OTTAWA \u2014 The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are alive in the West, as they picked up a much-needed 26-18 win over the Ottawa REDBLACKS at TD Place on Saturday, ending a three-game losing streak.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the prettiest offensive display for Winnipeg, with Chris Streveler<\/a> completing just three passes. The Bombers got it done behind big plays on special teams and a dominant defence, while their ground game brought it home in the fourth quarter. They improved to 7-7, keeping pace with the BC Lions, who picked up a win on Friday.<\/p>\n Dru Brown<\/a> returned under centre after a three-game absence, but it wasn\u2019t enough to ignite the REDBLACKS, who fell to 4-10.<\/p>\n CFL.ca brings you three key stats that defined Winnipeg\u2019s win over Ottawa.<\/p>\n RELATED 128 \u2014 YARDS ON TREY VAVAL\u2019S RETURN TOUCHDOWN<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Trailing 7-0 early, Winnipeg\u2019s offence struggled, producing two two-and-outs and an interception in the first quarter. But special teams delivered the spark in the second: Trey Vaval fielded a missed field goal 18 yards deep in his end zone, weaved through excellent blocking, and raced 128 yards to the house \u2014 the longest play in Bombers history. His return swung the momentum to Winnipeg\u2019s favour, kicking off a 17-point surge into halftime.<\/p>\n Vaval continued to make an impact in the second half, returning another missed field goal 71 yards, though it resulted in no points. He also came through with a pass knockdown near the end zone to force a turnover on downs in the fourth, essentially sealing the win for Winnipeg. Altogether, the rookie \u2014 who now leads the CFL in total punt return and missed field goal return yards \u2014 notched 278 return yards, routinely setting up Streveler in favourable field position.<\/p>\n 2 \u2014 CAM ALLEN INTERCEPTIONS<\/p>\n Another rookie got in on the action, as Cam Allen picked off Brown twice \u2014 once per half \u2014 for his first and second CFL interceptions. In the second quarter, he snagged an overthrown pass and returned it 29 yards to Ottawa territory, setting up Streveler\u2019s go-ahead touchdown drive. Allen wasn\u2019t done: on the second snap of the fourth quarter, he intercepted Brown again near field-goal range and returned it 61 yards. With Brown surpassing 400 yards passing, making him pay for rare mistakes was key.<\/p>\n 172 \u2014 WINNIPEG RUSHING YARDS<\/p>\n It was evident early on that Winnipeg\u2019s aerial attack was not going to get it done. After his first-quarter interception, Streveler reverted to his best weapon: his legs. He rushed for 72 yards, while Brady Oliveira topped 100 yards for the second straight week. The duo accounted for 172 total rushing yards, including 86 in the fourth when the run was fully expected. The highlight was Streveler\u2019s 36-yard burst in the second quarter \u2014 the second longest of his career \u2014 to set up his own touchdown plunge. With Ottawa pressing late, Winnipeg\u2019s relentless ground game ate the clock and carried them to the finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are alive in the West, as they picked up a much-needed 26-18…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-158201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u00bb Bombers end three-game skid against REDBLACKS<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Winnipeg, Ottawa by the numbers<\/a>
\u00bb Depth Charts:\u00a0WPG<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0OTT<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Game Notes: Blue Bombers at REDBLACKS<\/a><\/p>\n