How do Blue figure O-line will improve?

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This article was published 27/04/2016 (3432 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The personnel looks pretty much the same this spring as it did last fall.

And the blocking schemes haven’t changed much either.

So if not much has changed, why should Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans expect an offensive line that gave up the second-most sacks in the CFL last season to be better this year?

“Well, there’s going to be competition (in training camp) and we don’t know there’s not going to be changes,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said Wednesday as his club wrapped up its three-day mini-camp at Investors Group Field.

“But, I will tell you if there isn’t (changes along the offensive line) that’s probably a good thing because there’s continuity. You look at some teams around the league that have great continuity along their offensive line and they seem to do fairly well…

“So the question — Why are they going to be better? Because they’re going to have another year with (offensive line coach) Bob (Wylie) and they’re going to be possibly put in a different situation a lot of times.”

While centre Dominic Picard was not re-signed in the off-season, left tackle Stanley Bryant, right tackle Patrick Neufeld, right guard Sukh Chungh and centre Matthias Goossen were all in those spots at one time or another last season and look like they will head into training camp atop the depth chart in those positions.

O’Shea wouldn’t say who will top the depth chart at left guard heading into camp, but veteran Jace Daniels — who didn’t take part this week because he’s still recovering from ankle surgery — probably has the inside track.

While the personnel and blocking schemes under Wylie will be very similar this season, an entirely new offence in 2016 with an emphasis on getting the ball out of quarterback Drew Willy’s hand more quickly should take some of the pressure off the O-line.

But Bryant said his unit also simply has to play better than they did in a 2015 season in which the Bombers never did develop a ground game and the team’s revolving door of quarterbacks spent far too much time lying on their backs.

“At the end of the day, it’s about man-on-man, doing your job, blocking your guy, knowing what to do and knowing what not to do,” he said. “We can’t put it all on scheme or coaches. If we do our job up front, we’ll be fine.”

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While conventional wisdom in CFL circles is a very aggressive Bombers front office “won” free agency over the winter, O’Shea said he knows talk is cheap and understands why a fan base that has been waiting since 1990 for a Grey Cup victory might still be skeptical about Winnipeg’s chances of making the playoffs in 2016 for the first time in five years.

“We’re going to have to prove it, obviously,” said O’Shea.

“There’s going to be a lot of people out there who aren’t going to believe it until it starts to happen. I don’t know if there’s any use talking about it. I know what I believe.”

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Willy said he likes what he’s seen — and where his team is headed — after three days of seeing the new offence the team will use this season under new offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice.

“He’s really innovative and open to new things,” Willy said. “He’s going to give us a chance to get the ball out of my hands and get it to the playmakers a little more. I think we will be more versatile and switch it up from always throwing deep to get some more quick routes and some screens and get a guy like Andrew Harris running routes.

“It’s just finding ways of getting guys in space because we’ve got a lot of quick guys that can do great things with the ball.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @PaulWiecek