(WINNIPEG)- The ghosts of Winnipeg were on full display on a Thursday night as the hometown Blue Bombers cruised to a 25-0 win over the BC Lions, dropping the visitors to 5-3 and handing them their first two-game losing streak of the season. It was the first time BC was shut out since, ironically, a trip to this very same venue in October 2021. Making matters worse was the loss of quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. in the late stages after his knee buckled following a sack by TyJuan Garbutt.
Before the takedown, it was a night to forget for Adams and the offence as the quarterback completed just eight of 17 pass attempts for 74 yards and a crucial first-quarter interception that led to the first of six field goals of the game from Sergio Castillo. It was none other than Lucky Whitehead who scored the game’s only touchdown on a pass from Zach Collaros to put Winnipeg up 13-0 at the break. Now for some more game takes:
Campbell On VA Status
The most pressing matter when this was over was the status of the CFL’s passing leader and likely leading candidate for Most Outstanding Player. Rick Campbell’s initial prognosis seemed more optimistic than many probably felt watching.
“It’s probably something on the order of weeks, not months or longer,” said the head coach.
“So, that’s the good news part of it. It would be irresponsible to say that’s 100 per cent. He needs to get some tests done and all of that, but it does not look like season-ending or anything like that.”
The Game Itself… Not Nearly Good Enough
There was no sugarcoating this loss and it will take some soul-searching to break down what went wrong on a night where the Lions only mustered up four first downs and failed to move the sticks until their sixth drive of the night. Making matters worse: two of those opening series’ started around mid-field. One resulted in a two-and-out and the other led to Adams’ interception into the hands of Tyrell Ford.
“Super hard, man. Very frustrating,” said Keon Hatcher who had three receptions for 28 yards in his return.
“Moments like that you’ve got to come together, you’ve got to stay locked in and keep trying to persevere. They had a great scheme, they were making the plays tonight, but we weren’t. We’ll see them in two weeks.”
The blame was shared all around after easily their most lacklustre outing of the young season. T.J. Lee and the defence allowed Collaros to go 27/33 for 295 yards and the major and seemed to struggle to provide any consistent pressure. The more time Collaros has in the pocket, the more dangerous he becomes.
“It does take a lot out of us,” said Lee of the amount of time they spent on the field.
“The games have become unbalanced based on the offensive success and the defensive success in some games. In this game, the offence couldn’t get rolling as well. On defence, we couldn’t hold them the whole game. As a defensive player, we’ve got to make better plays. If we made more turnovers as a defence, it’s a different game.”
Now it’s all about turning the page and taking advantage of a long week ahead of their next test with Edmonton.
“I think we got out butts beat as what I think happened, from start to finish,” added Campbell.
“We could not get anything going. You don’t see that too often in the CFL. I’ll credit them, they had a really good game plan, they played really well and we had a bad day at the office.”
Key Numbers
4- the offence managed only that many first downs on a night they were in second and long too much and couldn’t get any momentum going. It matches the lowest total in franchise history (1954).
4- the Bombers’ ferocious defence recorded four sacks and for the second straight week, did not allow any offensive touchdowns.
102– for the second straight game it was a season-low of net offence for the Lions’ unit.
18:08- you get the picture by now, probably. Time of possession was not on the visiting team’s side in this one.
Next Up
The squad gets a few days off before returning to practice on Tuesday as they prepare to wrap up week ten at Edmonton next Sunday, August 11. Kickoff is 4:00 pm PT at Commonwealth Stadium. The 0-7 Elks visit 5-2 Saskatchewan on Saturday night with Canadian quarterback Tre Ford getting his first start of the 2023 campaign.