Winnipeg Blue Bombers fumble away East Final, lose to Montreal Alouettes (& 10 other thoughts)

Photo: Vincent Ethier/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost to the Montreal Alouettes by a score of 33-23 in the East Final on Saturday afternoon in front of 23,035 fans at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium. Below are my thoughts on the game.

Disaster at the worst time

Winnipeg’s offence started the East Final with the urgency of a Sunday morning stroll.

The unit punted on four of its first five possessions, two of which were two-and-outs. The only drive that didn’t end in a punt came early in the second quarter, when Brady Oliveira coughed up a fumble near midfield and the Alouettes recovered. He was initially ruled down, though Montreal successfully challenged to secure the takeaway.

The offence scored twice before halftime, both of which came after long returns from Trey Vaval (more on him in a moment). Sergio Castillo made a 25-yard field goal, and Bryce Perkins punched in a short touchdown plunge.

The protection in front of Collaros wasn’t nearly good enough early on. Dorian Singer was targeted only once in the entire first half, while Ontaria Wilson wasn’t targeted at all. If Winnipeg was going to win, it was clear that both receivers would need to be involved in the second half.

Come the second half, it looked like a different offence. The unit scored on three of its first four drives, and looked to be in great position to take the lead with a little over three minutes remaining.

Instead, disaster struck.

Collaros rolled out to his right, though Tyrice Beverette was in chase after dodging a block from Nic Demski. Beverette forced the fumble, recovered, and Montreal scored a touchdown on their ensuing drive to ice the game.

Collaros finished the game 21-of-27 for 228 yards, while Oliveira rushed 14 times for 105 yards.

Bending then breaking

Winnipeg’s defence played winning football — until it didn’t.

For all the concern about Tyson Philpot at field-side wideout, it was Charleston Rambo on the boundary side that killed Winnipeg’s defence for a couple of big gains. The veteran receiver got behind Major Williams twice in the first half, making a 48-yard catch late in the first quarter, and a 52-yard catch late in the second quarter.

Editor’s note: this section will be updated.

Sloppy specials

Special teams were a strength for Winnipeg throughout the regular season, but they weren’t up to snuff on Saturday.

The first sign of trouble came on the opening kickoff, when Mekhi Mews exploited a seam for a 40-yard return. The ball was kicked into a relatively strong wind, which usually benefits the cover team. Instead, Montreal took possession in Winnipeg territory, and needed only five plays to open the scoring with a field goal.

Two possessions later, Jamieson Sheahan had a chance to bury the Alouettes deep in their own end but kicked an illegal punt out of bounds. The play resulted in a net of only 17 yards, making it little better than a turnover.

Sheahan’s next punt resulted in another mistake, as Major Williams was flagged for no yards. The infraction turned a 34-yard punt into a 19-yard punt, which — again — was little better than a turnover. The penalty likely came as a result of the wind, as the punt likely didn’t travel as far as Williams anticipated.

Though the game was already likely lost, disaster struck again late when Sergio Castillo missed a 39-yard field goal attempt with 35 seconds remaining. It was his first miss from within 40 yards all season long — field goals and converts, included.

Trey Vaval had a strong night, recording 237 return yards on 10 total attempts. It wasn’t enough.

 

QB quandary

The East Final didn’t start until Saturday afternoon, but the Blue Bombers were playing games all week long.

First, the team didn’t practice on Tuesday, which head coach Mike O’Shea said was done to ensure the players were fresh for what would be a physical game. Of course, not practicing also meant the team didn’t have to file an injury report.

Winnipeg then closed practice on Wednesday and didn’t make quarterbacks available to the media. O’Shea was mum on the status of his passers, though the injury report later revealed Collaros was a limited participant.

On Thursday, Collaros was a non-participant, which meant he was not available to the media. Dru Brown spoke to reporters but claimed he didn’t know who would start under centre in Montreal.

When the team released its depth chart on Friday, Collaros was listed as the starter with a game-time decision designation. When addressing the media later that day, O’Shea indicated the team was simply giving a veteran player “every opportunity to play until he says he can’t.” Collaros also spoke to reporters, and essentially said he would play if the team let him.

It’s impossible to say if Winnipeg’s head games had any effect on the outcome.

Terrible call

Saturday’s game was generally well-officiated but the officials threw one of the worst flags you’ll ever see near the midway point of the second quarter.

Alouettes receiver Tyler Snead ran a dig route into an unsuspecting Deatrick Nichols on second-and-ten. The veteran defensive back was stationary in zone coverage, got bowled over from behind, and seemed pleased to see the flag, believing the penalty was on Snead.

Instead, it was on him.

The replay clearly showed that the call was nonsense, and Winnipeg successfully challenged to have it negated. As a result, Montreal was forced to punt.

I’m not a big fan of reviews or challenges, but this was one that was good to overturn.

One might assume Nichols was happy to see the penalty negated but he instead lashed out at TSN’s camera operator, swearing and telling him to get out of his face. OK, then.

What is happening?

Though the play was (correctly) ruled a simple incompletion, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more chaotic play than what we saw early in the second quarter.

Zach Collaros misfired to Dorian Singer, and the pass hit the hands of defensive back Robert Kennedy III. The ball then bounced off Tim White, back against Kennedy III, and then into the hands of another defender, who almost made the interception.

The ball then popped back into the air, when it was finally caught by White. The veteran receiver turned upfield, but was then stripped of the ball, and Montreal recovered.

Though the chaos wasn’t reflected on the stat sheet, this was truly a wild one.

Holm is where the heart is

The CFL playoff record for single-game defensive tackles is 14.

Brendon Ayanbadejo set the record with the B.C. Lions in 2002, and Deron Mayo tied it with the Calgary Stampeders in 2013.

Evan Holm recorded 10 defensive tackles for Winnipeg in the first half, and finished the game with 11.

Crossover

With the CFL’s playoff rules set to change next year, Winnipeg will forever be the last crossover team in league history.

Entering this year, no crossover team had ever reached the Grey Cup. This isn’t necessarily a surprise, given that crossover teams are fourth-place teams. It’s not very realistic for a four-seed to go on the road and beat the two-seed and one-seed in back-to-back weeks.

The Blue Bombers came relatively close, but ultimately fell short. It’s now official: no crossover team ever had or will make it to the Grey Cup.

Horns up

Though most Manitoba football fans had their attention on the Blue Bombers on Saturday, the Bisons had a playoff game of their own.

The fourth-place Herd visited the first-place UBC Thunderbirds in the Canada West semifinals and played to a hard-fought 30-23 loss. The Bisons drove the field late to try to tie things up, but Cole Anseeuw was intercepted by Tahliek Louis deep in UBC territory.

Next up

Winnipeg’s season has officially come to an end following a loss in the East Final. The team will likely clean out the locker room on Sunday, at which point players will have a chance to reflect on the season and address their futures.

You’d have to imagine that we’ve seen the last of at least a couple of the team’s veterans. It’ll be interesting to hear what they have to say on clean out day.