Chicken dances and touchdowns: Bombers keep winning streak alive

There was a time not too long ago – way back on June 29th, if we are to be precise – when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had been completely written off by so many across the Canadian Football League.

They had stumbled to an 0-4 start and tumbled into a shallow grave, with so many across the map seemingly so eager to begin shovelling dirt onto the supposed corpse. Yet, here they are now having bolted up out of the ground like zombies spiked by rocket fuel and are back to what they have done for so long and so effectively over the last few years – namely, throwing punches, landing roundhouse kicks and generally wreaking havoc across the land.

And ain’t that a ton of fun to watch, Bomber Nation?

The Blue Bombers extended their win streak to six with a 27-14 victory over the Edmonton Elks in front of 22,605 at Commonwealth Stadium Saturday night and in the process, wrapped their fingers tighter around first place in the West Division – now two points ahead of the B.C. Lions (7-7) and having already secured the season series with their west coast rivals.

The Elks, who had won five of their last six heading into the game, now fall to 5-9.

“Big team win,” began Brady Oliveira, who rushed for 127 yards on 18 carries, caught two passes for 11 yards and got into the end zone twice in the fourth quarter for his first two scores of the season. “We really fought the entire four quarters, man. Our defence played tremendous; they’re really playing lights out for us.

“As an offence we weren’t playing to our ability in the first half (leading 3-0 at the intermission). We came in here and really had a good talk. We really needed to get back to our identity and control the clock, controlling this game and really imposing our will on that defence. Our offensive line did an incredible job in the second half, our receivers were blocking downfield… total team effort and total three-phase effort to get the job done.”

The Blue Bombers defence forced six turnovers – two fumbles, two interceptions and twice on downs – in derailing Tre Ford, McLeod Bethel-Thompson and the Elks attack, while the offence found life when it mattered by out-scoring the Elks 17-4 in the final quarter after a 10-10 tie after 45 minutes.

Winnipeg’s six-game streak, all coming after the 2-6 start, has featured five wins against West Division opponents – two against the Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders and now one against the Elks, with the other against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. And with how the West Division race has unfolded this season, that is not only massive, it has put a serious gale-force wind into the Blue Bombers’ sails.

“Winning is fun. Winning makes the whole thing fun,” said quarterback Zach Collaros, who completed 19-of-27 for 191 yards with a TD strike to Pokey Wilson and one interception while also rushing for 30 yards on three carries. “We can’t allow it to cover up mistakes, though. We’ve got to continue to get better in certain areas but any time you win games that’s what makes it worthwhile.”

ONTARIAAAAAA#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/t0dD7ePPia

— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) September 22, 2024

“I like that they won this game,” added head coach Mike O’Shea when asked what he liked about the current six-game streak. “I like that they’re going to go back to work tomorrow morning. And they like it, too. They’ll have fun tonight, trust me.”

More on the Blue Bombers’ eighth win of the season from our view in the press box here in the Alberta capital…

‘CHICKEN BOX… CHICKEN BOX…’:

That was the chant heard outside the Blue Bombers locker room after the win and to properly explain what the heck that means, we call on Oliveira again after he scored twice and did a variation of the Bird Dance in the end zone.

“Dance like a chicken, cluck like a chicken,” Oliveira said with a grin. “I guess it started with Lucky (Whitehead). They call it the ‘chicken box’, the ‘chicken coop’ when you get in the end zone so there was a little bit of a joke going on in the last couple of weeks with, ‘How come I haven’t got into the chicken box?’ So whenever it was going to happen our celebration was to be walk like a chicken, cluck like a chicken.

“…It really just felt good to celebrate with my boys in the end zone. Those are the moments you’re going to remember when you’re done playing this game. All the hard times they were giving me for not getting into the end zone and then celebrating in the end zone… that’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Oliveira, FYI, also went over 1,000 yards rushing for the third straight season on the night and now has 1,021 yards along the ground and a career-high 46 receptions for 376 yards.

(Winnipeg Football Club)

WILSON DOWN/NEXT MEN UP:

The Blue Bombers found themselves a man short on their roster before the game even started with veteran linebacker Kyrie Wilson, who was just returning after coming off the six-game injury list, pulled up lame with a different malady. That led to some last-minute shuffling, with Michael Ayers sliding over to Wilson’s spot. That last-minute change coming in a week in which Adam Bighill underwent knee surgery and was lost for the season.

Ayers made a game-changing play with 11 minutes left in the fourth, picking off Ford and returning it 17 yards to the Elks 36-yard line to set up Oliveira’s first score. He finished the game with four defensive tackles and two on special teams – he was also unfortunately penalized twice for 30 yards, once for a facemask, the other for unnecessary roughness.

The Blue Bombers defence also got superb play from the man who is locked into Bighill’s spot now as Tony Jones was absolutely sensational, with six tackles, one more on special teams, a sack and an interception. All this against the club that had released him earlier this season and with him eager to make a statement.

“That felt really good,” said Jones inside a raucous Blue Bombers locker room. “Any time you get released by a team and get to go against that team you’re just amped up, fired up to the fullest. It’s a controlled amp. I felt good out there. I felt good before the game and we played good football out there. Obviously, there are some things we can clean up.

“JY (Jordan Younger, defensive coordinator) does a good job of putting us in position, all 12 of us on the defensive side of the ball. We’re a brotherhood. We communicate very well. It helps when one guy might say something to help this guy out or vice versa. We just play well as a unit. We know if we play well with all 12 of us doing our assignment we’ll be a hard team to beat.”

(Winnipeg Football Club)

KEY MOMENT

The Blue Bombers had taken a 10-0 lead in the third quarter only to see the Elks race back to tie the game on the final play of the third quarter with a field goal. That’s when the defence authored another massive play with Ayers’ interception four minutes into the final frame, a pick that set up the first score and gave the club the momentum it needed to bring the hammer down.

KEY STAT: 6

Turnovers for the Blue Bombers’ D. Winnipeg’s defence entered the game as the second-stingiest unit in the CFL, having surrendered 20.6 points per game to Montreal’s 20.2. On the flip side, they had forced 20 turnovers heading into the night – third fewest in the league.

A Deatrick Nichols forced fumble and recovery was then followed by Jones doing his thing with another forced fumble and recovery, his interception, the Ayers’ pick and two turnovers on downs in an epic defensive performance.

NEXT

Short week for the Blue Bombers, who return home to face the Elks again this Friday, September 27th, at Princess Auto Stadium with a 7 p.m. start time.