All three phases contribute in Bombers’ win over Lions
WINNIPEG — It was a three-phase effort for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday night, with offence, defence and special teams contributing in the team’s win over the BC Lions.
“That’s the type of ball that we want to put on display,” Willie Jefferson told members of the media after his team’s 45-0 victory. “Three phases of football, give it all that we’ve got for our fans and for the CFL to see. We want to go hard all 60 minutes and give Winnipeg Blue Bomber effort.”
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That full effort helped the Bombers clinch the top spot in the West Division and they will now host the Western Final on December 5. While the offence was clicking and special teams got in on the action as well, it was the defence that stole the show.
The team held Michael Reilly and the Lions offence off the scoreboard completely. Jefferson scored a pick-six, Jackson Jeffcoat had two sacks to go along with four tackles and Casey Sayles and Steven Richardson both took down Reilly for a sack apiece.
“We’re relentless, disciplined and we play as a team,” said Jefferson of his defence. “We play together as one, not as 12 individuals. We stick to our process. We like our preparation coming into this game, coming into any game, the film study that we put in as a defence, the time and effort that we put into getting things right at practice and then just the extra stuff that we do as a whole, it all comes together when we come out and play football like this.”
“I thought they ran hard, they got after the quarterback well, they tackled well,” O’Shea added about the defence. “They looked like they played as well as they should play. It’s nice. It doesn’t always work out that way, obviously, but tonight was a very good night for them. Very, very good.”
Zach Collaros utilized five different receivers and two running backs on the night as he threw three touchdown passes; two to Kenny Lawler and one to Rasheed Bailey. Running back Brady Oliveira, who was filling in for an injured Andrew Harris, also got in on the scoring by punching in his first CFL major. And Janarion Grant showed off his speed by scoring a punt return touchdown.
“Our defence played well, like they always do,” said Collaros. “Our special teams played well all night as well. Offensively I thought we executed at a pretty high level. We’ll take it and we’re excited about the win, excited about playing in front of our home crowd. That was an amazing atmosphere. It was great.”
The Bombers will play in front of that home crowd in December as they host the Western Final and head coach Mike O’Shea knows that it’s an advantage for his team but hosting the playoff game wasn’t something that they had specifically set out on accomplishing.
“It’s important for the fans,” said O’Shea. “I think it’s going to be good for them and then therefore good for our team. I think our players understand that playing in front of out home crowd is pretty special so it’s important.
“In terms of us clinching, it’s not anything we really talked about or it was never a goal from the beginning. It just adds up that way, that when the players believe in and stick to the process and focus on the immediate task at hand every single day, they have a good chance for success.”
The Bombers now head out on a Week 13 bye as they enjoy a week of rest and get ready to host the Montreal Alouettes in Week 14.
