It’s now officially official – the Toronto Argonauts will start Cameron Dukes at quarterback in Friday’s marquee heavyweight bout against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
And this corresponding news just in from Bomberland: sure, facing Most Outstanding Player candidate Chad Kelly might have made for a more compelling narrative, but the guys in blue and gold really don’t care if it’s Cameron Dukes, Cameron Diaz, Cameron Crowe, James Cameron or the old Acadian/Canadian Rifle, Bob Cameron, behind centre for the Argos.
They need a win, plain and simple, in their battle with the B.C. Lions for top spot in the West Division.
“It doesn’t matter who they bring or don’t bring – we need two points,” said Blue Bombers right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick. “Toronto’s a great team and I respect the hell out of them. You watch them on film, and they run around and hit people and they play together. It’s the kind of thing we hope we put on film as the right way to play.
“I’m excited for it, but I don’t care who we’re playing. It’s professional football. We know they’re going to bring in guys that know how to play and are good enough to be in this league. We’ve played against some young quarterbacks already this year and so we know that’s all about.”
In addition to elevating Dukes to QB1 – Kelly is listed third on the Argos depth chart, behind both Dukes and rookie Bryan Scott – Toronto also moved defensive back Jamal Peters and defensive lineman Shawn Oakman and linebacker Wynton McManis to the one-game injured list.
Again, though, the Blue Bombers have their own business to attend to ASAP after losing two of their last three.
“They’ve earned the right to make these decisions, first and foremost,” said Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros. “Secondly, from watching tape all week long – obviously the guys they’re leaving at home on the defensive side are unbelievable football players – but they have a lot of great football players still playing.”
Asked if rewatching film from the last meeting with the Argos – the one-point loss in last year’s Grey Cup – sparked any emotions all these months later, Collaros added: “Not right now, no. It’s a critical part of the season. We’re rolling into the playoffs here and we’ve got to get the win. We’ve got to treat each game individually and there’s not time right now to dwell on that. As we spoke about leading into the season, that’s last season, get it all out of you before you show up to camp and I think a lot of guys were able to do that.”
More on the Blue Bombers vs. Argonauts in this week’s PLAYBOOK…
1K-1K:
We wrote about this earlier in the week https://staging-www.bluebombers.com/2023/09/26/its-two-local-guys-playing-for-winnipeg/ but it’s a neat storyline that deserves further attention: if Nic Demski can amass 69 yards receiving Friday – or at any point in the remainder of the regular season – the Blue Bombers will become the first team in CFL history to have Canadians reach the 1,000 yard mark in rushing (Brady Oliveira) and receiving (Demski).
Oliveira already has 1,190 yards along the ground and could boost those numbers against an Argos team resting a few defensive regulars. Of note: Oliveira’s current pace would see him hit 1,530 yards along the ground, which would be the second highest by a Canadian in league history, behind only Jon Cornish, who had 1,813 rushing yards for Calgary in 2013.
Oliveira already has set career highs in receptions (27) and receiving yards (368) and that pace would get him 2,003 yards from scrimmage (rushing and receiving). From the CFL: no player has eclipsed the 2K mark since Cornish (the 1,813 rushing yards plus 344 yards receiving) in 2013.
“Me being a competitor I want to play against the best and take down the best and they’re the best right now,” said Oliveira. “We’re going to have a big challenge tomorrow. I was looking forward to getting their full defence and seeing how we stack up against them, but regardless of whoever is in there we’ve got to put it on them and do what we do.”
WELCOME BACK:
The Blue Bombers will welcome back both Jackson Jeffcoat and Thiadric Hansen to the lineup against the Argos on Friday. Hansen’s return is particularly significant as it comes more than a year after he suffered an Achilles injury in last year’s Labour Day Classic.
And so, running out of the tunnel before the game will be…
“I can’t even imagine it right now. I’m just so excited to play,” said Hansen. “I’ve been waiting for over a year now and I’m just going to enjoy being back out there. I don’t want to overthink it. I just want to get a good night’s rest and then see how tomorrow goes.
“It will be like before every game: I’ll be super-nervous and then once I start running down the field, I probably will have a smile on my face, but it will be gone by the time I hit the first guy.”
Hansen does have a great deal of personal pride for how he persevered throughout his recovery, handling both the physical and emotional challenges.
“This is a big accomplishment for me,” he said. “In the offseason I had my highs and lows as I tried to keep going. Of course, it makes it easy when you’re surrounded by your teammates, who don’t allow you to put your head down as you go through it.”
“There’s going to be a natural lift when he gets out there and makes his first play,” added head coach Mike O’Shea. “All of our guys have a really healthy respect for the amount of work that goes into the recovery of an injury like that. So, when the players finally arrive back on the field – there’s lots of guys who have been through rehabs, maybe not that particular one – but they just can just remember it and how good it feels to be out there. I think they share in that joy.”
Jeffcoat’s return, meanwhile, might help unlock Willie Jefferson, who has now gone seven games without a sack. That number, for what it’s worth, is not a concern for O’Shea.
“I don’t really worry about how long it’s been,” said O’Shea with a shrug. “Willie gets a lot of pressure; he makes plays in other ways and impacts the play in other ways. His length and his reach – not only 6-7, but his reach – causes a lot of problems. So, where it might get talked about where he misses the sack, another defensive end wouldn’t even have his hand on the quarterback. I just tend to flip it around and look at how much pressure he gets on a game-by-game basis, on a series by series, play by play basis. Pressure is important. It’s not all about a number that gets recorded as a stat – they don’t keep pressure stats anymore, but if they did, we wouldn’t even have these questions because he’s creating havoc all the time.”
HONOURING OL’ 33:
Andrew Harris will be at the game but won’t be in the lineup Friday – he’s on the six-game injured list – and the former Blue Bomber, future hall of famer and proud Winnipegger will be honoured right before kickoff.
“Watching him from afar for years was always a lot of fun,” Collaros said of Harris. “You think you know somebody just from seeing him on TV or on film, and getting to know him personally when I got here, what he meant to the locker room, what he meant to the offensive huddle… really, a lot of times when you say something like that it’s a generic answer, but I’m very close with a lot of teammates, but certainly with the offensive line in spending a lot of time with them. They just speak so highly of Andrew in his time here and not just with the way he ran the football, but with the way he prepared. He knew his protections inside-out… it’s just the way he would do things.
“He’s just an amazing player and a special player for the organization.”
ORANGE SHIRT GAME:
Friday’s tilt, just as a reminder, is the club’s annual Orange Shirt Game. The story behind that can be found here. The Blue Bombers and the Argonauts will both be wearing Orange Jersey’s for the pregame warm-ups with Winnipeg’s then auctioned off with the proceeds going towards WASAC (Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre). The Blue Bombers will also be wearing the star-blanket logo created for them by Dene Sinclair on their helmets.
The game will also see more than 1,000 Indigenous fans from northern communities in attendance and feature Juno Nominee Desiree Dorion performing in tailgate area with Rhonda Head, an award-winning singer from Opaskwayak Cree Nation, singing the national anthem in Cree.
THANKS, IN ADVANCE:
The Blue Bombers will be playing in front of their third consecutive sell-out Friday. That’s certainly not lost on anyone in the organization.
“The feeling of coming out in front of these fans – once again, as loud as they come, the loudest in the league anmd super knowledgeable, they really participate in the game very, very well,” said O’Shea. “It’s just what you want. I don’t know how else to describe it. (The fans) have to know that our players really understand what it means and enjoy it immensely.”
KEY MATCHUP:
The Blue Bombers kick cover units vs. Argos kick returner Javon Leake.
Leake leads the league in punt return yards with 942 and has four touchdowns, along with nine returns of over 30 yards. He’s also sixth in kickoff return yards.
WHAT A ‘W’ WOULD MEAN:
For Winnipeg: A postseason spot and home playoff game already secured, the Blue Bombers are in a dogfight for first in the West Division with the Lions, who are also at 10-4 and are hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders later Friday night. Should they knock off the Argos they’ll enter next Friday’s showdown in Vancouver at least tied with the Lions. The alternative – gulp – would mean they head west having dropped three of their last four.
For Toronto: The Argos don’t need this win, having already secured first in the East Division and with their next meaningful game the East Final on November 11th. That said, a victory would push them to 13-1 and keep them on pace for an astonishing season that would rival the 1996-97 Grey Cup championship squads that went 15-3 each season.
Also, should they knock off Winnipeg with Dukes at QB – and without Peters, McManis and Oakman in their lineup – it would confirm their ranking as the CFL’s best team and, perhaps, get them into the Blue Bombers collective heads a bit.
