The fire inside Brady Oliveira is burning a bit hotter this week, which could spell trouble for the Toronto Argonauts.
The Blue Bombers star running back said he and the offence are ready to take on the CFL’s best run defence at a sold-out Princess Auto Stadium on Friday, especially with the stakes so high.
A Winnipeg victory would earn the team (10-6) a ninth consecutive win and clinch first place in the CFL West Division with the reward of playing host to the final on Nov. 9.
“Every week I’m going to run hard, I’m going to run tough, but maybe in the magnitude of this game, understanding what’s on the line for us, I think that’s all that has to do it for myself,” Oliveira said after Thursday’s walk-through practice.
“The team needs my best, obviously every single week, but especially in this game. And if we’ve got to put it on our backs, we’ll do so.”
Oliveira leads the league in rushing with 1,254 yards off 216 carries, good for a league-high 83.6-yard average per game.
He’s coming off a season-high 147 yards with one touchdown in last week’s 31-10 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Friday’s match pits him against an Argonauts defence that has only allowed an average of 75.5 yards per game.
A tie against Toronto (8-7) would also give the Bombers their fourth straight division title. If they lose, they could still capture first place if the Saskatchewan Roughriders lose or tie at home against the B.C. Lions on Saturday.
The Argonauts also have a playoff goal within reach.
A win or tie against the Blue Bombers would give Toronto an East Division playoff spot and eliminate Hamilton from postseason play. If the Argos lose, the Ticats (6-10) remain in the hunt and have already swept Toronto 3-0 in their season series.
The Argonauts handed the Bombers their last loss on July 27, a 16-14 victory that put Winnipeg’s record at 2-6 after a 0-4 start.
Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie said he’s not surprised by Winnipeg’s turnaround since that game.
“I think they got healthy and they got on a streak and their defence is playing really good right now,” he said.
One main change since that victory is Toronto’s starting quarterback.
Chad Kelly was serving a nine-game league suspension at the time and is making his first career start against Winnipeg.
He’s 3-3 since his return and has struggled to engineer touchdown drives, passing for 1,917 yards with six TDs and eight interceptions.
“I’m still trying to get back into the groove, the rhythm,” Kelly said. “It’s about timing, really. Just being on the same page with everybody.”
Veteran defensive tackle Jake Thomas said Winnipeg’s defence knows Kelly can break out at any time.
“For the most part, he can do it all,” Thomas said. “Even when he’s corralled and it looks like he’s going to be taken down for a sack, there’s been two or three plays this year where he kind of pitches it out last second.
“He’s a pretty good improviser. He does well extending plays. When he does escape the pocket, that’s really when I think he shows off that big arm strength. I think the best thing we can do is try to corral him and keep him in the pocket.”
The Bombers are also aware of Toronto’s solid run game, which tops the league with an average of 126.1 yards per game. Winnipeg is third at 115 yards.
Ka’Deem Carey has carried most of the load for the Argos and is 34 yards shy of reaching 1,000 on the season.
Winnipeg’s defence is ranked sixth against the run, allowing an average of 104.4 yards per game.
Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros said Toronto’s defence is good at disguising coverages and has a strong front seven.
“They don’t do as many things as some of the teams that we’ve gone against recently, but what they do, they really have belief in their system and they do it really well,” Collaros said. “They do a great job at taking the ball away and they’re really opportunistic.”
Toronto Argonauts (8-7) at Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-6)
Friday, Princess Auto Stadium.
REST PAYS OFF: The Argonauts are coming off a bye week and sport a 7-0 record since 2022 when returning after a break.
HOME SWEET HOME: Friday’s game marks Winnipeg’s fourth straight sellout of 32,343, keeping the club as the league leader in attendance for a third consecutive year. The Bombers’ total home attendance this season will finish at 280,497 fans, an average of 31,166 per game. Both marks are single-season franchise records.