Bombers go from lofty 5-0 to Ontario trip’s ugh and d’oh! By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Aug. 2, 2019

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This article was published 01/08/2019 (1876 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — It’s funny how things can go in the Canadian Football League.

Nine days ago, the Blue Bombers were rolling along on a historic five-game winning streak to start the regular season, something Winnipeggers hadn’t witnessed since 1960.

Some fans dreamed of Grey Cup parades. Others, seasoned by a 29-year decade championship drought, waited for the other shoe to drop.

Well, the boot hit the floor with a resounding thud Thursday night when the Bombers frittered away an early 20-0 lead at Toronto’s mostly empty BMO Field before dropping a 28-27 decision to the previously winless Argonauts.

Winnipeg surrendered a touchdown strike from Toronto quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson to S.J. Green with just 13 seconds left on the clock.

The result, compounded by a demoralizing 23-15 loss in Hamilton six days earlier, was certainly tough to swallow, but it’s not like the Blue Bombers’ fate is decided. If you think the club’s championship hopes are shattered, you don’t know the CFL very well.

The Blue Bombers are 5-2 and will have at least a share of first place in the West Division after Week 8.

Here are five takeaways from the debacle at BMO Field:

1. The Harris train

After Thursday’s two-touchdown, 15-carry, 152-yard outburst on the ground against an underrated Toronto defence, it’s time to admit Andrew Harris deserves serious consideration for the league’s Most Outstanding Player Award.

Harris was so good against the Argos — he was also Winnipeg’s top receiver, with 45 yards on six receptions — that the most important question to emerge from the the club’s extended Ontario road trip was why he didn’t get more work.

Entering Friday’s action, Harris led the CFL with 646 rushing yards (an astounding 6.8-yard-per-carry average). His rushing totals include 20 carries of 10 or more yards, and 278 receiving yards on 37 catches.

However, there was one blemish. Harris fumbled on Toronto’s eight-yard line in the first half, and it proved to be a very costly mistake.

“I need to be way better in that situation, especially down close to the goal-line there,” he said. “I took at least three points off the board from us there. So, put the game on me if you want to say that.”

2. Offensive doldrums

Quarterback Matt Nichols cleaned up on his interceptions after throwing three picks against the Ticats, but it was the offence’s inability to sustain drives that was most telling against the Argos.

Winnipeg had only three possessions with more than one first down; Toronto’s much-maligned unit had six.

“I don’t really know exactly what it is, but when you get stuck in second-and-long, it’s very hard to stay on the field,” said wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky, who caught three balls for 30 yards. “You’re kind of stuck calling what you’ve got to call on second-and-long and hoping you can get a first down. What we didn’t do (Thursday) is get in manageable positions, and that really hurt us, got us off the field many times. Whether that’s lack of communication or whether that’s not being in the right place at the right time, we don’t know yet.

“We have to watch it and dissect that. We’re going to get home to Winnipeg and regroup, refocus. Obviously, this is not acceptable for our team. We believe we’re much better than this and we’re going to prove that. This is definitely a humbling experience. I think all great teams need to be humbled to realize our potential and the work necessary.”

Penalties were also a significant issue. Winnipeg entered Thursday’s game as the league’s most disciplined club, flagged only 7.3 times per game. Against the Argos, they were penalized nine times for 76 yards.

“We need to finish, we need to be more disciplined,” said Harris. “We can’t take anyone lightly. I think we made our mistakes today and, overall, we started off well and then the momentum kind of shifted and we never got it back. We left some plays out there. We seemed to be better overall but it’s too much of a roller-coaster. We’ve gotta stay up here instead riding that wave.”

3. Defence wearing thin?

When defensive end Willie Jefferson snuffed out a late Argos’ drive with a brilliant sack, strip and fumble recovery on the Winnipeg 29-yard line, it should have been lights-out for the winless hosts with 2:27 left on the clock.

But it didn’t work out that way. Toronto forced Nichols into another two-and-out; 47 seconds later, the Argos had the ball back, setting the stage for the winning drive.

“That last three minutes is like it’s own new game,” said Winnipeg safety Jeff Hecht. “It can take forever, and 1:40 on the clock, with us having the ball, is not game-over. That’s enough time to run half a dozen plays and still punt to them and then have a chance to come down and throw a couple. So we have to be tighter in those three-minute windows…. End of the second half and the fourth quarter, we were kind of in the same situation. Whatever it is, we need to identify our problem with a two-minute offence and we need to address and clean it up.”

Winnipeg also surrendered a Rodney Smith TD in the final minute of the first half, as Bethel-Thompson capped a quick, eight-play, 71-yard drive to pull the hosts to within 10 points at 20-10. The comeback was on.

“We had some mistakes, definitely,” added Hecht. “We gave them some drives — we gave them a drive in the first half with some penalties and some missed assignments — and they were able to capitalize. In the CFL, momentum is a helluva thing, right? And once they got rolling, we seemed to compound our mistakes. At the same time, they compounded their execution. It’s not a very good formula for us.”

4. The quarterback carousel

As crazy as it sounds, Toronto’s victory vaulted a team once given up for dead into the East Division playoff hunt — and it’s not hard to understand why. All four teams in the East have lost their starting quarterback to injury, with first-place Hamilton suffering the worst fate when all-star Jeremiah Masoli was ruled out for the season due to a non-contact knee injury.

Prior to Bethel-Thompson’s heroics against Winnipeg, Argos GM Jim Popp decided to act, acquiring Zach Collaros from the Saskatchewan Roughriders for a fourth-round draft pick that could turn into a second-rounder, depending on how well he performs. Collaros is just coming off the six-game injured list, while Toronto’s Week 1 starter, James Franklin, is also due to come off the six-game list later this month.

The signs point to Collaros, who played for the Argos from 2012 to 2013, getting his shot at some point.

“I saw the opportunity to get a vet and a guy that’s played a lot and won, and won here in the city,” Popp said prior to Thursday’s game. “The biggest thing is that I’ve known for years that he really wanted to be back in Toronto, even at one point being willing to back up Ricky Ray, if it was possible. I tried my damndest to get him in ’17 and Hamilton wouldn’t let us have him. So here’s an opportunity to get him and let’s see what he can do.”

5. BMO Field is nice but…

The deterioration of the CFL’s image and drawing power in the Toronto region has been well known for several years now, but it was still shocking to see it in the flesh.

An attendance figure for the small, scattered crowd at BMO Field was not announced, which was no surprise, because it wouldn’t have taken that much time for each person in the stands to introduce themselves.

The future of the league and the team seems bleak in this place, even with a beautiful, well-maintained venue in which to play.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14

Mike Sawatzky
Reporter

Mike has been working on the Free Press sports desk since 2003.

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