Bombers Report: 5 Storylines

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/08/2015 (4032 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

1. So long Willy-peg… For now. Friendly Marve-toba?

There’s always a fascination when a new quarterback lines up behind centre and so it will be no different for Robert Marve and Bomber fans tonight. The fact he has leapfrogged Brian Brohm into the starting gig with Drew Willy’s injury this week was hardly surprising — the club’s previous No. 2 man hadn’t exactly inspired a run on No. 12 jerseys at the Bomber Store — but there is a great deal of mystery to what he might serve up in his first pro start.

After all, how do you get a read on a guy who has thrown all of 29 passes over a year-and-a-half in Bomber colours?

“Marve’s a student of the game,” said slotback Nick Moore. “He’s been behind Brohm and Drew for a little over a year now, and he’s learning. He’s asking them questions all the time, he’s asking questions in the offensive meeting room. He’s just trying to learn the game and better himself.

“Obviously nobody wanted to see Drew go down for that long a period of time, but it’s professional football and the next man has to stand up. The coaching staff appointed Marve to be that guy, and the guys are going to rally behind him. He’s an energetic guy. He’s going to go out there and get the guys fired up. It’s going to be exciting.”

2. The beleagured men up front

Many fingers of blame are being pointed at the Bombers’ offensive line of late, especially after surrendering seven sacks in last week’s blowout loss in Hamilton. The Bombers also spent a swack of cash over the winter to upgrade the unit, adding Stanley Bryant and Dominic Picard in free agency while using their first-round draft pick on guard Sukh Chungh. And yet here they are seven weeks into the season with 23 sacks against — the exact same number as this time last year.

But sacks aren’t just the fault of the big eaters on the O-line. A quarterback has to get the ball out of his hands quickly, a receiver has to get open ASAP — especially when a blitz is coming — and the scheme put together by offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille has to be sound.

So, what’s been wrong with the protection?

“I think it’s everything,” said right tackle Jace Daniels. “We just need to get better as a whole and just need to communicate and I think we’ll all be all right. There are different things that we just… I want to say that every sack was different. It could have been communication, it could have been that and I just think we need to continue to keep working together and I think everything will work out.”

3. Putting the ‘special’ back in special teams

The Bombers had a lot go wrong last week in Steeltown and the special-teams unit again had its breakdowns with a Lirim Hajrullahu punt being blocked and the Tiger-Cats recovering a kickoff while a bunch of dudes in blue and gold watched the ball bounce around.

And if it feels like you’ve read this before, you have. The special teams have been an ongoing issue for a good chunk of the season.

“I’ll be honest: we’re not where we want to be,” said fullback Michel-Pierre Pontbriand, one of the club’s special-teams leaders. “We need to be more physical. We need to be smarter, too. We have to pay attention to the details. But we’ve got a good work ethic and we’re disciplined — we don’t take a lot of penalties.

“We want to be a bunch of hitters, a bunch of bangers. We want to make a difference in the field position because it’s so important in three-down football. That’s a lot of responsibility, but we’ll take the heat when it’s called for and last week was our fault, for sure. But I’m going to tell you, the season is long, and we work too hard for the results not to come.”

4. Rally time

There’s a long-held theory out there that when a star goes down — in this case, for the Bombers, it’s Drew Willy — the other parts of the team often rally. There’s a huge element of rah-rah in that, but the Bombers need somebody — not just Marve — to step up and be huge tonight. It could come from somebody on defence or special teams, or from one of the vets on offence.

“Marve is a great leader,” said Bombers slotback Clarence Denmark. “I don’t think it’s going to take much of me saying anything, just being where I need to be at. We feel already that he’s a leader, he’s going to be vocal out there and he’s going to take over the game. Personally, that’s what I like in a quarterback, somebody who is going to come in and take over. That’s what we have in Drew and that’s what we’re getting (tonight).”

5. Hey, the other guys get paid, too

Lost in all the chatter about Marve’s first start and the Bombers’ recent slide — they are 1-3 in their last four — is the solid work by the Argos through the first six weeks of their season.

They are 4-2 and tied for first in the East Division and have been racking up wins with Trevor Harris at QB for the injured Ricky Ray, all while fighting through their own rash of injuries.

So when the question came up Thursday to Scott Milanovich about possibly taking the Bombers lightly because of all their hurts, the Argos head coach just chuckled.

“We’re on our backup quarterback,” said Milanovich. “Our injury list is 20 pages long. I love (O’Shea), but I don’t feel sorry for him because everybody in the league is going through this right now.

“We’re 4-2, we’ve won four games at the end… we’re not in the position to overlook anybody. Certainly not this football team.”

— with files from Jeff Hamilton, Scott Billeck

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait