Of all the terms used to describe the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defence a year ago – ‘opportunistic’ and ‘ball hawks’ the most popular among them – there is another that head coach Mike O’Shea has come to despise.

‘Bend, but don’t break.’

And so file this under ‘lesson re-learned’ when yours truly casually asked the Bomber boss after practice Wednesday for his thoughts on the term.

“There’s no defender in football that enjoys that, that wants to be called that or calls the defence that themselves,” said O’Shea. “They want to be punishers. They want to take the ball away and hold everybody to no yards, zero points, shutouts. Nobody wants to be ‘bend, but don’t break.’ That’s a term coined by the media, I’m sure.

“I don’t think any defender on our team or any coach thought, ‘OK, we’re just going to bleed until the five-yard line and then pick the ball off.’  We’re trying to get the ball on the first play of the first drive and the second play of the first drive and the third play of the first drive and the fourth play of the first drive. We’re trying to get the ball every single time, trying to stop every single time.

“Nobody’s going in there saying, ‘OK, let’s just give them this many yards…’”

That said, any discussion about last year’s Bomber defence – and fuelled by their work this preseason, even as they rolled a ton of personnel through their schemes – invariably highlights the black and white of two numbers and suggests there is no in-between with this crew.

First, there were the 59 takeaways, by far the most in the Canadian Football League and 14 more than the Calgary Stampeders, who finished second in that category.

And then there were the 7,343 yards surrendered, by far the most in the CFL and 1,200 more than the league-leading B.C. Lions.

Those numbers explain, in part, why the defensive front seven has undergone such a massive makeover, with only Jamaal Westerman remaining along the D-line and a change coming at the middle linebacker spot. There will be at least once new starter in the secondary, as well, as Terrence Frederick was released last week.

Asked about what he’d like to see as the next step in this defence’s evolution, O’Shea offered up a standard response.

“Honestly, whatever it takes to win games,” he said. “To hold the opponent to one less point than what we’re able to create.

“Forecasting the number of takeaways, the number of sacks, the number of yards given up… I believe it turns out to be irrelevant if you keep winning games.”

“The bottom line is the defence is in charge of doing their part holding the opponent to one less point than we score.”

The Bombers underwent some major personnel changes during the course of last year, even before this offseason’s makeover. Those in the defensive room believe they can force a ton of turnovers again and, with the changes to the roster and some continuity, cut down on the ‘explosion’ plays that led to the big yards against total.

In short, they want to be multi-faceted, reliable, stingy and the ballhawks they were last year. And ‘bend, but don’t break’? Just don’t go there.

“Everyone is hung up on our turnovers,” said veteran cornerback Chris Randle. “You hear it constantly and we understand that is part of who we are. What we want now is to have our communication at the finest level and if we execute that we’ll eliminate explosion plays because you’ll have guys in the correct positions and on the same page assignment wise.

“At the end of the day, it’s whatever results in us winning ball games. We’re a defensive unit that just wants to win. That goes for every team in the league, obviously. But we’re holding ourselves to a high standard.

“Our goal is to be well-rounded. We know we led last year in forcing turnovers. But we were also in situations where we had to hold our ground. We were in situations where we had to take the ball away and score.

“We want to be all of that again.”

BOMBER REPORT – June 21

THREE MORE ABOARD: The Bombers added three new faces to their practice roster on Wednesday, all of them receivers.

Canadian Brett Blaszko (6-4, 205) spent last year on the B.C. Lions practice roster after being a third-round selection in 2016. He was a CIS All-Star in 2014 and the top rookie in Canada West in 2012 while playing at the University of Calgary.

“He’s a big, tall, strong-looking kid who seems to catch the ball well and understands the CFL game,” said O’Shea.

RJ Harris (6-0, 194) was also released by the Lions in camp this year. Harris spent four years at the University of New Hampshire, finishing with 36 touchdowns.

Gary Chambers (6-4, 209) appeared in 34 games over four years with Arizona State, finishing his senior season with 26 receptions for 486 yards and two TDs. He was most recently in camp with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

To make room for the new additions, receiver T.J. Thorpe and kicker Félix Ménard-Brière were removed from the practice roster. Thorpe remains in town as he is injured and was still scheduled to see the doctor, while Ménard-Brière will return to the Université de Montréal and remains Bomber property.

“Right now that’s the plan: to work out with his kicking coach, get back to school and finish his degree,” said O’Shea of the young kicker. “He’s a guy we like and he made a good impression on us. He made good contact on the ball; he’s just got to improve on his field goal kicking.”

OUCH REPORT: LB Maurice Leggett was back on the field for a portion of practice on Wednesday as the club works to ease him back into the rotation.

Linebacker/defensive back Roc Carmichael and DB Bruce Johnson were non-participants, and Johnson is listed as doubtful for Week 1. Receiver L’Damian Washington did not practice, but O’Shea said his absence likely would just be for a day or two. Ryan Lankford worked in his place with the No. 1 offence on Wednesday.

12: TSN released its list of Top 50 players on their preview show this week, with Andrew Harris topping all Bombers at No. 12.

“That stuff is cool to look at, but it doesn’t mean much to most guys,” said Harris. “I’m sure the guys that are Top 5 are talking about it, but there are guys on that list from what I’ve heard that shouldn’t have been on and vice versa. It’s a great thing for the league, but I don’t think there’s too much value in it.”

Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was ranked first overall with Mike Reilly of Edmonton second, receiver and teammate Adarius Bowman third, B.C. linebacker Solomon Elimimian fourth and Lions QB Jonathon Jennings fifth.

The Stamps led all teams with nine players in the Top 50, followed by the Bombers with eight. The other Bombers ranked, in order, were linebacker Maurice Leggett (16), kicker Justin Medlock (22), quarterback Matt Nichols (28), defensive back T.J. Heath (33), safety Taylor Loffler (40), left tackle Stanley Bryant (44) and left guard Travis Bond (50).

ANOTHER TAKE: Here’s Harris with his thoughts on having the bye in Week 1:

“Initially guys were kind of upset about it, but this is a good week to sharpen up. We get an extra four days (of practice) to work on extra things and see what they’re (the Saskatchewan Roughriders, their first opponent) doing. The hardest part is to get to Week 8 (mid-August) and we need that bye (Winnipeg’s second bye isn’t until mid-September). It’s a long season and having a bye week in the middle of the season is great.

“That’s the only unfortunate thing, having that long stretch before our second bye.”