Advertisement 1

BOMBSHELLS: Oliveira fired up to start at running back, with Harris on six-game injured list

Article content

It was hardly a secret, given the way things unfolded all week during practice, but it’s now official that Brady Oliveira will start in place of the injured Andrew Harris at running back for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Saturday night.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

It will be Oliveira’s fourth start of the season and it comes a week after he racked up 105 yards on the ground in a half a game, in relief of Harris, during a 26-16 win over the Edmonton Elks.

The 24-year-old Oliveira has handled himself very well in spot duty this year and currently sits eighth in league rushing with 300 yards on the season.

Article content

The Bombers feel like they are well-equipped to deal with the loss of Harris, the CFL’s rushing champion the last three years, as he recovers from a knee injury.

“I think Brady’s gonna do a great job for us in the run game and the pass game,” Bombers’ quarterback Zach Collaros said Friday, as the team wrapped up preparations to host the B.C. Lions at IG Field (6 p.m., TSN, CJOB).

“He’s really stayed ready and as the year has gone on he has learned a lot from Andrew. It’s definitely a good feeling, knowing you have a guy back there that’s played already this year and has been in some big moments.”

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

Oliveira started the first three games of the season, with Harris nursing a calf injury. He ran for 126 yards in Week 1 and was named a CFL top performer of the week.

His next two games were nothing special, but he looked so good last week and admitted he felt more at ease this time out.

“I’m definitely a lot more comfortable,” Oliveira said. “Last week definitely helped me, getting some more live game reps. I think my eyes are getting a lot better with my reads, and everything is just slowing down for me.”

Being a Winnipegger — and a product of Oak Park High School — Oliveira relishes opportunities to start in his hometown. With the Bombers at 9-1, he has an opportunity to help the team clinch first place in the West Division in front of the home fans.

Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

“I’m still fired up about any time I have an opportunity to get out there and step on the field,” Oliveira said about playing at home. “I’m just always fired up to play the game that I love, but for me to have another opportunity to start and play a home game, in front of my family and my friends, that’s always gonna be a special feeling for me. I’m fired up, I’m amped up and I’m ready to go out there and run that rock.”

Canadian Johnny Augustine will back Oliveira up this week and could see a few plays here and there.

HARRIS ON SIX-GAME

The Bombers placed Harris on the six-game injured list on Friday, although that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be out more than one game.

Harris suffered a knee injury while scoring a touchdown on Oct. 15 in Edmonton and did not practise all week. He was on the field — not in uniform — however and seemed to be moving around OK.

Advertisement 5
Story continues below
Article content

The sense is the Bombers are just being cautious with Harris and using the six-game injured list for some financial relief.

“We’ve done this several times before, even if we don’t believe the injury is gonna be that long,” Bombers coach Mike O’Shea said. “It’s part of the business-side, which says you have to protect yourself in that regard, and you can always pull him off. I’m sure it’s being accounted for as a possible one game situation anyway, in terms of how we allocate the funds, but it makes sense to put a guy on that. That’s the way the majority of teams do it and then they pull guys off.”

BEST OF BOOKENDS

Bombers’ defensive ends Willie Jefferson and Jackson Jeffcoat are tied for the CFL lead in quarterback sacks, with seven (along with Jonathan Woodard of the Saskatchewan Roughriders).

Advertisement 6
Story continues below
Article content

They’ve been wreaking havoc in backfields all season long and getting in the faces of quarterbacks, getting sacks and forcing fumbles.

So, do they have a friendly wager on which player will finish with more of the glory stats than the other.

“We don’t have a friendly wager,” Jefferson said. “But that’s something we talked about all off-season — we want to be the two best defensive ends in the league. We want to get sacks and we want to put it out there that we chasing each other. Jackson was ahead of me at first, then I caught up, then I went up one and then he caught up.

“If, at the end of the year, we finish No. 1 and No. 2, that’s great. If I’m No. 1, that’s great, and if he’s No. 1 and I end up being No. 2, that’s great. The two top defensive ends on the same team and we’re playing for the same goal, and that’s to get a Grey Cup.”

Advertisement 7
Story continues below
Article content

‘WE’RE MORE TOGETHER’

Jefferson was a part of some great defences with the Riders and the Edmonton Elks before he joined the Bombers and won a most outstanding defensive player award in 2019.

He was asked to pinpoint what makes the defence of the 2021 Bombers — which is allowing only 12.6 points per game through 10 games — really stand out.

“We’re more together,” Jefferson said. “We have a chemistry here. We talk so much to each other, everyone always know what’s going on, even when it just hand signals or body motions.

“It’s like that from the top down. The teammates I have now, I don’t want to say they’re better than the teammates I had before, but we’re more together, we talk more, communicate better and we understand each other’s game.

Advertisement 8
Story continues below
Article content

“The way we play defence, we play it as one. We don’t play it as 12 individuals, we play it as one whole defence. We all want to get to the ball, we all want to make plays and we all want to make (defensive co-ordinator) Richie (Hall) smile in the press box. When we see Coach Richie after a game and he tells us we had a good game, that makes everybody on the defence feel good and that’s one of the things we look forward, and that’s why we play as hard as we do.”

SAYLES SELLING IT

Former Bombers defensive back Marcus Sayles, who was an all-star in 2019 and was part of the Grey Cup win, will play his old team for the first time on Saturday.

Sayles, 27, signed with the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL after the 2019 season, but returned to the CFL this year and inked a free-agent deal with the Lions.

Advertisement 9
Story continues below
Article content

He has played some dime back this year but will play in his familiar halfback spot on Saturday. Sayles was out of the lineup with an injury with the Bombers played at B.C., on Oct. 1.

“I’m still friends with a lot of the guys back there,” Sayles said before the Lions left for Winnipeg this week.

“It’s always good to have competition against the guys you played with. Nobody is gonna give me a hard time. That’s how I feel and I’m confident in my ability. But they got some good players, you know, like Darvin Adams, Rasheed Bailey, Kenny Lawler. They’re all good receivers but I’m confident with the group we have.”

The Lions (4-5) are on a three-game losing streak but Sayles looks back at how things went with the Bombers in 2019 and feels like his team can draw some inspiration.

Advertisement 10
Story continues below
Article content

The Bombers went through a three-game losing streak in September and October of 2019 before bouncing back for the stretch drive and eventually winning a championship.

“When we did it in Winnipeg, it was rough and we just had to figure out a way to get out of that slump,” Sayles said. “The same thing I tell the guys here is that it’s still possible. When I was in Winnipeg, we had to win the games that we needed to win just to get into the playoffs.”

“It’s the same situation here. We got these last five games. From what it looks like, we might to win four out of five. Don’t let a team fool you just because they have a better record. As long as we have that mentality that we can do it, I think we’ll be fine.”

Twyman@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    News Near Tillsonburg
      This Week in Flyers