Shaping up to be a blockbuster Bombers season

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This article was published 12/06/2023 (846 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers looked like the Grey Cup favourites they deserve to be for the better part of four quarters Friday night.

But while the Blue and Gold bullied the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for much of their season-opener, dominating in pretty much every statistical category, some uncharacteristic errors late in the game almost cost them what seemed to be a sure victory. Holding leads of 21-4, 29-4 and 39-17 after the first three quarters, respectively, the Bombers surrendered a pair of touchdowns in less than a minute in the fourth quarter to make it a real nail-biter down the stretch.

Winnipeg managed to weather the storm, rebounding from its mistakes to claim a 42-31 win over Hamilton in front of 29,057 at IG Field. The Bombers improved to 1-0 for a fourth straight year and are now 7-2 in season-openers under head coach Mike O’Shea, while the Ticats dropped to 0-1.

After a two-day break, the Bombers return to the practice field in preparation for a Week 2 road game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. But before we look too far ahead, let’s take a look back at Friday’s win in the season’s first edition of 5 Takeaways.

1) The Bombers offence is once again going to be a major headache for opposing defences.

QB Zach Collaros didn’t just look good, he looked borderline unstoppable at times, and had the Bombers kept testing the Ticats deep — instead of trying to control the clock with the run game while holding a commanding lead — the CFL’s reigning two-time most outstanding player probably would have eclipsed 500 passing yards.

Instead, Collaros finished with 354 yards through the air on 21-of-31 passing, along with three touchdowns — strikes to Nic Demski, Rasheed Bailey and Drew Wolitarsky, all in the opening quarter — for a QB efficiency rating of 138.4. Collaros looked as poised as ever in the pocket, using his legs, pump-fake throws that fooled several would-be tacklers and a dominating O-line to help extend plays and generate points.

Collaros connected with six different receivers on the day, while the O-line controlled the lone of scrimmage, clearing holes for the run game. In total, the Bombers put up 478 yards of net offence, including 138 rushing, had twice as many first downs as the Ticats, with 28, while averaging 7.7 yards per play.

2) It was a terrific outing for a pair of homegrown players, as Winnipeg natives Nic Demski and Brady Oliveira had 2023 debuts that will still be talked about heading into this week.

Demski, who was playing in his 100th career game, led all receivers with 113 yards, reeling in all but one of his seven targets. The 29-year-old accounted for the game’s opening TD and later caught a 47-yard pass – both catches coming over the shoulder, which is a lot harder to reel in than it looks – that helped set up Bailey’s score.

It was a perfect response by Demski after turning over the ball with a fumble on Winnipeg’s first offensive play. While Demski led the way, every receiver had a notable impact, including Dalton Schoen (5 Rec, 60 yds) and Wolitarksy (3 Rec, 57 yds, 1 TD) coming up big on several second-down conversions; and Carlton Agudosi, who had one catch for 40 yards, and Bailey, who had four catches for 26 yards and the TD, also helping move the chains.

And to think they were this productive despite being without star receiver Kenny Lawler, who is expected to miss a couple more weeks as he waits to get a working visa after he pleaded guilty for impaired driving back in April.

As for Oliveira, in speaking with the Bombers running back days before the game, he told me he was more than just a little concerned just weeks ago that he might not be able to suit up for Week 1 after injuring himself and missing nearly all of training camp. But he put his trust in Bombers head athletic therapist, Al Couture, and their hard work certainly paid off.

Oliveira racked up a game-high 106 rushing yards on six carries, including a critical two-yard TD run to cap off the third quarter. He also reeled in a pair of catches for 58 yards and when his team needed him to run out the clock to secure the win, he rushed five times for 24 yards and two first downs, giving the ball back to Collaros to kneel for the win.

3) The Bombers defence finished the 2022 season near or atop almost every league statistic and if Friday was any indication, that could very well be repeated this year. Simply put, the defence was a wrecking ball nearly all game.

They spoiled Bo Levi Mitchell’s debut with the Ticats, limiting the veteran QB to 17-of-33 passing (51.5 per cent) for 197 yards and a touchdown. Mitchell was picked off twice, with both interceptions coming from DB Demerio Houston, who also had a fumble recovery.

Mitchell was sacked three times – twice by Willie Jefferson, who also had a pair of knockdowns, and rookie Celestin Haba, whose sack came on Hamilton’s final offensive play – and lost the ball once, with DB Deatrick Nichols registering the fumble recovery. The Bombers certainly benefitted from some sloppy passing from Mitchell, who seemed to continuously overthrow or underthrow his receivers, including a few plays that looked like sure TDs.

In total, the Ticats put up just 239 yards of net offence, with James Butler, Hamilton’s shiny new toy at RB, boasting just 66 rushing yards – nearly half of which were accrued in the first quarter. Adam Bighill looked no worse for wear despite missing all of camp and the secondary was on point, with additional shootouts to Desmond Lawrence, Evan Holm and Brandon Alexander for playing tight coverage.

The Bombers also lost DE Jackson Jeffcoat early in the first quarter and the word is he’s in tough to play this week. And for anyone thinking they might be working the phone to bring in Shawn Lemon, last year’s West Division nominee for defensive player of the year, that isn’t the plan. At least that’s not for right now, though I imagine that could change depending on what happens this week in Regina.

4) While there were plenty of positives to take from the game, it wasn’t perfect. That includes coughing up a ghastly five turnovers.

Demski, Collaros and Janarion Grant all committed fumbles, with Collaros’ and Grant’s resulting in 14 points the other way and a near comeback by the Ticats. Collaros was hit hard by LB Larry Dean during a fake handoff to Oliveira, allowing for DB Chris Edwards to scoop up the ball and take it back 62 yards for the score.

On the ensuing kickoff, Grant retrieved the ball at his own 22-yard line, cut towards the middle of the field at the 35, where he was met head-on by Ticats Kyle Wilson. The collision caused the ball to pop up high into the air and into the waiting arms of Fraser Sopik, who returned it to the two-yard line before being tackled by RB Johnny Augustine. Butler punched the ball in on the next play, and a successful two-point convert to Duke Williams made it a one-score game, 39-31, with more than nine minutes remaining.

That wasn’t the only thing that went wrong on special teams. The Bombers struggled with their kickoff and punt coverage, giving the Ticats’ solid field position on several drives. It didn’t help that Mike Miller, the CFL’s all-time special-teams tackle leader, was a last-minute scratch with an upper-body injury, but one guy shouldn’t make that much of a difference.

Rookie punter Jamieson Sheahan kicked several quality punts, but shoddy play at the line of scrimmage led to one being blocked and recovered by the Ticats for a TD. It wasn’t all bad on special teams, though, as Sergio Castillo went 4-for-4 on field goals, including a 50-yarder late in the fourth to make it a two-score game, and connected on all four of his one-point converts. That long field goal late in the game is why the Bombers opted to bring in Castillo to replace Liegghio; given the way the coverage team was playing and Liegghio’s penchant to crumble during pressure-filled moments, there’s no way O’Shea would have asked him to attempt that kick.

5) Continuity matters, and this game provided a ton of proof on the importance of bringing in a strong leadership group and then having them establish a culture that makes everyone want to stick around and play for each other. To that point, consider the penalty count on Friday, where the Bombers drew just three flags for a combined 10 yards, while the Ticats were called for 14 penalties, totalling a whopping 121 yards.

Some of those penalties by Hamilton were likely the result of still working out the kinks of having so much turnover from last season, as the Ticats went out this winter and completely revamped last year’s disappointing 8-10 club. But more were just simply a lack of discipline, with nearly half the flags being thrown for objectionable conduct or unnecessary roughness.

On one occasion, Ticats DT Mohamed Diallo did a belly flop onto Bombers OL Geoff Gray, slamming his 6-5, 305-pound frame onto the unsuspecting opponent. Diallo, a third-round pick in 2021 playing in just his second CFL season, then got into a physical on-field altercation with veteran DL Ja’Gared Davis, who, along with several other teammates, were yelling at him to head to the sidelines. A few series earlier, DB Lawrence Woods, seemingly tired of the Bombers picking apart the Ticats’ secondary, took a penalty for kicking the ball and hitting Demski.

There’s no doubt the Ticats are going to be a better team as the season rolls on. But from first glance, it’s going to take a lot more than studying the playbook to fix their issues. Meanwhile, the Bombers will continue to benefit from having so many familiar faces and I wouldn’t be surprised if they find themselves going on another weeks-long winning streak to start the year while other teams work to get on the same page.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton