Blue make a statement

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This article was published 08/10/2016 (3292 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Matt Nichols called the game a defining moment for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

With the CFL season winding to an end, with only four games remaining on the schedule, the Bombers starting quarterback believed whatever happened Saturday against the B.C. Lions, a team they are chasing in the West Division playoffs, would determine who the Bombers are — or more importantly — what they’re made of.

After putting together a seven-game winning streak over a stretch of nearly two months, the Bombers had dropped their last two games.

Last week, in a 40-26 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos, Winnipeg squandered a chance to earn their first playoff berth since 2011 in a game they were mightily outplayed on offence, defence and special teams.

They needed a big improvement from all three phases, and they would get it, beating the Lions in a nail-biter, 37-35, at Investors Group Field.

“Going into this game we talked about this being a playoff-mode game and if we wanted to get to where we wanted to be we had to win this one,” said Nichols, who finished 22 of 32 for 233 yards and two touchdowns.

“To be able to claw and fight and do everything that we had to do to come out with the win says a lot about this team.”

The Bombers improved to 9-6 with the win to move into second place in the West, holding the tiebreaker (Bombers lead the season-series 1-0) over the Lions, who dropped to 9-5 with the loss.

The Bombers can punch their ticket to the playoffs for the first time in five years Monday with losses from Montreal (vs. Edmonton) and Toronto (vs. Calgary). The picture will become much clearer next week with Winnipeg travelling to BC Place Friday for Round 2 in their home-and-home series.

THIRD AND DONE

In a game that had a number of standout plays there was one that stood out.

After a Clarence Denmark touchdown had the Bombers clinging to a 37-33 lead with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter, the Lions marched up the field for a chance to win. Facing a third-and-one on the five-yard line, the chances of the Bombers pulling off a victory looked slim.

The Lions had faced a similar situation at midfield earlier, with the play resulting in a 56-yard rushing touchdown by running back Chris Rainey. Given that success — and the fact Rainey had been dominant up to that point, including 238 yards in the return game — the Lions opted to run a similar play, handing the ball off to their speedy back.

Just as Rainey took control of the ball he was met head on by linebacker Maurice Leggett, who tackled him for a loss, giving the ball to the Bombers, who milked the clock for the win, giving up a safety that left the Lions with one second left for a comeback.

Leggett said he recognized the Lions were in the same formation as earlier in the game. Doubled-teamed on the play, Leggett said he was able to spin out quick enough to get to Rainey, wrapping him up for a one-yard loss.

“We talked about it right before it happened and we knew,” Leggett said about the play. “We just went out there and played our hearts out.”

What made the play even more impressive was Leggett had been ruled out of the game after injuring his leg on a special-teams play early in the third quarter. He ran through a few agility drills on the sidelines and after consulting with doctors and getting approval from his squad, he re-entered the game for the final series.

“They believe in me and I believe in them,” said Leggett. “We fight for each other.”

DID YOU SEE THAT?

The Bombers preached the need for a strong start all week. After losses to Edmonton and Calgary in which they combined for just seven points in the first quarter, Winnipeg finally walked the walk, marching all over the Lions in the opening frame.

They dominated time of possession (9:05 to 5:55), scoring touchdowns on drives of 95 and 75 yards. Running back Andrew Harris, who played six seasons with the Lions before signing with Winnipeg as a free agent in the off-season, didn’t take long to burn his former team, scampering into the end zone on a four-yard pass from Nichols on the game’s opening drive. Harris finished with 12 carries for 66 yards and added 50 yards on five catches.

“When you get the ball you want to make impact plays,” said Harris. “You got to thrive at the times you do get the ball.”

To counter a stingy Lions defence, the Bombers pulled out all the stops, executing a pair of trick plays they had worked on all week at practice.

Facing third-and-10 on the Lions’ 32-yard line, Weston Dressler, who holds for kicker Justin Medlock, took the ball from his knees and rumbled 21 yards for a first down. Two plays later, Harris took a direct snap before lateralling the ball to receiver Rory Kohlert, who then threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Nichols to give the Bombers a 14-3 edge.

“When Andrew flipped it to me I was just so open and then I saw Matt so open,” said Kohlert, now a perfect 2-for-2 passing for 16 yards this season. “At that point, all that was running through my head was just get him the ball.”

Asked why a Canadian receiver would be called on to play quarterback, especially one who hadn’t played the position much before, Kohlert said he won the job in a tryout during training camp.

“They had a lot of trust in the play and I’m glad they called it,” he said.

UH OH…NOT AGAIN

The Bombers kept the momentum going early in the second quarter, scoring a third touchdown on a third consecutive possession.

Aided by a Leggett interception — his league-leading seventh of the season — running back Timothy Flanders, who, like Harris, started his CFL career in B.C., playing one game with the Lions in 2015, ran 16 yards untouched for the score to give the Bombers a 21-3 and seemingly put the game out of reach.

But the wheels that rolled through the first 17 minutes, had started to loosen. The momentum seemed to shift in favour of the Lions and quarterback Jonathon Jennings, who threw for a whopping 422 yards to bring his total to 4,078 yards on the year. The Leos started to find their footing and so, too, did receiver Bryan Burnham, who caught nine passes for 208 yards.

“They’re a good team with a number of playmakers,” said Bombers veteran cornerback Chris Randle. “But if we give up 422 yards we have to go back to the drawing board, period.”

After managing just three points and two interceptions on their first four drives, B.C. finished the half by with two rushing touchdowns from Rainey and Anthony Allen. The Bombers allowed 17 points in the second quarter for the third straight game, trimming their lead to just four points, 24-20, by halftime.

The Lions outscored the Bombers 10-3 in the third quarter. Justin Medlock, who finished a perfect three-for-three on field goals to set a club record for most field goals in a season with 48, provided the only points for the Bombers.

“It was a fight and we hung in there for the full 12 rounds,” said Randle.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

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