Momentum, at long last

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This article was published 22/09/2024 (409 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — For the first time this season the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are in sole possession of first place in the West Division.

A 27-14 victory over the Edmonton Elks at Commonwealth Stadium Saturday improved the Bombers to 8-6 on the year, putting them two points up on the idle B.C. Lions, who are in second at 7-7.

It’s a familiar place for the Blue and Gold after finishing atop the West Division in the regular season the last three years. It took a little while to get there this time around after Winnipeg opened the 2024 campaign with four straight losses.

That feels like a distant memory now, with the win over the Elks marking the Bombers sixth consecutive victory — a winning streak that dates back to a 25-0 beatdown over the B.C. Lions on Aug. 2. The win over Edmonton also gives the Bombers a 1-0 edge in the season series, which wraps up in Winnipeg this Friday in what will be another critical game when it comes to the alignment of the West standings.

But before we look too far ahead, let’s dig into Saturday’s win in the latest edition of Bombers Breakdown.

• Indeed, this game was massive for the West standings. Had the Bombers lost, the Elks would be just two points back and able to surpass Winnipeg with a victory this week. Instead, the Bombers have some breathing room at the top, especially when you consider they have the season series — the first tiebreaker in the standings — on all four of the other teams in the division, with only the series against Edmonton still to be decided. The Bombers continue to stay true to their one-game-at-a-time approach, but they were clearly feeling good about themselves in the locker room after the game. The scary part is the Bombers haven’t yet played their best football, but they’re getting there at the perfect time.

• The loss Saturday was a major hit to an Elks club that had been riding high of late, with victories in five of its previous six games. The defeat dropped Edmonton’s record to 5-9, putting them three points behind the Saskatchewan Roughriders in third and only one point back of the fifth-place Calgary Stampeders. Another loss this week and the Elks can all but kiss goodbye any hope of becoming the first team in CFL history to rebound from an 0-7 start and make the playoffs. With only four games remaining for each team, time is running out.

• It was another stellar performance by the Bombers defence. The Elks had the No. 1 offence prior to kickoff, averaging the most points (29.3) and scoring the most touchdowns (42). They wouldn’t come close to that many points on Saturday, with the offence shut out in the first half and scoring just one TD — a 31-yard strike to Eugene Lewis late in the third quarter. Edmonton also had a league-low 17 turnovers in 13 games, which took a major hit with Winnipeg generating six takeaways, including four in the first half.

• If there was a knock on the Bombers D, it was the Elks continuing their dominance in the run game, with four runners combining for 23 carries and a whopping 195 yards. Justin Rankin led the way, racking up 157 yards on just 14 carries for an unbelievable average of 11.2 yards per run.

• QB Tre Ford got the start after missing much of the previous three games rehabbing a rib injury. It was a big decision by head coach Jarious Jackson to give the ball back to Ford and take it away from McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who was playing stellar in relief duty. When I asked Jackson what was behind the decision, he said Ford earned the start for how he was playing prior to getting injured, which included back-to-back wins over the Lions and Riders, and that it’s his philosophy that a player shouldn’t lose his job due to injury. Ford struggled mightily to move the ball, especially early on, with just 60 passing yards and 143 total offensive yards in the first half. It was a lack of ball protection that proved to be his downfall, as Ford committed two interceptions and lost a fumble. Jackson finally pulled Ford in favour of Bethel-Thompson late in the fourth and after the game he was non-committal to who would start the rematch this week.

• The Bombers did a really good job containing Ford, who is as gifted an athlete as anyone in the CFL and is more dangerous with his legs than with his arm at this point in his career. They had multiple defenders spying Ford to ensure he didn’t take off on any big plays, which he didn’t, limited to just two carries for nine yards. Ford hasn’t been using his feet as much this season, which has been by design as he works to become a better passer. But there were times in the game where I thought Ford should be trying to be less of a traditional CFL QB and more Tre Ford. I get that his coaches, and likely teammates, want him to have a more structured game, but Ford is at his best when he’s freestyling, which hasn’t happened nearly as often this season. When Bethel-Thompson came into the game, the Bombers took an entirely different approach, often sending three rushers and dropping nine defensive backs into coverage to shut down the less mobile option.

• There was a lot of talk about identical twins Tre and Tyrell Ford playing each other, with Tyrell a budding star at cornerback with the Bombers. Looks like Tre won the first round, with his lone TD pass appearing to be the result of broken coverage by Tyrell. Next week might be the last time we see the two brothers play against one other.

With both needing new deals for next year, I could see them heading into free agency as a packaged deal. They have both expressed a desire to be teammates, and with Ford’s leverage, it feels more than possible.

• The offence continues to be the third best unit on the Bombers, even though there have been signs of improvement over the last month and a bit. Zach Collaros’ stats won’t stand out, as he completed 19-of-27 passes for 191 yards, one TD and one interception. What does stand out, though, are the three rushes for 30 yards, including a 21-yarder early in the final frame.

Collaros needs just 11 rushing yards to reach 100 on the year for the first time since 2018, when he had 103 with the Riders. While the offence was unable to take advantage of the four turnovers by the D in the first two quarters, they were able to catch fire in the second half, with three TD drives and 24 points in the final 30 minutes.

• Something seems up with receiver Kenny Lawler, who hasn’t had a breakout game, at least not to his lofty standards, since returning from a broken arm six weeks ago. His best performance was in the Banjo Bowl, where he reeled in six of seven targets for a modest 64 yards and a TD. He was targeted six times against the Elks, making two receptions for 26 yards. There’s no doubt Lawler is among the best receivers in the league, but he’s not playing like it and it’s beyond drawing extra attention in the secondary. Lawler hasn’t been attacking balls like he used to and that seeming lack of battle led to another interception on a throw his way. He’s also been dropping balls he should be catching. The Bombers need Lawler to return to an imposing figure, and the faster, the better.

• Running back Brady Oliveira has been the most consistent player on offence, but while he was chewing up yards on the ground and setting new career highs for catches and receiving yards in a single season, Oliveira was still without a TD. That monkey is finally off his back, as Oliveira broke the curse in style by punching in a pair of five-yard rushing scores, both in the fourth quarter. The Winnipeg native finished with 127 rushing yards on 18 carries to not only push him over the 1,000-yard mark for a third straight year, but it also put him back into the lead for the rushing title, with 1,021 yards.

• You might have noticed Oliveira waving his arms and squawking like a chicken, along with a few of his teammates, when celebrating each of his TDs. That’s because he was. Fellow receiver Lucky Whitehead came up with the idea a few weeks back. Referring to the end zone as the “chicken box” or “chicken coop,” Whitehead and others kept ribbing Oliveira for not visiting it yet this season. So, when he finally did, they broke out the chicken dance. There could be even more squawking in the future with Chris Streveler now out for the season, as Oliveira should get the lion’s share of the goal line touches until the Bombers can find a better replacement.

• Sergio Castillo had an off night, connecting on just two of his four field-goal attempts. To be fair, his misses were from 53 and 55 yards, and both knocked off the right upright, so it wasn’t as if he was terribly inaccurate. Mike O’Shea noted afterwards that there was a sneaky wind in the game and that it affected field-goal kicking, but the wind was also at Castillo’s back on both missed kicks.

• Linebacker Kyrie Wilson was a late scratch in what was supposed to be his first game back from the six-game injured list owing to a bum shoulder. Wilson injured himself in warmup, and although O’Shea was short on details, I’m told it was a separate injury. Wilson has already been added to the 6-game, which doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll stay there, but it’s still not good news. I asked O’Shea prior to the game why he’s stuck with Wilson despite missing several games over the last few years, which is a rarity in pro sports, to which he gave a glowing review of Wilson as both a player and person. Depending on how bad the injury is, and with Wilson turning 32 later this year, you have to wonder how much more rope the club will be willing to give.

• I saw on social media there were a lot of people who disagreed with a roughing-the-passer penalty on Jake Thomas. It wasn’t a vicious hit, but Thomas did contact Ford’s helmet with his own and that’s going to and should be called every time.

• For those curious why the Elks kept trying to add points at the end of the game, it was because those could be in play later. As mentioned, the season series is the first tiebreaker in the standings, but when you play only two games in a year, if the series is split, then you go to most points to determine the winner. On that note, I was curious why O’Shea, up 20-10 and with 1:15 left in the fourth, opted to gamble on third-and-three from Edmonton’s 38 rather than kicking a 42-yard field goal to go up by 13 and add to their points total. O’Shea said it wasn’t about the points but rather staying on the field to run out the clock and with the wind, adding a field-goal attempt carried some risk. I don’t know how a deep pass to the end zone is any less risky, but it worked out after Lawler drew a defensive pass interference at Edmonton’s 5, with Oliveira scoring a TD on the next play.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton