Well, that was fun; now about that defence…

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/07/2017 (3018 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you have a positive result after a largely poor performance, does it reinforce the same behaviour, or do you recognize you got away with one and attack your issues with urgency? It is my experience, after a win such as the one we witnessed last Thursday night, that a football team usually responds in one of these two ways.

The Blue Bombers will either realize that as amazing as their heroics were, they were fortunate to end up where they did and understand that they’ve got much work to do to clean up fundamental issues that were glossed over. Or, they figure that whatever they are doing right now is still working — they are, after all, tied for fourth in the CFL — so more of the same should suffice.

This opinion is not intended to discount the late-game heroics that we witnessed against the Montreal Alouettes. For an offence to switch gears like that, down by 12, and execute with another level of focus and precision against one of the top defences in the league, was both eye-opening and inspiring. The kind of moxie and mental toughness that is required to overcome such a deficit with time expiring is a promising beacon, and hopefully a rallying point for this team.

Yet, you cannot discount the fact that luck played a role, and that the defence did not play anywhere well enough to win. As methodical and driven as the offence was in the final two possessions, without a successfully executed onside kick — always an against-the-odds proposition — they don’t get an opportunity to drive for the go-ahead score. As good as their kicker is, no team wins more onside kick scenarios than they lose, and if they had lost, their defence would have taken the field to try stopping an offence that had been running the ball against them as though they had four extra players on the field.

Which bring us to the point. If you’ve won more games than you’ve lost almost a third of the way through the season, and you’ve been doing some things badly, both offensively and defensively, do those shortcomings really matter or need to be fixed? When you make mistakes, but still win, do these problems remain important? If the check-engine light comes on in your car, and it no longer runs in reverse, it may not seem to matter if you always keep it in drive. Except for that day, of course, when someone parks in front of you.

It is the opinion of this space, that if the defence doesn’t improve dramatically in the short term, this team will lose more games over the remainder of the season than they will have entertaining miracles that turn potential disasters into dance parties.

Last year, all of the interceptions and takeaways masked some fundamental coverage deficiencies and other issues on the defence. This year, so far, we are seeing the same defensive lapses without that accompanying run on turnovers that drew attention away from their vulnerabilities.

This defence has given up the most points in the league aside from the winless Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and this includes points allowed by five teams that have played an extra game. While they are still first in interceptions with nine, they are at the bottom with Hamilton in terms of passing yardage surrendered, and dead-last in pass knockdowns, with eight. In fact, when it comes to pass knockdowns, they are the only team in single digits, while the two leaders have 25 each.

When asked after the game whether this most improbable of wins could be the turning point this season — much like Matt Nichols’ first start was in 2016 — head coach Mike O’Shea remarked that he hoped so, but that he had asked the team last week to not let the disappointing loss in Vancouver a week earlier define their season — so it would be hard for him to ask them to let this win do the opposite for them.

While they don’t need these unforgettable late-game heroics to define their season, they do need to to view it as a lucky break, and take advantage of the opportunity to fix the issues that still plague them, because those problems lingering in the background sometimes become more than an engine-light warning.

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

Twitter: @DougBrown97