Bombers’ star Oliveira questions lack of run game in Grey Cup loss Frustrated by few opportunities for rushing attack to take over: ‘we need to trust in what has gotten us to where we are’ By: Joshua Frey-Sam Posted: 6:26 PM CST Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024

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This article was published 19/11/2024 (327 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brady Oliveira’s thoughts were still running wild — an opportunity he would’ve killed for in Sunday’s Grey Cup.

Two days removed from losing a third straight championship, the Bombers’ frustrated star running back was still searching for answers about why he only touched the ball 13 times in a 41-24 loss to the Toronto Argonauts.

The local product had been named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian earlier in the week and was fully expecting to be leaned on to lead the Blue and Gold to a third title in five seasons.

That never came to fruition, as offensive co-ordinator Buck Pierce dialed up just 11 rushes for his top offensive weapon. Oliveira did what he could with the workload, finishing with 84 yards (an impressive 7.6 yards per carry) and a touchdown in garbage time.

Surrounded by reporters, Oliveira delivered a candid message about what he thinks the offence, and whoever is calling plays, needs to do in potential future playoff runs:

“We got a lot of great guys in this locker room, guys that deserve to get the ball and to make an impact,” Oliveira said, as teammates cleaned out their stalls for the year.

“I guess my message would be: whatever our pillars are going to be, and our (key) points to success, whatever that’s going to be — whatever’s gotten us to where we are today — that’s who we are, that’s our identity. We need to just stick with it. You need to trust it because we’ve trusted it all year long, and then we get to the biggest game of the year and it’s kind of been like the same reoccurring message over the last number of Grey Cups.

“We got a lot of great guys in this locker room, guys that deserve to get the ball and to make an impact.”–Brady Oliveira

“We talk about that all year long, about trusting in it, trusting your teammates, trusting the work that you put in, trusting your preparation. Well, we need to trust in what has gotten us to where we are today.”

What got the Bombers to their fifth straight Grey Cup — and the four previous — was a hard-nosed play style led by a rugged offensive line and a bruising tailback. Winnipeg led the CFL during the regular season with an average time of possession of 31:45, while Oliveira paced all players with 239 carries and 1,353 rushing yards.

It continued into the Western final against Saskatchewan when Oliveira logged 20 carries for 119 yards and added a pair of catches.

That’s to say, Oliveira is the focal point of the offence in every game he plays in, and his success is conducive to the team’s success, but was inexplicably relegated to a supporting role when the stakes were highest.

“I think the only thing I really touch on is the fact that I thought the offensive line and myself could have had maybe more opportunities to take the game over, and I don’t know why there wasn’t more opportunities. I still need to reflect on that and maybe have some conversation with my teammates and maybe some of the coaches, and really get to understand,” he said.

“I think I’ve earned the right to understand why it played out that way.”

Oliveira didn’t record his first touch until 3:20 remained in the first quarter, one of two in the opening frame. That didn’t change much, even in the most pivotal part of the game, as he didn’t register a touch in the fourth quarter until five minutes remained, despite it being a one-score game for most of the final frame.

Perhaps the most perplexing moment came in the third quarter, after quarterback Zach Collaros exited the game with a finger injury and backup Terry Wilson entered, when Pierce dialed up four consecutive passes for the inexperienced pivot, despite the offence being deep in Argos territory.

Oliveira maintained that the contest played out in a way that he and the offensive line could’ve taken over, but that he wasn’t going to demand the ball.

“I don’t do that. It’s not right. It’s not right to do, I’m always going to be a team-first guy,” he said.

Collaros took a more holistic approach to the issue.

“I wish we ran more plays. I wish we converted more on second downs. I feel like we didn’t play,” Collaros said. “I was talking to somebody (Monday) night, and it just felt like I was on the field for 20 plays. It just didn’t feel like a lot of football, and when you don’t execute on second down, you don’t possess the football, it’s going to feel that way.

“A couple of drives were pretty effective drives and had some explosives involved in there, that’s typically the case on scoring drives. But you need to possess the football in a game like that to give yourself a chance. I thought we still had a chance.”

The Bombers ran 51 plays in the contest, nine fewer than the Argos, while possessing the ball for just 23:42.

Guard Patrick Neufeld said he felt the offensive line played a solid game and was having success in the run game against the Argos’ stingy defensive front. The Bombers’ only touchdowns in the game came on the ground.

“I think the answer to that is we just went out and we played as hard as we could. As players, it’s beyond our control. We don’t have a say, ultimately, in what’s called in the huddle. That’s the offensive co-ordinator and our coaching staff,” Neufeld said.

“Like I said before, you can give recommendations and you can you can try to impart as much wisdom as you can from what’s happening on the field, but ultimately it’s us as players to just go out and execute what’s called.”

Pierce is speculated to be a hot candidate to fill a head coaching position this off-season, but that remains to be seen. If he is back with the Bombers, there will need to be some candid conversations about how the offence has underperformed in the biggest game of the year with him at the helm.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam