Veteran presence guides Brown, Bombers to comeback win over Elks
Sherri Lacasse/CFL.ca
EDMONTON – When faced with adversity, like being down 22 points and without their starting quarterback, the veteran presence of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will help guide the team to victory.
When Zach Collaros went down with injury against the Edmonton Elks and Dru Brown had to fill in, knowing he had a team surrounding him that would guide him even when losing helped the team find the momentum to come back and win, scoring 28 second half points to do so.
“This team is obviously veteran heavy, all these situations, way before my time, they’ve executed during these moments, and I knew that its one of those thongs, I know it sounds cliche, but you really do have to kind of one bite at a time, one play at a time,” Brown told TSN’s Ryan Rishaug after the win.
“You’ve got some ground to make up for, but you cant make it up in one play, so just to continuously preach, as the guys already know, continuing to chip away, we’re a good football team, they were long before I got here.”
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Chipping away is precisely what the Bombers did to erase a 20-plus point deficit, first by Brown finding his confidence under centre to get the Bombers on the board, using the stops the defence created to turn the next offensive drive into a score, and overall not crumbling under pressure being down not only on the scoreboard, but on the roster.
Brown averaged 12.8 yards per play in the air in the win, throwing for 307 yards and four touchdowns, including going a perfect 5-of-5 on the Bombers’ first touchdown drive, coming in off a tough upper-body injury for Collaros.
“Unfortunately in this game, it’s one of those things that it’s how you get your opportunity, usually something bad happens to the guy in front of you, either he gets benched or he gets hurt, and you never want it to be like that,” said Brown.
“You’ve done this at some point in your career before, if you’ve played you’ve been thrust into a game and it’s the same thing every time, you don’t try to do too much, you just be you and usually things take care of themselves.”
Despite the scenario that Brown came into, he was integral to generating the Bombers offence, targeting multiple different receivers, taking time in the pocket to adjust his vision and make good plays, and not panicking even when Edmonton’s defence were closing in.
The timeline for Collaros’ return is unknown after his injury, but even if the Bombers’ offence remains in Brown’s hands, they have this game as proof he has what it takes to win.
Winnipeg heads to Calgary in Week 12 where they take on the Calgary Stampeders next Friday night.
