Blue on the hunt for some special sauce

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This article was published 25/08/2015 (4045 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Speed and violence, it’s a wonderful concoction, and one Mike O’Shea would force feed to each one of his special teamers if given the chance.

In any case, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers skipper would like nothing more than to see his players making like a train on each and every special teams play. He wants to see big plays and massive collisions that instill fear in an opposing side.

“I want to see that. I want to see more of that. I want to see more of that across the board,” O’Shea said Monday afternoon.

At the moment, it’s only a wish for the second-year head coach, who has watched his team instead lose games due to hesitancy and lack of focus, a point that’s been addressed.

“Sometimes we’re waiting for blocks, trying to set them up, waiting and waiting and maybe trying to time it up at the last second to make that big play at the end instead of getting to our guy sooner,” Teague Sherman said. “It might not be a de-cleater or this guy’s helmet is coming flying off, but we might get an extra five or six yards on a return because of the earlier block.”

Sherman said trying to line up the big play comes with the territory of a struggling unit, a vicious cycle of looking to make a big play to change momentum and spark something in his team’s favour.

“A big hit can change the whole swing of momentum of a game,” he said. “If you lay that big block in front of your bench, instantly you have energy.

“But you have to pick and choose, you can’t be looking for that big play every single time, you have to be smart about it. On defence, you can’t try and get a pick every play, you got to wait for the opportunity to come. It’s the same on special teams.”

Smart is what O’Shea wants. Sure, he wants to see heads roll, but with the precision of a trained assassin’s touch.

“Special teams, it’s about speed and violence,” O’Shea said, candidly. “But with that, there’s got to be some understanding of the situation — when to dump your blocker, when to burst and try to make the play and when you’re not going to make that play. There’s a learning process to it. There’s drill work for it. There’s film you got to watch. (There’s) just a higher level of I.Q. we need on special teams.”

‘Special teams has to be the reason you win and never the reason you lose’

O’Shea went back to basics Sunday as the team was put through the fundamental ringer through special teams drills.

“Our main thing is always that special teams has to be the reason you win and never the reason you lose,” Sherman said.

It’s been a lot of the latter for the Bombers this season and Sherman said while the unit is almost where they want to be, there’s still one or two plays a game that are killing them.

“Things happen in the course of a game on special teams that are unfortunate to have happen,” Sherman said. “If we would have caught (A.J. Jefferson of the Toronto Argos, whose punt return touchdown proved the difference in the Bombers’ Week 8 loss) at the 20, it would have been a different game.

“But it’s about the mindset when you come back to the next special team play, like we have to get back at this as a team. That’s where I think we need to grow a little bit.”

Sherman said the unit can use disappointing plays to their advantage.

‘Special teams, it’s about speed and violence’ — Bombers coach Mike O’Shea

“If Troy (Stoudermire) gets nailed on a return, it could go both ways for us,” he said.

“Momentum is always going to swing in their favour with a big hit, but for us, it’s got to be not like, ‘Aww, man. Damn that sucks.’ It’s got to be more like, ‘Now I’m mad, I’m not going to let that happen again.’ “

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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