Game Recap | Wpg 33 Ott 21 - Canada News Beep

Feel free to exhale for a moment and slowly back away from the proverbial panic button, all you loyal followers of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The roof hasn’t completely caved in on the local football side and the earth hasn’t spun off its axis after all, and as a result, the Blue Bombers will now carry a smidge of momentum into the second half of the 2026 Canadian Football League season following a 33-21 win over the Ottawa RedBlacks Friday night in front of 31,312 at Princess Auto Stadium.

The result stops the bleeding from a two-game losing skid — both losses at home — and settles the Blue Bombers into sole possession of third place in the West Division with a 5-4 record, trailing the Saskatchewan Roughriders, 6-2, and the Edmonton Elks at 6-3.

The B.C. Lions, 4-5, and the 4-6 Calgary Stampeders are right there in Winnipeg’s rear-view mirror, too.

The RedBlacks, meanwhile, drop to 0-9 on the season and have now lost 15 in a row — the longest losing streak in CFL history since the Hamilton Wildcats of 1948-49 lost 16 straight.

“That was a big win. A big win in terms of getting back on track but also just a statement on getting to where we needed to be,” said receiver Nic Demski, who finished with six catches for 79 yards. “Again, we could always be better. We’re going to look at that and everybody is going to be true to themselves and know that we can be better as well. But at the end of the day, we did a lot of great stuff out there and it resulted in a win.

“We still feel like there’s untapped potential. For us, we’ve got to keep grinding, we’ve got to keep working but tonight was definitely a step in right direction. We’ve got a lot more to give, and we proved that to the fans, to the league as a whole and, most importantly, to ourselves.”

More thoughts on the Blue Bombers fifth win of the season from our view in the press box…

5 INSTANT TAKEAWAYS

1 The return of Zach Collaros did provide a spark for the Blue Bombers offence, but his night didn’t come without some iffy moments. He was sacked four times, including taking a violent shot by RedBlacks Lucas Cormier in the second quarter that saw him down on the turf for a few minutes before heading to the sideline under his own steam and returning just five plays later.

The veteran QB finished the night 21-of-31 for 222 yards with no TDs and no interceptions, although a sure score was lost when Pokey Wilson dropped a pass in the third quarter. Collaros, FYI, said the shot from Cormier ‘hurt’ but it just knocked the wind out of him.

“It felt good. Always there’s some plays we’d like to have back but I thought we did a good job sticking together,” said Collaros. “We need to finish more drives, but it was a great three-phase win — special teams did a great job giving us great field position all night long. We’ve got to do a better job at times of extending drives but for me personally I felt comfortable as the game started going there.

“A lot of that (the four sacks against), is all-encompassing. It’s 12 guys and a lot of it has to do with the quarterback, so I’ll take the blame for that.”

2 Brady Oliveira was dominant in the win for the Blue Bombers rushing 11 times for 74 yards and a TD and finishing with 80 yards on a season-high eight receptions. All this from a guy who was listed as a game-time decision heading into the night because of a wonky ankle.

That’s 19 touches for 154 combined yards of offence.

“I appreciate Zach trusting me out there and with me being an outlet for him and allowing me to break tackles for this team and put us in positive field positions,” said Oliveira, who had just one reception in each of his previous five games. “Again, whatever it’s going to take – this is a huge win for us tonight, obviously. We all know that we needed to get back in the win column and especially here at home. Whatever it’s going to take. Run, pass, we’ve got a lot of weapons on this team. They asked a lot of me today and you’ve got to respond.”

Oliveira credited head athletic therapist Al Couture and the training staff for helping him get ready to suit up against the RedBlacks.

“I’m home last night, trying to do everything that I can to get right,” he said. “And really, I owe a lot, all of this, really, to Al and his staff. I mean, that guy spent so much time with me the last few days – literally doing anything and everything to give me a chance to play. Shout out to our head therapist Al and his staff and Brayden (Miller, strength coach). They do a good job for all of us to give us a chance to play on a weekly basis.

“I woke up and felt pretty good. I was communicating with Al; I came in here a little bit earlier and I kind of did my routine. I got in the pool and I felt like I was good enough to go and went out there for warmup and felt good.”

BALLS TO THE WALLS BRADY.#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/Wa2XXKAiaX

— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) August 15, 2026

3 All eyes were on the Blue Bombers defence — especially their work against the run — after their performance in the loss to the B.C. Lions after setting an inglorious record with an astonishing 377 yards surrendered along the ground in that loss. The RedBlacks had hardly established themselves as a serious ground threat coming into the game, averaging a league-low 53.4 rushing per game.

Winnipeg held the RedBlacks to 27 rushing yards on just eight carries while Jake Maier completed 28 of 43 attempts for 314 yards with two scores while being picked off once by defensive end David Reese for his first career interception.

4 Winnipeg improved its home record to 2-4 after two straight double-digit losses to Calgary and B.C. As well, the club played in front of another 30,000-plus crowd — the 21st consecutive 30K plus audience.

5 “Of course, winning feels better,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “That doesn’t mean we don’t need to play better. We’ll take it and fix it tomorrow.”

Game Recap | Wpg 33 Ott 21

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