Some skilled position players in football would be ready to stage a coup. Well past the halfway mark of the CFL season, the league’s best running back is still without a touchdown. It’s a point of order that a younger Brady Oliveira may have raised to his superiors or perhaps even those of us in the press corps.
But standing in front of his locker, a signed Charles Roberts jersey hanging from his stall after Winnipeg’s 26-21 win in the Banjo Bowl on Saturday, a reminder of his goose egg glanced off of him like a missed tackle. “Of course, as a skilled position, it would be nice to find the end zone,” Oliveira said. But you don’t earn the kind of praise that Mike O’Shea dolled out post-game for being a one-trick, ego-driven pony.
“He’s one of the best players in our entire league, regardless of position,” O’Shea trumpeted after passing Bud Grant with his 103rd regular-season win. “He’s phenomenal. He can do it all for us.
” And “it all” is exactly what the Bombers have needed this season. In a year where offence hasn’t come cheap for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Oliveira has had to swallow some of his pride in the name of winning. That’s a difficult thing.
“Because just over the course of their careers up to that point, they touch the ball and they know they can score. From anywhere,” O’Shea said. “I would never say it’s easy.
But I appreciate his effort in getting to that point. The win is more important for him.” Oliveira’s touchdown totals had only increased as his role expanded in Winnipeg’s offence in previous years.
He tallied nine alone on the ground in 2023, and four more through the air. This year’s been different. This offence isn’t prolific.
What once seemed effortless now takes, well, effort. Oliveira preached early on, when the Bombers started 0-4, that everyone, including himself, had to embrace the grind. For the 27-year-old, his part has been accepting that his role in putting six on the board can be as big before crossing the goal line as when someone else does.
“Honestly, truthfully, if we can go down there, if I’m a part of that drive to get down there and (backup quarterback Chris Streveler) is going to finish, and if we’re winning these games, that’s all that matters,” Oliveira said. Streveler, before his third-quarter injury, scored Winnipeg’s only rushing touchdown against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday. It was his 10th of the season — a number that paces the CFL—and most of those have come from a few yards out, if that.
This game has a term for someone who comes in and cleans up. They call them vultures. Teams don’t see it that way, of course.
No one in charge is trying to stroke egos. Winnipeg’s goal-line package almost always features Streveler because it works. They’re just trying to win.
O’Shea sees that in Oliveira — a player who does whatever it takes to win rather than looking for his ego to be caressed. “Over time, he’ll get to the point where that conversation (about) a touchdown won’t matter,” O’Shea said. “And we’re really close to that.
He’s excited about the win and all the things he has a hand in. “They do that stat about the percentage of offence or whatever. But that doesn’t include the blocking or picking up with the protections, the blitz, seeing something and fixing things.
Add in that, and the percentage is double that. It’s amazing. And he’s a great kid.
A phenomenal player for us.” It aligns with Oliveira’s thinking. It also indicates his maturation as a player.
“I want to be known as a running back that can truly do it all, a guy that’s not one-dimensional but a guy that can be reliable,” he said. “My thing is, for Zach, follow your reads downfield but just know I’m going to be there for you. And if you need me I’m there.
I’m going to be reliable for you. I’m going to catch the ball. I’m going to get us first downs.
I’m going to make people miss. I’m going to run tough. That’s what I want Zach to feel, and Buck to feel, that he can trust me to allow me to do more in this offence, maybe run some more routes.
“I do know the sky is the limit for myself, and I know there is so much more that I can unleash.” Like his superb blocking downfield on a sweep play in the fourth quarter, where Lucky Whitehead picked up eight yards behind him en route to a field goal that put Winnipeg up by five. “Those are the little things that I truly take pride in,” Oliveira said.
The type of pride that has led Winnipeg to five straight wins and first place in the West Division. That Charles Roberts jersey hanging behind Oliveira in his locker stall had quite the story on Saturday. “This is special right here,” Oliveira said after grabbing it to show it off.
“He was a guy I watched as a young kid, him and (Milt) Stegall—both Bomber legends. Charlie, being a running back, and him being the all-time leading rusher in Bomber history. Just a guy I looked up to.
” The two met for the first time after the game. Meanwhile, Oliveira credited Bombers equipment manager Brad Fotty for getting the jersey made up in time to wear during the pre-game warmup. He was also smitten with Bombers food guy Brent Tuck for getting it signed during halftime as Roberts was inducted into the team’s Ring of Honour.
“He’s the biggest beauty in there,” Oliveira said. scott.billeck@kleinmedia.
ca X: @scottbilleck.
