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WINNIPEG – Down 11-1, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers knew exactly what they had to do to come back against the Calgary Stampeders.
They needed to be more physical on both sides of the ball, forcing turnovers from the Stampeders on defence and executing every drive on offence.
23 unanswered points later, it was apparent that the game plan floodgates had opened as the Bombers moved to 4-1 on the season and took the victory in front of their home crowd.
“In the end we physically wore them so hats off to our offensive line, Brady [Oliveira] for going downhill, all of our receivers for getting in there and mixing it up too,” Zach Collaros told TSN’s John Lu post game.
“The defence, unbelievable again this week, in the CFL holding a team to 11 points, especially a team coached by Coach Dickenson, is really hard to do.”
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The Bombers forced two-and-outs on multiple drives as Calgary’s Jake Maier was unable to create any offence, allowing Winnipeg to get the ball back and march downfield to score.
The momentum swing started with a second quarter touchdown from Collaros to Greg McCrae for 68 yards, and set the tone for how far the Bombers offence would push their opponent.
McCrae also had a 102-yard return from a missed field goal that set up a field goal for Winnipeg to extend their lead, being one of the most dominant players for Winnipeg’s offence to succeed after going down early.
“Greg can play every position man, he plays running back for us, he’s a running back in school, comes up here and he’s starting wide receiver for us and one of the most important positions in our offence,” said Collaros.
“He’s back there returning kicks, he could probably play corner too, so he’s a great player.”
The full team effort included Oliveira being the main back driving downfield in an almost 10 minute drive to eat the clock and ensure any hopes of a Calgary comeback were thwarted.
To Collaros, it was apparent that everyone played a role in the game that was both mentally and physically tough, but proved that the Bombers are strong in both areas.
“It was just physical, our guys up front wouldn’t be denied, and Brady just ran his ass off, it was awesome,” Collaros said.