High five! Blue still undefeated

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This article was published 19/07/2019 (1741 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Andrew Harris stood in front of his locker late Friday night and wondered aloud what it might look like when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers finally hit their stride.

The moment was peculiar, considering the Bombers had just put forth arguably their most dominating performance in a 31-1 win over the Ottawa Redblacks at IG Field. Still, Harris, the Bombers’ punishing running back and heart and soul of the team, felt as if it was only the beginning of something more.

“We’re winning and it’s good, but I don’t know,” he started. “For some reason I’m just waiting for us to have that game where everything just clicks. Obviously winning is important and that’s what you want in this league and this game, but I still feel like we’ve got some left in the tank.”

Earlier this week, Harris once again downplayed his team’s success, suggesting the Bombers’ 4-0 record “really doesn’t mean s–t.” The focus, he added, remained on the present. “When you start thinking about the past and the future and not the right now, that’s when you start losing games,” he said.

It’s hard to argue with the recipe Winnipeg is working with this season. It’s also difficult to imagine the Bombers losing, not after such a dominant start to the season, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in these parts in nearly six decades.

Indeed, the Bombers reaffirmed Friday their status as the class of the CFL, delivering a lesson to the Redblacks and a message to the entire league that they remain the club to beat. The win keeps the Bombers’ perfect record intact, now at 5-0, as they look down at the rest of the West Division. You’d have to go back to 1960 to recall such a dominating start to a Bombers’ campaign.

“The message is when you come here you got to play your ‘A’ game,” said Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson. “When we come to your house we’re going to bring our ‘A’ game, so you got to come with your ‘A’ game, too.”

Simply put, the Bombers played the bully on this night, pushing around their opponent early and providing no mercy until the final whistle blew. The Bombers have now won their last four games without trailing at any point; the last time that occurred for the Bombers in a season was 1981.

As for the Redblacks, they continued their free-fall in the East, losing their third straight game by double digits after starting the year with back-to-back wins. Ottawa will look to get back on track as they welcome the Calgary Stampeders to town next week.

Until then, they’ll lament an inept offence and a leaky and banged up defence.

Facing an Ottawa defence that had three new starters, with injuries to safety Antoine Pruneau and corner Jonathan Rose, quarterback Matt Nichols and the Winnipeg offence racked up 446 yards of net offence. With a defence that was without their leader, middle linebacker Adam Bighill, for a third straight week, the Bombers limited the Redblacks offence to a mere 175 yards, while forcing six turnovers. Ottawa had just 102 passing yards and 12 first downs.

Nichols had his best game of the season, completing 25 of 29 passes for 295 yards and two touchdown throws. In one spectacular stretch he completed 19 passes in a row, setting a new franchise mark. On the ground, the Bombers put up 121 yards, led by Harris with 63 yards on 14 carries.

“He just oozes confidence and that’s something that rubs off on everybody around him,” Bombers centre Michael Couture said. “He’s a guy I want to play for, someone I never want to let down and the more we keep him upright the more this stuff is going to happen.”

After a slow start for both offences, Winnipeg’s defence that finally gave the crowd of 25,350 something to cheer about. Winston Rose picked off a Jonathon Jennings pass intended for fullback Marco Dubois, before returning it 72 yards down the right sidelines to put the home side up 7-0.

That set the tempo and sparked the offence, as Nichols settled in to lead Winnipeg to back-to-back touchdown drives, extending his team’s lead to 21-1.

The first score came on a tidy nine-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off with a 15-yard pass to Harris in the end zone. Harris executed a wheel route to perfection, and facing an Ottawa blitz, Nichols delivered an equally flawless throw to record his league-leading 11th passing touchdown of the season.

It took just two plays on the next drive to earn No. 12.

The first attempt to get the ball to Kenny Lawler didn’t work, but the second went the distance, with Lawler reeling in a catch and scooting into the end zone for a 54-yard score, his first CFL touchdown.

Lawler was at the centre of some controversy earlier this week after he was inserted into the lineup in favour of veteran Chris Matthews. Matthews was cleared to play from a serious injury to his left pinkie finger that kept him out of last week’s win over the Toronto Argonauts, but the Bombers preferred to err on the side of caution, while also liking what they saw from Lawler. Lawler proved the coaching staff and trainers right, leading all receivers with five catches for 83 yards.

“There’s that long touchdown that he had, where he had some missed tackles but I thought there was one tackler he ran right out of, which showed he was strong on his feet,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.

Jennings, who was making his first start of the year for an injured Dominique Davis, faced pressure all night, forcing him to escape the pocket to extend plays. He finished with just 45 passing yards on six completions before being replaced by Will Arndt in the fourth quarter. Arndt didn’t fare much better, going 4-for-13 passing for 57 yards.

Winnipeg wasn’t done in the first half, adding a fourth touchdown with just 13 seconds remaining before the break.

Nichols completed all seven of his passes on the drive. Earlier in the week, Harris had joked with the Free Press about not getting touches close to the goal line, suggesting he needed “to get a 20-yarder” to record a touchdown on the ground.

He got his chance facing first-and-goal on Ottawa’s five-yard line, but managed just three yards. With Streveler in for Nichols, it looked like it might go back to No. 33. But it was a fake to Harris, allowing for Streveler to roll out to his right to make it a 28-1 game at halftime.

The Bombers vowed this week to be strong down the stretch after taking their foot off the gas in a 48-21 win over the Argonauts. They had built up a 37-6 lead at halftime, but were outscored 15-11 through the final two quarters.

On Friday, they lived up to their word. A scoreless third quarter ensued, but it was the Bombers who pushed the play. They got as close as the Redblacks’ one-yard line, but failed to convert on third down, making it their first unsuccessful attempt this year.

Justin Medlock provided the only scoring in the half, booting a 33-yard field goal just minutes into the fourth quarter to make it 31-1. From there, the defence suffocated Ottawa, and the offence stayed on the field to milk the clock. It was a fitting end, with Chris Humes icing the game with an interception in the end zone.

“We’re against those guys every week in practice so we understand how good they are and how great they are as a group,” said Harris. “All around, from the D-line to the linebackers, to the secondary — there are a bunch of ballers on that defence.”

The Bombers will now head East for a pair of road games, beginning with the 4-1 Hamilton Tiger-Cats next Friday. They will stay in Ontario to practise before playing the winless Toronto Argonauts on Aug. 1.

 

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton