CFL.ca/Kevin Sousa
EDMONTON — Through three quarters the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ defence was doing just about enough to give their team the chance to defeat the Edmonton Elks on Saturday. In the fourth quarter, the Bombers’ offence decided to join the party and create some separation as the visitors would go on to take the game 27-14 and claim their sixth straight.
Brady Oliveira was at his best, carrying the load on offence for Winnipeg. On the defensive side, Tony Jones came up with a couple of big plays to quiet the Elks’ offence.
Here are CFL.ca’s three key stats from the Blue Bombers’ win over the Elks in Week 16.
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11 – TONY JONES DEFENSIVE PLAYS
It’s only right that the Winnipeg defence gets the first mention after blanking the Elks through the first two and a half quarters.
The Bombers came away with six turnovers in the contest, getting four of those in the first half. In the middle of all the action was linebacker Tony Jones. He put together a game-high 11 defensive plays including an early interception on Tre Ford and a fumble recovery on running back Kevin Brown in the second quarter.
127 – BRADY OLIVEIRA RUSHING YARDS
When the Blue Bombers are at their best, Oliveira is usually a big reason why. Winnipeg’s star running back delivered for his team once again on Saturday, finishing the game with a whopping 127 yards on 18 rush attempts and two scores.
Oliveira delivered an important 30-yard scamper on a fourth-quarter drive which turned the game in Winnipeg’s favour. He finished off the drive with a six-yard score and then added his second touchdown of the game late to secure the road result.
39 – SCORELESS MINUTES FOR THE ELKS
It took until the 5:54 mark of the third quarter for the Elks to find their first points of the ballgame on Saturday. A flea flicker between Ford and Justin Rankin fooled the Bombers on that scoring play, but it was undoubtedly a dominant overall performance by Winnipeg’s defence.
The Bombers took down Ford for two sacks and limited the Canadian quarterback’s rushing threat. With Ford under considerable pressure, he was forced into two interceptions, while also losing a fumble at the line of scrimmage when he tried to use his legs.
