Sloppy Bombers buried by Alouettes

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This article was published 06/06/2024 (725 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was supposed to be a night where the Winnipeg Blue Bombers got their revenge.

Instead, it was a night where nothing went right.

In a rematch of last year’s Grey Cup, the Bombers kicked off the 2024 CFL campaign with a 27-12 loss to the visiting Montreal Alouettes on Thursday in front of 30,140 fans.

The Als — the reigning champs after prevailing 28-24 in November’s big game — once again found a way to ground the Blue and Gold’s high-powered offence.

“It obviously wasn’t up to our standard. Not good enough. Disappointing, frustrating, all those things, especially (because we) did not play well in front of the home crowd,” said Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros. “I certainly wish I played better… I have to do a heck of a lot better for us and we’ll improve.”

Collaros, who has been nearly unbeatable at home since arriving in Winnipeg midway through 2019, had one of his worst showings as a Bomber. His attack never got into a groove, as the two-time CFL most outstanding player award winner completed 20-of-33 passes for 209 yards and an interception.

He didn’t take any snaps in the preseason.

Star running back Brady Oliveira, who missed all of training camp with an injury he sustained in the offseason, wasn’t much better as he stumbled for 38 rushing yards on 11 attempts. Dalton Schoen led the Bombers in receiving with five catches on nine targets for 62 yards.

“At the end of the day, we took our chances on offence. It was just one of them bad games that we had,” said left tackle Stanley Bryant.

“I think our defence did enough on their end for us to at least get a victory, but we didn’t make enough big plays, or any big plays at all… I think the offence should take the blame for this one.”

To add salt to the wound, standout pass catcher Kenny Lawler was shut down at the half with an arm injury.

“Kenny is one of the best players in the league, if not the best player in the league. It’s tough,” said Collaros.

“I’m just really disappointed for him coming out of the game. He’s one of the most competitive people I’ve been around so that’s what makes it tough.”

Kicker Sergio Castillo, who’s coming off a historic season where he was a perfect 31-for-31 on field goals within 40 yards, looked nothing like himself as he missed a convert and a pair of three-point attempts from 38 and 40 yards out.

The CFL now has a microchip in game balls, through their technology partner Genius Sports, that tracks live data. Castillo blamed the chip for his misfires and said he’s not the only kicker in the league who has noticed a difference.

“I’m trying to not get fined here, right? It’s very frustrating when you put in the work, right, and I have a little one, I have a wife back home that I have to provide for. And we’re not given the proper equipment to do well,” said Castillo.

“What I mean by that is we have these chips in the footballs, right. Over camp, if I went 60 percent that was a great day. And when we went with normal balls, 90-plus percent. The whole camp.”

The Bombers didn’t hit pay dirt until backup running back Johnny Augustine scored in garbage time with just over a minute remaining.

Montreal quarterback Cody Fajardo was held to six points in eight regular-season quarters against the Blue and Gold last year, but fared much better in this outing. He out-duelled Collaros, his former Saskatchewan teammate, by connecting on 20-of-28 passes for 254 yards, two touchdowns and a pick to earn his first career victory at Princess Auto Stadium. Fajardo now has a 3-8 all-time record against the Bombers.

Grey Cup hero Tyson Philpot was the star of the night with 10 grabs for 141 yards and two touchdowns.

“I thought that was a statement game – offensively, defensively, special teams,” said Fajardo.

“It never really was close and I was really proud of the way the guys performed, especially against a really good Winnipeg team.”

Rookie defensive tackle Devin Adams got the lone sack for the Bombers while Montreal took down Collaros twice.

“We just couldn’t finish. Offence, defence, special teams. We couldn’t get the momentum back on our side early,” said defensive end Willie Jefferson.

“We were fighting from behind the whole game… We had opportunities to put some points on the board and couldn’t do it. We came up short. We had some opportunities to get off the field on defence and we took some penalties to help them move the chains. We just got to be better.”

Things started out promising for the home side with linebacker Brian Cole jumping on a poor dump off pass by Fajardo near midfield for his first career interception. Cole, who spent the past two seasons primarily playing special teams, returned the ball 40 yards to put the Bombers in prime scoring position. After two inaccurate passes by Collaros, Castillo was trotted out for a 17-yard shot to open the scoring.

The Als would punt on their next possession only for Myron Mitchell to fumble at Winnipeg’s 14-yard line. One play later, Philpot dodged a tackler for his touchdown. It was a less than stellar CFL debut for Mitchell who had 37 punt return yards on seven tries.

The first quarter ended with Collaros completing just one of six passes for eight yards and one first down.

The second quarter didn’t start out any better, and the Als took advantage by tacking onto their lead with short-yardage quarterback Caleb Evans capping off a nine-play drive with a one-yard sneak to go up 14-3.

The Bombers finally started to show some life in their second last possession of the half until Collaros, with a defender in his face, severely under threw a ball to Schoen at the front corner of the end zone that was stolen by Montreal safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy.

Collaros had a glorious opportunity to right his wrong with 16 seconds remaining in Q2 with Schoen open on a deep post for a touchdown but once again the toss came up short. Schoen had to briefly slow down which allowed Dionte Ruffin to break it up. Castillo would miss a 37-yard field goal only for Als returner James Letcher Jr. to mishandle it to lead to a safety.

The Bombers trailed 14-5 after 30 minutes of play and that was as close as they got.

The nightmare extended into the early moments of the second half with Bombers receiver Nic Demski having an Als defender come from behind to punch out the football for a fumble. Montreal scored three points off the mistake.

The Als added another 10 points in the fourth to put the game out of reach.

“It just felt like we were behind a little bit… I don’t know if I had them prepared well enough for this one,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “We were missing that step, missing a bit of that football sense as we went along. I could’ve done a better job of getting them ready with those last bunch of practices and training camp probably could’ve been a little different.”

Montreal is now 7-0 all-time against Winnipeg in Week 1 meetings. The Bombers, who are 7-3 in season openers since head coach O’Shea took the headset, drop to 37-4 at home since 2018.

The Bombers will be in Ottawa next Thursday to take on the Redblacks. Montreal will stay on the road and play the Edmonton Elks next Friday.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31