For the second time in the last three seasons, the Toronto Argonauts took down the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup in shocking fashion.
Unlike that faithful November night in Regina in 2022, this time the Argos beat the brakes off the five-time consecutive West Division champions thanks mostly to their defence. They picked off Bombers’ quarterback Zach Collaros four times, including a 61-yard pick-six with just over three minutes to go to put this one to bed.
The victory gives the Argos a league-leading 19th Grey Cup banner. They’ve also won all of their appearances in the big game since 1991.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the dumb of the 111th Grey Cup.
The Good
Much of the talk coming into this game for the Argos was about backup quarterback Nick Arbuckle being forced to make the start after star QB Chad Kelly broke his leg late in the East Final.
Arbuckle ended up being quite the story, throwing for 252 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He was named the game’s MVP, but I’m not entirely sure it’s an award he earned. While he played better than most probably anticipated, his play didn’t stand out either.
In my eyes, there was no question that Blue Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson was by far the best player on the field in the Grey Cup. The veteran pass rusher put on a vintage performance where he was everywhere and unstoppable.
That said, I understand the reluctance of voters to award the trophy to someone on the losing team.
As good of a story as Arbuckle was in this game, the reason the Argos won was because of their defence. A defence that has had the Bombers’ number all season, only allowing 25 points in two regular-season matchups this season.
Their powerful defensive line was again able to affect Collaros enough to make his job difficult, even if they didn’t sack him nearly as often as they did previously. Their secondary was in the right spots to make plays all night. It’s something Toronto has managed to pull off in all of their meetings with the Blue and Gold this season.
They were led by linebacker Wynton McManis, who quietly had a big game of his own with six tackles, one interception, and three knockdowns.
That said, I don’t think the Argos are too worried about who took home the individual hardware. They got the big one — that’s all that matters.
The Bad
“I enjoy being right more than I enjoy winning.” – 3Down Green Cast co-host John Fraser.
Before this game was over, my phone was blowing up with messages from Fraser wondering when we could hit record on our next podcast. Fraser is, of course, a noted Bombers fan but also one of Collaros’ biggest critics. He’s taken a lot of flack for it over the years from Bomber faithful.
The evidence is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore when it comes to Collaros and getting the job when it matters.
When all was said and done on Sunday in Vancouver, Collaros managed just 202 yards passing. He had no touchdowns and, worst of all, threw four interceptions including that game-sealing pick-six late in the fourth quarter.
In fairness to Collaros, he did play the final quarter with an injured throwing hand, forcing him to wear a glove — which seems to be something he’s never or at least rarely ever done. That said, even before the injury, Collaros hadn’t mustered much through three quarters. If not for some garbage-time yards late in the game, he wouldn’t have cracked the 200-yard mark for the game.
In total, the Argos picked up 164 yards off of those four interceptions — a Grey Cup record. The four interceptions also tied an all-time Grey Cup mark.
Collaros hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in the Grey Cup since the Bombers won the game in 2021. In all of his Grey Cup appearances with Winnipeg, he has thrown just two touchdown passes compared to eight interceptions. His playoff games, outside of this year’s West Final, haven’t been much to write home about either.
At times this season, it appeared that Collaros had turned a corner and that he could be a big reason for the Bombers ending their losing streak in the Grey Cup. Instead, he was the biggest reason they lost — again.
The Dumb
There were a few things that happened on Sunday at BC Place that were amusing.
There was a contest on the field in the second quarter where a fan had three chances to hit a 10-yard field goal for a donation to charity. His first two attempts didn’t even get airborne before he hit the third and final kick.
The public address announcer twice called defensive plays incorrectly, effectively saying that both teams got takeaways courtesy of their third-string quarterbacks. Just before the end of halftime, there was a funny bit on the scoreboard that featured clueless fans looking at their phones and jokes about what they were looking it. That included Bo Levi Mitchell searching for a new pair of “Boveralls.”
The Argos also managed to keep possession of a blocked punt thanks to the Bombers being called for the ever-popular and widely-known penalty called “loose ball interference.”
But, the weirdest thing that happened came in the fourth quarter when a streaker in a puffy jacket jumped the railing and started running around near the Bomber-branded end zone. The jacket quickly came off and the woman was entirely nude underneath.
Security at BC Place must be trained to let these situations play out before getting involved as there was no rush to get out there and get her off the field. After a brief period, she essentially walked into the arms of security and was escorted away.
This feels notable because I can’t think of too many streakers at sporting events who haven’t been men. Good for her proving that anyone can be a streaker — though, I wouldn’t recommend it.
