Inside information can make all the difference on the field

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This article was published 18/06/2018 (2646 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The best, and easiest, game plans to put together are the ones against teams with key players who used to play for you.

In the case of the upcoming game against the Montreal Alouettes on Friday, the Blue Bombers will be facing three critical components they should know how to attack better than most.

On defence, both Jamaal Westerman and Henoc Muamba are central figures for the Alouettes who have recent histories with the Bombers.

Muamba, of course, got his start in Winnipeg, and, though he flirted with the idea of returning as recently as this off-season, has never made it back to the club. Westerman, on the other hand, surprisingly chose to leave in free agency this year, possibly for the opportunity to play next to his brother, Jabar, on the defensive line.

While there are players and coaches with experience working and playing against these two defenders, it is the first-hand knowledge of Montreal’s starting quarterback that should give Winnipeg a decided advantage on Friday.

As you should know, Drew Willy was once the franchise quarterback in Winnipeg as recent as 2016. In what was his third year at the helm, after starting the season 1 and 4, the torch was passed to Matt Nichols, and Willy was flipped to Toronto shortly thereafter. After a year in Toronto, he is now in his second season with the Alouettes, and has earned the right to start coming out of training camp.

Since it has been 31 regular-season games since Willy wore blue-and-gold, it’s worth reviewing what went wrong here and led to his eventual trade. To do that, you could have watched the B.C. Lions play Montreal last week: the Lions did their homework. Though Willy had more than respectable numbers, throwing for 281 yards, and connecting on more than 71 per cent of his passes, it was what happened in the second half of the game that determined the outcome of this matchup.

According to Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette, “the Lions blitzed almost every time Montreal was in a passing scenario.” By the time the smoke cleared, the Alouettes, leaders of this game at halftime, 10 to 9, did not score another point and relented to the Lions, 22-10. Coincidence? I think not.

One of the hardest things to do, for any player, is to shake off their ingrained tendencies. Many of us try to identify on-field weaknesses and minimize them, but it is easier said than done. Sometimes you can only do what you can do. When Willy was here, he didn’t have the quickest of releases, and didn’t always make good decisions downfield with the football. These traits were usually magnified when he was under pressure. Watching the game against the Lions, the one interception he threw occurred when he was moved off his spot and was fleeing the pocket, and he was also sacked five times throughout the course of the game.

Since some of the defensive wounds incurred facing the Eskimos last week are still fresh, it may be a difficult proposition for the team to wrap it’s head around a blitz happy approach from start to finish in this next game. Yet even though they failed to bring down Mike Reilly in numerous pressure scenarios, they did blitz effectively in the sense of getting personnel to him, and forcing him to scramble and flee the pocket. Additionally, this Friday, their opponent won’t have near the same level of elusiveness or strength to make them pay if they do choose to add to their rush.

Of course, the flip side to this understanding of a player’s weaknesses, is that both Willy, and Westerman, have also spent much time working against the Winnipeg offensive and defensive systems and schemes that will be in place on Friday too. If we know what their limitations are, you can bet they are aware of that, and also have an idea of what they would like to exploit. Like most games, the team that prevails will be the one that not only correctly identifies the weaknesses of the opponent, but does the best job in executing their gameplan.

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

Twitter: @DougBrown97