{"id":24029,"date":"2025-07-25T22:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/24029\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T22:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:00:09","slug":"winnipeg-blue-bombers-toronto-argonauts-both-look-to-snap-their-losing-ways-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/24029\/","title":{"rendered":"Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts both look to snap their losing ways \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2013 Home field hasn\u2019t been an advantage this season, but there\u2019s something about hosting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers that agrees with Derek Parish and the Toronto Argonauts.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg (3-2) visits Toronto (1-5) on Saturday night. The Argos are 0-3 at BMO Field but have won three of their last four home games versus the Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n

Toronto swept the 2024 season series 2-0 by a combined five points before downing Winnipeg 41-24 in the Grey Cup.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Toronto
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tToronto Argonauts’ Derek Parish (97) tackles Montreal Alouettes’ Cole Spieker (17) during first half CFL action against in Montreal on Thursday, July 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christopher Katsarov<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starving for that (home win)\u201d said Parish, Toronto\u2019s second-year defensive lineman. \u201cWe\u2019re checking alleyways and dumpsters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hungry, we want that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto had excelled the previous two seasons at BMO Field, compiling a combined 16-2 record there. And the Argos entered \u201925 a stellar 27-7 at home under head coach Ryan Dinwiddie, in his fifth season at the helm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to protect our house and play better at home,\u201d Dinwiddie said. \u201cThat\u2019s been a very positive thing for us in years past but this year we\u2019ve obviously not won at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a lack of focus by any means \u2026 we just haven\u2019t been playing good enough football on the road or at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto has dropped its last two games, including a heartbreaking 26-25 decision last week in Montreal. The Argos led 25-7 in the second half before quarterback Davis Alexander capped the Alouettes\u2019 rally with the game-winning 10-yard touchdown run.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it stung, it\u2019s a tough pill to swallow and you can\u2019t run from it,\u201d Dinwiddie said. \u201cWe came in here, looked at the film and learned from it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those losses that could really jeopardize the rest of your season emotionally but I think our guys understood we did play a little bit better (but) not well enough to win the football game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winnipeg has also lost two straight, both to Calgary. The Stampeders handed the Bombers their first loss of the season 37-16 on July 3, then won the rematch 41-20 last week at Princess Auto Stadium.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time since \u201914 that Winnipeg has registered consecutive losses by 20-plus points.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg starting quarterback Zach Collaros left that game with a first-half neck injury. But the 36-year-old American was a full participant in practice this week and will play Saturday.<\/p>\n

Collaros, twice the CFL\u2019s outstanding player who has led Winnipeg to five straight Grey Cup appearances (winning in 2019 and \u201921) says he\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve felt much better as week has gone on,\u201d he said. \u201cI took a good shot there and had some lingering affects but from that day to now I feel the same as I did going into that game.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this will mark the first time since \u201998 that Toronto and Winnipeg will square off with each team having lost two straight games, a span of 9,765 days.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg boasts the CFL\u2019s second-ranked rushing game (123.8 yards per game), hardly surprising with Brady Oliveira \u2014 the CFL\u2019s top player and outstanding Canadian last season \u2014 in the backfield. Toronto\u2019s defence stands seventh against the run (118 yards per game).<\/p>\n

Winnipeg is fourth in net offensive yards (385.8) and fifth in offensive points scored (25.4). Conversely, Toronto is sixth in fewest offensive yards allowed (373.3) and eighth in offensive points surrendered (27.5) while having surrendered a CFL-high 18 offensive TDs.<\/p>\n

But Toronto\u2019s defence is second overall in sacks (14) with Andrew Chatfield Jr. having a league-high five.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg also leads the CFL in red-zone TDs (79 per cent) despite being eighth in red-zone plays (23).<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the numbers are, honestly to tell you the truth, but I know we\u2019re productive down there,\u201d said Winnipeg head coach Mike O\u2019Shea. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a heightened sense of awareness or anything like that.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s pretty good execution. Now, what you need is better execution on the other parts of the field to allow us to get there more often.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the two Calgary losses, Winnipeg defensive lineman Willie Jefferson said the Bombers\u2019 defence will bring a sense of urgency to BMO Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the guys on the defence want to play better,\u201d O\u2019Shea said. \u201cObviously they\u2019re not happy with the explosions they\u2019ve given up, the mistakes they\u2019ve made, the lack of communication on certain plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to be the reason why the team wins, every phase does. I think the overall idea is work to play better and if they have a little more urgency, then that\u2019s probably a positive thing. \u201c<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2013 Home field hasn\u2019t been an advantage this season, but there\u2019s something about hosting the Winnipeg Blue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-24029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24029","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=24029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}