Bombers’ defence ready to fend off Ticat attack
You can bet the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will have a very different defensive game plan ready for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday than the one they deployed in the first meeting between the two teams.
It was the only game this season in which the Bombers’ defence truly looked bad — Hamilton racked up 480 yards of offence in a 31-17 win on June 29 in the Hammer — and the Winnipeg players haven’t forgotten.
“That’s a game that I look back at and I think we all have the most regrets as a team about as far as how we played defensively,” Bombers middle linebacker Adam Bighill said on Tuesday after the Bombers practised at Investors Group Field. “We just played poorly. We didn’t even execute our stuff to give ourselves a chance to win.”
It won’t be any easier this Friday as the Tiger-Cats bring the league’s second-most powerful offence to Winnipeg.
Led by quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and a receiving corps that includes such elite playmakers as Jalen Saunders, Brandon Banks and Chris Williams, the TigerCats are averaging 411.3 yards of net offence per game.
They do only have a 3-4 record, but there’s no question they can move the football and score points, which is exactly what they did when they beat the Bombers in Week 3.
“We talked about it right after the game,” Bombers coach Mike O’Shea said Tuesday. “We had to be tighter and contest more throws. We were off the man and off the ball too far, too many times. I think that was the biggest issue.
“But take nothing away from them, they do have a very strong offence — a very strong football team in three phases — and we went there and they put it on us.”
The Bombers are coming off their bye week and have a 4-3 record. They have an explosive offence of their own and their defence has improved considerably since last season, when it was an Achilles heel of an otherwise sound team.
But they haven’t been tested by any of the CFL’s upper-echelon offensive teams since that game in Hamilton, so it will be interesting to see if they can step up to the challenge.
That challenge will include competing against the strategic mind of Tiger-Cats head coach June Jones and his run-and-shoot offence. Bighill said it’s no coincidence the Ticats are churning up yards under the former NFL and college head coach and offensive co-ordinator.
“That’s the run-and-shoot, trying to take what the defence gives you and just trying to have an answer for all the defensive looks we could have by throwing the easy balls that we give them on defence,” Bighill said. “There’s always going to be weaknesses on defence and they seem to be comfortable just trying to march the ball down the field, taking what you give them.
“That’s a good method. They don’t try to be somebody else, they try to be themselves and they’ve got a bunch of players that can go grab balls. And Masoli can throw it all over the field. When you have those pieces, it makes sense why they run what they run.”
Bombers veteran cornerback Chris Randle, an all-star last season, said the Tiger-Cats’ offence has done a great job of keeping drives alive and eating up the time of possession. While the Bombers will need to be ready for everything — the Ticats will surely be bringing all kinds of different looks to the line of scrimmage — the key to success, Randle said, is stopping the run. Though the run-and-shoot offence is pass happy, the Ticats are averaging 105.4 yards per game along the ground.
“They get the run-and-shoot going with the screens, they get you going with the running game,” Randle said. “When that running game is working, that’s when they’re the biggest threat.
“That’s why the emphasis for us as a defence is to hone in on our foundation of trying to stop that run and protecting our yards.”