Revving on the field only

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/06/2011 (5535 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the Ferrari sits in neutral, waiting for the NFL labour situation to sort itself out, Odell Willis has chosen to park his Lamborghini.

The high-motor Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive end, who a season ago dubbed Phillip Hunt and himself as the ‘Ferrari and Lambo’ duo, is driving alone these days. Hunt is long gone, having signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in the off-season, leaving Willis looking for a new high-performance machine to roll with.

Or maybe not. Turns out Willis isn’t into cars anymore.

“I’m just here to play,” he said after a chilly workout at Canad Inns Stadium Monday. “Last year was last year, and I’m not going get into shenanigans or anything like that. I’m going to be professional.

“I lead by example,” he added. “If guys see what I do on the field I feel like that’s enough. If they want to follow my example then they can do that. All that talking and whoo-rah… anybody can talk.

“It’s what you do on the field that matters.”

Maybe he was just having a bad day Monday, but this serious tone is a far cry from the breezy persona fans have come to know over the last few seasons. Always full of life and energy, the 26-year-old is looking at a more mature approach, he says, focusing on his game and what he needs to do to be successful.

With no Hunt and the club still waiting for a new face to assume the DE position, the thinking is Willis will draw a lot more attention when the regular season starts Canada Day weekend.

That new extra attention could mean a long summer for No. 40.

“I don’t look at it like that,” said Willis, who registered 11 sacks in 2010, third-most in the league behind Hunt (16) and Montreal’s Jason Bowman (12). “We have 11 other guys on the field that other teams are going to have to worry about.”

The trick for the Bombers — after finding a suitable replacement for Hunt — is to put Willis in a favourable situation that limits teams from concentrating on him with extra blocking help or running plays off the other edge of the line.

While much has been made about Winnipeg’s switch from a 4-3 defence (four bodies on the line, three linebackers) to a 3-4 scheme, the team insists they’ve only just modified a similar system they employed at times in 2010.

The major difference: Rather than putting specific players in specific spots in the 3-4 system, the team is now asking players to line up in different spots this season. The hope, according to head coach Paul LaPolice, is to create confusion for the offence by making the defensive set harder to identify.

Which in turn, should open things up for Willis.

His first priority remains to pass-rush the quarterback, but LaPolice and defensive co-ordinator Tim Burke have given him the added responsibility of lining up in different spots on the field and dropping back in coverage sporadically.

“Odell has had a good camp and we want him to establish himself as one of the better ends in the league,” LaPolice said. “I think he’s got the tools to do that.

“There are some things he has to learn, but he’s picked it up well.

His job is to rush the passer. Every once in a while you may see him out (in coverage) but his job is to rush the passer.”

The Bombers are back on the Canad Inns Stadium field today at 11 a.m.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca