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MIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive lineman Willie Jefferson has one sack and six defensive tackles through four contests so far this season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Jefferson has accounted so far this season for one sack and six defensive tackles through four contests, which has come as a disappointment to those who scout box scores.<\/p>\n
Expectations are high for Winnipeg\u2019s pass rush \u2014 and Jefferson in particular \u2014 after the unit was bolstered by the addition of veteran James Vaughters in the off-season and returning defensive tackle Cam Lawson, who missed all of 2024 with a knee injury.<\/p>\n
Despite fielding the No. 1 scoring defence for the fourth year in a row, it was clear the team needed more push from its defensive front after finishing last season dead last in sacks with 26.<\/p>\n
Much of the production fell on Jefferson after running mate Jackson Jeffcoat retired, and the Bombers\u2019 effort to patch fill Jeffcoat\u2019s position with several younger pass rushers failed.<\/p>\n
With Vaughters in the picture, the sky again appeared to be the limit for this reinvigorated group, but the numbers would suggest it\u2019s been a slow start up front.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg has the second-fewest sacks in the league (five) and is dead last in tackles for loss (three). Meanwhile, Vaughters, who has recorded eight defensive tackles, is still hunting for his first sack.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get to playing as long as we\u2019ve been playing by questioning your instincts and getting jumpy when you\u2019re overthinking stuff. So I think it\u2019s just a matter of just doing what we\u2019ve been doing.\u201d\u2013James Vaughters<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always want to affect the game as much as you can, but as a young guy, with that in mind, you might do things that might take you out of position on certain other plays where you just need to play the play and see what you see and play what you see,\u201d said Vaughters, who has 21 career sacks in the CFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything\u2019s a give and take. If you\u2019re thirsty for one thing, then it makes you vulnerable to other things, and playing professional football, offences can see that kind of stuff. When you know the eyes on you all the time, no matter what, it just gives you more incentive to play what you see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rest assured, Vaughters, 32, and Jefferson, 34, are not pressing for a sack.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got two veteran defensive ends, and we\u2019ve both been playing the game long enough to have that type of discretion, so you have to trust that,\u201d Vaughters said. \u201cYou don\u2019t get to playing as long as we\u2019ve been playing by questioning your instincts and getting jumpy when you\u2019re overthinking stuff. So I think it\u2019s just a matter of just doing what we\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
This type of start is normal for Jefferson. It\u2019s the fifth time in the last six seasons that he\u2019s begun the campaign with one sack in the first four games. In the previous four instances, he\u2019s ended the regular season with 12, seven, seven and six sacks, respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re playing good ball. It\u2019s the first six games of the season,\u201d Jefferson said. \u201cOffences know what they want to do. They see me, they see Vaughters on the other side, they try to get to us and try to take us out of the game and things like that, but we still make our presses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quarterbacks are getting the ball out of their hands quickly. If they don\u2019t get the ball out of their hands quickly, they try to get it over us or get it around us, and it\u2019s more than likely either gonna be a tip pass or an incomplete pass, and that\u2019s what we play for. As long as we can get the ball out of the quarterback\u2019s hands and then be an incomplete ball, it\u2019s a win for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the defensive front hasn\u2019t gotten home as much as they would like, the team\u2019s 84.8 rush yards allowed per game ranks third in the league, and the pressure from the pass rush has helped produce five interceptions (tied for fourth-most). Those are the kinds of numbers being preached internally.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t ETHAN CAIRNS \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES<\/p>\n Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea said he \u2018would be more pleased\u2019 if the defence took the ball away every time they got near the quarterback.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI think you\u2019re going to be surprised that I\u2019ve never talked about sacks,\u201d said head coach Mike O\u2019Shea. \u201cI would be more pleased if every time they got near the quarterback they took the ball away, because a sack, that\u2019s high school. Taking the ball away is pro.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Shea went on to say it\u2019s important that the defence gets the ball back by any means necessary, whether that\u2019s forcing a punt \u2014 Winnipeg\u2019s defence ranks fifth in second-down conversion rate allowed at 47.1 per cent \u2014 or a turnover, which the club has done 10 times (ranks third in the league) this season.<\/p>\n \u201cThose first couple of games, everybody\u2019s fresh coming off the off-season, coming out of camp. You want to find what works for you. But then as the season goes on, guys get hurt, you start to fine-tune some of the things that you worked on in the off-season, early in the season, and then you get to try to make it better,\u201d Jefferson said.<\/p>\n \u201cThose first four or five games, you might not have got the kind of looks that you wanted, but then now you\u2019re working, you get to watch film on the guys that you\u2019re playing, what they\u2019ve done against other guys \u2014 you get to try new things during practice and try to work them out during the game. Calgary has played a couple of games, we\u2019ve seen them on film, seen their offence, so now we know what works for us, and now we know some things that work against them, and we get to put that on tape.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t Jefferson, Vaughters and the rest of the Bombers\u2019 defensive front will try to wreak a bit more havoc when they host the Calgary Stampeders at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday (7:30 p.m.).<\/p>\n In the meantime, consistency is key.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re getting there,\u201d Jefferson said. \u201cAs long as we can continue to harass the quarterback in his face, make it hard for him, give our (defensive backs) the opportunity to cover and stuff like that, and we get to him, it\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Joshua Frey-Sam Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n \t\t
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