It’s long been said that in football, one of the best attributes a defensive player can have – particularly those who make a living roaming the secondary – is a short memory.
That’s critical not just for shaking off the nightmare of watching a receiver sneak behind coverage en route to the end zone, but in dealing with the highs and lows that can come week to week in the pass-happy Canadian Football League.
And yet the contradiction to this short memory adage is the constant need to be studying film, breaking down every step of coverage, every knockdown and every reception against.
So, as much as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers want to flush their home loss to the Ottawa REDBLACKS in mid-August, the reminders are there with every film session this week in preparation for Friday’s rematch in the nation’s capital.
“We’ve been watching it all week, so it was like back to the crime scene,” said veteran cornerback Chris Randle. “They worked magically with their system. They’ve got guys who’ve been in that system for years. (Trevor) Harris is running at a high level, the run game is running at a high level… so, we’re expecting their best punch.”
Just to rewind for a bit here – or to open old wounds – the Bombers were pummelled 44-21 by the REDBLACKS back on August 17. The Bombers surrendered 493 yards that night as Ottawa quarterback Trevor Harris completed 29 of 39 for 361 yards, while William Powell scrambled for 106 along the ground. Ottawa averaged 9.3 yards per completion, almost six yards per rush, and converted a whopping 67 percent of their passes.
And so, heck yeah, the film sessions this week might have had the defensive dozen watching the videotape evidence between their fingers while their hands covered their faces.
The Bombers have spoken about how that Ottawa game – and the second half in a loss to Calgary a week later – forced them to refocus defensively. The defensive evidence since then has been strong, as the Bombers were solid on that side of the ball in back-to-back losses to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, before finding their footing again in a win over the Montreal Alouettes and then serving up last Saturday’s masterpiece in a 30-3 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos.
But the defensive gameplan the Bombers used against the Eskimos won’t necessarily work against Ottawa.
“With Trevor Harris and the run-pass options they have, the running game that they have, and just the way they attack is way different (than Edmonton),” Randle explained. “It’s not as vertical. It’s more motions and two-back sets and understanding where people are supposed to be is critical for us. Understanding our defences and our coverages is what we’ve been focusing on all week.”
Both Randle and fellow Bombers defensive back Brandon Alexander spoke this week about having their ‘eyes right’, and that’s especially critical against a REDBLACKS attack that uses so much motion and misdirection and is deadly in the intermediate passing game.
“They’ve got Sinopoli and Ellingson and 85 (Dinotae Spencer) and Powell, the running back… they’ve got a lot of guys who can make a lot of plays for them,” said Alexander. “And then Trevor can put the ball anywhere on the field. We’re going against a team that has a very good offence. We’ve got to get our eyes right because they do a lot of moving around.”
The REDBLACKS average a league-leading 62.8 offensive plays per game – they had 65 in the win over Winnipeg in August – and their ability to stay on the field and both confuse and grind down defensive units is why they have become one of the CFL’s most potent attacks.
And the key to limiting their damage, as is the case with any offence, is to limit their production on first down. Ottawa averaged 5.1 yards on first down in the first meeting with Winnipeg, and a ridiculous 12.1 yards on second down.
“That’s where we can have more impact on defence and execute what we want to do,” said Randle of being stout on first down. “That’s every week you want to do that, but it’s more vital this week because when they get over 70 plays a game, they win.”
BOMBER REPORT | October 3, 2018
The Bombers completed their final full practice today behind closed doors in advance of Friday’s visit to Ottawa to face the REDBLACKS. Here are some notes and quotes from today’s media availability…
GOOD TO GO:
Bombers slotback Nic Demski missed last week’s win in Edmonton, but has the thumbs up to return for Friday’s game in Ottawa.
“I’m feeling good,” said Demski after practice on Wednesday. “I’m feeling good mentally and physically so I’m just excited to get on the field this week.”
Demski is third in receiving yards for the Bombers with 412 on 44 receptions, but is also third in rushing behind Andrew Harris and Chris Streveler and is second in both punt and kickoff-return yards. Quite clearly he’d like to be busy again rather than watching this week’s game on TV.
“At times I was a little bit antsy, but the boys held it down,” he said. “They did what they had to do and we got a good win, so I’m happy. Of course , you always want to be in there, you always want to help your team, but the boys held it down, we got the win and it was good for our whole mentality.”
Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said Harris, OL Patrick Neufeld and FB Mike Miller – all of whom were limited at practice at times this week – should all be good to go.
LOOMING:
The CFL trade deadline comes next week, October 10th to be exact, and O’Shea was asked on Wednesday if it was just ‘common sense that if you had any opportunity to improve your team you would do that, whether that be via trade or in other ways?’
“I think that’s common sense to the people in those positions (GMs),” said O’Shea, “because as the head coach, I like our guys. The team, as coaches, we like our guys and are prepared to win with them.”
THE DEUCE:
Ottawa attempts more two-point converts in the CFL than any other team and has hit on 11 of 16. By comparison, the Bombers have only attempted two two-point conversions this season, but Justin Medlock is a perfect 44 of 44 on convert kicks this year.
Here’s O’Shea when explaining if Ottawa’s approach might impact his own philosophy to the two-point convert:
“It’s a long game. Teams go for two right off the bat, if that’s the way they’re wired, because they want to try and make you make that next decision, too. We’ve got arguably the best kicker in the league. We’ll kick singles and then as the game plays out we’ll see where that leads you. We’re not adverse to going to for two, either, but in that last game they had a possible 10 points (converting five two-point conversions) and we took two penalties on two converts that we stopped, which would have put them at four out of 10. If we had done our job and not taken those penalties, we would have been ahead of the game. As long as a team is above 50 (percent) in two-point converts at the end of the season, then they are ahead of the game. But every game is different.”
