Winnipeg Blue Bombers special team coordinator Paul Boudreau during the game at New Mosaic Stadium in Regina, SK, Saturday, July 1st, 2017. (Photo: Johany Jutras)
They are the highly-skilled, well-trained foot soldiers who make up the Winnipeg Blue Bombers special teams, a bunch that is arguably the best at their craft in the Canadian Football League.
And when Paul Boudreau – the Bombers special teams coordinator – is asked if there might be one common thread found among all the men who make up his units, he pauses for a moment to mull over the question.
And then, this:
“Yeah. They’re all not normal.”
Boudreau’s face opens into a wide grin – the kind of maniacal smile that would make the Joker proud and others squirm uncomfortably – and then you start to get the impression he might just be the perfect man to lead this collection of gifted athletes with a hell-bent approach to the game.
“Look,” Boudreau continued, “if you say to a normal human being, ‘Hey… 70 yards down the field there are two 6-foot-3, 350-pound linemen. I want you to run full speed and then run into them. And by the way, there are going to be other guys trying to hit you all the way downfield.’ You know what? Nine out of 10 people would probably tell you to kiss their ass.
“I want the one guy who says, ‘OK, sign me up.’”
Those guys who have signed up for the Bombers Special Forces this year have been quietly and efficiently authoring a spectacular campaign. The Bombers rank at or near the top of many of the special teams statistical categories, have three kick-return touchdowns, two blocked kicks – including one for a score – and are the least-penalized unit in the CFL.
And at this time of year when the field position battle is critical and every mistake highlighted, what happens on special teams could be the difference between advancing to the division final or stuffing belongings into garbage bags on Monday.
“Like they always say, special teams is one third of the game out there,” said Bombers linebacker and Winnipeg product Thomas Miles. “We’re often unsung, but if you look at turning points in games, it often starts with a blocked kick or a return touchdown or if you are just smothering a team’s return game. It’s a huge part of every single football game.
“We’re a tight-knit group with a veteran core that has been doing this for a long time. We are out there playing for each other, going through the same struggles and fighting all of our own one-on-one battles on each rep.
“We find strength in each other and we need it because it’s a grind. More than anything it’s about how much you want it, because everyone out there is a good athlete.”
The addition of vets Miles and former Edmonton Eskimo Mike Miller this offseason further solidified a unit that already featured some steady special teamers like Jesse Briggs, Derek Jones, Shayne Gauthier and also welcomed a new downfield demon like Jovan Santos-Knox.
And it’s the veteran voices that are critical in weeding out the malcontents who only play special teams because they are told to, or moan and groan when assigned those chores.
Miller called it the special teams ‘buy in.’
“It’s about taking this really seriously and understanding how big a part of the CFL special teams are,” said Miller. “It’s about putting our offence and defence in good field position.
“Being on special teams is not for everybody. It’s a mindset. You have to have a fearless mentality. You have to hit people hard and you have to understand you’re not going to get a lot of glory. It’s about a group of guys who are doing it for each other. Every week we have a good gameplan going in. They’ve put us in good situations all year to make plays and we’ve helped win games.”
“’Buying in’ means drinking the Kool-Aid,” added Boudreau. “If you ain’t on board, go somewhere else. It’s understanding what we’re trying to do as a unit and that everybody has their own little role in that unit and that everybody has to do their piece, their 1/12th. If we have that, we’re going to be a good unit.
“The first meeting I have with them when I walk into the room begins with ‘You’re not an offensive player, you’re not a defensive player. When you come into this room you are a football player, whether you are a receiver covering a kick or a defensive back blocking, you’re just playing football.’”
It helps, of course, that the ‘buy in’ mantra comes from way up in the Bombers organizational flow chart. Wade Miller, the President & CEO, carved out a long career on specials. The GM Kyle Walters did the same as a player before coaching the units.
And the head coach just so happens to be someone long obsessed with what happens on special teams.
“Osh? He’s one of the best special teams players and best special teams coaches ever,” said Miles. “You can tell… every single day he’s excited about it and we feed off that.”
“You’re always looking for that one little thing that might create an advantage,” Boudreau added. “The nice thing here is I can always walk down the hall and ask Mike a rules question or ask, ‘If we do this, is it legal?’ I know there are head coaches in this league who are vanilla (on special teams) for a reason. They just want their offence and defence to play well, they don’t want penalties and if they get a big return or make a big return it’s great, but in the grand scheme of things they just don’t want to screw it up.
“Not here. We’re all drinking the Kool-Aid.”
