A run, run, run, run runaway

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This article was published 22/09/2017 (2933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

All signs heading into Friday night’s game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Ottawa Redblacks at Investors Group Field suggested a close affair. Two surging teams near or atop their respective division, and the rematch to what was a nail-biter in their last meeting, when Winnipeg kicked a last second field goal to clinch a 33-30 victory in the nation’s capital.

But while that game back in early August needed every last second to play, this one was pretty much over by halftime. The final dagger would come early in the fourth quarter when Matt Nichols delivered a 75-yard touchdown toss to Darvin Adams, putting a bow on a 29-9 Bombers victory in front of rain-soaked crowd of 26, 588.

“I think we put up 550 yards today in a rainy game — that’s an amazing feat to accomplish,” said running back Andrew Harris, who rushed for 83 yards and added another 49 through the air. “It’s a tribute to great focus.”

The touchdown to Adams, who paced all receivers with seven catches for a career-high 195 yards, would be the final play for Nichols, who was pulled for backup Dominique Davis. Nichols completed 23 of his 34 passes, for 319 yards and two touchdowns. Timothy Flanders accounted for Nichols’ second TD — a four-yard catch that put the Bombers up 22-2 early in the third quarter — while Harris rumbled 24 yards up the middle for his sixth touchdown of the season and a 16-2 lead at halftime.

“I don’t care about stats, I care that we won the football game,” said Nichols, who improved to 21-11 in 32 starts with the Bombers. “We’re sitting in a good position right now. We want to keep winning these football games so we can play in front of our home crowd in November.”

The victory improved the Bombers to 9-3, securing Winnipeg second place in the West Division behind the 10-1-1 Calgary Stampeders.

The Bombers have now won seven of their last eight games and five straight at home. Winnipeg hasn’t trailed once in their last four victories.

The Redblacks dropped to 5-8-1 with the loss and are now in danger of losing first place in the East Division. The Toronto Argonauts (5-7) can take over that spot with a win over the Montreal Alouettes tonight. Ottawa entered Friday having won four of their last five games after earning just one victory in their first eight.

On Friday, the Bombers offence was their dominant selves, collecting 553 yards to Ottawa’s 266. Nichols’ lone blemish came in the form of an awkward turnover in the second half. On the play, the ball slipped out during his delivery before landing in the arms of Redblacks defensive lineman Jonathan Newsome.

It was just one of a number of plays that were comprised from the pouring rain.

“It’s a little bit of a challenge but you just got to focus in on your fundamentals to make sure you have a good grip on the ball… it was pretty wet,” said Nichols on the weather.

“If you lost any concentration the ball was kind of squirting out. We did a good job as an offence handling it.”

But even then the Bombers defence, which had arguably its best game of the season, managed to get the ball back after forcing a fumble that was recovered by Maurice Leggett, who also finished with an interception, accounting for two of the Bombers’ three turnovers.

Shortly after the fumble recovery, Nichols connected with Adams for the long TD.

“It feels good to score. But it feels better to win,” said Adams. “You see the O-linemen out there dancing? That’s how much fun it is.”

The Bombers defence, a unit that has been ridiculed for much of the season for the number of yards and points they’ve given up, took full advantage of the inexperience of Redblacks quarterback Ryan Lindley, who was making his first CFL start.

Lindley struggled to find any rhythm, despite having weapons in receivers Brad Sinopoli, who was leading the CFL leader in receptions (61), and Greg Ellingson, who had a league-high TDs (seven) and was tops in receiving yards (1,123) prior to kickoff. The two combined for just eight catches for 77 yards, while Lindley ended his night 16-for-36 passing for 151 yards and one interception.

Asked if the weather hindered his performance, Lindley wasn’t reaching for excuses.

“It’s an even playing field,” he said. “God doesn’t turn the sprinklers off when Winnipeg goes out on offence, so we’ve both got to deal with it.

“Obviously, they figured it out.”

Most of the Redblacks’ offence would came from running back William Powell, who eclipsed 100 rushing yards for the second straight game, carrying the ball 14 times for 107 yards and Ottawa’s only touchdown — an 11-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

The Bombers had to deal with a number of potential distractions after returning from the bye week, beginning with the news defensive end Jamaal Westerman was out for the remainder on the season with an upper-body injury. A day later, import receiver T.J. Thorpe left the team due to a lack of playing time.

Winnipeg would deal with one final disruption before game time, with scattered rain showers and lightning shortening the on-field warm-ups and delaying kickoff by 20 minutes.

When they finally took the field, it was Ottawa that was forced to weather the storm. Winnipeg dominated in almost every part of the game in the first half, including time of possession (18:23 to 11:37), first downs (16 to eight), and net offence (283 yards to 128). Where the game remained close, however, was on the scoreboard.

After punting on the opening drive — their only punt in the first half — Winnipeg’s offence moved the ball with relative ease, scoring on four of their next five series. The first three would be stalled before the end zone, resulting in field goals from Justin Medlock, who hit from 27, 37 and 26 yards.

The Bombers broke free late in the second quarter after Jackson Jeffcoat stripped the ball from Powell before jumping on it to give Winnipeg possession deep in Ottawa territory. Three plays later, Harris cut up the middle 24 yards for the touchdown to put Winnipeg up by two touchdowns, 16-2, at halftime.

“We were talking in the huddle saying, ‘we needed to get six (points), we needed to get six’ and we were knocking on the doorstep there for a few drives and came up short,” said Harris. “We knew that once we got the ball rolling, started to get some touchdowns it would open up and it definitely did.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton