The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders by a score of 45-27 on Friday night in front of an announced crowd of 28,299 at Mosaic Stadium. Below are my thoughts on the game.
Quality QBs
After a disappointing opening week for most of the quarterbacks around the CFL, it was a pleasure to watch Zach Collaros and Trevor Harris shine in Regina.
Collaros completed 23-of-31 pass attempts for 292 yards and two touchdowns but was also effective along the ground, running for 17 yards and a touchdown. His favourite target on the night was Dalton Schoen, who finished the game with eight catches for 149 yards and a touchdown, while Drew Wolitarsky made five grabs for 68 yards and one score.
The league’s two-time reigning Most Outstanding Player didn’t put the ball in harm’s way and avoided pressure with ease. As much as Collaros struggled in his last trip to Mosaic Stadium, he was nearly perfect on Friday.
Harris was excellent as well, completing 29-of-41 pass attempts for 414 yards and three touchdowns. He showed no signs of the hip injury that almost held him out of Friday’s game, rushing three times for 23 yards, and threw with confidence despite Derel Walker, the club’s best receiver, being out due to injury.
Arguably the most impressive throw of the night came when Harris threaded the needle to Shawn Bane Jr. for 45 yards at the start of the third quarter. The receiver only had a half-step on Deatrick Nichols but the ball was placed where only the receiver had a chance to bring it down. It was perfection.
It’s worth noting that Desmond Lawrence and Alden Darby Jr. should both have had interceptions, but it still would have been a strong performance from Harris even with two picks. At worst, he’s currently the third-best quarterback in the CFL behind Collaros and B.C.’s Vernon Adams Jr.
Janari-on top
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Janarion Grant’s 92-yard punt return touchdown on Friday night might be one of the best special teams plays in the history of the CFL.
The 29-year-old caught a bouncing punt near the right sideline and reversed field after making one defender miss, dodging six oncoming tacklers before finally breaking contain. From there, he won the footrace to the end zone, clearly suffering from fatigue as he approached the goal line.
Not even the referees can stop Janarion Grant (@JanarionGrant)!
EIGHT broken tackles and an overturned penalty flag was all he needed for one of the greatest returns in CFL history.#CFL #Bombers #ForTheW
pic.twitter.com/nBXLDcEbal— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) June 17, 2023
The amount of time that elapsed from the snap of the ball to when Grant made it into the end zone was 27 seconds. Wildly, the first defender Grant dodged, defensive back Deontai Williams, was also the last defender he dodged.
Head coach Mike O’Shea, a well-regarded special teams guru, had little to say about the return postgame because he didn’t watch it happen.
“I’m looking in other places sometimes, I’m trying not to follow the ball, I’m looking at blocks and stuff like that,” he told Derek Taylor on CJOB postgame. “Or (maybe) I blacked out because it was so good.”
Unlike his head coach, Zach Collaros saw the play unfold.
“I think I saw him stiff-arm twelve people, it was crazy,” said the franchise quarterback. “Nothing really shocks me when it comes to Janarion Grant. That was unbelievable.”
The return was initially negated by an illegal block penalty on Nic Demski, which was strange considering the star receiver wasn’t on the field. Winnipeg challenged the call and it was rightfully overturned after the command centre reviewed each block on the play.
There are a number of great returners in the CFL but it’s time to recognize Grant as the best of the best. He’s not missed a beat since dominating during the club’s postseason run a year ago.
Play to win
The Blue Bombers fell just shy of a first down midway through the third quarter, setting up third-and-two from Saskatchewan’s 10-yard line. Instead of kicking the field goal to make the score 21-20 in favour of the opposition, Winnipeg elected to gamble and it paid off.
Zach Collaros threw a high ball to Carlton Agudosi in the back corner of the end zone and though the receiver failed to bring it in, Jeremy Clark was flagged for pass interference. Winnipeg was awarded a first down on Saskatchewan’s one-yard line and punched it in on the following play.
Saskatchewan had all the momentum when Winnipeg gambled on third down and the successful decision ultimately proved to be the turning point of the game. The Riders had a chance to steal the momentum back midway through the fourth quarter on third-and-10 from Winnipeg’s 11-yard line, though they elected to kick a field goal to make the score 38-27.
It’s easy to say in hindsight but that was an error from Craig Dickenson. Winnipeg’s offence was on fire and the Riders had a chance to make it a one-score game. Instead, they allowed the Blue Bombers to maintain a double-digit lead. Simply put, it was a mistake. Go for it. Play to win.
Field position fail
Field position is rarely a hot-button topic but it’s arguably one of the biggest factors that goes into determining wins and losses in the CFL.
Winnipeg was up 17-7 when they took possession of the ball with 1:42 remaining in the first half at their 23-yard line. Instead of putting together a couple of first downs to kill the clock, the club went two-and-out with a 42-yard punt, which Mario Alford returned for 17 yards.
The Riders took possession at Winnipeg’s 50-yard line with 1:04 remaining and needed only five plays to score a touchdown. Winnipeg’s defence shouldn’t have allowed the late score, of course, but the offence and special teams set the table for them. Football is considered the ultimate team game for a reason.
Run to the (Big)hills
Winnipeg’s defence got picked apart through the air but was plenty stout against the run, allowing Jamal Morrow to rush for only eight yards on his first five carries. Though he finally busted a big run off a jump cut late in the game, Morrow is a dangerous weapon that was mostly held in check.
Adam Bighill made an excellent play when he timed an early Saskatchewan third-down sneak perfectly, stopping short-yardage quarterback Shea Patterson for no gain and forcing a turnover on downs. Brandon Alexander was also noticeable on a number of plays, living up to his billing as one of the hardest-hitting defensive backs in the CFL.
“It seemed like [Saskatchewan was] able to drive the ball on us, we weren’t able to get off the field as quickly as we would have liked. We missed a few sacks and we missed a few tackles. I do think that we can play better defensively but the goal is to win the game however it looks,” said O’Shea.
“There’s some guys that are hanging their heads and it’s like, ‘C’mon now, guys, it’s tough to win football games. It’s tough to win in Saskatchewan and they’re an improved team, so we can’t hang our heads. We’ve got to just get home, watch the tape and be better and they will be.”
The Blue Bombers will have to tighten things up through the air when they visit Regina for the Labour Day Classic — the club was actually outgained by 58 yards on offence — but the defence was good enough to win, which isn’t hard to do when the other two phases of the game rack up 45 points.
Corner pocket
It’s not surprising that the Riders were ready for Nic Demski’s corner route after the Winnipeg native used it to eviscerate the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last week. Midway through the first quarter, field-side halfback Amari Henderson predicted the route was coming and beat Demski to the ball, while safety Jayden Dalke provided help from the inside.
Collaros and Demski were unable to connect for any big gains on corner routes on Friday, though one generated a 31-yard gain when Nelson Lokombo was called for pass interference early in the fourth quarter.
Haba, haba
It didn’t take long for Celestin Haba, who signed his first professional contract on May 30, to prove that last week’s sack against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats wasn’t a fluke. The edge rusher made his first career start in place of an injured Jackson Jeffcoat and made an impact midway through the second quarter when he strip-sacked Trevor Harris.
The play didn’t result in a turnover as Harris was able to recover his own fumble but it was still a tremendous effort. The drive ended on the subsequent play as Jake Thomas sacked Harris as he tried to escape the pocket.
There was speculation that Winnipeg could sign free-agent defensive end Shawn Lemon when Jeffcoat went down but Haba is doing an admirable job of replacing the veteran. Miles Fox, a defensive tackle who signed with the club this past week following his release from B.C., also took some reps at defensive end in his debut.
Where’s the big man?
Carlton Agudosi started against a CFL rookie for the second consecutive week, this time matching up against Deontai Williams, who replaced an injured Nick Marshall at boundary cornerback. The six-foot-six, 220-pound target finished the game with three catches for 17 yards, though he drew a key pass interference penalty in the third quarter.
Winnipeg’s offence has been sensational through two games this season but it would be nice to see more production from Agudosi. It remains unclear when Kenny Lawler will return from the suspended list and Agudosi will have to do more if he wants to stay in the starting lineup after Lawler comes back.
Hat trick
Congratulations to Samuel Emilus for not only making his career touchdown catch but his first three. It speaks volumes about the young receiver that Trevor Harris repeatedly looked his way when Saskatchewan entered the red zone.
The Montreal native was the seventh overall pick in the 2022 CFL Draft and made only nine catches in his rookie year, which led pundits to suggest the Riders made a mistake when they took him over Tyson Philpot, who was the East Division’s nominee for Most Outstanding Rookie last season. After his performance on Friday, we’ve likely heard the last of that particular criticism.
Pizzagate
The Blue Bombers created quite a stir on social media on Friday morning when they tweeted that Regina-style pizza is “terrible.” For the uninitiated, Regina-style pizza features a sweet and spicy tomato sauce covered in a thick layer of processed meat, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and cheese.
The CFL served the local delicacy in the press box at last year’s Grey Cup and I thought it was delicious, albeit quite rich. However, it should be noted that I’ll eat pretty much any kind of pizza, along with the vast majority of foods in general.
The controversy also led many to point out that there’s no such thing as Winnipeg-style pizza. As a born and bred Winnipegger, I would suggest that Winnipeg-style pizza is any pizza that is purchased with a coupon.
Never give up
Jayden Dalke has drawn a lot of attention in Riderville since winning the team’s starting safety job in training camp. He had another strong performance on Friday before leaving the game due to injury, recording one tackle and one knockdown.
What a lot of people may not know is that the native of Leduc, Alta. attended the CFL’s Western Regional Combine in 2018 while he was playing for the Edmonton Wildcats of the Canadian Junior Football League. He ran a 5.04-second forty-yard dash at six-foot-one and 202 pounds, which is abysmal, and didn’t sign a professional contract.
He then committed to the University of Alberta where he developed into a first-team All-Canadian with the Golden Bears. He ran a 4.86-second forty-yard dash at the 2022 CFL Combine and improved his results in every other category. None of his testing numbers popped off the page but he’s living proof that perseverance pays off as he’s now a starter at the professional level.
Walking wounded
Running back Brady Oliveira left Friday’s game midway through the fourth quarter and appeared to be in pain on the sideline. The local product finished the night with 10 carries for 42 yards and one catch for four yards before giving way to Johnny Augustine.
There won’t be a lot of time for Oliveira to recuperate as his team is set to play at home on Thursday. Augustine is the only other running back on Winnipeg’s active roster, though the versatile Greg McCrae, who started seven games at slotback last season, remains on the practice roster.
Next up
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2-0) will host the B.C. Lions (1-0) on Thursday, June 22 with kickoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT. The Leos don’t play their second game of the season until Saturday night when they host the Edmonton Elks, meaning they’ll have to play at IG Field on just four days of rest.
The Blue Bombers went 3-1 against B.C. last year, which included a 28-20 victory in the West Final. Winnipeg’s only loss came in a late-season game in which many of the club’s starters were rested, including franchise quarterback Zach Collaros.
John Hodge is a longtime Canadian football reporter, insider, and podcaster for 3DownNation. Based in Winnipeg, Hodge is also a freelance television and radio broadcaster and curling reporter for Rock Channel.
