Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 28, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C2 C 2 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 FOOTBALL winnipegfreepress. com A T this juncture, the argument over which quarterback should be No. 2 for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers - as obvious as that is - is a point we shouldn't even be discussing. No, what we should be is proactive instead of reactive, and be concerned about the fact the team invested more than three quarters of a million dollars into preventing the scenario we are seeing unfold for the second time in five weeks. Quite frankly, Drew Willy is not supposed to get the $&#% kicked out of him anymore. That was the idea when GM Kyle Walters opened the purse strings this off- season and acquired the most expensive security detail he could find. As I noted in a prior column, this bunch showed up eager for work in Week 1, where they kept Willy so clean and upright equipment manager Brad Fotty simply folded up his jersey instead of washing it for the next game. They performed like who we thought they were. They ran the ball for more than 100 yards and gave Willy so much time in the pocket he got caught up on Netflix, and finished the game with a perfect passer rating. Yet for every game since but one, they have progressively given up more sacks, and Saturday night was the second time their franchise QB has had to be peeled off the field. While simply tallying up QB kills is a flawed way of accounting for any offensive line's productivity - unless we are talking about the kind of numbers ( 71 sacks against) that were surrendered last year - it hasn't just been about how many times he's been dropped on his head. Not only has the feature back of the day not come close to breaking the 100- yard barrier since that fabled Week 1, but multiple opponents have gotten to Willy with three- man pressures, and on the play where he was hurt in the loss to the Edmonton Eskimos, merely a four- man rush. Giving up sacks, pressures and hits when it's five offensive linemen against three rushers, or even four against five, isn't what you expect when you spend this kind of money on players and their coach. This is a far better group than what we lived through last season, but they still have a ways to go to win the cost- benefit analysis. Close to a third of the way through the season, the problem with the offensive line appears to be that when the team has been at the gym, lifting weights and doing one- arm curls and snatches, they've forgotten to work on their right arm as hard as the left. At right tackle, while I don't know what happened to the much- heralded Marc Dile, and haven't watched extensive film on Devin Tyler or Jace Daniels, I do know for a fact Glenn January, the three- time divisional all- star and the club's nominee for most outstanding lineman the last three years, who can play on the right side but was let go, was better than all three. If you're going to pay two players $ 100,000 and change each to watch, like the club is currently doing, you might have better spent it on any number of proven import veterans to lock down the right side. And while Sukh Chungh has a tremendous future and is gaining invaluable experience from his opportunity to start, he is still a rookie, and rookies make more mistakes than veterans do. The club is paying close to a quartermillion dollars for Patrick Neufeld and 2014 first- round draft pick Matthias Goosen to watch him progress, as Willy experiences any and all of the requisite growing pains. When you have a relatively immobile passer at the helm of the ship, who plays at an elite level only when given sufficient time in the pocket, you can't afford to roll the dice on your protection. For the money being spent on Tyler, Daniels, Neufeld and Goosen, you can't tell me the depth charts we have seen for the first five games on the right side, are comprised of the best guard and tackle tandem that is possibly available. Going into Week 6, from the periphery looking in, it seems as if better appropriations on drafting and spending might have prevented this franchise from being in the position it finds itself in today: waiting to find out how long - for the second time in the last four weeks - their most valuable player will be out. Doug Brown, once a hard- hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hardhitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press. Twitter: @ DougBrown97 DOUG BROWN Big spending on O- line a waste of money so far EDMONTON Eskimos head coach Chris Jones cut down a budding quarterback controversy Monday, but his starting pivot - Matt Nichols - remains confused over why he was yanked in the first place. Jones said Nichols, a six- year veteran, will start Friday when the 3- 1 Eskimos host the 0- 5 Saskatchewan Roughriders. " Matt Nichols has been the guy that's taken us the last three games, and he's going to be our starting quarterback," Jones told reporters after practice. " We're not going to change a lot when we're winning football games." He wouldn't say if Nichols is on a short leash. " It'll be gametime situations," he said. Nichols was pulled with 20 minutes to go with the Eskimos leading the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 11- 3 in the rain last Saturday. Nichols was 17- for- 25 for 196 yards in persistent rain and was the victim of a few dropped balls. Backup James Franklin came in and fired three touchdown passes to rout the Bombers 32- 3, leading to speculation the 24- year- old, strong- armed rookie might start Friday. After Friday's game, a clearly agitated Nichols bolted from the field as the clock ticked to zero, and had to be brought back to face reporters 50 minutes after the contest ended. At that point he said he didn't know he was going to be pulled until it happened, wasn't told it was for the rest of the game, and wasn't told why. After the game, Jones wouldn't say why he changed to Franklin, but left the door open to a quarterback switch by refusing to confirm Nichols was still No. 1 on the depth chart. Monday, Jones declined to answer follow- up questions on how he came to stay with Nichols and why he nixed, or if he ever really considered, a start for Franklin. At one point Jones stood mute in the media scrum, refusing to speak. Nichols has won three games since taking over from the injured Mike Reilly. His play has been serviceable, but not outstanding. He is 48- for- 85 for 650 yards and four touchdowns, but has five interceptions. He's had some strong passes but has also lobbed his share of overthrows and underthrows. Nichols told reporters Monday he hasn't spoken with Jones. " We were starting to take over the game a little bit, so I was frustrated," said Nichols. " I just felt like I was playing a pretty solid game out here in tough conditions. I think my last seven quarters of football have been in a torrential downpour." But he emphasized he's behind all of Jones' decisions and is moving on to prepare for Saskatchewan. Is that part of the frustration, Nichols was asked, having things happen to him without explanation? Nichols declined to answer except to say, " Any time that they tell me I'm in the game, I'm going to go out and play my hardest, play smart football, and try to put points on the board. That's my job." Franklin said he's good with whatever happens. " If I have to go back in again, I'm going to try my best to do my best," he said. - The Canadian Press By Dean Bennett Esks' pivot Nichols puzzled over being pulled Matt Nichols W INNIPEG Blue Bombers quarterback Drew Willy doesn't play defence and he doesn't play special teams. Yet both times Willy has left a game this season due to injury - in a Week 2 loss to Hamilton and again Saturday in a loss to Edmonton - both the Bombers defence and special- teams units promptly bit the dust as well. In both cases, Willy's departure was immediately followed by the special teams giving up huge punt returns that led to touchdowns. And in both cases, the Bombers defence simply capitulated, and what were tight games when Willy went down promptly turned into routs. So again - if Willy plays neither special teams nor defence, how come his departures due to injury seem to have had such a profoundly negative effect on both units? " That's one of the things as a head coach I need to investigate," Bombers Mike O'Shea said Monday. " And I do. I try and gauge whether or not there's that whole team letdown when you believe that people will rise to the occasion. " And what I see... in that punt immediately following ( Willy's injury on Saturday) is there's a couple guys who are trying to do too much, who are trying to go in and have an immediate impact and they lose focus of what their assignment was." O'Shea has said over and again he loves the " character" in this team and yet the team's response to the adversity posed by Willy's injuries - presumably a good test of a team's character - has been limp to say the least. Still, O'Shea insists you'll just have to trust him on this " character" thing. " It's definitely different than last year," says O'Shea. " It just doesn't have the same feel. You'll just have to take my word on it. It just doesn't feel that way." . . . With a short week between the loss to Edmonton Saturday and hosting the Lions Thursday, O'Shea raised some eyebrows when he elected to give his players Monday off, meaning a team that has lost its last two games - and three of its last four - will only get two full days of practice - today and Wednesday, before facing B. C. O'Shea said the decision to give the club an extra day off was made in part based on his team's terrible record after short weeks - the Bombers are on an 0- 8 run on short rest - and a desire to try something new. " They just played and football is a physical game," said O'Shea. " Give them a chance to be fresh. It's just one of those beliefs - and I've seen other teams do it - if you're not fresh you have no chance of executing the assignments at a level you need to compete." . . . The extra day off will also give the banged- up Bombers time to recuperate. In addition to the injury to Willy, right tackle Devin Tyler was also hurt in Edmonton and is out this week. Jace Daniels - who started the first four games at right tackle - will draw back in. O'Shea said slotback Nick Moore and linebackers Graig Newman and Tony Burnett are questionable for this week. . . . O'Shea said he hasn't yet spoken to the league's discipline people about the " high- low" hit on which Willy was injured, but he intends to do so. There was no flag on the play, but the Bombers believe there should have been and that the simultaneous hits were dangerous. . . . Fourth- string QB Dominique Davis has been with the Bombers for four weeks but O'Shea says he's still not CFL- ready. So when will he be? " We'll see. He's in every day, working really hard. He spends a lot of with ( QB coach) Gene ( Dahlquist). He's a sharp kid... How does that translate when he steps on the field? Remains to be seen." . . . The Bombers have lost two in a row and three of their last four, but O'Shea bristled Monday when he was asked what is " wrong" with his team at the moment. " That seems like a strange question," O'Shea said. " I would never use that term ' wrong.' There are things on a daily basis that you install and you coach, and film you watch, and players that need correction on a daily basis on every team in every sport. " That's the process you go through." paul. wiecek@ freepress. mb. ca Twitter: @ PaulWiecek JASON FRANSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Winnipeg Blue Bombers linebacker Tony Burnett is helped off the field in Edmonton. He is questionable for Thursday's game against the B. C. Lions. Completely lost without Willy When No. 1 QB forced from game, defence, special teams fall apart By Paul Wiecek ' That's one of the things. I need to investigate' C_ 02_ Jul- 28- 15_ FP_ 01. indd C2 7/ 27/ 15 9: 43: 08 PM ;