Bewilder, baffle and befuddle

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/06/2010 (5658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The end goal is simple, but getting there still might take awhile for the Winnipeg Blue Bomber defence.

A year ago the defensive dozen was the backbone, the shining light in a season of frustration. But despite being on the field forever because of offensive ineptitude, this unit — game as it was — also finished dead last in the most-important statistical category of all: points allowed (28.1 per game).

And so while there has been so much discussion about the change in philosophy on offence through the off-season and the first few days of training camp, it should be noted the defence is also undergoing a makeover.

"It is totally different from last year," said safety Brady Browne. "We’re going to confuse quarterbacks. Last year I think teams knew what we were doing; we were doing the same thing over and over again and teams adjust to that. Our playbook is thick. We were at Day 2 and we already had more plays than all of last year."

Indeed, the scouting report of the ’09 Bomber defence went something like this: outstanding collective athleticism, aggressive, ball-hawking unit occasionally handcuffed by scheme and play calling. One rival offensive co-ordinator said there was a game last year in which the Bomber defence called the same play on nine consecutive downs.

Enter new defensive co-ordinator Kavis Reed, a man tasked with implementing his own scheme, getting his troops to buy in and take ownership and build his crew into a force by the time the regular season opens July 2.

"The one thing I preach to the guys is this: what they accomplished in the past is that," said Reed. "But understand they were NOT as bad as some people want to portray them. If you really look at this team, it was one game, a few plays, away from hosting a playoff game. All wasn’t lost, all wasn’t bad.

"As a coaching staff we’ve come in with the attitude that we’re not coming in to be knights on horses, we’re coming in to continue what has already been established. The staff before us did a very good job, although there have been some very negative things said. I watched these guys on film going through a lot of different adversities they couldn’t control and they performed when the ball was kicked off.

"That’s an extreme compliment. They’re mentally tough, they’re able to focus on what is important and they’re able to show up on game day. As a coaching staff I think we inherited a great group of men."

But that great group of men will be doing some serious cramming over the next few weeks. In short, Reed and his defensive staff want to accomplish the same thing Paul LaPolice and the offensive coaches are seeking on the other side of the ball: to create confusion by having more personalities than Sybil.

"We want to do a few things in a lot of formations," explained Reed. "We don’t want to over-complicate things, we want to be good at a few things, but have a lot of different looks. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish here.

"If you look at the dimensions of the field, the rules of the game and how things are targeted, we have to be able to stress the offence. We’re trying to gain an advantage by stressing them visually to force them to do things they’re uncomfortable with. We have to be able to disrupt timing."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca