The Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost to the Toronto Argonauts by a score of 41-24 in front of 52,349 fans at the 111th Grey Cup at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver. Below are my thoughts on the game.
Wasted opportunities
Winnipeg won back-to-back Grey Cups in 2019 and 2021 but have since lost three straight, all of which they were favoured to win. Teams generally need three championships in relatively quick succession to be considered a dynasty and now, with a third straight loss on their resumé, it’s getting harder and harder to view the Blue Bombers as dynasty material.
Head coach Mike O’Shea disagreed that Sunday’s loss felt like a missed opportunity, though he acknowledged that his team’s performance left much to be desired.
“It might be a little early to think (that),” he said. “It’s still pretty raw. Anytime you don’t win your last game, there’s a tendency to view it as failure and I don’t know about that. It was hell of a ride this year, quite a different season. We just didn’t play our best football at the end.”
Almost all of the players I spoke to disagreed with their head coach, expressing their belief that they let this moment slip through their fingers.
“Most definitely (it feels like a missed opportunity),” said defensive end Willie Jefferson, who had a remarkable performance (more on that in a moment). “We had a good day on defence, it was just rough. We couldn’t put the ball in the end zone when we needed to, we had turnovers. It was just a tough game.”
“Devastated, disappointed. I feel brutal for my teammates,” said offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld. “Absolutely (it feels like a missed opportunity). We felt extremely confident going into the game about our game plan. Sh*t didn’t go our way and we just couldn’t recover from the mistakes we made. Hats off to Toronto, that defence was swarming. They played awesome, they deserve it, they earned it.”
“Yeah (we let this one slip through our fingers). Sh*t, we lost,” said returner Lucky Whitehead. “We didn’t play well in the second half. Too many self-inflicted wounds that we just couldn’t come back from. It’s just unfortunate. We planned and prepared very well, we were ready for this. It obviously didn’t go our way.”
“I’m just disappointed. You want it for the room and the guys,” said long snapper Mike Benson. “We were there. We persevered all year, we made it where we wanted to go, and we just didn’t capitalize. I guess (it feels like a missed opportunity).”
“A championship game is not being played, it’s being won. We played the game and they won that game. When you line up between the four white lines and the referee blows the whistle, it’s up in the air to take and they went out there and took it,” said strong-side linebacker Redha Kramdi. “They were the better team tonight.”
“To not have it go your way in the ultimate game is obviously tough,” said quarterback Zach Collaros. “It feels pretty bad every time (you lose a Grey Cup). There’s just so many people in the locker room that you care for and develop deep bonds with. You put in a lot of time, a lot of work together.”
Regardless of how O’Shea wants to spin Sunday’s effort, this was a huge missed opportunity for the Blue Bombers. The team was close to perfect offensively and defensively in the West Final and entered the Grey Cup as the heavy favourite with a journeyman quarterback under centre for the opposition. Winnipeg should have won this game. Instead, they lost — and not by a particularly close margin.
For fans looking for a silver lining, Jefferson, who spoke to the team behind closed doors before the media entered the locker room, still seems optimistic about next year as Winnipeg is set to host the Grey Cup for the first time since 2015. He’s not worried about the team’s championship window closing.
“We’ve got a good group — a good veteran group,” said Jefferson. “We’ve got some great young guys, a great coaching staff. We’ve just gotta keep working.”
Next season is a long way away. In my opinion, it’s too early to say if the team’s window is closed or not. The team has responded well from its previous Grey Cup losses but this one felt different considering how badly they played.
Give Brady the ball
Winnipeg put the Grey Cup in the hands of Zach Collaros and he struggled. Badly.
The two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player completed 15-of-30 pass attempts for 202 yards and four interceptions. Toronto’s interception total tied a Grey Cup record, while their 164 interception return yards set a new CFL record.
The 36-year-old native of Steubenville, Ohio only threw one pick by the midway point of the fourth quarter, which came on a sensational play by rookie cornerback Benjie Franklin. The second came on a deep shot to Ontaria Wilson that was undercut by DaShaun Amos. After that, the veteran quarterback began trying to force things out of desperation as Robert Priester and Wynton McManis made late interceptions as the score got out of hand.
Not sure what is bleeding more: Zach’s hand or the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
DaShaun Amos (@Famousss_Amos) snags the interception and Toronto makes it a two-score game.#CFL #Argos #PullTogether #GreyCup
pic.twitter.com/RnBpsUxVFi— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) November 18, 2024
It should be noted that his final three interceptions came after Collaros momentarily left the game to get stitches in the index finger on his throwing hand, which was bleeding. He out on a glove and indicated the finger felt numb, though he refused to use that as an excuse, saying he appreciated the opportunity to get back in the game.
Rookie quarterback Terry Wilson went zero-for-three in the veteran’s absence, one of which should have been picked off by Franklin in the end zone. Based on that alone, putting Collaros back in was the right choice.
Keric Wheatfall had a miserable game and Nic Demski had arguably his worst performance of the season, failing to squeeze the second-down catches he usually makes with ease. Ontaria Wilson was the only receiver who finished the game with over 30 yards as he caught five passes for 99 yards, almost all of which came in the first quarter.
You would have never known Winnipeg had the league’s Most Outstanding Player in the backfield based on their play-calling. Brady Oliveira touched the ball only 13 times, recording 84 rushing yards, 18 receiving yards, and one touchdown. It wasn’t enough.
Oliveira was upset after last year’s Grey Cup because he didn’t believe he got enough carries. He rushed 19 times for 119 yards and one touchdown in a 28-24 loss to the Montreal Alouettes. It’s bewildering that he got even less use this time around.
The Winnipeg native wasn’t in the locker room after the game, which the team indicated meant he was unavailable for an interview.
“I don’t know what the numbers were,” said Collaros regarding the team’s lack of rush attempts. “I know that we weren’t very good on second-down conversions early in the game, so not being able to stay on the football field probably lends its hand to less rushes or less pass attempts depending on the situation in the game if you’re up or you’re down. We weren’t on the field enough there in the first half for sure, so it’s kinda just how the game plays out sometimes.”
Collaros was right about his team’s lack of time of possession. The Jonas Brothers were arguably on the field for longer than Winnipeg’s offence was in the first half.
“You’ve just gotta roll with what’s called,” said Patrick Neufeld. “You don’t think about what should be called or shouldn’t be called, you just play the play that’s called and that’s what you gotta do.”
Mike O’Shea indicated that Oliveira didn’t get more carries because of what the defence was doing to take him away.
“We’re always of the mindset that whatever it’s gonna take and we pivot based on what the defence is choosing to do, so I think that would be short-sighted to say that (Oliveira didn’t get the ball enough). Obviously, we want Brady to have a great game and lead us to victory but sometimes defences have a say in it, too.”
The veteran coach knows far more about football than I do, but I’m not sure his comment made sense. If the defence was focused on shutting down Oliveira, why did he average almost eight yards per carry? It’s also worth asking why Winnipeg’s passing attack was terrible despite Toronto’s defence purportedly showing pass-friendly looks.
When asked how much he blames himself for the loss, Collaros put it on his shoulder.
“That’s kinda the quarterback way. You always feel like if you just did this, things would go another way,” said Collaros. “You’re always going to feel that way. Right or wrong, it just kinda is what it is.”
For the record, the veteran passer has now thrown for 621 yards, zero touchdowns, and six interceptions over the last three Grey Cups. Clearly, that’s not good enough.
Stages of grief
I’ve been in the locker room after all three of Winnipeg’s recent Grey Cup losses. In 2022, the room was in shock. Everything was silent. It was as if the players couldn’t process what had just happened. Players typically shower and leave pretty quickly after a loss. Instead, it was as if they were moving in slow motion.
In 2023, everyone felt angry. The tension was palpable. You could hear people yelling and throwing things in adjacent rooms. There was no arguing going on — it was just a culmination of raw anger. It was as if the team knew how badly the next six months were going to suck having blown another opportunity to win a championship.
This year, it felt like sheer disappointment. Tears. Sadness. The whole bit.
“The last couple of years, it was anger and sadness. I guess this year it’s disappointment, so we’re getting the full gamut of negative emotions,” said Patrick Neufeld. “We’ll try to find positive moments with our teammates and be able to reflect on this journey that we had this year and the connections that we made with each other and find some sort of shining light after this. The sun’s gonna rise tomorrow, so we’ll keep plugging along.”
Worst rule ever
Kyrie Wilson was charged with illegal interference following a blocked punt from Michael Ayers on the final play of the third quarter. Winnipeg recovered the loose ball but Toronto was allowed to maintain possession due to the penalty.
According to the CFL’s rulebook, only four penalties result in an automatic first down for the non-offending team: pass interference, rough play, unnecessary roughness, and illegal interference. As such, it didn’t matter that the Argonauts lost 19 yards on third down. It was still their ball.
Wilson, who has been with the Blue Bombers since 2017, admitted that he didn’t know the rule and also acknowledged that the officials made a fair call.
“When we’re both going to the ball, you can’t push him and I made a bad mistake by basically giving him the shove going to try to get the ball. That was pretty much it. I should not have pushed him going to the ball and the referee caught it. We were both fighting and that was the reason that the penalty was called,” said the veteran linebacker.
“To be honest with you, I didn’t know (the rule) but at the same time, I should not have pushed him. At the end of the day, it’s my fault for pushing him to even get it to that point where they get the ball back. It was my fault.”
Let’s make one thing clear: Ben Major’s officiating crew got the call right. Wilson admitted to interfering with an opponent and, by the letter of the law, it was Toronto football.
The problem is that this rule sucks. When a team gives up a blocked punt, they shouldn’t be given a first down unless they recover the ball and advance it beyond the sticks. The league’s rules committee needs to address this in the off-season. The penalty didn’t cost Winnipeg the game — they made far too many mistakes for that — but it arguably caused the CFL to look silly on its biggest stage. The rule simply doesn’t make sense.
Picking your spots
Defensive backs Deatrick Nichols and Terrell Bonds both came close to blowing Sunday’s game open in the second quarter but failed to make the play.
Deatrick Nichols missed a pick-six by 🤏
much.#CFL #Bombers #Argos #GreyCup
pic.twitter.com/4TQ7ifcVqO— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) November 18, 2024
Nick Arbuckle threw a short hook route to Makai Polk on second-and-eight with five minutes remaining in the first half and Nichols jumped it, thrusting his right arm into the path of the ball. The veteran halfback was unable to get his left arm around in time to complete the interception and Polk made a nice play to pin the ball against his facemask before turning upfield, securing a first down.
On Toronto’s next possession, rookie cornerback Terrell Bonds jumped a pass intended for Damonte Coxie but was unable to secure it, merely knocking it down. Had he arrived a fraction of a second earlier, he would likely have taken it back to the house for a pick-six, which would have given Winnipeg an 11-point lead and the momentum going into halftime.
WILLIE SLAPS ✋
But the @TorontoArgos still recover the ball!#GreyCup LIVE on TSN, CTV, RDS & CBSSN
📱: Stream on CFL+ pic.twitter.com/tB2OYkPLUE— CFL (@CFL) November 18, 2024
This trend carried into the third quarter as Willie Jefferson, who dominated award-winning offensive lineman Ryan Hunter, sacked Arbuckle and forced him to fumble. The ball remained on the turf untouched for a moment before centre Peter Nicastro dove on it, maintaining possession for the Argonauts.
Winnipeg eventually got two interceptions as Terrell Bonds picked off a deep shot late in the third quarter and Willie Jefferson snagged a pass early in the fourth quarter. It proved too little, too late, however, as the Blue Bombers lost the turnover battle five to two.
Championship games often come down to taking advantage of opportunities as they arise. Winnipeg narrowly missed several of them, while Toronto took almost full advantage.
Feeling protective
Winnipeg’s offensive line struggled terribly in two regular season meetings against Toronto, giving up 12 sacks. The unit was excellent against a talented Saskatchewan defensive front in the West Final and played well again in the Grey Cup, giving up one sack.
When I spoke to head coach Mike O’Shea about his team’s pass protection earlier this week, he was pretty blunt, essentially saying he knew they’d be better. He was right.
Robbie Smith, who blocked Winnipeg’s last-minute, potential game-winning field goal in the Grey Cup in 2022, sacked Zach Collaros near the midway point of the second quarter. It was a bit of an odd play as the quarterback hit the top of his drop before immediately charging upfield. Either it was a called run or he thought he saw an escape route after defensive tackle Ralph Holley walked centre Chris Kolankowski into the backfield.
Toronto led the CFL in sacks this season, averaging 2.7 per game. Holding them to one on 30 pass attempts seems like a pretty good result.
Fool me once
For the second straight game, Lucky Whitehead fumbled a punt return deep in Winnipeg territory. Canadian linebacker Fraser Sopik was credited with the forced fumble but it was actually an unforced error by the veteran return specialist.
“I was tucking the ball and it slipped as I was tucking it,” said Whitehead. “I got these quarter sleeves on and as I was tucking the ball, it just popped up. I couldn’t gather it, I couldn’t squeeze it enough. It was just an unfortunate play.”
Jack Cassar recovered the fumble and Toronto immediately capitalized as Nick Arbuckle hit Kevin Mital for a 17-yard touchdown pass on the next play.
Let’s get loud
The media centre at BC Place Stadium is open-air and unusually close to field level. If you were to reach down over the front row of the press box, you could high-five fans sitting in the last row of the lower bowl — you’re that close to the action. As such, it’s effortless to get a sense of the atmosphere.
I was anticipating a relatively Toronto-friendly crowd on Sunday but that wasn’t at all the case. There was a small smattering of boos when Nick Arbuckle did his pregame interview with Matthew Scianitti and a large cheer moments later when Brady Oliveira spoke to Claire Hanna, which set the tone for the night. The Argonauts were forced to deal with significant crowd noise on offence, while the Blue Bombers operated in relative silence.
Winnipeg fans outnumbered Argonauts fans in Vancouver this week — though, to be clear, there was still plenty of Toronto representation — but I expected virtually all “neutral” fans to throw their support behind the Boatmen. The crowd was chock-full of gear from around the league, particularly B.C. and Saskatchewan. It’d be only natural for those fans to cheer against the Blue Bombers.
Instead, Winnipeg clearly had the advantage as far the atmosphere was concerned. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it felt like a Blue Bombers home game, but it certainly didn’t feel like a neutral site game, either.
As for the attendance, it’s clear the game didn’t sell out, though it was close. The upper deck was around two-thirds full along the sidelines but packed behind the end zones. The lower bowl, meanwhile, was essentially full.
The final attendance figure of 52,349 was the highest for a Grey Cup since 2018 and the second-highest since 2012.
MVP and MVC
Nick Arbuckle was named the Most Valuable Player of the 111th Grey Cup after recording 252 passing yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and two carries for 11 yards. Mississauga, Ont. native and former first-round draft pick Dejon Brissett was named Most Valuable Canadian after making three catches for 45 yards and one score.
Zach Collaros had a chance to become the seventh player ever to win multiple Grey Cup MVP awards but fell well short. The existing multi-time Grey Cup MVPs include two-time winners Henry Burris, Bo Levi Mitchell, and Tommy Clements, and three-time winners Damon Allen, Doug Flutie, Sonny Wade, and Warren Moon.
Brady Oliveira also missed a shot to become the eighth player ever to win M.O.P. and Grey Cup MVP in the same season. The seven players previously to do so are Russ Jackson, David Green, Doug Flutie (who did it three times), Danny McManus, Travis Lulay, Bo Levi Mitchell, and Collaros.
Though it’s hard to argue with the Arbuckle pick, a case could be made that Willie Jefferson should have won MVP despite the loss. He finished with six tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception, and one forced fumble, which is one of the best defensive stat lines in Grey Cup history. It should also be noted that, though the scoreboard was lopsided, the Argonauts only outgained Winnipeg in net yardage 303 to 283.
“I had a good game. This is the last game of the season, this is exactly what I expected to do,” said Jefferson from the locker room. “I came out here and gave my all for my team, for my brothers. We just came up short.”
Taken for Grant-ed
Janarion Grant had a nice start against his former team, breaking contain around the left side for a 23-yard gain on his first punt return.
The 30-year-old, who was named the league’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player on Thursday, also found some room to operate on Winnipeg’s kickoff to open the second half, bringing it 25 yards up the gut.
Special teams coordinator Mike Miller clearly made the right adjustments to limit Grant from there onward as he finished with five total returns for 58 yards.
Going streaking
A nude woman stormed the field with just under five minutes remaining in Sunday’s game, generating a huge cheer from the crowd as Winnipeg was about to start a drive.
She ran with a black jacket in hand, which she’d presumably ripped off after taking the field. Oddly, security made no attempt to corral her. Once she realized nobody was pursuing her, she went from a jog to a saunter, occasionally stopping to pose for the crowd. Finally, once she reached the end zone, she was taken into custody.
Next up
That’s all, folks! Winnipeg’s season has come to a close with another disappointing loss in the Grey Cup. Where does the team go from here? I don’t know, but I’m confident next year’s squad will look different — on the field, as well as the coaching staff.
Stay tuned to 3DownNation for Winnipeg’s pending free agent list in the coming days.
My coverage of the team is usually interrupted at least once per season, often for a summer wedding. This year, that wasn’t the case — I covered both preseason games, all 18 regular season games, and both playoff games. I even got the opportunity to travel for a couple of away games, which is increasingly rare in today’s media landscape.
Thank you for sticking with me and our publication all season long. It wouldn’t be possible for me to do what I love without your support. It’s truly a pleasure.
