Blue Bombers are wary
Bombers ahead of the curve on special teams
Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea is warning his players not to get complacent as they prepare to face the 1-7 B.C. Lions on Thursday
WINNIPEG — The brass of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers seemed to see this coming.
So far, 2019 has been the year of the kick return in the CFL.
There have been 18 kicks returned for touchdowns already and we haven’t even hit the midway point of the season. The CFL record for one season is 22.
The Bombers have played a solid role in the surge of return touchdowns, with Lucky Whitehead getting one on a kickoff earlier in the season and newcomer Janarion Grant bringing back two punts for majors last week against the Calgary Stampeders.
Bombers general manager Kyle Walters and his scouting staff made it a high training camp priority to bring in speedsters who could fill that designated import returner role.
After Whitehead made the team as a receiver, Charles Nelson got the kick returner job. When he got hurt it went to Kenny Walker, then Mike Jones and finally to Grant.
After being one of the worst teams in the league in terms of kick returns last season, the Bombers are now one of the most dangerous and they are loaded with depth.
“It’s sort of keeping up with the Joneses,” Bombers coach Mike O’Shea said.
“We just tried to look at the previous year and realized we had rolled through so many returners and hadn’t been as productive, in part, because we didn’t have a steady, 18-week guy. We were trying to find that guy.”
Hamilton’s Frankie Williams, Ottawa’s Devonte Dedmon, Toronto’s Chris Rainey and Montreal’s Shakeir Ryan all have punt return touchdowns this season, while Dedmon, Williams, Calgary’s Terry Williams, B.C.’s Brandon Rutley, Whitehead, B.C.’s Ryan Lankford, Saskatchewan’s Marcus Thigpen and Hamilton’s Will Likely all have kickoff return TDs.
Perhaps the most dangerous of them all, Hamilton’s Brandon Banks, has two missed field goal returns for touchdowns and Lankford has one.
“Good returners,” O’Shea said, when asked to explain the huge increase in touchdowns.
“You better have a good returner because the opponent is gonna have one. You better be able to block for him because the opponent will.
“You need to cover. Guys need to get down the field and be relentless in their pursuit and detailed in their coverage responsibilities, or else you’ll get scored on.
“It’s a fun time for the league.”
Grant’s two punt-return touchdowns were the difference in the Bombers’ 26-24 win over the Calgary Stampeders last week. He electrified the crowd with a 76-yard return on his second touch in the CFL (in the first quarter) and then took one back 83 yards late in the second quarter.
What does a guy like that do for an encore?
“Do better than what I did last game,” Grant said.
“Still thinking about it each and every day. Just got to have a repeat.”
What he absolutely won’t want to repeat is the fumble he lost right near the end of the second quarter.
Grant has played three professional football games and has fumbled in all three.
The first two came with the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL and cost him his job.
“It was very clear to me, when you’re a rookie, you’ve got to have trust back there,” Grant said. “I felt like they didn’t trust me after that.
“You learn from your mistakes. I knew I had to correct that.”
Grant’s fumble last week didn’t end up costing the Bombers as Marcus Sayles picked off Calgary quarterback Nick Arbuckle in the end zone, but a kick returner’s No. 1 job is to catch the ball and hold onto it.
Another fumble this week and Grant might be back in the same situation he was in when he was in Baltimore. “It’s early,” O’Shea said. “Chad Owens might have put the ball on the carpet a few times, too. He was pretty damn good.”
Grant is determined to not let history repeat itself. He lived a dream for a few short weeks in Baltimore before it all faded away in a hurry.
“It was very exciting, just coming in undrafted and working hard to be starting,” the 25-year-old Floridian said.
“You had a couple of fumbles that put you back on the practice squad and everything changes.
“It’s just about being disciplined, tucking the ball when you see contact coming. You can’t lose focus, even when you’ve had two big returns and everything. You can’t get lax about the fundamentals that you do each and every play.”
If he can hold onto the ball, the Bombers may have finally found the man to keep them competitive in a return-happy league.