Collaros fuming after getting head-butted

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This article was published 04/09/2023 (775 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

REGINA – It was short and not very sweet.

Zach Collaros, dripping with sweat and oozing frustration, needed just 76 seconds to share his disgust after 32-30 overtime loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the annual Labour Day Classic on Sunday.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback and reigning two-time CFL most outstanding player was beyond ticked off when replaying the narrow loss to reporters just outside the visitor’s locker room.

Using very few words in each answer, Collaros lamented the club’s slow start and lack of execution. But what he really wanted to get off his chest was a message to the league after he sustained a vicious head butt by Roughriders defensive lineman Pete Robertson late in the game.

A brief exchange with the Free Press, lasting just 10 seconds, went as follows:

FP: You looked pretty heated on the sidelines after that hit by Robertson. What did you see on the play?

Collaros: “What did you see?”

FP: I saw a guy head butt you.

Collaros: “Yeah. Do you think the league will do anything about it? You’ve been around for a long time. What would your assumption be?”

FP: I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Collaros: “Yeah.”

FP: This league doesn’t really surprise me anymore.

Collaros: “Surprise you? It happens all the time.”

The play occurred late in the fourth quarter after Collaros had thrown an incomplete pass to Drew Wolitarsky on Saskatchewan’s five-yard line on second down, leaving the Bombers to attempt a chip-shot field goal. That is, until Robertson got into Collaros’ face while flexing his arms, eventually getting close enough to deliver the head-to-head hit.

The play wasn’t originally called a penalty, forcing the command centre to step in and assess a 15-yard unnecessary roughness flag. That gave the Bombers a new set of downs and led to a touchdown by Brady Oliveira.

“It’s ridiculous,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said, adding Collaros was justified in his anger. “I’m not sure why there’s not a flag on the field. It’s got to go to the command centre? I do not understand that. I hear it too many times that they didn’t see it. I’m not sure what the standard is anymore, really, and I’m on the rules committee. I have no clue.”

It wasn’t long after leaving the Bombers locker room that president and CEO Wade Miller approached the Free Press wanting to get a few things off his chest.

Like Collaros, Miller was seething and wasn’t about to give the CFL a free pass.

“At what point are we going to start protecting our quarterbacks?” Miller said. “You may miss it, but they saw it, so fix it. Fix it all the way. Do the right thing. And that’s sometimes not the easy thing to do, but you can’t do that.”

Miller was particularly upset that Collaros was forced to leave the game for a few plays after being identified by the league’s concussion spotter, while Robertson was allowed to remain in the game.

“If that’s not an ejection, then what is? It’s a great question,” Miller said, adding he plans to follow up with the CFL. “We need to protect our players, and that play right there is dangerous. Dangerous enough that a player was sent off the field because they were worried about what happened to the player that took that action. It’s not right, and it’s time for us as a league to start holding players accountable that behave like that.”

Robertson told 620 CRKM after the game that his emotions had gotten the best of him. He added he doesn’t believe he’ll be suspended, a sentiment that was also shared by Roughriders head coach Craig Dickenson.

““It was an exciting play on my end, and I got to learn how to control myself a little bit,” Robertson said.

Several Bombers players came to Collaros’ defence.

“That was bullsh—,” said Oliveira. “That was right in front of my face. No. 45 wants to head butt? I don’t care who is it – quarterback, lineman, running back – you just don’t do that. You play between the whistles; you play clean football. We pride ourselves being the most physical unit but playing between the whistles. And the fact it has to go to the command centre? That’s a joke.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton