Winnipeg Blue Bombers' Andrew Harris (33) makes his way through the B.C. Lions defensive lineman Mic'hael Brooks (90) hangs on during second half CFL action in Winnipeg, Saturday, October 14, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
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The injury bug can just occasionally nibble or it can also bite down hard and then spread like an infestation.
And unfortunately for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, they are now living the nightmare of the latter just as they have officially qualified for the Grey Cup playoffs.
The Bombers announced today that outside linebacker Maurice Leggett will be lost for the remainder of the 2017 Canadian Football League season after tearing the Achilles tendon in his right ankle in Saturday’s 26-20 victory over the B.C. Lions.
That crushing news is only exacerbated by the loss of wide receiver Darvin Adams with a shoulder injury in Saturday’s win that could keep him out until the playoffs or longer, while defensive back Brian Walker suffered an ‘upper-body injury’ that has his status for this week’s game in Toronto uncertain.
Couple those massive hits to the recent losses of defensive end Jamaal Westerman and running back/slotback Timothy Flanders and the Bombers – who had the lowest man games lost to injury total in the league heading into the weekend – suddenly have some big name pieces in sick bay.
“We’ve been healthy all year and it’s just a tough time for those guys to go down right now,” said Bombers left tackle Stanley Bryant. “Right now we’ve got to do ‘next-man-up’, we’ve just got to step up. But it’s difficult because Moe is a playmaker, Darv is a playmaker, and so it’s going to be hard to step in and just get somebody to replace those guys.
“It’s just bad luck, I guess. We’ve just got to get somebody to step in and be ready to go and try and do the things they do.”
That’s going to be an incredibly tough task.
Leggett, the Bombers Most Outstanding Defensive Player two of the last three years, was injured while pulling in an on-side kick attempt by the Lions in Saturday’s win. He lines up at the strong-side outside linebacker spot that is considered the most difficult spot to play on defence and had 50 tackles, three sacks, three interceptions – one for a touchdown – and three forced fumbles in just 13 games this year.
Kevin Fogg finished the game in that spot Saturday, and earlier in the season when Leggett was injured, rookie Brandon Alexander – now a starting cornerback opposite Chris Randle – lined up there.
The Bombers do have some defensive back depth in Robert Porter, who has played three games this year, and may opt to move other pieces around as veteran Ian Wild has been practising and is eligible to come off the six-game injured list.
Replacing Adams will be just as difficult. He has 76 receptions this year for a team-high 1,120 yards and seven touchdowns, and is both a dynamic deep threat and reliable possession receiver.
“It’s tough because he gets all the reps there in practice and he’s a veteran guy who understands that position so well,” said quarterback Matt Nichols of Adams. “We do a lot of things where we kind of move him all over the field. It’s not easy to just step right in there and do what Darvin does.”
Head coach Mike O’Shea did indicate earlier last week that veteran Weston Dressler, who has missed the last two games with a lower body injury, would be back ‘soon.’
More on the win over B.C. in our weekly collection of notes and quotes we call UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
THE MOOD WAS MIXED IN THE BOMBERS LOCKER ROOM… after the game. There was the usual euphoria that comes after a victory, but the injuries and the ineffectiveness of the offence also left some in a sombre and pensive mood.
The Bombers did not score an offensive touchdown – the scores came on Kevin Fogg’s punt return TD and a pick six by T.J. Heath – and managed just 214 yards net offence. That’s the lowest offence total since mustering only 175 yards in a 36-8 loss to Calgary on August 29, 2015, a stretch of 42 games.
“On offence we didn’t really do anything,” said Stanley Bryant. “Defence and special teams did a lot and in the last couple of weeks and as an offence we’ve got to try and step up and play our best, play our game. I don’t think we really showed up these past two games.
“It’s good that we clinched our playoff spot, but if we want to go further and do bigger things, we just have to play better as an offence all the way around. We can’t depend on the defence and special teams to pick up on our slack. We just have to be better, man. It’s just something we have to do.”
THEN AGAIN, THE OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES… shouldn’t necessarily shock anyone. With Adams exiting in the first quarter and with Weston Dressler and Timothy Flanders on the injured list, the Bombers had Matt Coates at wide receiver, moving Julian Feoli-Gudino inside to slotback. The Lions had already clearly game planned to limit the effectiveness of Andrew Harris – he was limited to 52 yards on 16 carries and 33 yards on six catches, an average of just 3.86 yards per touch.
“(The Lions defence) did some really good things,” said Nichols. “There were a few throws and reads I missed, we took some penalties… it was the culmination of a lot of things. There were a few things we did well. We moved the ball to flip field position when we started in our end a few times.
“There’s just some situations where, as an offence, we’ve got to find ways to get into the end zone. It was a tough one, a grinder, and they did some good things on defence.”
Nichols said the Lions did not play any man coverage and brought extra pressure off the edge to limit their ground game.
“We have ways to handle that and we didn’t do a good job of dealing with what we were supposed to do,” said Nichols. “They had a good gameplan. Their gameplan was to keep everything in front of them and they didn’t put their guys in man-to-man situations and that’s why you don’t see a lot of big plays when teams do that.
“We’ve got to find ways to move the football better to get them out of that and to get them to come down. It starts with our assignments in general, from all positions.”
NICHOLS, BY THE WAY, SAID HIS HAND FELT GOOD… during the game. He began the week with some uncertainty after banging his throwing hand in the loss to Hamilton, but still managed to complete 23 of 30 passes for 172 yards. It’s telling, however, that his longest completion of 20 yards was his first completion of the game, to Adams.
“Honestly, it felt good,” said Nichols. “There were a couple of routes I threw to the flat where the glove kinda tugged it a bit and it was off target. But other than that, the downfield throws, the intermediate throws I felt like the ball was coming out perfectly fine.
“I don’t think (the glove) was an issue.”
KEVIN FOGG IS A SPIRITUAL MAN… and so he must have said a silent prayer when he crossed the goal line for his punt return touchdown against the Lions. It was his first as a Bomber that actually counted, after having four called back last year due to penalty.
“I didn’t want to look back (to see if there was a flag),” said Fogg. “I waited until my teammates came to confirm it for me. It was big. It was huge. I appreciate my guys, honestly.
“It was a long time coming for the punt return and to get in there on defence and make a play with that interception was phenomenal. Most importantly, I thank my teammates. We put in the hard work every day every week and I just love this team and this organization.”
Fogg’s return was the third kick return score of the season for the Bombers, second only to Calgary, which has five.
A CHECK-IN ON SOME MILESTONES…
- Nichols boosted his season passing total to 4,174 with three games remaining. That’s a career high for the veteran pivot and he still has a shot at becoming the first Bomber QB to throw for 5,000 yards since Kevin Glenn hit 5,114 yards in 2007.
- Clarence Denmark had just one catch for nine yards, pushing his career totals to 413 receptions (5th in Bombers history) and 5,450 yards (eighth, just 75 yards back of Ernie Pitts).
- In addition to chasing the 1K-1K mark, Andrew Harris now has 94 receptions. Only four players in Bomber history have hit the 100-reception mark in a season: Eugene Goodlow was the first to do it, with 100 in 1981; James Murphy set the current record of 116 in 1986; Gerald Wilcox had 111 in 1994 and Milt Stegall had 106 in 2002.
AND FINALLY, WHILE THE DEFENCE SURRENDERED A COUPLE OF LATE SCORES… to the Lions, it did serve up a solid effort in the helping author the club’s 11th win.
B.C. had 327 yards offence, but 136 of that came in their last two possessions in the final five minutes.
“A lot to be proud of. We really held our own today,” said Heath. “We talked about it all week. We came off a loss and hit somebody in the mouth. That’s a great feeling. Now we’re looking on to the next one. We’ll just keep fighting, keep playing and keep winning games.”
