REGINA – It’s not a small sample size, but more of a trend. And the numbers must be more than a little concerning as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers head into the annual Labour Day Classic and the meaty part of their 2018 Canadian Football League season.
Over the last 16 games, including last November’s West Semi-Final playoff loss to the Edmonton Eskimos, the Bombers have posted a a sub-.500 record – 7-9 to be exact. This after going 20-7 during a stretch from a win in Edmonton in late July of 2016 to a win in Edmonton in late September last year.
While there are some rather significant factors in the recent 7-9 stretch – quarterback Matt Nichols missed four starts in which the team went 2-2 and did not finish two other games, both losses – the other offensive and defensive numbers don’t reveal any one specific problem area.
And that in itself is part of the problem.
“It’s just been let downs by certain groups,” said Andrew Harris, when asked for a big-picture take on the 7-9 stretch. “There are times where our defence has been stellar and our offence hasn’t been great, or vice versa. Or maybe special teams makes a big play that puts us in a bad situation. I just don’t feel like we’ve been playing three-phase football for 60 minutes.
“You need to be consistent and productive in all three phases and that’s been the biggest thing. I don’t think it’s individuals or personnel issues, it’s just collectively our groups haven’t gelled and brought everything to the table as consistently as we need to.
“One bad quarter can decide a game. And when there’s one of the three pieces that’s not as successful as it should be, it makes it that much harder. That’s the thing about this league: it’s tight and one play can decide a game.”
There’s truth to that: of those nine losses, four have been by a touchdown or less. But the last two defeats – to Ottawa and Calgary – have been by 23 and 13 points, and those double-digit losses has many outside of the organization already slamming down on the panic button.
Some numbers behind the 7-9 run, for your perusal:
- The Bombers are 4-4 at home during the stretch; 3-5 on the road
- Winnipeg is 4-4 vs the East; 3-5 vs. the West
- The Bombers have averaged 236.6 yards passing, 117.2 yards rushing and 339.9 yards net offence during those 16 games
- By comparison, Winnipeg’s opponents have averaged 300.0 yards passing, 96.4 yards rushing and 379.8 yards net offence.
- The opponents have out-gained the Bombers in passing in 11 of the 16 games, and had a higher net offence in 10 games, while the split in rushing yards per game is an even 8-8.
- And interestingly, in the four highest passing-total games during that stretch – including the last two losses – the Bombers have a record of just 1-3.
Those are simply the black-and-white numbers that don’t always reveal other factors like weather conditions, but they are alarming nonetheless.
On Friday, we asked quarterback Matt Nichols about the prevailing theory of teams working to limit the effectiveness of Harris as the key to beating Winnipeg.
“No one has done anything too out of the ordinary to take away the run,” said Nichols. “Everything just comes down to little tiny details that if you’re a hair off and the guy on the other team makes a play you can have it rack up on you where you’re not getting production. As an offence, we feel like we can find ways to get that done… we haven’t done a good enough job in the last couple of weeks. We know what we need to do, it’s just going out and executing it.
“It’s not rocket science, it’s just everyone doing their job a little bit better, myself included, and we’ll be all right.”
That’s the common refrain from the Bombers locker room, even during the recent two-game skid. There isn’t panic, but a sense the next eight games will reveal their true selves.
“We are better than this,” said Harris. “But (the 5-5 record this year) is also a tribute to the rest of the league. I think half of those games we lost where I think we should’ve won.
“We know, we feel how good we are in this room but, again, we’ve all got to put it together for 60 minutes consistently.”
