It was late Friday night and just to the right of Nic Demski sat a speaker — its volume seemingly set at 11 — pumping out the tunes with the thumping bass helping set the mood inside the Winnipeg Blue Bombers celebratory locker room.
It was loud. It was energetic. And as the veteran receiver took a moment to survey the space, a wide grin formed on his face.
“You know, it’s such a tough thing to do, to get wins in this league,” he began. “So, when you come together and get a good win — and, sure, there’s obviously things we’ve got to do better — but at the end of the day we got a win in front of the home crowd and that feels good.
“The CFL is all about getting hot at the right time. It’s a long season and winning two games in a row does a lot for the confidence of your team. There are some new guys in here — it’s all about chemistry and coming together and clicking together. So, when you get wins it’s a lot more of a happier day when you get together and break down the film and just building on that.
“We’ve just got to keep clicking together as a team, all three phases. There’s still some things we’ve got to do better out there but that’s what the beginning of the season is for — to find that groove, to find that chemistry and this is a great step in the right direction.”
Yes, Friday’s 30-21 win over the Toronto Argonauts had more layers than a peeled onion, as my dad used to say, from Dru Brown’s outstanding work in his first start since the trade that brought him back to Winnipeg from Ottawa late last month, to receivers like Demski, Pokey Wilson, Tim White, Tommy Nield & Co doing their thing, to Brady Oliveira bulldozing behind the offensive line, to Willie Jefferson and the defence getting after it, to Trey Vaval’s magical moment in the fourth quarter.
All of that adds up to make this more than a garden variety ‘W’, as much as we’ve come to expect them in Bomberland over the last few years. This was the prototypical three-phase win and this result, coupled with what happened in Hamilton a week ago in grinding out a road victory, can be so galvanizing for an outfit that has more new faces than many realize.
Every team writes its own story, as the veterans on this squad often say, and the last two chapters have been compelling and potentially important for the road ahead.
“That was a good all-round team game — offence, defence, special teams — everybody played their part and stepped up when we needed them to,” said veteran defensive end Willie Jefferson. “We can do better. We’ve seen it. We had a great game, but we can always do better.”
ICYMI, here is our Game Recap from Friday night:
And what follows is this week’s edition of UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
THREE NUMBERS WHICH JUMPED OUT AFTER… a second glance at the stats package, which can be found here:
1 Receiver Pokey Wilson had as many catches Friday night — 10 — as he had in the previous four games and finished with 133 yards total on 14 targets. It was his biggest total since his bust-out game on July 12, 2024, when he pulled in 13 passes for 201 yards and a TD in a win over Calgary.
Wilson was targeted early and often and, save for a fumble inside the Toronto five-yard line early, served up a near-perfect performance.
“He’s a great player,” said Brown of Wilson. “Everyone has their things within the plan and obviously it all depends on what the defence plays. We were able to get him going early on some intermediate/deeper play-action stuff — just routes he runs really well. He’s obviously a weapon when (the ball) gets in his hands.
“He’s a lot of fun to throw to.”
2 Let’s not underestimate at all what Brown did in the win. He completed 81 percent of his passes (25-of-31) for 339 yards with a TD strike to Tim White and an interception. All this on a short practice week and after just arriving via trade on June 23rd.
“I think he made it look easier than it really is,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “I think it would be unjust to say, ‘Well, he just steps in and it’s because he knows this and he knows that.’ He works his ass off, so this isn’t luck; this isn’t, ‘Oh, he’s been in the system.’
“This is a guy who puts in a tremendous amount of time — that whole room does. It’s interesting to see them work together. They just love it, the four of them. It’s really cool. And then you throw Tommy (Condell, offensive coordinator) into the mix and they put in a ton of work. When things look easy, it’s because they work their tails off for it.”
“Dru’s a pro,” added Demski. “He’s really good at seeing the looks out there. He’s really good at IDing what the defence is doing and then trusting his receivers to make players. He’s a good quarterback with a lot of poise and I think it helps that he and Tommy (Condell, offensive coordinator) have worked together before. So, for him to come in here and do that on a short week is pretty awesome.”
“Anybody in this locker room, if they put on the blue and gold they have to have some type of confidence,” Jefferson said. “That’s what I told the offensive guys that were surrounding Dru today — the offensive line, the wide receivers, Brady — I was telling them on the first couple of plays do whatever you can to get comfortable because we know when Dru gets comfortable and gets rolling, he’s lights out.
“We couldn’t ask for a better game from Dru with him coming in two weeks ago, learning the playbook, writing things down and last week was the first time I saw him throw the ball to some of the guys. And he came out here and lit it up.”
One more on Brown… he handled the Ottawa questions post-game with aplomb. He didn’t gloat about being dealt from a team now 0-5 and then promptly leading his team to a victory while throwing for 300 yards.
Oh, and it also sets up an interesting week ahead with the Blue Bombers in Ottawa this coming weekend.
“It’s over and done with now,” Brown said of the trade and his rebirth in Winnipeg. “I’ve got a lot of relationships over there with some of the players and love those guys. But we each have different issues, different situations. I wish them the best.
“I’m focussed on what we’ve got going on here and am excited to roll forward with it.”
3 One more quarterback number of note: Bryce Perkins was busy in short yardage on Friday night and converted all six of those situations. He’s now 20-for-20 on short yardage through five games.
THERE ARE MOMENTS IN FOOTBALL… that are just, well, cool. And a cool moment unfolded in the fourth quarter Friday night not long after Vaval fumbled a punt which was recovered by the Argos and ultimately led to a field goal.
TSN cameras showed Vaval on the bench with his head in his hands when veteran guard Pat Neufeld approached, put his hand on his shoulders and gave him some words of encouragement.
“I just said, ‘You can’t get down on yourself; you’re going to make a huge play for us. We’ve all got your back,’” Neufeld said afterward. “And sure enough he did.
“You see a guy struggling because he felt like he let us down and we don’t feel like that at all. We feel like he’s the best returner in the league. He’s a special player and sometimes it’s just a couple of encouraging words that can get a guy back in the right headspace. Or, maybe he was already good, but I just felt like I needed to go say something to him as a vet.
“Sure as s–t, the next play he was on the field he housed it for us. I came over again and said, ‘I told ya!’ Man, that’s a great feeling.”
Vaval, FYI, now has five career kick return scores and moving him into sole possession of third place in franchise history and behind only Janarion Grant (8) and Keith Stokes (six).
“Trey’s electric. I always expect big things out of Trey; this whole locker room does,” said Demski. “And I know Trey expects big things out of himself, too. He’s a competitor and he always wants to make a difference. He’s had some returns where he’s so close to breaking one and then when he does in that moment, it’s amazing. And you saw what it did for the crowd for him to make a house call like that.”
A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BLUE BOMBERS… consecutive sellout streak and, it turns out, there is a bit of confusion about it, too.
The attendance was 32,134, just shy of the 32,343 capacity for a 17th consecutive sellout. There had been some suggestion that the streak would remain intact — it was technically supposed to be an Argos home game as they were bumped from BMO Field for the FIFA World Cup — but the league said Saturday the three extra games Toronto is playing away from home are to be officially recorded as road games.
So, the sellout streak has stopped at 16.
AND FINALLY… for those of you who have read this far, thank you. And for those who missed the game or want to relive all the highs and lows of Friday’s win, check out the condensed game here: