All figured out?
Yards, scores hard to come by for Bombers for third consecutive week
In the big picture, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers clinched a playoff spot for the second straight year and moved to within one win of playing a home post-season game for the first time since 2011.
There’s a reason why the celebration was muted however. Let’s just say, there wasn’t any baseballstyle champagne flowing in the locker room,
First of all, the team lost defensive star Moe Leggett for the rest of the season with a torn Achilles tendon. It also lost star receiver Darvin Adams to an arm injury.
And what has happened to the Bombers offence?
“It’s great that we’re in the playoffs,” running back Andrew Harris said. “There’s lot of positives, but offensively we’ve got to be better.”
The Bombers offence, which led the league in net yards just three weeks ago, has sputtered since that time.
No one on the offensive side of the ball was happy with the result of Saturday’s 26-20 win over the B.C. Lions. Who would be after generating just 214 yards of offence and no touchdowns?
There were some valid reasons for the struggle.
Quarterback Matt Nichols was dealing with a torn nail on his ring finger and was wearing a modified glove on his throwing hand for the first time. And he was throwing to a mostly backup receiving corps, with veteran stars Weston Dressler and Adams injured.
But this wasn’t the first sign of trouble for the offence.
Nichols passed for just 238 yards in Edmonton on Oct. 1, combined with backup Dom Davis for 242 yards last week against Hamilton and managed just 172 yards through the air on Saturday.
“It’s never fun as an offence when you don’t get into the end zone,” Nichols said Saturday.
“It’s rare to win a football game and not feel that overjoyed excitement because as an offence our unit didn’t play well enough. I’m extremely proud of the rest of the team and appreciate those guys for having our backs. I look forward to being better next week.”
Those aforementioned numbers are not the kind that are going to put fear into opposing defences.
Running back Andrew Harris has been limited as well the last two weeks. His chase of the historic 1K-1K mark in rushing and receiving has been slowed by getting just 78 rushing yards and 95 receiving yards combined in two games.
He’s on pace for 1,045 rushing yards and 979 receiving yards after 15 games.
An outstanding performlast ance on defence and special teams — punt returner Kevin Fogg and defensive back T.J. Heath both had touchdowns — bailed the offence out and carried the Bombers to the win over the Lions on Saturday.
The offence never even managed a single trip into the red zone (inside the Lions 20-yardline) in the entire game.
It begs the question: Have opponents figured the Bombers’ offence out?
The numbers say yes, yet the Bombers are 2-1 over the three weeks despite not getting optimum performances from the offence. That’s the good news. So is the fact that the Bombers are 6-2 at home this season, which bodes well for likely playing the Western semifinal at Investors Group Field on Nov. 12.
Those positives have to be tempered by the surprising struggle of co-ordinator Paul LaPolice’s offence and the sudden rash of injuries to key players.
“I’ve always believed in our depth,” Bombers coach Mike O’Shea said. “We’ve won a bunch of games with guys jumping in and doing good things out there on the field.
“I believe our guys are able to do that because they are coached well, they pay attention, they know their role when they’re backing somebody up but they believe they’re starters. When they go in I believe that they really feel they want to do something for the guys they are stepping in for.”
The 11-4 Bombers can clinch home-field for the semifinal as soon as Saturday in Toronto against the 7-9 Argos, who are battling for first place in the East.
A strong offensive performance will be more worthy of celebration.