It was late Saturday night in Toronto and outside a morose Winnipeg Blue Bombers locker room following a third-straight loss head coach Mike O’Shea had just finished delivering an honest and reasoned post-game analysis to a handful of reporters.
Not surprisingly, the Blue Bombers boss said there would be no rash in-the-moment decisions made in the immediate aftermath or the days ahead. Instead, they’ll do what they always do — stick to the process is the party line — and hold firm that more film study, more work, and more preparation will put an end to a three-game skid which put the squad under the heat lamp after a 3-0 start.
And moments after O’Shea exited, TSN’s Matthew Scianitti turned to us and mentioned the whole scene was like a case of deja vu, for it was just over a year ago — July 27th, to be exact — when the Blue Bombers fell 16-14 to the Toronto Argonauts in overtime, dropping their record to 2-6.
O’Shea said the same things then as he did Saturday night and that been-here-before-and-look-how-it-turned-out narrative is something this bunch will use as its foundation this week for the rematch at home against the Boatmen.
There’s also this, though, as a bit of a cautionary tale here — each team is different from season to season and the experiences of last year, while helpful for those who lived it as a reference point, don’t automatically translate to a similar turnaround.
We know what some of you might be thinking here — no (kidding), Sherlock — but we think it’s worth pointing out.
“Each year is different, each game is different, each team is different,” said dime back Redha Kramdi. “Whatever we did in the past doesn’t matter. Whatever we did last week, doesn’t matter. Every time we line up and they kick the ball off it’s a new chance to play and whatever happened in the past doesn’t matter. You’ve got to line up and read your keys, line up and make the tackle, line up and do your job.
“This is on us to be better. It hurts me, personally. We work hard. The work is not the problem; it’s applying what we see during the week of planning and all the stuff we talk about during the week. The coaches we have here are top tier. Again, this is on us.
“All I know is when s–t goes south, you have to work even harder and be smart on the field and execute.”
ICYMI, here’s our Game Recap story from Saturday’s loss in Toronto:
And what follows is the rest of this week’s UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
THREE NUMBERS WHICH STOOD OUT… after a second glance at the stats package, which can be found here:
1 We pointed out some of this stuff in the Game Recap posted above, but the defence’s inability to get off the field in the last three games — especially in second-and-long situations — has been more than a bit concerning. During the three-game skid with the two losses to Calgary and Saturday’s Argo win, offences have converted 37 of 65 second downs opportunities, or a 56.9 conversion rate.
Just for comparison: in 2023 Winnipeg’s defence had the best second-down conversion numbers in the CFL at 41.6 percent; last year it was again tops in the league at 42.3 percent.
Even worse is this: over the last two games the Stamps and Argos have converted 17-of-28 second-and-seven-plus situations, for a whopping 60.7 percent conversion rate.
“We’ve just got to execute,” said linebacker Tony Jones, who was sensation with six tackles and two sacks. “JY (Jordan Younger, defensive coordinator) and all our coaches do a great job of giving us a gameplan with all the tips and tendencies.
“We’re the ones playing. We’ve got to dig ourselves out of this hole. Re-focus, dial in, and execute the calls we get.”
2. One more while we talk about the defence… the explosion plays continue to hurt the team. They came early, too, with the Argos hitting for 41 yards on their first play — a gadget play that saw Janarion Grant take a pitch from Nick Arbuckle and then heave a 41-yard jump ball to Damonte Coxie and then with Coxie getting behind coverage for a 33-yard bomb and TD.
“That first drive was… if you allow me to swear and I apologize, it was bulls–t on our part,” said Kramdi. “Then it’s just on us needing to play better. Coaches can coach all they want; at the end of the day the players play. It’s about execution and not trying to go off the schemes. It’s reading the keys that we talk about during the week to the field and making the plays when we have the chance to make them.”
3. The offensive issues can’t be swept under the rug, either. The Argos had the ball for nine more minutes more than Winnipeg (34 minutes and 52 seconds to 25:28) and ran 63 plays to Winnipeg’s 50. Those numbers were scarier in the first half as Toronto build a 25-10 lead on 44 plays to the Blue Bombers having just 20 offensive snaps.
Again, Brady Oliveira had solid production but not a ton of work as he had 82 yards on 13 carries — 6.3 per run — and added another 38 yards on two catches.
And as we head into another work week there are again question marks about the status of Zach Collaros as he did not play in the second half after finishing 5-of-10 for 79 yards and two interceptions.
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 Saturday’s loss, we have it here with the condensed game: