Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg at Ottawa - September 20, 2025

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

i have watched football for decades and for a starting QB (albeit backup) that was the WORST i have seen.  backups as in game replacements havelikely done worse.

imagine how ottawa fans must feel - hahahaha get beat like that when your qb throws for over 400??

This game reminded me of the last game of the 2017 season vs. the Stamps, played in miserable blizzard like conditions in Calgary. Dan LeFevour played the entire game in place of Nichols and did nothing but run, hand the ball to Harris and Flanders and dump short passes off to Harris all game long. End result Wpg. 23 Stamps 5.  I think that was Dan's very last game in the CFL as he retired shortly afterwards.

Here's hoping for an early Nov. playoff game in Calgary in miserable blizzard like conditions. Zach can sit that one out, Mark down Strev as the starter, VAJ will crumble from frustration and despair.

[theaardvark]

This game reminded me of the last game of the 2017 season vs. the Stamps, played in miserable blizzard like conditions in Calgary. Dan LeFevour played the entire game in place of Nichols and did nothing but run, hand the ball to Harris and Flanders and dump short passes off to Harris all game long. End result Wpg. 23 Stamps 5.  I think that was Dan's very last game in the CFL as he retired shortly afterwards.

Here's hoping for an early Nov. playoff game in Calgary in miserable blizzard like conditions. Zach can sit that one out, Mark down Strev as the starter, VAJ will crumble from frustration and despair.

Actually, if you look at his stat line for that game...

 DATE   WEEK    OPP    COMP    ATT    YDS    TD    INT    AVG
11-04   20    CGY    13    17    91    0    0    5.4

Vs. yeasterday:
 DATE   WEEK    OPP    COMP    ATT    YDS    TD    INT    AVG
09-20   16    OTT    3    8    54    0    1    6.8

Lefevour had more than twice the attempts and 10 more completions. And no INTs.  And 5 for 27 rushing only.  SCS17 11 for 72.

[BBRT]

This game reminded me of the last game of the 2017 season vs. the Stamps, played in miserable blizzard like conditions in Calgary. Dan LeFevour played the entire game in place of Nichols and did nothing but run, hand the ball to Harris and Flanders and dump short passes off to Harris all game long. End result Wpg. 23 Stamps 5.  I think that was Dan's very last game in the CFL as he retired shortly afterwards.

Here's hoping for an early Nov. playoff game in Calgary in miserable blizzard like conditions. Zach can sit that one out, Mark down Strev as the starter, VAJ will crumble from frustration and despair.

Ah November here in Calgary - Can be 20C or -20C all in the same day. It could snow at the stadium location and be sunny where I live here on the ridge in Cranston.

[Blue In BC]

If you looked at the game stats without knowing the final score, it would be easy to think we lost. 11 yards passing in the 1st half. 3 1st downs IIRC, maybe a couple more. Lost TOP by 8 minutes and lost the LOS on both sides of the ball.

Obviously a couple of good plays or a couple of bad plays can be a great equalizer. Wade's missed FG for example and a 10 point swing.

Games are not won on sheer stats alone. But that was ugly and we made a few plays better than the Redblacks.  I feel somewhat sorry for them but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Not likely they can make the playoffs now.

[TecnoGenius]

Actually, if you look at his stat line for that game...

 DATE    WEEK    OPP    COMP    ATT    YDS    TD    INT    AVG
11-04    20    CGY    13    17    91    0    0    5.4

Vs. yeasterday:
 DATE    WEEK    OPP    COMP    ATT    YDS    TD    INT    AVG
09-20    16    OTT    3    8    54    0    1    6.8

Lefevour had more than twice the attempts and 10 more completions. And no INTs.  And 5 for 27 rushing only.  SCS17 11 for 72.

Ya, but in 2017 with Lapo teams weren't having their D's cheat up on every short route because our OC refused to ever make them pay or think of counter schemes.

Even Zach can't get many short completions for us this season.  How many INTs has he thrown?

The main problem isn't QB...

P.S. Feve is my all time fave SY guy, and true 99%er regardless of what Junkie says... (I still have all the games, don't make me prove it!!)

[TecnoGenius]

Pregame said the biggest previous deficit Strev has over come to win was 3 points.

Then everyone needs to give Strev credit for tripling his best comeback record yesterday!

I wasn't watching the live betting lines, but I wonder if WPG was paying 30-1 when OTT went up by 10??  I'm a little miffed I missed that.

[TecnoGenius]

This was not disappointing at all. We retained our third place in the West over BC. It was incredible.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but I too wasn't disappointed.  In fact, I was pretty darn happy the rest of the day/night (ask my wife).  Always feels good after a WPG win.  I don't care how they get it.  A giant meteor could land on the opponent bench and we win by forfeit and I'd still be ecstatic (especially if that bench was green...).

Strev scramble running up the gut after 1.5s in the pocket 100 times was very cringe.  But who cares about cringe.  There's no "cringe" column in the standings.

[TecnoGenius]

Rewatching it, OTT was not smothering the Rec's in any way, the deep pass to Corcoran was so wide open *I* could have hit him, and he sat there WAVING at Streveler to throw him the ball.

But they were smothering the O in the 1st 3 Q's.  They were getting ready to cheat up on every single short route, and short routes were basically all we were running, just like every other D has done to us for about 6 games now.

The only reason Corcoran was wide open was that was basically the only play where Strev had more than 2.7s in the pocket.  See what happens when the OL actually protects and the QB stays pat?  Well look at that, suddenly we look like every other team in the league that has all day in the pocket are making wide open pitch & catches look easy.  Even with "just Strev".

Why don't we see that all the time?  Because the OL is bottom-3 in league and our scheme is generally crap.  The Corcoran thing was basically him ad-libbing after the main scheme broke down.

[TecnoGenius]

The most entertaining part of the game was when Strev ran my gf would hunch over like a buffalo, move her upper body side to side and stomp her feet. Spot on. You wonder how much faster he would be with any kind of correct form.

gf imitation, LOL awesome

Strev has always run like that.  Knees bent out.  Even in '19.  Hey, it works for him and it's entertaining!  He runs weird, chucks weird, it's all weird.  Don't care!  Keep winning!

[TecnoGenius]

imagine how ottawa fans must feel - hahahaha get beat like that when your qb throws for over 400??

Moving the ball really well from your own 10-40YL to the opponent's 50 doesn't buy you anything in the CFL.  That's the whole "bend don't break" thing.

We were better at moving the ball when and where it counted, and got a free TD and a couple of good starting field positions.

Goes to show how "yards" stats can be deceiving or outright useless (like BLM in '24).

[blue_gold_84]

Seems like Vaval's missed FG return TD was the highlight of the game.

Glad I missed this one.

[TecnoGenius]

Glad I missed this one.

I don't know, the Strev 40Y romp was fun, as was the handiwork of Allen.  And the last 3 mins was also fun as OTT has the QB & REC horsepower to come back from 2 scores.  Seeing our big boys grind it on the ground was very fulfilling, and important practice for what we'll have to do to seal games going forward, probably.

[TecnoGenius]

It was Lapo!  1Q8:50 Lapo says Demski will pass Denmark on WPG completions on his next catch and "congratulations to Nic on that".  He counted the chicken before it hatched and gave Demski the commentator's curse!

   

[Blue In BC]

Yeah, yeah some don't like posts from the other site but this was interesting. In particular rushing for 349 yards in 1974.

Winning With 3 Completions: The Blue Bombers won last week despite having just 3 completed passes on 8 attempts for 54 yards and a 9.4 Rating. The last club to win a game with 3 or fewer completed passes came on September 24, 1975. That day Winnipeg was again involved when they were just 2-of-11 for 62 yards and yet defeated Hamilton 34-32. With Chuck Ealey at QB, Winnipeg rushed 54 times for 349 yards that day. Of Note: Hamilton went 3-for-12 in a 1974 game and won 11-10 over Ottawa.

8 Pass Attempts: Last week Winnipeg attempted just 8 passes for 54 yards and a 9.4 Rating. The last time that ANY CFL club tried as few as 8 pass attempts was by Winnipeg themselves on August 26, 1975 vs Calgary. That day behind QB Chuck Ealey they tried 8 passes completing 4 for 99 yards in a 25-22 win. That day they ran the ball 39 times for 237 yards.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Yeah, yeah some don't like posts from the other site but this was interesting. In particular rushing for 349 yards in 1974.

Winning With 3 Completions: The Blue Bombers won last week despite having just 3 completed passes on 8 attempts for 54 yards and a 9.4 Rating. The last club to win a game with 3 or fewer completed passes came on September 24, 1975. That day Winnipeg was again involved when they were just 2-of-11 for 62 yards and yet defeated Hamilton 34-32. With Chuck Ealey at QB, Winnipeg rushed 54 times for 349 yards that day. Of Note: Hamilton went 3-for-12 in a 1974 game and won 11-10 over Ottawa.

8 Pass Attempts: Last week Winnipeg attempted just 8 passes for 54 yards and a 9.4 Rating. The last time that ANY CFL club tried as few as 8 pass attempts was by Winnipeg themselves on August 26, 1975 vs Calgary. That day behind QB Chuck Ealey they tried 8 passes completing 4 for 99 yards in a 25-22 win. That day they ran the ball 39 times for 237 yards.

Hopefully that's the last game Strev starts this season, if Zach goes down again, they're in serious danger of missing the playoffs.