Convincing win puts Blue in good spot

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This article was published 15/10/2018 (2566 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers put the CFL on notice with a convincing 31-0 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Investors Group Field on Saturday.

It was the fourth straight victory for the Blue and Gold, who improved to 9-7, and no doubt the most dominant performance of the streak against a formidable opponent in the Roughriders. With the loss, Saskatchewan snapped a three-game streak of its own, falling to 10-6.

“Special teams did well with our field position, defence took the ball away. They started making plays when they came their way, hanging onto the football and that was good,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said after the game. “We did a great job against a defence that really ball hawks. Moved the ball, scored some points. It’s a three-phase win. We played a pretty clean football game in terms of execution and ball security.”

The Bombers will have the next few days off as they enter the third of three bye weeks this year. When they return, it will be to prepare for the first-place Calgary Stampeders (12-3), before wrapping up the regular season in Edmonton against the Eskimos in what will surely be a playoff race to the finish.

But before we look too far ahead, here are five takeaways from Friday’s win:

BOMBERS BACK IN DRIVER’S SEAT

It is one thing to deliver a devastating beat-down in any game, but it’s another when it possesses the kind of high stakes that Saturday’s affair certainly did.

In a must-win game for the Bombers, in a season that has already had far too many, Winnipeg wasted little time to make its mark.

They took the lead just over five minutes into the game — on a 45-yard fumble-recovery touchdown by Anthony Gaitor — and a 72-yard touchdown from Matt Nichols to Darvin Adams increased that cushion to 14-0 by the end of the first quarter. The Bombers then scored their final 17 points in the second frame, much of that production with backup Chris Streveler at the controls (more on that later), before cruising to a scoreless second half to seal the win.

The win keeps the Bombers in third place in the West, but they won’t feel all that comfortable after getting no help from their friends trailing them in the division.

Edmonton (8-8) defeated Ottawa to keep their playoff hopes alive and B.C.’s win over the injury-riddled Stampeders puts the Lions (8-7) in a position to keep pace with the Bombers if they can down the Eskimos this week. In fact, if B.C. defeats Edmonton it would clinch a playoff spot for the Lions.

The good news for Winnipeg is they’re sitting in the driver’s seat with two games remaining, with victories in both enough to secure Winnipeg a playoff spot. The Bombers could even host the West semifinal, a scenario that seemed near impossible a month ago, as long as they can win out and the Roughriders lose out.

What’s most likely to happen, however, is the Bombers will play the Roughriders on the road in the first round, making for what will be must-watch TV and likely a much closer match than what we saw Saturday.

PITCHING A SHUTOUT

The Bombers defence preached all week a need to match or be better than their Roughrider counterparts. It was viewed as a tall task, given how dominant Saskatchewan’s defence had been this year — a unit that heading into Saturday accounted for nearly 20 per cent of the Roughriders’ offence this season, including a CFL-leading nine defensive touchdowns.

Well, about that.

The Bombers defence set the tone with Gaitor’s early touchdown, and by the time the game was over, added three more turnovers, including a pair of interceptions by safety Taylor Loffler. The Bombers, who had just one giveaway Saturday, are now 9-0 when leading the turnover battle and 0-7 when tying or losing.

Of course, what was most impressive was shutting out the Roughriders, completing the near-impossible feat in the points-happy CFL.

“It’s a lot more than that keeping zeroes on the scoreboard,” Bombers linebacker Adam Bighill said. “It’s the offence holding the ball, making smart decisions; it’s special teams changing the field position. Keeping a zero up there all day long is a team effort, but obviously a big emphasis on the defence doing their part.”

The last time Winnipeg blanked an opponent was back on July 28, 2006, in a 29-0 road win against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. It had been more than 32 years — July 5, 1986 — since Winnipeg had shut out Saskatchewan on home soil, winning that game 56-0.

“I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever been part of a defence that shut a team out. You’d probably have to go back to high school,” second-year linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox said. “For us to do something like that, it’s a tremendous feat, but we know we’re still far from where we want to be. We still got little things we can improve on, could have done more out there. We’ll go on this bye week, relax, get away from it and come back and learn from what we did and hopefully be even better.”

COLLAROS CUT SHORT

Here is a breakdown of the Roughriders’ possessions, divided into the first and second half.

First half: punt, fumble, interception, punt, punt, interception, punt, punt, punt, end of half.

Second half: punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt.

Saskatchewan made it into Bombers’ territory just four times in the game. Their most successful series reached Winnipeg’s 40-yard line, but was stalled by a forced fumble from Kevin Fogg, who poked the ball from the arms of Caleb Holley before retrieving it near the original line of scrimmage.

Even before Fogg’s fumble recovery, Roughriders head coach Chris Jones had seen enough from quarterback Zach Collaros. He was yanked from the game after the first series of the second half resulted in another two-and-out (Saskatchewan had eight). Collaros finished the game a dismal eight-for-19 for 69 yards and two picks. He now has more interceptions (13) than he does passing touchdowns (nine).

Brandon Bridge didn’t do much to suggest he might be a better option in the future. He was seven-for-12 passing for 59 yards and looked out of sync with his receivers. In total, Saskatchewan was limited to just 170 yards of net offence.

Over the four game-winning streak, the Bombers defence has allowed an average of 12.25 points per game — the CFL average is 23.15 — and have surrendered 295 net yards of offence per week, which is well below the CFL average of 354.

“You play so many games, as long as you continue to get better, then obviously things should look better. Results should be better. There’s an element of confidence there. There’s an element of accountability to their teammates, understanding how the game has to be played,” O’Shea said.

“So, we’re growing that way, we’re learning, we’re getting smarter, in football. And I think there’s an element of, ‘Hey, it’s time, and why not us?’”

BIGHILL A BIG STEAL

Gaitor had the touchdown and added one sack; Fogg collected a tackle, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery; Loffler had two interceptions to go with a tackle; and rookie defensive back Marcus Sayles forced a fumble and had three pass knockdowns.

But of all the standout performances in the game, Bighill’s was the most impressive. The Bombers middle linebacker registered a team-leading eight defensive tackles, including three quarterback sacks, which was a personal single-season best for Bighill over his seven-year CFL career. Bighill was also responsible forcing the fumble that Gaitor returned for a touchdown.

It’s unimaginable — or scary, if you’re a Bombers fan — to think that Bighill wasn’t part of the plans in early May. It wasn’t until he exhausted his NFL opportunities that he even considered a return to the CFL, where he was named the CFL’s most outstanding defender in 2015.

“I’m just happy he’s on our side,” Santos-Knox said. “He could have come back, could have gone to B.C., he could have gone anywhere and for him to come here was just amazing.

When Bighill signed with the Bombers, it shored up a glaring hole at the middle-linebacker position, which had been a weak spot on the defence for years. Bighill currently leads the CFL with 101 tackles, one up on Calgary’s Alex Singleton, who still has one game in hand, and is just 12 tackles short of his career-best.

“What’s really important about Adam is he’s making guys around him better, too, when he’s bringing guys along with him,” O’Shea said. “As he’s playing better and better football, guys are stepping up around him, too. That’s the key to more success on defence.”

STRIKING A QB BALANCE

It should be noted the way offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice used his quarterbacks on Saturday, utilizing both his No. 1 starter, Nichols, and backup Streveler.

Nichols took the lion’s share of the plays behind centre, finishing the night a modest 10-for-18 for 155 yards and one touchdown — the strike to Adams. He made smart decisions with the ball and went without an interception for a second straight game and third time in four weeks.

Streveler once again proved his value, limited to spot duty in the first half. He replaced Nichols on second-and-short late in the second quarter and instead of rushing for a new set of downs, pushed back in the pocket to deliver a 31-yard touchdown to Weston Dressler. The 23-year-old now has 10 passing touchdowns, only six fewer than Nichols despite starting 10 fewer games.

The 23-year-old rookie was called on for the Bombers next series, this time taking over on first down at the Roughriders’ 25-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Streveler worked through a deceptive play where he faked a handoff to Andrew Harris before spinning and rushing up the middle for 24 yards. He finished it off with a one-yard quarterback sneak for the touchdown, his eighth rushing touchdown.

“It’s been fun working with both those guys and obviously different skill sets between the two, so we’ll use some different things when Streveler comes in the game,” Dressler said. “They’re both playing some good football right now.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton