‘They’ve got confidence, but they do have their flaws’

The shoe has been on the other foot during the Winnipeg Blue Bombers golden years, so it’s tough to find anyone on the current roster ready to adopt the underdog mentality.

Going into Friday’s game with the league-leading Montreal Alouettes, though, the Bombers recognize they’re running into a buzzsaw.

At 9-1, the Alouettes are the cream of the crop in the CFL and it’s tough to identify any weaknesses in the team that bounced the Bombers from the playoffs last November.

“I love it,” said running back Brady Oliveira. “You want to play against the best every single week. I always talk about going up against the best defensive players every single week. That excites me.

“As a whole, for our team, we’ve got Montreal coming in hot right now. They’re playing with a lot of confidence, a lot of swagger and they’re the team to beat right now. They’ve shown that.”

Could the 5-5 Bombers find a way to use a victory over the Alouettes to turn an otherwise up-and-down season around?

“For us, momentum is a real thing,” said Oliveira. “If we can execute our game plan, we can definitely bring that into the following week and hopefully propel our season into a positive.

“We’ve got a great opportunity ahead of us. Obviously, an extremely tough test but we’ve got to focus on our job right now and get our job done.”

The Bombers haven’t been getting the job done enough on a consistent basis so far and with Labour Day just over a week away, this is the time of year when teams want to be playing their best football.

Producing what Oliveira called the team’s best half of football this season in the opening 30 minutes against the Edmonton Elks last week may have been a step in the right direction, but finding a way to finish off those games remains a work in progress for a team in a battle for a playoff spot in the tightly-congested West Division.

“There’s always going to be outside noise and it’s easy to see it and look into it in today’s day and age,” said Oliveira. “With social media and everything that’s out there, it’s easy to see the naysayers and the non-believers and what they think about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this year. Right now, we’ve just got to really have faith and believe in ourselves.

“If we just focus on our business and handle our business and put out good performances like we know we’re capable of doing, the rest takes care of itself.”

Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros expressed his belief when asked about his team being seven-point underdogs by most oddsmakers going into this match-up.

“I don’t pay enough attention to that, if I’m being completely honest with you,” said Collaros, who turned 38 on Thursday. “I still feel like we should win every game. That’s kind of how I look at it. If I didn’t look at the game that way, I probably should be done playing. We don’t look at the spreads or whatever people are writing about the game.”

As for a victory over the Alouettes providing a bit more of a boost than one against a team lower in the standings, Collaros straddled the line.

“Maybe so. I don’t want to dismiss the whole momentum piece of it. That kind of is a thing at times,” he said. “But again, each game is its own thing and they’re worth the same amount of points. Regardless of the outcome (on Friday), the next week is the next week and you’ve got to approach it that way.

“Each team has its own journey and its own story and we’re still navigating that right now.”

Meanwhile, the Alouettes appear to be hitting their stride and keep finding ways to keep their opponents off balance — offensively and defensively.

“They’re on a roll and they’re on fire. They’ve got confidence, but they do have their flaws,” said defensive back Deatrick Nichols, who will be a game-time decision despite not practising this week. “They’re human. That’s a flaw.”

There’s been plenty of talk about the Alouettes prolific offence heading into the matchup, but Collaros has been battling against Noel Thorpe-led defences for years and has a good idea of what type of challenge the Bombers are in for.

“They’re fast and physical — they pride themselves in their physicality for sure,” said Collaros. “They really rally to the ball and that’s something I’ve always — since about 2013 — noticed about that unit. Since Coach Thorpe has been there, it seems like they find the toughest guys they can possibly find and the guys that are going to run to the football every single play.

“That, from an effort level — as an observer — is something that I really appreciate. When you’re breaking them down and really studying them, just the volume of stuff that they put on tape and are able to get to in a game. They do it pretty seamlessly. It seems like they have a huge Rolodex each and every week and he’s not afraid to get to that entire package. So that’s always impressed me as well.”

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