Didn’t like it, but Bombers will take it

The scoreboard showed a win, but Zach Collaros’s face said otherwise.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ quarterback’s lips quivered out of frustration as he fielded questions following another lacklustre offensive performance in a 17-16 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday.

Victory aside, the disappointment shared among players, especially those on the offence, was palpable after barely escaping a Roughriders team that rested many of its best players with the top seed in the West Division already locked up.

“Yeah, there are a lot of things we could do better.”

Sure, the win essentially solidified Winnipeg’s berth in the CFL playoffs for the ninth straight year — which was made official when the B.C. Lions defeated the Edmonton Elks later in the evening — but for a team that was hoping to stack positive performances heading into the post-season, this was a play or two from ending as an inexcusable blunder.

Collaros said he “didn’t like anything” on his side of the ball, which after stringing together consecutive long scoring drives to start the night — one capped by a 28-yard touchdown pass to Ontaria Wilson and the other a 12-yard field goal from Sergio Castillo — only managed 136 net yards of offence and seven points the rest of the game.

“I don’t want to take away from (Saskatchewan’s) performance,” Collaros said. “But, yeah, there are a lot of things we could do better.”

All said and done, the Bombers were carried by another strong outing from the defensive and special teams, while the offence is still searching for answers with one game left in the regular season.

The Bombers will look to get on a roll in next Saturday’s finale when they host the Montreal Alouettes, which, depending on the outcome of other contests, could be filled with playoff seeding implications for both teams or be a preview of the East Division semi-final.

Regardless of what’s at stake, it’s the Bombers last chance to get right before the playoffs begin.

Before we move to Week 21, let’s put a bow on Week 20 with the newest edition of Five Takeaways.

Not rolling, stumbling

Earlier in the week, offensive co-ordinator Jason Hogan talked about this being the time of year when every phase should be a well-oiled machine. Head coach Mike O’Shea echoed that line of thought as he harped on how important it was for his group to not only reach the playoffs, but roll into the post-season.

With that as the backdrop, Friday’s performance was perhaps one of the worst from the Bombers offence this season.

Consider the drive result from Winnipeg’s final 12 possessions: punt, punt, punt, turnover on downs, field goal (after the Riders fumbled in their own territory), punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, interception, field goal.

This was a prime opportunity for the offence, which has underperformed for most of the season, to find its footing against a Riders defence that was missing three of its best players. Instead, they were booed off the field by their home crowd several times throughout the night.

Frustration boils over

There have been a lot of uncharacteristic happenings for this once-dominant Bombers team this season, and Friday was another instance.

It was early in the fourth quarter and Collaros’ reaction after another incomplete pass said it all.

The quarterback, who appeared to short-arm a throw into the left flat, was demonstrative while yelling in the direction of Kevens Clericus, who had stopped in the general vicinity but had no chance to catch the ball.

Like he normally does, Collaros shouldered the blame for the play after the game, saying “I just have to make a better decision,” but it was clear that his receiver was not where Collaros expected him to be.

In any case, it’s rare to see the even-keeled pivot so visibly upset, which further illustrated how frustrating the night was on offence.

What’s with the game plan?

It’s a tale as old as, well, since Hogan became the offensive co-ordinator of the Bombers.

The first-year play-caller continues to neglect one of his most important offensive weapons, Brady Oliveria, when things go south.

Consider this: After logging 12 touches in the first half, Oliveria only touched the ball twice in the third quarter, the second of which came with 8:48 remaining in the frame. After that, the league’s reigning Most Outstanding Player didn’t touch the ball again until Winnipeg’s final drive of the game.

In fact, during that dry spell, which saw just 44 net yards of offence for Winnipeg, Hogan even dialled up a play for offensive lineman Tui Eli, who ran a 12-yard corner route on first down from midfield — a perplexing play-call in itself. Collaros, who was almost immediately under pressure, overthrew the lineman.

It seemed as though Hogan had no answer for his struggling unit and was throwing a trick play at the wall to see if it would stick.

When Oliveira finally touched the ball again, he picked up 16 yards on a rush up the middle, and two plays later, caught a screen for 12 yards to set the Bombers up in position for the game-winning field goal.

Hogan’s game-plan was particularly confusing, given the situation for the Bombers — facing a depleted Riders team that had their own troubles moving the ball on offence. For a team that has made its hay controlling the ball, it was the perfect script to feature the bell cow running back.

It appears that Hogan continues to lack a feel for the game, which has rarely allowed the Bombers offence to get in a rhythm.

Decisions, decisions

Ironically, head coach Mike O’Shea has been criticized more for being too aggressive in big moments this season.

That wasn’t the case on the Bombers second drive of the game, when the bench boss trotted out Castillo for a short field goal despite his offence moving the ball to Saskatchewan’s four-yard line. Instead of playing for a touchdown, O’Shea settled to tie the game at 10-10.

It was an ultra-conservative and head-scratching decision, with the Roughriders down so many starters. It looked like a great opportunity for O’Shea to not only show trust in his defence — which would’ve had the visitor’s pinned deep in their own end had Winnipeg not scored — but also possibly build some momentum for his offence.

“The way the two previous plays went, it just felt like, just take the points,” O’Shea said. “It just didn’t feel like we had any kind of momentum or rhythm right there. So I’m good with taking the points there. Just the gut feel, the flow of the game.”

O’Shea went back to his aggressive ways in a critical situation, with the Bombers facing third-and-a-long-two at Saskatchewan’s 47-yard line with less than a minute until halftime. Instead of punting to pin the visitor’s deep or even attempting a long field goal, O’Shea went with Chris Streveler on a quarterback sneak, which fell a yard short of the line to gain.

That decision proved costly, as the Riders took advantage of the field position and Brett Lauther connected on a 42-yard field goal as time expired.

“Because the one prior to that we got three-and-a-half or four,” O’Shea said. “So seemed like we were going to move them.”

Two-phase game

The silver lining for Winnipeg continues to be its defence, which has held opponents to under 20 points in three out of the last four games.

The Bombers as a collective haven’t given fans many reasons to believe this is a team that can reach — let alone win — a Grey Cup this year, but if they’re going to make a run, it might have to be on the back of the defence and special teams in a low-scoring affair.

A down week on offence was expected from the Riders, who were without their heavy hitters, but it didn’t take away from how the Bombers defence and special teams responded after an ugly start.

Rookie returner Trey Vaval fumbled the ball on the opening kickoff, setting Saskatchewan up in plus territory. From there, the visitors dialled up a flea-flicker on their first play, which was badly under thrown by Jake Maier but drew a pass-interference penalty on Demerio Houston in the end zone.

On the third play from scrimmage — and 27 seconds into the game — the Roughriders were up 7-0.

From there, the defence only allowed 169 yards of net offence the rest of the night.

The special teams also cleaned up their act, limiting the always-dangerous Mario Alford to 63 yards on seven punt returns (nine yards per return), while Vaval averaged 17.2 yards across six returns and took a missed field goal back 62 yards to set up Winnipeg near midfield in the fourth quarter.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X:@jfreysam