It’s been a slow, often painful process. Just ask the men who have lined up behind centre for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the recent years leading up to 2016, and somehow lived to tell tales about it.
Let’s face it, before last season the Bombers offensive line wasn’t so much a work in progress as it was an ongoing nightmare. And fixing it was no easy task; bringing to mind an old saying in the construction industry that seems perfectly fitting.
‘Any jackass can tear down a barn. But it takes a carpenter to build one.’
And so, as Bomber training camp approaches and we continue our positional preview series by focusing on the offensive line, it’s worth detailing just how much things have changed – changed for the better – along the club’s offensive line.
Yes, for the first time in seemingly forever, the Bombers will enter the 2017 season with a line that not only seems set, but looks poised to build on the dramatic transformation it undertook last year in going from a huge question mark to a Canadian Football League force.
First, the pertinent numbers:
- Winnipeg surrendered 35 sacks last season, tied for the third-fewest in the CFL behind Calgary (20) and Edmonton (31) and tied with B.C.
- The Bombers passed for 287.3 yards per game in ’16, up 53 yards from 2015 and a significant leap for a team that not only underwent a coordinator change in the offseason to Paul LaPolice, but switched quarterbacks a third of the way into the campaign to Matt Nichols from Drew Willy and suffered a swack of injuries in the receiving corps.
- Running back Andrew Harris rushed for 974 yards – third-best in the league behind Calgary’s Jerome Messam (1,198) and Toronto’s Brandon Whitaker (1,009) – in 15 games.
All of those are positive stats that indicate how the Bombers front is trending upwards.
The Bombers O-line now features a blend of three imports in tackles Stanley Bryant and Jermarcus Hardrick, and CFL All-Star guard Travis Bond along with two Canadian draft picks who have become bonafide starters in centre Matthias Goossen and guard Sukh Chungh.
There is depth here now too, with import tackle Manase Foketi returning along with veteran Canadian Patrick Neufeld, who can play both guard and tackle, and Canadian prospects Michael Couture (drafted 10th overall in 2016), Zachary Intzandt (37thoverall in 2016) and Qadr Spooner (15th overall in 2017).
Making camp even more interesting is the arrival of two new faces from big-time NCAA programs in Dominick Jackson, who started at right tackle for Alabama’s national championship team in 2015, and Kodi Kieler, who made 30 starts for Michigan State at centre and both tackle positions.
Now there is a notion that the Bombers need to flip the ratio on the O-line to get back to starting three Canadians and two imports. That’s a possibility with Neufeld having already started and with good Canadian prospects behind him.
But there’s also a notion that the club’s improved ratio flexibility means there is no need to mess with what is now working in the trenches. And after waiting years to get this concoction right, there is no rush to change the mixture.
Matt Nichols & Co. will undoubtedly concur.
X FACTOR
Patrick Neufeld was listed in this exact same space a year ago. And nothing has changed. The Bombers don’t feel the need to switch from starting three Americans and two Canadians up front, but if they did, Neufeld has proven to be starter-ready at either guard or tackle. Of course, he’s also had an extensive injury history that would make this kind of move – unless forced upon the club because of an injury elsewhere – seem risky.
IMPACT NEWCOMER
There are a lot of tough lineups to crack in NCAA football. But arguably none is tougher than that of the perennial powerhouse Alabama Crimson Tide. That’s why a lot of eyeballs will be on Dominick Jackson during Bomber camp – not only does he have the right dimensions at 6-6, 315, but he started 14 games with Bama as a senior, was a Second-Team All-SEC and the starting right tackle for their 2015 national championship squad.
JUICY NUMBER
35
The total of quarterback sacks surrendered by the Bombers offence in 2016, tied for third-fewest in the CFL. And here’s why that number is significant: in the two years previous, the Bombers gave up an astonishing 130 sacks – 59 in 2015 and a league-high 71 in 2014.
This is the fifth in a position-by-position training-camp preview series by bluebombers.com.
Previously:
Special teams
Defensive backs
Linebackers
Defensive line
The rest of our camp previews are scheduled as follows:
Running backs, May 26
Receivers, May 27
Quarterbacks, May 28
