Pokey Wilson has signed a contract extension with the Blue Bombers; photos by Cameron Bartlett
It was a performance that served both as a reminder and a tease. And the timing of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 40-3 mauling of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last weekend — what with the team now feet up in a bye week and the Grey Cup now just 44 days away — was positively impeccable.
Zach Collaros was dialled in after missing two straight starts, Brady Oliveira churned out 98 yards on 15 carries, Chris Streveler smashed in for three TDs, Trey Vaval authored more magic with an opening kickoff return score and the defence was absolutely stifling in limiting one of the Canadian Football League’s most potent attacks.
We all know it won’t look like that every week — the wins are often somewhere in between what that performance looked like and the victory over Ottawa just before that — but it did send a message across the CFL that the Blue Bombers can still be a cup contender.
The club will be back on the practice field on Monday heading into next weekend’s game in Edmonton against the Elks which will be followed by home dates against the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes.
With the lads back in the fight at 8-7 and on a mini two-game heater, here are five key areas they must be near perfect at over the next month and a half to be playing in the 112th Grey Cup at Princess Auto Stadium.
A POSITIVE TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL
Evan Holm picks off a pass against B.C. earlier this season
This is the biggest and most important statistical nugget in all of football and the most telling of all when it comes to the 2025 Blue Bombers. It’s also an area we’ve been fixated on in this space over the season so bear with us as we spell out the details again…
In Winnipeg’s eight wins this season the team’s turnover differential is +11 with five games on the good side of the differential and three others even. In the victories over Ottawa (+3) and Hamilton +1) the Blue Bombers are a +4 alone.
And in the seven losses? A combined and utterly grotesque -19.
Consider this, too: CFL teams are a combined 44-10 this season when winning the turnover differential and are 303-77 overall since 2019 for a gaudy 79.8 winning percentage.
VINTAGE #8
The Blue Bombers are 13-5 in games in which Zach Collaros has thrown for 300+ yards since 2019
Collaros was at his best coming off the injured list in the win over Hamilton completing a whopping 80 percent of his passes (20-25) for 367 yards and an absolute dime to Dillon Mitchell for a 44-yard touchdown.
And when he’s locked in like that, well, this team has a different aura about it.
Now, the 300-yard passing game is hardly the be-all and end-all in football — the Blue Bombers have won a ton of games with him at the helm with him under that threshold — but when he’s slicing and dicing defences like he did against Hamilton, it’s telling.
Another number, to that end: since his arrival at the trade deadline in October of 2019 the Blue Bombers are 13-5 in games in which Collaros threw for 300 yards or more.
AN EMERGING FORCE ON ‘D’
A storyline which needs to be discussed more going forward — heading into this weekend’s games, minus the Blue Bombers on the bye — Winnipeg’s defence ranks first in offensive points allowed (22.7), fourth against the run (95.7 yards per game), sixth against the pass (281.3 yards) and first in lowest completion percentage against (63.5).
All this with a unit which is just now settling in the secondary due to injuries/changes with newcomers Cam Allen, Dexter Lawrence, Jr., Jaiden Woodbey and Demerio Houston — who returned after a year in Calgary — settling in the air defence.
In two meetings against veteran QBs Trevor Harris and Bo Levi Mitchell — both of whom have had their names tossed out there as MOP candidates — Winnipeg’s defence has limited them to 900 yards, or an average of 225 per game. Winnipeg’s ‘D’ also ranks first in red zone touchdowns allowed with 21.
Say what you will about sexy offences, but the last two championships won is these parts were built on the backs of the defence.
SPECIAL PLAYER ON SPECIAL TEAMS
Trey Vaval continues to make magic in the return game
Let it be said that over the last few weeks Blue Bombers kick returner Trey Vaval has emerged as not just a CFL Most Outstanding Special Teams Player candidate but also deserves consideration as the league’s Most Outstanding Rookie.
That’s how special his season has been with now four kick return touchdowns this year — two on kickoffs and one each on a punt and missed field goal. As mentioned in Upon Further Review, that’s just one off the Blue Bombers record for kick return TDs in a season, five, set by Keith Stokes in 2004 and one off the CFL record of six by Chris Williams of Hamilton in 2012.
Couple Vaval’s skillset with Sergio Castillo’s placekicking, the best directional punter in the CFL in Jamieson Sheahan and the excellent kick cover units led by Michael Ayers, Jaylen Smith, Tanner Cadwallader & Co. and Winnipeg’s special teams units could be difference makers when the games matter most.
BREAD AND BUTTER = BULLY BALL
The Blue Bombers big men up front on the O-line
Let’s not complicate things too much here with too many numbers. Simply put, when the Blue Bombers offensive line is pushing the pile like they have in the last three games — a combined 394 yards rushing and zero sacks allowed vs. Hamilton — the outcomes just look and feel different.
