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#1

Offside Forum / Re: Winnipeg Jets Discussion -...

Last post by blue_gold_84 - Today at 01:37:13 PM

Not sure Skinner is wroth 3x what Comrie is... I'd have preferred COmrie and the extra bucks...

Comrie is a good backup and has been remunerated as such. Skinner is a seasoned netminder who is more of a 1B than a backup, and has also been remunerated as such. I'm not sure it's an apples and apples comparison and this could help with Hellebuyck's workload moving forward.

The Jets still have around $10.6M in cap space with only Perfetti and Bauer left to re-sign.

Feel it's a good signing in dman Ferraro

This signing seems to have flown under the radar. Looks like a decent addition to the blue line.

#2

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: WEEK #5 PICKEMS

Last post by Sir Blue and Gold - Today at 01:33:24 PM

Calgary
Saskatchewan
Edmonton
Hamilton

#3

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: Younger's defense

Last post by Blue In BC - Today at 01:32:25 PM

I totally can be both.  You didn't see my bit about the 25-snaps.  Ceresna has never taken much more than that since coming here, from what I can see.  Ceresna becomes DNA, takes 25-snaps, and one of the spare NAT DL is charted as "starter".  That has us effectively starting 6 NATs, which is 100% legal for 25-snaps.

Think of using Ceresna like HAM used White for like 3 seasons and are using Kenny now.

Of course, that means we lose the free 2RDP.  And it means MOS/Younger's brains have to hurt a little bit more tracking all of this.  But desperate times call for desperate measures.  I'm not saying we SHOULD do this, but we COULD -- IF we had a quality brainy IMP FS we wanted to field.

The number of imports is limited whether you use that rule or not.

#4

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: Stop being run first

Last post by Blue In BC - Today at 01:30:08 PM

Maybe, I'm not going to rewatch it but I believe you. I would suggest that the plan for them was simply to come down hill and do that as a first motion in certain looks/play calls/situations though. Not that they are identifying some code that we leave that secretly means runs. Invariably, there's wasn't much downside to doing so was there? Everyone's gonna keep doing it.

The thing is that teams know stopping Oliveria is the key to beating the Bombers. We're still a run heavy team so odds are good in guessing run in certain situations.

The backside of that is our receivers overall are not the best of the best and our OL doesn't allow time to find them.

#5

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: Official Game Day Thread -...

Last post by Blue In BC - Today at 01:27:31 PM

It might make it more egregious or obvious (thus easier to call), but TB is right: the rule book doesn't care/mention about how long you're OOB.  And it does clearly mention the "re-establish" part and the "out because of contact with another player" part.

If you ever remember what game it is, and it's a WPG game, I can track it down to check it out.  I don't recall that particular tidbit... though I do recall a handful of IP calls in the last decade.  Maybe this is something the good refs notice more and the noobs & incompetents don't.

Re-establish is a grey area which makes it less clear.

#6

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: Stop being run first

Last post by Sir Blue and Gold - Today at 01:27:00 PM

Sounds reasonable.  But rewatch the EDM game and look at how the EDM LBs react on any given play.  Before they can possibly know if it's run or pass they have made up their minds.  Or, let me rephrase that, before the should possibly know, they have made up their minds.  And they're invariably correct.

That should not happen to that extent.

Maybe, I'm not going to rewatch it but I believe you. I would suggest that the plan for them was simply to come down hill and do that as a first motion in certain looks/play calls/situations though. Not that they are identifying some code that we leave that secretly means runs. Invariably, there's wasn't much downside to doing so was there? Everyone's gonna keep doing it.

Receiver screens could help. More sweep motion also. More play action and throw over top the linebackers. Maybe we run two flea flickers a game. There's things we can do to help and I'm sure we will. But the core of the issue is personnel and foot speed at QB and in the backfield on a lot of plays.

#7

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: Stop being run first

Last post by Blue In BC - Today at 01:21:27 PM

We are also somehow giving away that we are going to run.  Even we don't run on every first down, or to start every series.  Watch the EDM game.  Watch the EDM LBs.  There are some plays where they cheat up more, like they know we are going to run with 90% certainty.

And there are others where it's 1st down or 1st play or whatever and you'd suspect WPG will run... but the LBs don't cheat up as much or are quicker to bounce back into coverage.

It's very noticeable.  And they are right 90-100% of the time.  It's bizarre, and I'm not making this up, go watch.

This means they somehow KNOW we are going to run.  And they KNOW when we aren't going to run.  Pre-snap, or during early motion.  And that means our set, or motion, or some tell, is giving away that THIS IS A RUN.  Something is telling them "ignore the playfake, and the motion, and load the box to stop Brady in the A or B gap".

This is a major problem and probably why our run game stinks.  They've identified tells on film.  This means we aren't disguising things properly, or our sets are too obvious, or the other players aren't selling their threat.

Yes, other teams can do this, and it's normal, but not at the rate of success that EDM was having.  They were so good at sniffing out the run, KNOWING Zach wasn't going to drop back to pass instead.

The only thing I saw that surprised them was a sweep, which we fake on may runs.  They still loaded the box, but their LBs are athletic enough to redirect when they suss it out and still stop us for a mediocre gain.  This needs to be fixed if our runs are to succeed.

Watching on TV I can predict they are going to run most often. It's more than a gut feeling and I'd say a little like film study of tendencies, formations and down / distance.

At the very least we're very predictable and defences recognize that. However Condell is starting to become less predictable.

As has been discussed we need to use MCI as a run threat every now and again as a dual RB set. Whether he gets the ball, blocks or swings out as a receiver, it's another offensive look.

[They don't "know" we're going to run Tecno. There is no tell]

#8

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: Stop being run first

Last post by Tecno - Today at 12:40:00 PM

... They don't "know" we're going to run Tecno. There is no tell. It's just film study and personnel evaluation.

Sounds reasonable.  But rewatch the EDM game and look at how the EDM LBs react on any given play.  Before they can possibly know if it's run or pass they have made up their minds.  Or, let me rephrase that, before the should possibly know, they have made up their minds.  And they're invariably correct.

That should not happen to that extent.

Our whole O is centered around play action and getting D's to bite on the Brady fake.  It's really all we have.  It's part of why we often stick with the run even when we are getting stuffed almost every attempt.

And that premise requires that the D cannot know if it's a Brady run or a Zach-pull-and-pass before the moment that Zach stuffs it or yanks it.

Yes, you can tell by certain formations and movement that we are 60% going to run it, or 70%, or 80%.  But not more than 80%, and thus the D should guess wrong 20, 30 or 40% of the time.  EDM almost never guessed wrong.  That should be impossible.

And if teams are pegging our call that well, Condell should be making them pay by having passes planned when we know they'll bite on the run, and vice versa.

And of course you can have "tells": a REC might make slightly different moves or gestures in pass vs run -- even though they're trying to show the same formation and pre-snap movement.  Zach might be acting a bit differently.  Who knows.  But it could be anything.

I'm going to rewatch our O vs EDM one more time and get a count of how many times their LBs get it right vs wrong.  I'm positive this is a thing.  And we've seen it before in the past over the Mafia tenure.  It basically looks like the D is listening in on Zach's headset and knows the call, at least insofar as whether it's a pass or run.

(Yes, Condell can call RPOs where Zach is the only determining factor, but I think that we actually do that very little, especially on first down that is the staple of Brady runs -- for instance, first play of the 2nd last drive was a called Brady run with zero pass options.)

#9

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: WEEK #5 PICKEMS

Last post by Sway - Today at 12:32:44 PM

Toronto
Saskatchewan
British Columbia
Winnipeg

#10

Blue Bomber & CFL Discussion Forum / Re: "We're going to conduct TC...

Last post by Jesse - Today at 12:25:51 PM

Zach is no longer in the top tier of QB's, arguably he could be ranked around 6th in physical skill and ability, so a lot has to go right in the other 2 phases for the Bombers to win against a higher ranked QB.  He's now in his late Ricky Ray career stage, unless the OC comes up with a plan to re-program him to play more conservative football, he's going to continue to fight against his deficiencies and impatient tendency to play as a gunslinger.

I mean, he's 37 years old, about to be 38, he's obviously not in his peak physical form and I'm sure the bumps and bruises that he wakes up with make it hard to get out the bed in the morning. They do for me and I'm just living, not playing football.

But he threw for 400 yards in week 2. And we lost last week on the back of some fumbles that were out of his control that ended multiple offensive drives. So far, he's limited the interceptions that were tanking the offence last year. There's still a workable offence here. And it's within the range of outcomes that this offence is better than we've seen so far.

We do need the defence to cooperate a little bit though.