BLUE BOMBERS ROUT BC LIONS IN CFL ACTION

After two straight wins gave the BC Lions hope that they’d turned the corner on the CFL season, they’re officially back at square one.  The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Fred Reid torched the BC Lions defense all night long, and his career performance helped his team earn a lopsided 37-10 victory at Vancouver on Friday night.  Reid ran for 260 yards on 26 carries and scored two touchdown passes in the blowout victory that left both teams with identical 3-5 records.

The Blue Bombers obliterated the pointspread, winning outright as +7’ road underdogs.  Winnipeg improved to 5-3 against the spread, while British Columbia dropped to 3-5 versus the number.  The 47 combined points went UNDER the posted total of 50’, giving Winnipeg their fifth UNDER verdict in eight games this season.  BC evened their O/U record at four apiece, with four of their past five games going UNDER the total.

After the contest, Reid gave credit to his offensive line for making his franchise record rushing performance relatively easy:

"Just about every play I was in the secondary. I have to give props to the O-line. They opened some big holes tonight. Before I knew it, I was in the secondary. You know how the DBs are, they don't really want to tackle back there."

"We had some good play calling that caught them off guard and some new schemes that they weren't prepared for. We just executed. It gives us something to build on going in the bye week."

Winnipeg QB Michael Bishop praised his running back’s effort:

"Fred left it on the field today. To have a guy like that can carry the ball, and do the things he did today, it was amazing."

"A lot of people were saying it was a make-or-break game for us. We didn't want to go into the bye with another loss. "We went in with style and class and have something to build on."

BC linebacker JoJuan Armour was embarrassed to have allowed Reid to run all over the field:

"They lined up and kicked our ass. That's the bottom line. It's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed for my performance and I apologize to my team. There was no excuse for it."

Reid broke the previous Winnipeg franchise record of 249 set by Blaise Bryant  in1994. He finished  just 27 yards short of the CFL single-game rushing record of 287 yards set by Ronnie Stewart against Montreal over 40 years ago.

Lions’ coach Wally Buono is more concerned about his team’s mindset than “X’s and O’s”

"I'm more concerned about the collective psyche of the team after that. It's hard to take. I was shocked. I was very, very disappointed."

Things aren’t going to get any easier for British Columbia, who now have a bye week to try and get their house in order before they face a home and home series against the CFL leading Montreal Alouettes.  The Blue Bombers will also enjoy a week off before a pair of back to back games against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.