Defence big reason for Bombers’ success

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This article was published 17/09/2019 (2216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If everybody received the credit they were due, there would never have been awards created for “unsung” players, or polls done to determine who the most “underrated” was. It’s fair to say that when it comes to the Winnipeg football club, and the successes they’ve experienced so far this season, the interior of the defensive line hasn’t quite gotten their due.

They haven’t exactly been ignored — it’s pretty hard not to notice the kind of disruption and flashes of physical dominance they display on a regular basis. But they certainly haven’t gotten the kind of attention that many offensive weapons and players such as defensive end Willie Jefferson and defensive back Winston Rose have received. It says here that the interior defensive linemens’ contributions should not be ignored and are a critical component of why this team is currently sitting at 9-3.

A quick review of the statistics, two-thirds of the way through the season, tells us that the defence is indeed good.

But what can we attribute to the interior of the defensive line? The obvious is to start with how Drake Nevis, Steven Richardson and Jake Thomas stop the run. These guys are so disruptive against traffic on the ground, you’d think they work construction for the city in the summer — on their off-days.

It’s not easy to stop the run in the CFL. The field is much wider to defend for players used to playing American football. And when you are forced to line up a yard off the line of scrimmage — which means everyone outside of the centre is a yard and a half off the line of scrimmage — the blocking angles are more difficult to contend with. If you false step on the interior of the defensive line with your first placement into the ground — which means the foot you are putting down is taking you away from your pressure key, instead of towards it — it can be virtually unrecoverable. You can be walled off from the ball, reached, cut or put in a trail position where you have essentially given up your gap and are out of the play.

Then the linebacker is put in a jam as he has to cover both his own gap and the one you conceded simply by having a wrong first step. Suffice to say, these guys on the interior of the defensive line not only have quick first steps and an understanding of how to fight and read pressure, but in virtually all one-on-one scenarios, they are manhandling and tossing around the opposition.

For the most part, any defence that is allowing fewer than 100 yards per game on the ground is doing a decent job against the run. Of course, factors such as how often your opponent rushes the ball affect this number, but when teams play this defence, they all want to run the ball.

It is very well documented how this front four can get after a passer in a definite passing down, so teams need this front to respect the run, so they can get that moment of hesitation on first and 10, and second and medium.

I would dare suggest that this front doesn’t think anyone can run on them with any consistency or regularity.

In 12 games this season, they have been the best at stopping the run, allowing only 67.8 yards per game on average. The most impressive part of this already impressive number is the fact the second best group against the run is allowing 20 more yards per game. That is significant when applied over the course of an 18-game season, and no position grouping affects the run yard average more than the interior of the defensive line.

So if you can’t run against this group, and they don’t have to respect it, what happens? Well, it frees you up to pass rush, so it’s no surprise that this defence is also first in sacks in the league.

The trickle-down effect continues with the most forced turnovers in the league, the fewest touchdowns allowed, the fewest offensive points allowed and the lowest second-down conversion rate in the CFL. The defensive line interior, and the havoc they wreak, is the foundation for all of these statistics, and you can’t help but applaud the job they’ve done so far this season.

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

Twitter: @DougBrown97