Courtesy Winnipeg Sun:

Charles Roberts was on another one of his media vacations this week.

So we can’t tell you what’s on the running back’s mind as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers prepare for tomorrow’s East Final in Toronto.

We’re not going to hold that against him, though.

The guy may be MIA when it comes to answering to the public, but in our books he’s the Bombers’ MIP — most important player — this weekend.

Oh, quarterback Kevin Glenn certainly needs to play well for the Bombers to pull off an upset and advance to the Grey Cup. But Glenn’s play hinges on Roberts, not the other way around.

“It helps me out a lot, because then they start worrying about him,” Glenn said. “And then you can throw the ball.”

If the Toronto defence isn’t looking out for No. 1, Glenn will either find himself under siege or standing back in the pocket, looking like the bewildered kid who can’t find his parents at the shopping mall.

That’s exactly what happened the last time the Bombers faced Toronto with Roberts in the lineup.

On that day, Sept. 23, the CFL’s crankiest defence slammed the door on the little guy early, so dissuading Winnipeg’s offensive coaches they only gave him the ball a handful of times.

Six carries, seven yards: numbers burned in the brain, we presume, of the CFL’s proudest ball carrier.

The Argos built a 31-2 lead and cruised to victory.

Think the Bombers can win if Roberts gets the ball just six times tomorrow?

“Yeah. Probably,” Glenn said.

Come on, give your head a shake.

“Maybe,” head coach Doug Berry said. “I wouldn’t go into the game planning that, though.”

Just like you wouldn’t walk into an airport wrapped in wires and holding a big, red button that says DETONATOR on it.

“It’s a lot tougher,” Glenn conceded. “You don’t want that to happen because that means you’re throwing the ball every down.”

And that’s playing right into the hands, literally, of the Toronto defence, which goes after stray balls the way Elvis went after doughnuts.

“It should be different this week,” Glenn said. “It’s about adjustments now in the playoffs. We’ve played these teams so many times that now it’s time to make the subtle changes they might not be looking for.”

The onus is on the coaches: find ways to spring Roberts, which might mean being less predictable than they’ve been much of the season.

Some games you can see a Bomber handoff coming from a mile away: they bring in extra blockers on first down and ask Roberts to fight his way through a crowd up the middle.

When that doesn’t work, it’s second and long, the three words a quarterback hates most — right next to “grab a clipboard.”

The Bombers also abandon the running game far too soon, at times.

Like most backs, Roberts gets better with more work.

“As he gets rolling, the more he runs the ball, the more powerful he gets,” O-lineman Dan Goodspeed said. “You can see towards the end of games he’ll start running over guys. It’s a credit to him, because he’s not the biggest back in the league.”

Linebacker Barrin Simpson figures the lucky number is 13 carries.

“Charlie’s usually hitting his stride around 13 or 14,” Simpson said. “You see each week when he gets around that 13th carry, he pretty much knows what the defence is trying to do to him. And he just starts ripping off good runs.”

You hear that, coach?

“Sometimes it’s sooner than that,” Berry said. “He’s a guy that gets warm, there’s no question about it.”

So there’s no excuse for Roberts to touch the ball at least 15-20 times tomorrow, right?

“You’d like to say, ‘Charles, run for seven on first down and we’ll hand the ball off to you on second down and you’ll get four. OK, let’s hand the ball off to you again. You got six? Maybe we’ll hand the ball off to you again,’” Berry said. “In that situation he gets four in a row. If you hand the ball off to him and he gets minus-1, we’re probably not going to hand the ball off to him next time.”

But that’s precisely the problem. Knowing that’s Winnipeg’s M.O., the Argos will stack the line to stop the run on first down.

The Bombers have to find other ways to get their most dynamic player the ball: throwing to him, running out of passing formations — whatever it takes.

He’s the one player opponents and teammates alike marvel at.

“He’s the shiftiest, most creative back I’ve ever played with,” injured Bomber centre Obby Khan said. “The play’s designed to go to the right, he’ll go to the left. And he’ll break 40 yards out of it.”

Eventually, he will — but only if you give him the chance.

In last year’s East semifinal, Roberts carried the ball a whopping 30 times for 179 yards, helping the Bombers build a 10-point lead they’d blow in the fourth quarter.

Don’t expect the Argos to let that happen again.

“They’ve kind of changed since my first couple years here,” Goodspeed said. “They were more of bend-but-don’t-break. Now they just come at ya.”

Hey, nobody said reaching the Grey Cup would be easy.

Man for man, the Argos defence has been dominating all season. The only way to beat it is with some creativity.

Berry, the mastermind behind the Winnipeg offence, and his staff must find a way to outthink Toronto defensive guru Rich Stubler.

“Charles is as healthy as he’s been,” Berry concluded. “I look forward to him having as good a game as he can.”

If the Bombers want to give themselves a fighting chance, No. 1 on their list should be No. 1 on their roster.

—

BLINK VS. THE ARGOS

Charles Roberts’ Last Three Games Against Toronto

Game Carries Yards TD Outcome

Week 17 injured

Week 12 6 7 0 31-23, Argos

Week 8 25 108 1 15-13, Bombers

2006 East Semi 30 179 0 31-27, Argos