Menu
August 9, 2018

Ready for the Rematch | Bombers set to take on Ticats

They have authored one of the best stretches of defensive football in these parts in years, effectively throwing up a brick wall across their goal line and feasting on opposition passes.

And yet despite their handiwork over the last month or so, the men who comprise the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defence seem to begin every week with the following introduction:

‘Will the defendants please rise…’

It will be no different Friday night at Investors Group Field when the Bombers host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and try to serve up another solid defensive effort to convince the entire Canadian Football League they are not the same unit that gave up gobs of real estate last year or the year before that.

The Bombers have kept both the B.C. Lions and Toronto Argonauts to 20 points or under in four consecutive games. Just to put that into perspective, the last time a Bombers defence matched that feat came way back in 2002 during a stretch from October 12-November 2 in wins over Saskatchewan (20-11), Calgary (35-20), Hamilton (28-7) and Edmonton (20-8).

And over the last four games, Winnipeg’s often-maligned has allowed just one TD pass while intercepting eight. They have forced 17 turnovers and allowed a second-down conversion rate of just 41.8 percent. Overall, the defence ranks third against the run, fourth versus the pass, and all while opposition quarterbacks have the second-lowest – to Calgary – efficiency rating.

Yet…

“I feel like we can still be better,” said defensive end Tristan Okpalaugo. “We’re growing. It seems as a group we’re holding each other more accountable. There’s more trust involved… I’m trusting the guys beside me to do the right thing, the linebackers are trusting me to do the right thing and that all helps the DBs in their coverage.”

But again, for all this recent success there is still a guilt-by-association view of this defence until they do it even more consistently, and especially when the real games matter in November. Right now, the narrative during this month of solid work often includes an asterisk and the comment, ‘Yeah, but it came against B.C. and Toronto, not Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa or Hamilton.’

Everyone, it would seem, wants more proof.

“They’re always going to want more proof,” said Okpalaugo. “When our offence is flourishing they want our defence to do it as well. It’s the same for the special teams. They’re always going to want more no matter how well we’re doing, no matter what we put on film or whatever the stats are.

“That’s OK, we want more too. We’ve just got to keep stacking up games. There’s that quote, ‘Chase perfection to catch excellence.’ That’s our plan. We’re going to keep shooting high.”

The Bombers haven’t been without their defensive challenges this season. The club couldn’t protect an eight-point lead in the final five minutes in the season-opening 33-30 loss to Edmonton and held a 17-zip halftime lead over the Lions last month before falling 20-17.

And the one game in which the unit was pushed around the most came on June 29th in Hamilton, when Jeremiah Masoli & Co. racked up 480 yards – 111 on the ground, 369 through the air – in a 31-17 victory.

“We need to be more technically sound” said Jackson Jeffcoat when asked to come up with a defensive to-do list against the Ticats, “and not let all the stuff they do on offence take us out of position.

“With Masoli… he’s a good player, he’s got a strong arm. We’ve just got to limit those big plays, not allow him to get outside the pocket and throw deep. And then we also can’t let him sit in the pocket and get comfortable because he can kill you in there. There’s definitely more to give, definitely more to do for us on defence.”


BOMBERS REPORT | August 9, 2018

MOE A GO?:

The Bombers depth chart has veteran Maurice Leggett listed at strong-side linebacker with Chandler Fenner, who has practiced in that spot most of the week, listed as his back up.

“It’s great,” said Leggett when asked how his body is feeling. “This old body is great.”

Wednesday’s practice was closed to the media, but head coach Mike O’Shea has said repeatedly certain players – Leggett included – can skip much of the work week and suit up on game day because of the trust they’ve built with the staff.

Here’s Leggett, channeling his best Allen Iverson when he was served up the question ‘how overrated is practice?’

“We’re talking about practice?” he said with a grin. “No, it’s important, especially to get the chemistry down with the guys. With my veteran status I can see (practice) from a coach’s standpoint to help me mentally as well as physically.”

GO-TIME:

The Bombers have home games this Friday against Hamilton and a week later with Ottawa to round out the first half of their schedule. The second half features seven of nine games against West Division rivals.

“Everyone says the season starts after Labour Day, but these weeks leading up to it are really important as well because you can get a feel of where teams are at, how guys are playing,” said Andrew Harris. “Having said that, Hamilton’s playing good football right now. Their defence is flying around, the offence makes plays and they’re scoring some points. It’s definitely going to be a tough test for us.

“If we control the line of scrimmage and time of possession, it’s going to put us in position to win the football game.”

THEN VS. NOW:

What’s different now for the Bombers compared to their June 29th loss in Hamilton? Well, for one…

“Obviously for me it feels way different… I’m actually going to be playing,” said quarterback Matt Nichols, who watched the June 29th game on TV as he recovered from a knee injury. “Overall, I feel like we’ve definitely turned the corner as a team. The last couple of weeks we’ve shown each other what kind of team we can be, so now there’s that next standard that we want to hold each other to week in and week out. You definitely want to get better week to week as you go through the season, and definitely from four-five weeks ago we’re better now than we were then.”

THUMBS UP:

Nichols and Ticats QB Jeremiah Masoli were both with the Edmonton Eskimos in 2012; Nichols as the third-stringer behind Kerry Joseph and Steven Jyles with Masoli on the practice roster. Today they are two respected starters in the CFL.

“I was with him in Edmonton back in the day and I’ve gotten to know Jeremiah a little bit the last five or six years or so… I’ve always been a big fan of his,” said Nichols. “Great guy to be around and I’m super proud of the way he’s been playing. I’m hoping he doesn’t play too well tomorrow. But overall, when you get to know some of these guys and you get to know how hard the position is I have lot of respect for other guys around the league and he’s definitely one I have a ton of respect for, for the way he’s waited his turn and was ready to roll when it was handed to him. I think he does a great job for them.”

AWWW, SHUCKS:

Ticats radio play-by-play man Marshall Ferguson revealed to Nichols that earlier in the week, Hamilton head coach June Jones – a man who has been around quality quarterbacks during his long career – said the Winnipeg quarterback processes things the fastest of any pivot in the CFL.

“That’s great to hear,” said Nichols. “I do feel like that’s been one of my strengths. I’ve competed against a lot of guys who were more physically gifted than me, stronger arm than me. But my attention to detail and ability to process things and get the ball out quick has been a strength of mine.

“Obviously to be recognized by a guy of his stature is great to hear. I don’t know what else to say other than it’s awesome to hear that from a guy like him.”

HIGH PRAISE:

Nichols was asked to describe veteran Weston Dressler in one word. What the media got instead was this glowing endorsement:

“I definitely wouldn’t use one word. He’s so many things. He’s so precise in his route-running, he sees the game like a quarterback. The best thing he does is, on the fly I can tell him how I want a certain route run against four different looks and he’s never going to mess it up. He sees the field the same way I do, so from that aspect, he’s one of the smartest guys I’ve ever played with in terms of football I.Q.

“He’s explosive and he can separate from people. He just does everything you want in a receiver. I definitely look up to Dress. As soon as practice is over he’s pulling young guys into the meeting rooms to make sure everyone is on the same page and when we break the huddle, he’s reminding everyone of every little detail. He’s just an extremely talented football player.”