Photo: Winnipeg Blue Bombers

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost to the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday night by a score of 37-10 in front of 23,035 fans at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium. Below are my thoughts on the game.

Resistance is futile

Winnipeg’s defence got absolutely annihilated in Montreal, allowing 37 points, 548 net yards, 36 first downs, and 40:38 in time of possession. If anything, the score flattered them.

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Davis Alexander threw the ball at will, finishing the game 30-of-40 for 440 yards and one touchdown. Tyson Philpot was seemingly open all night, as he made 11 catches for 207 yards to set a new CFL single-season receiving record among Canadian players.

Winnipeg’s defence didn’t get any help from its offence (more on that in a moment) but the unit didn’t do itself any favours, either. It forced only one takeaway, one two-and-out, three punts, and committed six penalties.

The Blue Bombers didn’t get a defensive stop until late in the second quarter, by which point they’d already allowed 17 points.

There was no shortage of mistakes.

It was a rare off night from Tony Jones, who took a penalty for illegal hands to the face and missed a key second-down tackle on Philpot in the second quarter. Major Williams also had a bad missed tackle on Tyler Snead near the sideline midway through the third quarter.

There was also a clear bust when Rohan Jones caught his first-career touchdown pass, as he was wide open in the end zone. The first-round draft pick ran a corner route from his tight end position and went totally uncovered.

Jones was one of the top tight ends in the SEC last year while playing for the University of Arkansas. The Blue Bombers should feel embarrassed about letting him run free in the red zone.

Despite several errors, it’s tough to be too critical of other big plays the defence gave up.

Alexander hit Philpot for 52-yard and 46-yard deep shots in the first half, and the coverage on both plays was sound. Evan Holm was in great position on the first one, and Trey Vaval was in good position on the second.

Alexander and Philpot are simply dominant. When they’re on, they’re on.

Winnipeg generated two sacks, though they both came in the final three minutes of the game once the result had long-since been decided.

For anyone wondering, the CFL record for time of possession was set by the B.C. Lions in 2019, when they had the ball for 43:22 in a win over the Toronto Argonauts. The Alouettes fell less than three minutes shy of that mark on Saturday.

The Blue Bombers looked brilliant on defence in the recent Banjo Bowl, and serviceable against the Toronto Argonauts last week.

This week, the unit was just plain awful.

Full complement

For the first time this season, the Blue Bombers had their five best receivers in the starting lineup — Ontaria Wilson, Tim White, Nic Demski, Dorian Singer, and Tommy Nield.

The early results were positive. Winnipeg’s offence scored on two of its first three possessions, and avoided any two-and-outs.

The unit’s best play came near the midway point of the first quarter when Dru Brown hit Ontaria Wilson for a 52-yard touchdown. The Blue Bombers kept 10 players in to block — yes, 10 — and Wilson drew one-on-one coverage from Don Callis, who got cooked on a skinny post for the score.

It was only the thirteenth completion of 30-plus yards Winnipeg has had all season.

Using max protection (ultra-max protection?) was smart. The Blue Bombers allowed a league-worst 32 sacks through Week 17. If you’re going to take a deep shot, keeping five extra blockers in for protection isn’t a bad idea.

Winnipeg’s offence has been vanilla for most of the season, but this was a rare moment when a play design really shone. There was also a nice screen pass to Tim White on the following drive, which used pre-snap motion to flow extra blockers to the play side.

This is where the positives stopped.

The offensive line was unable to open holes for Brady Oliveira, who managed only 44 yards on nine carries. Without a run game to help control the clock, Winnipeg needed to rely on its eighth-ranked passing attack to make plays, which simply didn’t happen.

Dru Brown finished the game 11-of-16 for 161 yards and one touchdown. Wilson was his favourite target on the day, as he made five grabs for 109 yards and one score. He also dropped a would-be 45-yard reception on his team’s final possession.

Demski failed to make a catch, and dropped what would have been a key second-down conversion in the third quarter.

The offence took four penalties and couldn’t even execute its short-yardage package, which has generally been good this year.

Bryce Perkins, who broke a quarterback sneak for a 76-yard touchdown last week, fumbled on second-and-two in the fourth quarter. The loose ball was recovered by Michael Chris-Ike, though it didn’t end up making a difference as Perkins was stopped short of a first down on the following play, resulting in a turnover on downs.

In the end, Winnipeg managed only 10 points, 182 net yards, six first downs, and 19:22 in time of possession.

Clearly, this was and is not a playoff-calibre offence.

Guten tag

Thiadric Hansen made his season debut for the Blue Bombers on Saturday, and didn’t waste any time making an impact.

The veteran defender got great penetration on third-and-two near the end of the first half, helping stuff Caleb Evans short of a first down. It marked the first turnover of the game and Winnipeg’s first defensive stop of the evening.

It was a rare defensive highlight on an otherwise miserable night.

Learning from mistakes

Head coach Mike O’Shea trotted Sergio Castillo out for a 55-yard field goal into the wind against the Toronto Argonauts last week, and the attempt fell short of the uprights.

It seems he learned his lesson.

Late in the first half, Trey Vaval returned a kickoff 38 yards into enemy territory. With one second left on the clock, O’Shea could have sent Castillo out for a 58-yard attempt. According to my colleague Pablo Herrera-Vergara, the wind was not a factor.

Instead, O’Shea sent his offence onto the field. This was the right decision.

Trailing by 14 points at the time, a field goal wouldn’t have been much help for Winnipeg, and a miss could have proved disastrous. Last week, Janarion Grant returned a missed field goal 128 yards for a touchdown. If Alouettes returner Mekhi Mews had done the same to end the first half this week, it would have been game over right then and there.

Unfortunately, the offence simply didn’t execute. Instead of firing the ball deep down the field for a possible touchdown or pass interference call, Dru Brown took a delay of game penalty. The infraction took the offence out of range for a Hail Mary, which led to a kneel-down.

Mr. 200

Congratulations to offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld on playing career regular-season game No. 200.

163 of those games have come in Winnipeg, placing him tied for No. 17 in club history alongside Cornel Piper and Gord Rowland. If Neufeld has another 231 games left in him, he can tie Bob Cameron for first place sometime around 2039.

Despite the milestone, it wasn’t a great night for the offensive line as a unit.

Tyler Elsbury took a holding penalty when he got outflanked on a wide zone run in the second quarter, delivered a bad snap late in the third quarter, and allowed a sack in the fourth quarter. It was possibly the worst game of the first-year starter’s career.

Jarell Broxton also got stonewalled by Tyrice Beverette on a key running play moments before halftime, which led to a punt. When a blocker outweighs a defender by over 100 pounds, they need win those blocks.

West Division standings

It’s been a wild week in the West Division, as the B.C. Lions beat the Toronto Argonauts despite not scoring a touchdown, and the Calgary Stampeders upset the Saskatchewan Roughriders to capture the head-to-head season series.

The Edmonton Elks (11-4) are almost a shoo-in to finish first, while the Lions (9-6) are likely to finish second. B.C. has a two-point lead in second place, and the team owns the season series against Saskatchewan. The season series against Winnipeg and Calgary remains undecided.

The season series between the Blue Bombers and Stampeders will be decided next week (more on that in a moment) but Saskatchewan is now a team to keep an eye on.

After blowing a chance to clinch a playoff berth against Calgary, the Roughriders will finish the regular-season with two games against Montreal and one against Edmonton. It’s a tough schedule, particularly with KeeSean Johnson’s status unclear following an injury he suffered on Friday night.

A few weeks ago, it looked like Winnipeg’s only realistic path to the playoffs was going to be staying ahead of Calgary. Now, there might be a way to beat out Saskatchewan.

Whale of an idea

TSN is running commercials for an upcoming movie about an ocean diver who gets eaten by a whale, and then struggles to escape. Maybe I’m getting old and cranky, but this has to be just about the worst concept for a movie I’ve ever seen.

Next up

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-8) will host the Calgary Stampeders (8-8) on Saturday, October 10 with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EDT.

The importance of this game can’t really be understated. In addition to two critical points in the West Division standings, the winner of the game will earn the head-to-head season series, which could decide who makes the playoffs and who misses out.

Winnipeg won the first meeting between the two teams 30-28 back in Week 1, when Sergio Castillo made a 38-yard walk-off game-winning field goal. Calgary won the second head-to-head matchup in Week 8 by a score of 52-30, when Dru Brown threw four interceptions.

After laying an egg in Montreal, the Blue Bombers need to be at their best next week. The team has made nine-straight playoff appearances and had nine-straight winning seasons. Those streaks are both officially on the line.

It remains unclear whether or not Zach Collaros will return to the lineup to take over the controls at quarterback.

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.