{"id":874083,"date":"2026-08-28T03:36:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T03:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/874083\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T03:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T03:36:26","slug":"middling-bombers-face-tough-test-against-cfl-leading-alouettes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/874083\/","title":{"rendered":"Middling Bombers face tough test against CFL-leading Alouettes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ running back Brady Oliveira (20) rushes with the ball against the Edmonton Elks’ defence during their game in Edmonton last week.Timothy Matwey\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Brady Oliveira remains a steadfast believer in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n

Despite an uneven first half of the season and struggling offence, the veteran star running back says it\u2019s what happens behind closed doors that gives him confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to witness that with my own eyes,\u201d Oliveira said following Thursday\u2019s walk-through practice. \u201cThat\u2019s what I appreciate most about this group, is when our backs are against the wall, they just continue to show up and have my back and everyone\u2019s back in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good sign for the Bombers (5-5), who will face their toughest test yet in a Week 13 matchup with the CFL-leading Montreal Alouettes (9-1) Friday night.<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s disappointing loss to the Edmonton Elks, which included blowing a 16-0 lead, was the club\u2019s third defeat in four games. The Bombers had their best effort of the season through the first half, followed by arguably their worst performance in the final 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg is in fourth place in the West Division, ahead of only the 4-6 Calgary Stampeders. The B.C. Lions are in third with the same 5-5 record, earning the tiebreaker with a better point differential, with the Elks (8-3) leading the pack and the Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-4) in second.<\/p>\n

Given their poor play, many fans have started to write the Bombers off as a legitimate Grey Cup threat. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always going to be outside noise,\u201d Oliveira said, noting it\u2019s difficult to hide from social media critics. \u201cIt\u2019s very easy to see the naysayers \u2013 the non-believers \u2013 and what they think about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this year. But right now, we just got to really have faith and believe in ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s offence needs the most help, as it sits in the league\u2019s bottom-third for points, total yards and first downs. The passing attack averages 80 fewer yards per game compared to Montreal\u2019s 344.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander reacts following a play during his team’s game against the Edmonton Elks in Montreal earlier this month.Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

That leaves Winnipeg with little margin for error.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be looking for a larger margin for error,\u201d Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea said. \u201cNobody plays a perfect game, but you should be looking to play better and better every week and we should be looking to play as tight, as clean a game as possible. When you play a team like Montreal, you got to play better than you\u2019re playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Alouettes are riding a seven-game win streak. Unlike Winnipeg, Montreal\u2019s offence is rolling, led by quarterback and MOP front-runner Davis Alexander. <\/p>\n

Alexander paces the league with 3,400 passing yards and a 124.5 efficiency rating over 10 starts. He\u2019s complemented by a solid run game, led by tailback Travis Theis, who is averaging 104 yards over the last six games.<\/p>\n

While this is Alexander\u2019s first regular-season start against Winnipeg, the 27-year-old defeated the Bombers 42-33 in last year\u2019s East Division semi-final, ending their streak of five consecutive Grey Cup appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a heck of a game and they came back on us and we really had to battle,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cAs for the first regular season game, that\u2019s kind of been the story of my career so far. I haven\u2019t started against B.C. yet and only had my first start against Calgary earlier this season. But, honestly, we\u2019re more concerned about ourselves. That\u2019s why you hear a lot of guys around here talking about faceless opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander boasts an impressive 20-1 regular-season record, including a perfect 14-0 against the East Division, and has thrown for at least 300 passing yards in eight of the last 10 games. He faces a Winnipeg defence averaging the fewest passing yards (269) and the lowest completion percentage (66) in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey play a different kind of coverage than what a lot of teams do. A lot of teams try to mimic their coverages as a kind of a curveball,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cYou can tell [defensive co-ordinator] Jordan Younger has his hands all over that system and knows how to plug in guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montreal can clinch a playoff spot this week with a win and a Hamilton loss to Calgary. Montreal cannot finish any lower than third in the East Division. <\/p>\n

Head coach Jason Maas understands his team has a target on its back, he just doesn\u2019t pay it any attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a huge expectation in our locker room and we have not been shy about our stated goal of the year, which is to win the ninth Grey Cup for this organization,\u201d Maas said. \u201cThat alone puts a target on your back. Saying you\u2019re going to win every week puts a target on your back. I couldn\u2019t care less. That\u2019s our belief, and we\u2019re working extremely hard to achieve that every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ running back Brady Oliveira (20) rushes with the ball against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-874083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874083","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=874083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}