Banjo Bowl win something to strum about

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This article was published 12/09/2016 (3307 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was another week, another victory for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Blue and Gold defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders 17-10 in Saturday’s Banjo Bowl at Investors Group Field to extend their winning streak to six games.

Five takeaways from the game:

1) It’s the first time the Bombers have won six successive games in a season since 2001, when Winnipeg put together a franchise-best 12 straight wins. At this pace, the Bombers are on track to snap their four-year playoff drought.

The victory improved Winnipeg’s record to 7-4, keeping them in third spot in the West Division behind the B.C. Lions (8-3) and Calgary Stampeders (9-1-1).

The Bombers now have a four-point cushion on the Edmonton Eskimos (5-6), who fell 34-28 to Calgary Saturday night.

The loss dropped the Riders to a league-worst 1-10. The Riders are the only team yet to earn a win on the road, with a record of 0-6.

It’s just a snapshot of what’s been a dysfunctional couple of years for Riders Nation.

With Saturday’s loss, their seventh straight defeat, the Riders are 5-30 in the last 35 games, a stretch in which they have started eight different quarterbacks.

2) While the Bombers defence continues to come up big week in and week out, including a forced fumble Saturday by defensive back Kevin Fogg in the fourth quarter that completely shifted the momentum in favour of the Bombers, the offence looked mediocre.

In what’s become a familiar theme in recent weeks, quarterback Matt Nichols and the offence struggled for the third straight game. What’s overshadowed that inconsistency, however, has been the ability to come up big when it mattered most.

Against the Montreal Alouettes in Week 10, it was a nine-play, 93-yard touchdown drive capped off with a 19-yard run from Andrew Harris; against the Riders in last week’s Labour Day Classic win, it was a six-play, 38-yard drive to set up a game-clinching Justin Medlock field goal.

Saturday, following the turnover forced by Fogg, it was another long touchdown drive — six plays, 94 yards — that put the Bombers up for good, with Nichols capping it off with a one-yard plunge at the goal line.

“As far as we’re concerned we did our jobs and put ourselves in a position to win,” said Nichols after the game. “We were able to do what we needed to do to get it done to come away with wins.”

3) Weston Dressler has quickly returned as Nichols’ No. 1 target.

Nichols connected with Dressler on nine catches for 139 yards and a touchdown in less than two quarters of action before being sidelined with a lower-body injury in Week 6. Since returning to the lineup last week against the Riders, Dressler has 14 catches for 212 yards, including seven catches for 135 yards Saturday.

As much as Dressler has benefited from the chemistry he’s built with Nichols, he mostly credits his reunion with offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice, whom he spent his first two CFL years with in Saskatchewan.

“It’s nice to be working with him again and just kind of reinforcing some of the things I may have lost throughout my career that he had taught me,” said Dressler, now in his ninth CFL season.

“It’s just nice to get back to those fundamentals and just making sure I’m doing the little things right.”

With Darvin Adams out and the possible loss of Smith, Dressler appears to be an even bigger piece of the offence.

4) The Bombers have battled injuries to their lineup all season and it looks like their depth will be tested once more.

Winnipeg suffered a number of key injuries Saturday, with running back Andrew Harris, receiver Ryan Smith, linebacker Ian Wild and defensive back/special teamer Brendan Morgan all unable to finish the game.

Head coach Mike O’Shea was unable to provide an injury update after the game, but Harris looked to be in pain before exiting after the first half — Wild was also ruled out at halftime — and was later seen limping on the sidelines. Smith, who was in his first game back from a lower-body injury he suffered in Week 4, left the game in the third quarter, returning in street clothes to watch the final minutes.

“It’s not just this week,” said O’Shea in his post-game press conference. “There’s been a pile of weeks early on, too, where there’s just guys rolling in and out and we’ve done well with it.”

Indeed, Pascal Lochard and Julian Feoli-Gudino, in for Harris and Smith respectively, both did an admirable job, and Tony Burnett didn’t miss a beat as the replacement for Wild.

As much as the Bombers have been able to depend on the next guy in line, Harris has been a pivotal piece to the Bombers offence this season. Smith would be another critical loss to a receivers group already without Adams; while the potential loss of Wild, the team’s leading tackler, would be a major hit to the defence.

5) Well, if we know anything about Fogg it’s that he doesn’t hold grudges.

Saturday marked the third time this season the 25-year-old rookie defensive back has returned a punt for a touchdown only to have it negated by a penalty.

Fogg, who has split return duties with Quincy McDuffie, could only smile when asked about it after the game, even going so far as to praise the special teams group for their… ah… help.

“I definitely appreciate the guys that are on the unit blocking for me,” said Fogg. “I don’t tell them enough just how appreciative I am of them, but I definitely do.”

His big forced-turnover late in the game likely helped ease the pain of missing out on what would have been his first CFL touchdown.

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Even though he hasn’t found that first score yet, he’s had plenty to celebrate.

Fogg has emerged as a leader in the Bombers secondary, chipping in 55 defensive tackles, three interceptions and a quarterback sack, while playing in every game this year.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.