Blue Bombers running back Brady Oliveira will be in the lineup again Friday after missing a couple days of practice this week; photos by Cameron Bartlett
Rewind a week ago and the scene inside the Winnipeg Blue Bombers locker room at Commonwealth Stadium following a maddeningly frustrating performance by the visitors in a loss to the Edmonton Elks.
We tried to recreate the scene earlier this week in a piece but the response from the club since then is what’s critical now as the Blue Bombers prepare to host the most dominant team in the Canadian Football League in the Montreal Alouettes, an impressive 9-1 and winners of seven straight and with an offence featuring some jaw-dropping firepower.
Now, as a frustrated running back Brady Oliveira said in the moments after the loss to the Elks last week, the Blue Bombers absolutely, positively need to find out the why behind their inconsistent play through their 5-5 start that was never more evident than in the stark contract between first and second halves in Edmonton when they build a 16-zip lead, spit it up, rallied to tie the game at 19-19 late before giving up a walk-off field goal.
That second half, for those that need the nasty reminder, featured just two first downs and 19 total yards of offence.
“Obviously, not good enough. We’ve got to sustain drives, we’ve got to stay on the field again,” said Oliveira when he met with reporters on Thursday following the team’s walk-through practice. “We talked about it before — executing the play that’s called and we just unfortunately didn’t do enough of that in the second half last week. That was a focus point this week and we do need to be better.
“We’ve got to be better on first down. We came out of the gate flying and last week I would say we played what was been our first half this year. But how do we put two halves together and play an entire 60 minutes?”
Good question. And with eight games remaining — including two with the Alouettes and five of their last seven against West Division opponents — the time is now to start finding some answers.
BLUE BOMBERS (5-5) vs ALOUETTES (9-1)
Kickoff: Friday, 7:30 p.m. CDT; Princess Auto Stadium, Winnipeg
TV/Streaming: TSN; RDS; CFL+
Radio: 680 CJOB; Play-by-play: Derek Taylor | Analyst: Doug Brown
Streaks: Wpg.: 1L; Mtl.: 7W
Interestingly, while the Blue Bombers are attempting to get into gear to put themselves in a position to make some noise in the playoffs, the Alouettes could become the first team in the CFL to already earn the right to host a playoff game with a win and a loss by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. And if that narrative sounds familiar, the Blue Bombers were not too long ago in those very same cleats — with the chance to lock up a playoff spot early and eyeball the playoffs.
Worth noting here: since starting last season 3-0 the Blue Bombers, including last year’s playoff loss to the Alouettes, have gone 12-14 in their last 16 games.
Yet, for what it’s worth, there has been an energy around Bomberland this week. This task is daunting — 100 percent daunting — but there is also opportunity in this to completely change the vibe around this team with a result.
“They came back and they were frustrated. Absolutely, no doubt,” said head coach Mike O’Shea when asked what he saw from his club in a response after Friday’s crushing loss in Edmonton. “But they came back and got to work and before the meetings start my door’s open, the door to the meeting room’s open and you just hear how they come down the hall and you hear how they’re approaching the day and you just feel good about it.
“So, that hasn’t changed. Do I recognize that it was quiet? Yep. Do I think it should be? Probably. Do I feel their frustration along with them? Absolutely. We’re a team, right? We’re all in this together, so there is going to be frustration. But we screw it down, get back to work and get after it and try to have fun doing it.”
“I love it,” added Oliveira on facing the Alouettes. “You want to play against the best every single week. Individually, I always talk about going up against the best defensive players every single week. That excites me and as a whole now for a team you’ve got Montreal coming in, they’re hot and they’re playing with a lot of confidence, a lot of swagger and they’re the team to beat right now.
“I think momentum is a real thing and if we go out there and execute our game plan we can definitely bring that into the following week and hopefully propel our season into a positive. It’s great. We’ve got a great opportunity in front of us.
“”There’s always going to be good and bad but there’s always going to be outside noise. It’s very easy to see it and look into it in today’s day and age with social media and everything that’s out there… it’s very to see the naysayers, the non-believers and what they think about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this year. Right now we’ve really just have to have faith and believe in ourselves.
“We know the type of guys we have in this locker room, the coaches that we’ve got in this building. We’ve just got to believe and, again, execute.”
A FULL 60
Two possibilities for the Blue Bombers in the wake of last week’s loss to the Elks, one realistic, the other a long shot.
First, they can mirror last week’s opening two quarters with a positive second half. Second, they could petition CFL HQ to have games cut from 60 minutes to 30.
“Each team has its own journey, each team has its own story,” said QB1 Zach Collaros on Thursday. “We’re still navigating that right now. There’s always a sense of urgency as the season is going on but you’ve just got to stick to the process.”
Part of that is football IQ and situational awareness and it’s a topic that came up earlier in the week when defensive coordinator Jordan Younger was asked about how his team handled the final 96 seconds after tying the game before some missed tackles and mistakes led to the Elks marching into position to win the game on a field goal.
“In that situation what we have to do is understand the game situation better,” said Younger. “So, if you have one player thinking we want to try to keep them in bounds, so they’re more passive in the way they play it and there’s a ripple effect because the guy at the point of attack didn’t shoot.
“So, we have to do a better job making sure they understand there was enough time on the clock for them to take their time to move the ball in field goal range. We’re not playing against the clock, we’re realluy playing for yardage. So, when the guy at the point of attack shoots, everybody else’s job gets easier because they’re just playing off him. When that guy doesn’t shoot, everybody slows down to wait to see what’s happened and that’s how a player like (Elks RB Justin) Rankin is able to squeak through in a situation like that.”
THE MIGHTY ALS
Photo courtesy The Canadian Press
The Als are a juggernaut, featuring the league’s leading passer in QB Davis Alexander (3,400 yards with 20 TDs against just two interceptions) the two leading receivers in Tyson Philpot (83 receptions for 1,229 yards and nine TDs) and Tyler Snead (58-982-6) and the third-leading rusher in Travis Theis (788 yards rushing and seven TDs).
They are first in the CFL in points scored — having not been held to under 30 points in a single game this season and averaging 42.7 in their last three — and first in just about every other meaningful offensive statistical category.
“They have very skilled receivers and a great running back,” said defensive tackle Cam Lawson this week. “They’re able to accomplish what they can because of the personnel they have — Tyson Philpot, Snead, Theis, a good quarterback in Alexander. It just allows them to execute at a high level.
“The biggest thing is just to get them to second and long. They’ve been living at that second and three-to-five range all year long because of the screen plays and the runs they’re able to get and their yardage is great. That’s been giving them opportunities to take shots downfield.”
Again, it’s about the response now from the Blue Bombers as a collective — offence, defence and special teams.
“I’ve really been happy with the guys staying true and not giving in to any despair or anything like that,” added Lawson. “We stayed strong, we stayed tight as a group and we put in a good week of practice with a lot of energy and a lot of effort. We’re just trying to do our jobs to the highest level and that’s all we can focus on right now.”
WELCOME TO A SCORE-FEST?
A question for the Blue Bombers as they step into the starting blocks along the speedy Alouettes: can Winnipeg’s attack win a race against the Usain Bolt of the CFL?
“We’ve got an opportunity to go out and attack and play our brand of ball,” said receiver Pokey Wilson on facing Montreal’s defence. “As a team, we’ve just to to execute together and for our offence, start finishing more in the end zone. It’s really about the execution for us now.
“Throughout this week we’ve been attacking each day and trying to have good practices. There were some positives from last week. Of course, you want to win but we did put together some good drives. We’ve just got to get touchdowns, not field goals, in the the red zone. This room is full of guys that want to win. Now we want to come together.
“This offence is right there. It’s close. And once we get it going, there’s no telling what we can do.”
THE LINEUP: The Blue Bombers have not made a change to the roster for Friday’s game, although veteran DB Deatrick Nichols is listed as a ‘GTD’ — Game Time Decision. Nichols exited last week’s game with an ankle injury and moved cornerback Major Williams inside with Trey Vaval moving into Williams’ spot as a result. The club also has Ridge Texada as a possible addition.
Safety Redha Kramdi practised this week but remains on the six-game injured list along with DB Ethan Ball, safety Cam Allen, DT De’Shaan Dixon, DB Michael Griffin II and linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox.
