Willy should bring mattress to work

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This article was published 26/10/2014 (4312 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the end, the undoing of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in their most critical game of the 2014 season looked a whole lot like their undoing night after night after night this year.

To wit: Drew Willy staring up at the night sky as opposing defenders celebrated yet another sack.

In a season in which the club’s most valuable commodity — their promising new starting quarterback — spent far too much time running for his life, the Bombers pass protection saved their absolute worst for last in a game that saw Willy sacked 10 times in a 28-23 loss to the B.C. Lions at Investors Group Field.

Ten sacks would be comical if it were not so dangerous. And the fact a couple of those were the result of Willy hanging on to the ball too long didn’t make it any better. So with that, these 2014 Bombers now hold the franchise record for most sacks given up in a single season — 70 and counting. The old record was 67.

“Running the ball was good, but pass protection was bad,” was how centre Steve Morley summarized his unit’s performance.

“It was just bad. That’s all I can say about that.”

Indeed, the irony is that all those sacks came on a night the Bombers posted a very respectable 141 yards rushing. The thinking in recent weeks had been that part of the Bombers’ pass protection problems had been the club’s failure to generate a running game during an eight-game losing streak that is now the longest Bombers skid in 16 years.

But if Paris Cotton at running back the past two weeks was expected to be a quick fix for the pass protection problems, it was laid bare for all to see last night — not unlike Willy.

Lions rush end Khreem Smith had four sacks, but Willy said the problems went deeper than that. And he was careful to include his own performance among the litany of mistakes in the Bombers backfield.

“He’s a good player — they’ve got a good defence. But like I said… a lot of it was me and not getting to my second and third receivers.

“I could feel it during the game… I wasn’t getting my reads as fast as I needed to and it was frustrating. That’s just something I’m going to have to get better at.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek