Ben’s Breakdown: How Winnipeg used data from first game to beat Lions deep in rematch

Photo courtesy: Steven Chang/B.C. Lions

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers torched the B.C. Lions’ league-best defence for 447 passing yards this past week after barely registering 200 yards through the air in their first meeting of the season, a 30-6 loss in Week 3. What changed?

The addition of star receiver Kenny Lawler was a huge factor, but the far more interesting element for analysis was how the Bombers used data collected from their first matchup to scheme receivers open deep downfield and buy time for quarterback Zach Collaros.

While digging into the game from Week 3 for some background information, two things caught my eye. The first was that starting middle linebacker Ben Hladik was joined by backup middle linebacker Josh Woods on 40 percent of B.C.’s defensive snaps. This is highly unusual by CFL standards, but it was a key in shutting Winnipeg down.

On 41 percent of his snaps, Woods was in for a defensive lineman, while he replaced a defensive back on the other 59 percent. For the 12 defensive snaps in which Woods replaced a defensive back, the Lions blitzed on ten of them and ran a variation of man coverage on nine of them.

The second thing that caught my eye was how much man coverage the Lions ran in general as they were in some variation of man coverage on 43 percent of their snaps. The problem the Bombers had was that they couldn’t keep B.C.’s pass-rushers at bay long enough to take advantage of this. When the Lions weren’t in man, there was a 60 percent chance they were in cover three.

Let’s look at two examples of times they took advantage of this data.

Play No. 1

On Winnipeg’s first possession of the game, Collaros went deep over the middle to Dalton Schoen for a 71-yard touchdown.

WE AREN'T IN KANSAS ANYMORE ✈️✈️#CFLGameday | @Wpg_BlueBombers pic.twitter.com/NmSbFGWTKE

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After completing a long sideline pass to get them out of the shadow of their own uprights, Winnipeg brought in an additional offensive lineman, Liam Dobson, who lined up as a tight end. This not only helped control B.C.’s personnel grouping, but it also stretched out their defensive line, which Winnipeg was trying to neutralize. B.C. matched this look by bringing in Woods for defensive back Manny Rugamba, signalling to the Bombers they were likely to get man coverage.

Winnipeg broke the huddle with receivers Nic Demski and Drew Wolitarsky to the tight end side but, during the cadence, they sent Demski across with jet motion and brought Wolitarsky into the backfield. The Lions were in cover one (man coverage with a deep safety in the middle), but the late motion from Demski forced the Lions’ defensive backs to roll their coverage responsibilities.

Safety Quincy Mauger fired downhill to the weak-side in pursuit of Demski, while field-side halfback Marcus Sayles assumed deep middle responsibility. The problem for the Lions was that at the snap, Sayles wasn’t in a position of depth that enabled him to defend the deep middle and he was further flat-footed by the play-action that followed.

With a full-speed waggle, slotback Dalton Schoen zoomed past boundary halfback T.J. Lee, who was four yards from the line of scrimmage at the snap, expecting deep middle help. Schoen ran a great route, attacking Lee’s outside shoulder, which widened him as he tried to maintain his shade or technique. Schoen then cut back to establish inside position.

How did Collaros have time for such a deep route against a vaunted Lions pass-rush with Woods blitzing from the outside? Dobson and Wolitarsky both stayed in to block, giving Winnipeg seven in pass protection.

Play No. 2

HE'S JUST KEN 🤯 #CFLGameday pic.twitter.com/4lwB7ULZ6v

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On the first play of their second drive from their own 53-yard-line, Kenny Lawler brought in a deep ball on a seam route for a 57-yard touchdown.

Once again, the Blue Bombers brought in an extra offensive lineman, this time Tui Eli, who lined up as a tight end on the left side. They also brought in the speedy Greg McCrae for the first time in the game, who lined up as an H-back to the tight end side. On the wide side of the field, Winnipeg was in a traditional trips look with Schoen, Lawler, and Demski from outside in.

Knowing there was about a 70 percent chance they’d see either cover one or cover three, the Bombers called a play that exposes the deep middle defender, which is present in both coverages.

Schoen had an outside-release go route to turn his defender away from the middle of the field. Lawler had an inside-release seam, while Demski’s job was to occupy the safety by crossing his face at full speed.

The key to this play was Lawler getting back on his stem after releasing inside so he maintained enough distance from Demski so the safety couldn’t take them both away. If the safety drifted towards the seam, Collaros would be expected to throw to Demski. If the safety held his ground, Collaros would be expected to throw the seam to Lawler.

B.C. ran a creative five-man blitz on this play, sending Hladik and Rugamba while dropping defensive end David Menard into coverage. Unfortunately for them, the tight end neutralized the rush and running back Brady Oliveira picked up the blitz beautifully, which gave Collaros the time he needed. Menard had to cover McCrae on a Texas route, which isn’t ideal, but there were bigger fires elsewhere.

This game illustrates how difficult it is to beat the same team twice. The winner of the first game doesn’t generally want to change too much of what made them successful, while the loser has a full game’s worth of data from which they can scheme their next plan of attack.

The clubs are scheduled to meet for a third and final time on Friday, Oct. 6 with the season series on the line.