Dude, where’s your defence?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/07/2015 (3213 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have more problems than the uncertain health of their starting quarterback.

While all the attention for the next little while is going to be on the status of Drew Willy, who took a hellacious headshot Thursday night in a 52-26 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Investors Group Field, the first two games of the 2015 CFL season have exposed other shortcomings that need to be rectified pronto or it won’t matter who the starting QB is.

Dude, where’s your defence?

A week after they gave up 495 yards in offence to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, including 212 yards on the ground, the Bombers gave up another 429 yards to Zach Collaros and the Tiger-Cats.

That’s almost a kilometre of offence in two games, which is not what Bombers Nation was promised when Richie Hall was brought in to take over the defensive co-ordinator job and rebuild the turnstile defence that was the Bombers in 2014 under former co-ordinator Gary Etcheverry.

Collaros shredded the Bombers’ secondary Thursday — just as he did in the final pre-season game a couple of weeks ago — and the Bombers’ front-seven never did mount any kind of credible pass rush.

This new and improved defence under Hall has been lousy against the run and lousy against the pass during the first two games. Head coach Mike O’Shea insisted Thursday it’s all just a case of lots of new systems and lots of new parts getting familiar with one another.

“But pushing the panic button right now? C’mon, it’s Week 2,” said O’Shea.

Maybe. But if this defence doesn’t get significantly better over the next week, there may be a few Bombers fans looking for the big red button after Week 3.

Dude, where’s your special teams?

There is, of course, no shame in giving up a punt return touchdown to Ticats returner Brandon Banks, who with Thursday night’s 67-yarder has two return TDs in two games this season — not to mention the one that didn’t count and which would have won the game in last year’s Grey Cup match against the Calgary Stampeders.

But the Bombers kick return coverage also wasn’t great in a win against the Riders in Week 1 either, and all these big returns are simply making things even more difficult for a defence that is struggling to begin with.

Then there’s kicker/punter Lirim Hajrullahu. A rookie in 2014, Hajrullahu was nothing less than the finest special teams player in the West Division and big things were expected of him in his sophomore season. And expectations were high not just from the Bombers — Hajrullahu also refused to sign a contract extension prior to this season believing a big year in 2015 would only increase his value.

Oops. Through two weeks, Hajrullahu has kicked two balls out of bounds on kickoffs, resulting in penalties. He’s also missed two converts — yeah, they’re longer this year at 32 yards, but that should still be a gimme and those two convert misses are already one more than Hajrullahu missed in all of last year.

Plus, that punt return by Banks the other night began when Hajrullahu punted the ball directly to him in the middle of the field. That’s not helping.

The Bombers’ kicking game and kick return coverage are both in need of serious work, regardless of what happens to Willy.

Dude, where’s your home field advantage?

With the loss in their home opener, the Bombers home record since moving into Investors Group Field at the start of the 2013 season is 4-15.

You know who else has four wins at Investors Group Field? The Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who are now a perfect 4-0 at IGF. What’s more, the Ticats not only have as many wins at IGF as the Bombers, they’ve also owned Winnipeg here in their own barn.

Consider the numbers in the four Ticats’ wins at the new Bombers football palace: Aug. 16, 2013 — Ticats 37 Bombers 18; Nov. 2, 2013 — Ticats 37 Bombers 7; Sept. 27, 2014 — Ticats 16 Bombers 11; July 2, 2015 — Ticats 52 Bombers 26.

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The big carrot for the Bombers in 2015, of course, is supposed to be that they have a chance to play in a Grey Cup in front of their hometown fans. That’s not going to happen, however, unless Winnipeg’s home record improves, dramatically and immediately.

And if the Bombers do make it to the big game this year? They might have to flip a coin for who gets the home locker-room if they face the Ticats.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek

Paul Wiecek
Reporter (retired)

Paul Wiecek was born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End and delivered the Free Press -- 53 papers, Machray Avenue, between Main and Salter Streets -- long before he was first hired as a Free Press reporter in 1989.

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