OUT OF THE BLUE, BOMBERS ARE BACK
Team’s defensive gem against Edmonton erases memories of four-game losing streak
You have to give the Winnipeg Blue Bombers credit for sticking with the process and not letting a series of losses drive their season into the dumpster.
Just 10 days ago, the Bombers were in the throes of a four-game losing streak, had fallen to last place in the CFL’s West Division and were looking like also-rans in a season that started with great promise.
But they kept the faith, even when fans were starting to lose it, and went out and executed for two weeks in a row to get right back into the thick of things in a tight playoff race.
Beating a bad Montreal team at home Sept. 21 wasn’t enough to convince anyone the Bombers had turned the corner, but Saturday’s 30-3 win over the Edmonton Eskimos on the road should have done the trick.
The Bombers now have a modest 7-7 record that has them tied for third place in the West with Edmonton, but they are in so much better position than they would have been had they lost Saturday. And if they play anything like they did — particularly on the defensive side of the ball — they should be difficult to beat down the stretch.
“Football’s one of the biggest momentum sports that there is,” Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols said. “Momentum carries over from game to game. When you’ve got good momentum going, you’ve got to be able to sustain it. And when you’ve got bad momentum going, you’ve got to be able to stop it in its tracks. We’ve done both of those the last couple of weeks.”
The Bombers play in Ottawa Friday against a Redblacks team that manhandled them Aug. 17 in Winnipeg. It will be the latest biggest game of the season for the Bombers.
“If you lose next week and the other West teams win, you’re right back where you started,” Nichols said. “You’ve got to stay on top of it.”
The Bombers had their most complete performance of the season Saturday with the defence forcing seven turnovers and holding quarterback Mike Reilly and the Eskimos to 264 yards of net offence.
The special teams unit blocked a punt and did an outstanding job on kick coverage.
And the offence did a good enough job to get the win. Despite outrageously good field position for much of the night, the offence didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard, but they didn’t make mistakes either.
When your defence plays that well, you can get away with a performance like that on offence. Just don’t do anything stupid.
So the question is has this Bombers team reached a turning point?
Can they play this way consistently and get into the playoffs on a roll?
Or will we see another regression like the one that led to those four straight losses in August and early September?
“It’s time to get on a run now,” defensive back Brandon Alexander said. “As long as we do our job, we won’t have to worry about anybody else doing theirs. We don’t need to worry about other people losing or anything of that nature as long as we keep playing ball the way we’re supposed to play ball. Everything else will take care of itself.”
There are so many things that could happen from here on in. It seems likely that the Calgary Stampeders (11-2) will finish in first place and host the Western Final.
Saskatchewan has the inside track on second place after beating Montreal Sunday to improve to 9-5. The Riders also hold the tiebreaker against the Bombers, so Winnipeg is essentially three games back with four games left.
The only thing the Bombers have going for them in that race is that they play the Riders at home Oct. 13 and could put the pressure on with a win.
Meanwhile, Edmonton, B.C. and Saskatchewan play each other down the stretch and there will be lots of moving parts in the standings. The Bombers could wind up playing on the road in the West, crossing over to the East and playing on the road there or miss the playoffs entirely.
None of those would have been an ideal scenario at the start of the season, but right now the Bombers would gladly take two of those options.
And they know full well the last two Grey Cup winners had 9-9 and 8-9-1 records and barely squeaked into the playoffs.
Why couldn’t it be their turn to do it? A continuation of what they’ve done the last two weeks could put them in that scenario.
“To go through some tough weeks and then to bounce back and play the way we have the last couple of weeks, it just shows everybody what we’re capable of,” Nichols said.