Bombers’ Head Coach Mike O’Shea rarely ‘spills the beans,’ so take whatever he says when his team is questioned or criticized with a grain of salt.

The Bombers talk about needing to work harder as the solution to their problem. And in the past couple of weeks I have highlighted why that is not the solution. I do not care how hard you try to use a piece of styrofoam as a hammer…if you are doing something wrong trying harder is not going to work!

Sorry coach, I am not buying it, and neither are many other Bomber fans. But more importantly, I hope the Bomber staff, coordinators, and players are not buying it. Sell a fake bill of goods to the fans because you have created a culture of not throwing staff and players under the bus? I am good with that. It has worked in past years. That would be no different than what Mike O’Shea has done for years with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. But if he starts believing it…that is the problem. The Bombers literally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

“A play here or a play there and we may have a different outcome,” said head coach Mike O’Shea outside a morose Blue Bombers locker room. “Hard fought by both teams right to the very end. We jump out, they claw back and it comes down to a field goal with no time on the clock… as far as the CFL goes, it’s a pretty slick CFL game. – source

No. Wrong! It is not “A play here, a play there…” Your team stopped running the ball and has massive issues stopping the long ball against you. It is not about fixing a play here or there. It is about fixing how the game is called on offence and fixing how the defense covers. That is the problem, full stop.

As for Oliveira, here is what he thinks, or at least what he is saying, ““It’s frustrating, man. So frustrating. It’s tough,” said running back Brady Oliveira, who finished with 168 yards from scrimmage with 100 yards on nine receptions and 68 along the ground on 12 carries. “I mean, are we really a 4-4 football team? I truly to my core do not believe we are a 4-4 team. I truly believe we’re better than our record shows. We’re really close but we’ve got to play an entire four quarters.”

You would think that Oliveira is the one who would know best what the issue is…he is the guy that the ball stops coming to on the run. Rather, I suspect, Brady is doing the Mike O’Shea thing and being a team player. And if so, good on him. I can live with that, and Bomber fans should be able to also. Because at the end of the day, I do not care what they say…I can about results.

What actually concerns me is if Oliveira and others on the Bombers actually think think they are better than a 4-4 team! Who else out there thinks that? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

However, do not be surprised – again – to see the Bombers make some player moves. Based on the changes the Bombers made last week, you would have thought the light bulb went on. You would have thought the Bombers knew their were issues outside of just playing harder. They brought Dillon Mitchell off the practice roster and inserted him into the game. A player that they paid a big signing bonus to in order that he would come to Winnipeg, only to not play him, move him to the practice roster, and then activate him days later for the game vs. Calgary.

There is actually 1 more issue that the Bombers need to be facing head on:

* The Bombers better figure out how to keep Brady around.
Right now this is my pure speculation, but I want to offer some historical evidence that points to this as a potential issue.

Yep, you heard that right. I do not care that in the past Brady Oliveira said he needs to be in Winnipeg and he is loyal to his team. At some point, if you are not being released to use your skills on the field, you are going to look for a place where you can. Football careers are not long!

And the thing that is the most concerning about this is that Jason Hogan – the Bombers’ offensive coach – should know this the best!

“I remember saying, ‘You mind sticking around?’,” Hogan recalled. “Then I asked him, ‘What’s going on? You didn’t seem open today and you’re such a coachable kid.’ He said, ‘I don’t know if I have it.’”

It was July 16, 2022; the Blue Bombers were 6-0 and still glowing from a 26-19 win over the Calgary Stampeders at IG Field. And yet the starting running back was… positively lost.

“I had nine carries in that game… for eight yards. Eight,” Oliveira said. “That was the worst game of my career. Worst game I’ve ever played through all levels of my football career. Never, ever had a performance like that.”

“I remember being in Coach Jay’s office and breaking down, just crying, and saying, ‘I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if I can play at this level.’ That’s how much doubt I had. I had always been so driven and motivated and confident and so to be in that spot was pretty dramatic.

“It was a bunch of games stacking up on me; week after week of me not putting out a performance I knew I was capable of doing. Obviously, I had put a lot of pressure on myself, and I was also feeling it from fans and the media. – Source

And more recently, Oliveira expressed his frustration with not running the ball enough in the 2024 Grey Cup,

“They understand that we can take a game over at any given point,” Oliveira said. “We didn’t have enough of those opportunities on Sunday, which is unfortunate. It’s not making sense to me right now.

“I still need to reflect on that… I’ve earned the right to understand why it played out that way.”

Oliveira plans to ask his coaches that very question, eventually. But it was all still too raw on Tuesday. – Source

And if it did not make sense to Oliveira then…it certainly must be very confusing to him now. For me, that starts to print a problematic picture if the Bombers do not run the ball more consistently. I do have to wonder if Hogan just is not able to manage it all and if his plate is too full.

And while it might not all be about the money for Brady, remember that both Hamilton and BC offered Oliveira more money to play there. He declined both offers, but if things do not change will he take such offers at the end of 2026?

What did you think? Let me know in the comments section wherever you are reading this.

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