Lowly Elks one play from stunning Blue

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2021 (1420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — Rasheed Bailey put it perfectly late Friday night, moments after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers downed the Edmonton Elks 26-16 at Commonwealth Stadium.

“A win’s a win, baby,” Bailey said. “Sometimes they won’t look as pretty as we want them to. But you play a team three times, you’re going to get a team that’s going to play hard and give us all they got.”

The Bombers entered the Week 11 matchup as heavy favourites over the lowly Elks, but you wouldn’t have thought that for much of the evening. It was tied 16-16 through three quarters, with Winnipeg pulling ahead in the final 15 minutes, scoring 10 unanswered points to secure the win.

The victory extended the Bombers streak to seven straight wins, and improved their record atop the West Division to 9-1. The Elks played everything like you’d expect from a desperate club, throwing all they could at Winnipeg. But they’ve now lost five in a row and the chances of making the playoffs at 2-7 are incredibly thin.

The Bombers return to welcome the B.C. Lions to IG Field Saturday. But before we look too far ahead, let’s look back in this week’s edition of five takeaways.

 

1. It was an impressive fourth quarter for the Bombers in what’s been a trend all season. Winnipeg has outscored their opponent 91-6 in the final frame in 2021, and Friday marked the eighth time it has shut out an opponent over the last 15 minutes of a game.

But no one in that locker room, including head coach Mike O’Shea, was denying this one could have easily swung the other way. In fact, it probably should have, if not for an inexcusable drop by Elks defensive back Aaron Grymes.

Grymes read a Zach Collaros pass in the fourth quarter perfectly, but when the ball arrived, he wasn’t able to reel it in, left to look at what was a wide-open lane to the Bombers end zone. Collaros dialled up a 48-yard pass to Bailey on the next play and then two plays later found Bailey in the end zone to go up 23-16.

Call this as close to a wakeup call as this team has had since losing to Toronto in Week 3. And we all know how they answered that bad night.

 

2. There was a scary moment for the Bombers late in the second quarter, when Andrew Harris reeled in a pass for a five-yard touchdown but injured himself as he stumbled into the end zone.

The non-contact injury occurred before he crossed the plane, with the Bombers running back grabbing his right knee as he fell to the ground. Harris was able to walk off the field, albeit gingerly, and didn’t return to the game.

It didn’t look good, but I’m hearing it’s not all bad news. The Bombers are 9-1 and will inevitably clinch the West Division — if not next week, then soon thereafter. So, it will be interesting to see how the Bombers handle their veteran tailback.

The extent of the injury is unclear, but there’s no point in rushing him back, as a healthy Harris for the playoffs trumps everything else that might be at play here. Especially with the likes of Brady Oliveira waiting in the wings.

Oliveira entered the game cold, having not registered a carry in more than a month. But he looked no worse for wear, with the 24-year-old finishing the night pacing all rushers with 16 carries for 105 yards — an average of 6.6 yards per run.

 

3. The absence of right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, who was sidelined with a hip injury, was noticeable, as Collaros was subjected to a much heavier night than he’s been used to this year.

Patrick Neufeld did an admirable job in relief of Hardrick, and ditto for Asotui Eli and Geoff Gray covering right guard, but it’s difficult to maintain the group’s high standard with that many moving parts. Collaros had been sacked four times in his previous six games but was sacked the same amount on Friday.

Even more so than Harris, Collaros is a massive piece of the Bombers and needs to be protected. Hardrick isn’t out long term but if he can’t return against the Lions, we’ll see if this group can improve with another week of practice.

 

4. Kudos to Ali Mourtada for salvaging his CFL career, at least for now, with an encouraging performance. The Bombers kicker went four-for-five, connecting from 37, 27, 43 and 24 yards, respectively, while sailing a 44-yard attempt wide right.

The Bombers needed all 12 of the points Mourtada provided, but his performance was far from flawless. There’s a clear limit to his leg, or to the trust O’Shea has in it. O’Shea elected to punt instead of attempting a 54-yard field goal midway through the second quarter and did the same from 49 yards with four minutes remaining in a game the Bombers led by only a touchdown.

His lone miss also came late in the game, with under two minutes to go, keeping it at a one-score affair. O’Shea praised Mourtada in his post-tilt press conference, but you must wonder if he truly feels he can rely on his kicker when the stakes are at their highest.

O’Shea pays as much attention to detail as a person can, so I wouldn’t be surprised to hear there’s a backup plan or two. It will be up to Mourtada whether they’re worth exploring.

 

5. The victory not only tightened the Bombers’ grip on first place in the West, but it also secured a playoff berth for a fifth straight season. That’s the longest stretch of consecutive post-season appearances for Winnipeg since they snapped a 17-year run in 1996.

Securing a spot in the playoffs is the first of three goals for the Bombers, with the next piece of business to lock up the division and earn the right to host the West final before setting their sights on back-to-back Grey Cup titles. The way the standings have worked out, with no other team keeping pace with the Blue and Gold, that second step could be achieved with a win over the Lions this week.

If the Bombers clinch the division, they’d head out on the bye week obviously feeling pretty good about where they stand. It will be interesting to see how O’Shea decides to handle three relatively meaningless games to wrap up the regular season, which precedes a bye for the first week of playoffs.

But we’ll have plenty of time to discuss that in the coming weeks.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton