FRIESEN: Two plays, a third loss and a sleepless night for Bombers

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Published Jun 22, 2024  •  Last updated 37 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros (8) gets the throw away as BC Lions' Joshua Archibald (94) wraps him up during first half CFL action in Winnipeg, Friday, June 21, 2024. Photo by John Woods /THE CANADIAN PRESS

Nic Demski figured he wouldn’t get any sleep and Brandon Alexander was in a similar frame of mind.

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Both Winnipeg Blue Bombers had one play they desperately wanted back from Friday night’s game. Either one could have swung a nailbiter Winnipeg’s way.

Instead, the receiver and defensive safety watched footballs sail out of their reach in the dying minutes of a 26-24 loss to the B.C. Lions.

Two mistakes – a misjudged pass and a missed read on defence – left their team winless in three starts.

“I was open,” Demski said in a dead-quiet post-game locker-room. “And I misjudged it.”

The Winnipegger was having a night: eight catches for 94 yards, including a spectacular one-hander in the fourth quarter that led to a field goal that put the Bombers in front, 24-23, with 5:25 to go.

But it was the one with just over two minutes left, the Bombers down by two, Demski open deep, the ball seeming within reach but off his fingertips, that he’ll be reliving for a while.

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“Which I’m doing constantly right now,” he said. “Zach put it up there. He trusts me to run underneath it. And I didn’t. That one stings. It sucks. I put it on me. Feel like crap. I feel I let these guys down as the playmaker that I am, as the leader that I am on this team.

“When you know you could have made a difference in that moment … that’s the reason it stings so much.”

With 2:04 to go, the Bombers punted, counting on a defence that hadn’t stopped the Lions all night.

It couldn’t when it mattered most.

Which brings us to the play that Alexander would pay good money to have back.

Lions second-and-10, on their own 20, 1:50 to go.

Quarterback Vernon Adams had already had a field day throwing the ball, and little wonder with all the time he had to watch receivers get open downfield.

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So first-year Bombers defensive coordinator Jordan Younger threw all but the kitchen sink at him on a second-down blitz.

Younger should have thrown the sink, too.

Because the blitz didn’t get to Adams and Alexander let receiver Alexander Hollins get behind him.

“Basically the one that sealed the game,” the veteran Winnipeg safety said. “If I read my keys … then I would have been in way better shape than I was in. I needed to adjust before the ball was snapped. And I didn’t read that key.”

Hollins didn’t stop running until he’d gained 63 yards and a few plays later it was over, the Lions just kneeling out the final seconds deep in Winnipeg territory.

Alexander planned to go home and watch the nightmare on film, then come back to the facility and watch it again in the morning – in the company of teammates.

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What a fun time that’ll be.

“I’m going to beat myself up over it,” he acknowledged. “But then we’ve got to wake up in the morning and do it all over again.”

There were other plays, of course. There always are.

These film sessions after losses must resemble one, big therapy session, with players taking turns saying that one’s on me.

The coaches better take their turns, too.

Head man Mike O’Shea may believe his offence can run a play in four seconds, but with three points in the balance and his team down, 13-7, why take that chance on the last play of the first half?

The offence, scrimmaging on the B.C. six, took one second too long and those three points evaporated.

It’s fitting the Bombers lost by two.

And now the four-time defending West Division champs are 0-3. What’s wrong with this picture?

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After two losses that didn’t even come close to this team’s identity, O’Shea’s crew seemed to rediscover itself in the second half on Friday.

It began with receiver Drew Wolitarsky breaking tackles and fighting to the one-yard line while getting his helmet and skullcap ripped off, the 29-year-old screaming at the crowd and firing up his teammates late in the third quarter.

A play later they’d chopped a 13-point deficit down to six, and it was a different team.

Backup quarterback Chris Streveler began hurling himself at would-be tackles, leaving at least one writhing in pain.

Wolitarsky added a one-handed grab – with his left.

Running back Brady Oliveira went into beast-mode, stiff-arming the face-mask of Lions defender Adrian Greene twice on his way to a 28-yard statement run that said I’m back.

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A few plays later Streveler was in the end zone for a third time and the Bombers had their first lead.

Even the defence had added some much-needed nasty to their game.

In the final minutes, though, two plays that had to be made weren’t.

And a relatively short game produced what two players anticipated would be a long night without a whole lot of shuteye.

“I’ll try to,” Alexander said. “I ain’t got no choice. I’ve got a son, now. When I go home he’s going to smile at me, anyway.”

That should help put things in perspective.

At least until the Saturday morning film starts up.

[email protected] X: @friesensunmedia

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