The scenes now fading in Brady Oliveira’s rear-view mirror have been positively breathtaking. His goal now is to make the the view ahead even more memorable.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back celebrated his 27th birthday today, capping what was a stunning year on the planet for the Canadian Football League All-Star, Most Outstanding Canadian and leading rusher.
“Twenty-six is a year I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Oliveira said after Thursday’s closed-to-the-media practice session. “I actually just picked up my Grey Cup jersey framed and it has all my accomplishments engraved from that last season.
“That’s a year I’ll remember forever. A lot of accomplishments that we got done as a team. That offensive line unit and all the success I had because of them… it was just a great year.”
Oliveira missed most of training camp this spring due to injury, had just 38 yards on 11 carries in the season-opening loss to the Montreal Alouettes and then missed Week 2 due to another setback. A week later he had just 26 yards on 10 carries in a loss in Calgary, but since then has been back to terrorizing defences.
As we stated in this 10 Notable Numbers piece, he has since posted three 100-yard efforts, 560 yards and a dazzling 7.3-yards per carry average. He also has 32 catches for 264 yards — on pace to smash his career high for receptions in a season of 38, set last season.
Heading into this week’s action Oliveira is tied with Toronto’s Ka’Deem Carey for the CFL rushing lead at 611 yards.
“The biggest thing was physically how I was feeling at the start of the season to where I am now,” he said. “I’m in that groove now. My body feels physically at the level where I need it to be so I can go out there and execute at a high level. Every single week I’ve been getting better and better and feeling better. I usually play my best football second half of the season.
“We’ve got to keep this thing going and keep stacking good performances on good performances and keep getting these wins.”
To that end, quite clearly Oliveira will need to play a massive role if the Blue Bombers are to continue to dig out of the hole they fell into to start this season in their 3-6 start.
Consider this, especially as it relates to Sunday’s game in B.C. — Oliveira has rushed for 826 yards in his last 10 games against the Lions, including 100-yard efforts in the last two Western Finals, and owns a 7.12 yards-per-carry average over that run.
“However this thing plays out for this season or for years to come, I do know there’s much more I can do in this league,” he said. “And I know I will accomplish big things in this league but I just want to keep stacking wins and I just want to keep winning championships at the end of the day.”
Oliveira was asked by CJOB’s Derek Taylor for a big-picture look at where he is in his career — coming off a sensational 26th year on the planet, starring with his hometown team and seemingly with so much more yet to accomplish.
“When I started football I knew I wanted to play pro football. But if you could tell me when I was younger, when I was at the age of 12 or 13 and started playing this game that I would be in the role than I am right now I don’t even know what I would say to that,” he said. “It would be, ‘Are you sure?’
“It is a dream I’m living out here and the success I’ve been getting the last couple of years… I’ve worked extremely hard for this and have great people around me, great teammates around me, great coaches around me that put us in great situations to succeed.
“It’s just amazing. I’m blessed, man. I’m blessed.”
CLUB 100?: The next win for the Blue Bombers will be significant in the standings, obviously, but also for head coach Mike O’Shea and GM Kyle Walters. Since the pair began working together in Winnipeg in 2014 they’ve amassed a won-lost record of 99-68 and — this courtesy the CFL’s stats department — no GM/head coaching duo in league history has racked up 100 Ws together.
During their run with the Blue Bombers the club has made seven consecutive playoff appearances, posted seven straight double-digit win seasons, won three division titles, made four consecutive Grey Cup appearances, winning two championships in 2019 and 2021.
The next win will make O’Shea the 11th coach in CFL history to reach 100 career wins and just the third to do it with one team, along with Calgary’s John Hufnagel and Blue Bombers icon Bud Grant. O’Shea needs three more wins to tie Grand for the Blue Bombers franchise record; four to become the all-time wins leader.
And, obviously, O’Shea wanted no part of that discussion Thursday in his media conference.
“We’re way ahead of ourselves,” he said. “We’ve got a game to play, so let’s figure that out.”
SICK BAY UPDATE: The latest following Thursday’s closed practice:
Injury Report: August 15, 2024#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/dK9EM1eBoY
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) August 15, 2024