Winnipeg Blue Bombers complete comeback over Ottawa in overtime (& 11 other thoughts)

Photo courtesy: Winnipeg Blue Bombers

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Ottawa Redblacks by a score of 36-34 at TD Place Stadium on Sunday night. Below are my thoughts on the game.

Dru’s revenge

Dru Brown made his return to Ottawa almost exactly one month after he was traded to the Blue Bombers. Redblacks head coach Ryan Dinwiddie suspected Brown had an axe to grind heading into the game, though the veteran quarterback said all the right things about his former club despite Dinwiddie publicly questioning his arm strength.

If revenge is a dish best served cold, Brown let it sit at room temperature for most of the night before fervently dousing it with liquid nitrogen in the fourth quarter.

The 29-year-old completed 27-of-43 pass attempts for 317 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions in the win, which looks good at first glance. However, as is often the case, the numbers don’t tell the full story.

Ottawa’s defenders squandered four opportunities to intercept Brown. Three of his passes hit defensive back Shakur Brown in the hands — one in the third quarter, one in the fourth quarter, and one in overtime. Dionté Ruffin also had a chance at a game-winning pick in overtime, though he was unable to squeeze it.

Winnipeg’s receivers weren’t always at their best for Brown. Ontaria Wilson should have come down with a 42-yard bomb near the start of the second quarter, though appeared he tracked the ball incorrectly after hand-fighting with the defender. Tommy Nield also whiffed on a catchable ball in the third quarter, which cost Winnipeg a first down and a 27-yard gain.

Dinwiddie was an excellent collegiate quarterback at Boise State University and played professionally for the better part of a decade. He’s also a two-time Grey Cup-winning head coach and a former CFL Coach of the Year.

Despite all the criticism he’s taken for choosing Jake Maier over Brown, some of which has come from this publication, Maier was the better passer on Sunday. He was far from perfect and his statistics were worse than Brown’s, but he was the better quarterback on this particular night.

Defence doesn’t dish

It was a shaky night for Winnipeg’s defence, which allowed Ottawa’s league-worst offence to put up 34 points and 420 net yards, the latter of which far surpassed a previous season-high.

After giving up field goals on three straight possessions, the Blue Bombers defence broke down near the end of the first half, giving up a five-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that ended with a one-yard plunge from Bryson Barnes.

It was undeniably a letdown, though the unit played nearly 19 minutes through the two opening quarters. When you’re on the field that much, fatigue will inevitably set in.

The defence gave up a bunch of yardage in the third quarter before slamming the door when it mattered most.

First, Kyrie Wilson snuffed out a quarterback sneak on third-and-goal to force a turnover on downs at the one-yard line. On the next possession, Jake Kelly intercepted an errant throw from Jake Maier at the back of the end zone to keep Ottawa off the board.

Winnipeg generally tackled well, which has been a problem at times this season, and pressured Maier with some consistency. Evan Holm also made a sensational knockdown in overtime, breaking up what would have been a game-winning touchdown pass to Keelan White.

However, the unit gave up far too much in the passing game as Kalil Pimpleton and Ayden Eberhardt were left open downfield for big plays. The front six also got manhandled in the run game a few times, which was a surprise given how poorly the Redblacks ran the ball through their first five games.

Triple overtime

The CFL made a change to its overtime format this offseason to eliminate ties. If the score remains even after both teams have two possessions in overtime, the game is now decided on a series of two-point converts.

The league only had four ties occur from 2016 to 2025, which likely left most fans and pundits believing it’d be a long time before this rule was needed. However, this is the CFL where chaos reigns supreme — it only took seven weeks for this exact circumstance to arise.

It seemed like there was a lot of confusion about how the shootout would be conducted, with head referee Ben Major’s on-field explanation leaving a little to be desired. TSN also didn’t seem quite sure how the format worked. A board explaining it would have been helpful for viewers, many of whom were likely unaware the change was made in May.

In the end, the shootout was far more compelling than a tie. Ties are for funerals, weddings, and soccer. In football, there should always be a winner and loser.

Where’s Brady?

There was lots of hand-wringing before the season started regarding the play-calling of offensive coordinator Tommy Condell, who has led pass-heavy attacks throughout his CFL career.

Sunday felt like the first time this concern may have been well-founded. Brady Oliveira recorded only seven carries in regulation and wasn’t a factor in the passing attack, making only one grab for four yards.

The star running back only got eight carries in Week 2 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but that made sense at the time — Bo Levi Mitchell was on fire, forcing the Blue Bombers to throw the ball early and often to try to keep up.

This game felt different. Ottawa was without Nyles Morgan, their middle linebacker and leading tackler, which should have allowed Winnipeg to make hay on the ground. That didn’t happen.

Winnipeg’s offensive line struggled to generate rushing lanes for Oliveira, and there weren’t any creative play designs to help him find space. He finished the game with 10 carries for 48 yards, 20 of which came on an impressive first-down romp in overtime.

The Blue Bombers are paying Oliveira a fortune relative to what CFL running backs typically make. When he’s in the lineup, he should be the focal point of the offensive attack, not an afterthought — especially when the passing game is struggling.

Costly errors

Winnipeg made a critical error on special teams near the end of the first quarter when Charles-Elliot Bouliane, a fourth-round pick out of the Université de Montréal, committed roughing the kicker against Ottawa punter Noah Gettman.

It didn’t appear Bouliane intentionally hit Gettman, though the replay clearly showed he struck the specialist’s plant leg. The penalty was essentially a turnover, as the Redblacks were given a fresh set of downs and eventually kicked a 27-yard field goal.

Tommy Nield had a disastrous play at the start of the fourth quarter, when he was charged with illegal procedure and an illegal block. The two infractions wiped out a 13-yard completion to Dante Daniels, which would have given Winnipeg a first down at Ottawa’s three-yard line.

The CFL outlawed crackback blocks in 2018. A veteran like Nield should know better than to put a shoulder into a defensive back running towards their own end zone.

Sergio Castillo had a blunder of his own in the fourth quarter, booting the ball out of bounds on a kickoff to give Ottawa possession at its 50-yard line. Winnipeg’s defence slammed the door as Willie Jefferson got home for a sack, but it still cost the team field position at a key juncture.

There were other key mistakes from the Blue Bombers, including a failed third-and-one QB sneak and a grade-two roughing the passer penalty (more on those in a moment).

However, the biggest challenge for Winnipeg was arguably the play of future Hall of Fame left tackle Stanley Bryant.

The 40-year-old had another tough outing, struggling one-on-one against former NFL pass rusher Luiji Vilain, who made his first career CFL start. Bryant was beaten for multiple pressures and took two holding penalties in the first half, though both were declined.

When a team is struggling offensively and defensively, its only hope is playing “clean” football, which means smart, mistake-free football. Winnipeg didn’t do that and wouldn’t have come away with a win had the Redblacks not dropped four would-be interceptions.

Coming up short

Winnipeg was perfect on short yardage over their first five games but got stuffed on their opening possession when Bryce Perkins was stopped short on third-and-one.

It was a relatively long yard, as Dru Brown was forced out the near the sideline after scrambling on the previous play. The offensive line didn’t get a substantial push and C.J. Reavis stopped Perkins shy of a first down, giving the Redblacks possession in Winnipeg territory.

Perkins may not have been to blame for failing to reach the first down — it’s tough to say for sure without seeing the film — but it’ll be interesting to see if he stays on the roster once Zach Collaros is ready to return (more on that in a moment).

Taylor Elgersma is currently the No. 2 behind Dru Brown. If the team wants to keep the rookie on the active roster, he’ll have to do short yardage when he inevitably becomes the No. 3. If the club wants Perkins to continue with short yardage, Elgersma will have to go to the reserve roster.

That’s so Fletch

Michael Fletcher made his first career start in place of injured nose tackle Cameron Lawson and the results were mixed.

The Appalachian State standout got off to an excellent start. He recorded a sack on Ottawa’s first possession, beating Drew Desjarlais one-on-one with a push-pull. He then shot a gap on the next drive to tackle Greg Bell for a three-yard loss.

Things took a turn for the worse in the third quarter. Fletcher shot the A-gap between Samuel Carson and Sean McEwen but went helmet-to-helmet on Jake Maier, drawing a grade-two roughing the passer penalty that cost his team 25 yards.

Winnipeg has needed more defensive linemen to step up and Fletcher appears capable of being an impact player. He just needs to play smarter.

Willie Jefferson was excellent again amid a strong start to the season, making one tackle, one sack, and one pass knockdown. One might ball that stat line a Willie Jefferson hat trick.

Mr. 200

Mike O’Shea coached regular-season game No. 200 with the Blue Bombers on Sunday.

The native of North Bay, Ont. was already the longest-tenured and winningest coach in franchise history, and is now the first to reach that particular milestone. The only two other Winnipeg head coaches to reach 100 regular-season games are Bud Grant (160) and Cal Murphy (138).

O’Shea is now just the second head coach to reach 200 regular-season games with the same team. He has joined Wally Buono, who reached the milestone with the Calgary Stampeders (234) and B.C. Lions (216).

With the win, the 55-year-old now has a 121-79 regular-season record in Bomberland.

Zach hits the six

The Blue Bombers moved Zach Collaros to the six-game injured list on Saturday, raising questions about the seriousness of his neck injury.

For what it’s worth, head coach Mike O’Shea told the media he doesn’t think Collaros will be out for the full six games. The 37-year-old hasn’t practiced since the injury occurred and it seems unlikely he’ll do so in the immediate future.

As the team is heading into a short week, they’ll practice only once. According to a schedule released to the media, the practice will be closed and quarterbacks will not be made available for interviews. As such, don’t expect any comprehensive updates anytime soon.

With all due respect to Collaros, the team doesn’t particularly need him for the foreseeable future and it seems wise to let him rest up.

After next week’s game against Calgary (more on that in a moment), the Blue Bombers will play the B.C. Lions, who will likely be without Nathan Rourke. They will then go on bye before another matchup with the lowly Ottawa Redblacks. All three games are at home.

RIP

Saskatchewan Roughriders captain Jayden Dalke was tragically killed in a car accident on Saturday night, the team announced on Sunday.

Obviously, this is a horrendous tragedy. Dalke was a gritty, talented football player who became a fan favourite over five seasons in Saskatchewan. He was only 30.

A moment of silence was held in Dalke’s memory before Sunday’s game, a trend that will likely continue into next week and possibly beyond.

Condolences to his family, friends, and teammates. It was a dark day in the CFL.

Canada Cup

This year’s Canada Cup reached its final day on Sunday in Winnipeg, where Manitoba finished sixth in U-18 competition following an 18-8 loss to British Columbia.

As of this article’s publication, the final between Saskatchewan and Quebec is still underway.

Next up

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-2) will host the Calgary Stampeders (2-4) at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday, July 24. The two teams met in Week 1 at McMahon Stadium, where Sergio Castillo made a 38-yard walk-off field goal to secure a 30-28 win.

The Stampeders are better than their record suggests, though the team has struggled on defence despite having arguably the most talented defensive line in the CFL.

This will be the second of three regular-season meetings between the West Division rivals, which means Winnipeg has a chance to secure the season series with a win.