The glimpses were there again for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, all there in brilliant flashes and serving as reminders of the last five West Division titles in these parts.
And, yes, there were some frustratingly inconsistent moments, too, including a near-meltdown inside the final minute of Thursday’s 30-27 win over the Ottawa RedBlacks which had another capacity crowd at Princess Auto Stadium collectively slapping their palms to foreheads and screaming out loud at full throat, ‘What in the actual bleep is happening right now?’
So, there you have it as the Blue Bombers reached the midway point of their 2025 Canadian Football League season with five wins against four losses following Thursday’s wacky win over the RedBlacks. There are strengths and weaknesses, unanswered questions and some icky warts and still a half of a schedule yet to play.
And as the victory was being dissected late Thursday, including head coach Mike O’Shea’s decision to try a 57-yard field goal instead of punting and pinning Ottawa deep — the miss returned 117-yards for a game-tying by Kalil Pimpleton with 53 seconds left — we asked the Blue Bombers boss to take a moment to step back and assess his squad at the turn.
“Six-and-three sounds better,” O’Shea said. “Four-and-five sounds worse. Five-and-four sounds right where we’re going to be. And as long as we’re growing, as long as we’re learning some of the hard lessons, and those tough lessons are going to toughen us up down the stretch or for the next game… then let’s go.”
Just for the record, the second half of the season begins this Thursday in Montreal and also features three games against the front-running Saskatchewan Roughriders — 7-1 heading into Saturday’s game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats — two against the East Division-leading Tabbies, trips to Ottawa and Edmonton and a return visit from the Alouettes.
“Regardless of the outcome of the game and all the negativity that’s going to probably come out right here (from the media), what’s most important is the resiliency and the grit that our guys are developing and showing,” added O’Shea. “They’re not just learning it now, now they’re actually putting it into action, which is far more important than whether we won by three or we won by 23 — far more important.
“You can write about that.”
ICYMI, here’s our Game Recap story from Thursday’s win over Ottawa:
And what follows is the rest of this week’s UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
THE USUAL POST-VICTORY SCENE WAS UNFOLDING… inside the Blue Bombers clubhouse after the win with the music blaring, the high-fives and bro hugs in full force and a few adult beverages being consumed. There was some honest discussion, too, about how this one almost slipped away, but the victory is what matters most. As O’Shea said: “We’re going to enjoy it — it’s a win. What are we going to do — dwell on some plays that we want to have back? That’s what tomorrow’s for.”
What did stand out in Thursday’s win — aside from the late dramatics and the rally by Zach Collaros & Co. after a defensive stop — was how many of the club’s foot soldiers had fingerprints all over the result. Case in point, defensive tackle Tanner Schmekel, who had a partially blocked punt that led to a Jerreth Sterns touchdown and then later sacked Dustin Crum at the Ottawa 10 which led to good field position and a Brady Oliveira TD on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“To be honest, that was the most fun game of football I’ve played in my entire life,” said Schmekel as his defensive line teammates hollered out just a few feet away as he conducted this interview. “Being out there with my boys making some plays, the camaraderie out there, the fight in that game… great game.”
On the punt block: “(Mike Miller, special teams coordinator) gave me an opportunity to go out there on punt return and I just executed an assignment. I’m just very happy to make a play to help our team get ahead.”
THAT’S NOT ALLOWED.
PUNT BLOCK 😤#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/8N5pZbceW1
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) August 15, 2025
And asked if he had seen a replay of his sack — the second of his career — the 26-year-old Regina product just beamed: “I have not. I’m going to get on my phone after this interview and I’m probably going to watch it a hundred times. Right up the middle, I caught him by his right foot and was just hanging on for dear life. I heard the crowd get louder and louder as he was getting near the ground, so I just kept squeezing tighter and tighter.”
SCHMEK!!!! #ForTheW pic.twitter.com/a1VI3cCWrG
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) August 15, 2025
Schmekel wasn’t alone. Middle linebacker Tony Jones had 11 tackles, including two tackles for losses and stuffing Crum on a third-and-one on from the Winnipeg one-yard line on Ottawa’s first possession. Reserve safety Ethan Ball popped out on special teams with two thunderous hits. Cornerback Trey Vaval had seven tackles in his first start at corner; ditto for safety Cam Allen. Punter Jamieson Sheahan was excellent, too.
And Schmekel could be the face of all those guys who have to wait their turn and occasionally spent time on the practice roster before they get nights like Thursday.
“A lot of guys don’t get to play football after high school,” he said. “I still get the opportunity here. I’m not going to be mad if I’m on the PR. I’ll do whatever it takes to help this team win. I’m not trying to be an ‘X factor’ in a game; I’m here for every part of this team — the great games for me and especially the great games for my teammates. That’s what matters.”
THREE NUMBERS WHICH STOOD OUT… after a second glance at the stats package, which can be found here:
1 Not to be glossed over in the win was the repeat performance of the offence from the loss to Calgary a week ago — a dominant first half followed by a meh second half. The Blue Bombers jumped out to 17-0 lead again, just as they did against the Stamps, and led 20-3 at halftime after cranking out 12 first downs and 232 yards net offence in the opening 30 minutes. Of their eight possessions in the first half, they had two touchdowns, two field goals, three punts and an interception.
In the second half they did manage the Oliveira TD and the Castillo game-winning field goal on the final play, but there were also three punts and an interception, and the missed field goal returned for a score by Pimpleton. Winnipeg finished the game with 298 net yards offensively, meaning they had just 66 yards net offence in the second half.
That’s virtually a carbon copy to what happened in Calgary, albeit this time with a ‘W.’ One of the differences this week was the work of the receiving corps, with Nic Demski finishing with six catches for 128 yards, Keric Wheatfall was four for 68 — including surviving two hellacious hits — while Sterns had four catches for 50 yards and his third TD in his last four games, this one another spectacular play.
THAT’S NOT ALLOWED.
PUNT BLOCK 😤#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/8N5pZbceW1
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) August 15, 2025
“(The receivers) did a great job,” said Collaros. “We’ve got to continue to get better as a unit, but I thought they did a great job. I’ve got watch and see the hits. Usually, when I’m throwing the ball I can’t really tell (the punishment the receivers take) but I know (Wheatfall) had a couple of them.
“I’m just proud of the unit for getting it done there. I thought we played fairly well early on, but we can’t have those lulls there in the middle of game.”
“We’re a resilient group. We’ve been through a lot, lots of highs and lows with some tight games,” added Demski on his big-picture take of the team at the halfway mark. “We’re finding ways to turn this thing around and to finish it. You saw that tonight — lots of adversity, ups and downs. That feels like a dagger when they score that touchdown on the missed field goal. But we have total belief on the sideline. I didn’t see one guy going, ‘Here we go, going into overtime.’ We’re thinking, ’18 seconds… we’re going to go out there and operate our offence, score some points and shut this thing out’ and that’s exactly what we did.”
2 Ottawa’s longest offensive play came on their first snap, as Dru Brown hit Justin Hardy for a 40-yard gain with cornerback Dexter Lawson, Jr. there but unable to make the play. That was the only Redblacks play of 30-yard or more — the dreaded explosion plays — and hinted at the potential of the revamped secondary with some continuity.
The RedBlacks managed 291 yards through the air, most of it in the second half, but the defence only surrendered 20 points and limited Ottawa to just 11-of-25 second down conversions, or 39 percent.
3 FYI: Castillo had gone five-for-five on field-goal attempts of 50-yards plus this season so there was some statistical backing to O’Shea’s decision to try a 57-yarder and seal the deal with just over a minute remaining. Still, the risk-reward of the field goal attempt vs. punting and trying to pin Ottawa deep was enormous given the return skills of Pimpleton.
“That’s the CFL. That’s what makes the CFL fun — it’s not over,” said Castillo of the emotions of the miss followed by the game-winning kick inside a minute. “Props to Ottawa coming back. Down two touchdowns and they score twice in under three minutes. When I missed the 57-yarder I thought, ‘Oh, we’re going to overtime.’ Then I look at the clock, the defence gets the big stop and then Zach works his magic to give us another shot.
“And props to Ian (Leroux, long-snapper) and Jams (Jamieson Sheahan, holder) for making it easy for me.”
Asked afterward what he was thinking as Pimpleton returned the miss for the TD, O’Shea said: “I should be on to what we’re doing on kickoff return, what we’re doing on offence, and how much time we’re going to have left, but there’s probably a momentary lapse where I’m like, ‘God, Jesus Murphy. The bench was awesome — you could hear guys saying, ‘All right, we got time! Let’s go drive it down and get some points!’”
AND FINALLY… thanks for reading this far and for those who have made it to the bottom and want to see the video evidence of the win, we have it here with the condensed game: