He is the Crypt Keeper, haunting what has become an absolutely nightmarish graveyard for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Bo Levi Mitchell got his first-ever career start against the Bombers back in 2013 here in Winnipeg and promptly threw for 376 yards and three touchdowns in a Stampeders win. Those of you how have been following along know he’s been mauling the men in blue and gold since his debut, with a 10-2 career mark against Winnipeg – 11-2 if you include last November’s West Final victory.
But it’s not just Mitchell’s numbers vs. the Bombers that are so horrific as the club prepares for Saturday’s critical West Division showdown in southern Alberta. Get this: dating back to 1990, Winnipeg is a grotesque 5-25 at McMahon Stadium; 5-27 if you include the 1993 Grey Cup loss there to Edmonton and last year’s West Final.
In fact, since McMahon Stadium opened in 1960, the Bombers are an abysmal 20-58 at the old joint on Crowchild Trail. And that includes Winnipeg wins in the first six visits there when the gates first opened.
Simply put, that’s a whole lot of ugly.
All the historical numbers mean positively nada to all those heading to Calgary this weekend as they are completely irrelevant in the here and now. What they can attempt to change are Mitchell’s numbers against Winnipeg that include eight 300-yard passing games and a career-best 452 yards in a win over the Bombers last August. His touchdown-to-interception ratio against Winnipeg is just as gaudy, at 25:7.
“He’s got great pocket presence,” said Bombers defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat of Mitchell. “He moves around really well and he’s a guy that doesn’t mind getting hit as he completes his throw. You just don’t want to let him get comfortable back there because he’ll tear guys apart.”
Interestingly, in the two games the Bombers have played against the Mitchell-led Stamps since he torched them for 452 yards last summer (and not including the win over Calgary this August in which Nick Arbuckle started), Winnipeg’s defence has ‘limited’ Mitchell to 274 yards passing and 214 yards passing in last year’s West Final.
Still, Bo being Bo, he did throw for three TDs last November to push the Stamps into the Grey Cup.
“You’ve got to really study him – what he likes to do, what he doesn’t like to do and what gets under his skin as far as pressures or certain types of coverage,” began Bombers safety Brandon Alexander. “He knows every snap as far as the shell, the coverages… if you show it to him before the snap he’s going to know what you’re in already so he already knows where he’s going to throw.
“You’ve got to be able to disguise things against him. I mean, he’s a phenomenal quarterback. He’s in the championship almost every single year for a reason. You’ve just got to study him a lot, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Mitchell, the Canadian Football League’s reigning Most Outstanding Player, missed a chunk of time this year due to injury, but is 6-2 in his starts with 2,494 yards passing and 11 touchdowns against nine interceptions. The Stamps rank just seventh rushing the ball, but are first in passing, averaging 310.1 yards per game.
“He has really good feet back there,” said Alexander. “And what I mean is he’s not necessarily getting out of the way to run the ball or anything, it’s just that he knows how to move with the pocket. He knows how to move away from the pressure, he knows how to move away from people coming to sack him.”
Interestingly, as much as the Bombers are fixating on limiting the damage Mitchell might do Saturday, the Stampeders are doing the same with what Winnipeg brings out of the backfield courtesy of league-rushing leader Andrew Harris and the uniqueness of quarterback Chris Streveler, who is sixth in the CFL in rushing yards.
“One guy ain’t going take (Streveler) down,” Calgary D-lineman Cordarro Law told Stampeders.com. “He’s a big, strong, powerful dude. We’ve got to be sound as a team and make sure that we’re ganging up on him whenever he tucks the ball away.
“This is a bit of a different beat than we’re used to, definitely. We can’t just pin ur ears back and rush this quarterback because Streveler, one read and he’s taking off. Then we’ve got to find a way to slow down Harris, too. He’s playing MOP-type football.
“So, between the two of them we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
The Bombers completed their final full practice today behind closed doors and will fly to Calgary tomorrow for Saturday’s game at McMahon Stadium. Here are some of the other notes and quotes from Thursday’s media availability in our 48-HOUR PRIMER…
THE FRESHMAN CLASS:
The CFL released the names of the 134 players eligible for the Most Outstanding Rookie award and among them were 15 Bombers (including practice roster DE Meffy Koloamatangi, who played five games for the B.C. Lions this year but has not dressed for the Bombers).
The list includes seven players who have started at least one game for the Bombers in WR Kenny Lawler, OL Drew Desjarlais, DT Steven Richardson, DE Jonathan Kongbo, SB/WR Rasheed Bailey, DB Michael Jones and WR Kenny Walker. Also on the list are Kerfalla Exumé and Nick Hallett, who have been outstanding on special teams. Exumé ranks second in the CFL to teammate Mike Miller in special-teams tackles with 20, while Hallett has 11.
Lawler leads the Bombers in receiving yards with 537 on 36 receptions, Desjarlais has dressed for all 16 games and made eight straight starts, while Richardson has 25 tackles, two sacks in 16 games, 14 of them starts.
The last Bomber to win the CFL Most Outstanding Rookie Player was receiver Chris Matthews, back in 2012.
OUCH REPORT:
WR Darvin Adams did not practice on Tuesday or Wednesday and when asked after Thursday’s closed session about his status, head coach Mike O’Shea said he was ‘hopeful’ the veteran receiver could suit up against the Stamps. Ditto for FB Mike Miller.
FYI:
This season marks the first time since 2001 and only the second time since 1988 that at least one CFL quarterback has not started al 18 games for his team. B.C.’s Mike Reilly was the last starter to go down with an injury in last week’s game and had season-ending wrist surgery this week.
His replacement, Danny O’Brien, will become the fourth QB to start his first CFL game this year after Will Arndt (Ottawa), Nick Arbuckle (Calgary) and Cody Fajardo (Saskatchewan). O’Brien will be the 20th different QB starter in the league this year.
GOOD VIBES:
Even during their three-game skid the Bombers collective confidence didn’t waver. But last week’s win over Montreal sure as heck didn’t hurt, either.
“It just reassured ourselves that we’re a good football team and we can do special things when we do the right stuff,” said linebacker Adam Bighill. “Football, for the most part, is a big chess match. But the pieces have got to move together as one unit, all 12 on the field have to execute the same way at the end of the day if you play clean football, limit penalties, play physical, play together, you play smart, good things happen.”
“The momentum is here,” added defensive end Willie Jefferson. “We know what we have moving forward. We know we’ve got the back-to-back Calgary games. The only thing we don’t know is how things are going to shake out. If we do play good Winnipeg football that means we’ll have a homefield game for the playoffs. We just want to focus on us and play two good games of football back to back and then get ready for the playoffs.”
