Bombers not thinking like Grey Cup favourites

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This article was published 11/11/2024 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — The Winnipeg Blue Bombers survived their first all-out blitz just moments after setting foot in Vancouver for the 111th Grey Cup.

Surrounded by a throng of media from across the country, the Bombers were peppered with questions, with several focusing on their seemingly major edge heading into Sunday’s kickoff.

The East Champion Toronto Argonauts arrived hours later with their star quarterback, Chad Kelly, hobbled from a broken ankle suffered in the East final against the CFL-leading Montreal Alouettes.

With Kelly ruled out, the Argos turn to journeyman Nick Arbuckle to take the controls on offence. Arbuckle will look to resurrect his career after being mostly a backup QB the past two seasons and will get a prime opportunity come Grey Cup, where he’ll make his third start of the 2024 campaign.

The Bombers are here for a fifth consecutive season after disposing of the Saskatchewan Roughriders 38-22 in Saturday’s Western final. They’re the clear top dogs, winning 10 of their last 11 games, and with Kelly sidelined, it’s no wonder they’ve opened as 10.5-point favourites.

No one on the Bombers was willing to bite on the question of whether they should be heavy favourites, preferring not to create any bulletin board material for their underdog and undermanned opponent.

“I think it’s going to be anyone’s game,” Bombers running back Brady Oliveira said. “It’s going to be a battle. I’m looking forward to it. Yeah, it’s going to be a grind.”

“Those things don’t matter,” added quarterback Zach Collaros. “I know that we haven’t scored a ton of points against this defence, offensively, this season, so we got our work cut out for us.”

The Bombers aren’t ones to puff out their chest, even at times where they’ve clearly been the most dominant team on the field. They’ve also lost twice to the Argos this season, including falling 14-11 in a game that had heavy stakes for the Bombers.

Winnipeg lost that game despite the chance to clinch the West with a victory. They needed a borderline miracle the following week in Montreal, where a rain and wind storm set the stage for an improbable game-winning field goal to finish first in the division.

The Argos were victorious against the Bombers again in Week 8, beating the Bombers, 16-14, in another low-scoring affair. There was a familiar scene in both games, and that was the poor play of the offence, with the unit committing a combined nine turnovers and surrendering 12 sacks.

“They certainly play hard. Their front gets after it extremely well. So, you have to figure out how to handle all that, the barrage of their twist game and their front game. So that’ll be one of the things that we’ll have to focus on to be able to win,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.

“They’re a very good football team. They’re in the Grey Cup for a reason. No matter what their record is or how they played certain games or what their personnel was, they’re a good football team.

“They’re well coached, and they work extremely hard on the field and it the shows. Over the course of the season, we’ve learned a lot about ourselves, too.”

The 31-year-old Arbuckle is in his sixth CFL season and is on his third team in as many years. He started his career with the Calgary Stampeders, under former offensive co-ordinator Ryan Dinwiddie, who happens to be the head coach of the Argos, before moving on to Toronto, Edmonton, Ottawa and now back to Toronto.

Arbuckle hasn’t played a lot of football this season, attempting 100 passes and completing 65, while throwing for 799 yards and four TDs compared to three interceptions. A lot of that production occurred in his last start, which was two weeks ago in the Argos’ final game of the regular season — a 31-30 loss to the Edmonton Elks.

Arbuckle was the best part of that game for Toronto, finishing 23-for-32 passing for 378 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He has also seen some success against the Bombers, including Week 8 this season, when he completed 12 passes for 87 yards.

It was a bit of a different story in his previous start versus Winnipeg, which came in 2021, against the Bombers best defence in this championship era. Arbuckle threw the lights out in that game, passing for 310 yards and one TD in an Argos’ 30-23 victory.

“Each quarterback has different strengths and different traits,” said Collaros. “Nick has played a lot of football. He’s been in this league for a while, so he’s no stranger to the CFL game. I’m sure he’s relishing this opportunity.”

The Bombers are also seizing the opportunity to get back to the winner’s circle after losing the last two Grey Cups by a single score. Last year, it was the Montreal Alouettes, but in 2022, it was the Argos who spoiled the party.

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With Grey Cup victories in 2019 and 2021, a third championship would earn the Bombers the title of being a dynasty.

“We know the outcomes of the last two Grey Cups. The guys understand that. They we know how that felt the last two Grey Cups,” said Oliveira. “Obviously, we want to change that. It’s going to go back to what can we control?

“And that’s going to be the week of preparation leading to the big game on Sunday. Really giving it your all, doing it for your brother, doing it for your teammates so that when you go out there on Sunday, you leave nothing to chance.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton joined the Free Press newsroom in 2015, reporting on the sports and investigative beats until he left the Free Press in July 2026.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produced was reviewed by an editing team before it was 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.