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Bishop passed for a touchdown and rushed for another as the hometown Argonauts defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 14-6 before a crowd of 24,246 at the SkyDome.
He completed 16 of 26 pass attempts for 300 yards, plus scrambled 10 times for an additional 96 yards.
Michael Bishop throws a pass in Tuesday's 14-6 Argonauts win.(CP Photo/Frank Gunn)
"I definitely was relaxed," Bishop said. "I just wanted to come out and move the ball down the field because, in the back of my mind, I knew we had a great defence and special teams are good too so, if I could just keep playing within the system, we'd be okay."
Bishop started in place of Damon Allen, sidelined 6-8 weeks with a fractured left tibia suffered in last week's 22-10 loss at Montreal.
"He stepped up," Allen said. "Hopefully, his confidence will grow."
Bishop entered the contest having completed just three of 18 passes for 39 yards with five interceptions and zero touchdowns.
"Michael he did everything we asked him to do, he was very disciplined in his approach," Argonauts head coach Mike (Pinball) Clemons said. "Now the real question is, how does he respond to this?
"He was able to use his athleticism and those opportunities won't be available every game. He's going to have to continue to get better."
Bishop opened the scoring on a 67-yard touchdown toss to rookie receiver R.J. Soward with 3:31 remaining in the first half.
Bishop made it 14-0 with a one-yard plunge at 9:51 of the third quarter.
Troy Westwood accounted for Winnipeg's six points with a pair of late field goals from 29 and 43 yards out.
"Toronto's defence is very tough," Blue Bombers head coach Jim Daley said. "Only two field goals would often cause you to have concerns."
The final outcome actually flattered the Blue Bombers because Argonauts kick returner Tony Miles had a 106-yard punt return for a touchdown negated by a holding call and kicker Noel Prefontaine missed three field-goal attempts.
"It was a little bit of an eerie night, I didn't like the tempo," Clemons said. "We had other opportunities to score and didn't."
The Argonauts (6-3) have won five of their past six games, including two of three over the past 10 days.
The Blue Bombers (3-6) suffered their fourth loss in five games and dropped to 1-1 under Daley.
"The difference was field position and Michael Bishop," Daley concluded. "We showed him many looks, but he was patient and either found the gaps and ran or put it up to the receiver."
Winnipeg plays host to Montreal on Aug. 26, while Toronto visits B.C. the following night.
with files from CP Online
