Snarl and sacks: B.C.'s dominating defence leaves Bombers with no solutions

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It was a heavyweight bout, a battle of two undefeated groups.

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The B.C. Lions had been throwing huge haymakers and stiff jabs on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, however added in a few early unlawful rabbit punches, too.

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The Bombers swore they had been prepared coming into the sport, however it was clear there was just one workforce prepared for the physicality of Thursday night time’s tilt at IG Discipline — the one which left with a 30-6 victory.

On the primary collection, Lions deal with Woody Baron burst by means of the Bombers line and engulfed quarterback Zach Collaros. His hit was just a few heartbeats too late, drawing the ire of the officers and a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty.

A primary down and two incompletions later, Winnipeg may solely handle a discipline purpose.

Late within the opening quarter and dealing with a second-and-seven, Collaros threw a hash mark behind receiver Dalton Schoen on a crossing route, however halfback Manny Rugamba got here up and launched his shoulder pad to Schoen’s thorax, drawing extra ire and one other 15-yard penalty.

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However a sack and incompletion later, they punted.

“They simply performed bodily, and we didn’t match it,” Blue Bombers centre Chris Kolankowski advised media after the sport. “We’ve received to be extra bodily. It comes right down to that. They punched us within the mouth, and we didn’t get well from it.”

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The Winnipeg entrance 5 has been seen as the category of the CFL for years. 4-time CFL excellent OL Stanley Bryant, two-time all-star Jermarcus Hardrick, et al, had been a part of a workforce that went 27-2 of their final 29 residence video games, and hadn’t misplaced to a workforce from the West since 2018.

However they had been abused by a B.C. Lions defence that completed the sport with seven sacks, tormented Collaros right into a 15-of-26, 191-yard, one-interception efficiency, and gave up simply six factors. Defensive co-ordinator Ryan Phillips had a masterclass in play-calling, bringing strain from his secondary off the sting, or letting his huge canines inside free.

Mattieu Betts had three of B.C.’s sacks, with David Menard, Sione Teuhema, Nathan Cherry and Rugamba choosing up singles. Bryant was victimized each by Menard — on a third-quarter three-man rush, no much less — and Betts’ pace burst within the fourth, each leading to drive-snuffing sacks.

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“You’re speaking concerning the end result, however desirous about it, I see all of the work that’s been put in, even going again to final 12 months,” mentioned Menard. “We received a lot of the guys that got here again, if not all people, the identical teaching workers. … We consider in what we do, we consider in one another, and the outcomes got here by means of. It’s simpler whenever you get the belief of the fellows round you; the place there’ll be.

“Winnipeg has a extremely good soccer workforce. Good offence. They’re properly coached. So we simply needed to belief our sport plan, belief our method, hold our pedal to the metallic, and that’s what we did.”

Winnipeg (2-1) got here into the sport averaging 43.5 factors per sport, scoring touchdowns on all 5 of their red-zone journeys final week, and returned a lot of the gamers that had them main the league in scoring (30 ppg) and offensive yards final 12 months. However B.C. put them in a chokehold early, and suffocated them fully within the second half.

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The Lions have now given up only one landing in 39 drives this season — 21 factors in complete — and pitched a shutout within the second half of Thursday’s sport. The final time the Bombers failed to attain a landing got here on Nov. 20, 2021, after they rested most of their starters in a 13-12 loss to Calgary.

Thursday’s loss was the worst defeat since falling 36-8 to the Stampeders in 2015, a 12 months they went 5-13 and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight 12 months.

B.C. allowed simply six out of 21 second down conversions, and regardless of the time of possession a mere 72 seconds within the Lions’ favour, the Bombers solely made it into the crimson zone as soon as. The Leos’ D bent, then broke the Bombers.

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And whereas it snapped a six-game dropping streak to Winnipeg and put the phrases “Gray Cup favourites” on folks’s social media lips, it was one-and-done so far as B.C. was involved.

“This is just one sport. This don’t imply nothing,” defensive again TJ Lee advised TSN post-game. “The supposed (West) No. 1s coming from final 12 months, they needed to mainly hold that rank. They didn’t hold it at present, and now we received it. So it will depend on what we’re gonna do with this. The sky’s the restrict. We’re gonna transfer on ahead from right here.”

B.C. performs the Bombers twice extra this season — Aug. 3 once more at IG Discipline, and Oct. 6 at B.C. Place — however first up is a date with the Toronto Argonauts on Monday, July 3 at BMO Discipline.

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Twitter.com/TheRealJJAdams

NEXT GAME

Monday, July 3

B.C. Lions vs. Toronto Argonauts

4 p.m. PT, BMO Discipline, TV: TSN, Radio: AM730

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