Younger's defense

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Please add the option "it's overly confusing" to the list.

[markf]

Like him or not, The recovery of Bo Levi from his years of playing poorly and being injured, is a great sports story in the CFL

[Pete]

Like him or not, The recovery of Bo Levi from his years of playing poorly and being injured, is a great sports story in the CFL

Part of it was Bo's ability to develop the short game which Zac has yet to do. Zac's mid game is elite but the offence for consistancy on quick slants and wideouts

[blue_or_die]

Hard to defend this. Up until last year I thought his weird D was the result of management not getting the right bodies on the roster to host a more traditional defense: hiding an aging Willie. No true tackles. Departure of Jeffcoat. Loss of Bighill. Always hurt Kyrie. Then-newbie LBs like Jones, Griffin and Ayers. And on the opposite end, a stack of talented secondary guys like Nichols, Holm, Kramdi, and the ability "hybrid-ness" of our O'Shea LBs to play in pass coverage (Griffin, etc.). I thought it was by necessity. Now we have Ceresna, a healthy Lawson, and overall a pretty capable (on paper) front 7 that should allow us to be able to play D in all the ways needed to adapt to the situation. Now it appears the JY defense was really a feature, not a bug in his mind.

I won't overreact but it's very clear something needs to change. It was disheartening last night to watch our O march the ball and have an enjoyable series and then for our defense to come on the field and be pushed from their end all the way into our endzone most times.

Who in the heck voted " it's fine and just needs time". Like I don't know . lol

I think we all know exactly who

[dd]

We play too passive of a D and rely on the Qb of making a mistake, which in our soft coverage , we take advantage of. Trouble is with good Qb's like BLM, Rourke and Kelly, they're rip you apart in their sleep. We'll do fine against the Edmonton's and Ottawa's of the league, but will struggle with Sask, BC, Toronto and Montreal.

[Blueforlife]

To those that voted its always been bad.

Facts are its been a top performing D going back to the Hall years for a very long time.

Tough game, 100% but let's not get carried away here wow.  That said some good discussions on what is wrong.  More wrong than right currently.   My biggest worry is our run D.

What will this year bring, who knows.  Way too early to know.  Know what we got by labour day.
 
No hiding the fact we have done similar things for a long time, gotta be a factor but don't count out adapting.  Hall did it at a time when many turned on him.  He brought us championships and much success.  Worked out pretty darn good.

I have complete trust in our defensive coaching and schemes but we need to improve and adapt to adjust to some high powered offenses and very good QBs.  50/50 on the mix of players.  Not enough sample size to know yet.  Plus need to see the unit function when healthier.

I believe the Hall / Younger era of D will go down as one of the most successful runs in Bomber history.  I loved me a Ritchie D but these guys are better.  The players play.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Just keep in mind what you're defending. A system that has won nothing and has a 100% fail rate in the playoffs. Gave up 43 points in the playoffs game and two 30+ points in the first two of 2026. One that essentially flies in the face of traditional defensive theory and one that has steadily gotten worse in each of the years so far. 

We've played one good quarter of defensive football in eight tries this year. It's a unit that used to power us to Grey Cup championships and made a winner out of game manager style QB in Matt Nichols. After three years of Younger we need our offense to score 34+ in every big game. Average to below average QB play and we'll go 3-15 with how bad Younger has been to start the season.

[bunker]

I agree with most of the criticism of Younger's scheme. But I think part of the issue this year is talent. Ceresna was a great addition, but the rest of the defence is mostly mediocre. Holm, Ceresna and Lawson are very good. Willy is getting older and was back to alot of one weak push to the outside of the tackle and then backing off and waving his arms. Nichols has lost a step, as has Wilson. Kramdi is not a great safety and Jones is an average linebacker at best. Corners got beaten badly although I think Williams has promise. At best I think our talent on defense is middle of the pack. Have not been impressed with our scouting of new American talent over the past few years, and our drafting of Canadians has been poor. Shay taken fourth overall, into his second year, and still not taking defensive reps? Seems like a wasted pick.

[markf]

I agree with most of the criticism of Younger's scheme. But I think part of the issue this year is talent. Ceresna was a great addition, but the rest of the defence is mostly mediocre. Holm, Ceresna and Lawson are very good. Willy is getting older and was back to alot of one weak push to the outside of the tackle and then backing off and waving his arms. Nichols has lost a step, as has Wilson. Kramdi is not a great safety and Jones is an average linebacker at best. Corners got beaten badly although I think Williams has promise. At best I think our talent on defense is middle of the pack. Have not been impressed with our scouting of new American talent over the past few years, and our drafting of Canadians has been poor. Shay taken fourth overall, into his second year, and still not taking defensive reps? Seems like a wasted pick.

This is it.  usually not one answer to this question, specially in a team sport. It's not Younger or the players, it's Younger and the players.

Watching the game last night, overall, our defensive players simply are not as good as the ALS. There was some legal hitting from their D that we do not see at all.

Our defensive backfield has been average for several years.

I was hopeful for our d line, only two games, one good one, so there's hope there at least.  Linebackers.... Not great.

And maybe it's also that some of the players brought in and released are better than the old hands we stick with, how those decisions are made I don't know,  I've read a lot of comments to that end.

Our o line is better, but still, how many times did Zach have to bail? Too many. Keep that up we'll be seeing Taylor.
Not much space for Brady.

[Pigskin]

Did the Bombers offered Houston a contact this off season? And if so, did BC and then Ottawa just out bid us for his services.

[Blue In BC]

I don't think our DL was that good in the 1st regular season game either. We still gave up over 100 yards rushing. I've mentioned several times that we gave up a 100+ yard TD drive in each game.

This is a pattern. It's systemic.  Lack of consistent pressure and soft coverage / chase mode in the secondary.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I agree with most of the criticism of Younger's scheme. But I think part of the issue this year is talent. Ceresna was a great addition, but the rest of the defence is mostly mediocre. Holm, Ceresna and Lawson are very good. Willy is getting older and was back to alot of one weak push to the outside of the tackle and then backing off and waving his arms. Nichols has lost a step, as has Wilson. Kramdi is not a great safety and Jones is an average linebacker at best. Corners got beaten badly although I think Williams has promise. At best I think our talent on defense is middle of the pack. Have not been impressed with our scouting of new American talent over the past few years, and our drafting of Canadians has been poor. Shay taken fourth overall, into his second year, and still not taking defensive reps? Seems like a wasted pick.

I agree to a point. It was interesting to hear O'Shea say we played 'young' when, in fact, we're fairly veteran heavy. Nichols has lost a step, was apparent last year and looks worse this year. Wilson and Jones haven't looked sensational and I have no idea who's idea it was to flip them, but it seems to be worse, not better. I was on record saying Willie should have been released a year ago. A defensive end who can't get pressure isn't really a defensive end.

All that said, I think this group of players could all be much more effective with a different scheme and mentality. To make all the stupid, safe zone looks work, number one, JY needs hybrid guys who do a little of everything but are usually experts at nothing. He also makes everything complicated. Example: Nichols declining speed would be less of an issue if he didn't have what has to be the longest cover clock in any system in the CFL going off in his head. The DL would probably make more plays if they were given the green light to attack instead of the disciplined rush/pocket collapse style of the last couple years. Since everyone tends to move backyards to safe zones at the snap no one is ever coming downhill. No one ever can come downhill because everyone is a triple move away from giving up a big play and unlike actual football defense long developing routes are always on the menu because no one ever gets near the QB in JYs system. It's impossible to look good in system like that.

[Blue In BC]

Did the Bombers offered Houston a contact this off season? And if so, did BC and then Ottawa just out bid us for his services.

I'm not sure but the Lions signed and then released him before the Redblacks signed him. That says something. Lions also signed J. Parker and also released him.

[Pete]

When you see how often we are getting beat deep, its very concerning. Our safety is playing shallow to help stop the run, our mlb (Wilson) only made 2 tackles.
 Our coverage ends up being one on one and were losing the battles.
 Kramdl doesn't have the speed to match todays receivers and hes much better at lb.. at least he can tackle.
The whole defensive scheme is broken

[dd]

what our defense lacks, is a decent safety who can make plays, not look lost out there.