Sellout crowd gets a show

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This article was published 27/09/2024 (402 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are headed back to the playoffs for the eighth year in a row.

The Bombers completed their improbable season-long comeback story — beginning 0-4 and 2-6 — with a dominant 55-27 triumph over the Edmonton Elks in front of a third-straight sellout crowd at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday.

This one was over by halftime.

Winnipeg scored 31 points before the Elks found the scoreboard and were able to sit on their 34-6 halftime lead the rest of the way.

It was one of those complete performances in all three phases by a squad that knows how important it is to be peaking this time of year.

The Bombers’ defence has been the team’s backbone all season, but it was a lethal offensive outing that stole the show on the strength of 526 total yards and never really allowed the crowd to catch its collective breath en route to a seventh consecutive victory.

The Bombers improved to 9-6 on the season and hold a four-point lead over the B.C. Lions for the top spot in the West Division, at the time of writing. The Lions were beginning their Week 17 matchup against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

There’s no time for the Blue and Gold to relax, however, as the next item of business is securing that top seed and a first-round bye to the West Division Final, which is now a favourable outcome with just three games remaining in the regular season and Winnipeg holding the tiebreaker over every team in the West.

As for the Elks, they dropped to 5-10, and the ink is running dry on their comeback story. Edmonton is attempting to become the first team to start 0-7 and make the playoffs and looked to be well on their way with five wins in six games before dropping the last two contests against Winnipeg.

The Elks are fourth in the West, four points behind the Lions and three points behind the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and will need to win out and possibly get some help to get into the tournament.

Another big game awaits the Bombers in Hamilton against the Tiger-Cats on Friday, Oct. 4, but before we get to that, let’s unpack Friday’s lopsided affair a little more:

VINTAGE ZACH

We start, rightfully, with the Bombers’ quarterback.

Zach Collaros will be the first to tell you he hasn’t been good enough this season. Entering the night, his nine touchdown passes were among the lowest in the league, and he led all quarterbacks with 14 interceptions.

This was a different version of the Bombers’ pivot.

The three-time Grey Cup champion delivered a vintage performance on the strength of six touchdown passes and 432 yards on 21-for-26 passing and a perfect 158.3 efficiency rating.

It was a season-high in passing yards and touchdowns for Collaros, and just the fourth time this year he’s gone without throwing an interception.

He looked nimble and poised while being pinpoint in accuracy, as he found Nic Demski, Keric Wheatfall and Brady Oliveira for long touchdowns in the first half, then Kenny Lawler twice and Demski again in the second half.

It was the first time Collaros has thrown at least three touchdown passes in a game since Sept. 9, 2023, which also so happens to be the last time he threw for five touchdowns in a game.

He made sure to spread the wealth, too, connecting with six different targets while three of them — Lawler, Demski and Wheatfall — recorded at least 80 receiving yards.

BIG PLAY BLUE

Earlier this week, Collaros talked at length about why offences around the league — and the Bombers, in particular — have struggled to generate as many explosive plays as in years past.

The quarterback said defences — in the NFL and CFL — have placed an emphasis on preventing big passing plays by dropping more defensive backs into coverage and playing their safeties deeper. It’s forced offences into taking what the defences give them, which is often something short.

Collaros, who has made a living off finding receivers deep down the field after breaking the pocket, even went so far as to say it’s made watching game film boring as he’s needed to corral his big arm.

The film sessions will be more exciting this week.

The Bombers recorded six explosive plays on the night (plays of 30-plus passing yards or 20-plus rushing yards). Three of Collaros’ touchdown passes came on plays of 40, 61 and 33 yards, while he also had completions of 33, 50 and 35 on the night.

Meanwhile, the defence limited the Elks to just two explosive plays— one rushing and one passing.

OPPORTUNISTIC DEFENCE

It was perhaps the moment in which everyone knew this wasn’t going to be the Elks’ night.

With the Bombers up 24-0, things went bad to worse mid-way through the second quarter when Elks quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson tried dumping off the ball to running back Justin Rankin. The problem was it was a backwards pass, and Rankin didn’t corral the ball. The pigskin hopped a couple of times on the turf before Tyjaun Garbutt scooped it up and took it 62 yards to the house, making it 31-0 before the game was 22 minutes old.

It’s been the story of the last two weeks for a Bombers defence that has made life miserable for the Elks offence at times. Last week in Edmonton, Winnipeg generated six turnovers and recorded two sacks. The stingiest unit in the CFL encored with three forced turnovers and one sack while limiting Bethel-Thompson to 17-for-31 for 177 yards.

One area to clean up will be the run defence, which has been gashed by the Elks the last two weeks. After running wild for 157 yards in their first meeting, Justin Rankins tallied another 109 yards on 14 carries on Friday.

Up next: The Bombers will look to take another step toward securing the top spot in the West Division for the fourth year in a row when they travel to face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Bombers and Ticats met on Aug. 23, a game in which Big Blue snuck out with a 26-23 victory at home.

Winnipeg is 3-4 on the road this year.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam