Great teams can’t keep up excellence forever. All top-level ensembles eventually drop. It’s the nature of competitive sports as seasons shift from one to the next. Even so, seeing the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at 0-3 is shocking. There is a lot of football left to play, but the Bombers need to kick things into high gear as they visit a rebuilding Calgary Stampeders squad that had a bye in Week 3.

Despite their struggles, Winnipeg is given the benefit of the doubt by the CFL odds. They’re -3 favourites on Saturday night.

CFL Odds and Betting

It’s been a minute since the Stamps have had success against the Blue Bombers. Their last win was back in November 2021 when they clipped Winnipeg 13-12 in a late regular season match – the Blue Bombers would go on to win the Grey Cup regardless. Since then, the Manitoba-based squad had strung together six consecutive victories over its Albertan rival and claimed nine of the past 10 meetings.

Winnipeg is not only given their supporters headaches, but betters too. As a team that’s played four consecutive Grey Cups and won two, they are naturally chosen as favourites nearly every week. As such, a 0-3 straight-up start has unsurprisingly led to a 0-3 start against the spread.

Conversely, Calgary is 1-1 ATS by way of their outright wins and losses directly mirroring results ATS.

A lot of Blue Bombers did not participate in Wednesday’s practice. DB Souleymane Karamonko (illness), WR Dalton Schoen (knee), WR Keric Wheatfall (knee), and OL Tui Eli (hip) were all absent. Over in the Stampeders’ camp, only DL Kwadwo Boahen (back) was absent from the field. Of note, DB Bentlee Sanders (shoulder) and DL Kelon Thomas (head, shoulder) were limited in action.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

It’s safe to say that the Week 3 performance was the best of the season so far for Winnipeg. There were enough positives to extrapolate and build on. Even so, head coach Mike O’Shea finds himself in unfamiliar territory with a Blue Bombers squad that is not playing up to par for the first time in six years.

Week 3 at home to the BC Lions was quite the battle, as the clubs exchanged blows until the very end. The visiting Lions roared early with big-time plays through the air. Early in the third quarter, BC was up 20-7 and it looked as if it was to be another miserable home game for the Bombers. Winnipeg didn’t wither and marched down the field numerous times toward the goal line. That’s backup QB Chris Streveler’s office, and he punched it in for a major three times. WRs Nic Demski and Drew Wolitarksy still had good nights (94 and 72 yards, respectively) and Winnipeg was able to claim a 24-23 in the fourth quarter before falling 26-24.

All that said, this defence needs work. They have up 398 yards through the air and through three weeks are coughing up 385.0 total yards per game (seventh in the CFL).

Calgary Stampeders

Calgary hasn’t been in action in two weeks and the last time we saw them old problems reared their ugly heads once again.

Week 2’s 26-17 defeat away to the BC Lions resembled so many matches of the 2023 campaign when the Stamps played decent football overall but rarely good enough to win games. The first quarter drive that concluded with a TD toss from QB Jake Maier to WR Marken Michel for a 7-0 suggested that perhaps Calgary had turned a page, offensively speaking. But it was not so. Too many drives finished with punts and turnovers. It’s tough to complete a game with 400 yards of offence yet only score 17 points. Maier was picked off once, and RB Dedrick Mills fumbled twice, once as a back and once as a receiver.

Calgary needs more impact players on defence. Toronto has similarly only played twice but has two players comfortably sitting in the CFL top 30 for tackles, whereas Calgary has none.

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