Winnipeg Blue Bombers waste brilliant start in loss to Elks (& 10 other thoughts)

Photo courtesy: Paul Swanson/CFL.ca

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost to the Edmonton Elks by a score of 22-19 on Friday night in front of 22,805 fans at Commonwealth Stadium. Below are my thoughts on the game.

Hot start, no finish

After back-to-back double-digit losses to opponents with losing records and a less-than-impressive win over the lowly Ottawa Redblacks, just about everybody had written off the Blue Bombers heading into this week.

The offence was sluggish. The defence was porous. The special teams made mental errors.

The attention to detail just wasn’t there.

Winnipeg answered by having easily its best half of the season, as all three phases rolled over the Elks through the first 30 minutes of action. The doubters momentarily looked wrong.

The offence produced 300 net yards in the first half, which is only five fewer than they managed all last week against Ottawa.

Zach Collaros was super sharp, Brady Oliveira rushed for over 100 yards, and Tim White caught a 30-yard touchdown pass. They were cooking.

The only knock on the offence was a lack of finish, which eventually came back to bite them.

On their opening drive, the Blue Bombers settled for a 15-yard field goal from Sergio Castillo after J.J. Ross knocked down a pass intended for Ontaria Wilson.

On the next drive, the team elected to gamble on third-and-three from Edmonton’s four-yard line. Collaros was unable to complete a short pass to Nic Demski to convert, but I still liked the decision to leave the offence on the field. The unit was rolling. Staying aggressive was smart.

Two possessions later, Winnipeg had to settle for another relatively short field goal as Castillo booted a 20-yarder.

Had they capitalized on each of their first four possessions, the Blue Bombers would have led 28-0 by the early part of the second quarter. Instead, it was 13-0.

Disaster? No, but far from optimal given how dominant they’d been to that point.

In the second half, Winnipeg’s offence ran completely dry.

The unit managed a pathetic 19 net yards (not a typo) and only three points. Oliveira, who had over 100 yards rushing by halftime, touched the ball twice.

It’s hard to comprehend how an attack that was so potent during the first half was so putrid during the second half. When defensive coaches make adjustments, offensive coaches get paid to compensate accordingly.

After a brilliant start, Winnipeg ended up proving its doubters right. As it currently stands, this team is incapable of sustaining high-quality football.

Takeaways

The last time these two teams played, the Blue Bombers fumbled five times and lost three of them, which turned out to be the difference in a 23-18 win for the Elks at Princess Auto Stadium.

Winnipeg flipped the script on Friday night, as Evan Holm punched the ball out of T.J. Luther’s hands late in the first quarter. Tony Jones recovered the loose ball, then Zach Collaros hit Tim White for a 30-yard touchdown five plays later.

Midway through the second quarter, Jonathan Moxey made a brilliant play when he jumped a route intended for Austin Mack for an interception. It was easily Moxey’s best play of the season and just the fourth pick Winnipeg has tallied all year.

Jones nearly notched an interception of his own right before halftime, when a pass from Cody Fajardo hit him in the hands. The linebacker was unable to secure the ball, which is was thrown with considerable velocity and a little above his head. If he’d managed to squeeze it, he may returned it for a touchdown.

Early in the fourth quarter, David Reese stripped Fajardo of the football, which was recovered by Cameron Lawson. The turnover snuffed out a promising Edmonton drive and took at least three points off the board, as the Elks were in field goal range at the time.

In recent years, Jordan Younger’s defence has done a great job of creating tight windows downfield, allowing players to contest catches and knock down balls. We didn’t see nearly enough of that through the first half of the season, so it was nice to see that during the first half of this game.

Winnipeg’s defence will be criticized for its play in the second half, which isn’t entirely unreasonable. The missed tackles on Edmonton’s last possession were inexcusable.

However, when you generate three takeaways and allow 22 points, you should win. This loss is not on the team’s defence.

Pokey not okey-dokey

Zach Collaros and Ontaria ‘Pokey’ Wilson were unable to connect last week, as the receiver was targeted five times and made zero catches.

The issues between the pair rolled over into this week, as Collaros looked to him unsuccessfully on three key plays: once in the end zone in the first quarter, then on two deep shots in the fourth quarter.

Collaros threw the first deep shot a little too close to the sideline, though it looked like Wilson still had a chance to bring it down in-bounds. Instead, both of his feet were on the sideline when the ball arrived, resulting in an incompletion.

The next deep shot was a disaster. Collaros overthrew Wilson, allowing rookie defensive back Terez Reid to get under the ball for an interception. We’ve seen Collaros underthrow a fair share of deep balls, but overthrows are rare.

The last time Winnipeg was in Edmonton, Wilson made the best catch of the year with an unbelievable one-handed grab in the end zone. The play still makes the rounds on social media all the time, and likely will for years to come.

Until he and Collaros find their groove again, he won’t be making highlight reels anytime soon.

Versatile Vaval

Trey Vaval, who did not take a defensive snap through the team’s first nine regular-season games, took a ton of reps at boundary cornerback in the second half, which shifted Major Williams (more on him in a moment) and Deatrick Nichols inside.

The standout returner nearly intercepted Cody Fajardo early in the third quarter, though he and the receiver appeared to simultaneously catch the ball near the sideline. He finished the game with three defensive tackles.

Vaval is one of this team’s best players, so it seems smart to get him on the field more often. Williams is also an excellent tackler, so it also makes sense to get him closer to the box.

Serg-ing ahead

Sergio Castillo made CFL history on Friday night when he kicked a 52-yard field goal late in the second quarter, breaking Troy Westwood’s all-time record for field goals from 50-plus yards.

The native of La Joya, Texas wasn’t done there, as he nailed a 53-yard field goal in the final two minutes of the game to tie it at 19-19. It was an especially impressive play, as Zach Collaros had taken a sack on the previous play to make the field goal even longer.

Castillo now has 42 field goals of 50-plus yards on his career, which is incredible considering he’s only attempted 63. Kicking 66.6 percent from that distance is pretty exceptional.

Season series

The Elks have clinched the season series against Winnipeg by virtue of Friday’s win, which will make it virtually impossible for the Blue Bombers to catch them in the West Division standings.

Winnipeg has a game in hand but sits six points back of Edmonton. These teams still have one head-to-head matchup set for mid-October, but it’s going to be extremely tough for the Blue Bombers make up the lost ground.

Edmonton is done playing the Montreal Alouettes and has just one more matchup against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Winnipeg’s schedule is much tougher, featuring two games against both CFL heavyweights.

I don’t think anyone was expecting the West Final to be played in Winnipeg this year, but the Blue Bombers had a chance to give their fans some hope with a win in Edmonton, and they wasted the opportunity.

Major asset

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better knockdown than the one Major Williams had on Kaion Julien-Grant early in the second quarter.

Cody Fajardo threw a great ball and it would have gone for a 44-yard completion had Williams not timed his swat flawlessly. He was in perfect trail position, resisted the urge to interfere with the receiver, and played the ball — not the man.

Things could have been more opposite when Jake Kelly was in coverage of Joshua Cephus moments before halftime.

Kelly stared down the receiver, never looked back to the ball, and panicked a split-second before it arrived. He was charged with a 51-yard penalty for pass interference, which gave Edmonton a first down in the red zone.

As we enter into the second half of the CFL season, I’ve started to do a little digging on which players could get NFL opportunities this offseason. Williams is a name that keeps coming up.

The 24-year-old had an extremely productive collegiate career at Carson-Newman University and put up some eye-popping testing numbers, though it can be tough for NCAA Division II players to get NFL opportunities fresh out of college.

Williams eventually signed with the Kansas City Chiefs but was released at the conclusion of training camp last year. Now that he’s got good film at the professional level, he deserves another shot down south. He’s been Winnipeg’s best defensive back this year.

Walking wounded

Tony Jones suffered an undisclosed injury in the second half and it didn’t appear he returned.

The 31-year-old is one of the best defensive players in the CFL and endlessly versatile, capable of stopping the run, dropping into coverage, rushing the passer, and more. If he misses any time, that’ll be a significant loss.

Michael Fletcher also momentarily went down with what appeared to be a leg injury, though the rookie defensive lineman returned not long after.

Bring the noise

The Elks had only 15,013 fans in attendance when Winnipeg came to town last year. Granted, it was a late-season game and the weather was a little chilly, but Edmonton was still eligible for the playoffs at the time.

With a crowd of 22,805 on Friday night, the team is now averaging crowds of 21,288 thus far in 2026, which is up 11.7 percent from last year’s average of 19,050.

The CFL is a better league when Edmonton is a strong market. There’s still a long way to go, but the team is heading in the right direction.

Next up

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-5) will host the red-hot Montreal Alouettes (9-1) at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday, August 28 with kickoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT.

Winnipeg swept the Alouettes during two regular-season meetings last year, though Davis Alexander didn’t dress for either game. The 27-year-old was under centre when the teams met in the East Semi-Final and threw for 384 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a 42-33 win that eliminated the Blue Bombers from playoff contention.

Montreal has won seven consecutive games, the last four of which have come by an average of 20.5 points. Needless to say, this will be the toughest test of the season for Winnipeg thus far.

John Hodge is a longtime Canadian football reporter, insider, and podcaster for 3DownNation. Based in Winnipeg, Hodge is also a freelance television and radio broadcaster.