WINNIPEG — The stadium might have changed but the result was no different for the second half of the home-and-home series between the Edmonton Elks and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. On Friday night the Bombers made it seven straight wins with another strong performance against Edmonton which punched their ticket to the postseason.
Just like in Week 16, Brady Oliveira was impressive with his carries, but this time around Zach Collaros made it look easy through the air. He delivered big play after big play for a huge passing performance.
Here are CFL.ca’s three key stats from the Blue Bombers’ win over the Elks in Week 17.
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432 – ZACH COLLAROS PASSING YARDS
The Bombers were impressive on all three sides of the football on Friday night but it was Collaros who eventually stole the show with a big performance from the pocket.
Collaros put up a season-high 432 passing yards at Princess Auto Stadium, finding his receivers for several big gains and taking care of the football with no turnovers. The Bombers’ pivot completed 21 of his 26 passing attempts and was unafraid to send it deep, while also connecting with his teammates for a career-high six passing touchdowns.
119 – BRADY OLIVEIRA YARDS FROM SCRIMMAGE
When Collaros wasn’t lighting up the Elks through the air, Oliveira provided his team with some juice in the ground game with another solid showing against the Elks. He finished the game with 119 total yards on 17 touches, winding down the clock with some strong running in the second half with his team up big.
After finding his first two touchdowns of the season in Week 16, Oliveira came up with his third score on a highlight-reel play in the second quarter to put his team up by 24.
10.3 – YARDS PER PLAY FOR WINNIPEG
When the passing game and running game are both clicking, things are bound to turn out nicely for an offence. That was exactly the case for Winnipeg as they averaged a whopping 10.3 yards per play against Edmonton.
Collaros completed six passes for over 30 yards, with Kenny Lawler and Nic Demski both finishing with over 100 receiving yards on the night. Even as the Elks tried to mount a second-half comeback, the Bombers delivered on offence en route to a huge night on the stat sheet for Collaros and his playmakers.