Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg @ Saskatchewan May 23, 2026

[Blue In BC]

Singer was the most targeted receiver and he did fairly well. It did appear he made a mistake not going to the back of the end zone that Perkins anticipated. It could be he's not used to the deeper Canadian end zone and stopped short resulting in a KD.

In any case, he made a statement to be the 3rd import receiver if that's the direction we choose. As I've suggested I didn't see anything to convince me we're headed to a 3 import OL. Now I haven't been to practice to see what happens there, so I certainly could be in error.

Both rookie QB's had some ups and downs. Overall not horrible for 1st CFL experience and massive player rotation every play.

[towelie]

Qb: Perkins should probably be #2 right now and I don't think its particularly close. Elgersma had a couple good reads and throws but it needs to slow down for him still, clipboard for awhile will help.

Oline: some nice pass pro here and there, but run block and overall looked eerily similar to last year and that's scary.

Rb: Chris Ike ran hard? Everyone was running into walls the second they got the ball

Rec: White looks as advertised, thats good. Singer needs to be starting IMO, looks like Pokey 2.0. Had some nice returns too. Fredericksen had a tough drop and also didn't spot the ball in time on that end zone shot - thought he could have had a td there. Corcoran has nice hands even if he's a little clunky.

Dline: Honestly impressed, lots of guys got after it. They wanted to be faster and meaner - they were. Dixon and Jenkins were solid. Reese with two brutal penalties that may send him packing, but I thought he actually looked pretty disruptive otherwise.

Lb: Woodbey is probably going to have a nice year, versatile and around the ball. Thought Jalen Smith may have been the most impressive though, great athleticism.

Db: none of the new guys really stood out to me. Burrell had some nice coverage and tackles, but also got lost a bunch. Texada had some moments too. Stuart and Kelly were out of their depth a bit IMO especially Stuart, that was a tough one.

Kickers did their jobs, both have big legs. Incumbents are safe either way.

[Blue In BC]

Based on the very early pre-season ready we better be considering playing Americans at gaurd now if we intend to run the ball this season.

Hopefully then interior run game looks better next week or there's zero hope Collaros makes it through the year. We need to be able to run the ball.

Oliveria only touched the ball 3 times. Every time it was very predictable which didn't help. It is a fair statement that Collaros needs to be protected and the run game needs to be successful otherwise we're in trouble.

It's partially a chicken and egg question. O. Wilson didn't play, and White only played briefly. So with not being to pass as well hurt our run game and vice versa. Rotating in at least 7 new OL wasn't going to make the offence look great.

New OC and 2 new QB's most asked to pass for evaluation.

It was a pre season game on the road against the Riders playing their 2nd game. 

BTW: Two pic 6's by the same team was nice to see.

[Blue In BC]

More than anything I'm just wondering about any health issues with some starters that didn't play. We haven't heard anything to suggest anything serious so we'll see if they play on Friday.


It's a short week before the next game.

[Jesse]

Based on the very early pre-season ready we better be considering playing Americans at gaurd now if we intend to run the ball this season.

Hopefully then interior run game looks better next week or there's zero hope Collaros makes it through the year. We need to be able to run the ball.

I feel like this is a uninformed take of the situation. Pass protection was superb throughout the game and the run game was never able to get going - Americans at guard or not.

If we have a couple of drives with Zach throwing darts to White up and down the field, the run game opens up and they're plowing through like we've come to expect. But in the preseason, we took Zach out early and TE obviously struggled with making the passing game a threat so it was fairly easy for them to shut down any running lanes the odd time we made a simple rush up the middle.

IMO, the best take away we have was that our OL did really well.

The "indication" was fan hopes & dreams (me included).

I put it at 50/50.

lmao. Your dreams make it 50/50?

I think it's more 95/5. (the 5% being injury).

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Other thoughts:

Like Elgersma. Get that results were pretty mixed but I watched him in the NFL and he pretty much was a check down Charlie down south.

He took his chances and he cut it loose and he made some mistakes. That's the only way to play and the only way to develop.

Considering he hasn't played much in a couple years and the CFL is a wildly different beast than USports he looked pretty good. The key will be continuing to develop from here because I'm pretty convinced we're going to need him at some point this season.

Collaros looked good. White looked good obviously. We got a bit of pressure. Secondary had a bunch of pre-season problems right from the starters.

Realistically, in my mind, next week will be a better read of things.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I feel like this is a uninformed take of the situation. Pass protection was superb throughout the game and the run game was never able to get going - Americans at guard or not.

If we have a couple of drives with Zach throwing darts to White up and down the field, the run game opens up and they're plowing through like we've come to expect. But in the preseason, we took Zach out early and TE obviously struggled with making the passing game a threat so it was fairly easy for them to shut down any running lanes the odd time we made a simple rush up the middle.

IMO, the best take away we have was that our OL did really well.

lmao. Your dreams make it 50/50?

I think it's more 95/5. (the 5% being injury).

Maybe. But the run game struggled last season and we were a pretty mid ranked offensive line when it came to run execution last year. I was hoping to see a glimmer of something better but best on best what we saw was exactly the same as last year. I wouldn't say it's an uniformed take. If anything it's an impatient take which is taking too much of last year's results into this one.

What is absolute true is if we can't run effectively through the A and B gaps it's going to be hard to pass protect and it's going to be next to impossible to be a top 3 offence the way we're set up. It's as early as it gets but it's still a warning light that's flashing on the dashboard.

[Jesse]

Maybe. But the run game struggled last season and we were a pretty mid ranked offensive line when it came to run execution last year. I was hoping to see a glimmer of something better but best on best what we saw was exactly the same as last year. I wouldn't say it's an uniformed take. If anything it's an impatient take which is taking too much of last year's results into this one.

What is absolute true is if we can't run effectively through the A and B gaps it's going to be hard to pass protect and it's going to be next to impossible to be a top 3 offence the way we're set up. It's as early as it gets but it's still a warning light that's flashing on the dashboard.

Impatient is the better word.

But Winnipeg and Calgary were the best running teams in the league last year. Our offense was stifled by turn overs but it  doesn't change the effectiveness of our rushing attack when we were able to employ it.

[Blueforlife]

Great takes everyone, had the game on but at a bon fire on a lappy without sound so didn't get a good feel for the game

[Jesse]

Offensive thoughts:

- Amazing that we got to see the Zach - White connection. I'm excited to see the offence with Demski, Pokey, and White playing together

- Pass protection great all game long. All the QBs had lots of time.

- I think the back-up situation worked out as expected. Perkins looks like he can fill the Streveler role and run the offense if needed for a bit.

- It would obviously be amazing if Elgersma looked like a Hall of Famer off the bat, but that's not how it works. The important thing I saw is we are giving him the snaps and are actively developing him. MOS said after the game he was going for the big play rather than talking what's in front of him - perhaps a needed humbling/lesson.

- Brady and the rushing game didn't get many opportunities and experienced less success. I believe it would open up in the regular season with a consistent passing attack.

- Chris-Ike looks better than Peterson?? I know we've played him as a FB, but MOS has made comments that we've played him out of position and he looks better in his natural role. With Daniels in the mix, could Peterson be odd man out?

- Speaking of Daniels, I didn't really notice him. It was hard to follow with the crappy stadium feed. Anyone have any thoughts? DT or Ed had said he looked good in pass pro but not in the run game - which sounds like the whole team.

- It think Frederickson might have got himself cut while Singer was able to make some plays.

- Corcoran probably made the best catch of the night 15-20 yards down the field so I'll eat some crow on that one to steal a phrase.

Defensive thoughts:

- We had 13 guys listed at DL. So the first thing I noticed was that we ran a 4 man front all game long.

- Even with that being the case, we still started every play with a 2 man safety look. One would come down, one would stay back. It was not a consistent person staying back as the "safety", imo.

- Jaylen Smith looks like the real deal. Noticed him a ton. Drafted as a LB but practicing with the DBs - he might be the Canadian version of Griffin/Woodbey (same body type too).

- #22 - Burrell and #7 - Stuart seemed to be in chase mode on several occasions. Didn't notice them in a positive way

- Texada though had the cool interception and was he the one who broke up the pass that led to Holm's INT?

Special Teams:

- We had a 50 FG and a couple of booming punts

- Much like an American RB though, doesn't seem like this team has room for K/P - even though I would personally love a guy who can punt the ball 70 yards with hang time. Seems like a good thing.

[Blue In BC]

I think it will be easier to sort out which players to keep on offence. Whether they are starters or back ups ( Canadians ) if moot in the early going.

We don't use a DI on offence so the only import to stick on the AR is probably Singer. That's if and only if we don't go to that 3 import OL. If we do. I have no idea which import that will be. Singer would then go to either the reserve or PR.

Fredericksen to the PR. Didn't see anybody else that did anything but we probably have 2 on the PR.

Just a guess but Elsbury, Mazzocua and Randolph to the PR.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Singer was the most targeted receiver and he did fairly well. It did appear he made a mistake not going to the back of the end zone that Perkins anticipated. It could be he's not used to the deeper Canadian end zone and stopped short resulting in a KD.

In any case, he made a statement to be the 3rd import receiver if that's the direction we choose. As I've suggested I didn't see anything to convince me we're headed to a 3 import OL. Now I haven't been to practice to see what happens there, so I certainly could be in error.

Both rookie QB's had some ups and downs. Overall not horrible for 1st CFL experience and massive player rotation every play.

Perkins kind of reminded me of a young Kevin Glenn, seems to be versatile and elusive but not much of an arm.  Looks like a good candidate for a dink and dunk offence.

Neither rookie QB looked like they were capable of reading the defence, they either threw to a spot or threw at what they perceived to be an open target almost blindly. Reading the defence is a skill not acquired quickly without playing time, I fear if Zach goes down this season they will be hard pressed to win any games with the current backups. 

Terry Wilson may not have been the answer but he was at least familiar with the problem and had studied it for a few years, hard to say how he would have faired because he never got a full game to show if he could eventually comprehend and adapt or not. 

Gambling on Zach's health is a risky proposition as it often takes only one heavy hit to remove him from the game as happened repeatedly last season.  The West race is going to be ulta-tight this year, I think they have to seriously consider bringing in a QB with some level of CFL experience just to get by, even if they are not in their long-term plans.  A few QB's are still available, none of them very attractive but beggars can't always be choosers.

[Jesse]

Perkins kind of reminded me of a young Kevin Glenn, seems to be versatile and elusive but not much of an arm.  Looks like a good candidate for a dink and dunk offence.

Neither rookie QB looked like they were capable of reading the defence, they either threw to a spot or threw at what they perceived to be an open target almost blindly. Reading the defence is a skill not acquired quickly without playing time, I fear if Zach goes down this season they will be hard pressed to win any games with the current backups. 

Terry Wilson may not have been the answer but he was at least familiar with the problem and had studied it for a few years, hard to say how he would have faired because he never got a full game to show if he could eventually comprehend and adapt or not. 

Gambling on Zach's health is a risky proposition as it often takes only one heavy hit to remove him from the game as happened repeatedly last season.  The West race is going to be ulta-tight this year, I think they have to seriously consider bringing in a QB with some level of CFL experience just to get by, even if they are not in their long-term plans.  A few QB's are still available, none of them very attractive but beggars can't always be choosers.

I disagree with the notion that we have to sign a retread who has already proven they are not worth a contract.

Zach is our starter and hopefully the only time he comes off the field is to let Perkins run the SY or have Elgersma play clean up for the reps.

If he leaves a game early or misses a start here or there, Perkins and the run game can do the best they can the same way we saw Streveler do it. And if there is a major injury, signing someone off the street isn't saving the season anyway.

[Blue In BC]

On defence is where the real questions exist.

Burrell, Texada and Williams were the best of the bunch at CB. One will start and 2 will end up on PR. I think Lamont sticks on PR as depth for DHB. This could be curtains for Allen.

12 LB's: Clinton and Cretsinger to the PR. 3 others probably cut out right.

13 DL: We only get to keep 1 import to start besides Ceresna: Jenkins. Dixon to PR. After that IDK but a few will be down the road. Interesting that we didn't show many imports at DT although some could potentially do that.

Not much of my guesses in my mind were changed by the game.

Veterans on the bubble due to ratio and depth: Allen and Ayers. Both have some talent but how do we get them on the roster and at what cost.

New starters: Singer, Jenkins and Burrell