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News October 23, 2021

Quick Hits | BC 0 WPG 45

@EdTaitWFC

5 Quick Hits from the Bombers win over the Lions Saturday night at IG Field…

1. OPENING THOUGHTS: Attention, Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans: bust out the parkas and long-johns, the bellaclavas and heated socks. Oh, and keep Sunday, December 5th open because your favourite football team will be hosting the Western Final.
Yes, with a dominant 45-0 victory over the B.C. Lions Saturday night, the Bombers made official what has been obvious for weeks — the road to the Grey Cup from the West will feature a stop here in the Manitoba capital.
The win, once again backstopped by a dominant offence and stellar work by the offence and special teams, improves the Bombers to 10-1 and means they’ll host a division final for the first time since 2011 — then as members of the East Division — and only the fourth time since 1995. This will also be the first time the Western Final will be held in Winnipeg since 1972.
Worth noting: the win was the eighth straight for the Bombers, the club’s longest streak since winning eight in a row over a stretch at the end of 2002 and start of the 2003 season.
The Lions, meanwhile, lost their fourth straight to fall to 4-6.

2. ADJECTIVES, PLEASE: We’re running out of superlatives for the Bombers defence, but stellar, dominant, stifling, punishing, stingy, supreme, commanding, suffocating… they all fit.
The Canadian Football League’s most-powerful unit — the self-proclaimed ‘Dark Side’ — authored the first shutout since a 31-0 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on October 13, 2018.
Winnipeg limited the Lions to just 199 net yards, forced three turnovers, registered four sacks and chipped in on the scoring when Willie Jefferson intercepted a Michael Reilly pass and returned it 39 yards for the fourth touchdown of his career.

 

Get this: the Bombers have surrendered just 126 points this season, an average of 11.5 points per game
And those fourth-quarter numbers continue to be astonishing: the Bombers have surrendered just two field goals in fourth quarters ALL SEASON and have out-scored opponents 105-6.

3. QB NUMBERS: Zach Collaros certainly helped earned more votes for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award with a superb night. The veteran QB completed 16-of-20 for 267 yards and three TDs — two to Kenny Lawler and a third to Rasheed Bailey — in just over three quarters work before being replaced by Sean McGuire, who finished 1-of-3 for five yards.
TD #1:

TD #2:

TD#3:

4. HERE’S BRADY… AND JOHNNY: The Bombers were without RB Andrew Harris Saturday night, as the future hall of famer missed his first game since being injured while catching a TD pass in last week’s win over Edmonton.
The Bombers got solid work from his understudies, as Brady Oliveira rushed 17 times for 65 yards and his first career TD.

Johnny Augustine also got his touches, rushing three times for 69 yards, including a gritty 55-yard run.

5. FYI: The win gave the Bombers their fifth straight 10-win season after going 11-7 in 2019, 10-8 in 2018, 12-6 in 2017 and 11-7 in 2016. The Bombers haven’t had five consecutive 10-win seasons since posting six double-digit win seasons over a stretch from 1957-62 – a run that also included four Grey Cup championships…. The Bombers improved to 6-0 this season at home and are now 17-1 in their last 18 games at IG Field dating back to the fall of 2018… Winnipeg is now also 8-0 against the West Division.
And just to finish this off in style, the Bombes got their first kick-return TD of the season from Janarion Grant: