Recognition important to Oliveira

On paper, Saturday’s tilt between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-3) and Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-7) isn’t exactly the most tantalizing.

The Bombers are coming off of their annual back-to-back showdowns with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and this year’s series had no shortage of storylines. After this weekend’s trip to Steeltown, the Blue and Gold will have their second bye before they welcome Andrew Harris and the 10-1 Toronto Argonauts to IG Field in what will be the most anticipated game of the CFL season.

Then there’s the Ticats, a team that entered 2023 with sky-high expectations after spending big money in free agency, most notably on former Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. With injuries to Mitchell and No. 2 pivot Matthew Shiltz, the Ticats are rolling with rookie third-string arm Taylor Powell.

As you’d expect, head coach Mike O’Shea isn’t letting his squad look past Hamilton.

“I don’t think we’ve looked ahead a game in 10 years,” said O’Shea after Thursday’s closed practice.

“It’s just the way we focus and talk about each week and what’s important in the next minute and what’s important in the next hour. We’ve pretty well laid the groundwork for that quite some time ago and I don’t think our players are going to deviate from that. So, you can look ahead all you want.”

Oliveira getting noticed

Brady Oliveira hears the whispers.

With 1,144 rushing yards through just 13 games, there’s discussions the Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back should be in the conversation for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award.

If his teammate, and quarterback, Zach Collaros wasn’t playing at such a high level, there would be a much stronger argument for the 26-year-old Winnipegger. There is, however, still one to be made.

“It doesn’t really matter if (my name is in there) with the most outstanding player in the league (conversations),” said Oliveira.

“I think all I want is just my respect, obviously, most importantly from my teammates and coaches and I’ve already got that and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters to me. I put so much into this, and it would be nice to get my respect from people in this league. I think people were sleeping on me for quite some time and yeah, I think it’s good just to get my respect. It just feels good.”

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