Landry's 3 takeaways from Winnipeg's Grey Cup arrival

11/11/2024 10:59 PM

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers touched down for Grey Cup Week on Monday night arriving for something that is very familiar to them, having been the Western combatants in the previous four CFL championship games.

If the skies through which their pilot knifed their ride to the tarmac were cloudy, the team has no such murkiness with which to deal as they prepare to make it three cups in five attempts, this Sunday against the East Champion Toronto Argonauts.

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The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, you see, are a team of clarity. We all know that. That's the way they've always been under the direction of head coach Mike O'Shea. That's the way they remain.

Here are three takeaways from the Bombers' arrival.

DON'T CALL IT REDEMPTION. BUT IT IS A MOTIVATING FACTOR

Both quarterback Zach Collaros and running back Brady Oliveira talked about their losing the last two Grey Cups as definitely something that can fuel the team as it preps for Sunday's game. The Blue Bombers don't feel like they need to be redeemed, at least not outwardly. But inside? That might be a different story.

"We know the outcomes of the last two Grey Cups," said Oliveira while taking questions from the media. "The guys understand that. We know how that felt over the last two Grey Cups and obviously we want to change that."

"I'd be lying to say it doesn't drive you," said Collaros. It definitely drives you if you need any more motivation."

ICE ICE BABY

How can it possibly be that Brady Oliveira can submit himself to the punishment of the physical style of game he plays week in and week out and still be so resilient that he can just keep on doing it?

Well, there are a couple of things.

"One of them is sleep," Oliveira said, making all of us who like catching as many zzzz's as possible proud. "I need to get at least eight hours of sleep. It’s extremely important for your body to bounce back after a heavy workload of  the week before."

There's that and then there's subjecting himself to cold, cold temperatures on a regular basis.

"I don’t joke around when I say, well, I live in the ice bath, because I’m in that thing every single day, and it’s been working for me."

BONUS TAKEAWAY: What will power Zach Collaros this week? Sleep? Ice baths? Nah. He's looking forward to availing himself of something else this week. "I'm gonna go get sushi," he said. "I'm gonna go grab sushi a few times."

THE BOMBERS ARE LOCKED IN ON THAT ARGOS' DEFENCE.

Toronto's defence bamboozled that Winnipeg offence in both regular season meetings in 2024, with the Argos taking decisions by scores of 16-14 and 14-11.

This week's preparation will see Winnipeg endeavoring to crack the code that has led them to being stymied by the Double Blue defences.

"Their front gets after it extremely well," Bombers' head coach Mike O'Shea said of the problems that Toronto's defensive line can and does cause on a regular basis. "So you have to figure out how to have it handle all that. That’ll be one of the things that we’ll have to focus on."

"They're well-coached and they work extremely hard on the field," O'Shea continued. "It shows."

Said Collaros of the Toronto defence: "They're one of the few teams that plays a lot of man coverage, and they did it really well (in the two
games they played).

Collaros knows there's one Toronto defender in particular that he needs to be wary of. Linebacker Wynton McManis.

"He's a great tackler. He can play the run, obviously," said Collaros. "He's also like throwing another DB in the mix. He has such great instincts where the ball is gonna go."