Bombers lay an egg against hungry Ticats in 33-13 loss

First place now up for grabs in CFL's West Division

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There’s a reason why the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have persistently preached the importance of finishing atop the CFL’s West Division.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/09/2019 (2204 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a reason why the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have persistently preached the importance of finishing atop the CFL’s West Division.

That way, you advance directly to the division final, playing against a tired opponent that had to battle the week before, in a game you also get to host.

Put in even simpler terms, it’s the easiest route to the Grey Cup and, more often than not, the winner on the third weekend of November is also the winner of their respective division. Of the last 10 Grey Cup champions, eight were also division leaders.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Bralon Addison (86) celebrates his touchdown against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with teammates during the first half of CFL action in Winnipeg on Friday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Bralon Addison (86) celebrates his touchdown against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with teammates during the first half of CFL action in Winnipeg on Friday.

So, when breaking down the Bombers’ 33-13 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Friday night at IG Field, the reality is Winnipeg might have missed out on a lot more than two points. The loss dropped the Bombers to 9-5, and though they remain in first place in the West, it might look much different a week from now.

With the Calgary Stampeders (9-4) idle this week, there will be no swapping positions for now. If the Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-4) are able to beat the Toronto Argonauts (2-10) tonight, it’s suddenly a three-horse race.

If Friday’s effort suggested anything, it’s the Bombers are in trouble with four games to close out the regular season. Winnipeg plays Saskatchewan on the road, then hosts the Montreal Alouettes before wrapping up the schedule with a home-and-home series with the Stampeders.

“We’re just going through maybe a little bit of a slump,” Bombers running back Andrew Harris said after the game. “But at the end of the day we’re in a good spot still. We just need to find an extra gear and execute better.

Harris added: “We’ve got all tools to continue winning football games. But, again, you could tell today the pace of the games are getting faster and more physical and we didn’t match that level today. We got to find a way to get there.”

The Tiger-Cats improved to 11-3 and have won six of their last seven. It’s the kind of momentum a team wants to be building as they march towards the playoffs. As for the Bombers, they’re 4-5 in their last nine outings.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Bralon Addison catches the pass against the Blue Bombers during the first half.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Bralon Addison catches the pass against the Blue Bombers during the first half.

What makes the loss even more difficult to swallow for Bombers fans is it came one week after a humiliating 38-37 loss to the Alouettes. In that game, the Bombers held a 20-point, fourth-quarter lead, and they spoke all week how they were hungry for redemption against the Tiger-Cats.

Instead, they laid another egg.

“We didn’t play a good football game as a team. There are no excuses and it’s on all of us to make sure we’re ready to go out and play a football game that we can win,” Bombers right guard Patrick Neufeld said.

For a second straight game, the Bombers opened with an impressive touchdown drive for an early 7-0 lead.

Last week against Montreal, Winnipeg went 80 yards on nine plays to find pay dirt; against the Tiger-Cats, it was an 11-play, 73-yard series capped off with an eight-yard pass from Chris Streveler to Harris.

But Hamilton gained traction soon after and never looked back.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Blue Bombers quarterback Chris Streveler runs for a short yardage first down against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Blue Bombers quarterback Chris Streveler runs for a short yardage first down against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

“We weren’t playing tough enough, that’s for sure,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.

The Tiger-Cats went on a 17-0 run to bury the Bombers early, scoring on three straight drives. They answered back immediately after Winnipeg’s touchdown, travelling 62 yards on six plays, capped off with a Dane Evans touchdown pass to Bralon Addison.

Addison entered the game as the league’s hottest receiver. Since Week 10, the 25-year-old Texas native had reeled in 38 catches for 568 yards and three touchdowns.

On Friday, he added four more catches for 90 yards and the one score. To put his recent performances in perspective, Harris is the Bombers leading receiver with 483 yards.

Hamilton went up 10-7 on its next series, though the damage could have been much worse. The Tiger-Cats marched to the Bombers’ two-yard line, but instead of gambling for the seven points, settled for a nine-yard chip-shot field goal.

The visitors scored another touchdown late in the second quarter. It didn’t matter the Tiger-Cats were pinned deep in their own end, with the drive starting on their 12-yard line. Three straight passes for first downs pushed them to midfield.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Julian Howsare (95) and Dylan Wynn (98) sack Blue Bombers quarterback Chris Streveler during the first half.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Julian Howsare (95) and Dylan Wynn (98) sack Blue Bombers quarterback Chris Streveler during the first half.

It also didn’t matter that immediately after those plays the Bombers made a tackle for a loss, which was followed by a procedure flag that had the Tiger-Cats facing a seemingly impossible 2nd-and-20 situation. To get out of that, though, Evans simply dumped a short pass to Brandon Banks at the line of scrimmage and Hamilton’s explosive receiver did the rest, scampering 41 yards to move the chains to Winnipeg’s 25.

Two plays later, Evans found Banks in the back of the end zone to give the Tiger-Cats a 17-7 edge.

Hamilton wasn’t done toying with the Bombers defence in the first half. The Tiger-Cats added one more touchdown for good measure, orchestrating their third – and longest – drive through the first two quarters. This time, though, it was Evans breaking the plane, perfectly executing a quarterback sneak to register his third rushing touchdown of the season.

“Our guys were a little too cautious and giving them a little too much space, against some obviously very good receivers,” added O’Shea. “Hamilton did a good job of getting rid of the ball quickly so it kind of nullified our rush.”

Evans, who has impressed since taking over for an injured Jeremiah Masoli in Week 7, finished the first half 17-for-21 passing for 308 yards and two touchdowns. The air attack accounted for nearly all of Hamilton’s 338 net yards of offence, which was more than twice as much as the Bombers’ 144.

The Bombers offence didn’t completely disappear before the break. A last-ditch effort following Evans’ rushing touchdown ended with Winnipeg calling on Justin Medlock for a 42-yard field goal with time expired, cutting the Tiger-Cats lead to 24-10 at the break.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Julian Howsare and Simoni Lawrence celebrate Howsare's sack of quarterback Chris Streveler during the first half Friday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Julian Howsare and Simoni Lawrence celebrate Howsare's sack of quarterback Chris Streveler during the first half Friday.

The game would slow down to start the second half, with a combined six points scored between the two clubs.

Medlock connected from 47 yards out, a promising result for Winnipeg’s first drive of the half. But Lirim Hajrullahu would make up the difference with his second field goal of the night. His 49-yarder put the Tiger-Cats back up, 27-13, with just more than five minutes remaining in the third frame.

Winnipeg had its moments, and at one juncture in the fourth quarter seemed like the might even mount a comeback. Streveler finished the 31-for-42 passing for 304 yards and one touchdown, making him the first Bombers quarterback this year to hit 300 yards through the air.

But it was his back-to-back interceptions in the fourth quarter that ultimately squandered any chance for a close game. His first pick was particularly costly.

Streveler, facing a 1st-and-10 from Hamilton’s 21, delivered a pass to the hands of Justin Tuggle, who returned it back to the Bombers’ 10. What’s worse is Adam Bighill had intercepted Evans on the series before. Two plays later, Evans delivered an 8-yard touchdown pass to Tyrell Sutton.

“It’s the first time of the year that we got beat-beat and it sucks,” Bombers safety Jeff Hecht said.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Dane Evans throws against the Blue Bombers during the first half  Friday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Dane Evans throws against the Blue Bombers during the first half Friday.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton

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.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

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History

Updated on Friday, September 27, 2019 11:52 PM CDT: Final version.

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