Oliveira and Hardrick named West nominees for MOP Awards; O'Shea COY Finalist

ModAdmin · November 01, 2023, 04:24:03 PM

Oliveira and Hardrick named West nominees for Most Outstanding Player Awards; O'Shea named Coach of the Year Finalist

WINNIPEG, MB., November 1, 2023 - The Canadian Football League today announced the West and East Division nominees for the 2023 Most Outstanding Player Awards and Coach of the Year finalists. The list features three members of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers now up for four league honours.

The voting was conducted by members of the Football Reporters of Canada (FRC) and the league's head coaches and returned the following results for the Blue Bombers as representatives of the West Division:

- Most Outstanding Player: running back Brady Oliveira
- Most Outstanding Canadian: running back Brady Oliveira
- Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman: right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick
- Coach of the Year: Mike O'Shea

Most Outstanding Player/Most Outstanding Canadian Player

Brady Oliveira wrapped up a historic regular season in the Blue Bombers' win over Calgary last week and is now a double nominee for the league awards.

The Winnipeg product led the CFL in rushing with 1,534 yards and 13 touchdowns (nine rushing, four receiving), averaging 85.2 yards per game and posting seven 100-yard contests. He added another 482 receiving yards on 38 receptions, also all career highs. His 2,016 yards from scrimmage (rushing and passing) also led the CFL.

A second-round pick by the Blue Bombers in the 2019 CFL Draft, Oliveira's rushing total is the second most by a Canadian in league history, behind only the 1,813 Jon Cornish amassed in 2013 as a member of the Stampeders. It is also the sixth highest total in Blue Bombers history.

Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman

Jermarcus Hardrick extends the Blue Bombers? string of having an offensive lineman represent the West in this category to six years, with Stanley Bryant having been the division?s top lineman the previous five seasons, winning league-wide honours four times.

Winnipeg's attack led the league in points (33.0), net offence (414.7 yards per game), ranks first in rushing yards (139.1 per game), time of possession (32 minutes and 50 seconds) and has the league?s leading rusher in Oliveira and the top-rated passer in quarterback Zach Collaros. Winnipeg?s 33 sacks allowed is tied for second in the CFL with Calgary, with Toronto first at 19.

Coach of the Year finalist

A winner of this award in both 2021 and 2022, Mike O'Shea helped guide the Blue Bombers to 14 wins this season ? tied for second-most in franchise history - and a first-place finish in the West Division for a third straight year.

He now has a 96-62 record as the Blue Bombers head coach since joining the club in 2014, with the 92 victories second-most in franchise history to Bud Grant (102).

The Blue Bombers have consistently been one of the least-penalized teams in the CFL under O?Shea's watch - they were again in 2023 - and are chasing a fourth consecutive Grey Cup appearance and third championship after winning in 2019 and 2021 before falling to Toronto last year.

The Most Outstanding Player and Coach of the Year awards will be announced on November 16thduring Grey Cup week in Hamilton.

Jesse · November 01, 2023, 04:30:26 PM

Amazing!

GOLDMEMBER · November 01, 2023, 07:58:46 PM

Hope the boys clean up.

Stretch · November 01, 2023, 08:04:15 PM

Quote from: GOLDMEMBER on November 01, 2023, 07:58:46 PM
Hope the boys clean up.

But if they don't, I'll be fine with them cleaning up on Grey Cup Sunday.

GOLDMEMBER · November 01, 2023, 09:18:55 PM

Quote from: Stretch on November 01, 2023, 08:04:15 PM
But if they don't, I'll be fine with them cleaning up on Grey Cup Sunday.

Oh no question about that!

dd · November 01, 2023, 09:51:10 PM

Who are the Eastern Nominees??

Blueforlife · November 01, 2023, 11:22:26 PM

Brady deserves a medal a shinny one lol

Blueforlife · November 01, 2023, 11:32:16 PM

Quote from: dd on November 01, 2023, 09:51:10 PM
Who are the Eastern Nominees??

AWARD   WEST DIVISION NOMINEE   EAST DIVISION NOMINEE
Player   Brady Oliveira (WPG)   Chad Kelly (TOR)
Defensive Player   Mathieu Betts (BC)   Adarius Pickett (TOR)
Canadian   Brady Oliveira (WPG)   Marc-Antoine Dequoy (MTL)
Offensive Lineman   Jermarcus Hardrick (WPG)   Dejon Allen (TOR)
Special Teams Player   Sean Whyte (BC)   Javon Leake (TOR)
Rookie   Kai Gray (EDM)   Qwan'tez Stiggers (TOR)
Coach of the Year   Mike O'Shea (WPG)   Ryan Dinwiddie (TOR

TecnoGenius · November 02, 2023, 12:32:09 AM

Quote from: Blueforlife on November 01, 2023, 11:32:16 PM
AWARD   WEST DIVISION NOMINEE   EAST DIVISION NOMINEE
Player   Brady Oliveira (WPG)   Chad Kelly (TOR)
Defensive Player   Mathieu Betts (BC)   Adarius Pickett (TOR)
Canadian   Brady Oliveira (WPG)   Marc-Antoine Dequoy (MTL)
Offensive Lineman   Jermarcus Hardrick (WPG)   Dejon Allen (TOR)
Special Teams Player   Sean Whyte (BC)   Javon Leake (TOR)
Rookie   Kai Gray (EDM)   Qwan'tez Stiggers (TOR)
Coach of the Year   Mike OShea (WPG)   Ryan Dinwiddie (TOR

I think Yoshi might win it all! Who is Allen? Everyone knows Hardrick over the last zillion years. Who is Allen? And Yoshi helped get Brady his big yards. What did Allen do? Did the Liver King even reach 1000? Barely, eh?

I think they'll give it to Dinwidde over MOS. They like to see new winners. Plus Dinwiddie pulled out those extra couple of wins.

MOP: anyone's guess. You know who I favor!

Lincoln Locomotive · November 02, 2023, 01:57:22 AM

The fact that Brady was selected for two awards is amazing in itself. I don't think that's happened since Cornish won both. The fact that Brady was chosen by the Bombers as our MOP over Zach is also testament to what kind of season he had. Zach could easily have represented the Bombers as MOP as his numbers are actually the best in the league including Kelly's. Zach was MOS's pick along with Ed Tait so it was a split decision as they say in boxing. Unanimous is always best in such pick and choose circumstances however it's certainly not the rule, either.
Based on the fact that Brady was selected for two awards, and being chosen over Zach as good as he is....plus winning the rushing title with a combined yardage of over 2000 yards.....then top that off with all that Brady does off the field and at such a young age....is simply OUTSTANDING!!

Throw Long Bannatyne · November 02, 2023, 02:07:49 AM

Quote from: TecnoGenius on November 02, 2023, 12:32:09 AM
I think Yoshi might win it all! Who is Allen? Everyone knows Hardrick over the last zillion years. Who is Allen? And Yoshi helped get Brady his big yards. What did Allen do? Did the Liver King even reach 1000? Barely, eh?

I think they'll give it to Dinwidde over MOS. They like to see new winners. Plus Dinwiddie pulled out those extra couple of wins.

MOP: anyone's guess. You know who I favor!

Agree, they'll give Wpg 2 awards and T.O. 2 maybe 3, Kelly, Leake and Stiggers for rookie, honestly never heard of Kai Gray, it appears he's a DB for the Elks. Plus Dinwiddie likely to win the COY award, the Argos can win the awards ceremony, Bombers win the Cup.

Lincoln Locomotive · November 02, 2023, 04:07:20 PM

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on November 02, 2023, 02:07:49 AM
Agree, they'll give Wpg 2 awards and T.O. 2 maybe 3, Kelly, Leake and Stiggers for rookie, honestly never heard of Kai Gray, it appears he's a DB for the Elks. Plus Dinwiddie likely to win the COY award, the Argos can win the awards ceremony, Bombers win the Cup.

Dinwiddie will most likely win COY based on their 16-2 record alone....I'd put money on that. Brady should take the MOC award with the MOP award likely going to Kelly, albeit Brady really deserves both. Hardrick is another story and it might be a crapshoot between him and his eastern counterpart.
It would be fitting for Brady to win both however we know the eastern bias exists so won't be surprised if he doesn't....disappointed yes however not surprised either. Both the Argos and the Bombers have had stellar seasons albeit both divisions were weak overall as evident by TO locking up first place with 6 games remaining.
We on the OTH had to wait until game 16 to lock the western conference but BC was really our only competition this year. We still have the WF to play and as alluded to by Techno....."you never know".
That being said I predict we will win the Grey Cup this season despite being the underdogs this time around.

theaardvark · November 02, 2023, 04:21:33 PM

Just saying, the only heads up competition between O'she and Dinwiddie went to O'shea...

Sure, 14-4 vs. 16-2, but if you look at points F/A, O'Shea 597/327, Dinwiddie 591/396. That's a 75 point differential on the differential.

So, never posting a win this year against your competition... yeah, they'll give it to Dinwiddie.

blue_gold_84 · November 02, 2023, 04:30:09 PM

Quote from: theaardvark on November 02, 2023, 04:21:33 PM
Just saying, the only heads up competition between O'shea and Dinwiddie went to O'shea...

It was a pretty meaningless game. Dinwiddie didn't even play his starting QB.

"Just saying."

Dinwiddie gets COY based on the 16-2 record alone.

dd · November 02, 2023, 09:35:20 PM

I think we can all agree, players included, that we don't care who wins the individual awards as long as we win the GC. Also can't believe 2 teams dominated the list of finalists.

Having said that, Kelly gets MOP, Dinwiddie COY due to their better record, Brady MOC, Betts Defensive , Yoshi Offensive, Leake ST, Stiggers Rookie