Bombers dominate Ticats 37-11

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This article was published 04/08/2016 (3356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With all that’s gone wrong for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at home this season, it was only a matter of time before something finally went right.

Winless in their first three games at Investors Group Field this season – six dating back to last year and 7-23 overall since IGF opened in 2013 – the Bombers rallied Wednesday night to beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in dominating fashion, 37-11.

Decimated by injuries. Faced with a short week against rested opponents. That elusive, two-game win-streak on the line. And the chance to send a message to the league – all provided rallying points for the Bombers on this night.

The win not only improves the Bombers record to 3-4 on the season – just one point shy of Calgary for top spot in the West Division, albeit the Bombers have played two more games – but the performance Wednesday also suggests the Bombers may just be hitting their stride. The Ticats, who fell to 3-3 with the loss, snapped a two-game win streak, and unable to capitalize off the bye week.

“I think tonight just showed the resilience of this team, that we weren’t going to let it affect us,” said quarterback Matt Nichols after the game. “We had a mission tonight and went out and played a great game in all three phases.”

From 0 to 60

It was fitting, then, that on a night where everything ended up in Winnipeg’s favour – on offence, on defence, and on special teams – it couldn’t have started any worse.

Fans hoping to see the team’s first win at IGF this year – and first back-to-back wins in more than two years – were forced to earn it, as a lightning-filled storm hovered over the stadium, forcing a weather delay that lasted two hours 31 minutes before kick-off finally resumed shortly after 10 o’clock.

Once the clouds parted, it was the Bombers that would emerge as energized on the field as the skies that kept them off it. The team professed they kept loose during the delay with music, many of whom took part in various dance-offs, while others sung.

The Bombers were loose. And they danced all over the Ticats.

It didn’t take long before the thousands of fans that hung around were rewarded for their loyalty. Fewer than two minutes into the game rookie defensive back C.J. Roberts – one of four rookies to start in the Bombers secondary – returned an interception on Ticats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli – the first of three interceptions for Masoli in the game – back 19 yards, on what was just their first offensive play of the game.

Get this: in two games this season against the Bombers, Masoli has five interceptions and four fumbles, for a combined nine turnovers. That’s, well, that.

Soon after Roberts scored, Nichols hit Clarence Denmark with a 12-yard touchdown pass, giving Winnipeg a 14-0 lead just 3:36 into the game. A 13-yard touchdown to Thomas Mayo made it 21-zip at the end of the opening quarter.

Winnipeg would add 13 more points in the second frame – including a three-yard TD run by Harris, his second score in as many games– en route to a commanding 34-0 lead by halftime.

“Things went our way and there were a lot of plays where we made them go our way,” said Bombers coach Mike O’Shea, who seemed to downplay it.

When in fact, the 34-point margin was the largest lead at halftime for the Bombers in 13 years – dating back to Aug. 22, 2003, where they held a 42-3 edge over the Calgary Stampeders – and it was the fourth largest in franchise history.

Nichols steps up

Nichols impressed in his first start over Drew Willy, leading the Bombers to a 30-23 road-win over the reigning Grey Cup champion Edmonton Eskimos last week. But as impressive as it was, it would have meant little had he not been able to back it up against Hamilton this week.

Without three of his top receivers in Weston Dressler, Darvin Adams and Ryan Smith, Nichols used what looked like a second-string unit – one that included Rory Kohlert, Jace Davis, Kris Adams, along with Mayo and Denmark – and turned them into as dangerous a receiving corps as any in the league – a group that that overshadowed the likes of Hamilton’s formidable trio of Chad Owens, Luke Tasker and Andy Fantuz.

“Everyone just stepped up and did what we’ve been doing all year with the next-man-up mentality,” said Nichols. “I don’t think you could tell that that was a patched-up group of a receivers.”

Nichols numbers were certainly top heavy – he finished 23 of 31 for 246 yards and two touchdowns – with much of his production coming in the first half. But he still managed to spread the ball around, hitting eight different receivers in the game, including a game-high seven catches for 84 yards and a score to Mayo. He also did a good job protecting the ball, as he has yet to give up an interception.

Denmark makes his mark

Last week, Clarence Denmark was sitting on his couch in Jacksonville, Fla. watching the Bombers, a team he had spent the previous five years with before his release in March, beat the Eskimos.

Wednesday, after he hauled in all seven of his targets for 69 yards and a touchdown, it was Denmark whose face was now all over television, as cameras and reporters surrounded his stall after the game.

“I’m just taking it all in,” said Denmark. “Just to be out there on the field again in front of the fans, and with my teammates, it’s awesome.”

It took Denmark just three minutes 36 seconds to find the end zone, but the appreciation from fans came much sooner. As Denmark’s name was called over the speakers to announce the Bombers line-up, the crowd erupted when his named was called, an applause louder than for any other player.

“You never know how people feel about you and just to get that warm welcome,” he said, “that’s big to me to know that people appreciate what I’ve done for this organization.”

Two in a row

It was a streak that has haunted the Bombers for more than two years, even if they refused to admit it. Indeed, the last time Winnipeg won back-to-back games was in weeks 5 and 6 of the 2014 season – a stretch of 36 games.

With that streak now behind them, the Bombers will look to the future, building on their momentum when they head to Toronto next week to take on the Argonauts, who currently sit in top-spot in the East.

“We’re still at 3-4 so we still have a lot of work to do, and we need to start stringing wins together,” said Bombers linebacker Sam Hurl. “Ultimately, we’re still not satisfied with where we’re at.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

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