The BC Lions’ postseason ended Nov. 13 as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat them 28-20 in a spectacularly sad western final. The Toronto Argonauts are now the only obstacle in Winnipeg’s way of winning a 3rd Grey Cup in a row and making franchise and league history Sunday, Nov. 20.
Nathan Rourke and the Lions couldn’t get anything started all game long. Rourke didn’t look sharp and wasn’t in sync with his receivers. Their first few drives were two in and outs, only getting saved with an unnecessary roughness call and a fumble recovery that created a touchdown run in by Antonio Pipkin.
Rourke stayed in the entire game, only completing 20 passes out of 37 attempts, for 300 yards. An impressive stat for 54 per cent passing and only one passing touchdown to Alexander Hollins. The pattern of two in and outs stayed through the entire game. An occasional good drive would either end in a field goal or a turnover on downs. The hearing and understanding issues continued throughout the game, halting the one promising final drive with time clock violations and rushed plates.
Defensively, the Lions suffered from one weakness. Stopping Winnipeg’s run game. Brady Oliveira stomped over and through the Lions’ D with 130 rushing yards in the game. The defensive backs made a few key pass blocks and an interception, but it was mainly to keep Winnipeg’s win from being a blowout.
Zach Collaros and the Bombers played exceptionally well. Collaros was on fire, throwing 70 per cent for, for only 178 yards, but for one touchdown and an interception. Winnipeg’s short style of passing and letting their receivers punch up the field proved effective at keeping possession and maintaining the pace of the game.
The Great Blue Wall, the name aptly given to the Bomber’s massive defence with Adam Bighill and Willie Jefferson, shut down the Lions’ rare attempts at getting their own run game started, and blitzed Rourke throughout the game.
Rourke had a late-game surge in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter, and for a second it looked like the Lions could scrape by and get into overtime. However, the Lions miscommunication, in addition to how loud 30,000+ fans at the Bombers IG Field were, caused time-clock violations that ended the final chances.
Toronto’s win early Sunday morning against the Montreal Alouettes puts them directly in Winnipeg’s warpath to make CFL history. If the Argos want to slow down Winnipeg and establish control of the game, they have to do what the Lions could not: stop the run and Oliveira. Winnipeg is a well-built team that can drop bombs from short or long ranges. Collaros is deadly at the short passes, he can throw the occasional long ball and has the best receiving corps in the league. Shutting down Oliveira means that the Bombers can’t shift between playing short and long plays to stretch the field and Toronto’s D, letting the Argos take possession and pace of the game to give their offence the drives they need to score.
Like so many important games, this year’s Grey Cup will be about defence and stopping Winnipeg’s ground game. If Toronto’s defence can control and give their quarterback, McLeod Bethel-Thompson a chance to connect with his receivers and stretch out a good short to the medium passing game, Toronto has a chance. The Argos cannot hope to create or find a hole in the Bombers’ Blue Wall, it’ll be too late by the time they find one, and Winnipeg will have capped off their already stellar performance this year with the first 3-peat championship in over 40 years at the 109th Grey Cup in Regina.
Teryn Midzain is an English Major with ambitious goals to write movies and a full-time nerd, whose personality and eccentrics run on high-octane like the cars he loves. More importantly, Teryn loves sports [Formula One], and doesn’t care who knows. When not creating and running deadly schemes in his D&D sessions, Teryn tries to reach the core of what makes the romantic and dramatic World of Sports, the characters and people that make the events so spectacular.
