Bombers roll to road win over Esks

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This article was published 30/09/2018 (2536 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — To call it a statement game would be an understatement.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers had their collective backs against the wall heading into Saturday’s matchup against the Edmonton Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium. They had lost four of their last five games, with the lone win coming against the lowly Montreal Alouettes, and another defeat would have put any bid for a playoff spot in serious jeopardy.

At 6-7, and a tough schedule to close out the regular season, many had already ruled Winnipeg out, viewing the post-season as merely a pipe dream. Instead, the Bombers put forth their best game of the season, carried by a stellar effort from the defence on a night that ended with a convincing 30-3 victory for the Blue and Gold.

“Even when it’s ugly, we’re going to find a way to win. I think that’s the best I’ve seen our defence play all year, which is great right now,” Bombers running back Andrew Harris said after the game. “Defence wins championships, they say. If our defence can hold it down like that week-in-and-week-out, that’s going to put us in a good situation to win football games.”

Not only did the win bring the Bombers back to .500 (7-7) for the first time since late August, it put them in a tie with the Eskimos for third place in the West while evening the season-series between the teams after Edmonton edged Winnipeg in the season opener. It helped that earlier in the day the B.C. Lions fell to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to drop them to 6-7, with one game in hand.

The Bombers knew if they were going to leave with the much-needed two points they had to contain Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly. Reilly, the league’s reigning MVP and the odds-on favourite to win the award again this year, was averaging 324 passing yards per game through 13 starts. The belief was the Bombers would be hard-pressed to tune him out, but if they could at least contain him, it would give Matt Nichols and the Bombers offence a fighting chance to go toe-to-toe with one the league’s best.

Well, about that. Reilly was completely shut down, the Bombers winning the defensive battles in all areas of the game, especially at the line of scrimmage. The defence forced seven turnovers, including three interceptions, with Reilly tossing two while fumbling once.

“It’s pretty fun being on this side of those type of games. It was something that our coaches made an emphasis on, just playing with urgency, playing with a purpose and understanding the big picture; understanding who we’re going against and where we’re at,” corner Chris Randle said.

“As a secondary, the threat was on us. We had to stand up because of Mike Reilly being an MOP candidate, along with Duke Williams, an almost-MOP candidate. We knew what the challenge was and we stood up and faced it.”

Reilly’s first interception came with 3:26 remaining in the second quarter, with the Bombers holding a 10-0 lead following a Justin Medlock field goal on Winnipeg’s first series and a one-yard touchdown on a quarterback sneak from backup Chris Streveler. Taylor Loffler reeled in the Reilly misfire, catching the ball near midfield before lateralling it to Kevin Fogg, who was pushed out of bounds at the Edmonton 26-yard line. That would eventually set up Harris for a five-yard touchdown run, accounting for seven of the 20 points the Bombers got off turnovers. Winnipeg is now 6-0 when winning the turnover battle.

“I think they showed, obviously, a belief in the plan because of the level that they executed at and that’s going to pay dividends when they watch the film and see that level of execution and their understanding of what we wanted to do. That should cement that focus hopefully going forward,” said Bomber head coach Mike O’Shea, who was then asked if he has sensed the kind of game from his defence given their play of late.

“Every game is different. Don’t kid yourself — winning is not easy. Without actually going through and grading every play you’re hoping for that level of execution. Does is always look like that? I don’t know that it always does but it’s been an interesting year in the CFL this year.”

Edmonton would add a 26-yard field goal from Sean Whyte on the final play of the first half, cutting the Bombers’ lead to 17-3 at the intermission. Even then, given Winnipeg’s penchant to fall apart late in games, and Edmonton’s scoring power on offence, it was unclear whether that momentum would continue in the second half.

Well, about that. The defence would do one — err, three — better, shutting out the Eskimos the rest of the way. Fogg started it off with an interception near the midway mark of the third quarter, returning the ball 73 yards for the pick-6 to put the visitors up 24-3. Medlock, who finished three-for-four after missing a 44-yarder, added two more field goals down the stretch to round out the scoring.

Both Fogg and Brandon Alexander finished with an interception, forced fumble and fumble recovery in the game. Alexander’s interception came on the final play of the game, off the arm of Danny O’Brien, who replaced Reilly.

“We got some dogs, and it’s all the younger guys. They are stepping up major, making all the plays. I need to step up my production, honestly,” Randle added. “At the end of the day, we’re all doing it for one another.”

The dominant defence overshadowed a mostly modest production from the offence.

Nichols attempted just 20 passes, completing 16, for 179 yards and no touchdowns to one interception. It was the seventh game in 11 starts that Nichols has thrown for one or fewer touchdowns, as the offence finished with just 239 net yards. For comparison, Reilly went 17-for-31 passing for 164 yards — the first time this year he has yet to reach at least 250 in a game — and Edmonton mustered only 264 net yards on the night.

“Offensively, we were given a lot of short fields so the yardage numbers probably aren’t there from a normal game but that’s not the type of game it was. We had short fields and we capitalized with a couple of touchdowns, a few field goals,” Nichols said. “A lot of the second half was just kind of pounding away at the clock. It was a great team effort and a great win against a good football team in a tough place.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton