{"id":763457,"date":"2026-06-26T23:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/763457\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T23:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:12:13","slug":"upon-further-review-elks-23-blue-bombers-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/763457\/","title":{"rendered":"Upon Further Review | Elks 23 Blue Bombers 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a temptation for so many right now in the immediate aftermath of the second loss in three games for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to start making blanket statements and black and white evaluations.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair, too, because their 1-2 start \u2014 the latest performance Thursday\u2019s sloppy 23-18 loss to the Edmonton Elks \u2014 has certainly featured a gazillion warts and blemishes to have many averting their eyes.<\/p>\n

My take, for what it\u2019s worth: it\u2019s still June and we\u2019re just one-sixth through the Canadian Football League season. And from this vantage point the Blue Bombers are like a batch of wet cement still in need of some gravel before the mixing finishes and the settling begins.<\/p>\n

The caveat to that: the CFL\u2019s West Division is going to be a battle royale through the entire schedule and falling to 1-2 in what should be an uber-tight conference is like falling on your face out of the starting blocks in a middle-distance race.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, there\u2019s still time to make up ground, but being in chase position early can be dangerous \u2014 both in the here and now and long term.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t just lay off the first quarter and start slow, have a second quarter, great third quarter and great fourth quarter before that last drive when we let them walk down and score. That\u2019s bad,\u201d said defensive back Redha Kramdi of the Blue Bombers falling behind 17-0, rallying to take an 18-17 lead before giving up the game-winning score inside the final minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was there for us to take. We let down in the last drive. It didn\u2019t cost us in Calgary (in the season opener, when Winnipeg rallied from a late score with a game-winning Sergio Castillo field goal with no time left), but it did here.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I love the way we played in the third quarter and the fourth \u2014 until that last drive. I\u2019m pretty proud of the boys for fighting back. But that last drive\u2026 we need to be better. We need to show up and finish the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be good. It will,\u201d Kramdi added. \u201cI really hate losing, but we\u2019ve got hard working people and great talent in here. It\u2019s Game 3. It\u2019s a loss, but it will be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a tougher sell today than it was prior to the Elks loss, but with all the negative Thursday night there were just enough good moments to believe this wet cement can still be the foundation of something solid.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The Elks) are a good team,\u201d said Blue Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea. \u201cBut these guys are pros. They understand what they\u2019re capable of based on what they did in the second half and they\u2019re not going to look at that and say, \u2018Oh, we should build off the second half; that was really good.\u2019 They\u2019re going to look at it from the lens of, if we did that in the first half this is a different story\u2026 or possibly a different story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to see the mistakes they made early and they\u2019re not going to be pleased. They\u2019re pros that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICYMI, here is our Game Recap from Thursday night:<\/p>\n

Game Recap | Edm 23 Wpg 18<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And what follows is this week\u2019s edition of UPON FURTHER REVIEW\u2026<\/p>\n

THREE NUMBERS WHICH JUMPED OUT AFTER\u2026 a second glance at the stats package, which can be found here:<\/a><\/p>\n

1\u00a0Just to recap some of the ugly from Thursday night, the Blue Bombers had six fumbles and lost three, had two missed field goals, allowed three sacks while getting none, fell behind 17-0 and then rallied and gave up 106 yards rushing to Justin Rankin \u2014 the third game in a row a rival running back has hit the century mark \u2014 and still almost won.<\/p>\n

The number that is the most glaring? The turnovers, absolutely.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brady Oliveira dives to score his touchdown on a fourth-quarter pass from Zach Collaros<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have turnover problems that\u2019s the type of result you\u2019re going to get,\u201d said veteran receiver Nic Demski, who led the club with six catches for 92 yards. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to do a better job and that\u2019s the main thing. We preach ball security and we didn\u2019t take care of the ball like we wanted to and that\u2019s everybody on this offence. We\u2019ve got to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, when O\u2019Shea was asked after the game about ball security being one of the team\u2019s strengths over the last few years, he said: \u201cI don\u2019t think it was last year (they were -11 in the turnover differential, second worst in the CFL to Ottawa\u2019s -16).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be better. We have to coach it differently and look at it differently and we need to be better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

2 One more on the offence because it truly was a messy, inconsistent performance. Winnipeg managed 369 yards of net offence, including 290 passing yards by Zach Collaros and 106 along the ground, led by Brady Oliveira\u2019s 77 yards on 13 carries.<\/p>\n

But their overall drive chart is telling. in the first half \u2014 before their last possession which ended with a Collaros to Tim White TD with four seconds left \u2014 Winnipeg\u2019s first five possessions featured two missed field goals, two fumbles and a punt.<\/p>\n

A late drive was also frustrating after the club took an 18-17 lead. The Blue Bombers got the ball back with 5:02 remaining and got four yards from Oliveira on first down. But they couldn\u2019t convert a second-and-six and punted after a two-and-out that gave the Elks 3:29 left to mount their comeback.<\/p>\n

Edmonton then marched 57 yards on 10 plays, took 2:50 off the clock and capped it with a Cody Fajardo to T.J. Luther TD.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg then moved from their own 48-yard line to the Edmonton 39 with 10 seconds left but a pass and catch to Demski was stopped at the Elks\u2019 11-yard line to end the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Zach Collaros completed 24-of-33 for 290 yards and two TDs in the loss to Edmonton<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take pride in never giving up and never being out of a game,\u201d said Demski of the rally from 17-down. \u201cIn the CFL you just never know what\u2019s going to happen in the last three minutes. I really believe if we had six more, seven more seconds \u2014 one more play \u2014 we definitely could have won that game. We could have won that game either way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of football \u2014 it\u2019s a game of inches, a game of seconds, a game of minutes. We\u2019ve just got to do a better job of taking care of the football as an offence and put our team in a better position to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of veterans on this team, but we\u2019ve also got some new guys and some guys that are meshing in,\u201d added Demski. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to be better as a collective. I don\u2019t think you can point the finger at one unit. We\u2019re a family on this football team and we all know that we\u2019ve got to come together and play three-unit football if we want to win these games. \u201d<\/p>\n

3\u00a0A couple of Justin Rankin-related numbers here: first, he rushed 11 times for 95 yards in the first half. but was then held to just 11 yards on four carries \u2014 and a fumble \u2014 in the second half.<\/p>\n

Second, Rankin has now faced the Blue Bombers five times since coming into the league in 2024 and has authored four 100-yard rushing games in those meetings. His totals against Winnipeg: 68 carries for 540 yards, for a gaudy 7.94-yard average.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Redha Kramdi (6) and teammates rally to take down Justin Rankin<\/p>\n

\u201cMy honest opinion? Rankin is probably the best player I\u2019ve played against, probably the best player in the CFL if you take out the quarterbacks. He\u2019s amazing,\u201d said Kramdi. \u201cHe can do everything to impact the game. He\u2019s hard to tackle in space, can catch the ball, can run it inside or outside\u2026 he can do everything. It\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got punched in the face in the first quarter. But holding him when they have the lead and want to lean on him to not even 20 yards after that horrible first quarter \u2014 it\u2019s good to see the positive in that. It\u2019s a sh\u2014y situation. We lost. But that\u2019s hopeful. We can do it. We can piece it up and do it for four quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n

FOR THOSE WHO ROCKED, WE SALUTE YOU… another sellout at Princess Auto Stadium Thursday night, pushing the club record consecutive sellout streak to 16. There were, understandably, some boo birds when the home side fell behind 17-zip in the first half, but the building was raucous later and played a huge part in Edmonton\u2019s time-count penalty in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans did a great job,\u201d said O\u2019Shea. \u201cThey stuck with us and they helped create two time-count penalties (the other one in the first quarter) and they were right in it until the end. Loved it. They were loud and excellent.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we want to be better than that. We understand the value of our fan base. Even the young guys, to a man, understand how important it is to win and to win at home and play with a sense of pride. Slow start, but it\u2019s not like they\u2019re not running and not trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

AND FINALLY\u2026 \u00a0for those of you who have read this far, thank you. And for those who missed the game or want to relive all the highs and lows, check out the condensed game here:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a temptation for so many right now in the immediate aftermath of the second loss in three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-763457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763457","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=763457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}