Corey Mace is a terrific defensive coordinator and it showed tonight. I suppose the early injury to Clercius didn't help either, but the scheme completely took away Zach's reads and they were getting pressure at times only rushing 3 defensive linemen, completely abusing Kolankowski and Lofton all night. Pierce's opted to go dumpoffs to Oliveira instead of trying to get anything going with the run game - really think they should have gotten Streveler in there more to get some physicality and force SSK to adjust, but Bombers were chasing the game all night. Demski has really disappointed this season in the absence of Schoen and Lawler, too, tries to fight for extra yards but is carrying the ball so far away from his body, no wonder he's frequently fumbling it again.
On the other side of the ball, Kramdi was invisible tonight, and that was a mix of him actually playing some decent coverage or just not being involved in the play at all (other side of the field - and again, some plays where he takes bad angles that he takes himself out). Willie finally had a game where he looked like himself again, but can't say much for the other defensive linemen (granted they were also getting held in the interior all night, which refs called only the incredibly obvious ones against the Bombers). Bighill continues to read the field well but Father Time is showing, he's just a step or two late to making the play.
Unfortunately for the Bombers, getting healthy just won't solve all the holes in this team. Couple that with Collaros having a brain fart or two every game now, and it's hard to get any sort of momentum from that. They'll still be competitive, it's just hard to see them as contenders, especially in comparison to BC and SSK with a healthy Harris.
