It must be a frightening sight for Canadian Football League quarterbacks looking across the line of scrimmage and seeing #5 in Winnipeg Blue Bombers colours circling, hunting and smelling blood in the water.
Yes, Willie Jefferson is sharking again and pivots across the land are painfully aware the veteran defensive end — currently tied for the league lead in sacks with Saskatchewan’s James Vaughters, Hamilton’s Julian Howsare, Calgary’s Clarence Hicks and teammate Jake Ceresna — is terrorizing backfields again by racking up QB kills and swatting down passes at the line of scrimmage.
In fact, Jefferson’s four quarterback sacks this year not only surpasses the three he had a year ago, it has moved him into fourth place on the Blue Bombers all-time list with 50, now behind only Tyrone Jones (98), Tony Norman (59) and Doug Brown (52).
He now has 81 career sacks including his days in Edmonton and Saskatchewan — 25th all time in CFL list — and his 97 career pass knockdowns ranks second to Eddie Davis at 111.
“I’m happy with those numbers but it’s only the first third of the season,” said Jefferson in a chat with bluebombers.com this week and only after giving a shout out to every other defensive line teammate for their roles. “There’s still two thirds left and we’ve got some good teams ahead of us, including Calgary.
“I’m just going to go out there and keep stacking ’em up. That’s one thing I’m hard on myself about — I don’t want to be looking at the stats. Like I said, I’m happy, but it can still be a lot better. There are still rushes where I see I need to continue to compress the pocket and be better. I’m trying to climb that ladder. I’m trying.”
Jefferson had a sack and two knockdowns in the season-opening win in Calgary, had a pair against Toronto and one last week in the win over Ottawa. He’s still getting extra attention from offences, still getting held occasionally and still racking up the numbers.
In fact, if he can keep up this pace there’s a very real possibility he will pass both Brown and Norman to move into second place on the franchise’s all-time sack list. He’s also chasing this: he’d love to eventually get to 100-100 in sacks and knockdowns.
So, let the sharking continue…
“When it’s second and long, we know it’s a passing down in this league,” Jefferson said. “You want to get off the ball, get the best get-off that you can, then use a good move on an offensive lineman to get to the quarterback as fast as possible.
“Then you need to finish. That’s the end goal. You want to get to him, you want to finish push him in the pocket. If you can get the ball out with a forced fumble, that’s a bonus. But if we can just get them off the field, that’s a win.”
ICYMI, here is our Game Preview:
And what follows are more notes and quotes to help get Blue Bombers fans ready for tonight in this week’s edition of GAME DAY HQ…
REDHA DOWN/KELLY GETS THE CALL
The Blue Bombers will be without veteran defensive back Redha Kramdi tonight — and perhaps longer — as he has been suffered an undisclosed injury in the win over Ottawa, even though he sealed the game with a pass knockdown on the final play in overtime.
In steps Jake Kelly, now in his fourth season and a veteran of 37 games, to take his place. This coming after he recorded his first career interception in the rally against the RedBlacks.
“I’m just excited for the opportunity. It’s not my first start but it is my first start this year,” said Kelly after Thursday’s walk-through practice. “I’ve had a lot of snaps (on defence) and it’s great to have the opportunity to get on the field.
“Redha is a big piece. It will different not having his voice and his leadership out there but it’s not something we can’t handle. It’s his ability to lead, his play recognition, his voice, there’s a lot of great attributes that he has as a football player, a teammate and a friend.”
Added Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea on Kelly:
“It represents an opportunity. He’s a guy who has been getting lots of snaps for us and can play a bunch of different spots and understands what we’re doing. He’s going to communicate well and it’s going to be pretty damn good.”
NOTABLE
- Last week’s 17-point comeback by the Blue Bombers was their largest since 2010 and it ranks the ninth greatest rally. Number one was a 27-point hole the Blue Bombers climbed out of in a win against Hamilton in 1994.
- Winnipeg’s consecutive sell-out streak was a couple hundred shy in last week’s home game, but the club has posted a run of 17 straight regular-season crowds of 30,000 or more since August 1, 2024.
- Brady Oliveira needs just 21 yards to move into third place on the Blue Bombers all-time rushing list. He is at 5,903 yards, trailing Charles Roberts (9,987), Leo Lewis (8,8610 and Willard Reaves (5,923).
- Oliveira also needs 97 yards to reach 6,000 in his career, which would make him only just the fifth Canadian to hit that mark, joining Andrew Harris (10,380), Norm Kwong (9,022), Jon Cornish (6,844) and Sean Millington (6,086).
- Mike O’Shea coached his 200th career game for the Blue Bombers last week, improving to 121-79. He is eighth all-time in games coached and seventh all-time in wins.
- Trey Vaval leads the CFL with 425 punt return yards after six games. That is on pace for 1,275 yards – well ahead of the Winnipeg record of 1,051 held by Eric Blount and set in 1998. The 1,275 yards would place him second all-time behind Henry Williams for Edmonton
at 1,440 yards in 1991.
RIP
Condolences to the friends and family of Blue Bomber alumni Walt McKee, who passed away on July 18 at the age of 77. His obituary can be found here.
McKee was drafted by the Blue Bombers in 1971 and played with the club from 1972-74. He was also a member of the University of Manitoba Bisons football squad that won the Vanier Cup in 1969 and 1970, later served as the U of M’s athletic director.
He was also heavily involved in soccer in this province working at every level including with the Winnipeg Fury, while helping establish the women’s soccer program at the U of M.
GAME DAY -1
ICYMI, Sam Calvert and I chopped it up a bit yesterday as to what to expect in tonight’s matchup against the Stamps:
