This new segment is meant to be a hard hitting, unbiased look at the game.

For those concerned about the word ‘bomb’ and its connotations with geopolitical events, the ‘bomb’ part comes from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ name. Contrary to the belief of some, the name ‘Bombers,’ has nothing to do with actual bombs.

Rather, the name was first used by Winnipeg Tribune reporter Vince Leah in 1936 who was referencing boxer Joe Louis known as the “Brown Bomber” for his heavy punches. Similarly, this segment is mean to be heavy hitting.

Leading Up To The Game I’m not sure what your favorite flavor of ice cream is, or what type of ice cream Lucky Whithead was bringing into the stadium, but if the Bombers offence is “vanilla,” give me some more!

What is all this vanilla talk? Well, earlier in the week Marcus Sayles had this to say about his old team:

“Right now they look like they’re a little vanilla,” Sayles said after the Lions held their final walk-through at their practice facility in Surrey.

“They’ve been skating away by little points, so we feel like we can beat them pretty bad.” As long as we play top-down defence, don’t give up explosion plays and let our D-line eat, we feel like we’ll have just as much success as all these other teams.”

Well how did that work for you, Sayles?

Quick Game Recap

BC did not play top down defence. They gave up 288 passing yards with 3 touchdowns, 141 rushing yards with 1 touchdown, and two kickoff returns from Grant for 112 yards (one for a touchdown on the opening play of the game). What you really did, Sayles, was ignite the Bomber team as a whole and the Bomber defence. The Lion run game was horrid. I guessed that Butler would rush for over 100 yards

but this game he took a 98 Degree turn and was the Invisible Man. Carrying the ball 8 times for only 33 yards, the Butler got served a healthy dose of Bomber tackles. That really should not be a surprise. Sayles drew the ire of big man, Willie Jefferson:

“He called our offence vanilla … now he needs to go out there and make a play against our vanilla offence,” Jefferson said. “If our offence can go out there and put up points, then our vanilla offence put up points against your amazing defence.”  

You can read Ed Tait’s recap here.

While the Lions did score quickly at times, it seemed like Winnipeg broke their will to finish the game. With about four minutes remaining BC pulled “Kid Canada” Nathan Rourke. Look I get it, BC was down by three scores. BC would have to go down field and doing so would mean even more blitz pressure from Bighill, Jefferson, and Jeffcoat. The argument could be made that BC did not want to risk injury to their QB.

However, if you want to be the top dog you cannot pull your quarterback – one that showed he can strike quickly – with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Four minutes is an eternity in CFL football. The fourth quarter also has a three minute warning that stops the clock. Unfortunately for BC the Lions decided to lick their wounds with time on the clock.

Some billed this match as a battle of the two heavyweight; the champs and the challenger. If that were the case, the challenger threw in the towel.

For the boxscore, play by play, game notes, and so much more, head here.

These two teams are going to meet late again in the season, in BC on October 15, and in Winnipeg on October 28.

 Craziest Play Of The Game:

While there was a lot of action in this game, the craziest play of the game came on the opening kickoff where Bomber returner Grant took one to the house! Check out the highlight video, above, and let me know if you would have selected a different play.

Truth Bombs:

*I can appreciate Sayles coming out and making some pre-game statements, but do not poke the Bombers. We saw what happened when you did.

*Hopefully the ever cocky, and arrogant Bo comes out with something pointed to say before the game and gets the Bombers fired up.

*I met Bo at the 2021 CFL Awards Show, and in person he is not half the arrogant player he seems to be on television. He is quite nice, in fact.   *Lucky Whitehead is a character! But this did not age well.

*If you are going to call Winnipeg vanilla you better be ready for the toppings.

*Rourke came in with a lot of hype, but we saw what happens when he is under pressure.

*The BC offence can still strike quickly under pressure, but Rourke showed his lack of experience at the pro level. *Left Carol and Right Hand Bart were bang on with their Fan’s 3 Keys To The Game!

*I was completely wrong with my lead up to the game assessment, and I could not be more thrilled about it!

*Nick Taylor was beat for two touchdowns. Yes, the receiver made a great play to catch those passes but Nick could have done more. Had he jumped instead of waiting for the ball to come down, I believe at least one of those balls is not caught.

*For those wondering, Schoen showed up and showed off. He was the Bombers leading receiver with 8 catches on 10 targets for 117 yards and 2 great touchdown catches. A lot of his catches are on the highlight reel!

*The Bombers offence showed that it can put up more than 20 points. This was the first game in the season they did so.

*The Bomber’s run game improved, done by committee, but still has a way to go.

*The Bombers are going to need more of that vanilla offence when they face the 4-0 Stampeders in Winnipeg on Friday night.

*When you tick-off Collaros, he puts on a show! All game it looked like Collaros was ticked on the sideline. Probably the MOP had heard enough Rourke talk all week.

*The Bombers are in the middle of a five game stretch where they play four of those games on the road. They have set themselves up well by winning the first two road games (Toronto and BC). Yet, Calgary will be a test this Friday.

*Winnipeg has an 11-0 record at home dating back to the last two home games in 2019. They will be in tough this Friday to keep that record going.

*Bomber fans are the best! After the game there were tons of great GIFs, and posts referencing vanilla.

I spent a few minutes after the game re-writing the lyrics to Ice Ice Baby in honor of the Winnipeg Blue Bomber’s “vanilla” offence. People seem to be loving it. You can find it here.

What did I get right? What did I get wrong? Let me know in the comments.

Written by a Bomber fan, for the Bomber fans

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