Eager to get hands on the ball

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/07/2012 (4833 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He says he’s getting open all the time.

Of course, as frustrated Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver Kito Poblah is the first to admi, every receiver in football will tell you he’s open all the time.

“Yeah, every receiver thinks that for sure,” said Poblah with a laugh Wednesday following practice at Canad Inns Stadium. “But I really do feel that way…All I can do is continue to come out here every day and work hard and hopefully the ball starts coming my way so I can make some plays.”

Poblah, in his second year with the Bombers, had an exceptional training camp last month and big things were expected this season out of the top supplemental pick in the 2011 CFL draft.

But Poblah has mustered just five catches for a total of 52 yards and 0 TDs. And he is not the only veteran Bombers starting receiver whose numbers stand out right now for the wrong reason.

Slotback Clarence Denmark, who was also expected to play a bigger role this season, to this point has just five catches for the grand total of 27 yards.

And he’s not overjoyed about it, either. “It just happens like that sometimes, you know,” said Denmark. “Sometimes you get open on plays and it doesn’t come. But my focus is to just keep on working and the ball is going to come — and when it does, maybe it will be to win a game.”

All of which cannot come quickly enough for a Bombers team still looking for their first win Friday night in Edmonton against the Eskimos after an 0-2 start to the 2012 season.

So what gives with the Winnipeg aerial attack early in the season? Two things, actually.

For starters, the Bombers offence generated just 185 yards of offence in Week 1, so nobody was lighting up the stat sheets. When the passing game finally did get going last week against Montreal, veteran slotback Terrence Edwards and rookie wide receiver Chris Matthews got almost all the action, combining for 257 yards and a TD between the two of them.

Both Bombers QB Buck Pierce and head coach Paul LaPolice agreed Wednesday one of the keys to their success this season will be to make full use of all of their aerial threats. The Bombers believe, with some justification, that once non-import slotback Cory Watson is healthy again, the five receiver package that they will send into battle against opponents has the potential to be among the most formidable anywhere in the CFL.

“Those guys will get their stuff,” Pierce said of Poblah and Denmark. “We were taking what the defence was giving us (against Montreal). It’s not like we were featuring those two (Edwards and Matthews). We felt with what Montreal was doing, it was opening up a lot of stuff for these guys. They caught a lot of quick slants in man coverage.

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“And this week, we’re probably going to see a lot more zone coverage. So hopefully some of the other guys will get more and more involved.”

LaPolice said he wants to see a more balanced attack that does a better job of working in all of the receivers and gives a bigger role to tailback Bloi-Dei Dorzon, who has 12 carries through two games.

But it all begins with putting together some drives.

“When you get a lot of plays, that’s when everyone can touch the football,” said LaPolice. “I thought we did better last week… we have to continue to do that. It’s no easy task. This Edmonton defence has a very good front. But we have some things planned for them.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca