The Inaugural Stampede Bowl came and went and the Bombers and their fans cannot forget about it soon enough! Coming into the game the Bombers were 3-0 but exited the game 3-1 with a brutal performance only putting up 16 points in that game; 7 of them in garbage time.
It is like everything I said that Calgary needed to do, Winnipeg did not do. The Bombers were not effective in running the ball. They did not protect the football, and they did not put up majors, but instead settled for field goals.. The statistics are interesting in this one as they do not tell the whole story of the game. In fact, Winnipeg was better statistically in numerous categories.
So what exactly happened and how did it happen? As you may recall, earlier in the year I said that the Bombers needed to play a better game after beating the Elks. I remember that one because some people on social media accused me of being too hard on the Bombers...however, I think we saw from the Calgary game that I was correct.
In my post-game article vs the Elks I had mentioned, "All in all the Bombers played a good enough game to win. However, if they play that way against a better team they are going to find themselves chasing the game and the outcome will be far less certain." And that is what we saw against Calgary.
Zach Collaros threw 2 interceptions, and Vernon Adams found a way to do what he had not done all season...throw a touchdown. He actually threw two touchdowns and no interceptions which now brings his TD/INT ration to 2/3. Coming into the game Collaros was 5/2 and is now 6/4, touchdowns to interceptions. I would be hard pressed to put any of those interceptions on the receivers.
Bombers Abandon The Run
Unless Oliveira is not 100% healthy, I do not know what the Bombers were doing. I get it. We can say that Calgary was stopping the run so the Bombers had to throw. And to some degree I can go along with that; to some degree. However, when you have Oliveira as your running back and he only gets 13 carries, meanwhile Collaros throws the ball 48 times...that is not a balanced offence at all! And if Oliveira was not 100%, which I do not believe was the case, then why bring him back at all?
When you look at all the Bomber games this year, the only time that they ran the ball close to 50% of the time was their first game against BC. After that, and remember Oliveira only played part of that game and yes Streveler was in. Winnipeg is not running the ball nearly enough! If we put it into a percentage the Bombers ran the ball 21% of the time vs. Calgary. I get it, the Bombers were down 23 points at half time. But to complete abandon your identity is wild! This is the CFL. Teams have come back from 23 points in the fourth quarter alone. This game was a head scratcher in that regard.
O-Line Issues
If this was not the second week that it happened, I may not highlight it. But again, a Bomber offensive lineman got spun around. As a result the Bombers' pocket completely collapsed. Zach was not sacked at all, but he was sure hurried more than usual. That resulted in the Bomber receivers being blanketed on almost every catch.
Opportunistic Stampeders
I want to be really fair here. As I have already pointed out some of the statistics, it is not like Calgary played lights out. They just did what it took to win. And in the CFL that is good enough.
If you did not know the score, and you only saw the above statistics, would you think that Calgary beat Winnipeg? Not me. There is nothing there that screams of a massive win. Even if I take into consideration Dedrick Mills yardage, which is good, and I add up the TDs I see 21 points. The Bombers can give up 21 points and win (well not this game as they only tallied 16 points themselves). However, what is not on the page is a statistic line reading 'opportunistic.' In this snap shot we do not see the two interceptions for touchdowns. Calgary played good, protected the ball, and they were opportunistic. That is a recipe for success in the CFL.
Now What?
Well, the Bombers are on a bye week; their second of the season already. And bye weeks are not that much fun after a loss; not to mention a terrible loss. I would suggest that it is gut check time, and maybe time for reevaluating how to use the run game. Yes, the Bombers have a new offensive coordinator and that may take some time to get everyone on the same page. So I expect that the players are going to reflect on what happened and what did not happen, and the Bombers' offensive coordinator will pick apart the game and figure out how the whole thing fell apart. Because, sure the Bombers were down 29-6 at the half but that did not happen in a single play. It was a succession of plays that saw the Bombers only able to put up 6 points, and 7 of the Stampeders' 29 points came off of an interception. Take that interception off the board and the Bombers only trail by 16 points at the half.
Final Thoughts
The Bombers have a chance to do to Calgary what Calgary did to them; take a whole extra week and game plan against your opponent. Leading up to the game I thought it would be a close and high scoring affair. I was wrong. I fully expect the Bombers to play better in their next game. Essecially after Ed Tait reported Mike O'Shea had this to say after the game, "“We got our asses beat,” said the Blue Bombers head coach. “I mean, it’s pretty straightforward.”
The CFL season is a marathon, not a sprint. So right now the Bombers sit at 3-1 and in their next four games will play: Calgary, Toronto, Toronto, Calgary. Yes, they lost a stinker of a game, but they are still doing better than an 0-4 start of 2024...much better. So while the last one stings, I believe there are far more good days than bad days ahead for the Bombers and their fans this year.
What did you think? Let me know in the comments section wherever you are reading this.
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