Crum crushes Bombers in thrilling comeback (and three other reasons why the Redblacks beat Winnipeg)

The Ottawa Redblacks pulled off a stunning upset of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday afternoon at TD Place, coming back from a 19-point deficit to claim a 31-28 victory in overtime. Unfortunately, neither of our 3Down columnists were able to witness it.

With both John Hodge and Santino Filoso otherwise occupied this week, I’ve been asked to step in as a poor substitute. Here are four reasons why the Redblacks beat the Bombers.

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Crum

After the tragic injury to veteran Jeremiah Masoli a week ago, rookie Dustin Crum put forth a valiant effort in relief but came up one yard short of tying the game on a desperate final play. Up against the league’s reigning dynasty, he found himself in identical circumstances this week and refused to be denied.

As time expired in his first career start, the former Mid-American Conference MVP escaped to his right and put future Hall of Famer Adam Bighill in a blender on his way to the endzone, bulldozing Abu Daramy-Swaray as he reached for the goal line. After finding Nate Behar for the tying two-point convert, he was again left free in overtime, this time galloping 29 yards untouched up the middle for the walk-off score.

It was a storybook ending for a team starting their fourth different quarterback in five games, complete with all-time great heroics from Crum. What made it more impressive was how he started the night.

In the face of significant pressure from the Bombers’ swarming front six, Crum routinely held the ball too long and struggled to make his reads. He was sacked twice and intercepted before recording a single passing yard, with his first positive completion coming on a five-yard shovel pass to Justin Hardy early in the second quarter.

The first-half numbers were startlingly bad, with Crum completing just five of 12 attempts for 20 yards and a poorly thrown interception to Demerio Houston. He was also sacked four times, resulting in a net offensive output for Ottawa of just 17 yards before the intermission compared to 201 for Winnipeg. They did not gain a first down until there was 4:22 remaining in the second quarter, drawing a Bronx cheer from the home crowd.

But the second half proved to be a revelation, as Crum found his poise and, more importantly, his legs. After barely running in the first 30 minutes, the 24-year-old finished with nine carries for 103 yards and those two pivotal touchdowns. He also looked like an entirely different player throwing the ball, finishing 26-of-42 for 261 yards without another turnover.

The Redblacks still came up short on several critical late drives, settling for a Lewis Ward field goal and turning it over twice on downs in Winnipeg territory. But the revitalized second half from their Kent State pivot has provided renewed optimism for a team that was left for dead this week.

When you witness the pure elation that Crum incited from head coach Bob Dyce and his teammates, it is difficult to count Ottawa out.

A little help, please?

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have built a tidy legacy on the arm of Zach Collaros, but they left the two-time Most Outstanding Player completely alone on Saturday.

The team’s workhorse back Brady Oliveira was entirely shut down by a robust Ottawa front, mustering just nine carries for 16 yards. He managed just one yard before the fourth quarter, prompting offensive coordinator Buck Pierce to almost entirely abandon the run game despite possessing a commanding lead for much of the night.

That left the offensive burden all on Collaros and he rose to the occasion as one might expect. The 34-year-old completed 22-of-32 passes for 354 yards and two touchdowns, looking as spectacular as ever. However, throwing that often with the lead had dire consequences.

The Bombers were unable to control the time of possession battle once Ottawa started surging and it was an interception thrown behind on a routine hitch from Drew Wolitarsky that changed the game, as Brandin Dandridge raced in for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Even when still up a score with 1:30 remaining, Oliveira could not gain a single first down to kill the clock and gave Crum his shot at immortality

It was a testament to the Redblacks’ defence that they were able to render Winnipeg one-dimensional, as Michael Wakefield, Frankie Griffin, and Adam Auclair were all noticeable difference makers. However, the Bombers should have the strength up front to manhandle anybody — they simply didn’t in this game.

Maxed out

Winnipeg’s pass rush feasted against Ottawa, collecting six sacks from five different players. But just two of those takedowns of Crum came in the final two frames and overtime, as the Redblacks made the halftime adjustments to silence Willie Jefferson and Jackson Jeffcoat.

Top among them was keeping two running backs in the backfield on most plays, calling seven-man max protection with Devonte Williams and Anthony Gosselin even while desperate for points. That left just four targets available in the passing game, but offensive coordinator Khari Jones found creative ways to get his players open in space against the Bombers’ zone coverage once their quarterback had time to hit them. The result was big chunk gains, both through the air and on the ground.

Defensive coordinator Richie Hall’s group struggled to rally to the ball and tackle receivers like Justin Hardy, let alone a charging mustang of a quarterback in Dustin Crum. He ate up yardage unfettered in the second half, exploiting even legends like Bighill — who seemed just a step slow to catch the youngster in the open field after punishing him with a pair of easy sacks through the A-gap early on.

A lot gets said about Winnipeg’s aggressive veteran defence before every game, but Jones neutralized their strengths and pressed hard on the weaknesses to stage the comeback. If the team isn’t careful, it’s a formula that will be replicated going forward.

Mental flatulence

If it weren’t for several critical mental errors, the Redblacks may not have needed an exhilarating comeback to get their second victory of the season.

The worst came in the first quarter while trailing 4-0, fresh on the heels of a wonderful defensive stand. A fantastic pass breakup from Abdul Kanneh on Rasheed Bailey in the endzone seemed to force a field goal attempt in the red zone, a major win for the defence. That was until strong-side linebacker Douglas Coleman got caught jawing with Nic Demski, receiving an unnecessary roughness penalty that set up an easy Dakota Prukop touchdown.

It would be easy to rip Coleman for the boneheaded decision that created a two-score game, but perhaps he was just following organizational protocol. A few minutes later, Redblacks’ general manager Shawn Burke drew an objectionable conduct flag of his own from the sideline for harassing an official, kickstarting another Bombers’ scoring drive.

It wasn’t just penalties that hurt Ottawa either. Late in the second, receiver Savon Scarver got in behind the entire Bombers’ defence and looked primed to score his first career touchdown. Instead, he lost concentration and dropped the ball, forcing the team to go into the break down 18-3.

Fortunately for them, it was Winnipeg’s turn to suffer an uncharacteristic flood of costly brainfarts in the fourth quarter. That began with Dalton Schoen dropping a deep ball of his own with a step on his defender. The normally sure-handed receiver’s mistake hit him right in the chest, unlike the outstretched hands of Scarver, and would have at least resulted in a field goal to put the game out of reach, if not a major on that exact play.

Later in the frame, Brady Oliveira had the ball punched out of his arms from behind by Adam Auclair while trying to eat up the clock. The resulting Ottawa drive didn’t amount to points, but it could have been a costly ball control error from the reliable back. Finally, Collaros’ lone interception broke the levee as Wolitarsky seemed to drift away from where the quarterback expected him to be late in the route.

The greatest error of all may have come from the offensive line in overtime, allowing Michael Wakefield to slice inside for a sack on second down and force a field goal. With the way Ottawa was moving at that point, failing to score a touchdown on the opening drive of extra time was a death sentence.

Had those few plays gone differently, the Bombers would have won handsomely. Instead, they’ll wear the egg on their face as the team that returned hope to the nation’s capital.