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EDMONTON – A quick memo to the rest of the Canadian Football League: don’t go penning the obituary on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 2019 season just yet.

Given up for dead by many pundits and fans following the injury to quarterback Matt Nichols last week, the Bombers waltzed into Commonwealth Stadium Friday night and cranked out an impressive 34-28 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos in front of an announced rain-soaked crowd of 34,217.

The result was significant beyond simply the Bombers staying atop the West Division with an 8-2 record. Yes, the victory not only creates some separation between the Bombers and the Esks, who fall to 6-4, but just as importantly gives Winnipeg the season series after winning 28-21 back in their home opener on June 27th.

The dominant storyline in the days leading up to the game was the change at quarterback, with Chris Streveler stepping in for Nichols for the next few weeks with the veteran pivot on the six-game injured list.

Streveler finished just 7-of-17 for 89 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, but was a bull running the ball with 14 carries for 95 yards and a score and put together some critical throws in critical moments as part of a complete Bombers win.

“All I care about is the win on the scoreboard,” said Streveler. “We put together drives when we needed to… there’s obviously going to be some things we can learn from and clean up, but it’s nice to learn from a win.

“All three aspects of the game made big plays when they needed to. Defence made so many great plays, special teams kept us in great field position all night, Meddy (Justin Medlock) making so many kicks and then offensively I thought we put some good drives together when it was crucial in the game. We got that big drive before halftime to get three points on the board and then that one at the end of the game.

“It was just a total team win is how I would describe that.”

The Bombers dominated both lines of scrimmage – Andrew Harris also had 89 yards and a TD on 13 carries – but the defensive front was simply spectacular in getting into the face of quarterback Trevor Harris and making him uncomfortable.

Although Harris finished 26-of-40 for 430 yards and one TD – a late 75-yard strike to Tevaun Smith that made the ending more dramatic than it should have been – he was pressured by the Bombers front six for much of the night. That heat led directly to points, too, as an Alex McAlister tipped pass was scooped up and returned by Marcus Rios.

The best player on the field, by a mile, was defensive end Willie Jefferson, who had the latest in a series of dominant performances for the Bombers, registering three sacks, four tackles, two forced fumbles, two tackles for losses, a pass defending and a fumble recovery.

He even sealed the deal late, batting an Eskimos onside kick out of bounds to give the Bombers possession with 68 seconds remaining.

“Willie was awesome,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “He was all over the place. I’ll say it again and you can ask me again after the next game and the next game: you can really tell out there how much he loves football. He just loves the game.”

“It’s just a relentless effort from everybody on the defensive line,” Jefferson added. “We came out here and executed the game plan to a ‘T’, except for that last touchdown. You can really just give it to coach Richie (Hall, defensive coordinator) for the gameplan. All week we said we wanted to make Trevor move around and not be comfortable in the pocket and make it hard for him to get to his first and second receivers off the read. We did that.”

Now 8-2 for the first time since 2001, the Bombers are also unbeaten against the West Division at 5-0.

“There’s only one thing that matters at the end of the day and that’s the ‘W’ and we got the win,” said Bombers cornerback Chandler Fenner. “Division opponent… one of the best offences in the league… we did a good job.

“Our D-line, they made it so easy for us on the back end. Shout out to them, to our defence and all my brothers out there. Honestly, we were just having a good time. We have that next-man up mentality in here. Nobody flinched with the injuries we have. It was just a matter of how are we going to get it done tonight.”

THE BIG STAT

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The defensive stat line for DE Willie Jefferson: three sacks, four tackles, two forced fumbles, two tackles for losses, a pass defending and a fumble recovery.

NOTABLE:

The Bombers inactive player was DB Mercy Maston. That meant Marcus Rios lined up at the halfback spot in the secondary – a spot normally held by Brandon Alexander, but which has also seen Chris Humes, Jones and Maston get work there.

NUMBERS GAME

14: Field goals kicked by Edmonton’s Sean Whyte in the two games against Winnipeg – seven in each outing.

1: Touchdowns allowed by the Bombers defence in the two games against Edmonton.

12-21: The Bombers converted 12 of 21 second downs, for a 57% conversion rate.

+1: The Bombers turnover ratio – forcing two Edmonton mistakes, while having just one fumble of their own.

NEXT:

Friday’s game was the third leg of a five-game run against West Division rivals. The Bombers have now picked up wins against Calgary, B.C. and Edmonton and will now be on the road again next weekend to Regina for the Labour Day Classic. They’ll be home the week after with a rematch against Saskatchewan in the Banjo Bowl. The club will then enjoy the second of its three bye weeks this season.