Date with Lions not what Bombers need

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This article was published 31/07/2024 (459 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A date with the top team in the West Division on a short week isn’t what the Winnipeg Blue Bombers need right now.

Whether it’s ideal or not, the 2-6 Blue and Gold have no choice but to try and find their way against the 5-2 B.C. Lions at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night inside Princess Auto Stadium.

The Bombers — who fell 26-24 to the Lions at home in Week 3 — are coming off back-to-back losses and continue to get slammed by the injury bug as right guard Patrick Neufeld and receiver Drew Wolitarsky are the latest names added to the six-game injured list after going down in Saturday’s overtime heartbreaker in Toronto.

The Lions, on the other hand, have had extra time to prepare as they’re coming off a bye after losing 25-24 to the Calgary Stampeders in Week 7.

Teams around the CFL are 6-1 after bye weeks this season.

“I think with the way we lost last game, it’s probably for the best to get a practice and get back out there and compete,” said Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros after Wednesday’s walkthrough.

“I think we have a lot of professionals on the team that take care of themselves to be ready for a game on a short week… It’s tough, it’s not an excuse, though. It’s a great football team we’re going up against and we’re gonna have to play at a high level, play physical, all the things that we preach week-in and week-out to win the football game and it being on a short week just is what it is.”

To get ready for kickoff, let’s dive in for another edition of 5 Storylines.

KEEP COLLAROS CLEAN

Zach Collaros took a beating in Toronto.

The Argonauts sacked the veteran passer five times which is the most Collaros has been taken down in a contest in his last 20 starts.

Collaros owns a 1-6 record on the year and boasts the lowest passer rating in the three-down circuit at 81.8, and having D-lineman in his face early and often isn’t going to help his cause.

This space hasn’t been shy about pointing out he has not been good enough this season, but the O-line — which is in a four-way tie for most sacks surrendered (16) in the league — needs to give its quarterback a chance to get into a rhythm. It won’t be easy Thursday as B.C. ranks second with 17 sacks in seven games with Canadian defensive lineman Joshua Archibald leading the way with four.

Winnipeg’s blockers will also look different this week with American rookie Kendall Randolph sliding in for Neufeld at right guard. This will be Randolph’s first career start but the lights shouldn’t be too bright for him as he played four seasons at Alabama where won a national title in 2021.

FINALLY LUCKY

Will Lucky Whitehead be worth the wait?

The Bombers are sure hoping so. The 32-year-old receiver will make his season debut after being signed to the practice squad nearly four weeks ago.

With Wolitarsky joining fellow pass catchers Kenny Lawler (broken arm), Dalton Schoen (torn ACL), and Keric Wheatfall (knee) on an already crowded IR list, the Bombers desperately need Whitehead to make a splash and show he still has something left in the tank in his eighth season of pro football.

Winnipeg has found the end zone once in the last eight quarters and sits dead last in scoring with 20.4 points per game.

Whitehead — who caught 58 balls for 728 yards and three touchdowns with the Lions in 2023 — likely isn’t the saviour, but he certainly can’t hurt at this point.

BALL SECURITY

Why have the Bombers lost two in a row?

That’s easy: they have eight turnovers and just one takeaway in that stretch.

The Blue and Gold need to cure their fumble-itis — especially receiver Nic Demski — as the group fumbled three times against the Argos.

The Bombers have coughed up the football more times than anyone this season (19) and have the worst turnover ratio in the CFL at minus-8. The Lions are even at zero.

If this theme doesn’t change, they’re not beating the team in orange.

ANOTHER WEAPON FOR VA

The CFL’s No. 1 offence is getting even more dangerous.

The Lions are welcoming back Keon Hatcher this week as the receiver hasn’t played a down since tearing his Achilles tendon in this building in the West Division Final.

B.C. already has two of the top three receivers in the league — Justin McInnis (780 yards and six TDs) and Alexander Hollins (663 and four TDs) — now they’re adding a 2023 CFL all-star to the mix. Hatcher, 29, had 78 receptions for 1,226 yards and six touchdowns last year.

Quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. has made the most of the weapons at his disposal as he’s ranked first in passing yards (2,395) and second in passing touchdowns (14).

Adams was limited to 192 yards in his last outing, but he’s still on pace to become the fifth player in league history to go over 6,000 passing yards in a season which would put him in some illustrious company with Doug Flutie, Anthony Calvillo, Kent Austin and David Archer.

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D-FENCE DOING THEIR THING

Defence isn’t the reason the Bombers have been a massive disappointment in 2024.

This is a unit that held the Argos to nine offensive points last week and the Saskatchewan Roughriders to 19 the week before that.

Their numbers don’t jump off the page — they’re last against the run, near the bottom in sacks, and around the middle of the league in turnovers forced (11) — but they’re getting the job done and limiting their opponents to 23.3 points which ranks only behind Montreal and Saskatchewan.

It hasn’t been enough to win games, but it has kept them in some they have had no business being in.

They do, however, need to be better than the last time they matched up with B.C. That especially rings true in the secondary as Alexander Hollins exploded for 215 yards and two scores in their Week 3 meeting. Vernon Adams Jr. wasn’t sacked once that night and sliced and diced them for nearly 400 passing yards which is the second most he’s had in a game all year.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

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Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.