Teammates admire Streveler’s grit

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This article was published 23/06/2018 (2127 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — It’s still so very early but the Blue Bombers may have caught lightning in a bottle with Chris Streveler.

How else do you explain the sudden success of a rookie CFL quarterback who wasn’t even signed by Winnipeg until May 4 and wasn’t named the starter until June 11 when No. 1 man Matt Nichols went down with a knee injury?

Sure, Streveler has a short CFL resume but his performance Friday had the look and feel of accomplished vet. You want stage presence? Streveler had it.

The 23-year-old mowed down the Montreal Alouettes with quick feet, an accurate arm and a knack for staying out of trouble. It was game-managing with a sledgehammer, keeping the opposition off-balance with a nice blend of passing and a power running game in a 56-10 Winnipeg win.

Streveler’s stat line was ridiculously good (22-for-28 passing and 246 yards, three TDs, zero interceptions, and a 98-yard rushing night on 10 carries) but his teammates also love his brash, physical style.

“If you can move the chains and extend plays with your legs — that’s important,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “We’ve seen that in the CFL for its entire history. So it’s certainly impressive the decisions he’s made in that regard. He showed some toughness, too, real toughness. I know his teammates enjoy that part of it.”   

Later in the game, with the Als growing increasingly frustrated, Streveler refused to accept a cheap shot to the head from Montreal middle linebacker Henoc Muamba and pushed back hard.

“He’s bigger than half the guys on the defence so he’s a big cat, he can run hard,” marvelled veteran Winnipeg centre Matthias Goossen. “It gets us fired up when I see him (do that). So yeah, we’ve obviously got his back all the time. But it’s cool to see him. He’s a fiery guy, he’s not going to back down.”

But rookie quarterbacks with almost no seasoning are not supposed to do this, right?

“Very true,” said veteran slotback Adarius Bowman. “But he’s a special guy. I’ve been in the league for a while so I’ve seen a combination of a lot of great quarterbacks over that time. This kid’s got it.”

Here are five takeaways from Friday’s game:

1. The kid’s all right

Streveler directed 10 drives against a revamped Als defence bolstered by the off-season additions of Muamba, Jamaal Westerman and Tommie Campbell, and the end result went like this, in order: field goal, touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal, field goal, touchdown.

And there wasn’t one outrageously long Justin Medlock field goal in that bunch.

Streveler engineered 31 of Winnipeg’s 36 first downs as the Blue Bombers dominated time of possession (38:16 to 21:44). When he needed to run, he ran the ball and also kept the Als off balance by rolling out and finding receivers open with pinpoint passes on short- to medium-length routes.

The game plan appeared to be low risk but the approach was very physical. The Blue Bombers manhandled the Alouettes on the scoreboard and in the trenches.  

 “(He’s) just a tough guy — you saw tonight,” said wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky, his old college roomie. “He knows how to run a huddle and he gets beat up, gets hit hard and he gets right up. Gives you that look, like, ‘I’m not done, we’re gonna keep going.’ We got amped up tonight and we laid it one ’em, to be honest. He’s just a fun guy to play with — he’s got that energy.” 

2. Are the Alouettes really that bad?

After two losses to open the regular season with former Green Bay Packers boss Mike Sherman at the controls, the Als are suffering through an historically bad losing streak — the 13 consecutive defeats going back to last year is tied for the fourth worst stretch in league history.

And it could get a lot worse.

Montreal is on the road in Saskatchewan in Week 3, and follows that by hosting a tough Ottawa Redblacks squad. A bye during Week 5 will be a brief reprieve before a likely beatdown in Calgary against the powerful Stamps on July 21.

3. Spreading the ball around

Quarterbacks Streveler and then Bryan Bennett, in a late relief appearance, utilized a wide array of receivers.

Nine players caught passes, including 2018 draft picks Rashaun Simonise and Daniel Petermann who registered their first CFL receptions and another Canadian, second-year man Wolitarsky, who gathered in four balls for 46 yards, including his second and third career majors.

Bowman, a high-profile off-season signing, caught all five footballs thrown his way after being shut out during Week 1. 

“I’m always good to be around but whatever my role is, I’m going to do it,” said Bowman. “We’ve got some weapons out there and so I’m on the right side.”

4. Setting the tone

Don’t underestimate the impact of Winnipeg’s sturdy, veteran O-line. They did a number on the Alouettes’ D, not allowing a sack after Edmonton managed two QB kills during Week 1.

That play kept Streveler upright but it also laid the foundation for a sneaky good running game — Andrew Harris had 58 yards on 15 carries and his backup, Kienan LaFrance, added 50 more on 10 carries after Harris left the game with a lower-body injury.

“We just play our game and protect our guys,” said Goossen. “They are our brothers and anybody that’s your brother, you protect him. I mean, we want to play in a physical way and guys need to know every play we’re going hard.

“It’s not nasty, it’s playing physical football. I think every O-line, that’s their goal — to play whistle to whistle. Because you don’t know what happens some plays. You see Andrew and Kienan, those guys can make a lot of guys miss. It’s so huge. If you play only three or four seconds, you’re not going to go very far.”

5. A case for the defence 

After coughing up 487 yards of net offence to Edmonton a week earlier, the Blue Bombers defence made life miserable for Montreal starter Drew Willy, restricting the Alouettes to 10 first downs and 128 yards in net offence.

Willy only managed 111 yards passing, going 16-for-25, while tailback Tyrell Sutton was woefully underused, banging out 53 yards on only four carries.

Winnipeg rushed only four lineman for much of the game and the tactic paid off.

“It all started up front tonight,” said middle linebacker Adam Bighill. “Our defensive line getting pressure on the quarterback and really made our job on the back end easier. I’m really proud of the defence as far as, you know, good defences are able to make plays and be stingy against offences but great teams are kinda able to do that all game long. You don’t give. You keep applying the pressure. It’s a good sign for our defence that we were able to keep the pressure on him all night long and not have a lapse of momentum.”

Granted, Bighill and company benefited from a huge time of possession advantage.

“I think we had 18 plays in the first half,” said Bighill. “When I said it was light work, we did not have a lot to do. It was great to see our offence rolling, holding the clock and we were definitely fresh on defence. I mean, we were ready to get after him. It was great we were able to feed off each other and play like that.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sawa14