It was midway through practice Tuesday at Investors Group Field when Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols targeted receiver Darvin Adams with a pass toward the corner of the end zone.

Keeping pace with Adams was defensive back Roc Carmichael, a former NFLer who has had an inauspicious start to his CFL career.

Carmichael stayed with Adams all the way and eventually got his hands up in time to almost pick off the pass before crashing into the padding that protects players from the stadium walls.

His defensive teammates roared in approval as he broke up the play with a stellar effort and many raced over to congratulate him.

After a few high fives, Carmichael dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups.

“I didn’t finish the play,” Carmichael said. “If you don’t catch the ball, you’ve got to do 10 push-ups.”

There are many CFL observers who would assume Carmichael has been doing a lot of push-ups so far this season.

The field halfback has struggled in his first two games, getting victimized for three touchdowns and taking a careless offside penalty — he lined up offside — that led to a Calgary Stampeders touchdown last Friday night.

Even with 19 games of NFL experience on his resume, the 28-year-old from Laurinburg, N.C., may not have much more time to figure things out in the CFL.

He’ll start at field halfback Thursday night against the Toronto Argonauts, but he likely can’t afford any more obvious mistakes. The Bombers have already started giving a few more reps to defensive back Robert Porter, who is on the practice roster, and changes could be in the offing if things don’t go well this week.

“I definitely left some plays out there that I would like to have back,” Carmichael said of his first two CFL games.

To be fair, Carmichael was a cornerback in the NFL and played mostly at strong side linebacker in place of the injured Moe Leggett during training camp.

He was thrown into the field half position when Bruce Johnson got injured in the pre-season and has had to learn on the fly. It doesn’t help that the Bombers are about to play their third game in 13 days.

“It’s a little quick with the short weeks,” Carmichael said of adjusting to the Canadian game. “You only really get a couple of days of practice and then you’re right back playing so it’s kind of hard to learn or do as much as I would like to. But I’m getting the reps in at game time and just getting a better feel.”

Bombers defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall said Carmichael has adjusted well. He’s had some high points and some low points but he’s learning, and that’s what a coach wants his players to do.

“Playing the inside position, that’s one of the most difficult positions on the field because of the running start for the receivers and the size of the field and everything,” said Hall, who was a CFL defensive back himself.

“I’m not disappointed in his adaptation. I know he might be disappointed at times because he didn’t play as well as he’s capable of playing but I look at it from a consistency point. I don’t look at a play here, a play there. We might look at two plays, but what about the other 60 plays?”

Hall believes Carmichael will be a better player in a few weeks because of what he has experienced early in the season.

“He’s got to be better … we’ve all got to be better,” Hall said. “The best is yet to come.

“It’s a learning process, a growing process. The thing is, how do you respond? Do you become a coward and try to hide or do you man up and continue to work hard? That’s what he does, he continues to work hard and that’s how he’s going to get better. We need him and he’s going to pay off dividends as the process goes.”

Carmichael will surely have his hands full this week, with Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray and star slotback S.J. Green coming to town. They’ve been the league’s hottest combination so far.

Still, the former Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans DB remains confident.

“It’s almost everything I expected,” Carmichael said of the CFL game. “The receivers having that extra waggle room to get off the ball creates space for those guys. There’s tons of speed here and the angles are different with the field being so much wider. There’s a lot of stuff that I have to recognize and adjust to on the run but I think I got the role because they believe I can handle it.”

Twyman@postmedia.com

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