They traded vicious punches and landed some killer blows in what would best be described as a Canadian Football League street fight.
And at the end of a hot and steamy night at Investors Group Field, there are two storylines which became part of the latest narrative for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers:
1. Their 29-23 victory, their third straight and fourth in the last five, improves them to 5-3 and moves them into a second-place tie with the Edmonton Eskimos in the uber-competitive West Division and…
2. This squad is developing a sturdy defensive backbone that will be critical when the frost is on the pumpkin later in the season.
“That was a street fight, no question,” said Bombers defensive end Craig Roh. “And in the end, as they say, ‘big players make big plays in big games.’ That’s something we really expect out of ourselves as one of the top defences in the league. We’re up in the game and if they don’t score, they don’t win. That’s the mentality we brought on that last drive.”
Despite throwing up 29 points, the Bombers occasionally sputtered offensively against the Ticats, managing a season-low 255 yards net offence. But after seeing a 26-10 lead whittled down to 26-23 in the fourth quarter, the offence strung together a couple of critical yardage-gobbling/time-chewing drives to stretch the advantage to 29-23 while the defence completely shut down the Ticats offence in their last two possessions.
“Team effort, all the way down to the end,” said quarterback Matt Nichols, who completed 13 of 24 passes for 180 yards with TD strikes to Weston Dressler and Nic Demski and no interceptions. “Some wins are different than others. We came out, scored more points than them and we’ll take the win, clean up some things and move on.
“It was a bit of a frustrating one on offence at times, but I was proud of the way the guys just stuck to it. We had a couple of drives there at the end of the game where we cut a lot of clock off, put up points – especially that last one (field goal) – that really made a difference at the end of the game.
“There were times in the game where I was a little frustrated with how things were going on offence, obviously,” Nichols added. “And (QB coach) Buck (Pierce) just does an unbelievable job of keeping me calm. I talked with him quickly after the game… a lot of wins are ugly. There are a couple blowouts we had in previous weeks and then there are wins like this, where you kind of gut it out and make the plays you need to get the win.
“Count the win in the win column and move on. That’s what this one was tonight. It felt like adversity for four quarters and we found a way to get the win tonight which is a good sign.”
The Ticats fell to 3-5 with the loss, but flashed some of the offensive wizardry behind quarterback Jeremiah Masoli that makes them such a tough out. Masoli completed 17 of 27 for 251 yards while rushing seven times for 80 yards.
But again, on the last two Hamilton possessions they ran 13 offensive plays for just 35 yards as the Bombers finished the night with four sacks while forcing three turnovers.
“At the end of the day that’s what great defences do: you finish games, you play all four quarters,” said linebacker Adam Bighill, who was stellar with seven tackles including a tackle for a loss, one sack and a forced fumble. “It just continues to add confidence when you play that way. We’re really building that chemistry, that brotherhood in the room and that trust for each other.
“Hamilton has put up a lot of points this season. They’ve put up a lot of yards this season. They’re going to make plays, too. But, at the end of the day, when it’s crunch time, we locked it down.”
THE BIG STAT
3: Turnovers forced by the Bombers – two fumbles and one on downs. The club has now forced 20 turnovers in the last five games.
FYI
The Bombers two inactives were OL Manase Foketi and DB Tyneil Cooper… Weston Dressler caught a TD pass in the first quarter, but pulled up lame later in the frame attempting to haul in a pass. He stayed in the game as the holder for Justin Medlock, but was replaced in the offence by 2018 draft picks Rashaun Simonise and Daniel Petermann. Petermann finished the night with two catches for 29 yards, including a second-down conversion; Simonise was not targeted.
NUMBERS GAME
120: Bombers receiver Weston Dressler extended his consecutive-games-with-at-least-one reception streak to 120 with a seven-yard TD catch in the first quarter. That tied him with Craig Ellis (1983-93) for the 8th longest streak in CFL history. First all-time is Don Narcisse, who caught passes in 216 consecutive games.
82: Rushing yards for Andrew Harris, giving him 720 on the season and keeping him atop the CFL rushing chart.
40-40: Mike O’Shea’s record as the Bombers head coach. The Bombers are now 27-12 in their last 39.
13-124: Penalties and yardage for the Ticats; the Bombers were flagged five times for 74 yards.
THE COACH SAYS
“We said it was going to take all three phases and it wasn’t perfect, but it’s a good win. A really good win.” – Head coach Mike O’Shea.
