True Blue miracle: Bombers pull off a late-game shocker against Alouettes

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This article was published 27/07/2017 (2995 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols was defiant earlier this week when asked what ailed his offence late in games. The Bombers had been outscored 42-9 in the fourth quarter through the first four weeks and had been shut out twice in the last three.

“If you can show me a game film of a team that rolls up and down the field and scores touchdowns on every single drive I’d love to see it,” he said in response.

That film doesn’t exist, of course, but what will be viewed repeatedly in the coming days is the final 15 minutes of an unlikely Hollywood-style 41-40 victory over the Montreal Alouettes Thursday night that began with a crowd of 25,931 at Investors Group Field but was down to about half that many when the gun sounded.

The Bombers struggled through much of the game before finally coming to life in the dying 100 seconds for the jaw-dropping drama.

“I wasn’t going to be denied in that last drive, and I was willing to crawl and scratch just to get to the goal line,” Nichols said after.

“That’s why the game is four quarters.”

Trailing 40-35 with just seconds left on the clock, Andrew Harris punched the ball in from the one-yard line for his second touchdown, capping off what just minutes earlier seemed guaranteed to end in disappointment.

Nichols, who completed 34 of his 43 pass attempts for 358 yards and two touchdowns, kneeled on the extra point, the rest of the team spilled onto the field in celebration… fade to black, roll the credits.

The Bombers were outscored 13-1 in the fourth quarter before mounting the comeback. Nichols, his team down 40-28 with just 1:40 remaining, orchestrated an eight-play, 69-yard touchdown drive to get the game to within striking distance. The series finished with a four-yard pass to Ryan Lankford, cutting the Alouettes’ lead to five.

Justin Medlock redeemed himself after missing two field goals when the Bombers recovered his perfectly executed onside kick down the middle rather than the expected dribbler to either sideline. Brandon Alexander recovered it, the Bombers had the ball and from there, the pressure was on Nichols to deliver.

Nichols was sacked on the second play of the drive, and things looked grim facing a second-and-long near midfield. But Montreal linebacker Chris Ackie was flagged for roughing the passer, moving Nichols & Co. up to the 30-yard line.

With a second chance, Nichols took the matter into his own hands – literally and figuratively – three plays later, running for 15 yards to set up Harris’s winning TD.

“He took some hits earlier that some quarterbacks would be complaining and whining about,” said Harris, who ended his night with 12 carries for 41 yards, and nine catches for 93 through the air.

“For him to scramble and make a couple guys miss… you couldn’t ask for a better leader.”

The Bombers improved to 3-2 on the year, which should help mend the wound from last week’s heartbreaking 45-42 loss to the B.C. Lions. They travel to Ottawa to play the Redblacks next Friday.

“At the end of the day, it’s about being resilient,” veteran defensive Chris Randle said. “What happened to us last week was the opposite feeling of this now and it’s good to be on this side of it.”

Following their loss to the Redblacks last week, the Alouettes have dropped to 2-4.

The Bombers had combined for just 14 points in the first quarter through the first four games. It was a troubling trend, if only for the fact they were constantly chasing momentum early on. They finally broke that curse against the Als’ D. A Jackson Jeffcoat interception on quarterback Darian Durant on the second play of the game put the Blue in the red zone to start their first series.

The Bombers went five for five in the red zone against B.C. last week and continued the string when Harris punched the ball in from the two-yard line for an early 7-0 lead, and for the first time this season, they were in front early.

Winnipeg scored just seven more points in the next 27 minutes and 36 seconds – a 10-yard catch by Clarence Denmark for his second TD in as many games – and the cheers turned to boos with 2:45 left in the first quarter, and the volume was turned upon the their’ final possession of the half, which ended with a 24-14 lead for the visitors.

Nichols had just 80 yards and the touchdown pass in the first two quarters. No member of the Winnipeg offence, whether on the ground or through the air, had totalled more than 25 yards in the half. To make matters worse, leading receiver, Weston Dressler, was ruled out with a lower-body injury.

As for Durant, he recovered from his early mishap, taking advantage of the Bombers’ inability to sustain drives on offence. The Alouettes finished the two quarters with a commanding lead in time of possession, totalling 18 minutes, 52 seconds. Durant, who had completed 19 passes for 202 yards by that point, tied the game by the midway mark of the first quarter, capping off an eight-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a one-yard run for J.C. Beaulieu.

They’d take their first lead later in the first frame, when Durant, who finished 27-for-35 for 348 yards and two touchdowns, found BJ Cunningham with a 14-yard pass. Both scoring drives were aided by a questionable call and lack of discipline.

An illegal contact on Trent Corney and a pass interference flag on Roc Carmichael set up the Beaulieu score. And it would be great field position set up by a decision from Bombers coach Mike O’Shea to punt from deep inside the end zone – rather than give up the safety – and a Jamaal Westerman roughing the passer flag that led to Cunningham’s score and a 14-7 lead.

The Alouettes then scored 10 points – a 36-yard pass to Ernest Jackson and a 24-yard field goal by Boris Bede – in the final minute of the second quarter that gave the Alouettes a 10-point advantage by halftime.

It may have taken a bit of luck at times, but it was a gutsy effort down the stretch that paved the way to victory. There’s no denying Nichols or his teammates of that.

“Trailing at half and then they go down and march for a touchdown late… most teams would think they’re out of it,” Harris said.

“To battle back, running a no-huddle and then the onside kick for another score, to still have so much fight… it’s just part of our DNA.”

 

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca