Score flatters sorry Blue

Completely dominated by expansion Redblacks, drop to 5-11

By: Paul Wiecek Posted: 5:23 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 16, 2015 Last Modified: 10:53 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 16, 2015 | Updates

Advertise with us

OTTAWA — This time there was no big second-half comeback.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

OTTAWA — This time there was no big second-half comeback.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/10/2015 (3886 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — This time there was no big second-half comeback.

Because this time, it was just a good old-fashioned curb-stomping.

An Ottawa Redblacks franchise that didn’t exist two years ago laid waste to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at TD Place Friday night, dumping the Bombers 27-24 in what might be the most flattering final score in CFL history.

Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press
Ottawa Redblacks' linebacker David Hinds, left, tackles Winnipeg Blue Bombers' slotback Nick Moore as he tries to catch the ball during first half CFL action in Ottawa Friday. — Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press Ottawa Redblacks' linebacker David Hinds, left, tackles Winnipeg Blue Bombers' slotback Nick Moore as he tries to catch the ball during first half CFL action in Ottawa Friday.

A couple of late Bombers touchdowns in the final 1:25 of the game — including one with just nine seconds remaining — created the illusion on the scoreboard the final outcome was in doubt.

But it never really was in a game Ottawa dominated from the outset, and there can no longer be any lingering argument this Winnipeg team is better than its 5-11 record suggests.

Ottawa dominated Winnipeg on offence, defence and special teams and whatever designs Winnipeg had of mounting a second-half comeback went up in flames in the form of three interceptions thrown by quarterback Matt Nichols — two of them to former Bombers cornerback Jovon Johnson.

By night’s end, the Redblacks owned every statistical category that matters, and all the talk we’d been hearing about how the Bombers had been playing their best football of the year in recent weeks had been laid bare for what it was — a lot of talk.

The Bombers loss also extended a couple of mind-numbing streaks. Winnipeg is 0-9 this year against teams with a record above .500, and the Bombers have yet to win two games in a row since July 2014.

The loss means they need to win both their remaining two regular-season games to equal the 7-11 record they posted in 2014 in Mike O’Shea’s first year as head coach.

Now what?

If there’s a silver lining to the loss, it’s there’s an excellent chance the two teams with whom the Bombers are battling for the final playoff spot — the B.C. Lions and Montreal Alouettes — will also lose this weekend.

Today, the Lions are in Edmonton — where the Eskimos are 6-1 — while Sunday, the Als — with Kevin Glenn making his first start in Montreal after just two days of practice — are at home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the best road team in the CFL at 4-2.

If the Lions and Als also lose, the Bombers would still be in command of a playoff position heading into next week, although B.C. and Montreal would continue to have a game in hand.

About that first half

The Bombers have started slow the last couple of weeks, but even by their low standards, Friday night’s first half was one for the ages.

The numbers were as staggering as they were lopsided: net offence — Ottawa 314 Winnipeg 63; first downs: Ottawa 19 Winnipeg 3; time of possession: Ottawa 21:53 Winnipeg 8:07.

Against that tilted backdrop, the score at halftime — Ottawa 16 Winnipeg 0 — flattered the Bombers almost as much as did the final score.

About that opening series

The Bombers got off to a seemingly great start when Ottawa returner Reggie Dunn fumbled the opening kickoff and the Bombers took over on the Ottawa 27-yard line.

But just three plays later, the Redblacks had the ball back after the Bombers elected — for reasons that will forever be known only to offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille — to hand off to running back Cameron Marshall on a third-and-one play.

Marshall got nowhere, and the Redblacks made the Bombers pay, marching 92 yards on 14 plays in a withering TD drive that set the tone for what was to come the rest of the night.

Up next

The Bombers and Redblacks will do it all over again next Saturday at Investors Group Field in the second half of the home-and-home series.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek

THREE PHASES

▼ OFFENCE

The Bombers mustered just 63 net yards of offence in the first half and weren’t a whole lot better in a second half that saw QB Matt Nichols throw three interceptions.

But a couple of late TD drives padded the final stat line, and Winnipeg finished the night with a deceivingly respectable 310 yards of offence, including 241 yards passing. Don’t believe it.

▼ DEFENCE

Ageless Redblacks QB Henry Burris torched the Bombers secondary the entire first half, going 23-29 for 269 yards and a TD in just the first two quarters.

At least some of the blame for that, however, has to fall on a Bombers offence that was so anemic in the first half it left the Bombers defence on the field for 21:53 of the first two quarters.

Burris finished the night 34-43 for 370 yards and one TD to move within just eight more yards of 60,000 passing yards in his remarkable CFL career.

▼ SPECIAL TEAMS

A week after the Bombers special teams were the difference in a win over the B.C. Lions, they were mostly besides the point on a night Winnipeg didn’t even attempt a field goal and the game was won and lost on offence and defence.

THE HERO:

Ottawa QB Henry Burris was masterful all night long and continues to make his case — at the ripe old age of 40 — as the CFL’s MVP in 2015.

THE GOAT:

Bombers QB Matt Nichols had a very long night, throwing three interceptions in the second half — tying his career high for a game, set the last time he played at TD Place.

By night’s end, the stat line on Nichols — 27-40 for 241 yards, three TDs and three INTs — was grossly misleading and padded with a couple of late TD drives that were too little and much too late.

EXTRA POINTS

After going a combined plus-three the last three games in the takeaway-giveaway department, the Bombers were minus-two Friday night in a game that saw them turn over the ball five times.

NOTEBOOK

The Tajh Boyd era in Winnipeg ended before it barely began, with the Bombers announcing Friday they had released the former Clemson star.

The Bombers signed Boyd Sept. 12, but he never got off the practice roster. With Boyd now gone, the Bombers have three QBs on the roster — Matt Nichols, Brian Brohm and Dominique Davis — and one QB on the six-game injured list — Drew Willy.

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said after the game Friday night Boyd was released for “off-field issues” he refused to specify.

Willy will still not be able to practise next week, O’Shea said, and it’s still not clear when — or even if — he will return this season.

— Wiecek