Big Blue attack fading to black

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This article was published 29/09/2014 (4082 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a recent big contributor to one of the major storylines in the CFL this season, that scoring is down significantly.

Teams have combined to average 45.1 points per game this season, off more than 14 per cent from 2013 (52.4 points per game).

And if you were critical of the entertainment value of Saturday’s 16-11 victory by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats over the Bombers at Investors Group Field, you should note it was the league’s highest-scoring game of Week 14.

The Bombers seem to have fallen on hard times offensively.

The early days of their season brought some success and plenty of hope. The Bombers averaged 38.3 points in their first three games, all wins.

Since then, it’s an average of 18.9 points (10 games), and only 20 points total in the last two.

For all the difficulty, Winnipeg is mid-pack in most offensive categories overall, and quarterback Drew Willy is the CFL’s leader today in passing yards, at 3,280.

Willy passed for 303 yards on Saturday night, but generally lousy starting field position and penalties softened the impact of that performance.

The Bombers’ offence has just one touchdown to show for its last two games.

That came in the fourth quarter when Willy and his teammates nearly pulled out another miracle comeback — they failed from first-and-goal at the Hamilton three-yard line with 29 seconds left in the game.

The first three quarters of the game saw the offence start, on average, at its own 28-yard line and it put together just one drive of any consequence.

Still, Winnipeg’s defence was admirable in keeping the game close. It did give up a second-quarter touchdown run to Mossis Madu, but that blemish is easily attributable to special teams. Winnipeg had a Lirim Hajrullahu punt blocked by Hamilton’s Ed Gainey, leading to a Tiger-Cats possession that started at Winnipeg’s 32-yard line.

The Ticats ended the night with just 240 yards of offence (to Winnipeg’s 306), and only 182 passing.

“Early on in the year we had a lack of communication, but communication was real good tonight,” said Bombers’ middle linebacker Ejiro Kuale. “Everybody was on the same page. We’ve got to keep this going on, carry it on to next week.”

Kuale said the defence knows it’s under more pressure at this time of year, in addition to the offence’s recent struggles to score points.

“That’s our job, to (have) the offence’s back when they’re not doing too good,” he said. “I think we did a good job but we weren’t good enough tonight because ultimately we lost the game and we gave up a touchdown.”

Added defensive tackle Bryant Turner: “We’re trying to be the tone-setters on the field. Get the momentum going. We want that position as a defence, be the ones to bring the big hit and get the momentum going. However you look at it, we’re completely fine with it.”

Still, the Bombers were stung by their inability to halt their slide on Saturday night.

They’ve now lost four in a row and have fallen under .500 for the first time this season, to 6-7, with a game in Ottawa Friday night.

“There’s a lot of disappointment about that,” Turner said after the game about the team’s record. “We just had a long talk without the coaches about the things we’ve got to do.

“It’s just the little things that more experienced teams (do), they focus on the little things. In games like that, the more experienced teams normally come out on top. The veteran teams (do) and we have to continue to grow. I feel like we’re moving forward, but we’ve got to do it much faster.

“If we want to end up where the plan is, the Grey Cup, we’ve got to grow much faster.”

Glenn January, the veteran offensive tackle, expressed the majority opinion in the locker-room: the team is nowhere close to giving up.

“It’s tough but we still have a lot of good games ahead of us and have a lot of Western opponents,” January said. “I’m not too concerned about the overall picture right now, I’m concerned about what it takes to get over the hump.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca