’s post-game show, I asked head coach Mike O’Shea whether it’s possible his team has trouble handling the spoils of victory, which could then lead them to lose focus the following week. O’Shea disagreed.

“Does it get to their heads? No, I don’t think so. They’ve been very level-headed after wins or losses this season.”

If the coach thinks they are mentally strong enough to stay tuned in and focused on their craft after a victory, then it could be a physical issue. It’s plausible when you become overly pleased with yourself, you don’t put forth the same physical efforts and exertions the following week. Responding well after a disastrous game isn’t unusual in pro football, because most teams are eager to get back in the good books of both their community and coaching staffs. Figuring out what changes occurred when they go from good to bad, however, is easier said than discovered.

Of course, this identity may shift once again, now that Willy looks to be out for an extended period, but if he plays — hell, even if he doesn’t — take them to win Friday against Toronto at home. In a season of highly irregular outcomes, a victory after a blowout loss appears to be one of the few things you can count on.

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

Twitter: @DougBrown97