"We're going to conduct TC differently so they are better prepared"
That's a paraphrase. But we all heard MOS say it 2-3 times in the off-season and TC/PS.
He then proceeds to sit basically every skill starter on O for PS2. How is that getting your team to gel and making sure your starters hit the ground running in game 1?
Sure, we beat a discombobulated team in game 1: a team that has only won one game, and only because the opponent was asleep, or drunk, or both.
But can anyone, looking at the level of play by most other teams, even heretofore "bad" teams like EDM, TOR and OTT, say that we have more "gel" or more of a head start than most teams? Are we having a better start to the season than in 2025? (Answer: no.)
Maybe we did "conduct TC differently", but it sure isn't helping. Maybe it was just lip service. How about next year, take what you did this year, and do the opposite.
I'm all for criticism where it's due, but I'm not sure it's due here.
We're 1-2 and haven't looked great, but I don't think the reason for that is because the training camp itself wasn't effective or tuned intensely enough. We also had some early cuts in TC and things felt less locked and more open throughout. All of that is good.
We're 1-2 because our defense is giving up run yards at historic rates, they've played about three good quarters in three full games, our offense is good but not great, largely because we play slow out of the backfield and Collaros can't make plays on his own anymore (not his fault, just a fact) and our special teams has been average to slightly below.
I don't think a different training camp fixes any of that.
Then explain most other teams clearly hitting the ground running compared to us. To my eye the only teams backtracking vs 2025 are us, bc, and maybe Calgary. Every other team appears to be outperforming expectations. Even Ottawa is getting close to beating a middling team.
Is it just their players are better than ours? Or are our coaches just that bad?
And yes, it is that bad. We are going to lose horribly to Hamilton this weekend. We will lose every single game until we face bc or Ottawa, and maybe Calgary... If we're lucky.
I didn't want to believe it, but I just ripped apart the edm and ham games and absolutely nothing is working for us at the moment, compared to the efficiency shown by other teams. Moving the ball one out of every 4 drives won't win anything.
The only way I'm wrong is if vaval gets 2 TDS or something, or the other team gives a ton of unforced fumbles.
Another way to look at it. What do we do well right now? Like compared to other teams.
I say nothing. Well, maybe st cover teams. But that won't win you any games.
Every other decent team has something good going for them, many teams multiple things.
For us, if it's not players, and not coaching, then it's preparedness.
Our performance to date has a lot to do with the changes on D and a weak performance on that side of the game. Some issues on the OL as well at times. Sort out the OL and improve on D and we are an average club imo. The league is ahead of us as parity is strong and some other clubs are clicking early with some high powered offenses. We have an average O at the moment and below average D. ST average. Camp wasn't a huge factor, other than not finding a few real impact players (might still develop though!). Injuries a minor factor.
Its a little players, a little growing pains at OC imo. A little adjustments needs on DC. Overall a well coached club, but like Dave says the players play.
Not having a safety with experience is a big factor imo. Our fresh corner needs to season. Some of our vets on the backend are under performing. Run D sucks. Tackling / physicality below average.
I belive ST will improve and O will improve. D, jury is out. Not worried about ST at all. O lives on success of OL and Brady.
About right, pj. But a little more optimistic than me. I blame the players less and everything else more.
As for the Major, don't be down on him. I've been watching him like a hawk and he's rarely to blame for bad things. On fact, he's often the only db getting close to his guy to disrupt things. And he hits harder than any other db, save for griffin. He's a keeper.
We still have special teams. Just one off game from Sergio. To me defense is the issue, we won't beat anyone with this, be it scheme, personnel or prep, something has to be a lot better. All three would be nice.
Waffler, but the O couldn't even keep up with the EDM O that didn't even put up that many points. We even got 2 chances on O to win.
Zach on his butt most of the time. Brady not helping much. Receivers losing every single contested catch. It's like you took our 2013 O but inserted a better QB.
Quote from: Tecno on July 01, 2026, 01:32:48 PMWaffler, but the O couldn't even keep up with the EDM O
We are a lot better with Wilson playing. No Neufeld led to our worst showing along the oline too. That said, it proves how thin we are. In a perfect world we can compete but lack of depth is pretty scary.
Quote from: Tecno on July 01, 2026, 01:32:48 PMWaffler, but the O couldn't even keep up with the EDM O that didn't even put up that many points. We even got 2 chances on O to win.
Zach on his butt most of the time. Brady not helping much. Receivers losing every single contested catch. It's like you took our 2013 O but inserted a better QB.
Zach is no longer in the top tier of QB's, arguably he could be ranked around 6th in physical skill and ability, so a lot has to go right in the other 2 phases for the Bombers to win against a higher ranked QB. He's now in his late Ricky Ray career stage, unless the OC comes up with a plan to re-program him to play more conservative football, he's going to continue to fight against his deficiencies and impatient tendency to play as a gunslinger.
Quote from: Tecno on July 01, 2026, 01:09:36 PMAbout right, pj. But a little more optimistic than me. I blame the players less and everything else more.
As for the Major, don't be down on him. I've been watching him like a hawk and he's rarely to blame for bad things. On fact, he's often the only db getting close to his guy to disrupt things. And he hits harder than any other db, save for griffin. He's a keeper.
Not worried about Major, he will season up well like a good steak. Just needs a little extra marination time. Will grill up nice by mid season. A very good find this season to be sure. I could feel that tone in your posts as of late. It's a good debate about the root of our ills. None of us have any answers, just best guesses.
Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on July 01, 2026, 05:46:44 PMZach is no longer in the top tier of QB's, arguably he could be ranked around 6th in physical skill and ability, so a lot has to go right in the other 2 phases for the Bombers to win against a higher ranked QB. He's now in his late Ricky Ray career stage, unless the OC comes up with a plan to re-program him to play more conservative football, he's going to continue to fight against his deficiencies and impatient tendency to play as a gunslinger.
He is at the late stage but disagree entirely about the slinging. It's its strength. His touch on a deep ball is still very good. Bombs and Bbb is what makes this offense tick. Programing Zach to play conservative is like putting a 8 cylinder truck to 4 to try to save MPG. Sounds good on paper but in the end is a big waste of time.
Quote from: Tecno on July 01, 2026, 01:32:48 PMWaffler, but the O couldn't even keep up with the EDM O that didn't even put up that many points. We even got 2 chances on O to win.
Zach on his butt most of the time. Brady not helping much. Receivers losing every single contested catch. It's like you took our 2013 O but inserted a better QB.
An improvement on the OL will cure both ills
Receivers are fine just not top tier
Man, the cheerleading is wild.
Collaros' arm is getting pretty near the end of the road. He can't make all the throws he used to. It's most assuredly not his "strength". If he's got a perfect pocket he can still get it out there but where it's really noticable is when he doesn't have his tripod or he's forced to deliver it more with the upper body in a more crowded space. Happens a lot. And it happens to every single QB who was good enough to play for as long as Collaros has. It's not a slight. It's just reality.
Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on July 01, 2026, 05:46:44 PMZach is no longer in the top tier of QB's, arguably he could be ranked around 6th in physical skill and ability, so a lot has to go right in the other 2 phases for the Bombers to win against a higher ranked QB. He's now in his late Ricky Ray career stage, unless the OC comes up with a plan to re-program him to play more conservative football, he's going to continue to fight against his deficiencies and impatient tendency to play as a gunslinger.
I mean, he's 37 years old, about to be 38, he's obviously not in his peak physical form and I'm sure the bumps and bruises that he wakes up with make it hard to get out the bed in the morning. They do for me and I'm just living, not playing football.
But he threw for 400 yards in week 2. And we lost last week on the back of some fumbles that were out of his control that ended multiple offensive drives. So far, he's limited the interceptions that were tanking the offence last year. There's still a workable offence here. And it's within the range of outcomes that this offence is better than we've seen so far.
We do need the defence to cooperate a little bit though.
Quote from: Sir Blue and Gold on July 02, 2026, 11:24:25 AMMan, the cheerleading is wild.
Collaros' arm is getting pretty near the end of the road. He can't make all the throws he used to. It's most assuredly not his "strength". If he's got a perfect pocket he can still get it out there but where it's really noticable is when he doesn't have his tripod or he's forced to deliver it more with the upper body in a more crowded space. Happens a lot. And it happens to every single QB who was good enough to play for as long as Collaros has. It's not a slight. It's just reality.
man, the doom and gloom is wild.
His arm is good and he still throws dimes. Non issue handled internally.
Quote from: Jesse on July 02, 2026, 12:25:51 PMI mean, he's 37 years old, about to be 38, he's obviously not in his peak physical form and I'm sure the bumps and bruises that he wakes up with make it hard to get out the bed in the morning. They do for me and I'm just living, not playing football.
But he threw for 400 yards in week 2. And we lost last week on the back of some fumbles that were out of his control that ended multiple offensive drives. So far, he's limited the interceptions that were tanking the offence last year. There's still a workable offence here. And it's within the range of outcomes that this offence is better than we've seen so far.
We do need the defence to cooperate a little bit though.
Zach's ability to throw a long ball is till there. He can still drop dimes. Yes he is aging but lets not right his long ball off imo. Decline yes but I believe the negativity around Zach has been overstated on here for a bit.
Agree, O is not the problem, we have a D problem. Flipped the script from last year. Sorry far so good on the ints.
Zach's confidence and aggressive nature to throw medium to deep routes will the pillar of this offense. Yes it's not as good as before but it's still our bread and butter. It was suggested by TLB that we move away from that and it would only make our offense suck imo.
The frustrating thing is that we don't bring in anyone to help with our issues other than recycle previous cuts. our national offensive line depth is awful with our wr depth not far behind, and we can't seem to find a national db who can tackle and cover.
Ive always liked Walters but this year the gaps have been massive. Dru is a nice add but we way overpaid.
Quote from: Pete on July 02, 2026, 05:06:58 PMThe frustrating thing is that we don't bring in anyone to help with our issues other than recycle previous cuts. our national offensive line depth is awful with our wr depth not far behind, and we can't seem to find a national db who can tackle and cover.
Ive always liked Walters but this year the gaps have been massive. Dru is a nice add but we way overpaid.
Business as usual going on 10 seasons, they pick their guys in the spring and stick with them. Late fall they begin evaluating for the next season.
Quote from: Pete on July 02, 2026, 05:06:58 PMThe frustrating thing is that we don't bring in anyone to help with our issues other than recycle previous cuts. our national offensive line depth is awful with our wr depth not far behind, and we can't seem to find a national db who can tackle and cover.
Ive always liked Walters but this year the gaps have been massive. Dru is a nice add but we way overpaid.
That's not 100% fair. We have brought in some good talent over the years. Yes we have valued a lot of our vets. It brought up much success for a long time. We also found success in the draft, FA and in camp. Yes we need more depth for Cdn OL. Our depth at receiver is reasonable imo. Not ideal. We have some Canadians on D that are young and still developing. Walters have done more good than bad. Dru was a reasonable deal based on what we got in return. Good QBs don't grow on trees. We might need Dru this year if Zach gets hurt. At that point he would be worth 2x what we paid. If we don't need him this year, it's a fair deal for both parties. It's a good insurance policy. We now have some of the best depth at QB in the league. Last year was the worst maybe?
Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on July 02, 2026, 06:31:02 PMBusiness as usual going on 10 seasons, they pick their guys in the spring and stick with them. Late fall they begin evaluating for the next season.
Business as usual, nothing but cups and cup appearances. Agree we sniff hard in the fall. Sometimes find gems then for the next year.