Harris, Blue run roughshod over Argos

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This article was published 21/07/2018 (2635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — After hitting their lowest point of the season a week ago, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers flipped the script by putting together a convincing 38-20 win over the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday afternoon at BMO Field.

The Bombers, who improved to 3-3 with the victory, did their best to make it a close game, committing three costly turnovers that resulted in a majority of Toronto’s points. But in the end, the Argonauts, who dropped to 1-4, just couldn’t create much of anything on offence and struggled to stop a fierce Bombers’ attack.

Andrew Harris continued his early bid to become the league’s most outstanding player, finishing with an eye-popping 161 rushing yards on 27 carries and one touchdown. The touches and yards were both career-highs, and he added another two catches for 16 yards and a touchdown through the air.

“I think it’s really hard to appreciate what he does if you’re not in our building,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said. “He’s very, very intelligent and he makes people better around him. He thinks of himself as an O-line when it’s pass and he thinks of himself as a receiver when he’s running routes. And when he carries the ball, it’s like he wants to serve the O-line for their effort, you know?”

The effort not only gave the 31-year-old Winnipegger a third straight game with at least 100 yards rushing, but moved him into second place among all-time among Canadian running backs’ yardage in the CFL. Harris’s 6,878 career-rushing yards surpassed Jon Cornish’s mark of 6,844. He now trails only Normie Kwong, who put up 9,022 yards over 13 seasons between 1948 and 1960, with the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos.

“I think I’ll look at that when I’m done playing. I mean, Jon Cornish was an amazing running back and definitely someone I watched coming into the league,” Harris said. “To surpass him is great, but it’s something I’ll probably look at and cherish after I’m done playing. Right now, I’m just happy about the win and about how my O-line played and looking forward to next week.”

Matt Nichols had his best performance since returning from a knee injury in Week 4, rebounding from last week’s effort that saw him throw three interceptions in a loss to the B.C. Lions. The Bombers starting quarterback finished 19-for-27 passing, for 255 yards and two touchdowns.

“For me, it was great to see a full team win. Our defence played great, I mean, I think they gave up maybe four points on their own,” Nichols said. “It’s a full team game that allowed us to have a dominating victory. It definitely wasn’t easy. It’s never easy to win in this league and to win in a way where we responded in three or four situations that swung the game in our favour was awesome to see.”

Nichols connected with Darvin Adams on a 21-yard strike to the end zone just two minutes and 10 seconds into the game, turning a small field created by an Ian Wild fumble recovery into an early 7-0 lead for the visitors. Adams paced all receivers with six catches for 82 yards, while Weston Dressler added five catches for 72 yards and Nic Demski registered five for 62.

After Harris punched in a one-yard score on the Bombers next drive, Nichols went back to his running back for a five-yard catch and run that suddenly had the Bombers in complete control, up 22-1.

Justin Medlock, who went three-for-three on field goals, added to the lead with a 44-yarder with fewer than two minutes to go before halftime. Then, the Bombers began to self-destruct.

First it was a botched punt return by Kevin Fogg, who bobbled it until it was grabbed by Toronto’s Llevi Noel and returned 49 yards for a touchdown. On the Bombers ensuing drive, Harris committed a rare fumble, losing a ball that was smothered by Toronto. Two plays later, the Argonauts kicked a 31-yard field goal, capping off an 11-0 run in the final 45 seconds of the second quarter to trim the Bombers’ lead to 25-12.

The collapse late in the first half put some doubt into whether the Bombers would be able to answer back, especially given what happened last week against the Lions. Against B.C., Winnipeg led 17-0 through two quarters only to be outscored 20-0 over the second half, losing 20-17.

“We talked about it all week that you’ve got to respond after an awful collapse last week. I talked to all of the guys on our team and mentioned it in the media that sometimes a game like last week can be a turning point in your season,” Nichols said. “You go one of two ways after a game like that, and it would have been easy for everyone to feel sorry for themselves. I think we have veteran guys here that understood that this was an urgency game for us and we came out and played like it in all three phases.”

This time, however, it went much differently for the Blue and Gold.

The defence, which played its most complete game of the young season despite corner Chris Randle being a late scratch, forced one of their seven two-and-outs against the Argonauts offence. The Bombers, getting the ball back in Toronto’s territory with a big return by Fogg, answered back with a crucial touchdown drive.

Harris opened the series with an 18-yard run, Dressler then added a 24-yard catch, and Harris pushed the ball 21 more yards on two carries that set the ball up for third-and-goal at the Argonaut’s one-yard line. Nichols capped off the drive with a quarterback sneak to put the Bombers up 31-12.

From there, the Bombers defence went to work.

James Franklin, Toronto’s up-and-coming quarterback, was limited to just 151 passing yards and no touchdowns. James Wilder Jr., the Argonauts’ punishing running back, had just three carries for a total of — get this — minus-two yards.

“Our front did a good job. And it’s not just the D-line. But I thought our D-line is really coming into its own,” O’Shea said. “They’re working hard to play for each other and enjoying group success more than individual success and our linebackers are good.”

Toronto kicker Ronnie Pfeffer also missed two field-goal attempts, including a botched 30-yarder that put an uneventful end to a 16-play, 55-yard drive that consisted of three pass-interference penalties by the Bombers and lasted seven minutes and 43 seconds.

In fact, of the 20 points scored by the home side, 19 came off turnovers. Demski accounted for the last costly giveaway, coughing up a ball to Jermaine Gabriel that was returned 87 yards for a second fumble-recovery touchdown by Toronto that made it 35-20 Bombers.

Toronto finished with just 12 first downs and 165 yards of net offence, as the Bombers suffocated their opponent down the stretch, with just a 19-yard field goal from Medlock shifting the score in the final 13 minutes and 24 seconds.

“I feel like our defence was lights-out,” Harris said. “Really, we put them in bad situations with the turnovers, and obviously, the one they got points on right away on the touchdown. If we want to be a great football team, we’ve got to clean that up. So, as good as that game was for us, there are lot of things to clean up.”

Winnipeg will look to climb above .500 for the first time this season when they welcome the Argonauts to Investors Group Field on Friday to wrap up the home-and-home series.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton