Blue better but room for improvement Bombers suffer painful bite from Lions as they eye chance to get on win column against Stampeders By: Jeff Hamilton Posted: 10:54 PM CDT Sunday, Jun. 23, 2024

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This article was published 23/06/2024 (801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There certainly was progress shown by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a 26-24 loss to the B.C. Lions at a nearly sold-out Princess Auto Stadium Friday night.

Unfortunately for the Bombers, when you’ve been the class of the CFL for some time, finishing in top spot in the West Division the last four years, there’s little room for silver linings. Such is life for the Blue and Gold, who are now 0-3 to the start the year — marking the first time that’s happened since 2012 — after also losing to the Ottawa Redblacks and Montreal Alouettes.

The defeat to the Lions pains even more given it was against a fellow Western opponent. The West is a division you don’t want to have to dig yourself out of a hole because while it’s never easy to win against any opponent, you’ll get no help from the league’s most competitive division.

The Bombers are duelling it out with Edmonton for last place in the West after the Elks also dropped their third straight game. That’s not great company to keep, considering Edmonton has been the laughing stock of the league for a few years now.

The Bombers will get another crack at finding the win column against a Calgary Stampeders club that sits at 1-1 and should be feeling fresh after coming off a Week 3 bye. But before we look too far ahead, let’s take a closer look back at the loss to the Lions in the lastest instalment of 5 Takeaways.

GROWTH ON OFFENCE

The Bombers first drive of the game lasted just three plays and included a one-yard loss on a run from Johnny Augustine, followed by a sack on quarterback Zach Collaros for a loss of 10 yards that forced a punt. You wouldn’t blame anyone who had seen how slow the last two starts were by the offence and then looked at an early 10-0 Lions lead and thought to themselves, “here we go again.”

Then came a 14-play, 70-yard touchdown drive capped off by the first of three Chris Streveler rushing TDs. With a perfect blend of passing and throwing plays, the Bombers attack suddenly looked like the offence that led the CFL in almost every meaningful statistical category the last few years.

Two more TD drives would follow in the second half — an eight-play, 79-yarder, followed immediately by a nine-play, 91-yard series. The run game eclipsed 100 yards for the first time this season, including a nine-carry, 64-yard performance from Brady Oliveira, who saw limited action after missing Week 2 with a knee injury.

Nic Demski finally arrived with a team-high 94 receiving yards, reeling in eight of his game-high 10 targets, with one of his misses a miscalculation on a ball slightly overthrown by Collaros that could have radically shifted the game in Winnipeg’s favour. Drew Wolitarsky also came alive in this one, catching all seven of his targets, totalling 72 yards on the night.

As better a performance as it was, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. There were no big plays down field and Collaros, who completed nearly 77 per cent of his passes, has yet to throw a TD.

REGRESSION ON DEFENCE

If the Bombers offence took a step forward, then the defence took a step back. Maybe even two steps.

The 12-man unit entered the night ravaged with injuries after losing three starters in the loss to Ottawa, including defensive linemen Miles Fox and Celestin Haba, both of whom were added to the six-game injured list, along with the club’s best defensive back in Deatrick Nichols. Even with the injuries adding up, it’s hard to excuse a 398-yard passing, two-touchdown performance by Lions QB Vernon Adams Jr., who accounted for much of B.C.’s 500 yards of net offence.

The banged-up D-line helps explain why Adams, who didn’t suffer a single sack, had a seemingly endless amount of time to find his receivers. He was particularly locked in with Alexander Hollins, who had a game-high 215 receiving yards and two TDs, along with a deep catch late in the fourth quarter that all but sealed the game.

William Stanback bullied his way to 83 yards on 16 carries, with Adams’ 24 yards on the ground pushing the Lions rushing total over 100. The Bombers were able to force the lone turnover in the game, but the Lions followed that up with three scoring drives over their next four possessions, before the game-clinching drive at the end.

The Bombers were once known for playing complementary football. The sooner they can get back to that the better.

BLUE AND BRUISED

The football gods have not been kind to the Bombers this season when it comes to injuries. That or someone, likely in Regina, has made a bunch of voodoo dolls and is punishing their prairie rival with black magic.

This time the hits are on offence, with receivers Dalton Schoen and Keric Wheatfall both unable to finish the night. The extent of the injuries is unknown at this point, but it’s never a good sign when a player is ruled out partway through the game.

At one point, the Bombers lined up Streveler at receiver. Depending on the statuses of Schoen and Wheatfall, Winnipeg will maybe have to look to their practice roster for help, with the options being Americans Myron Mitchell, the club’s returner for the first two games, and Josh Johnson, as well as Canadian Jeremy Murphy.

The Bombers were already without Kenny Lawler, so losing another game-breaker like Schoen, who had been dealing with a hip injury, would definitely sting.

Along with Lawler, Haba and Fox, the Bombers also have DL Cameron Lawson and DB Jamal Parker on the six-game. How much worse could it get?

QUESTIONABLE CALLS

There were two questionable play calls by the Bombers, both of which could be argued cost Winnipeg the game.

The first came on the final play of the first half. Facing a first-and-goal from the Lions’ 6, and with five seconds left on the clock, the Bombers opted to try one shot to the end zone, with the plan to still have time remaining to kick a field goal if needed.

Problem was Collaros took too much time to give up on the play and rather than ditch the ball to the turf, he threw it out of bounds, meaning the ball had to hit something before it killed the clock. The clock actually read one second after the play, but a review showed the person in Winnipeg responsible for starting the timer had waited too long, so the extra second was surrendered, and the players retreated to their respective locker rooms.

The other play came on the Bombers final possession. Rather than gambling on third-and-six from their own 44-yard line, head coach Mike O’Shea decided to punt the ball back to the Lions, putting his trust in a defence that was getting torched all night. Two plays later, with the Lions having to convert a second-and-10 from their own 20, the Bombers sent the house on an all-out blitz, only for Adams to find Hollins up the left sideline for a 63-yard gain.

Collaros took ownership of the first-half gaffe, while O’Shea tried to talk around the decision to punt, suggesting they would “have to stop them anyway.” Not sure how you come up with that explanation, but either way, it wasn’t the coach’s best showing, on a night he surpassed the legendary Bud Grant for most games coached with the Bombers.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Let’s end on a positive note, and that being the play of special teams.

Like the offence, special teams had been a sore spot for the club. In Week 1, it was a dismal performance all around, with kicker Sergio Castillo blaming micro-chipped balls for his poor outing, while punt return and cover teams also had no answer. Week 2, it was once again the return and cover teams struggling to give Winnipeg quality field position.

The results were much better against the Lions.

Chris Smith had his regular season debut, hitting the field for the first time since injuring himself shortly following a 109-yard punt return TD in the preseason. Smith put up modest numbers — averaging eight yards on two punt returns and 19.5 yards on four kickoffs — but that didn’t count a solid 27-yard punt return that was negated owing to an unnecessary roughness penalty.

He looked confident in his running and when you factor in that he’s not exactly in game shape just yet, the early returns — literally and figuratively — are promising.

The kick return and cover teams were also on its game. The Lions averaged five yards on three punt returns and 15.3 yards on four kickoff returns. Six of B.C.’s seven returns didn’t reach further than the Lions’ 35. They’ll need more of that next week if they hope to beat the Stamps.

Jeff.Hamilton@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @jeffkhamilton