Argos D smothers Big Blue

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This article was published 11/10/2024 (590 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers head into the bye week on a sour note.

With the chance to clinch the West Division for a fourth consecutive year, the Bombers squandered the opportunity by losing to the Toronto Argonauts, 14-11, in front of a fourth consecutive sell out at Princess Auto Stadium Friday night.

The Bombers snapped their win streak at eight games, dropping to 10-7 with the loss. Meanwhile, the Argos improved to 9-7 and can finally exhale after clinching a playoff berth in the East Division with the win.

Let’s dig deeper into this one.

FIRST-HALF MISSHAPS

A hallmark of the Bombers eight-game win streak was getting an early lead and making good on their opportunities. On this night, though, the opening 30 minutes will be remembered for the several missed opportunities and the points that went with them.

The Bombers second drive started with a 32-yard kickoff return by Lucky Whitehead that was pushed forward another 15 yards owing to an unnecessary roughing penalty that put Winnipeg on Toronto’s 54-yard line. Three plays later, including an eight-yard sack, the Bombers were pushed out of field goal range and forced to punt.

On the next series, Winnipeg’s special teams gifted the offence an even better starting position, after linebacker Brian Cole chased down Argos returner Janarion Grant and forced the ball loose, recovering the rock on Toronto’s nine-yard line. The Bombers would get as close as the one-yard line, but Terry Wilson’s second consecutive QB sneak was snuffed out by the Argos, resulting in a turnover on downs.

“The goal line, you’ve got to score there,” Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros said. “Our special teams did a great job. (Cole) punched it out against arguably the best returner in the history of the CFL. So, yeah, you’ve got to finish those drives, you have to score points there, and we didn’t.”

Sergio Castillo would finally get his chance to put the Bombers on the board on their next drive, but his 42-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left and into the arms of Grant, who kneeled in the end zone for the rouge. Castillo made good on a 42-yarder later in the second, accounting for all four points in the first half as the Bombers trailed 13-4 at the break.

FROM BAD TO WORSE

The Bombers offence seemed to finally hit its groove over the last two weeks, with QB Zach Collaros tossing the lights out in a blowout win over the Edmonton Elks two weeks back and the run game coming alive versus the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in another convincing win last week.

It couldn’t have been a more different story to open this one, with the air and ground attack both stymied by the Argos through the first two quarters, with the offence finishing the first 30 minutes with a dismal 97 net offensive yards. Collaros attempted just nine passes, completing six, for 82 yards – with more than half of that coming off a 49-yard catch by Kenny Lawler — and was sacked five times.

No other receiver had more than seven yards in the opening half and the Bombers were one-for-10 on second down, with an average gain of 3.6 yards per play. While the Bombers only turned the ball over once in the first two quarters, they had five two-and-outs.

“We knew we had a big challenge in front of us and we’ve got to thrive in those situations,” Bombers running back Brady Oliveira said. “We understand the unit that we’ve got, but at the end of the day, we just didn’t play good enough in the first half. I’m proud of the guys how we responded coming out of the half, the way we fought. Unfortunately, we made too many mistakes.”

Right when it looked like the offence was starting to turn things around, marching the ball down to Toronto’s 20, Collaros was sacked by defensive back Mark Milton trying to deliver a pass and the ball was recovered by Argos linebacker Wynton McManis. By the time the Bombers started their second series of the second half, there were just seconds remaining in the third quarter, and by the end of it, all that was left was a feeling of déjà vu, as Castillo clanked his 48-yard attempt off the right upright to keep it a 13-4 game.

CONTAINING KELLY

Despite being in his third CFL season with the Argos, QB Chad Kelly had yet to register a start against the Bombers over his career. Toronto opted to keep Kelly out of the lone regular season game against the Bombers last year after the Argos clinched the East Division and he was once again unavailable earlier this season while serving a nine-game suspension for violating the league’s gender-based violence policy.

Kelly got off to a hot start, leading the Argos to a game-opening seven-play, 72-yard TD drive that was capped off with a 13-yard strike to Dave Ungerer to give the visitors an early 7-0 lead. The Bombers defence did well in limiting the CFL’s reigning Most Outstanding Player the rest of the first half, with Kelly going 12-for-16 passing for 114 yards and the TD, as Toronto settled for a pair of Lirim Hajrullahu field goals to round out the scoring.

The Argos had just two offensive series in the third quarter, with the first one ending with a quick two-and-out and the other nearly hitting paydirt. Nearly is the key word here, as the Bombers delivered Toronto some of its own medicine, with Kelly stuffed on a third-down QB sneak at the goal line for a turnover on downs.

The defence continued to contain Kelly and the Argos attack in the fourth quarter, first forcing a two-and-out, followed by a four-play drive and another punt. They would limit Toronto to just one point in the second half, giving the offence a chance for one final shot at victory.

“They only had a few explosion plays,” said Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson. “We shut it down in the second half. We were getting to the quarterback, had him moving around, got him off his spot, had him throwing some bad balls. When we have the opportunity to take the ball away, get off the field on second down, we got to just do that more. We got to make the most of our opportunities.”

COMEBACK FALLS SHORT

The third drive in the second half proved to be the charm for the home side, as the Bombers finally reached paydirt to cut the Argos’ lead to 13-11. Wilson punched in a one-yard QB sneak that was set up by a defensive pass interference call on Lawler in the end zone, moving the ball from Toronto’s 27 to a yard off the goal line.

The Bombers got the ball back with 2:27 remaining in the fourth quarter down two points and on their own 20-yard line. A 15-yard pass to Lawler would get the Bombers out of trouble and a pair of catches to Nic Demski moved the ball to near midfield.
The Argos seventh sack of the game proved to be a big one, setting the Bombers up with a third-and-17, with the game on the line. After taking the snap, Collaros danced around in the pocket for a bit until he took off down field, where he would dive to try to make the first-down marker.

“If my foot was out of bounds, then I didn’t get it,” a frustrated Collaros said. “If my foot was in bounds, then I clearly got it.”
It looked to be close, but after bringing out the chains to measure, the run fell inches short. The Bombers challenged the play but review only confirmed the call, giving the ball back to the Argos, who added a rouge with a punt to the end zone with two seconds remaining.

UP NEXT

The Bombers head out on their third and final bye week, returning for the final game of the regular season against the Montreal Alouettes at Molson Stadium Oct. 26. Montreal defeated Winnipeg, 27-12, in the season opener.
The Alouettes have already wrapped up the East Division, despite winning just one of its previous four games. They play the Ottawa Redblacks on Thanksgiving Monday.