While the Bombers beat the Alouettes nobody should think that the Bombers have done anything but marginally improve. There are still massive issues that remain.

Maybe that sounds a little harsh as the Bombers now sit 6-4, but I will make my case, and you can decide if you agree with me or not. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers faced off against Montreal’s 4th string quarterback and still the the game was in reach for Montreal in the 4th quarter. That cannot happen. Imagine if Calgary or Saskatchewan played that Montreal team…it would be a beat down.

Yes, the Bombers won but not in a decisive fashion as they needed to in order to say that they vastly improved. To be fair, the Bombers did take some steps forward.

Steps Forward
1. Oliveira
This has been a point of frustration for weeks and weeks that Oliveira has not been getting more touches in the run game. I wrote about that leading up to the game. However, in this game Oliveira carried the ball 16 times for 137 yards. Now here is the thing; Oliveira needed to carry the ball this game; especially after Demski and Sterns went out of the game with injury…and Streveler came in as a receiver. But let me be honest; Oliveira needed to be carrying the ball in other games and for whatever reason they were not feeding it to him.

I have said in past weeks that I do not buy the excuse that other opponents have been scheming against the run and that is why Brady was not getting the ball. Seriously, look through my post game articles for the past month plus, and I have been calling that out.

Here is what I said in the lead up to this game:
“Run The Ball
Winnipeg needs to run the ball! It is time for the excuses to be done with. I do not care if teams are scheming against the run because Winnipeg does not have an explosive receiving core. You have the MOP in Brady Oliveira…run the ball! This team could run the ball when everyone knew it was going to happen. All the fans, the opposing team, the opposing coaches, and guess what? Winnipeg would run the ball and absolutely demoralize the other team.”

2. Offensive Line
For Brady to get all those yards the offensive line needed to be playing well. Do not forget that the Montreal defense is right up there near the top in the CFL. In fact, while I would say the rest of the team marginally improved, the offensive line took a leap forward! Collaros had time to throw, as seen by his numbers above. No, Collaros was not torching Montreal, but he had time to make the plays he needed to. Far too often people forget that a major part of running the ball is the blocking. That is why Brady will give the ball to an offensive lineman to spike it when he scores a touchdown.

3. Collaros
As I just mentioned, he did not blow up the Montreal secondary. But he also did not throw a bunch of questionable passes. Some of those passes were to the far side of the field and some of them were nice down field shots; but all of them required time.

If there is a defense ripe to pick off a quarterback it is Montreal’s defense – especially with the balls thrown to the wide side of the field. They do a great job of disguising coverage pre-snap. Guys are at the line of scrimmage looking like they will blitz…then they drop off into coverage. For a Bombers team that has the league’s worst turnover ratio, and for Zach who was been throwing interceptions, this was a good game for him. Not great, he still only threw one touchdown…and that is not going to get it done later in the season.

4. Defensive Stops
I am still critical of the Bombers defense, but they made the stops when they needed to; and previously in the season they could not. The real turning point, or at least the point I was fairly confident that Winnipeg would win this one was where Montreal showed their desperation. With 6:06 remaining in the game, and at mid-field, Montreal who is only down by 10 points decides to try for a first down. However, the ball is knocked down, Winnipeg takes over on downs, and that was the end of it.

Holm also got his 4th interception of the year, but the Bombers should have forced more interceptions. With a 4th string quarterback, the Bombers should have been bringing pressure and forcing Morgan to make bad reads and poor throws.

Areas Needed To Still Improve
While Winnipeg comes away with the win, like I said at the beginning it was not a decisive win. There were things that I absolutely did not like as I watched the game.

1. Long Ball Susceptibility
The Bombers still are not good against the long ball. First, Morgan throws a long ball for 45 yards. Then Snead burns them deep. With a 4th string quarterback, nobody should have the time to beat the Bombers deep. I do not care that it was Snead that threw for 44 yards, and made it look like he was going to run. If the defense is not going to put enough pressure up front to stop that play, then certainly the secondary must cover for a long enough time. And I believe that is the issue right there…the Bombers secondary cannot cover for an extended period of time. Whether the issue is skill or scheme issue is yet to be determined…but I am learning towards skill.

Far too often this season we have seen Bombers defensive secondary players leave their player because they think they are going to help with a quarterback scrambling, or a run play, and them BAM, they get beat long down field. If the Bombers have a hope of doing anything in the playoffs they need to correct this immediately, because it is those types of plays that will kill your season once the playoffs roll around.

2. Soft Coverage Late In Games
If this does not drive you crazy at this point in the season you either are not noticing it or have more patience than I do. This is the exact reason that the Bombers are letting teams back into games; and it it the reason that they lost to the Stampeders and almost lost to the RedBlacks. The wild thing is, the Bombers looked poised to do it again. In the 4th quarter, with sill enough time for Montreal to get back into the game, the Bombers were playing soft coverage an Montreal started making plays. I am convinced, that if it were not a 4th string quarterback this game would have ended up closer the way Winnipeg played soft coverage near the end of the game.

3. Unawareness
A. Second and 2 with 7:13 left in the second quarter
Collaros is trying to call something quick at the line of scrimmage and there is still 19 seconds on the play clock. Clearly the Bombers are not on the same page and Collaros gets sacked taking them out of filed goal range,

B. Maybe you dis not see this – 11 seconds to go in the 2nd quarter
Sterns makes a huge catch over the middle with 11 seconds left in the 2nd quarter. After the catch he gets hit hard and gets injured, which stops the clock. The Bombers are going to try for one end zone shot and if that does not work they will try for a field goal…but something goes wrong! Somehow, amidst that injury time out the Bombers have not called a play; or they do not know that the clock is going to start on the whistle. As the game clock ticks down, the Bombers realize that they are not going to have time and may squander any chance at points. So they call a time out with 2 seconds left and kick a filed goal. It could have been worse. They could have come away with no points. But to be so clueless about the situation is absolutely unexplainable.

C. Not learning form the first half blunder
In the fourth quarter, Streveller is running round at the line of scrimmage trying to change a play call. When he sees that he is running out of play clock he tries to call a time out. He neither gets the play off, nor does he get the time out. It is 2nd and 2 on Montreal’s 47 yard line. Winnipeg, what are we doing here? Oliveira has been having a great game! Put Collaros in, and hand the ball off to Brady to get a new set of downs. The Bombers would untimely get a first down, and kick a field goal…but they made it much harder than it had to be. Seriously, this team is going to out think itself out of a win if this keeps up.

Make your own assessments as you watch the highlight package.

What do you think? Am I being too hard on the Bombers, or did I get it right?

Let me know in the comments section wherever you are reading this.

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