It was an enthralling and entirely riveting story for a few weeks, and it starred Andrew Harris and the men along the Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive line.
The plot wasn’t all that complicated – No. 33 gets ball, then promptly runs over defences while working behind the big dudes up front – and it played out on a seemingly continuous loop over the first third of the Canadian Football League season.
Harris entered Friday’s rematch with the Toronto Argonauts not only the league’s leading rusher, but its top touchdown man and one of the CFL’s top performers after a career-best 161 yards along the ground a week ago.
But, sooner or later, everyone understood the script was going to get flipped. Defences would counter-punch, man up and throw up a road block in front of the Bombers workhorse running back.
The question would then become this: how would the Bombers counter the counter?
The answer was on full display in Friday night’s 40-14 victory over the Argos in which seven different players caught passes – including quarterback Chris Streveler, on a special play toss from Darvin Adams – and six different Bombers carried the ball.
It’s not like Harris still wasn’t busy, as he rushed 10 times for 28 yards and pulled in five passes for 50 yards, but with the Argos fixated on limiting his effectiveness, the Bombers were able to showcase their other weapons working in Paul LaPolice’s offence.
The main beneficiary was Nic Demski, whose eight touches – three rushes, five catches – ranked second to Harris in the Bombers attack and showcased his versatility. Demski finished with two touchdowns on those eight plays, pulling in a picturesque 42-yard pass from Matt Nichols for his first score and then tip-toeing down the sidelines on a run for his second.
“Unbelievable game,” said Nichols of Demski. “That touchdown I threw to him… not totally how that route is designed; he just saw the same thing I was seeing and did a great job running it down. I mean, that was just him making a football play.
“Later with the touchdown run, I saw him cut back off the first guy and my mind instantly goes to what are we going to call from first-and-10 from the 15, and all of a sudden, he tight-roped all the way in. The guy made some unbelievable plays tonight and I really think he’s having a breakout season right now.”
Nichols also explained the adjustment the Argos made defensively after the Bombers ran roughshod over them a week ago in the Big Smoke.
“They did do some things tonight where – not to get too crazy technical or anything – but they added an extra true linebacker in the game to play a seven-man box and try and stop the run a little bit,” he said. “We have a pretty good complimentary offence where if teams want to do that, we can hurt them in other ways.
“Our guys did some great things on the outside tonight and going into it we said we felt we had answers to everything. The guys did a good job responding to a different situation to what we played against them last week.”
More on the Bombers win Friday night – the result improves them to 4-3 heading into their first of three bye weeks this season – in our weekly post-game collection of notes and quotes we call UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
DEMSKI HAD WORKED THROUGH SOME HIGHS AND LOWS OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS… prior to Friday night. He was excellent in the 20-17 loss to the B.C. Lions earlier this month, but had a Nichols pass deflect off him before being intercepted in what led to the winning points. And in last week’s spanking of the Argos he fumbled after a catch, with the mistake returned for a score.
“I talk about it all the time: I try my best to turn all my negatives into positives,” said Demski. “I was just trying to stay focused and make plays to put us in a position to win. It worked out pretty good.”
It marked Demski’s first multi-TD game as a pro. What’s interesting is in just seven games so far this season, Demski has 28 receptions for 267 yards – his career bests are 37 for 338, set in 2016 with Saskatchewan – while his 16 carries are already a career high.
Demski spoke about how excited he is to work in this offence in our game recap, but was also asked about using the stairs to celebrate with fans in the north and south end zones while some of his teammates have made it customary to leap up into the crowd.
“I’m not going to lie, man,” said Demski with a grin, “the stairs were just right there and it seemed a lot more convenient. It seemed like I could save my body a little bit, so I just took the stairs.”
WE INTERRUPT THE FIXATATION ON THE OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION… to once again turn our attention to the defence. The Bombers have now surrendered 19, 20, 20 and 14 points over the last four games and the defence is not only bringing more pressure – they had four sacks Friday and 11 over this stretch – but are again turning the ball over, with seven turnovers in their latest win.
Just as impressive have been the decline in the defensive busts, those dreaded ‘explosion plays’ that pockmarked this unit over the last couple of seasons.
“That was a lot of fun out there,” said veteran cornerback Chris Randle, who picked off his second pass of the season Friday. “There’s trust. We’re understanding the game moreso, understanding what coaches want and knowing the situation they’re putting us in and that allows us to go to the spot we want to go to as a defence. I feel like we’re coming together as far as fighting together and as far as learning the game and understanding what the coaches want out of us. The coaches have given us the gameplan and we can make adjustments. We know our bread and butter and that’s something we can take ownership of and it’s working out for us.
“Last year we were saying, ‘Too many yards… too many yards.’ This year it’s like, ‘OK, we can’t let that be the reason.’ A lot of focus on it and now we’re making plays because we trust each other and the system. If we learn the system the way they’re teaching it to us and the way we understand it, you’re going to see similar results.”
AS GOOD AS THE DEMSKI STAT LINE WAS… nobody had a more jaw-dropping stat line than Bombers linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox, who had 10 tackles and three sacks.
We wrote about the metamorphosis of Santos-Knox and the influence on his game by Adam Bighill earlier in the week, and he took another massive step in Friday’s win.
“I have one of the best linebackers in the league beside me and I’m learning every day from that guy,” said Santos-Knox. “With his guidance and just following our scheme, playing fast, doing what I do with high energy… the sky’s the limit and great things are yet to come.”
Here’s Randle on what he’s seen in Santos-Knox, who didn’t make his first start until the Banjo Bowl last year and has just 15 starts to his name:
“He ain’t looked back since then. He’s been growing each and every day. You can see it in practice. You can see his understanding. He’s making changes for us when it comes to the boundary side, when it comes to route combinations and including in the run. His football IQ has grown and it’s allowing him to play even faster than what he was.
“He hasn’t even had 18 starts yet. Just to see the improvement in him over time… now we don’t expect anything less from him.”
A SHOUT-OUT HERE TO THE FOOT SOLDIERS ON SPECIAL TEAMS… as the Bombers also got a TD off a punt block. It was picture perfect, as Mike Miller burst through the line to stuff Ronnie Pfeffer before he could even put his foot on the ball, with Ian Wild then scooping up the ball and scoring.
“It just happened to open up for me and it was a straight line to the kicker,” said Miller with a shrug. “I was pretty much scot-free right off the line. It was a great scheme and it ended up working out where I was the free guy on that one. Once I got off the ground I looked up and was hoping somebody got the ball and that’s when I saw Ian scoop and score and I thought, ‘All right… great.’
“Changing field position is our job. That’s a huge part of this football game and when you can change the field, that’s what we’re here to do. We’ve got a lot of guys who are core special teams players who have really bought in with what we’re doing. Everybody is putting their time in to make sure they know what they’re doing and our coaches put us in good positions to change field position and be successful.”
THERE WAS ENOUGH TO BE INTRIGUED BY THE CFL DEBUT… of receiver Kenbrell Thompkins, the former NFLer who was moved into Adarius Bowman’s old spot after the vet was shipped to the Montreal Alouettes.
Thompkins had three catches for 81 yards on the night, including a 51-yard bomb in which he might have scored if he hadn’t momentarily, and inexplicably, pulled up for a moment after catching the ball.
“Man… I don’t know what I was thinking,” laughed Thompkins. “When I was running it looked like he was catching me for some reason. I really don’t know why. I wanted to stop and then when I noticed he was still back there I just tried to go ahead and score, but it was too late. I wish I could get that one back.”
Added Nichols:
“It was awesome. I talked about it (before the game) that I think he is a very dynamic guy who is excited to be here, excited for his opportunity and he made the most of it. I might give him a little grief for not putting that one in the end zone, but other than that he played a great game tonight. I have a lot of confidence in him and what he can do.”
THOMPKINS WASN’T PERFECT… but his work was very much appreciated by O’Shea, especially considering it came in a week in which the Bombers moved on from Bowman, one of their high-profile offseason additions.
“He did a nice job for us, and probably under tough circumstances,” said O’Shea. “We had a lot of questioning all week about that move and when you move into a spot that’s been held by a guy whose got 9,000 yards (career, receiving) you want to make sure you do well for your teammates and the quarterback. I thought he did very well.”
More from Thompkins, who played in the preseason game in Vancouver and in a preseason game last year in the NFL with the New York Jets before being released.
“It’s been awhile. I’ve been training, I’ve been working hard for these opportunities and to actually have the opportunity to be out there and be in the stadium in front of these fans… I’m honoured to be in the locker room with these guys and be back playing football again.
“This was my first game. I got my feet wet and the only thing I want to do is just get better.”
O’SHEA DOESN’T OFTEN DO THE BIG-PICTURE THING… as he chooses instead to focus on what is directly ahead, not forward or behind. But he did offer this when asked to weigh in on his squad as it heads into the bye.
“I like our guys,” said O’Shea. “I like their understanding of the team and what it’s going to take to win. I don’t know if we’re all there yet… I think there’s more that we can do. I like the way we’re playing more complimentary football and the way we’re working together as a whole team.
“Obviously, there’s lots of season left so we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. But we’ve got a great group of guys and I sort of get laughed at for saying this all the time, but they’re working hard for each other every single day and we’ve got a great coaching staff that’s putting them in good positions.
“As a team, they believe in what the coaches are giving them in terms of planning and they’re going out and executing it very well and doing it at a high level with a lot of physicality. One of the more important things is I think they’re having a lot of fun doing it.”
AND, FINALLY… the Bombers are the last CFL team to enjoy their first of three bye weeks this season and the timing comes as the club has won three of its last four. Nichols said he had plans to head up to Gimli, as he did last year, Demski will stay in town with his family while Thompkins is off to Miami.
Asked by Global’s Austin Siragusa if he had plans during the bye week, O’Shea cracked with a grin: “I do… and you’re not included in them, I know that.”
“You know what,” said Randle, “it really does come at a good time because now we can get some rest. And when we get back, keep this ball rolling.”
