{"id":56410,"date":"2025-08-09T07:16:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T07:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/56410\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T07:16:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T07:16:15","slug":"game-preview-wpg-at-cal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/56410\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview | WPG at CAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kickoff: Saturday, August 9th, 6 p.m. CDT; McMahon Stadium, Calgary
TV\/Streaming: TSN 1\/3; CBS Sports Network;\u00a0 CFL+<\/a>
Radio: 680 CJOB (pre-game begins at 4 p.m. CDT); Play-by-play: Derek Taylor\/analyst: Doug Brown; Sirius XM (ch. 167)<\/p>\n

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Scene Setter<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been taken to the proverbial woodshed and flogged once on the road and then a second time in front of friends and family smack dab in their own living room.<\/p>\n

So, damn straight the two whuppings the Calgary Stampeders delivered to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers definitely left a mark \u2014 both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what makes Saturday\u2019s third meeting of the year, back at McMahon Stadium, so important for the Blue Bombers. Yes, they\u2019ve already lost the season series and were walloped by three touchdowns in both defeats, but a result on the weekend would not only pull them even in wins with the Stamps at five, it would help lower the height on any mental hurdle that may have developed against the dudes in red and white.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe know we can\u2019t get that series over them,\u201d said running back Brady Oliveira in a chat this week. \u201cBut this one is extremely important. Every game is extremely important, but there\u2019s just something about this one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact they got us good the last two outings that we had against them\u2026 it wasn\u2019t like it was close. They got us pretty good. So there\u2019s just something about going into their house this weekend and we\u2019ve got to put it on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to play all three phases and get back to our identity and get this thing going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that this is the be all and end all, but it\u2019s worth noting how the middle third of the season over the last few years has been when the Blue Bombers have found some traction. The new faces become more comfortable, the lineup settles \u2014 depending on injuries, of course \u2014 and the club begins to develop an understanding of what works heading into the late summer and early fall.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg won its first game of this year\u2019s middle third of the schedule last week over Toronto and consider how that trend has unfolded in the last eight seasons \u2014 all playoff campaigns:<\/p>\n

2024: 4-2; finished 11-7 (1st in West; lost in Grey Cup)
\n2023: 5-1; finished 14-4 (1st in West; lost in Grey Cup)
\n2022: 5-1; finished 15-3 (1st in West; lost in Grey Cup)
\n2021: 6-0 (14 game schedule); finished 11-3 (1st in West; won Grey Cup)
\n2019: 4-2; finished 11-7 (3rd; won Grey Cup)
\n2018: 2-4; finished 10-8 (3rd; lost in West Final)
\n2017: 5-1; finished 12-6 (2nd; lost in West Semi-final)
\n2016: 6-0: finished 11-7 (3rd; lost in West Semi-final)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to become more of a synergetic team, where the three phases can rely on each other and lean on each other,\u201d said veteran right guard Pat Neufeld. \u201cThe defence really played a great game last time and got us a touchdown. Trey (Vaval) did his thing on the kick returns with two touchdowns from the special teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re struggling on offence those things really helped pick us up. We\u2019ve got complimentary football happening right now. It\u2019s not that the offence wants to be relying on those things week to week \u2014 we want to be a difference maker \u2014 but it\u2019s building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see some things that are going to help us down the line. When we get all those cylinders firing, we\u2019re going to be a good team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The cylinders do need to get firing on offence. Winnipeg ranks first in yards rushing per game (121.4) but is seventh in passing (251.7). The Blue Bombers revolving door on the left side of the offensive line has been a storyline along with the injuries to Dalton Schoen and then his replacement in Kody Case as has Zach Collaros missing two starts and not finishing two other games.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s combined QB efficiency rating of 85.8, FYI, ranks last in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not where we want to be yet,\u201d said Oliveira. \u201cWe want to be an explosive offence. We want to finish in the red zone; we want to score touchdowns and right now we\u2019re just not doing that. There\u2019s been flashes of it but we need to finish. We need to start fast and when we get in the red zone we need to finish with six and if we have to settle for three, so be it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then we just have to get back to our identity of, instead of there being flashes of us being a physical football team, doing it for an entire four quarters, an entire 60 minutes. Us moving guys, mauling guys, everyone running to the ball.\u00a0It\u2019s everyone because everyone can feed off that energy and it\u2019s contagious.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big win last week for us but there\u2019s still so much more we can improve on,\u201d said Oliveira. \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit. We have a high standard for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE LINEUP: The Blue Bombers depth chart features six changes from last week\u2019s win over Toronto. On are QB Zach Collaros, WR Dillon Mitchell, RB Matthew Peterson, DB Dexter Lawson, Jr., LT Stanley Bryant and DT Tanner Schmekel. Off are CB Jamal Parker, Jr., QB Chase Artopoeus, RB Quinton Cooley, OT Eric Lofton, WR Gavin Cobb and DT Cam Lawson.<\/p>\n

Notable to the additions, besides the obvious in Collaros, is the return of Bryant after he missed the last three games as well as Mitchell\u2019s Blue Bombers debut.<\/p>\n

The one-game injured list now features Lawson and Parker, Jr. along with LS Mike Benson, RB\/KR Peyton Logan and OL Micah Vanterpool. The six-game now features Case and Schoen, Lofton, DB Enock Makonzo and LB Lane Novak.<\/p>\n

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

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kickoff: Saturday, August 9th, 6 p.m. CDT; McMahon Stadium, CalgaryTV\/Streaming: TSN 1\/3; CBS Sports Network;\u00a0 CFL+Radio: 680 CJOB…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-56410","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\/56410","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=56410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}