Bombers' special teams redeem themselves, carry them to second-half comeback win

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers' special teams were their undoing last week against Edmonton, with kicker Lirim Hajrullahu missing four of five field-goal attempts in a 23-20 loss, but they were their salvation Saturday night against the B.C. Lions. Special teams were crucial for Winnipeg all night, as new kicker Sergio Castillo (a CFL rookie) hit all five of his field-goal attempts, including a 41-yarder to give them a 29-26 win with no time left on the clock. The Bombers outscored B.C. 20-3 in the second half, and a large part of that was thanks to other elements of their special teams, as they blocked a convert, blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown, and pulled off a crucial fake punt on 3rd and 11 that kept a drive alive and led to another touchdown. The defence was huge too, especially in the second half. There are still big questions about this Winnipeg team, especially on offence, but their performance Saturday shows they can't be counted out of the playoff race just yet.

The first half of this game was all B.C., and that was thanks to rookie quarterback Jonathon Jennings. Jennings had a stellar first half, throwing for over 300 yards and three touchdowns (two to Emmanuel Arceneaux, one to Austin Collie), and he helped the Lions take a 23-9 lead into the break. Afterwards, though, the Bombers came out firing on defence, holding Jennings to less than 100 passing yards in the second half. He finished the day with 372 passing yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, which isn't a terrible statline, but certainly isn't what you would have predicted given his first-half stats. However, the Winnipeg offence couldn't get clicking itself, and that's why the special teams needed to step up.

Bombers' quarterback Matt Nichols underwhelmed Saturday, completing just 19 of 34 passes (55.9 per cent) and throwing for just 179 yards and one touchdown. The ground game wasn't working either, with primary running back Cameron Marshall collecting just 29 yards on 10 carries. That necessitated the special-teams heroics, and they were plentiful, from Teague Sherman blocking a punt and Ian Wild recovering for a touchdown to a fake-punt direct snap on third down and 10 to upback Jesse Briggs that went for 11 yards and helped set up Winnipeg's crucial Clarence Denmark touchdown. (That touchdown was controversial, as B.C. DB Ryan Phillips was taken out by a pick on the play that might have been offensive pass interference, but it wasn't called by the officials and the CFL's board of governors declined this offseason to accept a recommendation to make offensive pass interference (as well as defensive) reviewable, so the LIons had no recourse.)

Still, the biggest hero of the day might have been Castillo, who turned field goals from last week's weakness to this week's strength. Those field goals weren't an apples-and-oranges comparison, of course: Castillo hit from 13, 31, 36, 29 and 41 yards in a dome, and all of the kicks Hajrullahu missed last week were from further out (45, 44, 43 and 40 yards) and outside. Winnipeg was able to put their kicker in a better position to succeed this week, and it's quite possible that Hajrullahu (who's still on the team, and was handling punts and kickoffs Saturday) would have made these field goals. He didn't get the chance, though; Castillo did, and he did a great job of it, even overcoming Bombers' head coach Mike O'Shea's bizarre decision to take a timeout and ice him before the game-winner.

With the win, Winnipeg's now 5-10, and the race for the CFL's final playoff spot (the third berth in the West) has become very interesting indeed. The Lions are 5-9, but the Bombers now hold the season-series tiebreaker against them. 5-8 Montreal is also still in contention; if the Alouettes finish with a better record than both the Lions and Bombers, they would cross over to the West. All of these teams have tough schedules left (B.C. faces Edmonton, Hamilton, Toronto and Calgary, while Winnipeg has two games against Ottawa and one against Toronto and Montreal plays Toronto twice and Hamilton, Edmonton and Saskatchewan once each), so there may be no clear favourite at this point. If the Lions had been able to hang on for a win, they would have had a clear edge and a clear line on that berth. The Bombers' comeback means this is still a three-way race, and one that could go down to the wire.