Blue need to solve Riders riddle

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This article was published 21/04/2015 (3814 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Conventional wisdom heading into the 2015 CFL season is the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders are once again going to be really, really good and the 2014 West Division finalist Edmonton Eskimos should, if anything, actually improve on what was already a really good team last year.

So where is the elbow room in the CFL’s West Division for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who will wrap up their annual three-day spring mini-camp at IMG Academy this morning?

It’s far too early in the year to say anything with much certainty, but this much is already clear: If the Bombers are going to end a three-year playoff drought, the three games they play against the Saskatchewan Roughriders this season are going to be absolutely critical.

If that has you cringing a bit, it should. The Bombers are just 2-12 against the Riders in recent years and you can make a compelling case that Winnipeg’s inability to beat their Prairie rivals — the Bombers lost all three meetings between the teams last year — has been the biggest single drag on a club that has made the playoffs just once in the last six seasons.

So why is it going to be different in 2015, a season in which the two meet three times, twice in Regina where the Bombers haven’t won since 2004?

Well, the Bombers are hoping a big part of the difference will be a defence led by a former Riders icon, Richie Hall.

Hall, who was hired over the winter as the new defensive co-ordinator, had that same job in Regina for 12 of the last 14 seasons and would seem better positioned than just about anyone to know the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the Riders offence.

Hall also brought over a couple of former Riders assistants in defensive backs coach Barron Miles and defensive line coach Todd Howard, and together the triumvirate is attempting to build a defence in Winnipeg that will look a lot more like the Riders defensive juggernauts of recent seasons and a lot less like a Bombers defence last season that was last in the CFL against the run, second-last in sacks and gave up more points than any other team in the land.

“I’m not sure what they did around here last year,” Hall said this week at mini-camp, “but I know we want to be aggressive and we want to be sound in all areas up front and in the back, in regards to being able to stop the run and the pass.

“We want to be an explosive defence and we want to be a pressure defence, but pressure doesn’t mean the more the merrier — it means getting after the quarterback in different ways.”

While the Bombers have made major free agent personnel upgrades on offence, beginning with the offensive line, the front office has done very little to change the defensive personnel, other than the acquisition of free-agent non-import linebacker Sam Hurl. More help could soon be on the way, however.

‘We want to be an explosive defence and we want to be a pressure defence, but pressure doesn’t mean the more the merrier — it means getting after the quarterback in different ways’

— Bombers defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall

Head coach Mike O’Shea said Monday the club has identified several linebackers to replace departed veterans Ian Wild and Johnny Sears.

“I think we’ve identified more than two guys we like,” said O’Shea. “We can certainly fill out our roster for camp… there’s some guys that certainly look like middle linebackers.”

Sources say the club has also been very impressed so far with the play of Derrell Johnson, who played outside linebacker at East Carolina, but is getting a long, hard look this week at rush end.

The Bombers haven’t had an effective pass rush since Alex Hall was traded to Saskatchewan midway through the 2013 season and Johnson — who had brief NFL stints with Miami and Arizona — has already shown enough this week to earn his invite to Winnipeg’s main training camp.

O’Shea said he thinks his defence has a good mix heading into 2015.

“We identified some pretty good players last year and this year we have the opportunity to bring in some guys underneath to push them,” he said.

Yeah, but will it be enough to win in Regina? O’Shea says he has no doubt his defensive coaching staff will be motivated for those Riders games.

“Do I think I’ll see a little bit in Richie and Barron and Todd’s eyes as the week goes on? Maybe yeah. That’s not a bad thing, for sure. We’ll see if the players feel it or not.”

As for Hall, he has no doubt what is waiting for him in Regina, a city he’s called home for most of the last quarter-century, first as a player, then as an assistant and most recently as a co-ordinator.

“I’m sure they’re going to boo me,” laughed Hall.

“My whole thing is, when I go back to Mosaic Field I want to kick their butts… I have a lot of fond memories and I will always be very thankful and grateful, but right now my loyalties lie with Winnipeg and we want to win.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek