It was heartbreak and disappointment for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers another time.
The Blue Bombers misplaced within the Gray Cup for the third straight yr with a 41-24 defeat to the Toronto Argonauts. It was the second time within the final three years the Argos beat the Bombers within the championship recreation because the Argos claimed their nineteenth Gray Cup championship, essentially the most in CFL historical past.
The Bombers trailed by solely 4 factors to start out the ultimate quarter however have been outscored 24-11 within the fourth as they got here up quick but once more.
“It’s nonetheless fairly uncooked,” stated Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “Anytime you don’t win your final recreation, there’s a bent to view it as failure. I don’t find out about that. It was a hell of a experience this yr, fairly a distinct season. We simply didn’t play our greatest soccer on the finish.”
And with the emotion written throughout their face, it appeared their third straight loss within the championship recreation harm just a little greater than the final two.
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“It feels fairly unhealthy each time,” quarterback Zach Collaros stated. “There’s simply so many individuals within the locker room you take care of, you develop deep bonds with. You set in numerous time, numerous work collectively, so to not have it go your manner within the final recreation is clearly robust.”
The Bombers had received 10 of their final 11 video games to enter the Gray Cup, however dedicated 5 very pricey turnovers when it mattered essentially the most.
“All people desires to make extra performs,” stated O’Shea. “It was a decent recreation. I don’t know what time within the fourth however when Willie (Jefferson) will get that interception, we get a discipline objective off of that. I feel we’re down 4, proper? After which simply couldn’t make it work after that.”
Collaros needed to go away the recreation briefly within the second half after injuring his hand. He went to the locker room for stitches and returned with a glove on his throwing hand. However Collaros threw interceptions on their subsequent three straight sequence to sink their possibilities.
“I don’t know if I took a helmet or type of a hand hit it,” stated Collaros. “A bit of bloody, needed to get some stitches in it. And numb it nevertheless it’s not an excuse for our efficiency tonight. And I recognize Osh (O’Shea) and the blokes for letting me attempting to intestine it on the market.”
“If it was a daily season recreation, he wouldn’t have went again in,” O’Shea stated. “It was a hand damage. He actually had an especially onerous time gripping the ball as he put a glove on it on his hand. That’s not one thing he would usually do. He nonetheless couldn’t get an actual good deal with on the ball and cross the way in which he’s used to passing.”
Collaros completed the sport with solely 202 yards passing with 4 interceptions.
“I feel it was very tough for him to have the management on the ball that he would usually have,” stated O’Shea.
Collaros has now thrown six interceptions with no landing passes of their three straight Gray Cup defeats.
“Clearly disillusioned,” he stated. “Issues kinda snowballed there. It’s simply robust. It was only a robust scenario.”
The Bombers offence by no means actually discovered it’s groove because the CFL’s most excellent participant Brady Oliveira had solely 11 carries for 84 yards dashing.
“They made numerous performs tonight,” stated O’Shea. “And we didn’t make as many.
“Whenever you lose, you’re at all times going to need some performs again.”
A group from Winnipeg has nonetheless by no means crushed a Toronto group within the Gray Cup recreation with Toronto popping out victorious in all 9 instances they’ve met for the championship.
The Argos have additionally received of their final eight straight journeys to the Gray Cup.
The Bombers are the primary group in nearly 70 years to lose in three consecutive Gray Cups with Montreal being the final from 1954-1956.
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