Nic Demski pulled in five passes for 45 yards in Friday's win over Hamilton -- photos by Cameron Bartlett
There’s a giddiness and euphoria inside a football locker room after a win and it’s especially heightened when the result comes in dramatic fashion in the dying moments.
There’s also a power and a strength which can be drawn from a result like the Winnipeg Blue Bombers rallying for a late game-winning score with 19 seconds remaining in Friday’s 26-23 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats — especially given all the layers that made it such a hard slog.
“All of them aren’t going to be pretty — that’s a part of football,” said veteran defensive back Deatrick Nichols as he surveyed the celebration around him inside the Blue Bombers clubhouse. “Some games are going to look like that. At the end of the day we did enough in all three phases of the game to get the win and that’s all that matters. It’s never going to be perfect. You’re never going to score 100 points no matter how you draw it up. But we got the win and everybody made a play when we needed it.
“The thing is, games like that, they build character. Those tough ones that can go either way that you still find a way to win, that builds a lot of character. You don’t want to roll over. Games like that, you find out how strong you mentally and physically tough you are.
“And you need wins like that before you go into the playoffs.”
Yes, the win was massive in the moment, as it improved the Blue Bombers to 5-6 — and 5-2 over their last seven since that horrendous 0-4 start — and pulled them to within one point of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, now 5-5-1 after four losses and a tie in their last five, for first place in the West Division.
And, in the Dept. of Perfect Timing, the Blue Bombers and Riders now ready for their annual Labour Day Classic/Banjo Bowl showdown over the next two weeks.
The B.C. Lions, meanwhile, dropped their fifth straight in Ottawa Saturday night and are now also 5-6 — although the Blue Bombers have the tiebreaker with their rivals after winning two of three this season.
ICYMI, here is our Game Recap from Friday night…
And what follows is a deeper dive on the Blue Bombers dramatic fifth win of the season in this week’s edition of UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
FIRST THINGS FIRST… an important update from Darren Cameron, the club’s Senior Director of Player and Public Relations, on the status of future hall of famer Stanley Bryant, who left the game five plays into the affair on a stretcher after being tended to by the team’s training staff, doctors and paramedics.
Stanley Bryant has been released from hospital and has returned home. He is feeling considerably better, and wanted to extend a thank you to everyone across the CFL, specifically the amazing fans here in Manitoba, for their concern and compassion.
— Darren Cameron (@Darren_Cameron) August 24, 2024
That’s big on so many levels, not just on how valuable he is to this team as a player, but how popular he is with his teammates.
“Stan is one of my best friends, I love the guy,” said quarterback Zach Collaros in his post-game media availability. “He’s such a great person, great teammate, great father, so it’s tough — not just for me, everybody — and you could see the level of concern from our bench.
“He’s been here for so long, everybody calls him ‘Uncle.’ We should probably call him ‘Gramps’ by now. He knows we love him. I’ve talked to a few guys that have talked to him and seems to be doing OK, but it’s troubling when a friend isn’t feeling well like that.”
THE LOSS OF BRYANT HAD A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT... on the offence, as did the departure of promising prospect Gabe Wallace before halftime — he was spotted on crutches post-game — forcing the Blue Bombers to roll with their five remaining offensive linemen and with Kendall Randolph moving out to left tackle and Tui Eli to right guard.
Already without Pat Neufeld, the Blue Bombers rallied for the ‘W’ with three O-linemen on the shelf including two starters.
The Blue Bombers managed 321 net yards of offence, including 165 along the ground — 120 courtesy Brady Oliveira — but Collaros was sacked three times, completed 18-of-36 for 177 yards with three interceptions before the game-winning strike to Kenny Lawler with 19 seconds remaining.
“I’m not the trained eye from the sideline but I thought we did a good enough job to win the game,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “I imagine Marty (Costello, offensive line coach) wanted a few plays back from some of the guys but to play well enough to drive the field at the end and score a touchdown, I mean, that’s good enough. We’ll fix things tomorrow.
“It’s not pleasing and it ain’t easy, but we have the process in place,” added O’Shea of adjusting on the fly to the changes up front. “They are very calm, they go through it, then they go through it at halftime — what’s working, what’s not, what’ve we got, what’ve we not. They’ve already played that through in their head when they do the call sheet a few days before the game. They’ve already gone through certain scenarios of personnel. They work well together and it was a fabulous job by those guys making sure the personnel was accurate and right.”
The Blue Bombers, as everyone knows, love to pound the ball by dominating the line of scrimmage and the changes up front caused some shuffling with fullback Bailey Feltmate and receiver Kevens Clercius asked to do more in both run blocking and pass protection.
“That was a gritty one, a gritty one,” said centre Chris Kolankowski. “The guys that stepped in did their job and when we had to change we could have lost some packages there but KC (Clercius) stepping in and making blocks for us; Bailey stepping in where the sixth lineman would go and guys knowing the big picture, not just their jobs and knowing what to do when someone go down, that kind of preparation can’t be replaced and it showed in that game.”
MORE ON THAT GRITTY ONE… by the way, for those of you who want the video evidence:
AND FOR THOSE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED… the view from the other side, courtesy my long-time colleague Steve Milton, now working for Ticats.ca:
THREE NUMBERS THAT STOOD OUT… after another look at the game’s statistical package, which can be found here:
1 The Blue Bombers were just one-for-three on their trips to the red zone — and the one successful shot was the 10-yard strike to Lawler in the final seconds. Winnipeg now has 14 red zone TDs this year and, by comparison, they had a league-best 42 last season.
2 Winnipeg’s ‘D’ surrendered two TDs to Ticat tailback Greg Bell, but was especially stout when it mattered after falling behind 23-19 early in the fourth quarter. They forced a critical two-and-out after Hamilton took possession with 2:50 left to set up the late dramatics.
All told, Hamilton managed 285 yards of net offence and caught the Blue Bombers defence with some big-chunk plays but the stand late was critical.
3 Collaros spoke afterward of needing to take care of the ball better — those three interceptions will bother him to no end — but here’s a number worth reminding everyone here: the veteran pivot has now made 30 home starts since arriving at the trade deadline in October of 2019.
And his record here in Winnipeg in those games? Try 26-4.
THAT SAID… there’s no question the Blue Bombers want to improve their offensive production, which has clearly been impacted by the injuries to the receiving corps and, now, to the offensive line.
“We got the job done today but there’s still lots of room for improvement, especially on the offensive side of the football,” said Oliveira. “Too many skilled players not to be finishing. We’ve got to come back to work, see how we can get better and improve.
“As you get down the stretch and later into the season — you don’t want to look too far ahead, but you look at the playoffs and you got to score, man. You’ve got to score to be a good offence in this league and win games. With the skill we have on the offensive side of the ball, we need to finish with six. Still lots of season left so I think we can definitely peak at the right time.”
