PREVIEW
BOMBERS SEEK SEVENTH STRAIGHT WIN VS. LEFEVOUR, ARGOS
WINNIPEG — Aside from the Calgary Stampeders, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are the Canadian Football League’s hottest team.
Six straight wins have pushed Mike O’Shea’s Bombers into both the thick of the dogfight in the upper half of the West Division and the hearts of Winnipegers. At 7-4 and with one of the league’s top defences, the Blue and Gold look primed for a post-season run.
The visitors at Investors Group Field this week, the Toronto Argonauts, are a tough read.
At 5-6, Scott Milanovich’s football team has struggled to find consistency. Despite an inability to build on victories nor address their reoccurring defensive issues, the Argos still find themselves a single win out of first place entering Saturday’s daunting road game in Winnipeg.
To say there’s been some turnover on the Toronto Argonauts roster would be an understatement.
TJ Heath and Keon Raymond — defensive backs who account for 70 per cent of Toronto’s interceptions — are gone via trade. Veteran pivot Ricky Ray was injured and subsequently returned only to be injured again. The team acquired quarterback Drew Willy from Winnipeg this past week in an effort to shore up the quarterback position.
The spot under centre will remain Dan LeFevour’s, at least for this Saturday’s game in Montreal, after the 29 year-old helped Toronto to a 33-21 win over the Ticats last week.
“All I can control is what I can do this week,” LeFevour told Argonauts.ca. “This is my seventh year playing pro ball (and) trades happen, guys come and go. This is no different.”
The Argos’ mobile quarterback knows he’ll be in for a challenge against a Winnipeg defence which leads the league by a mile in interceptions (20).
“It starts with their pass rush, they’ve got a great front four,” admitted LeFevour. “They put pressure on the quarterback, make sacks and force errant throws. We’ve got to do a great job up front, and then from there I have to go through my reads (and) make smart plays.”
The importance of Saturday’s game isn’t lost on the Argos’ newly-minted starter.
“I think at this point, every game is big. We’re 11 games into the season (and) we’ve got seven to go,” he said. “It’s a tight race in the East, so every game is important.”
For Toronto head coach Scott Milanovich, the acquisition of Drew Willy is a long-term solution to the Argos’ uncertainty under centre.
Willy was acquired by the Argos shortly after Sunday night’s win over the Ticats; a trade Argos GM Jim Barker and the Bombers had been working on for a little while.
“If Drew Willy plays at an elite quarterback level for the next six to eight years, people will forget about this,” the Argos’ head coach answered when asked about his new quarterback’s trade price tag. “We’re bringing him in for a reason — there’s no price too high for an elite quarterback.”
With that said, Milanovich also stressed that the ball is firmly in LeFevour’s hands on offence heading into Saturday’s game.
“There’s a chance (Willy plays), but I hope that doesn’t happen — some of our passing concepts are new, and he’ll have to grow into them,” explained Milanovich. “I’m anxious to see Dan win another game tomorrow, that’s all I’m concerned about right now.”
To have success in Winnipeg, the Argos will have to win the battle at the line of scrimmage — something they’ve struggled to do consistently in 2016. Toronto’s defence will need to create pressure against a Bomber offence with the dual-threat, accurate passer in Matt Nichols and versatile running back Andrew Harris.
Shawn Lemon, whose team-high nine sacks place him second in the CFL, could have a key role to play if the Argos are to have success defensively on Saturday.
Winnipeg has taken care of business in recent weeks against the league’s less fortunate in Montreal and Saskatchewan (twice).
Still, consistency is key and complacency can be deadly in the CFL, and the Bombers have navigated the last three weeks and pulled themselves from the muck of the West Division.
One of the keys to Winnipeg’s success on its current run has been running back Harris, who remains a question mark entering Saturday’s game against Toronto.
Harris, a dual-threat back, is banged up and could be replaced by the recently-activated Timothy Flanders if unable to play.
“They’re all hungry to play,” Bomber head coach Mike O’Shea told BlueBombers.com. “Obviously (Andrew) looks after himself well, whatever it is, he’s got the ability to keep going. Pain tolerance.”
The Bombers’ dealing of Drew Willy seemed to solidify the commonly-held truth that Matt Nichols was the only number one quarterback in Winnipeg, with the team’s acquisition of Kevin Glenn from Montreal seen as a move to add veteran depth and an insurance policy.
“In this business, you always have to go out, play well and do (your) job,” said Nichols. “Taking care of the ball, getting the ball in my playmakers’ hands, and winning games — that’s always been my mentality, and (the trade) won’t change that.”
Nichols and the Bombers took care of business the last time the two teams met up in a lopsided 34-17 decision in Ontario. The Argos held a 10-3 lead during the first half but five interceptions by Logan Kilgore — the most forced by a Bomber defence since 2001 — sunk the Boatmen in the end.
“They’ve had some personnel changes (since then), but at the same time it’s Coach Stubler (and) he’s had a lot of success in this league for a long time,” said the Bomber pivot. “You know what to expect defensively — a lot of man-matching, zone — but have to trust your eyes (and) go through your reads.”
Winnipeg’s success has come with the help of the league’s best turnover ratio; the Bombers have taken the ball away a league-best 34 times on defence, and turned the ball over just 16 times — the second-lowest mark in the league.
“Our takeaway-giveaway rate is the best in the league and it’s allowing us to win games,” said Coach O’Shea. “It’s securing the ball, moving up the field when we get the ball off turnovers — those are very valuable yards that the offence is putting up.”
By the Numbers
1 – Interception thrown by Bomber QB Matt Nichols in six games since taking over the starter’s job.
15 – Consecutive field goals made by Toronto K Lirim Hajrullahu — three short of a club record.
Plus-18 – League-best turnover ratio for Winnipeg.
Minus-26 – Fourth-quarter point difference for the Argos this season — not ideal.
The Skinny
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are favoured for good reason; they’ve won six in a row, have one of the league’s deepest play-making defences, and have simply found ways to get it done over the last month.
Toronto, meanwhile, is handing the ball to Dan LeFevour for his second start of 2016, traded standout defensive back TJ Heath and has been playing .500 football for the last month.
With that said, Andrew Harris will almost certainly be less than 100 per cent for Saturday’s game, which means the Argos will have an opportunity to one-dimensionalize the Winnipeg offence. If Rich Stubler’s Toronto defence can do that, it could be a very entertaining matinee at IGF.
Kickoff is slated for 2:00 p.m. ET and can be seen live on TSN or followed online via CFL.ca Game Tracker.
