No one in Bomberland need make any excuses for last week’s win over the Ottawa Redblacks in capital city. There are no asterisks for any victory no matter the circumstances, after all.

And last we checked, there are no extra points in football for artistic impression.

Still, ask around the coaches’ offices and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers locker room and there’s universal consensus in this basic fact: completing three passes on eight attempts for 54 yards is hardly a blueprint for sustainable success.

That’s particularly important as the Blue Bombers head into the stretch run here at 7-7 and third spot in the Canadian Football League’s West Division and with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in town for a Saturday matinee.

So, Brady Oliveira… last time you were part of a game where your team completed three passes… AND WON?!?!?

“I was thinking about it… maybe when I played for the North Winnipeg Nomads and when I got the ball every single play and had maybe 40 carries,” said the Blue Bombers star running back with a broad smile earlier this week. “(The win in Ottawa) was a very unique game, but we found a way to win. That game, for us, was to control the clock somewhat and run the football and squeak out a win and that’s what we did.

“It definitely was unique.”

‘Unique’ fits as a descriptor, sure. And the work of the defence and special teams — along with a ground game that churned out 172 yards rushing — shouldn’t be lost in the ongoing narrative about the puny passing game totals.

“Based on the plan we had, based on what the other phases did I’ve got a lot of appreciation for how we won the game,” said Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “There’s going to be some things we want to fix when you win by 50. So, winning a game and having one stat line stand out as, yeah, this isn’t very good or it’s unappealing or it gives you an emotional response… I think what you need to look at and what the players need to understand — and they do — is we can win a lot of different ways.

“As long as we’re taking care of these things, these items we talk about on a regular basis, you can win, absolutely win, a bunch of different ways. It doesn’t have to be this stat line. What’d (Ottawa) pass for? 400? Take the ball away, don’t give it away, you play good special teams and have a low penalty total and you play with great physical effort which allows you to run the ball and do those things, you can win differently.

“Now, you don’t always want to juggle them or whatever, you want all three phases just humming along. But you certainly can win differently. It’s a great lesson.”

All of this brings us to the biggest news of the week — other than the scorching hot talker of the CFL’s new rule changes for 2026-27 — and the potential return of quarterback Zach Collaros.

Collaros was sharp in Tuesday’s session and completed Wednesday’s closed to the media practice without any issues. Today’s injury report does not list him as out or questionable for Saturday’s game against the Ticats.

Injury Report: September 25, 2025#ForTheW | @DoctorsManitoba pic.twitter.com/A75KzHyFmE

— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) September 25, 2025

Without him — and we’ve seen a fair bit of that with him missing four starts and unavailable to finish three others due to injury — and the offence becomes very one-dimensional.

And with him in the lineup, well, everything is possible again — including an even enhanced run game.

“That was probably the hardest 170 yards rushing this unit had to muster up last week,” Oliveira told bluebombers.com. “The fact that they knew we were going to run the ball play after play after play, and we stuck with it. It was gritty. We grinded and it was a real battle for us to churn out those yards.

“It’s going to look different every week, how we win football games. How we won in Ottawa won’t win you a game every single week — that’s just the reality of it. We all understand that. Like I said, that’s what made last week unique.

“We need to generate some production in the pass game. Our offensive line is doing an amazing job, and we’ve been very productive in the run game. We need some complimentary football to balance out this offence a little bit and once we can find that in consecutive weeks that’s when you know we’re hitting our stride at the right time.”

More numbers, just for context:

The 54 yards passing by the Blue Bombers was the lowest since a 15-2 loss to the B.C. Lions at old Winnipeg Stadium on September 9, 1975, when the club had just 39 through the air.
It was also the fewest passing yards in a Blue Bombers win since 1974, when the club had just 15 yards in a 19-12 decision over the Tiger-Cats at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Winnipeg was also the last club to win a game with three or fewer completed passes in a game — also in 1975, coming on September 24, when Chuck Ealey was at quarterback and finished just 2-of-11 for 62 yards. And yet the Blue Bombers defeated Hamilton 34-32 s the offence cranked out 54 rushes that day for 349 yards along the ground.
And one more: that 54 yards was also the lowest passing total across the CFL in a decade, since Edmonton had 49 in a game in 2015.

All of the above explains why there was a buzz at practice this week with #8 back behind centre.

“Very sharp. He looked really well in practice,” said Oliveira of Collaros. “We’ve seen it. He’s been playing this game for a very long time. We all know what he can do when he stands in the pocket and delivers the ball downfield. We also know when he escapes the pocket what he can do.

“It’s great to have him back out there. He brings some great energy. We’ll see what happens with the lineup, if it’s this week or he’ll have to wait until after the bye week but whenever he comes back it will be great to have him back in there.”