‘We’ve just got to put together a full game defensively’

One solitary, one-syllable word was all Mike O’Shea needed to try and describe what he had just seen.

The head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had watched his defence get shredded for almost 400 yards in the rushing game alone in what was a 35-19 loss to the B.C. Lions on Thursday night before a stunned crowd of more than 31,000 at Princess Auto Stadium.

“Oof,” said O’Shea, before he explained things a bit further on the tactical side and provided some of the reasons things went sideways in such an important facet of the game.

It wasn’t that the description the head coach of the Bombers gave on that front wasn’t important, but the preamble to the soliloquy on how a series of errors and missed tackles wasn’t really necessary for anyone who had just witnessed this debacle.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, the Bombers went from holding the lead in the fourth quarter to being down by two scores that would have required two-point conversions to send this one to overtime.

But the Bombers weren’t ever really in position to make things interesting after falling behind — the exclamation point coming on two lengthy runs (including a 35-yard scamper) by Lions running back Zander Horvath that put this game out of reach.

Horvath finished with 17 carries for 191 yards, while rookie quarterback Kaidon Salter had 10 rushes for 160 yards — the two youngsters handling the bulk of the load in what became a 377-yard gouging in the ground game.

The Lions set a franchise record with the total and the Bombers gave up the most rushing yards in franchise history, eclipsing the 349 allowed against Edmonton in October of 1956.

“Anytime those massive runs take place, you’ve got more than one error. It’s not a one-on-one miss. It’s usually a combination of two, probably three errors or a missed tackle and a couple of errors,” said O’Shea.

“Those big runs, especially near the end, we’re just not where we’re supposed to be. A combination of guys being tired near the end and also trying too hard, which is a bad combination. They were out there a bit. I don’t know what the time of possession was, but I imagine that’s it.

“As soon as you get tired, you stop communicating, you stop thinking and you start missing and start squeezing the stick too hard, trying to make the stop instead of just make the play.”

Even with all of the issues the Bombers have dealt with on defence this year, the previous high for rushing yards allowed in a single game going into the contest was 171.

This number smashed that total to pieces — and not in a good way.

This was a historically poor showing, not to mention one that is difficult to describe.

The defence has been something O’Shea and his coaching staff has been able to lean heavily on at various points during much of the past decade.

But right now, with the club sitting at an even 4-4 heading into this second of three bye weeks, there are some serious questions left to be answered.

The Bombers went into this game leading the CFL in sacks (with 15) and that number rose to 17 after Willie Jefferson and key off-season free agent signing Jake Ceresna each adding one to move them to six apiece on the season.

But Winnipeg has been dreadful against the run, allowing teams to often gouge them at will during the first half of the year.

The numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but in this category they paint an ugly picture as the Bombers have allowed 1,129 rushing yards so far — an average of more than 141 per game.

That’s simply too much easy offence to surrender.

“Something we haven’t done too well this year is (handle) the running game. Teams are just going to keep attacking us,” said Ceresna. “We’ve got to all look in the mirror at the end of the day and be better with it. We’ve got to be stronger, be better, be tougher and take more pride in stopping the run.”

Just like defensive co-ordinator Jordan Younger said earlier this week, Ceresna pointed out (correctly) that there have been times when the team has shown flashes and been stout, coming up with critical stops.

But far too many times — like during the final minute and change of the second quarter on Thursday — the Bombers have been prone to giving up an explosive play or a long drive that ends up in the end zone.

That’s part of why this club with championship aspirations is left answering questions about why its mostly been mediocre, with the midway point of the CFL campaign just around the corner.

“The biggest takeaway is that I think we have a great team,” said Ceresna. “We play well for certain quarters of the game, like that first half of the game. And we’ve just got to put together a full game defensively and we’ll be in good shape.

“I really don’t think it’s a skill issue. We’ve got to mesh together more as a defence and have a better understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

An optimist might say the Bombers still have plenty of time to get things turned around and a quick look at the calendar will confirm that’s (mostly) true.

But there have been some concerning trends that need to be cleaned up quickly if the Bombers don’t want to be left in the dust in the West Division.

“Just got to keep coming in and chopping wood,” said Jefferson. “It’s a good team, a resilient team. We got some good players in all three phases. We’ve just got to come in and fix it and get it together.”

Prior to Thursday, the Lions had mostly been the free spot on the bingo card, thanks in part to some key injuries at critical positions.

The same can be said for the Ottawa Redblacks, who will be the Bombers opponent on Aug. 14 when they return to action.

While there are no gimmes in the CFL, the toughest part of the horizon is coming during the second half of the season and a whole lot of work is going to be required for the Bombers to get where they want to be able to go.

“Over the bye week, it’s going to sit (with you) and we’re going to come back and flush it and be ready to work,” said defensive back Major Williams, who has provided some steady play during his first eight CFL games. “It’s perfect timing for this type of thing. We’ve got time to think about it, look at the first half of the season and then see what we can do better.”

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