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

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Where was Tommy Nield for yesterday's pre-season game vs Sask? He appears ahead of Clercius and Davis on the depth chart but it doesn't look like he recorded any catches. Maybe just a decoy for Tim White in that first series?

I'm not really sure what to expect from Nield but whatever your expectations, I would lower them. He's without question the 4th best receiver on this team and could be more like 5-6 depending on how everyone grades out this year.

[RebusRankin]

Blue in BC had an excellent post about the Americans on the roster and potentially how that looks. Look forward to his take on our Canadians.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

We're allowed 20 imports that aren't QB's. Bombers will only have 2 import QB's so our total should be 22 import on the game day roster, excluding whatever they do with the reserve.

1. Bryant
2. Broxton
3. O. Wilson
4. White
5. Jones
6. K. Wilson
7. Griffin
8. Woodbey
9.  Holm
10. Nichols
11. Moxey
12. Burrell
13. Ceresna
14. Jefferson
15. Jenkins
16. Vaval
17. Castillo
18. Collaros
19. Perkins

So in theory we have 3 more spots of which 1 is a  DI's ( potentially ) and 1 is just a non starter due to starting 8 Canadians. Yesterday we started 9 Canadians so that's a limbo question where we add an import starter.

Choices: Singer or Fredericksen, Allen, Ayers, 1 additional import OL( starting ), Dixon

In this scenario Castillo, Vaval and Woodbey would be 3 of the DI's.

IMO Singer makes the roster over another import OL. I'd pick Dixon over Ayers as a DI but O'Shea probably picks Ayers but that might still leave room for Dixon.

If they choose to retain Allen then Dixon is probably not on the AR.

Possible option to create room for an extra import on the D-line is to give Kyrie the special Natl. designation he deserves and backstop him with Smith, who seems to have lept over Shay in terms of impressive play. Unfortunately this could sidetrack Woodbey, who is also making tremendous progress.

[Tecno]

That playclock sure felt different in the last 2 minutes there, much more urgency between plays.

They go back to the stop-then-20s clock for the final 3 mins.  So it should be no different from last year.

I think what you saw there was SSK really not wanting to lose.  They take winning their PS seriously.

Too bad we couldn't return the favor when we had our chance.  But Mafia has never given a rat's butt about winning a PS.

[Tecno]

Possible option to create room for an extra import on the D-line is to give Kyrie the special Natl. designation he deserves

Like half the team's IMPs could be that 8th "NAT" NA FAKENAT.  I wouldn't get too excited about what that buys us.  It's a mostly useless no-op designation.  (In contrast to the more impactful DNA, but we don't use that.)

[Tecno]

I'm not really sure what to expect from Nield but whatever your expectations, I would lower them.

At his price Nield should be miles above every other NAT not named Demski.  He's getting paid Gittens-level money and should be expected to produce more than even Woli did.  If he is just another extra NAT like our other guys then I think we'll be disappointed.

If we can get McInnis-level I think we'd all be overjoyed.

[Tecno]

That site sucks, trying the rewatch the game nd it keeps buffering

Often this is the game auth-cookie expiring.  Just hit reload button on your browser to refresh and allow watching.  It seems to time out after 8-12 hours?  It's taking me days to watch all of these games and I have to refresh every time I step away for a long while.  Make sure you note your position before reloading, as it will reset to the start of the game.

[Tecno]

Calling for Wallace to be replaced by an Imp after this game is probably the one comment I take most umbrage with.  The calls for a 3 Imp Oline still befuddle me when we have good Nats.

Wallace should be a human road grader.  He should be literally clearing vast swathes of flesh to making gaping holes for Brady.  Like hosing 3 guys and getting downfield to hose another LB or DB.

But he doesn't.  I don't think I ever saw that even once in '25!!  And his pass pro wasn't the best in '25 either.  So what is he doing there?  That's why many are antsy about the idea of a 3 IMP OL.

MOS is still tooting his horn though, so we should all hope & pray for improvement/growth from '25.  It would appear his pass pro is up to snuff, but still no sign of life in the road grading department.

Maybe he'd be best used as a sealer (surely he can seal off 2-3 guys) with Broxton swinging around (a la Yoshi) and doing the grading.  That's what I'd do.  Didn't see it on Saturday though!  What I did see was SSK's run game pwning us.  Ouch.

[Tecno]

On the bright side, Eli seemed more than capable at C!  Well, I'm assuming he was at C to start the game.  Superb pass-pro for that drive, and most of the game.  (Then again, SSK was clearly focusing on stopping the run, especially on 1st down -- maybe they weren't trying to get to the QB much?)

[Tecno]

Hopefully the 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. And Brady is really only be an interior running back so if we can't execute that the offense will absolutely bog down like last year.

Wow, we spot & agree on the same thing!

However, we don't need to run the ball.  I mean, we will, and we want to, but there's no need.  We could be more like BC or HAM the last couple of seasons where it's basically all pass all the time.  If you build the league-best OL you can do that.  5 REC out every play.  Layered routes.

Of course, then there is zero point in tying up your wad in Brady $$$, and thus we won't do that.

But you sure are right that they better solve this run conundrum darn fast or we're in for a ton of -1Y Brady 1st down runs on fully loaded boxes.  Just like '25.  I really don't understand how SSK can get this right with their middling RB and we can't.  Unless Yoshi really is the only RT that can properly road grade!  Ironic, as pretty sure Yoshi is a heck of a lot cheaper than Broxton right now!

Our OL couldn't maintain control of DL last season if our life depended on it.  Every DL could shed us with ease.  It's like we weren't even there.  Sad.

Good thing we hired an OC who is known league-wide for being a run game whiz.  Oh, wait...

[Tecno]

We also see what SSK's (and thus everyone else who is smart) game plan against us will be.  Exact same as '25.  Stuff the box on 1st down to take Brady out of the game, and make Zach beat you with his arm.

If the pass pro is much improved, and the REC corps is much improved, maybe we can talk them out of that after a game or 2.  If not... long season...

[Jesse]

Kinda weird how Brady rushed for a 5.8 yard average with all those rushes for -1 yards...

Led the league in rushing average actually.