With a bye week coming up, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers intend to keep their focus on the visiting Montreal Alouettes Thursday night to remain undefeated.
“Lock in” was the brief message Blue Bombers coach Mike O’Shea had for the team.
“Once again, we’ve got a group of guys that have been learning from great experiences for a number of years together,” O’Shea said. “So you don’t have to waste their time with a lot of verbiage.”
The Blue Bombers (9-0) defeated the host Alouettes (2-6) 35-20 on Aug. 4. With the score tied at 14 in the fourth quarter, Winnipeg had a 21-point outburst to seal the victory.
“Obviously, we see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Blue Bombers running back Brady Oliveira, who had 17 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown and caught one pass for 35 yards at Montreal. “We’re very excited to get to Friday. We’ve probably had the hardest stretch, I would say, in the CFL for any team. … We want to go into that bye week with a win.”
The last time the Blue Bombers were 10-0 was 1960.
Alouettes quarterback Trevor Harris (back) and receiver Eugene Lewis (hip) were limited at practice on Tuesday but are expected to play. Running back/returner Chandler Worthy (ankle) has been ruled out for Thursday.
Alouettes general manager and interim coach Danny Maciocia said that Harris could have thrown on Tuesday.
“We just wanted to limit his number of throws leading up to the game,” Maciocia said.
After the loss to Winnipeg, Maciocia said that the offense relies too much on Lewis, who has 45 catches for 742 yards on the season.
“I think we need to get (the receivers) more involved,” Maciocia said. “We need to distribute the ball like we did in Ottawa (a 40-33 win over the Redblacks on July 21). That’s what makes us a better offense — when we’re able to get all our receivers involved.”
–Field Level Media