Published Aug 08, 2025 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 4 minute read<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n You can save this article by registering for free here<\/a>. Or sign-in<\/a> if you have an account.<\/p>\n Two quarterbacks coming off head\/neck injuries, two of the most successful head coaches in recent CFL history, and two teams that feel an urgency to get back on track.<\/p>\n Advertisement 2<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Exclusive columns by Ryan Stelter, Paul Friesen, Ted Wyman, Scott Billeck, Lorrie Goldstein, Warren Kinsella and others. Plus newsletters: Gimme Stelter for your beat on the city, The Exit Row for all your Jets news and On the Rocks for curling.Unlimited online access to Winnipeg Sun and 15 news sites with one account.Winnipeg Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Exclusive columns by Ryan Stelter, Paul Friesen, Ted Wyman, Scott Billeck, Lorrie Goldstein, Warren Kinsella and others. Plus newsletters: Gimme Stelter for your beat on the city, The Exit Row for all your Jets news and On the Rocks for curling.Unlimited online access to Winnipeg Sun and 15 news sites with one account.Winnipeg Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.<\/p>\n REGISTER \/ SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.<\/p>\n THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an Account<\/p>\n or<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n That\u2019s a good place to start setting up the 4-3 Winnipeg Blue Bombers\u2019 tilt with the 5-3 Stampeders in Calgary on Saturday.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n After being sidelined with \u201cnot-fun\u201d symptoms for parts of two games \u2013 while acknowledging he rushed himself back for the second one \u2013 Zach Collaros sat out last week\u2019s Bombers win over Toronto, still dealing with the whiplash injury he suffered against these same Stampeders on July 18.<\/p>\n Collaros will be back at the controls against a Calgary team that was minus Vernon Adams (head injury) for last week\u2019s 31-11 loss in Ottawa, a second straight defeat that further soiled the Stamps\u2019 sparkling 5-1 start.<\/p>\n Adams is back, too, giving his team a much-needed boost from the inexperience of backup P. J. Walker, last week\u2019s starter.<\/p>\n The Winnipeg Sun’s Daily Headline News<\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Calgary head coach Dave Dickenson says Adams has to get right back to doing his thing, which is evading the rush and making something of plays that appear broken.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure the first time he gets hit, that\u2019s always a little bit of trepidation, a little bit of uneasiness,\u201d Dickenson told reporters in Calgary, Friday. \u201cHopefully he feels just fine and usually from there it\u2019s off you go. I\u2019m not too worried about it. If you can\u2019t scramble you won\u2019t win in the CFL.\u201d<\/p>\n A week ago, the Bombers were scrambling.<\/p>\n Their three-game skid ended against the Argonauts last week, but the 40-31 win was more of a rabbit-out-of-the-hat job than anything: Two touchdowns came from kick returns, another from the defence.<\/p>\n This turnover-pocked squad hasn\u2019t looked anything like a Mike O\u2019Shea-coached football team for a month now.<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Getting back to their identity has been the theme of the week in the Winnipeg locker-room.<\/p>\n If we\u2019ve learned anything about O\u2019Shea\u2019s teams over the last decade it\u2019s that it\u2019s not wise to count them out.<\/p>\n Players who went through last year\u2019s 0-4 and 2-6 starts, and there are many still around, are no doubt digging into that well of experience right now.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should (help),\u201d O\u2019Shea was saying earlier this week. \u201cFirst-year guys don\u2019t necessarily maybe take it all in \u2026 but for the guys that were here there\u2019s obviously some resiliency that was built, some grit that was built the year before. Are you able to draw upon all those experiences \u2026 or will you miss the boat on that opportunity?\u201d<\/p>\n The Bombers first ran aground with back-to-back\u00a021-point losses to the Stamps last month in which they combined to give the ball away a whopping 10 times, three of them interceptions returned for Calgary touchdowns.<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n The first two of those came off the arm of Collaros, in Calgary.<\/p>\n He returns to the scene of the crime with a receiving corps bolstered, his team hopes, by the addition of Dillon Mitchell.<\/p>\n You may recall Mitchell as one of Winnipeg\u2019s touted off-season signings. His three seasons in Edmonton were capped by a 58-catch, 727-yard, four-touchdown performance last year.<\/p>\n That earned him a contract worth nearly $150,000 in Winnipeg, including a healthy signing bonus.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s languished on the non-active roster \u2013 until now.<\/p>\n \u201cI was happy when we signed him in the off-season,\u201d Collaros said as Mitchell began practising with the starters this week. \u201cHe\u2019s played at a high level for a long time in our league. Experience definitely matters, and not having that deer-in-the-headlights look is an important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement 6<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n So is having a balanced attack.<\/p>\n The production of running back Brady Oliveira has been spotty through the five games he\u2019s played. The two-time defending rushing champ has carried the ball just 60 times and is itching for his team to reestablish its reliable ground game.<\/p>\n The Winnipegger believes having Collaros back, over the run-friendly Chris Streveler, might actually help with that. That\u2019s because the Stamps defence might not be quite as stacked against the run as Toronto\u2019s often was.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Strev\u2019s in the game, there might be an extra hat there,\u201d is how Oliveira put it. \u201cBecause you do have to account for Strev and you do have to account for me. And when we have Zach in there \u2026 that\u2019s not his strong suit, obviously. We know he\u2019s going to push the ball downfield.<\/p>\n Advertisement 7<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cSo defences have to respect that even more and maybe take a step back a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n No matter how it shakes down, whether he\u2019s pounding the ball or his quarterback is airing it out, Oliveira just wants to hit paydirt more often.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be an explosive offence. We want to score touchdowns. Right now we\u2019re just not doing that. There\u2019s been flashes of it, but we need to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the matchup on the sidelines, it doesn\u2019t get much better.<\/p>\n With 111 career wins, O\u2019Shea is already in the all-time top-10 for coaching victories and Dickenson is well on the way, with 89.<\/p>\n Both have winning percentages of better than .600.<\/p>\n Both have aspirations of getting their teams to the Grey Cup game in Winnipeg, too, the Bombers trying to stay on top of the West mountain, the Stamps trying to get back to those heights.<\/p>\n It all comes to a head in the Foothills on Saturday.<\/p>\n paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca<\/p>\n X: @friesensunmedia<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breadcrumb Trail Links SportsFootballCFLWinnipeg Blue Bombers Get the latest from Paul Friesen straight to your inbox Sign Up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-55999","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\/55999","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=55999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Calgary](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SptsW02_AdamsStamps-scaled-e1754700581165.jpg\")
Calgary Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. speaks to reporters during practice at McMahon Stadium on August 8, 2025. Photo by Brent Calver \/Postmedia NetworkArticle content<\/p>\n![\"Winnipeg](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/19.2.5\/websites\/images\/identity\/logo-identity-wsun-new.svg\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/19.2.5\/websites\/images\/newsletters\/icon-sun-headlineNews.svg\"\/){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n