Winnipeg Blue Bombers back Brady Oliveira ready to explode

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“With every single week, I am starting to feel like myself,” Oliveira said. “You are going to see me starting to feel more confident. (Last Friday’s) game was a good indicator.

Published Jul 24, 2025  •  3 minute read

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Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Brady Oliveira (20) runs for the first down during first half CFL action against the BC Lions in Winnipeg. Oliveira has 178 rushing yards in three games, with no touchdowns.   Photo by John Woods THE CANADIAN PRESS /Winnipeg SunArticle content

Not to worry, Blue Bombers fans, running back Brady Oliveira plans to keep his promises.  

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“With every single week, I am starting to feel like myself,” Oliveira said. “You are going to see me starting to feel more confident. (Last Friday’s) game was a good indicator. I felt better out there than the first Calgary game.” 

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Last Friday, Oliveira had a season-high 15 carries and a season-best 68 yards from scrimmage in the 21-point loss to the Calgary Stampeders.  

The Bombers are in Toronto for a Saturday night matchup with the Argonauts.  

Rookie running back Matthew Peterson has 245 rushing yards in five games and one touchdown. Oliveira has 178 yards in three games with zero touchdowns.  

The Bombers feature back was injured on the first drive of the season against the B.C. Lions.  Since his July 3 return in Calgary, he has been working to fully regain his instincts, confidence and feel for the game, qualities that can only be found in live action. 

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And sometimes that takes time.  

“The biggest thing is (the physical nature of the game),” Oliveira said. “With the injury that I had it is getting more comfortable using it and that is why you want to get into mid-season form as quickly as possible. Missing the time, I have had to catch up to get back to my original way.” 

Oliveira carried the rock a total of 28 times for 129 yards in the two losses to the Stampeders. He caught 11 balls for 91 yards over the same span.

Bombers offensive coordinator Jason Hogan addressed Oliveira’s dwindling lack of influence in the two one-sided setbacks to their West Division foes.  

“I love him like a brother, but at the end of the day it is what is going to help this football team win, whether that is one carry for a yard or whatever it is,” Hogan said. “We just want to win. I would like to see him have success, but I think the injury, getting his legs back, getting back into it, I think we saw a difference from the previous game against Calgary. It is baby steps and one week at a time.” 

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Besides, the nature of the games dictated the style of offence the team employed as they lost both games by big margins. 

“When you dig yourself a hole, and I think we have dug ourselves a bit of a hole the last couple of weeks, it is going to be challenging to lean on the offensive line and run the ball when you need to score points,” Oliveira said. 

When approaching the line of scrimmage on a running play, patience is needed to stretch the play out when waiting for a hole to open.  

That is the kind of patience Oliveira is showing. He wants to heat up, but he is not in panic mode.  

“I do understand and everyone on this team knows the offensive line and myself can take over a game at any given point,” Oliveira said. “It is a long season, and you are going to see plenty of games where the offensive line and myself are going to take a lot of games over and help this team win a lot of football games.” 

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If the Bombers can establish an early lead against the Argos, it would allow Hogan to open the playbook and allow Oliveira to get multiple carries and maybe find the end zone, something he would very much like to do.  

“You have to start fast, it is so important,” Oliveira said. “Before we head out to the football field we talk about let’s attack them, let’s start fast and finish when we get in the red zone. Then we have total control of the game and how we want it to go. (From there), you have total control of the playbook. As players you have to go out and execute and make it easier on him as a play-caller.” 

Oliveira is eternally optimistic about the season and his potential effect on the outcome of each game going forward.  

“It is just a slow start, but it is all good,” he said.

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