Arden Zwelling
CFL.ca
If the Blue Bombers defence was ever going to be tested, last Friday was the night.
The unit had been near unbeatable up until that point, holding opposition offences to less than three major scores per game as Winnipeg raced out to a 4-1 start.
But on Friday, the unbeaten Edmonton Eskimos were coming to town and one of Winnipeg’s most crucial defenders — 36-year-old veteran and seven-time CFL All-Star Doug Brown — was sidelined with a sore foot.
It was just about as vulnerable as this defence has been all season and it showed early as the Eskimos scored a touchdown just three minutes into the game and raced out to an 11-1 lead by the end of the first quarter.
But that’s when the noose suddenly tightened and the Blue Bombers held the Eskimos to just five points over the final 45 minutes, coming from behind and handing Edmonton its first loss, 28-16.
It was just the latest in a series of statements for this Blue Bombers defence — “Swaggerville” as they like to call themselves — that is hell-bent on proving there isn’t an offensive unit in the league that can outplay them.
“We’re just playing for each other and playing for the community. Because we’re tried of people always doubting us,” said Blue Bombers defensive end Odell Willis, one of the team’s breakthrough stars.
“We hear people say ‘they haven’t been to the playoffs in two years. They’re young. Their coaches are inexperienced.’ We’re just tired of it.”
It’s the 26-year-old Willis who has received the first of what will likely be many accolades for this bunch, named CFL Defensive Player of the Month for July after running up 11 tackles and a league-leading seven sacks in the month.
Willis added an eighth in Friday’s win over Edmonton and now has two times as many QB takedowns as anyone else in the league. That’s not to mention the fact that he has more sacks than the Montreal Alouettes have in total and the same amount as the Toronto Argonauts and Calgary Stampeders.
“It feels pretty good, I’m not going to sit here and lie,” said Willis, who has recorded a sack in every Blue Bombers game this season.
“It’s an award that I appreciate but we’re still not done. You can’t just come out and think people are going to respect you. Because now you’ve kind of got a target on your back.”
If it wasn’t already there, that target is clearly zeroed in on Willis and his teammates now as the rest of the CFL looks up at them in the standings.
The Bombers won just four games last season and last made the playoffs in 2008 when they snuck in with a losing record and were promptly eliminated in the first round.
But now they are tops in the CFL East Division on the back of a league-best defence that has allowed an average of just 289.5 yards per game, the lowest in the league.
That’s led to opposing offences generating just 18.8 points per game which is more than a touchdown less than the team allowed last season.
Willis was a part of that defence last season that may not have been as bad as its record showed.
The Bombers dropped nine games by just four points or less as Winnipeg’s offence failed to push the team over the top in tight games.
It was a rough growing period for the Bombers in general, but especially for the defence which was made up mostly of players in their first or second years in the league.
Willis was in his second campaign and said he “lived and learned” from the long, arduous season.
“Last year we were just out there playing,” the colourful Willis said. “This year we’re coming in knowing what we have to do because we came up short so many times and there were so many unanswered questions.”
One of those questions was if the unit could keep the opposition in check as quarterback Buck Pierce and the offence work out the kinks on the other side of the ball. So far, Willis and company have been up to the task, allowing just 42 second-half points the entire season and keeping any deficits manageable.
Many of the Blue Bombers first six games in 2011 have mirrored the typical performance from last season as the team falls behind early. The only difference has been the results.
In fact, four of the Blue Bombers five wins this season have come after the team trailed at half time. And according to Willis, without the experience of so many close losses last year, some of those wins might have gone down in the other column.
“You can listen to all the great coaches you want to, but nothing is going to help you more than experience,” Willis said.
“This year we get in certain situations and we’ve seen the situation and we know how to react to it. We know if we don’t get this done what the outcome of that game can be.”
So familiarity, it seems, breeds success with this team which is used to having to put in a good fight to come away with a win.
Most often that experience and veteran savvy comes from a hardened leader who can blaze the trail for his more novice teammates.
But with Brown — the unit’s undoubted commander, admiringly nicknamed “granddaddy Doug” by his teammates — sitting on the sidelines Friday, the Blue Bombers didn’t miss a beat while disposing of the Eskimos.
So who needs leaders anyway?
“To me, I feel that leaders are overrated. We’re all professionals here. We’re all grown men,” Willis said, adding that Brown is the most respected player on the team. “When I jump offside, they don’t come jumping down my throat. They just say ‘okay Odell, you owe us one.’
“We all know our parts, our positions. We don’t go trying to do more than what is asked of us. We just come out and have fun doing our jobs. And everybody is doing that and its showing on the field.”
That last part is undeniable as the Bombers defence has fully embraced the self-proclaimed “Swaggerville” attitude that has defined the unit. You wouldn’t know it watching the Bombers go through the motions at practice where head coach Paul LaPolice keeps a tight lid on any arrogance.
But once they hit the field on the weekend another beast emerges. They call it swag and so far this season it’s 5-1.
“The guys here, man, ain’t nobody got the big heads,” Willis said in his distinctive Mississippi drawl. “We just come to practice every day holding it in and on game day we unleash all the swag you want to see.”
