Official Game Day Thread - Ottawa at Winnipeg, August 14, 2025

[Jesse]

I hear there's this DB out there who is familiar with the system here. His name eludes me but I'm pretty sure it rhymes with fridges.

And we still chose not to, lol

[blue_gold_84]

And we still chose not to, lol

The WFC can admit it made a mistake and welcome him back with open arms.

[Blueforlife]

The WFC can admit it made a mistake and welcome him back with open arms.

Maybe he has a friend that can play safety 🤔

[Blue In BC]

Logan wasn't ready imo
Vanterpool had a setback
Lawson recently hurt
We don't have DB to add
Adding Allen brings flexibility

A lot more factors in this bad stretch than just roster decisions imo

Hopefully went can figure out our CB situation, solutions isn't with the club imo
Hopefully Parker comes back soon

"We don't have a DB to add " is a mistake. D. Lawson was cut after TC then re-signed on July 29 and played August 9th.

So neither of Allen or Woodbey who were on our PR since TC ended were not capable of playing CB. Yet, Lawson who didn't practice for 10 weeks has a couple of practices and is ready?

Doesn't that say we should have had another CB on the PR instead of the two DB's we did have? I don't know maybe Lawson was offered a PR spot and declined.

We had more than one rookie CB's in TC and none of them accepted a PR spot. We couldn't fine one before July 29th?

Sounds like a series of mistakes to me just on the position of CB. There were already questions about both Bonds and Bridges in particular coming out of TC and we choose to run with both anyway. With no good back up plan. Technically we had Parker as depth at CB but he had come off a serious injury and we questioned whether he was ready.

So being ready is a judgment call.

[theaardvark]

I hear there's this DB out there who is familiar with the system here. His name eludes me but I'm pretty sure it rhymes with fridges.

We do not know what the circumstances of his departure, whether it was amicable or if he had somehow caused his release, intentionally or not.  Regardless, had they thought he was a better option than what they have, no doubt he'd be back.  He's not, so we move on.

I am always surprised with the ability to find DB's, maybe we have someone in the scopes with NFL cuts coming. 

[Blueforlife]

"We don't have a DB to add " is a mistake. D. Lawson was cut after TC then re-signed on July 29 and played August 9th.

So neither of Allen or Woodbey who were on our PR since TC ended were not capable of playing CB. Yet, Lawson who didn't practice for 10 weeks has a couple of practices and is ready?

Doesn't that say we should have had another CB on the PR instead of the two DB's we did have? I don't know maybe Lawson was offered a PR spot and declined.

We had more than one rookie CB's in TC and none of them accepted a PR spot. We couldn't fine one before July 29th?

Sounds like a series of mistakes to me just on the position of CB. There were already questions about both Bonds and Bridges in particular coming out of TC and we choose to run with both anyway. With no good back up plan. Technically we had Parker as depth at CB but he had come off a serious injury and we questioned whether he was ready.

So being ready is a judgment call.

Bonds wasn't a question mark to me.  Club was high on Bridges, didn't work out.  Move on.  Having two critical pieces of your D go down is rough and there is a chance we might find someone yet.  Let's give Allen a chance to see what the club does this week and hopefully we can find some depth as the season goes on if Parker out medium term.

Woodbey too heavy for CB imo.  Allen is a safety.  Yes would have been nice to have another decent DB.  Can't plan for every scenario.

We do not know what the circumstances of his departure, whether it was amicable or if he had somehow caused his release, intentionally or not.  Regardless, had they thought he was a better option than what they have, no doubt he'd be back.  He's not, so we move on.

I am always surprised with the ability to find DB's, maybe we have someone in the scopes with NFL cuts coming. 

Yes DB are not that hard to find.  Good ones well....

[blue_gold_84]

We do not know what the circumstances of his departure, whether it was amicable or if he had somehow caused his release, intentionally or not.  Regardless, had they thought he was a better option than what they have, no doubt he'd be back.  He's not, so we move on.

I'm being mostly facetious. I won't speculate on details regarding his release, but I do think he was given a bit of a raw deal when you factor in how poorly the secondary as an entire unit has played for much of this season.

[Blueforlife]

I'm being mostly facetious. I won't speculate on details regarding his release, but I do think he was given a bit of a raw deal when you factor in how poorly the secondary as an entire unit has played for much of this season.

Agree I would have kept him. Bombers were not thinking ahead imo.  He might not have taken a spot on the PR.  Didn't deserve a AR spot.  Tight spot.

[Pete]

We do not know what the circumstances of his departure, whether it was amicable or if he had somehow caused his release, intentionally or not.  Regardless, had they thought he was a better option than what they have, no doubt he'd be back.  He's not, so we move on.

I am always surprised with the ability to find DB's, maybe we have someone in the scopes with NFL cuts coming. 

Bridges wasn't the answer and bring him back even if its an option isn't going to help. Kelly or Smith etc can get beat just as often. (Do you know how bad a player has to be to be cut from our starting roster, it happens rarely)
Evans, Dandridge Houston, etc would all be better choices but for some reason we don't look outside our organization nearly enough.
 Keeping my fingers crossed that we do add an nfl cut but its seldom that they see any action till the following year unless theyve had previous cfl experience.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

We do not know what the circumstances of his departure, whether it was amicable or if he had somehow caused his release, intentionally or not.  Regardless, had they thought he was a better option than what they have, no doubt he'd be back.  He's not, so we move on.

I am always surprised with the ability to find DB's, maybe we have someone in the scopes with NFL cuts coming. 

Very un-Bomber like to cut Bridges and leave themselves short in the secondary, so I believe it was his decision not to accept the PR spot. They are pretty careful, whenever they cut players outright they usually have their replacement already lined up ready to fill the gap.

Nick Taylor is the solution to all problems, the sooner they admit it, the sooner their downfall will be halted.

[Pigskin]

Purifoy is a good DB and can return kicks. I would have taken a run at him, but I think he has a 2 game suspension he has to serve first.

[Blue In BC]

Bonds wasn't a question mark to me.  Club was high on Bridges, didn't work out.  Move on.  Having two critical pieces of your D go down is rough and there is a chance we might find someone yet.  Let's give Allen a chance to see what the club does this week and hopefully we can find some depth as the season goes on if Parker out medium term.

Woodbey too heavy for CB imo.  Allen is a safety.  Yes would have been nice to have another decent DB.  Can't plan for every scenario.
Yes DB are not that hard to find.  Good ones well....

It seemed pre determined before TC that Bridges was pegged as the starter at CB. Parker had already been a starter at CB so moving him to safety seemed like a mistake.

So the question is whether there was free and fair competition at either spot or whether those two actually won their spots.

If Bridges " won " his spot based on his play rather than actual competition in TC,then I would challenge recruitment and possibly final decision making.

In either case, how can we not say this was a big mistake one way or the other. Bridges was a DI a few times last year but he was not a starter. IIRC, he was shown on the depth chart at HB behind Nichols or Holms.

It's another instance where O'Shea seems to prefer players that were with the team in the previous year, than newbies.

As I said, whatever the choice was, it should have been obvious to many ( it was ) that there should have been a CB kept on the PR.

Bonds had a better hold on his spot but he was also thought to be suspect.

All of that suggests depth was needed on the PR and that didn't happen.

There were a lot of very good DB's available in free agency. We stood pat.

I've just provided a substantial list of mistakes which many posters brought to light as TC progressed. Management is not infallible.

Cutting Bridges outright should be proof enough that not enough was done before game 1.

[Blue In BC]

The Redblacks were not a particularly good team on defence. Now they've lost 3 starters and their secondary is a shambles. P. Walker in Calgary threw for nearly 300 yards.

If our offence struggles against them, that will be a sad state of affairs.

Conversely our defence has struggled and now lost both CB's. That can't be good against D. Brown who is a good passing QB. 7 TD's and 600 yard passing in his last 2 games.

This will also be telling.

[TecnoGenius]

It seemed pre determined before TC that Bridges was pegged as the starter at CB. Parker had already been a starter at CB so moving him to safety seemed like a mistake.

So the question is whether there was free and fair competition at either spot or whether those two actually won their spots.

Great post.

Part of it is we didn't find the next D.Alford/Holm/Nichols/Ford this TC.  We've relied on finding a top DB every season, and we've mostly been successful.  This season: nada, nothing, zilch.  That throws a spanner in the works and here we are.

If Bridges " won " his spot based on his play rather than actual competition in TC,then I would challenge recruitment and possibly final decision making.

Bridges "won" because of his 2nd year status, hoping for the normal 2nd year improvement.  And because no one else "flashed".  It was a decent bet, but it was clear by game 4 he was only worthy of depth spot or PR (or cut).

In either case, how can we not say this was a big mistake one way or the other. Bridges was a DI a few times last year but he was not a starter. IIRC, he was shown on the depth chart at HB behind Nichols or Holms.

And I think he would have lasted way longer if he was still DI/PR.  Maybe there was more upside.  We'll never know now.  As for chart, I'm nearly positive he was always DI'd at CB, not HB.

As I said, whatever the choice was, it should have been obvious to many ( it was ) that there should have been a CB kept on the PR.

Major failure.  That we know Bridges was a gamble, and even Bonds isn't the best, we should have done everything to hire a legit, proven CB to start.  Ya, Parker was always the emergency guy, but coming off a year-long injury is always an iffy proposition... and I posit we always had him pegged as FS for '25.

Bonds had a better hold on his spot but he was also thought to be suspect.

Last season, when our DB corps was healthy, Bonds was the weak link.  He got better, and is better this season, but he wasn't going to be anywhere near the level of Holm/Nichols/Ford.

All of that suggests depth was needed on the PR and that didn't happen.
There were a lot of very good DB's available in free agency. We stood pat.

Preach, brother!

Cutting Bridges outright should be proof enough that not enough was done before game 1.

It's quite the shambles, isn't it?  Let's say Parker never gets injured.  Bridges still gets cut, and our only plan at starting corner is to play a rookie or new-to-WFC relative unknown?  Surely this should have been foreseen.

We knew in TC we didn't find a D.Alford.  We knew Bridges was the weak link (only started in '24 due to injury, and wasn't great).  Why didn't we have a backup plan?

We had massive backup plans for the REC position.  So much so we benched a "star" and cut another solid guy (Reggie).

Why didn't we do the same at DB??  Why no star / solid vet FA signings?  And DBs are "cheap" compared to RECs!  It's not like a middling / mid-high tier vet is expensive!

[TecnoGenius]

Nick Taylor is the solution to all problems, the sooner they admit it, the sooner their downfall will be halted.

Unless someone can correct me, Taylor was always HB.  Doesn't mean he can play corner.  And I don't believe Holm/Nichols would be better outside.

Heck, I can't even recall if Houston played CB!  However, his body type seems a natural fit.

In hindsight, we should have just paid for Ford.  Our D would be lights out, even with Parker bumping to the other corner for Bonds.