Winnipeg Blue Bombers complete three passes, beat Redblacks anyway (& 10 other thoughts)

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Ottawa Redblacks by a score of 26-18 at TD Place Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Below are my thoughts on the game.

Barely moving the ball

It would be easy to say that Winnipeg’s offensive game plan was straight out of 1965 but it wasn’t — it just looked like bad football.

Chris Streveler completed three-of-eight pass attempts for 54 yards and one interception, and ran the ball 11 times for 72 yards and a score. Needless to say, it wasn’t a brilliant performance from the veteran CFL quarterback.

The alleged passer got his first completion on a short throw to Ontaria Wilson in the first quarter. He didn’t record his second completion until midway through the fourth quarter when rookie Joey Corcoran was wide open in the middle for a 24-yard gain.

The Blue Bombers had 25 first downs and ran the ball on 23 of them. One of the “passes” — a 19-yard “completion” to Dillon Mitchell in the fourth quarter — was essentially a forward handoff on a jet sweep. For all intents and purposes, it was a running play.

Streveler’s interception occurred late in the first quarter when he looked for Nic Demski over the middle and didn’t see Jovan Santos-Knox in zone coverage. The veteran receiver entered this week with a league-best 84-game catching streak, which ended on Saturday. The local product momentarily registered a catch early in the fourth quarter, though it was negated due to a holding penalty on Patrick Neufeld.

It would have been nice to see Winnipeg’s offence run the ball more creatively — more jet sweeps, draws, counters, etc. — but things were kept pretty vanilla. It didn’t look like many of Streveler’s carries were designed runs, either — just passing plays he bailed on. The 30-year-old was sacked four times, three of which occurred when he tried to escape the pocket through a rushing lane that closed by the time he got there.

Streveler’s best play came late in the second quarter when he pulled the ball on a fake sweep to Nic Demski and took off running to his left. Patrick Neufeld and Kendall Randolph, who pulled from the right side of the offensive line, created a perfect rushing lane and Streveler exploited it for a 36-yard gain, thanks in part to a nice downfield block from Ontaria ‘Pokey’ Wilson.

Brady Oliveira accounted for almost half of his team’s 210 net yards, rushing 20 times for 100 yards. Surprisingly, he was not targeted in the passing game.

There’s been plenty of chatter in Bomberland about when second-year quarterback Terry Wilson will get his shot. Saturday’s game made things pretty clear: Chris Streveler can complete three passes and head coach Mike O’Shea still isn’t making a change.

Viva la Vaval

Rookie returner Trey Vaval scored a touchdown on a 128-yard missed field goal return early in the second quarter after a 43-yard attempt from Lewis Ward sailed wide of the uprights.

It initially looked like Vaval made a mistake bringing the ball out of the end zone. Defensive linemen Daniel Okpoko and Chase McGowan were both lurking at the goal line and offensive lineman Jacob Ruby and defensive lineman Kene Onyeka were closeby, too.

Aided by blocks from Redha Kramdi, Jake Kelly, and Kyrie Wilson, Vaval broke out of the initial scrum to find room near the right sideline. Two Redblacks defenders — Tyron Vrede and Blessman Ta’ala — collided in pursuit, creating a cutback lane for Vaval that he exploited following a pathetic tackle attempt from punter Noah Gettman, and he was gone.

Vaval made another great play midway through the third quarter when Ward missed a 47-yard field goal and he returned the ball 71 yards into Ottawa territory. Winnipeg’s offence was unable to do anything with the field position, but it was still a brilliant play that took advantage of one of many Redblacks mistakes on the day.

In total, Vaval recorded seven returns for 278 yards and a touchdown. The rookie also made a key defensive play after entering the game when Deatrick Nichols suffered a late injury. Dru Brown threw a pass into the end zone on third down with a little over three minutes left and Vaval defended it well one-on-one, forcing an incompletion and a turnover.

You could make a good argument that Vaval was Winnipeg’s best player on Saturday. The team probably wouldn’t have won without him.

Special special teams

The Blue Bombers not only got great production from Trey Vaval — see above — but they played well on special teams all game long.

Late in the second quarter, Jamieson Sheahan booted a 51-yard punt and Michael Ayers unleashed a hellacious shot on returner DeVonte Dedmon to knock the ball loose. Tanner Cadwallader recovered the fumble in Ottawa territory, leading to a 44-yard field goal from Sergio Castillo two plays later to end the first half.

Castillo went a perfect four-for-four on his field goal attempts and two-for-two on his converts. Dedmon averaged a solid 13.8 yards on five punt returns but was held to 20.3 yards per kickoff return.

When your offence isn’t clicking, it’s up to the defence and special team to step up. The latter certainly did that in the nation’s capital.

Yes you Cam

Rookie defensive back Cam Allen made two interceptions on Saturday to help the Blue Bombers win the turnover battle 4-1 — a rarity this season.

The first pick occurred when Dru Brown overthrew Luther Hakunavanhu near the midway point of the second quarter. It was a poor decision from the quarterback as the receiver was surrounded by four defenders downfield and was unable to high-point the football.

The second interception took place early in the fourth quarter on a pass that appeared to be tipped at the line of scrimmage. It looked like Brown tried to throw a short pass to Bralon Addison but the ball floated slightly into the waiting arms of Allen, who wasn’t particularly close to a receiver at the time.

I’m sure defensive backs would rather get interceptions by beating out receivers on contested balls at key points in the game. With that said, I’m sure Allen won’t argue with getting his first two career interceptions in a must-win game.

Taking hits

Keric Wheatfall took one of the hardest hits you’ll ever see on Saturday, which forced him to leave the game early in the fourth quarter.

Chris Streveler targeted the wideout on a 22-yard dig route and strong-side linebacker Adarius Pickett drove his shoulder into the receiver’s chest, breaking up what would have been Winnipeg’s second completion of the day.

The hit was ruthless but it was clean as Pickett didn’t use his head, nor did he make contact with Wheatfall’s head.

Pass rush

The Redblacks started former Blue Bombers offensive lineman Drew Desjarlais out of position at right tackle on Saturday, while rookie Sam Carson made his first career start at left guard. Given those circumstances, one would think Winnipeg’s pass rush may have been able to rack up some sacks. This didn’t happen as the Blue Bombers only got to Dru Brown one time on the day.

Willie Jefferson sacked Dru Brown late in the second quarter, though it was a textbook coverage sack. Brown surveyed the field at length against a three-man rush as Jefferson found the edge, then pursued the quarterback and brought him down for a 17-yard loss. It was only Jefferson’s third sack of the season.

Winnipeg’s defence isn’t a pressure-oriented attack, often rushing only three players. Regardless, it would have been nice to see more production from some of their defensive linemen. Brown finished the game completing 33-of-45 pass attempts for 406 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.

Houston, we have a problem

Demerio Houston made his second start of the season at boundary cornerback and got burned for the first time when Eugene Lewis ran a slant-go near the start of the third quarter. Dru Brown delivered a perfect throw and the play went for 54 yards, leading to a 23-yard field goal from Lewis Ward.

Winnipeg’s defence has struggled with allowing big plays all season long, but allowed only one against the Redblacks.

When it comes to playing clean football, however, the defence made two major mistakes as linebacker Tony Jones and defensive tackle Cameron Lawson were called for roughing the passer late in the third quarter.

Jones appeared to hit Dru Brown with his shoulder, though he may have caught the bottom of the passer’s facemask — it wasn’t clear on the television replay. Lawson, meanwhile, appeared to strike Brown’s helmet with his left arm.

The CFL does everything it can to protect quarterbacks — and for good reason. If you give the officials a reason to throw the flag, they’ll do it just about every time.

History check

For anyone wondering if Winnipeg’s passing attack was historically bad on Saturday, the answer is no. It was terrible, obviously, but not bad enough to enter the history books.

As per CFL statistician Jeff Krever, multiple teams have gone entire games without a completion. The most recent team to do so was the Blue Bombers in 1960 — and they did so in a win over Edmonton.

Herd up

The Manitoba Bisons beat the Alberta Golden Bears in their homecoming game by a score of 34-7 on Saturday afternoon at a rain-soaked Princess Auto Stadium, improving their record to 2-2. Manitoba upset the Saskatchewan Huskies to get their first win of the season last week, overcoming a 17-0 halftime deficit.

The Bisons will next play on Saturday, September 27 when they visit the Regina Rams, who suffered their first loss of the season against the Huskies on Friday night.

Next up

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-7) will host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (8-5) on Saturday, September 27 with kickoff slated for 3:00 p.m. EDT. As of the publishing of this article, the Tiger-Cats are about to kick-off against the Edmonton Elks to close out Week 16 in the CFL.

Winnipeg and Hamilton met last week in the ‘Team Ted’ game, which saw the Tiger-Cats win 32-21 after converting two Chris Streveler interceptions into touchdowns in Steeltown. The matchup will also mark the end of a ten-week run during which the Blue Bombers have gone without a bye. After some time off in Week 18, Winnipeg will conclude their regular season with a trip to Edmonton, then home games against Saskatchewan and Montreal.

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