Official Game Day Thread - Montreal @ Winnipeg, August 28, 2026

[PloenFan]

Haven't seen a Good/Bad/Ugly thread for this game so here goes:

Good:
   Collaros
   Pokey Wilson
   Oliviera
   Run Defence
   Taxada (good game in first start)
   Special Teams (3/3 FG's, punt block)
   Royal Blue uniforms
Bad:
   Pass defence (4 TDs allowed)
   fumble by Nield
Ugly:
   Lack of tackling on Snead TD

[Tecno]

Pj is right, we took away the run. You guys must not play fantasy, because like every other game theiss is a great pick. He's often well over 100 and a couple TDS.

Mtl will run on you if you let them. The difference is that they won't fight it if you take it away. We took it away, simple as that. Theiss barely got anything per run, most runs. So mtl just quit except for a token run once in a while to pretend to keep us honest.

[Stats Junkie]

While the exact portion of that yardage gained in the first half isn't explicitly separated in the game logs, the vast majority of their production came before halftime as quarterback Davis Alexander and wideout Tyler Snead connected on three first-half touchdowns to keep the game a close, high-scoring affair before Winnipeg's defense shut them down later in the game.

While exact minute-by-minute possession logs aren't broken down by quarter in the game statistics, the first quarter opened with Winnipeg eating up a massive portion of the clock

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers put together sustained offensive sequences that chewed up a massive chunk of time, but the Montreal Alouettes stayed dangerously close due to quick-strike scoring plays and a monumental defensive play right before the whistle.

Bombers won TOP 33:51 to 26:09 ( approx 8 minutes )

Bombers ran 63 plays compared to 51 and 33 to 23 in the 1st half

https://static.cfl.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/CFL-2026-Gm-56-WPG-vs-MTL-Final-Stats.pdf

TOP was WPG-37:50 MTL 22:10

there is a break down of TOP by quarter and for each drive

Plays were 72-51 with a break down of plays and yards per drive in the drive chart. No break down by quarter or by half anymore.

[Blueforlife]

https://static.cfl.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/CFL-2026-Gm-56-WPG-vs-MTL-Final-Stats.pdf

TOP was WPG-37:50 MTL 22:10

there is a break down of TOP by quarter and for each drive

Plays were 72-51 with a break down of plays and yards per drive in the drive chart. No break down by quarter or by half anymore.

Man we owned then in TOP

[Blueforlife]

Pj is right, we took away the run. You guys must not play fantasy, because like every other game theiss is a great pick. He's often well over 100 and a couple TDS.

Mtl will run on you if you let them. The difference is that they won't fight it if you take it away. We took it away, simple as that. Theiss barely got anything per run, most runs. So mtl just quit except for a token run once in a while to pretend to keep us honest.

Thanks for the props bud and a good summary which frames it better than I do

[Blue In BC]

Man we owned then in TOP

I told you that several times. Losing TOP early and being out scored forces opponents to go more of a passing game. The Als are a very strong passing team. Again, that is why my position is we did not take away the run game because of the defence. Our offence made that happen.

You seem to suggest that credit goes to our defence.

Our defence had a horrible 2nd half against the Elks followed but a bad 1st Q against the Als. Our 2nd half against the Als was very good with constant pressure on Alexander.

Going into the 4th Q we were leading 34 - 21 and still dominating TOP. Opponents don't run in that circumstance.

[dd]

Loved the post game interviews by O'Shea and Zack, O'Shea was very supportive of Neufeld and his physical brand of kick *ss football, I do too, couldn't care less about the chintzy penalties they called he was sending a message of dominance to the Montreal D line and it worked, we dominated them. Loved Zach's comment and support of condell saying he's the best offensive play caller he's ever played for, which is great to publically state your support for a guy who's been criticized and somewhere Lapp is crying quietly in the corner!!

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Loved the post game interviews by O'Shea and Zack, O'Shea was very supportive of Neufeld and his physical brand of kick *ss football, I do too, couldn't care less about the chintzy penalties they called he was sending a message of dominance to the Montreal D line and it worked, we dominated them. Loved Zach's comment and support of condell saying he's the best offensive play caller he's ever played for, which is great to publically state your support for a guy who's been criticized and somewhere Lapp is crying quietly in the corner!!

Zach seems to be quite buttoned up and defensive in this interviews lately since temporarily getting knocked out of the Ottawa game with Condell also coming under attack weekly.  Also coincides with him playing with more intensity since that hit, so I'll gladly accept the trade off.  Seems to be a trend with the oldest vets stepping up their games to fend off the criticism they've been subjected to this season and this includes Stanley.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Quite a few points I disagree with you on. Too many to go into detail on each.

However our defence in the 1st half was not very good. If not for our offence winning TOP and field position, it might have been a different story.

Theis only had 8 rushes so I wouldn't be blushing about our run defence either. It's still a weakness when teams choose to use it. Montreal is primarily a strong passing team.

Kick coverage and return game were not our best outing. Blocking a punt was an exceptional play at a critical time.

It's easy to overlook the flaws when we dominate in one area. In this game our offence owned the Als.

I hope you realize the Bombers were playing against the best offence in the league with a few of the most talented players and were not about to shut them down completely, please take the stats with a grain of salt.

[Blueforlife]

I told you that several times. Losing TOP early and being out scored forces opponents to go more of a passing game. The Als are a very strong passing team. Again, that is why my position is we did not take away the run game because of the defence. Our offence made that happen.

You seem to suggest that credit goes to our defence.

Our defence had a horrible 2nd half against the Elks followed but a bad 1st Q against the Als. Our 2nd half against the Als was very good with constant pressure on Alexander.

Going into the 4th Q we were leading 34 - 21 and still dominating TOP. Opponents don't run in that circumstance.

We took away the run all game
We played good in all three phases,called a great game, credit goes to most of the club, minus the under performers or ones that have struggled often, Kelly, Cobb etc.
The Als are #1 run team unless Google was wrong, yes as deadly passing as there is but we also took that away for the most part

[Tecno]

I told you that several times. Losing TOP early and being out scored forces opponents to go more of a passing game. The Als are a very strong passing team. Again, that is why my position is we did not take away the run game because of the defence. Our offence made that happen.

You seem to suggest that credit goes to our defence.

Your TOP idea is correct once we were up 16.  But at all times before that MTL was fully allowed to run.  A high-powered O doesn't care if they are down 10, or even 14; especially before the 4th Q.

If Theis was getting explosions and good average early, they would have run him a lot more.  The reason Theis didn't get those things is because the D stopped them, just as they stopped Rankin early vs EDM.  The only difference is EDM insists on sticking with Rankin (adding in those hitch screens), and MTL doesn't care as much because Alexander + Philpot can normally kill every D.

Ironically, once Alexander was nicked MTL should have gone to running MORE.  Once again, a high-powered O sputters against our D where a dink & dunk motif would have succeeded.  I had a feeling MTL wouldn't get the plot, and that's why I bet on WPG.

[Tecno]

O'Shea was very supportive of Neufeld and his physical brand of kick *ss football, I do too, couldn't care less about the chintzy penalties they called he was sending a message of dominance to the Montreal D line and it worked

I don't like the penalty.  Find a way to beat them down within the whistles and without getting caught.  You know, like other teams do.

Yoshi teabags DL and LB on like every other run play.  That's the way you do it.  You can mess with their heads and make them feel worthless without taking any flags.

We just got lucky it was after yards were gained.  Look at where dumb penalties put us on that 2nd & 30 drive.  While MOS is publicly defending Neuf, you can bet he's telling him exactly what I just did above.

[Tecno]

Loved Zach's comment and support of condell saying he's the best offensive play caller he's ever played for, which is great to publically state your support for a guy who's been criticized and somewhere Lapp is crying quietly in the corner!!

That was a bit wild!  Especially since he has only been playing for him for a few months.  Kind of a snub to Buck, and yes Lapo -- though Brady didn't have a big role yet under Lapo.

I'm ok with it, though I wonder how sincere it is vs just hyping up your current situation.  So far I'm happy with Condell, and I can see what he's trying to do.  He's a Lapo-like multi-game setup guy, where we should get more payoff as the season gets deeper.  And everyone forgets Condell took HAM to 2 cups (vs us) and came an O/T INT away from winning one.  Oh ya, including maybe 1 legit reg season loss that same year.

[Tecno]

Zach seems to be quite buttoned up and defensive in this interviews lately since temporarily getting knocked out of the Ottawa game with Condell also coming under attack weekly.  Also coincides with him playing with more intensity since that hit, so I'll gladly accept the trade off.  Seems to be a trend with the oldest vets stepping up their games to fend off the criticism they've been subjected to this season and this includes Stanley.

I, after Zach was knocked out for 4 games, said that Zach would have to decide if he wanted to be in health precaution mode like he always is, or decide that in his last 1-2 seasons that he wanted a shot at winning big again.  In the latter case he needs to just decide to play through the hits and the spiraling head-birds.  He needs to answer every "are you ok?" question with "yes", no matter what.

And that's precisely what he has decided to do.  He's taken, what, 3 hits now that in every other season would have him leave the game.  But not now.  And a Zach who has thrown caution to the wind for his swansong is a very dangerous Zach indeed.

[Tecno]

Wow nice play by snead. We had him last season and let him go right?? Good thing, we don't want our receivers making touchdown plays like that!!!

You're thinking Sterns.  He's riding MTL pine right now (or was injured?).  I think Spieker once he got healthy won that spot.  One of our decent RECs from '25 can't even break the desired MTL AR.

Easy to confuse them, though, as they are both total shrimpken waterbugs.