Kelly’s scheme no dream

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/08/2009 (6135 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another pass hits the turf rather than a receiver’s hands at Winnipeg Blue Bomber practice and the boss — who has obviously had it up to here with questions about the anemic offence and his scheme — loses it.

And we mean loses it in a manner that would make even the most foul-mouthed longshoreman blush.

"Just read the (bleepin’) play card," screams Bomber head coach Mike Kelly during Wednesday’s workout. "(Blankety-blank) how hard can it be?"

Well, now that you mention it…

As the Bombers ready for Friday’s matchup with the B.C. Lions in Vancouver Kelly’s schemes — more than ever — are being thrust under the microscope for extreme examination. The head coach himself has jumped on a sword after three losses this season, indicating he had to coach his players better and put them in better positions.

He’s increased the workload of assistant coach Manny Matsakis, who was much more involved in Wednesday’s session in handling the offence. He’s called his old boss in Cal Murphy and continues to chat regularly with other confidantes, including Matt Dunigan. Meanwhile critics from outside the organization have called his scheme "dated" and players in his own locker-room, obviously choosing their words carefully, have referred to it as "different" and "complicated."

And in a league where the only difference between one offensive game plan and another is often just the logo on the front of the binder, that’s saying something.

That said, over the last couple of days the Bombers have made some offensive changes in an effort to breathe life into a stone-cold attack that is dead last in scoring (17.9 points per game) and in passing (156.9 yards per game — 86 yards less than seventh-place Saskatchewan and less than half of what league-leading Montreal averages).

And those changes include shrinking, again, the playbook.

"We’ve kind of trash-compacted the thing," said Kelly of his offensive game plan this week. "We’ve done all the self-scout stuff, we know exactly what we’re averaging per play whether it’s a run or a pass. And we said some of this stuff, we’re just not getting it. So let’s stick it over here right now — we’re not throwing it away, we’re just putting Saran Wrap on it and putting it in the freezer for a little bit.

"What do we do well and how can we make it better? That’s basically what we’ve done."

The Bombers will continue to be predominantly an under-centre offence rather than shotgun — where the quarterback lines up right behind the centre, not well behind the line of scrimmage — but have made changes to their pass routes to spread out receivers and give quarterback Michael Bishop more options. They also have their fingers crossed the adjustments will free up Romby Bryant, their leading receiver from a year ago who has just 12 catches for 148 yards and no touchdowns through the first seven games this year.

"This week our goal is spacing," said receiver Brock Ralph. "We’re trying to spread the field and make the defence cover all parts of it. Bishop’s the right guy to have to be able to threaten from any where. I think we’re going to see a little better push from our receivers downfield, cleaner releases and guys getting to their landmarks sooner. The sooner the picture is clearer for him the sooner he is able to pick it out and read it.

"It’s fairly simple from the standpoint that we don’t have a ton of stuff in, but the things we do have we feel is enough. It might look a little bit different to B.C."

Clearly, the Bombers have been easy to defend through seven games this year as they’ve failed to establish any kind of consistent passing attack (their season-high passing yardage in a single game is just 213 yards). As a result, teams have loaded up the box to stop the run and then often drop eight defenders into coverage on second and long.

And that makes it near impossible for receivers to find open spaces and for the quarterbacks to deliver the ball.

"That’s smart defence," said Bishop. "They have more guys out there than receivers we have and they take away the throwing lanes. The easiest throw, I think, is throwing the ball down the sidelines when the corner is playing soft. But when they’re dropping eight guys out there they’re all over the field. When you put four guys out there to receive the ball it’s tough.

"(The offence) is proven that it works. A lot of QBs in the States have run it and put up good numbers with it. But everybody has to fit it and understand where they need to be at certain times. Here in the CFL linebackers can run with receivers and can get where you want to put the ball. Some of the things we’re doing now is simpler for the receivers and all they’ve got to do is be in the right spot at the right time. If we can do that, somebody’s going to be open and if that person’s not open, we’ll go to the next guy.

"I definitely think we can turn the page right now. We’ve had a great week of practice."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

In defence of the offence

Bomber head coach Mike Kelly defends, in general terms, two key elements of his scheme:

On why the attack doesn’t feature more shotgun but rather has the QB take the snap directly from centre:

"All I hear I from people is, ‘Oh, he’s old-fashioned. He won’t go to the shotgun.’ Fine. I put the guy back there I snap the ball to him. Now what do you want him to do? Explain that one to me. That’s where no one gives me anything. The shotgun does provide you with a little bit of extra time. It’s minute.

"We run hot schemes (QB delivers the ball quickly to a receiver) that other teams don’t run. The ball needs to be gone in one to three steps. Therefore in order to do that the quarterback needs to put his hands under the centre. We were in the shotgun last game more than I’ve ever been in my life. But Michael (Bishop), in particular, said ‘Some of this I’d rather put my hand under centre because I can get the ball out quicker. The guy is open, let’s get it to him now.’ That’s the thing that putting the ball under centre does.

"The other thing is in the run game I don’t think you can run the ball effectively under shotgun. We want our ‘downhill’ runners going downhill, We want them hitting it downhill so that when they get to the point of attack they’re full bore."

On why there is so few five-receiver sets, but rather four receivers and fullback Jon Oosterhuis:

"We don’t want the quarterbacks hit and we are second in the league in quarterback sacks (allowed) right now. We want to protect the quarterback. All that stuff is nice where you’re emptying out (the backfield) and going with six receivers, but your quarterbacks get beat up pretty good in those things. I want to protect those guys and Jon has done a nice job in protection. Plus, we’re always getting a receiver out. People say, ‘Oh, there’s only four receivers’ well, we’re always trying to get a back out (as a receiver) and we’re looking for mismatches."