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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tZachary Peters\/B.C. Lions<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost to the B.C. Lions on Thursday night by a score of 35-19 in front of 31,509 fans at Princess Auto Stadium. Below are my thoughts on the game.<\/p>\n
An empire crumbles<\/p>\n
This was one of the most winnable games the Blue Bombers have had in years.<\/p>\n
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\t\tBy signing up you agree to receive daily emails from 3DownNation, as well as our The Lions travelled to Winnipeg with a 1-5 record and a mere four days of rest. With reigning CFL Most Outstanding Player Nathan Rourke on the injured list, B.C.\u2019s starting quarterback was Kaidon Salter. Prior to this game, the 23-year-old\u2019s resum\u00e9 included exactly one CFL accolade: the fact that he\u2019s randomly related to Casey Printers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Heck, the Lions started Lorenzo Mauldin IV on Thursday night, a player who was literally retired as recently as four days ago<\/a>. When the opposition is starting retirees, you should win.<\/p>\n And yet, the Blue Bombers got beaten. Badly.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll get into the details below, but this was a truly awful loss. Winnipeg is now 1-4 at home and they fully deserved the boos that repeatedly rained down from the near-capacity crowd.<\/p>\n At this rate, it\u2019s impossible to imagine this team meaningfully competing for a home playoff game. They\u2019ll be lucky to make the postseason at all.<\/p>\n Show us your I.D.<\/p>\n It appears offensive coordinator Tommy Condell heard Brady Oliveira\u2019s comments from last week when he questioned the unit\u2019s identity<\/a>.<\/p>\n Over the first third of the season, Winnipeg\u2019s offence made most of its hay in the intermediate passing game. However, on Thursday, the unit became ultra-conservative, relying almost exclusively on the run game and quick-hitting passes.<\/p>\n Dru Brown completed 18-of-21 pass attempts for 180 yards and a touchdown on the night, though a relatively high percentage of his passing yardage came after the catch.<\/p>\n The veteran quarterback threw four interceptions last week, and it didn\u2019t look like his team trusted him to push the ball downfield. He didn\u2019t attempt a pass that travelled 20 yards through the air until the end of the third quarter, when he hit Ontaria Wilson for a 37-yard catch-and-run.<\/p>\n Even without any deep shots, the results weren\u2019t always good. The 29-year-old missed badly on a throw to Nic Demski shortly before halftime. The Lions blitzed and Brown made a good read on second-and-five, but couldn\u2019t place the ball well enough to give Demski any chance of catching it. If a quarterback can\u2019t throw a five-yard slant, that\u2019s a big problem.<\/p>\n Brown left Thursday\u2019s game midway through the fourth quarter due to an apparent back injury, which occurred after he was tackled on a scramble. He was replaced by Taylor Elgersma, who played poorly.<\/p>\n The CFL rookie out of Wilfrid Laurier University went one-for-four on his pass attempts for 10 yards. He took two sacks, lost an unforced fumble, and was stopped short on a second-down scramble. His receivers weren\u2019t much help, as Ontaria Wilson and Brady Oliveira dropped catchable passes.<\/p>\n Oliveira was productive, rushing 19 times for 107 yards. Even so, this didn\u2019t look like a team with an offensive identity.<\/p>\n It looked like a team with offensive problems.<\/p>\n Defence breaks down<\/p>\n The Blue Bombers played well defensively for almost the entire first half, holding the Lions scoreless until moments before halftime.<\/p>\n Midway through the third quarter, the unit started to crack. Kaidon Salter pulled the ball on a simple read-option and ran 40 yards up the sideline. This was a sign of things to come for a Winnipeg defence that was abysmal against the run for the rest of the game.<\/p>\n Zander Horvath got loose for runs of 35, 58, and 35 yards in the fourth quarter, two of which went for touchdowns. He finished the game with 17 carries for 191 yards and three touchdowns, while Salter ran 10 times for 160 yards. As a team, the Lions recorded an incredible 377 rushing yards.<\/p>\n Wow.<\/p>\n With an athletic rookie quarterback under centre, it was abundantly obvious the Lions were going to have a run-centred attack. How the Blue Bombers failed so badly in stopping it was bewildering.<\/p>\n Winnipeg\u2019s defence recorded only one takeaway and it was completely unforced, as a B.C. snap deflected off a receiver and bounced onto the open turf. Jaylen Smith jumped on the ball to give the Blue Bombers possession in Lions territory, which led to a short field goal from Sergio Castillo.<\/p>\n Smith came close to recording another takeaway before halftime when he dove under a pass that had been batted at the line of scrimmage by Willie Jefferson. Though it was initially ruled an interception, the replay centre overturned the call to rule it an incompletion. Based on the replay, which showed the ball hit the turf, this appeared to be the correct decision.<\/p>\n On the plus side, Willie Jefferson and Jake Ceresna both got home for sacks, the second of which was particularly key as it snuffed out a promising drive for the Lions.<\/p>\n Feeling passive<\/p>\n When it came to third down on Thursday night, Blue Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea was about as conservative as a baptist preacher.<\/p>\n Winnipeg\u2019s opening drive stalled at B.C.\u2019s eight-yard line. Instead of gambling on third-and-two, O\u2019Shea opted for a 16-yard field goal from Sergio Castillo.<\/p>\n The team retook possession almost immediately after an errant Lions snap, which was recovered by Jaylen Smith. This time, Winnipeg reached B.C.\u2019s four-yard line on third-and-goal. O\u2019Shea was risk-averse again, as he took the offence off the field so Castillo could kick a 12-yard field goal.<\/p>\n These decisions seemed questionable at best.<\/p>\n If you score touchdowns, you\u2019ve buried your opponent on the scoreboard. If you turn the ball over on downs, you\u2019ve buried your opponent with field position.<\/p>\n Taking short field goals is kind of the worst of both worlds. You\u2019re not building a big lead, but you\u2019re also not forcing your opponent to scrimmage in the shadow of their own uprights.<\/p>\n O\u2019Shea elected not to gamble on third-and-two again in the fourth quarter, instead opting for a 49-yard field goal from Castillo.<\/p>\n In fairness to the veteran bench boss, if there was ever a time to be conservative, it was this particular game. When your opponent is coming off a short week and starting a raw rookie at quarterback, they\u2019re bound to make a bunch of mistakes. It stands to reason that if you minimize risk, you\u2019ll likely win.<\/p>\n Obviously, this isn\u2019t how things played out. Winnipeg was passive early-on, then came to rue the slow start when the B.C.\u2019s run game exploded late.<\/p>\n When a team limps into your building, you may as well attack immediately. Otherwise, you\u2019re just giving them time to find their footing.<\/p>\n Failing protection<\/p>\n The Blue Bombers made a change at right tackle this week as Micah Vanterpool stepped in for the injured Jarell Broxton. However, that wasn\u2019t the tackle spot at which the team had problems.<\/p>\n Winnipeg gave up a sack late in the third quarter when B.C. sent only three rushers. Mathieu Betts ran by Stanley Bryant virtually untouched around the edge, which was inexcusable. Bryant had inside help from left guard Gabe Wallace. All he had to do was ensure Betts didn\u2019t go around the horn.<\/p>\n The 40-year-old also took an illegal procedure penalty in the second quarter, which turned second-and-seven into second-and-twelve. After an eight-yard carry from Brady Oliveira, Winnipeg was forced to punt.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s make this abundantly clear: Bryant is going to be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee. He\u2019s arguably the best offensive lineman in CFL history.<\/p>\n With that said, for the first time in a decade, Winnipeg needs better pass protection from the left tackle position. Right now, it\u2019s just not good enough.<\/p>\n The streak<\/p>\n Winnipeg saw its 16-game sell-out streak come to an end against the Argonauts three weeks ago when the club drew a crowd of 32,134, which is 209 shy of capacity. However, there was sort of a caveat, as Toronto was technically the \u201chome team\u201d for the game in question.<\/p>\n When the Blue Bombers hosted a sold-out crowd for last week\u2019s loss to the Calgary Stampeders, the team took to social media to trumpet a 17-game sell-out streak. Clearly, they were trying to rely on a technicality to argue the streak was still alive.<\/p>\n After drawing 31,509 fans to Princess Auto Stadium on Thursday, the streak is now officially and inarguably dead.<\/p>\n To be clear, Winnipeg\u2019s crowds and game-day atmosphere are still the envy of the CFL. The team\u2019s fan support is excellent, which is why there\u2019s no reason to exaggerate or mislead anyone about the state of attendance. The streak is over, and that\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n Honouring legends<\/p>\n
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