Bombers defence holds on 21

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This article was published 25/08/2023 (804 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Twenty-one yards.

That’s what the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defence held the Montreal Alouettes to in the second half of Thursday night’s 47-17 victory at sold-out IG Field.

“Damn,” said corner back Winston Rose when that stat was brought to his attention postgame.

“I didn’t even know about that, but that’s great. Since I got here in 2019, I don’t think we’ve had a second half stat like that. That’s something that we can build on and just keep stacking.”

To make it even more impressive, 18 of those yards came in the final minute when the Als threw out backup quarterback Davis Alexander for some meaningless snaps.

“We’re just playing together and playing for each other. That’s basically all we’re doing,” said halfback Deatrick Nichols.

“I feel like we’re not doing anything special, we’re just playing for the guy next to us and the fans. We’re putting everything before the individual and the stats and everything like that. We’re on the same page and don’t care about who gets the credit. We just want to go 1-0 and that’s what it’s all about.”

It was an uncharacteristic night at the office for Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros in the first half.

With three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, the stars were aligning for the Alouettes to knock off a CFL powerhouse, or at the very least, make things interesting.

So much for that.

“It was too early in the game to be worried about stuff like that. We just wanted to give Zach the ball back and just let him keep doing what he was doing,” said defensive end Willie Jefferson. “Two pick-6s, but he still put up 40-something points, man. It’s great.”

Collaros could’ve tossed another pair of touchdowns to the wrong team and it still wouldn’t have mattered as the Bombers tormented Als quarterback Cody Fajardo all night long.

Other than a second quarter field goal, Montreal’s offence contributed diddly-squat. Fajardo, who was making his return after missing two games with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, finished the contest with 137 yards passing, an interception, and a lost fumble while completing 14-of-25 attempts.

Fajardo was picked off by Rose at the sideline early in the third quarter. His fumble came later in the same frame when he was unable to secure a shotgun snap. Defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat dove to scoop up the bouncing ball for the Bombers.

“We just got to keep it going. I mean, we wanted it. Every game we want it,” said Jeffcoat.

“We want to keep playing hard, keep playing physical, and we want to take our game to the next level and we’re not there yet so there’s a lot more to do.”

Fajardo is now 2-8 all-time against Winnipeg and has yet to win at IG Field. He signed a two-year deal in Montreal this past offseason after spending 2019-2022 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Fajardo has scored six points in eight quarters of action against Winnipeg this season as the Bombers beat the Als 17-3 in Montreal in Week 4.

“It’s the preparation that we put into the game and the mindset and attitude that we have on defence,” said Jefferson.

“There’s probably a couple quarterbacks that have come in here and haven’t won yet… We don’t lose too many games here.”

Montreal finished with 10 first downs and 173 net yards of offence. Heading into the week, the Als were averaging 336 yards and 24.9 points per game.

Their run game was nonexistent as running back William Stanback had 32 yards on eight carries.

Defensive tackles Jake Thomas and Cameron Lawson both had sacks.

“I just know for us that we wanted to stop the run. William Stanback is a heck of a football player. I played with him in college at UCF (Central Florida) and we knew if he was going, it was going to be a harder game for us,” said safety Brandon Alexander.

“So, just stopping the run on first down and being able to play our defence on second down is what we did today.”

The Bombers kept Austin Mack, the CFL’s leading receiver, from making any explosive plays as he had a modest five catches for 55 yards. Montreal also shot themselves in the foot with 13 penalties for a whopping 142 yards. The Bombers had five for 45.

“Sky’s the limit,” said Rose. “Tonight’s game was a great game.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31