High-flying Als not afraid of Bombers

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This article was published 13/11/2023 (931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON – While many expected the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to be one of the two teams competing in the 110th Grey Cup this week, few, if any, envisioned the Montreal Alouettes standing in their way of winning another league title.

For the Bombers, who finished atop the West Division with a 14-4 record, competing for a championship has become an annual rite recently. Sunday will mark the fourth consecutive Grey Cup Winnipeg will play in – a run that began with a pair of triumphs before losing by a single point to the Toronto Argonauts last year.

“It feels good to be back,” quarterback Zach Collaros said shortly after touching down in Hamilton, where the Bombers defeated the hometown Tiger-Cats in the 2021 championship game. “Kind of having flashbacks to ‘21 and we’re excited about it.”

For the Alouettes, it’s the first Grey Cup they’ve been a part of since winning it all in 2010. Montreal finished second in the East Division, at 11-7, creating a more difficult route to get here.

The Bombers needed just one home win to punch their ticket to the Grey Cup, which they achieved with a convincing 24-13 victory over the B.C. Lions in the West final. The Alouettes had to play one more playoff game, beating the Ticats at home in the East semi-final before defeating the Argonauts – who tied the CFL all-time record for victories in a regular season, finishing an impressive 16-2 – on the road in the division final a week later.

Not even an impressive 38-17 win over Toronto has done enough to silence the critics, as the Alouettes are still largely viewed as underdogs, with the Bombers opening as 7.5 point favourites. Just don’t try to convince anyone in Montreal’s locker room that the title fits.

“They’re a team that’s been here, done it and that’s a competitive advantage for them. But one thing that is a competitive advantage for us is the excitement of it being our first Grey Cup together as a team,” Alouettes quarterback Cody Fajardo said. “We’re also riding a seven-game winning streak. I believe that we’re the hottest team in the CFL right now.”

The Bombers made quick work of the Alouettes in the regular season, sweeping the season-series 2-0. Winnipeg won 17-3 in Week 4 and then again, 47-17, in Week 12.

Both those games feel like a distant memory now and had factors that likely affected the result. The first one was played in a torrential downpour, with neither offence able to generate much, while the second game saw Fajardo return from a two-game absence from an injury to his non-throwing shoulder.

The loss to the Bombers sparked a losing skid that lasted four games before the Alouettes started to turn things around. They haven’t lost a game since Sept. 23, a 28-11 road victory over the Calgary Stampeders.

“We’re confident every week we can go in and beat anybody,” Alouettes head coach Jason Maas said. “The first step was to beat a Hamilton team that was hosting the Grey Cup, which you know every team that’s hosting wants to be in it and they’re going to give you everything they have. Then the next step was against a 16-2 team who was 9-0 at home and just won a Grey Cup and you got to be great to beat them. Now that third step, it’s a chance to play a team that’s going to their fourth Grey Cup and won two, and you’re going to have to be as good as you’ve ever been to beat them.”

The Bombers aren’t about to take the Alouettes lightly. They know how strong Montreal’s defence is, as evidenced by the nine takeaways they had against the Argos last week.

They also know what it can feel like to play a team that’s feeling good about themselves, much like the Argos last year. There’s no fluke Montreal is here, in what will be the first matchup between these two clubs in the Grey Cup.

“They’re riding a pretty good wave of momentum. They were on fire this last game, their defence especially,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said. “We’ve been in that same spot. We don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out what they’re feeling or thinking. We’re focused on us.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @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.

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