“We didn’t do the things we said we would do in this game,” said Coach Sherman to his players immediately after the home-opening matchup against the Blue Bombers.
A matchup that left us all a bit puzzled.
Visibly displeased with the team’s performance, Sherman continued: “You can point the finger at the coaches. The coaches can point the finger at you. You can point at each other, but you better point that finger at yourself. All I want to hear from anybody is what can I do to fix it and make it better. Because this is not our season. This is not how we are going to play this year.”
Quick glance at the work done by each unit and at what they will need to improve before flying out to Riders land.
A Sack-Proof Offence
In an interview earlier this week. Drew Willy said that a fast start would be key to have the upper hand over the Bombers. The QB, who was taken to the ground on his very first play of the game, and his unit didn’t achieve that. Releases weren’t fast enough and far too many opponents were threatening Willy, far too often.
If execution speed will be important in next week’s battle out West, the offensive line’s resistance will be crucial in allowing the team to come back from this first loss at home.
The running game remains the strongest weapon of the offence. Despite the outcome, Tyrell Sutton was able to maintain an impressive average of 13.2 yards per run, including a 44-yard run that led to a touchdown from the Willy-Cunningham duo two plays later. Receivers Chris Williams and Eugene Lewis also demonstrated that they can be hard at work by catching balls when coverage was rather tight.
A Cleaner, Faster Defense
Clearly, both fronts will need to have a bigger impact starting next week. QB Chris Streveler, backup for Matt Nichols, was much too comfortable on Friday – he ran for 98 yards and didn’t get sacked once. Proof that when the offensive line is in-sync, everything works better…
Jamaal Westerman was on fire from the get-go when he made a tackle for losses at Montreal’s 3-yard line. Moving forward, he will need help in the inside if the team wants to allow him to put his pass-rushing skills to the test. At linebacker, Henoc Muamba showed his toughness with 11 tackles. The defence truly has all the elements it needs to be successful, but linebackers and defensive backs will really need to be on point with their coverage to stop their opponents from getting the first down.
Other significant factor: penalties. Coach Sherman repeated over and over again, in his pre-game speeches, in his press conferences, etc.: he wants clean games. 13 penalties, 6 on defence, 5 on special teams, were called against our Alouettes on Friday for a loss of 126 yards. Unacceptable as ST Coordinator Mickey Donovan put it.
Consistent Special Teams
Compared to their performance in BC, special teams showed improvement in terms of field positioning and, particularly, coverage: Branden Dozier made it hard for the Bombers to move up the field in the first quarter when he stopped returner Fogg at Winnipeg’s 11-yard line, running back William Stanback also showed how imposing he can be when he put a break on Fogg’s run at the Bombers 15-yard line in the second and Stef Logan accumulated more than 180 yards on returns. Consistency and eliminating penalties will be key here too.
It’s not the debut we had hoped for, but it’s the 2nd of 18 games. Feeling sorry for ourselves won’t do any good. Coach Sherman said it best: “Play the next play. Don’t worry about what just happened. Worry about what’s going to happen.”
Next away game: Saturday, June 30 at 9 pm against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Next home game: Friday, July 6 at 7:30 pm against the Ottawa Redblacks.
