Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg at Saskatchewan - May 20, 2024

[dd]

I always go back to Kenny Lawler's first preseason game. He probably dropped 3 easy catches, and I kept thinking "why is this guy on the field? Stop throwing to him!". Since then I can't trust myself with a preseason opinion lol

It's hard to evaluate so many players in a 60 minute game.
It makes it even harder when our quarterback doesn't get the ball to the playmakers we want to evaluate. Easier to evaluate the QB though I suppose... I'm hoping in our next PS game we can see Q1-ZC, Q2-Strev and Q3/4-Terry. I really want to see them get the ball out quickly to the receivers to see who can make a play.

And Lawler was cut by the Lions!! Bet they don't trust themselves with their preseason opinions!!

[TecnoGenius]

Who do we think are the leading returner candidates?

None of the above.  Awful!!  Compare with SSK's returners...

Grant just raised his ask by $20k I'm betting...

[TecnoGenius]

Barriere to 76 in the middle picked off twice. Receiver or QB issue?

1st pick is on him, and DC pick-on-the-rookie scheming.  2nd pick was superb LB play.  I wouldn't read too much into either.

But aside from the picks he pretty much stunk, so I doubt he's our week 1 #3...

[TecnoGenius]

Video is fine. But, we went to CJOB for audio those homers are terrible.

Can't believe I'm saying this... but Ballsy was better!  SSK fans thought they were going to be happy aren't going to be...

[TecnoGenius]

Schmeckle emerging, looks like he'll be strong and effective up the middle.  Not likely they can keep 3 Natl. DT's on the roster though, and I don't know if he would accept a PR position for a second year.

Schmeckle had that great play, looked like an absolute giant monster, but then disappeared, so either they took him off or his motor ran dry.

[TecnoGenius]

Mike Miller as coach is not helping  kick coverage.

Coverage was bad, as usual.  However, SSK was holding a ton and had many called back, so it wasn't as bad as it looked.  SSK cheatin' on the ST again, what else is new.

[TecnoGenius]

Our backups against their starters.. not worried at all...

Yup, SSK played, for 4/5ths of the game, QBs that all had many many live CFL starts.  Vs us playing raw rookie QBs for 3/4rs of the game.

Home team wants to make their home fans happy and look strong to sell those last STs.  I hope we put an effort into winning @PAS too, even though in most years we never do.  (MOS doesn't care about marketing, it appears, so WM needs to give him a shout about putting starters on to win.)

[TecnoGenius]

WR Cruikshank and Adams seem to be ballers.

74 Adams ("the player with no name") looked great!  I assume he's NAT?  I don't recall the name, sorry.  He's the only one who stood out to me.  And maybe that TD guy too, as I'll assume that was a good route to shake/fool all the defenders.

Except for that early pass attempt (the stupid short curl that lost us the '22 GC argh! Buck!) I didn't see Lawler on field much nor making plays.  Wonder why they even brought him.

[TecnoGenius]

It makes what Pigrome accomplished in his pre-season games last year all that more impressive.

I was thinking "Pigrome" for some of the game, just like you guys.  Wilson looked like Pigrome to me... balling out there and looking more natural.  He did a "Brohm" for the the 1st 2 passes then dialed it in and looked very good.  As soon as Buck opened the playbook for him to go deep it was clear he was in his element.

But Pigrome taught us to temper our enthusiasm in PS... so now we'll doubt every good looking QB from now on.  Sigh.  Probably for the best.

[TecnoGenius]

The Oline on that TD drive was Okeke, Vanterpool, Vlahogiannis, Kalra and Ivy

I think Dobson was whiffing a bit on those sacks.  That's not good at all.  Ivy I noticed truckin' hard and playing nasty to the whistle.  Not sure if he blew any blocks.

I didn't notice Lofton but I think he started when Strevie was on, so not noticing is probably a good thing.

Our OL was having major problems getting push on SY.  That's disappointing and very scary.  Some of those OL sets were only 1 man off from our desired starting lineup!  MOS and our team depend heavily on being able to make 3rd and 1.5.  They have to be 95%.

Strange, but I didn't notice Wallace doing much, and I was looking for him in the run game.  I did notice his huge massive frame, though... he makes the other hoggies look tiny!!  Insane.

[Pigskin]

Game stats for some of our young Canadian players and rookie Americans.

Rosery: 5 touches 31 yards, and 1 ST.
Hubert: 2 DT.
Schmekel: 2 DT.
Murphy: 1 Tar/1 Rec. 10 yards.
Clercius: 2 Tar/ 2 Rec. 16 yards.

Schmekel, and Hubert both played about 15 minutes.

Norman: (DBs) 5 DT, McCarthy 5 DT, Hackett 4 DT, McGhee 3 DT.
Thomas: (LB) 4 DT.

Smith: KOR 2/48 Lg. 27 yards. PR 1/12 yards.
Case: KOR 1/24.
Cruikshank: KOR 2/35 Lg. 22 yards. PR 1/7 yards.

[LXTSN]

I like the way Case moved around out there. Not sure if he would be the ideal KR but I see his upside as a Weston Dressler type of player.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I like the way Case moved around out there. Not sure if he would be the ideal KR but I see his upside as a Weston Dressler type of player.

I loved Weston Dressler when he played, but in this run-centric offence I don't think they can replace Bailey with a Dresslerish clone.  Whoever they choose must have a fair component of grit cause there will be a fair number of blocking assignments on his play sheet.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

None of the above.  Awful!!  Compare with SSK's returners...

Grant just raised his ask by $20k I'm betting...

Sask. had at least 2 rookie returners that attacked the ball well and took off at high speed, unless they're prepared to part company with Mario Alford good chance they'll cut one or both of them.  Hope Walters isn't too proud to go scrap heap'n this early in the season, because the Bomber returners looked mediocre to bleh.

[theaardvark]

Returners are tough to rate on one game of a few snaps.  The Canadian return game is so much different than anything they have done.  And we were playing scrubs vs. ones.

I am confident we will find a returner in who we have (or Grant), we don't need guys in the green scrapheap.