Will the Bombers be the first CFL team to make the playoffs?

By Olivia Lawrence
RP Show Intern

Zach Collaros and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will face Taylor Cornelius and the Edmonton Elks Friday night (Oct.15) at Common Wealth Stadium in Edmonton for Friday Night Football. CFL fans know the Edmonton Elks have been struggling this season at 2-6, and now with quarterback Trevor Harris being benched, it is up to Taylor Cornelius to carry this team. The Bombers season however, has been a complete success. Currently sitting at 8-1, they are a balanced team with lots of depth. The team has also only given up 110 points in 9 games! 

“Selfishly, if it could come down to the last three minutes, it would be great, because who doesn’t love that? But The Winnipeg Blue Bombers should be able to come up with a win,” said Sara Orlesky, Winnipeg-based TSN reporter on Friday’s episode of The Rod Pedersen Show. “If you look at the way that this team has played, what they did in 2019 is nothing compared to what we’ve seen from them so far.”

If the team can come out with the win tonight, they will become the first CFL team to secure a playoff spot this season. This would also mark the franchises best start since their opening in 1960 (10-0), and the fifth straight season the team has made it to the playoffs.

 “I think it’s great for the city because in 2019 they finally ended the Grey Cup drought and then because of COVID you never really got to capitalize on it,” said Orlesky. “The fans never really got to enjoy it the way that they wanted to or the way that they deserved to.”

Rod Pedersen predicted we would see great things from the Bombers after the Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea’s had an amazing Hall of Fame Speech induction in Hamilton in 2017. 

“This guy does it right, this is going to be a headache for the Rough Riders,” said Rod Pedersen on Friday’s episode. “This guy knows what he’s doing and [General Manager] Kyle Walters does too. These guys have character, they have integrity, they’re doing everything the right way.”

On the field, Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros is doing it right too. He has been one of the key players to the team’s success. He has completed 184-of-259 passes, accumulating 2355 yards and 13 touchdowns. In week nine he completed 28-of-33 passes for 417 yards—which marked the second time he has reached 400-plus yards in a game. There is talk of him being this year’s Most Outstanding Player (MOP), and Orlesky thinks Collaros would be well deserved of this award. Not just because of his talent on the field, but who he is in the locker room too. Orlesky interviews the Bombers players one-on-one, and she has got to see the type of guy Collaros is. 

“One of the things I’ve commented on about Zach this season is just that he seems settled,” said Orlesky. “When you speak to him there’s a lightness about him, joking around, you see him smiling all the time, he looks really happy. I think getting married and becoming a father has really had an impact on him.”  

There is no doubt Winnipeg CFL fans are expecting great things from Collaros and the Bombers tonight, but they will just have to wait and see what happens on Friday Night Football.