Bombers hold on for victory

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This article was published 09/06/2023 (850 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They call it the Crazy Football League for a reason, and we were once again reminded just one game into the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2023 season of just how wild and unpredictable the CFL can truly be.

For a majority of Friday’s season-opener against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Bombers looked to be in the driver’s seat, able to navigate some early obstacles before seemingly cruising to victory.

As the game crept on, the wheels started to loosen for Winnipeg, and they would almost fall off before the Blue and Gold ultimately found a way to get back on track and secure a 42-31 victory in front of 29,057 at IG Field.

“That was a wild one, for sure,” Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros said afterwards. “The viewers at home and the people in the stadium got their money’s worth. Our fans were probably a little bit nervous there at the end, but it’s a great CFL game.”

The Bombers improve to 1-0 for a fourth straight year and are now 7-2 in season-openers with Mike O’Shea as head coach. The Tiger-Cats drop to 0-1, marking the 16th time since 2005 they’ve started a season with a loss.

Winnipeg held a commanding 39-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter when Hamilton started to claw its way back. At one point a comeback almost felt inevitable given the momentum built up by the visitors.

The Tiger-Cats scooped up a fumble after a sack on quarterback Zach Collaros, with defensive back Chris Edwards returning the ball 62 yards for a touchdown to cut the Bombers lead to 39-23. Then, on the ensuing kickoff, returner Janarion Grant had the ball knocked out of his arms and it was recovered by Hamilton and returned to the Bombers’ two-yard line. A James Butler rushing touchdown and a two-point convert by Duke Williams made it a one-score game, 39-31, with more than nine minutes remaining.

The Bombers managed to stop the bleeding from there. Even if it didn’t always look pretty.

Sergio Castillo’s fourth field goal of the game, from 50 yards and with less than five minutes remaining, increased Winnipeg’s lead to 11 points and a Celestin Haba sack for a turnover on downs gave Winnipeg the ball back with 2:20 remaining. The Bombers would run out the clock from there, handing the ball to running back Brady Oliveira, who racked up 24 yards on five carries before Collaros kneeled twice to secure the win.

As rough as the ending was, the game couldn’t have started much worse for the home side. The Bombers gave up an early field goal on the opening drive and then fumbled on their first offensive snap, all before the night was five minutes old.

Then the majority of the next three-and-half quarters played out like so many have over the last few years, with the Blue and Gold putting on a clinic in complimentary football, only to give their fans a late scare.

Collaros made an early case to earn a third-straight most outstanding player nod, finishing the night 21-for-32 passing for 354 yards and three touchdowns. The Bombers put up 488 yards of net offence, including 154 yards on the ground, with Oliveira accounting for 122 of those — for an average of 5.5 yards per run — and a touchdown. The performance by the offence was made all the more impressive by the fact the Bombers were without star receiver Kenny Lawler, who remains on the suspended list as he works with immigration officers to get a working visa after pleading guilty for impaired driving back in April.

“I think, personally, I get better as I go. The more touches I get, I just start to heat up and wear on the offence,” said Oliveira, who missed all of training camp with an undisclosed injury. “I’m not a flashy back by any means, but I’m durable. I’m going to run through for four quarters, and in the second half is where I usually wear on them and really start to gash them and I did that today.”

Collaros orchestrated three consecutive touchdown drives after the early turnover, connecting with Nic Demski (17 yards) who led all receivers with six catches for 113 yards, Rasheed Bailey (10 yards) and Drew Wolitarsky (30 yards) in the end zone to put the Bombers up 21-4 by the end of the first quarter. Winnipeg would take a 29-4 lead into halftime — an edge that would have been even greater had Tyrrell Pigrome not been stuffed on a QB sneak at the goal line late in the second frame.

Special teams would take over from there, with Castillo accounting for the next nine points, connecting on a trio of field goals from 32, 19 and 18 yards, respectively. Castillo, who replaced Marc Liegghio as the club’s placekicker, was also a perfect four-for-four on one-point converts. Oliveira’s three-yard touchdown was the final play of the third quarter.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Bombers made life a nightmare for quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, in what was his first game in a Hamilton uniform since leaving Calgary after 10 years and signing a three-year deal in with the Tiger-Cats. Mitchell completed just 18 of his 34 pass attempts for a measly 187 yards and one touchdown, while committing two interceptions and a sack-fumble, as the tabbies racked up just 229 yards of net offence.

And the Bombers were able to be that dominant despite losing defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat to a lower-body injury earlier in the first quarter.

“When they scored 21 points and the defence is on the bench, it’s just strange. Stats would overwhelmingly say when that happens, you lose,” Bombers linebacker Adam Bighill said. “For us to overcome some of those things, it means the offence put up a lot of points and gave us a chance. That’s the CFL for you. That’s why everybody should be watching this game.”

A blocked Jamieson Sheahan punt for a touchdown and a Tim White 10-yard receiving TD rounded out Hamilton’s scoring.

In hopes of establishing a run game, Hamilton went out and paid big money to sign Butler as a free agent. Butler would make his mark early, registering 41 rushing yards by the early stages of the second quarter but would be limited to just 25 yards on the ground the rest of the way, along with his late touchdown.

The defence forced five turnovers, including three by defensive back Demerio Houston, who had a nice bounce-back game after struggling with his coverage assignments during the preseason. That led to 17 points for Winnipeg.

Houston picked off Mitchell on the series after the Demski fumble, leading to the Demski score; he then recovered a Butler fumble that led to the Wolitarsky TD. A strip-sack by Willie Jefferson, who finished with a pair of sacks, was picked up by Deatrick Nichols, with the Bombers then moving down the field before Castillo kicked a 17-ygoal to make it a 32-4 game early into the third quarter.

“It’s a win,” O’Shea said. “We made enough mistakes to make it interesting. They’re going to be a really good football team. They’ve got a lot of good players. It’s good to just come out with a win.”

The Bombers are back at it next week, where they’ll travel to Regina for a Week 2 matchup against their prairie rival Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton