Bombers put down Roughriders

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This article was published 09/09/2017 (2952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A lot of what transpired during the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 48-28 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Saturday’s Banjo Bowl at Investors Group Field straddled the bizarre.

The Bombers were as clean as they’ve been all season, committing just five penalties — none in the first half — despite a hostile game from start to finish in front of a sold-out crowd of 33,314.

Against a team that pounded them 38-24 just a week ago, Winnipeg’s defence was torched for 471 yards, but surrendered just eight points in the second half and was able to come up with big plays at important times — including three interceptions.

The Roughriders lost starting quarterback Kevin Glenn late in the third frame, only for his replacement, Canadian pivot Brandon Bridge, to enter the game and promptly run 10 yards for a touchdown.

What followed was an odd choice of celebration that included attempting to jump into the arms of Bombers fans seated in the front row behind the end zone. In total, there were 10 touchdowns to just one field goal.

But of all the strange things that happened, it was the kind of game from Maurice Leggett that the Bombers have come to expect from the veteran linebacker that was the difference on this day.

Leggett returned an interception 54 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter that put the Bombers up 37-20.

Before that, with less than two minutes to go in the opening frame, he returned a punt 97 yards that gave Winnipeg a 14-7 lead — one it wouldn’t relinquish.

When the Roughriders were down 45-28 in the late stages of the fourth quarter and desperate to recover a short punt, it was Leggett who jumped up and retrieved the ball out of harm’s way.

“We know what he’s capable of. He’s our defensive player of the year for the past consecutive years,” said Bombers defensive back Chris Randle, whose interception on Bridge set up the final drive of the game.

“What he’s doing is nothing new to us and he showed up in a timely fashion. He showed up today to make those plays and he made them.”

“He just comes to work and gets it done and today he was a beast,” added running back Andrew Harris, who finished with 57 yards on 12 carries and three catches for another 26.

Leggett is, Harris said, a number of things. Goofy. Serious. A professional. But he’s also very good at what he does and is constantly working on every small detail of his game.

“I’ve been calling him Mozart now and today he was an artist in how he ran the football,” Harris said.

“He balled out today.”

After the game had ended, Leggett’s quirky personality was on full display.

He pretended to be unaware of just how crazy his wild punt return TD was.

“I saw the punter go that way and it just shanked off his foot. I think he misjudged the ball,” he said, only starting to speak seriously when talking about how proud he was to have his mother in attendance for the first time in Winnipeg.

“Just waiting to be more consistent,” he finally said of his game.

“It started off rough at the beginning of the year for me health-wise and I’m just trying to bounce back and just be consistent.”

While Leggett’s performance stood out the most, it overshadowed a number of other strong performances by the Bombers.

Clarence Denmark finished the game with two touchdowns in the first 24 minutes.

His first came on the Bombers second series of the game and gave the Bombers an early 7-0 lead.

The score was aided by an ill-advised call by the Roughriders to punt from deep in their end zone, with Kevin Fogg returning the ball back to the visitors’ 35-yard line.

His second — an 18-yard strike — gave the Bombers some breathing room, up 21-13 and was an answer to a 75-yard touchdown by Naaman Roosevelt that happened just moments before.

Roosevelt’s TD was only the second-biggest play of the game, with Duron Carter’s 88-yard score late in the first quarter setting the bar.

At that point the game was tied 7-7.

“We’ll worry all about that stuff after. It’s never a clean game — we’re always searching for the perfect game and you’re never going to get it,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said when asked about the Roughriders’ explosive plays.

“We’ll fix those things — we’ve got a lot of pros here too that already know, we’ve got guys watching film already. It’s a great group.”

Matt Nichols played a consistent game, putting up 282 passing yards and three touchdowns.

Perhaps the best part of his game was what he didn’t throw. For the first time in three games, Nichols didn’t register an interception.

He did, however, lose a ball on a fumble late in the fourth quarter after rushing upfield for what would have been a first down.

No damage was done, as Randle’s interception would give the Bombers the ball back on the next play.

“I told him I was feeling bad for him that he didn’t get an interception earlier in the game and I wanted to give him that opportunity,” joked Nichols.

“That’s actually one that’s going to eat at me. I felt I played a very good game. But we preach hold onto the football late in games like that.”

The Bombers will spend the next week escaping from the game of football, spending time with their family and friends over the bye week.

Once they’ve returned to practice, they’ll prepare for a home date with the Ottawa Redblacks.

But first, they will review the film from Saturday, which at times will be tough to watch.

But they’ll do so at 8-3, and in second place in what has been a very competitive West Division.

“They’ve been grinding for 11 straight weeks here, 11 straight games and they deserve a break,” said O’Shea.

“Man, they’ve worked so bloody hard to get to this point that they need to go and get their minds off football, visit with their families, have some fun and get refreshed so when they come back we’ll be running for another bunch of games.”

The Riders fall to 5-5 with the loss and snap a three-game win streak.

They’ll look to rebound next week against the league-worst Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2-8).

Noteworthy

● Former Manitoba Bison Kienan LaFrance scored on a one-yard touchdown for the Roughriders in his first start of the season.

● Bombers backup quarterback Dan LeFevour also finished with a one-yard score.

● Jovan Santos-Knox, starting for an injured Kyle Knox, finished with an interception on Saskatchewan’s first drive of the game.

● Justin Medlock finished 1-for-2, making from 36 yards for the Bombers’ final points and missing a 48-yard attempt on Winnipeg’s opening series.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

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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