REJUVENATED PASSING ATTACK MAKES BOMBERS DANGEROUS
QB Collaros gives Winnipeg fans hope with solid performance against Stamps
They’ll limp into the playoffs having lost four of their last six games while changing quarterbacks like underwear.
So why does it feel like the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are going to be an uncomfortable fit for whatever team tries them on in the CFL West semifinal?
If I’m the Saskatchewan Roughriders or Calgary Stampeders, I want first place like a dying man wants a preacher. Because facing the Bombers in a “win-orgo-home” game to kick off the post-season feels like knocking on the gates of hell, wondering who or what is going to answer.
Based on their last effort of the regular season, this is a team that suddenly has an air attack worth more than a passing amount of respect.
All because of Zach Collaros, the quarterback with a history of head injuries who now carries the hopes of Bomber fans in his hands.
What Collaros did Friday against the Stampeders was nothing short of astonishing.
You don’t shake off more than four months of rust, rifle through a new playbook, introduce yourself to your O-line and a bunch of strangers at receiver, then go out and beat a motivated Bo Levi Mitchell, not to mention that Stamps defence.
Collaros did all of the above in a 29-28 win at the Money Pit in south Winnipeg, injecting a dose of hope into a town that had been largely resigned to watching a 29th straight CFL season end in vain. And to think, Bombers GM Kyle Walters had given up all hope of acquiring Collaros at the trade deadline because the Argos weren’t willing to unload him.
That is, until after they replaced GM Jim Popp with Pinball Clemons.
Pinball saw a Toronto season on tilt and decided he may as well flip Collaros to Walters for a draft pick.
Little did he know (or did he?) he was also throwing a lifeline to his good friend Mike O’shea, the Bombers’ head coach.
O’shea’s offence was a misfiring scattergun with Chris Streveler at the helm.
Collaros provides a well-aimed pistol, at least, and the Bombers look like they haven’t looked since before Matt Nichols’ throwing shoulder came apart.
The 221 yards Collaros produced with his arm against the Stamps doesn’t sound like a lot. But it’s more than Nichols threw up in six of his nine starts, and more than Streveler produced in six of his eight.
In his first start.
Watching a team run the ball a thousand different ways with twin bowling balls Streveler and Andrew Harris knocking down the pins was fun to watch, to a point.
But with Collaros, there’s the chance of a strike downfield.
His touchdown pass to Darvin Adams off a broken play on Friday was something that simply wouldn’t have happened with Streveler at the helm.
The quarterback with the running back’s mentality would have seen his first receiver covered, felt the pressure and taken off with the ball, and the Calgary defence would have been spying him all along.
Streveler’s kamikaze approach to running was another injury waiting to happen, and it finally did.
Adding Collaros may give the Bombers a third fragile piece for their china cabinet collection, but the season’s down to three games, max. Nobody has to last long.
The 31-year-old, in his seventh CFL go-round, has probably forgotten more about playing quarterback than Streveler, 24, has learned in his two campaigns.
Judging by his first start since Week 1, when he got his marbles rattled while with the Riders, Collaros hasn’t forgotten too much, although relearning the QB slide is probably a good idea.
If he remains upright, the guy makes the Bombers the league’s playoff wild card.
Not that he’s the second coming of Matt Dunigan or Dieter Brock. But the Bombers don’t need the threat of a rifle arm hitting 400 yards’ worth of targets all over the field.
Their defence is usually good enough to hang with the big boys.
Their special teams are capable of putting up points, and I’m not just talking about kicker Justin Medlock.
Most importantly, this Bomber outfit is loaded with the one intangible that every Grey Cup wannabe needs: Character, or grit. You could throw chemistry in there, too.
Bottom line: They really want it, and are working together to make it happen.
Facing the Bombers in a ‘win-or-go-home’ game to kick off the post-season feels like knocking on the gates of hell.