The 111th Grey Cup | Arrival/Tale of the Tape

VANCOUVER — They arrived in the pouring rain and, given all the black clouds hovering overhead and the dangerous slide the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were on early this summer, it was hard not to see some of the symbolism in that.

The Blue Bombers 2024 season has been about change — in the start, in the personnel and in the storylines — and, most of all, it’s been about resiliency.

It’s been about standing in a downpour, so to speak, shaking off all the wet and overcoming.

And so there were Brady Oliveira, Zach Collaros and Mike O’Shea meeting with the media at a news conference Monday night at Signature Aviation upon arrival here on the wet coast in the official news-element launch of the 111th Grey Cup week.

The consensus from that trio: stick to whatever helped get you here. Head down, do the work while — inside a curfew — soaking up some of what makes the week so special.

“I’m going to continue to keep my process and preparation the same and echo that message to the rest of the team and the new guys that are at their first time at a Grey Cup,” said Oliveira. “Keep doing what you’re doing, whatever your process was back home and try to find a way to stick to it because it’s been working for you.”

Asked if he would try to avoid the ‘outside fun’, Oliveira added: “Oh, absolutely. This is work. We’re on a business trip and we’re not done yet. We’ve got one more game that we’ve got to accomplish, we’ve got to handle that, so this is business.”

The Blue Bombers have been made 10.5-point favourites, that bloated line undoubtedly due to the injury to Argos QB Chad Kelly that will now have journeyman vet Nick Arbuckle taking the first snap.

“I didn’t realize that,” said Collaros when told of the point spread. “Those things don’t matter. All that matters for us is our preparation, as Brady was saying, during the week.

“I know we haven’t scored a ton of points against this defence this season (just 25 total in two losses), so we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

“They are very good,” added O’Shea. “They are a very good football team. They’re in the Grey Cup for a reason, no matter what they’re record is or how they played certain games or what their personnel was.

“They’re a good football team. They’re well coached. They work extremely hard on the field. It shows.

Collaros was also asked a ‘legacy’-type question, one which will no doubt be a popular narrative this week — a win on Sunday would give the Blue Bombers a third championship in their five straight visits to the Grey Cup.

“We’re just thinking about this one,” Collaros said. “To me, it would just be an amazing accomplishment because it’s the ultimate accomplishment, the ultimate goal.

“Having a lot of new faces this year and some adversity at the beginning of the year, whether that was new guys in some spots, some injuries, not starting off the season in the win column… so, it would mean a lot. But they all mean a lot. They’re very hard to get to, these games, very difficult to win. We’ve been fortunate to win some and I think it would just speak to the foundation of our organization and our belief in our process.

“But this is a new season, a new Grey Cup. This is the 2024 Grey Cup and we’re really excited to be here.”

HOW THEY GOT HERE/NOTABLE NUMBERS

BLUE BOMBERS

Head coach: Mike O’Shea (107-69)

Record: 11-7, first in the West Division

How they got here: Started off 0-4, won eight straight in August-September to finish first; knocked off Saskatchewan 38-22 in the Western Final.

Grey Cup appearances: 28

Grey Cup titles: 12 – 1935, 1939, 1941, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1984, 1988, 1990, 2019, 2021

All-CFL Stars in 2024: RB Brady Oliveira, OL Stanley Bryant, DE Willie Jefferson, CB Tyrell Ford.

West Division All-Stars in 2024: The four listed above, plus DB Deatrick Nichols, Rec Nic Demski and OL Liam Dobson.

ARGONAUTS

Head coach: Ryan Dinwiddie (46-22)

Record: 10-8, second in the East Division

How they got here: Started the season with QB Chad Kelly suspended, but fought through that to finish 10-8 before knocking off Montreal in the Eastern Final 30-28.

Grey Cup appearances: 24

Grey Cup titles: 18 – 2022, 2017, 2012, 2004, 1997, 1996, 1991, 1983, 1952, 1950, 1947, 1936, 1945, 1938, 1937, 1933, 1921, 1914

CFL All-Stars in 2024: G Ryan Hunter, OL Dejon Allen, DT Jake Ceresna, KR Janarion Grant

East Division All-Stars in 2024: The four listed above plus RB Ka’Deem Carey, Rec Makai Polk, DB DaShaun Amos and K Lirim Hajrullahu.

HEAD-TO-HEAD 2024

The Blue Bombers dropped both meetings this year, losing 16-14 in OT in Toronto in Week 8 and then 14-11 in Winnipeg in the regular-season finale.

Game 1 Recap

The Blue Bombers seemingly hit another rock bottom after their 0-4 start, falling to 2-6 with a 16-14 loss to the Argonauts at BMO Field.

The club turned the ball over five times in the loss, including a controversial Pick-6 in which Nic Demski was clearly interfered with on the play, and missed a field goal in overtime.

The club also gambled on a third-and-one from the Argos’22 with 57 seconds left after opting not to kick a field goal.

Time machine: Read the July 27th story here

Quotable: “You can apply a bunch of different words to it – frustrating performances. I can really only speak for the offence. We didn’t score enough touchdowns, not just in the last two weeks but all season long. We’ve got to make ball security a priority. I’ve been a culprit of that, obviously. When we’re taking points off the board, you’re not going to win a lot of games in this league.

“Angry, frustrated, all those things. I keep saying we’ve got to get back to the drawing board, we’ve got to get back to work, all those things. You can say that, but we’ve got to win games.” — Zach Collaros

Game 2 Recap

The Blue Bombers eight-game win streak came to an end with a rare and mistake-filled home loss, losing out on the chance to lock up top spot in the process.

Winnipeg surrendered seven sacks, was stuffed on a third-and-one from the Argos one and had just four first downs and 98 yards of net offence in the first half before showing a pulse in the second half.

Among the errors were a fumble by Zach Collaros in the third quarter and two missed field goals by Sergio Castillo.

Time machine: Read the October 12th story here

Quotable: “We didn’t play the cleanest. We couldn’t get into a rhythm. But we’re going to come back to work. We were on such a good run, maybe we needed this to take a step back, refocus and come back ready to work.

“We all know what type of football team we’ve got in this locker room,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of talent. Like I said, I’m just proud of how we fought coming back in the second half. We looked like a different team in the second half. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough time left on the clock.” — running back Brady Oliveira.

THE TALE OF THE TAPE