Well that was a UW (Ugly Win) but luckily UW's count for just as much as every other W. First win in a home opener in half a decade, first 2-0 start since 2014. That is nice.
I had to leave the game after the 2nd Whitehead touchdown to get to a prior engagement but my thoughts are below.
On the positive note, Whitehead is one of the fastest players I have ever seen in the CFL. His top end speed is unreal and his agility is actually amazing as well, a rare combination. No doubt we've seen through the early going his pass catching is still a work in progress, but once that ball is in his hands he might just be the most dangerous player in the CFL. What a game from him. Jeffcoat was a beast in this game in both run stopping and rushing the passer. The only guy on that defensive front that was getting consistent pressure. Loved the work on special teams from Nelson. One real good return, a couple so-so returns, but he was also beastly on the cover teams, twice making great players right as the EDM returner caught the ball that forced him into a bad situation so someone slower could come clean up the tackle.
The bad is going to take longer. You are not going to win many football games losing the time of possession battle that badly. The offense was pretty bad outside of two great runs by Demski and two big passes to Whitehead. Harris had his worst game as a Bomber by a country mile. I'm hoping he uses this poor performance as motivation. Adams and Wolitarsky were not on the same page at all as Nichols (I'll get back to Nichols later). Matthews was underused. The O-Line got abused quite a few times, including in 3 man rushes. The defense played well in spurts (the 3rd quarter mostly) but still giving up too much through the air. Of course T. Harris is notorious for being a yardage piler while terrible in the red zone (ie why Lewis kicked like 55 field goals last year for OTT), so they stiffened near the red zone, but not sure how much was the defense how much was Harris/Maas. Alexander in particular was an absolute trainwreck out there. Rose was the only DB I thought was ok, and that's all I give him is just ok. Didn't we sign some guy who was supposed to rush the passer? Some big time name that we paid a bunch of money? I saw some empty jersey wearing 5, that couldn't have been him right? And Matt Nichols. What can I say? Not sure what to do about him. Missed big time on some relatively easy passes to Demski, Wolitarsky in particular, terrible pass to Matthews caused that interception, struggled to find open receivers, happy feet every time rush got anywhere close, doesn't keep eyes down field as soon as someone got within 10 feet. This was 2018 Nichols, not the 2017 Nichols we saw two week ago in BC. Hard to get a read on the season yet for him.
Ok now that the rant is out of the way, let's refocus and move forward. Even the best teams are going to have some losses and ugly wins tossed in. Playing poorly but coming out with a win I'll take. It looks to me more and more it's gonna be us and Edmonton for the division unless Calgary starts to find their way. This was a damn good team we played. And won. But not in a sustainable way and that needs to change. But they have the talent to make it work.
Lastly question for those watching on TV, I heard the Oliveira injury was pretty brutal. We couldn't see much from where we were but some people told me it was real ugly. So was it that bad? Luckily RB is one place I am very confident in the Bombers depth (I'd argue Augustine is a great backup, maybe borderline starter and he's our #3) but it looks like that's gonna be a longterm injury from what I heard.