{"id":237786,"date":"2025-10-24T21:15:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/237786\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T21:15:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:15:23","slug":"game-preview-montreal-at-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/237786\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview | Montreal at Winnipeg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kickoff: Saturday, October 25th, 2 p.m. CDT; Princess Auto Stadium, Winnipeg
TV\/Streaming: TSN 1\/3; CTV; RDS; CFL+<\/a>
Radio: 680 CJOB (pre-game begins at noon CDT); Play-by-play: Derek Taylor\/analyst: Doug Brown; Sirius XM (ch. 167)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Scene Setter<\/p>\n

Take a glance at the Winnipeg Blue Bombers depth chart for their regular-season finale tomorrow against the Montreal Alouettes and instantly there are a couple quick conclusions:<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s clear the club is all in for next week\u2019s game \u2014 either the Western Semi-Final or Eastern Semi-Final \u2014 given the decision to rest of ton of regulars, including quarterback Zach Collaros, running back Brady Oliveira, left tackle Stanley Bryant, receiver Pokey Wilson, defensive ends Willie Jefferson and James Vaughters, dime back Redha Kramdi and ace kick returner Trey Vaval.<\/p>\n

And second, as a result of all that change \u2014 nine onto the roster, nine off, in total \u2014 it would seem some introductions are definitely now in order.<\/p>\n

Making their first Canadian Football League starts in their very first CFL games are defensive ends Matthew Jaworski and Kydran Jenkins \u2014 numbers 56 and 54, respectively, in your program \u2014 while guard Ethan Vibert, a third-round pick in this year\u2019s CFL Draft and defensive end Kemari Munier-Bailey, the club\u2019s first pick in this year\u2019s Global Draft, will make their Blue Bomber debuts, as will former Calgary Stampeder Cam Echols, who will start at receiver.<\/p>\n

Jenkins and Jaworski, FYI, were just added to the practice roster 18 days ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Receiver Cam Echols<\/p>\n

Blue Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea on the rationale behind how the depth chart was put together for this one:<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago I think I made a mistake, and we didn\u2019t enter a playoff game as fresh as we could have been. That\u2019s part of what goes into it \u2014 the belief that healthy and fresh is ultimately important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about balancing keeping his team healthy for the playoffs versus this one counting in the standings, he added:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we\u2019re in the playoffs and we have to proceed accordingly. Now, understand that these are pro football players who have a lot of pride and they\u2019re going out to try and win a football game. That\u2019s what they\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, you get a group of veterans that are completely bought in to making sure guys are going to do well. There\u2019s a source of pride, too, for a guy that is not going to be in the game in making sure other guys are going to be right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers know they will be road warriors for the opening round of the playoffs next Saturday, with the destination to be determined as early as tonight. Here are the various playoff scenarios, as outlined by CFL headquarters:<\/p>\n

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS<\/p>\n

WEST DIVISION<\/p>\n

Scenarios resulting in Calgary hosting BC in the Western Semi-Final; Winnipeg crossing over:<\/p>\n

CGY WIN and WPG WIN and BC TIE
\nCGY WIN and WPG LOSS and BC TIE\/LOSS
\nCGY TIE and WPG LOSS and BC LOSS
\nCGY LOSS and WPG WIN and BC LOSS<\/p>\n

Scenarios resulting in BC hosting Calgary in the Western Semi-Final; Winnipeg crossing over:<\/p>\n

CGY TIE and BC TIE
\nCGY LOSS and WPG WIN and BC TIE
\nCGY LOSS and WPG LOSS and BC TIE\/LOSS
\nBC WIN<\/p>\n

Scenarios resulting in Calgary hosting Winnipeg in the Western Semi-Final; BC crossing over:<\/p>\n

CGY WIN\/TIE and WPG WIN and BC LOSS<\/p>\n

EAST DIVISION<\/p>\n

Scenarios resulting in Hamilton hosting the Eastern Final; Montreal hosting Eastern Semi-Final:<\/p>\n

Scenarios resulting in Montreal hosting the Eastern Final; Hamilton hosting Eastern Semi-Final:<\/p>\n

HAM TIE and MTL WIN
\nHAM LOSS and MTL WIN\/TIE<\/p>\n

The changes on the offensive side of the ball do raise some eyebrows, given how sluggish that group has been in the two games since blowing out Hamilton 40-3 and throwing up 514 yards of net offence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brady Oliveira and Stanley Bryant are among a group of Blue Bombers regulars who sit this one out<\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s attack struggled to find some consistency, especially in last week\u2019s 17-16 win over Saskatchewan and will now need to find its magic in eight days in the semi-final. O\u2019Shea did say recently it was important to be rolling into the playoffs, but the last two offensive efforts \u2014 and the depth chart for the regular-season finale \u2014 will make that challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never really believed that you can carry momentum from one game to the next,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe it shifts in game, and you can switch it and carry it and move it around in game, but between games it\u2019s a little different.<\/p>\n

\u201cRolling for me would be the group practising well together and executing at a high level and being polished for the time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE LINEUP: The Blue Bombers depth chart for tomorrow features nine changes in total and some tinkering with the practice roster and one-game injured list.<\/p>\n

On are: RB\/KR Peyton Logan, QB Chase Atropoeus, WR Cam Echols, DB Dexter Lawson, Jr., DE Kemari Munier-Bailey, DEs Kydran Jenkins and Matthew Jaworski, OL Ethan Vibert and Michael Vanterpool.<\/p>\n

Off are: QB Zach Collaros, RB Brady Oliveira, DEs Willie Jefferson, James Vaughters and Jay Person, OL Stanley Bryant, DB Redha Kramdi, KR Trey Vaval and WR Pokey Wilson.<\/p>\n

The one-game injured list now features all of the above, plus SB Nic Demski, DB Michael Griffin II, LB Michael Jackson and DBs Ridge Texada and Major Williams. Williams and Texada have yet to play for the Blue Bombers but placing them on the one-game injured list secures their rights for 2026.<\/p>\n

The six-game injured list includes WR Dalton Schoen, LB Lane Novak, DT Tanner Schmekel, OL Eric Lofton, CB Terrell Bonds, WR Kody Case and DB Enock Makonzo.<\/p>\n

FULL DEPTH CHART<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kickoff: Saturday, October 25th, 2 p.m. CDT; Princess Auto Stadium, WinnipegTV\/Streaming: TSN 1\/3; CTV; RDS; CFL+Radio: 680 CJOB…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-237786","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\/237786","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=237786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}