Photo: Samantha Keen/3DownNation
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost to the Calgary Stampeders by a score of 52-30 on Friday night in front of 32,343 fans at Princess Auto Stadium. Below are my thoughts on the game.
Gifts for everyone
The theme for Friday’s game was “Christmas in July,” and Dru Brown was evidently in the holiday spirit as he gave away four interceptions.
After another slow offensive start, Brown’s first pick came after he badly underthrew Ontaria Wilson in the end zone, allowing Ben Labrosse to undercut the route and intercept the pass. Labrosse also collected Brown’s second interception of the game, even though he gave the ball back moments later (more on that in a moment).
The third interception came when Brown floated a ball for Wilson early in the fourth, and the receiver didn’t come back to it, allowing Labrosse to step in front of him for a third interception. The fourth pick came when Brown fired the ball across his body midway through the fourth quarter and missed Nic Demski, hitting Zy Alexander square in the chest.
The 29-year-old would have had a fifth interception had Kyle Wilson not dropped a likely pick-six near the end of the fourth quarter.
Brown finished the night 29-of-40 for 249 yards, one touchdown, and four interceptions. The score came on a 37-yard screen pass to Nic Demski, which saw the Winnipeg native make several defenders miss after the catch.
After having five potential interceptions dropped by the Ottawa Redblacks last week, Dru Brown had four of five potential interceptions caught by Calgary Stampeders defenders. The result was one of Winnipeg’s most lopsided home losses in a decade.
Busting wide open
Winnipeg’s defence hasn’t been dominant this season, but they’ve done a nice job of limiting big plays as of late. However, this wasn’t the case against the Stampeders.
Early in the second quarter, Tyreik McAllister sprinted from the backfield when the ball was snapped and initially drew attention from Tony Jones, who passed him off to the next defender. The problem is that there wasn’t a next defender.
The speedy running back quickly found himself all alone in the middle of the field, and Vernon Adams Jr. hit him for a 56-yard touchdown. This was by far the defence’s worst coverage bust of 2026. It was McAllister’s second touchdown of the game, as he ripped off a 17-yard score on Calgary’s first possession.
The Blue Bombers gave up another huge score on the first play of the third quarter when Jalen Philpot caught a pass between Deatrick Nichols and Jonathan Moxey.
Nichols missed the first tackle, then Moxey missed the second tackle. Evan Holm flew over from the other side of the field but missed the third tackle, allowing Philpot to score a 69-yard touchdown. Philpot’s a great player, but it was still a putrid display of open-field tackling.
Dedrick Mills also recorded a 37-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter after exploiting a small hole in the B-gap, though the game was over by that point.
McAllister was the real killer on the night, as he scored a rushing touchdown, receiving touchdown, and return touchdown. According to a CFL statement, he’s the first player in league history to do all three in the same game. Adams Jr. finished the game 18-of-26 for 319 yards and three touchdowns.
It wasn’t all bad from Winnipeg’s defence, as Willie Jefferson, Jake Ceresna, and Nuer Gatkuoth each recorded sacks. The unit also forced a turnover on downs, stuffing the Stampeders on third-and-short early in the fourth quarter.
However, it was a relatively poor performance overall.
Brady romps
The bright spot for Winnipeg’s offence was Brady Oliveira, who rushed 12 times for a season-high 121 yards and two touchdowns. This marked his first 100-yard game since Week 1 against Calgary.
The former Most Outstanding Player’s first touchdown came on a 13-yard run in the second quarter after Stanley Bryant and Gabe Wallace opened a mile-wide hole in Calgary’s defence. His second came on a 45-yard romp in the third quarter when Tui Eli climbed to the second level and kicked out a defender.
Oliveira became the fifth Canadian player in CFL history to reach 6,000 career rushing yards and surpassed Willard Reaves for third all-time on Winnipeg’s franchise rushing list. It’ll be a while before he catches Leo Lewis (8,861) or Charles Roberts (9,987), but that’s still a pretty remarkable feat.
Not so special
It’s rare for the Blue Bombers to lose the head-to-head matchup on special teams, but that’s exactly what happened on Friday night.
Sergio Castillo missed a 58-yard field goal wide left, and Tyreik McAllister returned it 118 yards for a touchdown. The speedster went untouched as Winnipeg had four offensive linemen and two defensive tackles on the field, which isn’t the optimal personnel grouping for downfield coverage.
It didn’t appear as though the wind was a factor in the miss for Castillo, as the flags at the top of the uprights were stationary.
Another major special teams blunder occurred in the third quarter when Kelon Thomas partially blocked Jamieson Sheahan’s punt, giving Calgary possession at Winnipeg’s 21-yard line. Three plays later, Vernon Adams Jr. hit Tevin Jones for a seven-yard touchdown pass.
Winnipeg gave up a 21-yard punt return to McAllister early on when it appeared Matthew Jackson, who made his CFL debut, didn’t get wide enough in his lane, allowing the returner to break contain. The rookie made another error on the opening kickoff of the second half, when he blasted McAllister after he was already out of bounds and drew a flag for unnecessary roughness.
It wasn’t all bad for Winnipeg, as Trey Vaval spun off multiple would-be tacklers on a 41-yard punt return late in the first quarter. Mark Vassett also made a blunder for the Stampeders in that same quarter, punting the ball out of bounds and costing his team field position.
Breaking out
Nuer Gatkuoth, Winnipeg’s first-round pick in the 2026 CFL Draft, made the first two big plays of his career, and they came on back-to-back snaps.
On the second-last play of the third quarter, the 24-year-old caught Dedrick Mills in the backfield and hung on for a two-yard loss. On the following play, he beat right tackle Bakyne Coly around the edge for a strip-sack on Vernon Adams Jr. and the ball was recovered by Michael Fletcher for a turnover.
Both plays came shortly after a 45-yard touchdown run from Brady Oliveira, so the fans at Princess Auto Stadium were already in a frenzy. When Gatkuoth celebrated the strip-sack, the crowd went ballistic.
The Edmonton native made 19 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks over 29 collegiate games at Colorado State and Wake Forest. He was a legitimate edge rushing prospect in the draft, and he proved why on Friday.
Broxton goes down
Offensive lineman Jarell Broxton left Friday’s game late in the second quarter, appearing to favour his leg. He did not return.
There is a reason the Blue Bombers made the 33-year-old one of the CFL’s highest-paid players in free agency. He’s one of the league’s best players at his position, and he’s certainly Winnipeg’s best blocker.
The Stampeders have one of the best defensive lines in the CFL, and that was particularly evident after Broxton’s exit, as Dru Brown was sacked three times and hit several others.
A particularly poor play came on second-and-six early in the third quarter, when Calgary got a sack on a three-man rush. Folarin Orimolade, the defensive end to the field side, didn’t even try to pressure Brown on the play — he simply anticipated the lane through which he might try to escape, attacked it, and brought him down.
Gabe Wallace moved to right tackle to replace Broxton, while Tyler Elsbury shifted to Wallace’s spot at left guard and Tui Eli took over from Elsbury at centre. Eli took a costly holding penalty midway through the third quarter, negating a 10-yard run from Brady Oliveira.
For a unit that thrives on cohesion, making three changes because of just one injury is far from optimal. A particularly low point came early in the second quarter when Winnipeg was assessed two holding penalties on a rush that only went seven yards anyway.
If Broxton is unable to play next week, look for Micah Vanterpool to come off the six-game injured list or Hunter Poncius to be promoted from the practice roster.
Lateral thinking
Ontaria Wilson made seven catches for 95 yards on Friday night, but arguably his best play came essentially as a defender.
Ben Labrosse, who intercepted Dru Brown three times — which is pretty remarkable, considering the Stampeders refused to put him in the starting lineup earlier this season — tried to lateral the ball to a teammate after recording his second takeaway.
Wilson, who was sprinting to the ball, dove and managed to pluck it from the air. It was a sensational play from Wilson and a boneheaded mistake from Labrosse, who was otherwise exceptional on the night.
Selling out
After the Blue Bombers saw their 16-game sell-out streak come to an end against the Toronto Argonauts two weeks ago, the team hosted a capacity crowd of 32,343 against the Stampeders.
Several fans responded to my column two weeks ago claiming the streak was still intact, since the Argonauts were technically the “home team” for the game in question.
With all due respect, that’s a little silly. The game was included in Winnipeg season ticket packages and explicitly marketed as an “extra home game.”
Based on a social media post on Friday, the team apparently still considers the streak intact, too.
I’m not trying to be negative — Winnipeg’s attendance is by far the best in the league and the game-day atmosphere at Princess Auto Stadium is excellent. It’s for this exact reason that there’s no reason to exaggerate anything based on nonsense technicalities.
There were 16 consecutive sell-outs, one almost sell-out, and then another sell-out. That’s factual, and pretty darn impressive.
Next up
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-3) will host the B.C. Lions (1-4) on Thursday, July 30 and their odds of winning seem pretty high.
The Lions, who will host the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday night, will be coming off a short week, and Nathan Rourke appears unlikely to play due to a shoulder injury. Chase Brice, who will make his first career start against Toronto, struggled in relief of Rourke last week, throwing for 226 yards, one touchdown, and four interceptions against the Edmonton Elks.
