Upon Further Review | Blue Bombers 33 Stampeders 28

He did the same thing after the proceedings, FYI, thanking everyone before he headed into a jubilant Blue Bombers locker room after an important 33-28 victory over the Calgary Stampeders that put the home side smack dab into the Canadian Football League's playoff picture again.

And Singer's role in the win was massive, as he finished the game with five catches for 166 yards, including three massive chunk receptions of 52, 45 and 39 yards as the Blue Bombers took some deep shots with the Stampeders loading up the box to limit the damage of running back Brady Oliveira.

Now, we're all still just getting to know Singer, who has been with the club since training camp but didn't make his CFL debut until the Labour Day Classic. He's been a revelation in his five games, with 20 receptions for 380 yards and a pair of scores. Yet, it's his demeanour and personality which have been such a good fit in the room.

He's quick to praise his teammates and just as willing to put himself under the microscope if he messes up, which has been rare through his five starts.

And this exchange from his media session Saturday night also offered a glimpse at his humility. Asked about his quarterback, Zach Collaros and his performance he said:

"I didn't ever want to tell him this, but it's always been like a goal of mine to play with him because he's going to go into the hall of fame. So, just being able to catch passes from him and listening to him and doing the meetings with all the quarterbacks and just hearing his knowledge and his game... it's just helping me a lot in my young career."

Superb answer and one which, again, represents why the organization is so thrilled to have him in their colours now.

The natural follow-up question, given his answer above, was to ask why he didn't want to tell Collaros about his goal of wanting to play with him.

"We're teammates right now," said Singer with a grin. "He's going to be a future hall of famer. It's a surreal moment to play with a hall of famer at such a young age."

One more on Singer, who was asked what a break-out game like this -- stacked upon his other four performances -- can do for him.

"It helps the team advance to the next game. We got the 'W'," he said. "For me, I can sleep at night. My confidence has always been there -- win, lose or drop a ball. It boosted my confidence a little bit more.

"I'm just excited for the team, honestly."

That was the obvious mood throughout the organization late Saturday and into Thanksgiving Sunday, as the result evens the club's record at 8-8, gives them the season series with the Stamps 2-1 in a potential tiebreaker -- Calgary is now 8-9 -- while the Saskatchewan Roughriders, 8-7, are in action Monday in Montreal against the Alouettes. Winnipeg also has the tiebreaker with the Riders, with the two teams having split the season series but the Blue Bombers owning the points differential advantage.

In other words, the sun is shining again in Bomberland heading into this Friday's game in Edmonton against the Elks.

"I think we've always had this in us," said veteran receiver Nic Demski, who had one catch for a 25-yard touchdown. "It's just all three phases were playing really well together. We had a good gameplan and we just went out there and executed it.

"It was a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun when we play football that way and to our standard and you get the result you want."

ICYMI, the link to our Game Recap is here.

And what follows is the rest is this week's edition of UPON FURTHER REVIEW...

THE BIG STORY WITHIN THE RESULT... was the epic return of Collaros, who was sensational in completing 19-of-27 passes for 349 yards and TD throws to Pokey Wilson and Demski while being intercepted just once.

He brought his gunslinger swagger back to the offence and his leadership was obvious throughout the week with the tone he set, something we touched on in our Game Day HQ piece.

"His energy and attitude all week is what helped carry us throughout this game," said veteran guard Pat Neufeld. "It was on the sidelines, it was on the field and that's the attitude we've got to maintain throughout the rest of the season.

"We've got to keep rolling with it. It can't be up and down. That's got to be our standard."

"He was awesome. I mean, that's 8-Ball right there. You love to see it," said Demski of Collaros. "The opportunity we had and with him coming back this week... it was just a picture-perfect story, for sure. I know he was eager to get back and doing everything he could to get back. He was dialled in; he was locked in today. He knew what was on the line for this team."

"Shout out to 8-Ball," added cornerback-return ace Trey Vaval. "It was dope to have Zach back, a vet like that. He's like Aaron Rodgers to me. I'm proud of how he played and now the offence played."

THREE NUMBERS WHICH JUMPED OUT AFTER A SECOND GLANCE AT THE STATS SHEET:

1. A few offensive stats which pop, especially in the wake of what happened in last week's loss in Montreal in which the attack completely fizzled.

• Winnipeg ran 41 plays and averaged 9.6 yards per snap, including a whopping 10.2 on second down. A week ago, those totals were an abysmal 30 plays, an average of 6.1 yards and 7.5 on second down. That's a marked difference over the course of the game.

• Even with that, for the second straight week the opposition held a marked advantage in time of possession, with Calgary winning that metric at 36 minutes and 15 seconds to Winnipeg's 23:45. Consider this: over the 120 minutes in the last two games Montreal and Calgary held the ball for 76 minutes and 53 seconds to just 43:07 for the Blue Bombers.

2. Further to the above, credit the defence for how the responded from the loss in Montreal. Vernon Adams, Jr. and his crew can be dynamic offensively and while Winnipeg surrendered 400 yards of net offence, they also had two critical stops on two-point conversions.

"That loss in Montreal was hard on me," said safety Redha Kramdi on Saturday after the win over Calgary. "The Als were rolling. It felt like we couldn't catch a break. Their stars were rolling and we couldn't make a play, which was really frustrating.

"But we had to be professional and move on the put the focus on Calgary. It shows that the people in our defensive room are pros. We stuck to our process. We believe in each other. Obviously, there are plays we'd all like to have back, but it's cool to see our offence rolling like that. VA is going to get his, but we got the win."

3. Some milestone things to pass along:

• The two TD passes by Collaros give him 139 as a Blue Bomber, tying him with Khari Jones for second most in franchise history, behind only Dieter Brock (187).

• Vaval's kickoff return TD to start the second half was his six kick return score as a Blue Bomber -- three on kickoffs, one on punts and two on missed field goals. That ties him with Eric Blount for second in franchise history, just two back of Janarion Grant (8). That kickoff return TD also puts him atop the Blue Bombers all-time list, now standing alone ahead of Dave Raimey and Blount, both of whom had two.

  

  "I love that kid," said head coach Mike O'Shea. "He works so hard. He wants to do well so badly sometimes he puts a lot of pressure on himself to do well for his teammates. He logs a lot of time on defence now, too, so for him to gut out those returns and still play defence... it's what he likes, what he wants, and his teammates really understand how hard he's working."

• Demski's TD was his 47th as a Blue Bomber, pulling him into a tie with Jeff Boyd for 10th in franchise history. The Top 9: Milt Stegall (147), Charles Roberts (79), Leo Lewis (75), Gerry James (63), James Murphy (62), Ernie Pitts (55), Willard Reaves (53), Rick House (49) and Joe Poplawski (48). Worth noting: all nine of those players -- and Boyd -- are in the Winnipeg Football Club Hall of Fame.

• Shout-out to a Blue Bombers fan -- Jon -- for passing this one along: Evan Holm now has 293 defensive tackles in his career, and he's moved past Maurice Kelly (284) into 10th place on the club's all-time list. The names ahead of him: Greg Battle (587), Adam Bighill (430), Darryl Sampson (428), Doug Brown (426), James West (378), Paul Randolph (372), Jovon Johnson (362), Barrin Simpson (335) and Ryland Wickman (324)

AND FINALLY... for those of you who are still following along, thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving If you want to see a condensed recap of win, check it out here: