Winnipeg Blue Bombers blast Edmonton Elks to clinch playoff berth (& 10 other thoughts)

By
John Hodge
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Photo: Nik Kowalski/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Edmonton Elks by a score of 55-27 on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 32,343 at Princess Auto Stadium. Below are my thoughts on the game.

Holy crap, Zach

Franchise quarterback Zach Collaros had easily his best performance of the season on Friday night, completing 21-of-26 pass attempts for 432 yards and six touchdowns.

The two-time league Most Outstanding Player started the game on fire, completing nine-of-eleven pass attempts for 212 yards and three touchdowns in the first 17 minutes of regulation. His touchdown strikes to Nic Demski and Keric Wheatfall were especially impressive, the latter of which was probably his best throw of the season.

The veteran passer and the rest of Winnipeg’s offence never let up, responding with touchdowns after both of Edmonton’s major scores in the third quarter, eliminating any chance of a comeback. Lawler made eight catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns, Nic Demski caught four passes for 117 yards and two scores, and Wheatfall and Oliveira accounted for the other two. Collaros was eventually pulled with six minutes left as rookie quarterback Terry Wilson took over the controls.

“I’ve played against (Edmonton defensive coordinator Jason) Shivers for a long time, as we have with a lot of these coordinators, so you have a good idea of what they’re going to do. But still, it’s pros versus pros and I just think our guys did a great job of making plays when the ball was in the air,” said Collaros.

“When you’ve got guys making plays the way that our guys did all night long, you’ll yield those results. I thought our offensive line did an unbelievable job of protecting all night long. Early in the game, I thought we really were able to run the ball well, get into some second-and-manageables. Again, guys just made plays all night but it starts up front and those guys did a great job.”

This was Collaros’ first game of the season with more than two touchdown passes, his first game with more than three touchdown passes since last year’s Banjo Bowl, his first 300-yard performance since Week 8, the second-highest passing yardage total of his career, and the first six-touchdown game of his career.

Collaros entered Friday’s game with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 9-14 on the season. He turned it positive in just one game as it now stands at 15-14.

“It was fun to watch. He was just so ‘on’ and the guys around him were right and were ‘on,’ too — that was pretty cool to see,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “It’s exciting to watch — you get caught up as a coaching staff, me in particular — you’ve gotta stay focused, too, because you get to sort of watching as a fan going, ‘Oh my goodness.’ Zach was on fire tonight.”

O’Shea seemed to hint postgame that the team planned to take Collaros out by the start of the fourth quarter, though he allowed the veteran quarterback to finish one last drive, resulting in an opportunity to throw his sixth touchdown pass. He called the snaps Wilson took “valuable,” adding that the team made an effort to get plays off quickly to maximize the rookie’s playing time.

Since 2021, Collaros has been sensational for most of the regular season before falling off late and into the playoffs. If he’s reversing that trend this season — and it appears he is — Winnipeg has an excellent chance to win the Grey Cup. Friday’s performance was truly one for the ages.

Playoffs? You kiddin’ me?

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have officially clinched a playoff spot after winning Friday night’s game.

Though head coach Mike O’Shea isn’t one to make predictions — he recently claimed he doesn’t even look at the CFL standings — a more animated head coach once went on an epic tirade when asked about his struggling team making the playoffs.

Jim Mora, who served as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 1998 to 2001, gave one of the greatest quotes in sports history when he was asked about his team — which was 4-6 and on a three-game losing streak at the time — making the playoffs.

“Playoffs!? Don’t talk about — playoffs!?” he squeaked loudly. “You kiddin’ me? Playoffs!? I just hope we can win a game!”

The Colts went on to finish the year 6-10 and Mora was let go.

It’s unclear how O’Shea would have reacted if he’d been asked about his team’s playoff chances when the Blue Bombers fell to 2-6 after squandering a game in Toronto in Week 8. Whatever his words would have been, it’s hard to imagine them being on the same level as Mora’s legendary quote.

Regardless, there was once a time when the postseason — especially a home game — seemed like a pipedream for the Blue Bombers. B.C. and Saskatchewan were both 5-2 when Winnipeg fell to 2-6 near the end of July. It’s truly shocking how the performance of all three teams changed so rapidly.

According to my calculations, which were done on a napkin earlier today — and not a clean one, either — the Blue Bombers can clinch a home playoff game next week if Saskatchewan loses to Ottawa on Saturday afternoon. If the Roughriders beat the Redblacks — which seems likely, given the game is in Regina and Ottawa has suffered a slew of injuries — Winnipeg won’t have a chance to clinch a home playoff game until Week 19 at the earliest.

Play of the year

Brady Oliveira boosted his candidacy for Most Outstanding Player with a sensational touchdown catch-and-run early in the second quarter. He caught the ball at Edmonton’s 31-yard line and ran cleanly for 14 yards before sidestepping defensive back Marcus Lewis, who was fighting through a block from Kenny Lawler.

Defensive backs Kordell Jackson and Devodric Bynum converged on Oliveira almost simultaneously around the 10-yard line but Oliveira was able to spin off contact, find his footing, and power through a hit from Loucheiz Purifoy to reach the end zone. One could argue it’s the play of the year in the CFL thus far this season.

“I try to battle as hard as I can every single week and I do it for the guys in this locker room, they deserve it. That second, third, fourth effort — whatever it takes to make plays for this team to win football games, to score touchdowns, whatever it is — I just want to do whatever it takes to help this team win games,” said Oliveira. “It’s hard to stop me. I’m not ever going to let one person tackle me and I think I showed that on that touchdown.”

The Winnipeg native finished the game with 16 carries for 86 yards and one catch for 33 yards and a score. He’s now up to 1,516 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns on the year.

Bomberland has been in a frenzy for the past few weeks about “the chicken coop” — Lucky Whitehead’s nickname for the end zone — and Oliveira’s chicken dance celebration from last week, leading to a postgame snack of fried chicken in the locker room after Friday’s win. It appears, however, that the trend is coming to a close.

“Lucky started this whole chicken thing. We’re done, though — this is the last week. We’re done with the whole chicken dance but it was only right to get Popeyes for the boys,” said Oliveira. “I told them, ‘We gotta arrange Popeyes for the boys in the locker room’ and we got it done.”

Not to be outdone, Kenny Lawler made a circus catch that could also be in the mix for play of the year. The catch, capped by an incredible touch of the toe along the sideline, got Collaros his sixth touchdown pass of the night.

“Kenny’s catch was like a glitch in the Matrix — from my vantage point, at least,” said Zach Collaros. “Dalton (Schoen) had one a couple of years ago in B.C. that was similar. I threw it and I said, ‘Oh, I don’t think he’s gonna get that’ and then he just kind of got there with his claw. The (defensive back) looked surprised, too. We all were surprised.”

“It was a routine play and I knew I was in,” said Lawler. “We came back, I pointed and you could actually see the stab marks (from my foot) in bounds.”

“It never feels easy. It’s never as easy as it looks, as much as we make it look easy. There’s a lot of hard work, preparation, a lot of time that goes into this at the end of the day. They’re professionals on the other side, so you can’t come in thinking it’s going to be easy because it never is. No, it wasn’t easy. We just worked really hard this week and when you work really hard, you grind, you prepare, that’s what the outcome is.”

Scoop and score

Winnipeg’s defence forced a season-high six takeaways in Edmonton last week and the unit picked up where it left off midway through the second quarter when defensive end TyJuan Garbutt scooped up a loose ball and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.

McLeod Bethel-Thompson tried to check the ball down to Justin Rankin on the play but the rookie running back was unable to make the catch and failed to secure the ball with defensive back Michael Griffin II running down to make a hit. The ball was live as the pass traveled slightly backward and Garbutt made a heads-up play to return it, accompanied to the end zone by Evan Holm and Brandon Alexander.

Clean football

The first penalty of Friday’s game didn’t come until the late stages of the third quarter when Edmonton head coach Jarious Jackson successfully challenged for pass interference on rookie defensive back Terrell Bonds.

There were two flags thrown earlier in the game but both were declined as Edmonton was called for holding in the second quarter and Brandon Alexander was flagged for illegal contact on a receiver in the third quarter. One could also argue that Edmonton linebacker Les Maruo should have been charged with unnecessary roughness for a late hit on Lucky Whitehead but no flag was thrown.

The Elks eventually took their first penalty early in the fourth quarter when Devodric Bynum was called for pass interference on Kenny Lawler. The game finished with four penalties for 46 yards, which has to be among the lowest totals of the season.

Upon further review

Kenny Lawler caught an outlet pass from Zach Collaros on Winnipeg’s opening drive and spun to avoid a tackle from Loucheiz Purifoy, causing him to momentarily lose his footing. Marcus Lewis delivered a hit to Lawler’s back and the ball popped loose before Purifoy recovered it and returned deep into Winnipeg territory.

The command centre automatically reviewed the play and the call on the field was overturned as Lawler’s elbow was clearly down before he lost control of the ball.

This was a perfect example of how the command centre should work. The officials didn’t blow the play dead prematurely and allowed the action to play out accordingly. Immediately afterward, the command centre overturned a call that was clear upon review and the officials communicated the process effectively to the crowd.

The command centre also nailed a ruling early in the fourth quarter when Ontaria Wilson’s knee had clearly touched the turf before turning upfield to get Winnipeg within two yards of the end zone.

For all the controversy surrounding the command centre this year, it got everything right in this one.

Short yardage watch

Terry Wilson got his first opportunity to run short yardage following the season-ending injury to Chris Streveler and made the most of it, finishing a perfect two-for two.

On the flip side, Winnipeg’s defence had mixed results on short yardage. The unit stuffed former Blue Bombers’ quarterback Dakota Prukop on third-and-one late in the first quarter and the offence wasted no time cashing in on the turnover as Zach Collaros hit Keric Wheatfall for a 49-yard touchdown pass on the following play.

Early in the third quarter, Celestin Haba missed a tackle on Justin Rankin after immediately penetrating Edmonton’s offensive line on third-and-one. The rookie running back then exploded off the right side, rushing for 30 yards before being chased down in the red zone by veteran linebacker Shayne Gauthier. The Elks cashed in three plays later when McLeod Bethel-Thompson hit Eugene Lewis for a seven-yard touchdown.

What the Fox?

Defensive tackle Miles Fox, who started the first two games of the season for Winnipeg, was removed from the six-game injured list this past week after missing 12 games due to an undisclosed injury. He was placed on the one-game injured list as a healthy scratch, which was somewhat of a surprise given that Devin Adams was promoted from the practice roster as Winnipeg looked to field a heavier front this week.

Jamal Woods, who has made 16 tackles and two sacks over 13 games this season, appears to have permanently won the starting job with Adams as the backup. It remains to be seen, of course, but Fox could always enter the lineup in the coming weeks as a de facto late-season addition or as a stopgap to allow some bumps and bruises to heal before the playoffs.

Truth and Reconciliation

The Blue Bombers hosted over 1,000 people from Indigenous communities for Friday’s game, which celebrated the upcoming National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. There were plenty of orange shirts in the crowd, there was a pregame performance from the Norman Chief Memorial Dancers, the Dakota Plains Choir sang the national anthem, and the Walking Wolf Singers & Dancers played the halftime show.

All nine CFL teams now have Indigenous logos, three of which were new this year and all of which are being worn this week. In all, this initiative seems to be well-executed by the league and its member clubs. The CFL is our country’s league and the Indigenous population should be welcomed into it with open arms.

Next up

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (9-6) will visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-9) on Friday, Oct. 4 with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT. Winnipeg beat the Ticats at Princess Auto Stadium on Aug. 23 in a sloppy affair that saw Kenny Lawler score the game-winning touchdown with 19 seconds left, sealing a 26-23 victory.

Zach Collaros threw for 177 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions in the win, struggling against a Hamilton defence that had just been taken over by Chris Jones. The Blue Bombers have lost their last two visits to Tim Hortons Field, giving up five touchdowns to Dane Evans in a 48-31 loss in 2022 and committing four turnovers in a 29-23 loss in 2023.

As of the publishing of this article, the Tiger-Cats trailed the B.C. Lions by a score of 7-0 in the first quarter in Vancouver.

If you’re looking for more football before then, head to Princess Auto Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28 for the Regina Rams and Manitoba Bisons at 5:00 p.m. CDT. The Bisons are looking to improve to 5-0 and add to their lead atop the Canada West standings. I’ll be calling the game alongside Brendan McGuire for 620 CKRM.

John Hodge
John Hodge
John Hodge is a Canadian football reporter based in Winnipeg.

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