Despite four straight losses, there’s been lots to like from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ defence in recent games.
“I think it’s hard to feel good that you lost,” defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall said.
They didn’t surrender a single offensive touchdown in their last game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but now they’re preparing for the Johnny Manziel show. With the Bombers to take on the Montreal Alouettes on Friday, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback is set to make his first start since being concussed back in early August.
“I’m expecting him to come out here and ball,” defensive back Chris Randle said.
“That’s what he wants to do. That’s what they brought him there for. That’s why he was traded there for. He’s a big name. I’m sure he’s going to come out here and give his best effort and we’re going to be ready for it.”
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“It’s our first time seeing him,” Hall said. “There’s a lot of good things he has done and there’s a lot of good things he’s capable of doing. The bottom line, it doesn’t change regarding what our game plan is and what we have to do out there to execute.”
What he is capable of doing is extending plays by using his legs so containing Manziel in the pocket will be key for the Bombers.
“He creates plays,” Hall said. “He creates things. He reminds me if you go back to my era, the Doug Flutie. Those types of players that they are just hard to defend. You can defend him, but you can’t contain him just because of the extra dimension that they bring.”
“We know what he’s capable of doing even though he hasn’t done it yet.”
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In Manziel’s first two career CFL starts after being traded by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, he only completed 59 per cent of his passes and threw four interceptions. All four of those picks came in his first start and he had a lot more success in his second outing before getting injured.
“I seen he got better for sure just in his two-games span,” Randle said.
“I know he got extremely more comfortable, progression was a little bit better, play calling was a little bit better. Everything was better as he played. So that’s what we can expect. We can expect his best, we can expect him to come out fired up and ready to go.”
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