Tiger-Cats sink claws into sloppy Blue Bombers

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This article was published 16/09/2023 (764 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON — The Banjo Bowl hangover is real.

For the third time in four years, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have followed their annual Labour Day rematch with the Saskatchewan Roughriders with a road loss.

A Bomber team that whipped the visiting ‘Riders last week was nowhere to be seen Saturday. Mistakes and uncharacteristically sloppy play paved the way to a 29-23 defeat to the host Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Bombers fell to 10-4, while the Ticats improved to 6-7 and moved them into a tie for second in the East Division with the Montreal Alouettes.

“Those games (against Saskatchewan) definitely take a lot out of you. It’s a lot — physically, mentally, and emotionally — those two games. But at the end of the day, this is pro football and no one cares,” said running back Brady Oliveira.

“I think this entire locker room knows that we can go out there and beat any team, any week. But I guess we need to get that out of our heads that just because we’re better than them we’re going to beat them, because that’s not the case. We get everybody’s best every single week, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing.”

Despite being nowhere near their best, the Bombers had a chance to steal the game at the end. They were down by six and had the ball with 1:40 left, but went backwards with it. Quarterback Zach Collaros, who struggled with consistency all game, was sacked and then threw two incomplete passes on the final drive. Hamilton ran out the last minute to secure the win.

The reigning, two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player was reckless with the football and finished with 344 yards passing, two touchdowns, and three interceptions.

“It’s boring to say, but it comes down to execution,” said Collaros. “We got behind there and Hamilton did a good job of taking away some of the things that we like to do. There’s plays to be made out there and errors to not occur, especially on my behalf. I got to do better for my team.”

The Ticats, propelled by rookie quarterback Taylor Powell, held the lead the entire way. Powell started the year as the third-string pivot but looked like a seasoned vet in the pocket to complete 20-of-26 attempts for 236 yards, one touchdown, and an interception.

If it wasn’t for that pick, the game could’ve been decided much earlier. Hamilton had the ball on Winnipeg’s nine-yard line at the end of the third with a 29-16 lead when Powell’s toss to the end zone was intercepted by Evan Holm.

Former Bombers kicker Marc Liegghio also drilled both of his field goal attempts (32, 35).

Hamilton is 4-4 since Powell took the reins in Week 7.

The Ticats scored on their first four possessions.

“(Powell) and his offence, him and his receivers, they had a good game. But he didn’t do anything spectacular. Nothing that we knew he couldn’t do. He just made his little plays bigger than what they were,” said defensive end Willie Jefferson.

The Bombers are winless in their last four regular-season trips to Hamilton, dating back to Aug. 12, 2017.

“I don’t know what it is. Every game that we play here it seems to be close. A couple of plays being made, a couple plays being missed. It’s a great atmosphere, but I don’t know. I just think when we come here, it’s like the energy isn’t there for us at the beginning,” said Jefferson.

The Ticats jumped out to an early 10-0 lead before the Bombers punched back with a five-yard touchdown reception by Nic Demski. His 50-yard grab had set up the score. Demski had just one catch for eight yards last week but had six catches for 137 yards against Hamilton.

Demski wasn’t able to celebrate his score for long as Sergio Castillo’s extra point sailed wide right and was returned 126 yards by Tyreik McAllister to steal two points to make it a 12-6 game. Castillo also missed a 48-yard field goal on the final play before halftime.

“There were a lot of highs and lows. It was like a rollercoaster out there,” said Demski. “I am proud of this team for the fight that we put up until the last minute so there are some positives to take away from this. But there’s also a lot of things we need to take from this and learn.”

Winnipeg narrowed the gap to 15-13 after Kenny Lawler caught a 25-yarder in the back corner of the end zone with 10 minutes left in the second quarter. But Hamilton responded with a 10-play, 78-yard drive that was capped off by a two-yard James Butler rushing touchdown to go up 22-13.

Butler recorded 82 yards on 22 carries. Oliveira had nine attempts for 46 yards.

Castillo struck a 22-yard field goal right with 90 seconds to go in the second to trim Hamilton’s advantage down to 22-16.

Short-yardage quarterback Kai Locksley scored the game-winning points on a one-yard sneak early in the third to make it 29-16.

A few minutes later, Collaros and Co. took the field only to see the passer misfire on a dump off to Oliveira on the first play of the drive. Ticats defensive back Kenneth George Jr. intercepted the pass, but Hamilton’s offence gave it right back as Bombers linebacker drilled Powell from the blindside to cause a fumble. Safety Brandon Alexander dove on the loose ball, and eight plays later, Collaros scored on a one-yard plunge with 3:21 on the clock for the final points of the night.

The Bombers now head into their second bye week before hosting the Toronto Argonauts (11-1) at IG Field on Sept. 29.

“We just made enough mistakes and they capitalized on them,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.

“They really took some time off the clock and drove the ball well at the end and got points. We missed some opportunities for points and you lose by six. It happened, and now I think the most important thing now is for guys to get on their break, forget about it, and get some rest.”

There’ll be no shortage of storylines when Toronto comes to town. It’ll be a battle of the league’s top two teams and a rematch of last year’s Grey Cup.

Last but not least, it will be running back Andrew Harris’s first game back in Winnipeg.

“The storylines, the headlines, that’s part of it. That’s part of the game. You just gotta embrace it,” said Demski. “It’s all in the way of how you embrace it. You can let it affect you negatively and over think it, or you can just take it to the chin and use the hype in an effective way to hype you up.”

After their date with the Argos, the Bombers travel to Vancouver to take on the B.C. Lions (9-4) in a game that has the potential to decide who gets the postseason bye.

“You don’t want anything to come easy. You want to earn everything, you want to fight for everything. We just have to come back from the bye week with a playoff mindset,” said Demski.

“We got a tough schedule to end the year, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31