Blue Bombers Forum

And, just to keep us guessing a bit longer, Zach Collaros is listed today as "questionable" for Friday's game against Ottawa.  Further guessing would suggest he likely starts but we wait patiently!

The latest Injury Report follows:

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This is probably the most winnable game with Ottawa playing us in Winnipeg so clearly it means the Bombers have to come out of the gate with guns blazing and a full 3 phase effort to win.

Ed Tait sets the scene with his 48-Hour Primer...

48-Hour Primer (http://"https://www.bluebombers.com/2026/08/12/48-hour-primer-home-woes/")

A win keeps us all alone in 3rd place.  It's a game where we definitely need to show we should be a playoff contender.  Another big crowd will be in the stands, so we need this game badly.

Be there and Let's Go Bombers!

Obviously Zach is starting.

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Ed Tait @EdTaitWFC

The @Wpg_BlueBombers get QB Zach Collaros, RT Jarell Broxton and DT Cam Lawson back, list RB Brady Oliveira as a Game Time Decision. QB Taylor Elgersma and OL Micah Vanterpool move to reserve roster and DB Michael Griffin II is on six-game injured list.

What is the point of adding Hazen instead of a DB, DL or WR?

Quote from: RebusRankin on August 13, 2026, 02:36:58 PMWhat is the point of adding Hazen instead of a DB, DL or WR?

Well we added Lawson, cut Jackson and put Griffin on the 6 game IR. So adding a LB makes sense if we're choosing to not have 3 import receivers. Clearly that last part was decided in TC whether we agree or not.

All our DI's are on defence. Even Vaval is technically a back up DB.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 13, 2026, 02:42:43 PMWell we added Lawson, cut Jackson and put Griffin on the 6 game IR. So adding a LB makes sense if we're choosing to not have 3 import receivers. Clearly that last part was decided in TC whether we agree or not.

All our DI's are on defence. Even Vaval is technically a back up DB.

Adding another lb who is only going to play teams makes no sense and not adding say another WR when Brady is a GTD is foolish given how weak our offense has been even with him.

Oh well, no use complaining, nothing we can do.

Ya, but mafia has been pretty methodical about giving the lesser guys a shot, or two, on the AR when the situation allowed.

I see no reason that couldn't have been on O just this once.

I think it'll actually turn out well if Brady is a no go. For once we'll be the team giving the opponent the unusual look. And I think Peterson's speed might be more useful against OTT than Brady's power.

Maybe Peterson can run for 190y like he's Horvath!!

About what we expected. I know MOS loves his LBs, but we don't need 9 of them. Little surprised that Cobb is ahead of Clercius.  I would also be okay with BO20 sitting this one out if he's not 100%.

Quote from: Tecno on August 13, 2026, 02:52:20 PMI think it'll actually turn out well if Brady is a no go. For once we'll be the team giving the opponent the unusual look. And I think Peterson's speed might be more useful against OTT than Brady's power.

Maybe Peterson can run for 190y like he's Horvath!!

I'd really like to see a non Brady game as a comparison.

Official: Zach Collaros to start for Winnipeg Blue Bombers against Ottawa
by John Hodge  August 13, 2026

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have officially named Zach Collaros as their starting quarterback for Friday's game against the Ottawa Redblacks. The team issued its official depth chart on Thursday.

The soon-to-be 38-year-old missed Winnipeg's last four games with a neck injury. Collaros returned to practice this week, where he attributed the absence to a combination of physical limitation and an abundance of caution. He also described the injury as "whiplash."

The six-foot-one, 218-pound passer has completed 71.8 percent of his passes for 985 yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions through four starts this season, posting a 2-2 record.

Dru Brown has been listed as the backup behind Collaros, while Bryce Perkins remains in the third-string role as Winnipeg's short-yardage quarterback. Canadian backup Taylor Elgersma, who has played twice this season in a relief role, has been placed on the reserve roster.

Star running back Brady Oliveira has been listed as a game-time decision due to an ankle injury.

According to the team's official injury report, the Winnipeg native was a limited participant on Monday and a non-participant on Wednesday. The 28-year-old has rushed for 658 yards, caught 20 passes for 135 yards, and scored four touchdowns this season.

If Oliveira were unable to play, it's likely that Michael Chris-Ike would start in his place with Matthew Peterson being elevated from the practice roster to serve as his backup.

Jarell Broxton has returned from the knee injury that kept him out of the team's loss to the B.C. Lions two weeks ago. He will start at right tackle. Micah Vanterpool, who started in Broxton's place against the Lions, has been moved to the reserve roster alongside Elgersma.

Cameron Lawson has returned from a hip injury to start at nose tackle. The six-foot-three, 290-pound defender made five defensive tackles over Winnipeg's first five games. Over 68 career regular-season CFL games with the Montreal Alouettes and Blue Bombers, he has made 46 defensive tackles, seven sacks, one interception, and one forced fumble.

Michael Griffin II has been placed on the six-game injured list due to an ankle injury. The veteran defensive back has been Winnipeg's full-time starter at strong-side linebacker this season, recording 35 defensive tackles, one special teams tackle, and one forced fumble.

The 28-year-old has played 49 career regular-season CFL games with the Calgary Stampeders and Blue Bombers, tallying 135 defensive tackles, 31 special teams tackles, three sacks, one forced fumble, and one touchdown.

Jaylen Smith will start in place of Griffin II, giving the Blue Bombers nine Canadian starters. The 24-year-old native of Hamilton, Ont. was a second-round pick in the 2025 CFL Draft and has since recorded 17 defensive tackles and 25 special teams tackles.

Brody Clark, the team's fifth-round pick in the 2026 CFL Draft, has been activated from the six-game injured list to dress in a depth role at linebacker. The same is true for Dylan Hazen, a rookie out of Wake Forest University, who has been promoted from the practice roster.

Lane Novak, who dressed for the club's last two games after returning from a knee injury, has been placed on the practice roster. Winnipeg also announced two releases on Wednesday, cutting Canadian defensive lineman Collin Kornelson and American defensive back Matthew Jackson.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-4) will host the Ottawa Redblacks (0-8) at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday, August 14 with kickoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT. The Redblacks suffered a 42-20 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week, while the Blue Bombers were on bye.

The weather forecast in Winnipeg calls for 23 degrees with a mix of sun and cloud. The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS2 in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on TSN 1200 in Ottawa or 680 CJOB in Winnipeg.

https://3downnation.com/2026/08/13/official-zach-collaros-to-start-for-winnipeg-blue-bombers-against-ottawa/

Ottawa Redblacks make seven changes to starting lineup against Winnipeg
by 3Down Staff  August 13, 2026

The Ottawa Redblacks have made seven changes to their starting lineup for Friday night's game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The team released its depth chart on Thursday morning.

Offensive lineman Drew Desjarlais, defensive end Habakkuk Baldondo, and middle linebacker Nyles Morgan will all be back in the lineup after recovering from injury.

Desjarlais missed one game due to a foot injury. The six-foot-three, 315-pound blocker from Belle River, Ont. has been a mainstay at guard with the Redblacks since 2023 when he joined the team as a free agent. He previously won two Grey Cups with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Baldonado recorded five defensive tackles and one sack over five starts to begin the year but was placed on the six-game injured list in mid-July. The 26-year-old helped the Saskatchewan Roughriders win the Grey Cup last year and has made 36 defensive tackles, four special teams tackles, seven sacks, and one forced fumble over 41 career regular-season CFL games.

Morgan suffered a broken hand against the Edmonton Elks last month. At the time, he ranked first league-wide in defensive tackles with 38. The 29-year-old ended up missing only three regular-season games due to the injury.

The six-foot, 230-pound defender has tallied 415 defensive tackles, nine special teams tackles, eight sacks, four forced fumbles, and one interception over 67 career regular-season CFL games as a member of the Elks and Redblacks.

Zachary Barlev will make his first career CFL start at right tackle in place of the injured Julian Pearl. The 23-year-old finished his collegiate career at Old Dominion in 2025, where he was named first-team All-Sun Belt.

Zack Pelehos, who previously started at right tackle this season, remains on the six-game injured list. Barlev will be the fourth different player to start at right tackle for the Redblacks this season.

Dennis Briggs Jr. will start at defensive tackle in place of Michael Wakefield, who was placed on the six-game injured list (foot).

Briggs Jr. finished his collegiate career at the University of Illinois in 2024, where he recorded 39 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks. He spent the first 10 weeks of this season on Ottawa's practice roster.

Marcus Barnes and King Ambers have been listed as starters in the secondary, where veterans Demerio Houston and Amari Henderson were released this past week.

Barnes initially made the practice roster after training camp but has dressed for Ottawa's last six games in a depth role, recording six defensive tackles and eight special teams tackles. This will be his first career CFL start, as he lines up at boundary halfback.

Ambers was an eighth-round pick in the 2025 CFL Draft and played nine regular-season games as a rookie, making seven defensive tackles and one interception. He began the 2026 season on the six-game injured list, though he dressed in a depth for the Redblacks last two games, making one special teams tackle. This will be his first start of this year.

Shadwel Nkuba II, who made his first career start last week, has been moved from field-side cornerback to boundary cornerback. Dionté Ruffin, who started at boundary halfback the past three games, has been moved to field-side halfback.

Veteran kicker Brett Lauther has returned to the lineup at kicker after sitting out two games with a quad injury. The native of Truro, N.S. remains a perfect 20-for-20 on field goals this season. Lewis Ward, who filled in for Lauther the past two weeks, has been moved to the practice roster.

Lucus Spencer, who signed with the team earlier this week, will dress at long snapper. Peter Adjey, the team's veteran long snapper, has been placed on the six-game injured list due to an elbow injury he suffered last week.

Other changes for this week include Canadian offensive lineman Alassane Diouf, defensive lineman Jessie Evans, linebacker KJ Cloyd, and defensive back Christian Matthew being added to the active roster in depth roles.

Fullback Emeric Boutin (ankle), defensive lineman Bryce Carter (Achilles), linebackers Aaron Casey (groin) and Joshua Connors (practice roster) have each come off the active roster.

Longtime B.C. Lions defensive lineman Sione Teuhema, who signed with the Redblacks earlier this week, will not dress on Friday. He has been placed on the practice roster.

The Ottawa Redblacks (0-8) will visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-4) at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday, August 14 with kickoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT. The Redblacks suffered a 42-20 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week, while the Blue Bombers were on bye.

The weather forecast in Winnipeg calls for 23 degrees with a mix of sun and cloud. The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS2 in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on TSN 1200 in Ottawa or 680 CJOB in Winnipeg.

https://3downnation.com/2026/08/13/ottawa-redblacks-make-seven-changes-to-starting-lineup-against-winnipeg/

Ed Tait   @EdTaitWFC

FWIW - Oliveira taking reps this morning at walk-through

Quote from: Tecno on August 13, 2026, 02:52:20 PMI think it'll actually turn out well if Brady is a no go. For once we'll be the team giving the opponent the unusual look. And I think Peterson's speed might be more useful against OTT than Brady's power.

Maybe Peterson can run for 190y like he's Horvath!!

Peterson is still sitting on the PR, if Brady couldn't go (I doubt) they would have moved him up, otherwise it's all on MCI.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HPnJEHsWwAACWmN?format=jpg&name=large)

9 back-up LBs, 3 back-up CBs. But only one each at OL and WR.

The offence has really been struggling. Seems pretty crazy not to commit some resources to that side of the ball.

Ottawa 9 DL, 7 OL, 6 LB, 7 DB.

Winnipeg. 7 DL, 6 OL, 9 LB, 8 DB.

Ed Tait saying Brady is taking reps at today's walk-through.

Quote from: Sir Blue and Gold on August 13, 2026, 04:10:15 PMI'd really like to see a non Brady game as a comparison.

I would like to see Brady continue to rack up the yards like he has his entire career and Peterson get a shot when he can't go.  Brady increases our chances to win.  Peterson is a decent backup. 

I know most don't like the bloated number of LBs but it does three things.

1. Keeps players fresh
2. Allows for development
3. Allows for incredible flexibility, especially when injuries occur

I think it will pay off med to long term as we developed and retain good and cheap talent at LB

It hasn't worked as good recently but did during our epic run o  D a few years ago and who know maybe it might again, I hope so.

A wee bit of short term pain for med to long term benefits imo

Quote from: Blueforlife on August 13, 2026, 07:45:52 PMI would like to see Brady continue to rack up the yards like he has his entire career abd Peterson get a shot when he can't go.  Brady increases our chances to win.  Peterson is a decent backup. 

In reality, Oliveria is a vastly overrated (especially by you and especially around these parts) and highly expensive running back who only has an interior run game and who, as he's aged, slowed down to the point where it literally bogs down the entire offense and causes so much interior pressure that it's really hard to x and o our way out of. He routinely is out produced or at least on par with vastly cheaper options who can run much more dynamically. Those trade offs (when stacked with Collaros's contract and Bryant's) are how you tank your record over the course of a season-long sample size. It is no wonder the offense struggles.

There is basically no scenario where it wouldn't be better to take $150,000 from our RB expenses, put them into the offensive line, and go with a cheaper, younger, faster American back. That's how basically all the good teams do it even us, in 2019 and 2021 (although yea, Harris wasn't American or league minimum, he was definitely a better value than Oliveira and somehow at 33 could run better too).

Quote from: Sir Blue and Gold on August 13, 2026, 07:59:24 PMIn reality, Oliveria is a vastly overrated (especially by you and especially around these parts) and highly expensive running back who only has an interior run game and who, as he's aged, slowed down to the point where it literally bogs down the entire offense and causes so much interior pressure that it's really hard to x and o our way out of. He routinely is out produced or at least on par with vastly cheaper options who can run much more dynamically. Those trade offs (when stacked with Collaros's contract and Bryant's) are how you tank your record over the course of a season-long sample size. It is no wonder the offense struggles.

There is basically no scenario where it wouldn't be better to take $150,000 from our RB expenses, put them into the offensive line, and go with a cheaper, younger, faster American back. That's how basically all the good teams do it even us, in 2019 and 2021 (although yea, Harris wasn't American or league minimum, he was definitely a better value than Oliveira and somehow at 33 could run better too).

Brady is undervalued by some, including yourself but its a good debate.  His average is good, his yards per year is excellent and his stats are very consistent.  He is getting older, has a running style that not everyone loves and is expensive.  Having a cdn back has brought us much success and ratio flexibility over the years and would like nothing more than to have a cdn back for years to come.

Brady's success will continue if:
1. OL improves and is healthy
2. OC figures it out (balanced O)
3. Zach can find med to deep ball more often
4. We are not behind all the time

Brady's value to the team will show in a playoff run if we are lucky and when the weather turns, he will cook if the team around him is doing ok.

I am ok with his salary but yes hogs don't come cheap.

Brady has kept up with the other backs but numbers were down a bit last year, we shall see how it shakes out this year.

The OC has limited Brady a bit as he is pass 1st and got in trouble recently for it.

I put Brady as an 8/10 currently.  I would take him over most American backs but there are a few that are more dynamic 100%.

I don't think he bogs down the O.  He still have the ability to drive it.  But we need a balanced O for him to cook.

Facts say he is better than you suggest
Top Rushing LeadersDedrick Mills (CGY): 707 yardsTravis Theis (MTL): 700 yardsBrady Oliveira (WPG): 658 yardsJustin Rankin (EDM): 651 yardsLarry Rountree (HAM): 462 yards

Quote from: Blueforlife on August 13, 2026, 09:10:44 PMBrady is undervalued by some, including yourself but its a good debate.  His average is good, his yards per year is excellent and his stats are very consistent.  He is getting older, has a running style that not everyone loves and is expensive.  Having a cdn back has brought us much success and ratio flexibility over the years and would like nothing more than to have a cdn back for years to come.

Brady's success will continue if:
1. OL improves and is healthy
2. OC figures it out (balanced O)
3. Zach can find med to deep ball more often
4. We are not behind all the time

Brady's value to the team will show in a playoff run if we are lucky and when the weather turns, he will cook if the team around him is doing ok.

I am ok with his salary but yes hogs don't come cheap.

Brady has kept up with the other backs but numbers were down a bit last year, we shall see how it shakes out this year.

The OC has limited Brady a bit as he is pass 1st and got in trouble recently for it.

I put Brady as an 8/10 currently.  I would take him over most American backs but there are a few that are more dynamic 100%.

I don't think he bogs down the O.  He still have the ability to drive it.  But we need a balanced O for him to cook.

Facts say he is better than you suggest
Top Rushing LeadersDedrick Mills (CGY): 707 yardsTravis Theis (MTL): 700 yardsBrady Oliveira (WPG): 658 yardsJustin Rankin (EDM): 651 yardsLarry Rountree (HAM): 462 yards

That is a long list of " ifs", hopes or whatever. None of those have been what we've had in the 1st 8 games.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 13, 2026, 09:26:14 PMThat is a long list of " ifs", hopes or whatever. None of those have been what we've had in the 1st 8 games.

Yup but if those things come true he is king again and he pads his already pretty good stats

Yes they likely pipe dreams

I don't trust this OL and don't like our OC at all.

Hogan sucked but I mentioned last year how new OCs, even vets can struggle.

AI not fact checked (image) but he is nothing but productive and consistent

Based on his current pace through 8 games, Brady Oliveira is projected to finish the 2026 CFL regular season with 1,481 rushing yards.

Quote from: Jesse on August 13, 2026, 06:33:14 PM9 back-up LBs, 3 back-up CBs. But only one each at OL and WR.

The offence has really been struggling. Seems pretty crazy not to commit some resources to that side of the ball.

Probably Younger has a lot of influence. Too much.

Quote from: Waffler on August 13, 2026, 09:53:44 PMProbably Younger has a lot of influence. Too much.

Disagree team decision by committee

I believe we need help on D (depth) more than O

However much influence he has is too much.

Against BC he gave up more rushing yards in the fourth quarter than any Bombers defense has given up over an entire game in 10 years. You have to go back to the 1950s to find a Bombers defense who was as bad against the run as we were against BC.

JY's system has always been flawed but it's historically flawed this year. He shouldn't be calling plays and if he was reporting to any number of other head coaches in this league he'd already be sitting at home.

MOS presser yesterday, he says the D panicked. People didn't mind their gaps. Not that the players are bad or stupid, or the system is hot butt against the run because there are no backstops. They just panicked. Could have happened to anyone.  ::)

Quote from: Tecno on August 13, 2026, 11:10:34 PMMOS presser yesterday, he says the D panicked. People didn't mind their gaps. Not that the players are bad or stupid, or the system is hot butt against the run because there are no backstops. They just panicked. Could have happened to anyone.  ::)

It might be true but it doesn't really matter. JY is the one calling the plays and coaching the defense and his unit is full of the all rounders that his system apparently needs.

Brady: we have the "problem" of him being a hometown hero. As such he will never be cut, unless he shows up to camp unprepared -- which he won't. And he'll always be overpaid because he knows we will.

I can live with it as long as he at least maintains this current level, and gets a few TDS a season. But heaven help us if he regresses further. And to be clear, I'm not talking stats, I'm talking game impact.

Brady's big problem is he goes down on the first leg contact. If he could find a way to learn the Cornish and AH tricks to stay moving, that would really help. But we let AH go teach that stuff to liver king instead...

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 13, 2026, 04:53:39 PMPeterson is still sitting on the PR, if Brady couldn't go (I doubt) they would have moved him up, otherwise it's all on MCI.

Unlikely. You can pull a PR guy to cover a GTD. If Brady is not in I would bet huge money the feature back is Peterson. Ike needs to do his normal role unless there's an in game injury.

Quote from: Sir Blue and Gold on August 13, 2026, 10:46:03 PMHowever much influence he has is too much.

Against BC he gave up more rushing yards in the fourth quarter than any Bombers defense has given up over an entire game in 10 years. You have to go back to the 1950s to find a Bombers defense who was as bad against the run as we were against BC.

JY's system has always been flawed but it's historically flawed this year. He shouldn't be calling plays and if he was reporting to any number of other head coaches in this league he'd already be sitting at home.

I think Younger would remained employed on most teams unless a tire fire.  We are just above tire fire category.  Will temporarily put that out if get a 3 phase win tomorrow which might happen.  I expect D to be fair to average, teams to be great and O to have flashes.

Quote from: Tecno on August 14, 2026, 12:15:30 AMUnlikely. You can pull a PR guy to cover a GTD. If Brady is not in I would bet huge money the feature back is Peterson. Ike needs to do his normal role unless there's an in game injury.

That's what the Reserve Roster is supposed to be for, currently occupied by Vibert and Vanterpool I believe.

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 14, 2026, 01:15:47 AMThat's what the Reserve Roster is supposed to be for, currently occupied by Vibert and Vanterpool I believe.

Either can cover a game time decision.

QuoteMOS presser yesterday, he says the D panicked. People didn't mind their gaps. Not that the players are bad or stupid, or the system is hot butt against the run because there are no backstops. They just panicked. Could have happened to anyone.  ::)

Ya for sure Mike and we believe every word you said.  NOT!!!MOS has got to auit feeding us lines of BS like that. Tell us the way it is. Guys blew assignments, several guys blew not tackling him but for god sake quit trying to lie to us, we re not blind, stupid or gullible.

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 14, 2026, 01:15:47 AMThat's what the Reserve Roster is supposed to be for, currently occupied by Vibert and Vanterpool I believe.

As sir b&g said, I'm pretty sure that's not the case. And if it is, it's not written anywhere we're privy to. Typical CFL ambiguity.

Can someone recall any other team gtd that didn't play? Player name and week, and I can look it up to see if a pr or rr was used.

I think there was one a couple weeks back?

Quote from: Sir Blue and Gold on August 13, 2026, 04:10:15 PMI'd really like to see a non Brady game as a comparison.

That makes 2 of us. I'd like to see what Peterson can do?

The usually lying weatherman is saying 40 percent chance of rain the whole game time. At least as if right now.

So keep an eye out and think about ponchos. If it does rain the whole time it's probably advantage us and Brady. Probably won't though.

Should be great temp for ball. Finally one where the walk and climb won't get me sweaty. Nice!

Quote from: GOLDMEMBER on August 14, 2026, 12:49:05 PMThat makes 2 of us. I'd like to see what Peterson can do?

If we're ever going to do it, this would be the game to do so. Brady didn't practice much and is a GTD. We'll need him more going into the next games against top teams. I think Peterson could play well if activated.

OTOH it the team doesn't feel he's a good back up then why have we not brought in some imports to be on our PR.

Quote from: Tecno on August 14, 2026, 10:59:16 AMAs sir b&g said, I'm pretty sure that's not the case. And if it is, it's not written anywhere we're privy to. Typical CFL ambiguity.

Can someone recall any other team gtd that didn't play? Player name and week, and I can look it up to see if a pr or rr was used.

I think there was one a couple weeks back?

Maybe so, I haven't read the rules. I was assuming it was to be used like the old 2 man reserve roster they used for game time decisions if a player was unable to perform on gameday. Can't recall if those 2 players dressed or not but they used to travel with the team for road games.

Anyone know if the PR and IR players attend road games now days?

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 14, 2026, 03:10:48 PMMaybe so, I haven't read the rules. I was assuming it was to be used like the old 2 man reserve roster they used for game time decisions if a player was unable to perform on gameday. Can't recall if those 2 players dressed or not but they used to travel with the team for road games.

Anyone know if the PR and IR players attend road games now days?

Well, you would still have to make the appropriate roster move. You can't play from the PR. So assuming Brady was scratched, you'd have to one game IR Brady and add his replacement to the roster. The reserve is mostly a way to have some week to week roster flexibility while continuing to pay players game cheques if the team chooses to do so. For a guy like Vanterpool, this makes sense as he really should be on the roster if CFL rosters were a tiny bit bigger but due to ratio and whatnot it's hard to fit him. That's a different use case than a GTD injury replacement, but logically a two man reserve cannot possibly cover all the potential injury flexibility you need across the roster. Or to put it another way, just because Brady is banged up doesn't mean Peterson needs to hit the reserve and Vanterpool or whomever is therefore forced to take a PR salary. PR players don't typically travel but in this case if it were a road game they'd probably bring whomever would be an option to go in.

Quote from: Tecno on August 14, 2026, 01:03:44 PMThe usually lying weatherman is saying 40 percent chance of rain the whole game time. At least as if right now.

So keep an eye out and think about ponchos. If it does rain the whole time it's probably advantage us and Brady. Probably won't though.

Should be great temp for ball. Finally one where the walk and climb won't get me sweaty. Nice!

garbage bags baby LOL

back in the day at the old stadium we went at half time to to home depot bought bags and sold them for a buck, on rain game people were so happy

we got shut down LOL

yeah finally can arrive sweat free ;)

ah to be young and stupid again, was wild west back then, the best was going on the field after, good times

This is my puzzle! If the Bombers win small or big how do we evaluate the game knowing we are playing the worse team in the league. If we win small then have we improved? If we win big against a team that has not won a game then have we really improved?

While a win is a win at least in IMHO a win no matter how big or small will not tell me much, however a loss will definitely tell me something!

Quote from: BBRT on August 14, 2026, 04:44:00 PMThis is my puzzle! If the Bombers win small or big how do we evaluate the game unowning we are playing the worse team in the league. If we will small then have we improved? If we win big against a team that has won a game then have we really improved?

While a win is a win at least in IMHO a win no matter how big or small will not tell me much, however a lose will definitely tell me something!

Yes that will be the question. I suppose we could say that having Collaros and Lawson back as starters was the difference in the formula.

OTOH, earlier in the season when both were healthy, the team didn't look good.

So what have we really changed to get away from expecting something different when doing the same thing?

I'll take the win if we get it but until we show we can beat Edmonton, Calgary or Regina, it will still be the question.

Quote from: Tecno on August 14, 2026, 01:03:44 PMThe usually lying weatherman is saying 40 percent chance of rain the whole game time.

I looked at 2 "lying" weather sites.

theweathernetwork: 30% chance until 10pm, then 40%
weather.gc.ca:     20% chance until 1am

weather is all science based and usually pretty close a day or two out but hard to predict / model

Quote from: Tecno on August 14, 2026, 10:59:16 AMAs sir b&g said, I'm pretty sure that's not the case. And if it is, it's not written anywhere we're privy to. Typical CFL ambiguity.

Can someone recall any other team gtd that didn't play? Player name and week, and I can look it up to see if a pr or rr was used.

I think there was one a couple weeks back?

It seems to occur at least once a week.

The Riders made a last minute change last week.

Riders roster update ahead of the game:
In: OL Jez Janvier
Out: OL Daniel Johnson (1-game injured)
Erik Andersen moves to starting LG.

It's food bank night. Bring a tin for the bin. Last year the Bombers collected over 81,000 pounds of food.

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 14, 2026, 03:10:48 PMMaybe so, I haven't read the rules. I was assuming it was to be used like the old 2 man reserve roster they used for game time decisions if a player was unable to perform on gameday. Can't recall if those 2 players dressed or not but they used to travel with the team for road games.

Anyone know if the PR and IR players attend road games now days?

Reserve players, practice roster and injured players normally havent traveled with the team.

Exceptions would be for the Grey Cup, if there is a GTD or the injured player can add value on the sidelines (example quarterback).

I remember years ago the Bombers had an away game and Doug Brown was sick at the last minute and they played a man short.

Quote from: BBRT on August 14, 2026, 04:44:00 PMThis is my puzzle! If the Bombers win small or big how do we evaluate the game knowing we are playing the worse team in the league. If we win small then have we improved? If we win big against a team that has not won a game then have we really improved?

While a win is a win at least in IMHO a win no matter how big or small will not tell me much, however a loss will definitely tell me something!

You probably would start by evaluating if they've improved in the areas that they've been struggling with so far this year.

a) Can they take a lead into the half? They've trailed 4 out of 5 games at Princess Auto Stadium so far.
b) Can they keep Collaros upright?
c) Can they limit the big play? That is a real mood-killer in the stadium.
d) Can the Bombers score TDs in the red zone? FGs give instant field position to the other team for very marginal gain.

Quote from: bomberjunkie on August 14, 2026, 06:25:19 PMYou probably would start by evaluating if they've improved in the areas that they've been struggling with so far this year.

a) Can they take a lead into the half? They've trailed 4 out of 5 games at Princess Auto Stadium so far.
b) Can they keep Collaros upright?
c) Can they limit the big play? That is a real mood-killer in the stadium.
d) Can the Bombers score TDs in the red zone? FGs give instant field position to the other team for very marginal gain.

The question for me tonight will be the D. It's Griffin out and Smith in. Not much of a change from the last game when our D was terrible.

I will also disclaimer that if the Bombers don't improve in at least 2 of these 4 areas against the worst team in the league I mentioned, then there should be some real soul-searching going on, preferably without cigars and scotch.

On a positive note, I think we win this by 10.

On a negative note, I think the season is done if we lose this.

Quote from: peg_city on August 14, 2026, 07:00:24 PMOn a positive note, I think we win this by 10.

On a negative note, I think the season is done if we lose this.

The next 5 games will define their season, RedBlacks, Elks, Als, Riders twice, followed by a bye week. Hard to imagine they'll win many of those games unless their opponents play poorly, lose 4 of 5 and there should be drastic change heading into "next year land".

Quote from: bomberjunkie on August 14, 2026, 06:50:57 PMI will also disclaimer that if the Bombers don't improve in at least 2 of these 4 areas against the worst team in the league I mentioned, then there should be some real soul-searching going on, preferably without cigars and scotch.

Soul searching should always be done with a cigar & scotch. And a fireplace.

Quote from: bomberjunkie on August 14, 2026, 06:25:19 PMYou probably would start by evaluating if they've improved in the areas that they've been struggling with so far this year.

a) Can they take a lead into the half? They've trailed 4 out of 5 games at Princess Auto Stadium so far.
b) Can they keep Collaros upright?
c) Can they limit the big play? That is a real mood-killer in the stadium.
d) Can the Bombers score TDs in the red zone? FGs give instant field position to the other team for very marginal gain.

Great list. I think d) is really important. We've often put up yards between the 20s but our failure to score TDs is the biggest problem with this team, imo.

Quote from: Jesse on August 14, 2026, 07:48:08 PMGreat list. I think d) is really important. We've often put up yards between the 20s but our failure to score TDs is the biggest problem with this team, imo.

Agree more 7s less 3s. We have to start being more aggressive in the red zone. Take a few chances and gamble a bit more.

Quote from: BBRT on August 14, 2026, 04:44:00 PMThis is my puzzle! If the Bombers win small or big how do we evaluate the game knowing we are playing the worse team in the league. If we win small then have we improved? If we win big against a team that has not won a game then have we really improved?

While a win is a win at least in IMHO a win no matter how big or small will not tell me much, however a loss will definitely tell me something!

I came here to say this more or less. If we win, it's simply expected (as it should be). If it's a loss to an 0fer team at home though? YIKES things will be rock bottom (as it should be).

I'm hoping we get your best case scenario and just blow them up. We don't learn anything but at least we can have hope for next game.

Quote from: bomberjunkie on August 14, 2026, 06:25:19 PMYou probably would start by evaluating if they've improved in the areas that they've been struggling with so far this year.

a) Can they take a lead into the half? They've trailed 4 out of 5 games at Princess Auto Stadium so far.
b) Can they keep Collaros upright?
c) Can they limit the big play? That is a real mood-killer in the stadium.
d) Can the Bombers score TDs in the red zone? FGs give instant field position to the other team for very marginal gain.

And this is a very good answer. I'll be looking for these as well. I'd like to see both domination and resilience when we make a mistake instead of a complete implosion.

I want to see us have some balls tonight and play to win

This will sound weird, but OTTs a decent team. On paper they look good. In games they are usually keeping things close. They can move the ball well, even get TDS.

What happens is someone, usually maier, will make a bad mistake, and as soon as they go down 10 the whole team gives up. They have a chronic case of here we go again syndrome. And it's bad.

If we can go up 2 majors at any point then they will roll over. If you keep them in the game until the end, it's anyone's game.

GO BLUE!

Quote from: Tecno on August 14, 2026, 09:52:01 PMThis will sound weird, but OTTs a decent team. On paper they look good. In games they are usually keeping things close. They can move the ball well, even get TDS.

What happens is someone, usually maier, will make a bad mistake, and as soon as they go down 10 the whole team gives up. They have a chronic case of here we go again syndrome. And it's bad.

If we can go up 2 majors at any point then they will roll over. If you keep them in the game until the end, it's anyone's game.

And this is the problem with us kicking short field goals all the time. We keep teams in games until they inevitably pull ahead.

Like blue_or_die mentioned, we just need to show some balls.

Strev is on the CJOB pregame show again, is he a member of the broadcast crew now?

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 14, 2026, 10:36:37 PMStrev is on the CJOB pregame show again, is he a member of the broadcast crew now?

He was on OB this morning. Just a great personality and so entertaining.

Any word if this is a sell out.

Quote from: Pigskin on August 14, 2026, 10:42:14 PMAny word if this is a sell out.

lol, we didn't even get a 30k announcement.

It'll be over 31000.

The team is lucky they have a great season ticket base to work with.

From the Blue Bombers:

Brady Oliveira will be active for tonight's game.

Quote from: Jesse on August 14, 2026, 10:52:43 PMlol, we didn't even get a 30k announcement.

To quote Kavis Reed, "there will be consequences".

Well, on my way to the game. I'm hoping for a big game from Zach. Probably means less targets for Pokey and more for Demski and Neild. I want to see Brady used in the passing game but not lined up way the heck out at the far side of the field. And I don't want to see Castillo.

Quote from: Jesse on August 14, 2026, 11:37:06 PMWell, on my way to the game. I'm hoping for a big game from Zach. Probably means less targets for Pokey and more for Demski and Neild. I want to see Brady used in the passing game but not lined up way the heck out at the far side of the field. And I don't want to see Castillo.

Those intermediate passes to Nield were working at the beginning of the season. Hopefully they can rekindle their chemistry.

gonna be a tommy N game, i can feel it

our well rested d is getting shredded

why is ethan ball on the field ? 

now too many men ??

lucky bounce

will take it

Our defense did something!! Woo!

Quote from: The Zipp on August 15, 2026, 12:43:26 AMlucky bounce

will take it

Lucky lucky

Wasn't looking too promising for our D on that drive

why is gavin cobb on this team ??

zach needs to throw it away

Quote from: Sway on August 15, 2026, 12:44:54 AMLucky lucky

Wasn't looking too promising for our D on that drive

it was not and on that play we looked lost before the snap

Only a 4 second holding on that Punt return

Good protection but Coll held on  — yuck

Big play Zach is back!  Starts the game with a perfect 2 and out.

Zach not used to having time to throw so he doesn't know what to do

Throws a duck on 1st and eats a sack after 8 seconds in pocket on 2nd

I"m going to walk my dog.  I expect us to have a TD when I get back..that's how this works lol

Moxey is awful

dominated in the trenches on defence

Younger D has been figured out

Getting dominated after a bye week, brutal. 

you'd think against a qb like Maier we'd have a game plan against a qb that throw 90% under 10 yards

Game plan from Moxey is giving a 10-15 yard cushion.

Quote from: Pete on August 15, 2026, 12:54:51 AMyou'd think against a qb like Maier we'd have a game plan against a qb that throw 90% under 10 yards

It's Dinwiddie and Maeir with the game plan attacking our pathetic soft coverages

Quote from: jdrattops on August 15, 2026, 12:54:31 AMGetting dominated after a bye week, brutal.

This is not getting dominated, lol.

Another week and the same old JY crap D.  Rush 3 play zone, give them 7 when they only need five and hope for a lucky bounce to force fgs.  Tiring.

zach is hesitating

we have no gameplan, we are terrible at 2nd and long yet we put ourselves in that position repeatedly with Zac
Now deep in ottawa zone, whats the bet that we play off and let the redblacks off the hook

So why wasn't that unintentional interference flagged on Pokey?

ok defence

now is the chance to make something happen.  give up a 100 yard drive and the game turns

huge stop

Quote from: The Zipp on August 15, 2026, 12:59:43 AMzach is hesitating

Ya.

Tells me Ottawa is taking away all our 10 yard hook routes

run the ball please

lost in the sauce

Go for 2

Got the TD instead of settling for the FG.

it great we are winning but the lack of focus multiple times is concerning

yay,, finally went for the short game

lady luck is on our side.  that was A TD for ottawa

again we looked disorganized - nichols was shrugging to the sidelines

we dont have the personnel to continue to rotate all players in, on that robinson play Ball was in and looked to be burned

Bad bounce, goal post and now a fluke injury.  This game should be 21-3 right now.

Quote from: The Zipp on August 15, 2026, 01:16:04 AMlady luck is on our side.  that was A TD for ottawa

again we looked disorganized - nichols was shrugging to the sidelines

That was the TE sneak out of the backfield play the Bombers should be using with Daniels.

Back..we got the TD. I like it.

Our D still sucks.

I hear ZC makes a good OC though today earlier.  Next year?

Wow what a bad throw by Maier

Quote from: Pete on August 15, 2026, 01:16:47 AMwe dont have the personnel to continue to rotate all players in, on that robinson play Ball was in and looked to be burned

ball is a special teamer and that is it. 

wow. 

run the ball to protect your qb

done for his career - sad

Big Stan

HOLY CRAP... my god. 

Thanks oline

Quote from: Sway on August 15, 2026, 01:23:49 AMBig Stan

Not Stans fault that time, Ottawa sent the extra man

I'm so over this Oline and this mgmt not doing anything about it.

Thank

Quote from: gobombersgo on August 15, 2026, 01:24:38 AMThanks oline

Thank Tommy Condell and his empty backfield on first down.

Quote from: jdrattops on August 15, 2026, 01:26:07 AMThank
Thank Tommy Condell and his empty backfield on first down.

exactly the issue. 

Why the hell didn't our GM bring in some better players on our bye, all we have is just ST players

Oh NOW we run the ball.  cool.

Quote from: Blue72 on August 15, 2026, 01:27:30 AMWhy the hell didn't our GM bring in some better players on our bye, all we have is just ST players

it almost seems he has stopped caring

Need Zach to roll out of the pocket more.

zach is punch drunk

Quote from: bomberjunkie on August 14, 2026, 06:25:19 PMYou probably would start by evaluating if they've improved in the areas that they've been struggling with so far this year.

a) Can they take a lead into the half? They've trailed 4 out of 5 games at Princess Auto Stadium so far.
b) Can they keep Collaros upright?
c) Can they limit the big play? That is a real mood-killer in the stadium.
d) Can the Bombers score TDs in the red zone? FGs give instant field position to the other team for very marginal gain.

Well you can scratch b off this list. And got lucky with c due to a tire blowout by Robinson.

Zac doesnt look confident at all

i think zach is changing the play at the line

just run the ball

Quote from: Pete on August 15, 2026, 01:31:05 AMZac doesnt look confident at all

He has the worst Oline in the league and not many good receivers.. not a great OC..and a terrible defense.  What should he be confident in..being sacked?

Ewwww get him off my TV

It seems that the receivers are not helping Zac by getting open, so why play Aryes on ST when we need better receivers

Quote from: jdrattops on August 15, 2026, 01:24:59 AMNot Stans fault that time, Ottawa sent the extra man

Brady evacuated.

I think O'Shea forgot how to coach, Condell and Younger forgot how to coordinate, Walters and staff forgot how to manage and scout.  Wade Miller is too busy doing nothing.  This team needs a complete overhaul. 

I guess they dont call no yards anymore.

I feel ZC would call a better game than Condell

Big Stan not blocking anyone. it makes me sad

Geez look at that, Brady can run really good with the football, does condell know that!?? Maybe just maybe we can call some more running plays eh Tommy 2 tone??!!

Quote from: gobombersgo on August 15, 2026, 01:36:15 AMI guess they dont call no yards anymore.

That was a brutal miss by #93

zach told tommy step aside son i got this - get yourself a plate of nachos and don't choke

Brady was a game time decision huh?

Thank God for Brady.  Not sure why so many on here are negative about him.

118 yards so far for BO20

Brady might as well be saying **** you to everything techno has been saying about him.

The improvement is that Collaros has the fear of God in him and quick releasing.

what was the penalty that made us kick off so deep?

Quote from: The Zipp on August 15, 2026, 01:47:33 AMwhat was the penalty that made us kick off so deep?

Wallace got a misconduct for doing something on the convert..a RedBLack fell over. 

Lol, let Ottawa take the momentum into half time

lol, the amount of times tonight that no one picks up the receiver is ridiculous/hilarious.

We got lucky on the last one when the receiver fell down, but that one costs us a TD.

Broken coverage again.  Younger teaching his boys well

Ottawa makes it look so easy to score on us, we re in trouble in the second half if we fall asleep again

Nichols hurt, might have been his guy

Well Ottawa scored in 8 seconds, maybe we can get that TD back

Quote from: Jesse on August 15, 2026, 01:49:11 AMlol, the amount of times tonight that no one picks up the receiver is ridiculous/hilarious.

We got lucky on the last one when the receiver fell down, but that one costs us a TD.

That was ball blowing the coverage there want to see the replay who blew that one. Wilson blew one as well way too many blown assignments for mid season way too many

Quote from: tlf on August 15, 2026, 01:50:32 AMNichols hurt, might have been his guy

This would be a blessing in disguise

Did anyone pickup Houston?

CFL history FG  Nice!

Quote from: jdrattops on August 15, 2026, 01:48:47 AMLol, let Ottawa take the momentum into half time

Nope!

Quote from: tlf on August 15, 2026, 01:57:33 AMCFL history FG  Nice!

How so?

I like our short dink and dunk offense vs take long shots and go 2 and outs

Half time. I'm not overly impressed. Defence can't contest a pass. They can barely make a tackle. OL allows 3 sacks on Collaros and our defence has none.

We came out flat as usual after a bye no less!!!

Is Jefferson playing? He hasn't made an impact yet. New LB, Hazen has been invisible. I'm not sure if he's been on ST's at all?

Our defense stinks, Ottawa stops themselves on offense by poorly thrown balls our defense hasn't made a pay on any ball to knock it down and blown coverages several times. The scheme stinks and has to change but sadly it won't. Coach straight brim is too cool to adapt and change

Milt needs to shave his neck

Quote from: bomberjunkie on August 15, 2026, 01:47:11 AMThe improvement is that Collaros has the fear of God in him and quick releasing.

Yep, Zach saw the end of his career flash before his eyes and stepped up with the help of Brady.

Quote from: Jesse on August 15, 2026, 01:46:19 AMBrady might as well be saying **** you to everything techno has been saying about him.

Yup. He follows me religiously. I take full responsibility for Brady's better play this game! It's all me! My wfc cheque is in the mail I hope!

 and we don't even try running the ball

Quote from: Jesse on August 15, 2026, 01:58:46 AMHow so?

Number of 50+ yarders or something like that.. he broke Troy Westwood's record.  They mentioned it on CJOB

I cant remember seeing Zac look so unsure in his reads, his hesitation is causing all sorts of problems

Nice quick tackle. More of that.

Quote from: Pete on August 15, 2026, 02:16:17 AMI cant remember seeing Zac look so unsure in his reads, his hesitation is causing all sorts of problems

His receivers may not be open, it's not always him. But sure blame the QB

huge sack - how about brady now ?

Quote from: The Zipp on August 15, 2026, 02:17:57 AMhuge sack - how about brady now ?

Brady for 378 yards?

Wow. 

A nice play

And

A drop

No..No..no. Pokey..no.

what a drop

The NFL scouts know things

Quote from: The Zipp on August 15, 2026, 02:22:50 AMwhat a drop

Such a perfect pass... how did he drop that? 

How doesn't he have confidence? That.

Quote from: tlf on August 15, 2026, 02:23:54 AMSuch a perfect pass... how did he drop that? 

How doesn't he have confidence? That.

Looked like it hit his facemask, don't know why he didn't turn around.

Wow nice drop wilson.can't believe a professional football player can drop a pass like thst, pretty much sums up our inconsistency at receiver and why we should go away from the deep shots when you can't hall in that gimme. Absolutely brutal

Condell should be fired.. why on 2nd and long we arent in maximum protect makes no sense. Everybody knew the redblacks would blitz (except Condell)

That sack was on Zach, he had adequate time to get rid of the ball but held onto it.

How is it 4 redblacks sacked zach at once, did anyone on the I like block anyone??? That was horrible

MOS main man Bryant touches his man once than stands and watches Zac go down

letting ottawa hang around

Great punt!

Can't figure out what position Ball is playing, is he playing Kramdi short safety?

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 15, 2026, 02:43:59 AMCan't figure out what position Ball is playing, is he playing Kramdi short safety?

his position is "out of position"

Ethan Ball down..left ankle.  Oh doesn't look good :(

Jefferson with a rare bull rush.

fg again - great return by vaval.

Ed Tait

The attendance tonight here at Princess Auto Stadium is 31,812. Another plus-30K crowd from @Wpg_BlueBombers faithful

Quote from: gobombersgo on August 15, 2026, 02:51:32 AMEd Tait

The attendance tonight here at Princess Auto Stadium is 31,812. Another plus-30K crowd from @Wpg_BlueBombers faithful

How many is a sellout?

Anyone seen the ghost of Tommy Nield?

Amazing what rushing a QB can do

This is embarassing.

Gawd dang our defence sucks!!

No name McDonald is making everyone forget about geno lewis, what a sad sad joke of a secondary

Ottawa has made the adjustments once again to stop Olivera, can Condell adjust?

Quote from: Pete on August 15, 2026, 03:09:09 AMOttawa has made the adjustments once again to stop Olivera, can Condell adjust?

Tommy doesn't do that

vaval is king

so important tonight

Quote from: The Zipp on August 15, 2026, 03:12:14 AMvaval is king

so important tonight

Between him and Castillo s long field goals our special teams have been very solid

Wow. 

Was gonna say intentional grounding haha

Feels good to win again! Welcome back ZC.

What a game by Brady!

Solid win, a number of players improved their play and Younger dialed back his Tony Jones stunts.

I'd fire Younger before he leaves the stadium tonight.  We had a couple of contested passes but Ottawa receivers dropped more than we knocked down. I'm so tired of prevent defence. I'm not sure who Ball was on the field replacing? That was somewhat new and not particularly effective.

Once again we took too many unnecessary penalties. Objectionable conduct and roughing the passer which allowed the Redblacks to score their last TD.

I don't think Tony Jones had a good game. One TD sailed over his head to Bell. Might not have been his guy, but I think t might have been.

Oliveria didn't seem to get the ball as often in the 2nd half?

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 15, 2026, 03:32:26 AMSolid win, a number of players improved their play and Younger dialed back his Tony Jones stunts.

Against the worst team in the CFL? I'm hard pressed to say a number of players improved their play. Who on defence improved? Seriously.

Oliveria and White played well on offence. Collaros had a decent game all things considered. The OL, Nield, Cobb and O.Wilson did not.

Maybe someone tracked how many passes Ottawa dropped on their own. We knocked down a few more than usual but they were open all game, uncontested.

You think they can do that against the Als on the road and come out with a win? YIKES.

Als will beat us by 20, it won't be pretty at all. Our defense will be absolutely ripped apart

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 03:44:47 AMAgainst the worst team in the CFL? I'm hard pressed to say a number of players improved their play. Who on defence improved? Seriously.

Oliveria and White played well on offence. Collaros had a decent game all things considered. The OL, Nield, Cobb and O.Wilson did not.

Maybe someone tracked how many passes Ottawa dropped on their own. We knocked down a few more than usual but they were open all game, uncontested.

You think they can do that against the Als on the road and come out with a win? YIKES.

No, but they didn't play against the Als tonight so why worry about it, they only need to beat the other team on the field.

IMO Moxey, Nichols and Bryant played better tonight as did Zach.

Wilson 0/5, ZC8 21/31 222 yards, BO20 19 touches for 154 yards. ZC8 held the ball far to long on a couple of plays. Front 7 played well, but the DBs still have some breakdowns. A couple of bad penalties, and a couple of questionable penalties. 

Quote from: Pete on August 15, 2026, 03:09:09 AMOttawa has made the adjustments once again to stop Olivera, can Condell adjust?

To be fair he called a lot more passing plays in the second half once he saw that the Redblacks were just going to run blitz A and B like most teams do from the start.

Brady had a heck of a game though. Played great. It's just he's easy to scheme away his run game if the defense choses to, and they did in the second half. Getting him the ball through the air is a good workaround.

We don't win that game without his contributions though, and Vaval and Castillo. The three of them beat the Redblacks tonight.

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 15, 2026, 03:55:49 AMNo, but they didn't play against the Als tonight so why worry about it, they only need to beat the other team on the field.

IMO Moxey, Nichols and Bryant played better tonight as did Zach.

Because we do the same thing and expect different results. Something has to change.  Start by answering the question as to why all our extra imports are on defence and we don't play well in every game?

Noting that Cobb, Clercius, Daniels , Nield and MCI added a total of 5 yards on offence.  We choose to add Hazen instead of Singer and that makes no sense.

It has to be that singer sucks in ST. Hazen didn't see he field on normal D, I'm nearly positive. But he was active and in the mix on ST.

A lot of REC are prima donnas, and wimps. Not the best type for ST.

We might simply refuse to dress a spare rec unless they can overcome this.

I guess it makes sense. However, we could have STARTED singer and sat one of the 2 C&C Drop Factory. That's the part I don't understand.

Quote from: Tecno on August 15, 2026, 01:31:51 PMIt has to be that singer sucks in ST. Hazen didn't see he field on normal D, I'm nearly positive. But he was active and in the mix on ST.

A lot of REC are prima donnas, and wimps. Not the best type for ST.

We might simply refuse to dress a spare rec unless they can overcome this.

I guess it makes sense. However, we could have STARTED singer and sat one of the 2 C&C Drop Factory. That's the part I don't understand.

Seeing as we started 9 Canadians yesterday and it's painfully obvious we're not good enough to do that I wonder if they made the Dru Brown trade thinking they would have one of the extra second round picks again. Either that or it's just old fashioned (and outdated) roster management from O'Shea because Nield, Cobb and Corcoran aren't really professional football player starting quality pieces. They just aren't.

Quote from: Tecno on August 15, 2026, 01:31:51 PMIt has to be that singer sucks in ST. Hazen didn't see he field on normal D, I'm nearly positive. But he was active and in the mix on ST.

A lot of REC are prima donnas, and wimps. Not the best type for ST.

We might simply refuse to dress a spare rec unless they can overcome this.

I guess it makes sense. However, we could have STARTED singer and sat one of the 2 C&C Drop Factory. That's the part I don't understand.

I've thought that too - but then it's just a scouting fail. You gotta be able to find a decent receiver who can play ST.

Clercius played plenty of reps but didn't do anything. Daniels doesn't seem to be helping the line. Condell keeps calling zero back fields but someone isn't able to read pressure and pickup the blitz/get the ball out faster.

The offence needs help. 

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 03:37:34 AMI'd fire Younger before he leaves the stadium tonight.  We had a couple of contested passes but Ottawa receivers dropped more than we knocked down. I'm so tired of prevent defence. I'm not sure who Ball was on the field replacing? That was somewhat new and not particularly effective.

Once again we took too many unnecessary penalties. Objectionable conduct and roughing the passer which allowed the Redblacks to score their last TD.

I don't think Tony Jones had a good game. One TD sailed over his head to Bell. Might not have been his guy, but I think t might have been.

Oliveria didn't seem to get the ball as often in the 2nd half?

Firing Younger now would guarantee failure.  Hard pass.

Brady was excellent.

Quote from: Blueforlife on August 15, 2026, 02:41:48 PMFiring Younger now would guarantee failure.  Hard pass.

What's wrong with Richie Hall? If it's age I don't buy it. He's younger than Andy Reid and he's just 10 years older than MOS. He could finish the year at the very least.

Moot point because it's never happening. I feel like if you fire Younger, MOS will go too. Probably will come to that. A lot rides on stopping Edm's running game next week.

Brady, Vaval, and Ottawa won the game for us.

Brady absolutely owned them.

Vaval gave us great field position time after time.

Ottawa mistakes & bad luck gave us a pick, which cost them 3. A receiver coming up lame on his way to the endzone cost them 4. A drop in the end zone that cost them 7. Hitting the goalpost, cost them another 7.

Nice to get a win though.

QuoteI've thought that too - but then it's just a scouting fail. You gotta be able to find a decent receiver who can play ST.

Clercius played plenty of reps but didn't do anything. Daniels doesn't seem to be helping the line. Condell keeps calling zero back fields but someone isn't able to read pressure and pickup the blitz/get the ball out faster.

The offence needs help.

Our offense was decent, not dominating but decent. They scored 33 points and should have had another TD on the Wilson drop, they're fine. It's the secondary that is awful. Watching Ottawa score on one play before the half was disappointing. Seeing our secondary never contest for a thrown ball is disappointing, they re the weakest unit in the league by a country mile. Edmonton is going to tear them a new one next week.

Our offense scored 33 points because Vaval gave them great starting positions and Brady did the rest. 

Quote from: Waffler on August 15, 2026, 03:03:00 PMWhat's wrong with Richie Hall? If it's age I don't buy it. He's younger than Andy Reid and he's just 10 years older than MOS. He could finish the year at the very least.

Moot point because it's never happening. I feel like if you fire Younger, MOS will go too. Probably will come to that. A lot rides on stopping Edm's running game next week.

Hall is great but getting up there.

If you fire Younger the D wouldn't improve this year imo.

Hall was moving very slow warm up, slower than usual.  Throws nice ball.

Yes he could finish the year.  Not what I would do.  Change coaches in offseason as needed.

When I was at the game I notice Stanley Bryant around the refs when they were huddled near the 1st half of the game, then Willie Jefferson came onto to the field and walked Bryant on the field.  I've never seen that before from Bryant, I was wondering why or the reason for it.

Quote from: Waffler on August 15, 2026, 03:03:00 PMWhat's wrong with Richie Hall? If it's age I don't buy it. He's younger than Andy Reid and he's just 10 years older than MOS. He could finish the year at the very least.

Moot point because it's never happening. I feel like if you fire Younger, MOS will go too. Probably will come to that. A lot rides on stopping Edm's running game next week.

Hall has dealt with health issues and does not want to be DC anymore. He basically helps out as a favour to MOS but will not be the guy anymore.

We would never fire Younger midseason. MOS revealed last year with Hogan that he will never do that. But he needs to take a serious step back and have MOS or someone else take a more assertive role.

Quote from: Blueforlife on August 15, 2026, 02:41:48 PMFiring Younger now would guarantee failure.  Hard pass.

No surprise you'd take that position on Younger. How much worse does it need to get?

Quote from: Jesse on August 15, 2026, 03:59:08 PMHall has dealt with health issues and does not want to be DC anymore. He basically helps out as a favour to MOS but will not be the guy anymore.

We would never fire Younger midseason. MOS revealed last year with Hogan that he will never do that. But he needs to take a serious step back and have MOS or someone else take a more assertive role.

Hall's defence is about the same as Younger's. Firing a coach mid season doesn't happen often or make a significant change in the outcome. It's moot because O'Shea won't do it.

Regardless it does happen. It happened in Ottawa a few times including this season.

Does anyone think Younger will return next season? I also suspect Hall may retire.

Quote from: Jesse on August 15, 2026, 02:17:27 PMI've thought that too - but then it's just a scouting fail. You gotta be able to find a decent receiver who can play ST.

Clercius played plenty of reps but didn't do anything. Daniels doesn't seem to be helping the line. Condell keeps calling zero back fields but someone isn't able to read pressure and pickup the blitz/get the ball out faster.

The offence needs help. 

Zach explained in his post game interview he was often telling Brady to go based on the pre-snap coverage he was seeing, 90% of those dump passes were not the play of choice.  I think Zach went into this season hoping to throw mostly long and medium passes to move the ball quickly downfield and convinced Condell to design his playbook to fit that scheme.  Midseason and both of them are screwed, Zach can't buy the time to find the mid-range targets and Condell has a playbook with a ton of plays that can't be implemented.

For all the praise Brady is getting, its a team game, and he gets a lot of those yards because Oline opens holes, and his Rec's make blocks.

He is, no doubt, a huge asset and a monster with the rock.  But he does not do it on an island.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 04:24:30 PMHall's defence is about the same as Younger's. Firing a coach mid season doesn't happen often or make a significant change in the outcome. It's moot because O'Shea won't do it.

Regardless it does happen. It happened in Ottawa a few times including this season.

Does anyone think Younger will return next season? I also suspect Hall may retire.

Younger was promoted to prevent him from being stolen.  Might have been too soon, but I find a lot of his defense setups interesting, and no doubt Hall's influence is there, whether that is good or bad, I don't know (Younger seems to have a more aggressive set of ideas, Hall may be toning them down, again, good or bad?).  I don't think he has the best assets to acheive results, and offseason upgrades will probably make a big difference to next year's results.

As

Quote from: Jesse on August 15, 2026, 03:59:08 PMHall has dealt with health issues and does not want to be DC anymore. He basically helps out as a favour to MOS but will not be the guy anymore.

We would never fire Younger midseason. MOS revealed last year with Hogan that he will never do that. But he needs to take a serious step back and have MOS or someone else take a more assertive role.

What health issues? As far as I can tell he moves slow because of his knee, think it was replaced this past off season. I am sure he could run a defense in his sleep, if just for the remainder of a season.

Agree that it will never happen. MOS has 2 years left on his contract, expect Younger to be DC for that long too. Just wondering if eventually Younger takes MOS down with him. The two go back to the days when they played together.  The only way you'd get Younger out is fire/not offer contract to MOS.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 04:20:13 PMNo surprise you'd take that position on Younger. How much worse does it need to get?

No surprise you would want to fire him when we still have some hope.  Firing a defensive coach at 5-4 after a win isn't going to happen 99/100 times.

Regardless of the situation, I almost always want coaches retained until the off season.  I have always been this way.

Yes the D is bad.  Combo of scheme and players.

We have a chance at going 500 sneaking into the playoffs and having Zach try one last time.  Nothing wrong with hope for a positive outcome on a down trending team.

Change gears in off season, down shift on the hills, don't give up, just climb one more time and hope the trans doesn't blow.

There are no easy answers on this club for this year, nor any quick solutions.  The sun will set and we will rise again.

Quote from: theaardvark on August 15, 2026, 04:30:41 PMFor all the praise Brady is getting, its a team game, and he gets a lot of those yards because Oline opens holes, and his Rec's make blocks.

He is, no doubt, a huge asset and a monster with the rock.  But he does not do it on an island.

Younger was promoted to prevent him from being stolen.  Might have been too soon, but I find a lot of his defense setups interesting, and no doubt Hall's influence is there, whether that is good or bad, I don't know (Younger seems to have a more aggressive set of ideas, Hall may be toning them down, again, good or bad?).  I don't think he has the best assets to acheive results, and offseason upgrades will probably make a big difference to next year's results.

Agree x2

Hogs had a good night in run block, so did receivers who Brady mentioned post game I think.

Your 2nd post sums up my thoughts exactly

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 15, 2026, 04:29:36 PMZach explained in his post game interview he was often telling Brady to go based on the pre-snap coverage he was seeing, 90% of those dump passes were not the play of choice.  I think Zach went into this season hoping to throw mostly long and medium passes to move the ball quickly downfield and convinced Condell to design his playbook to fit that scheme.  Midseason and both of them are screwed, Zach can't buy the time to find the mid-range targets and Condell has a playbook with a ton of plays that can't be implemented.

Hard to argue with this.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 04:24:30 PMHall's defence is about the same as Younger's. Firing a coach mid season doesn't happen often or make a significant change in the outcome. It's moot because O'Shea won't do it.

Regardless it does happen. It happened in Ottawa a few times including this season.

Does anyone think Younger will return next season? I also suspect Hall may retire.

You said fire him last night but then say it wouldn't make a significant impact to the outcome.  Then why do it or suggest it? Hmmmm

Quote from: theaardvark on August 15, 2026, 04:30:41 PMFor all the praise Brady is getting, its a team game, and he gets a lot of those yards because Oline opens holes, and his Rec's make blocks.

He is, no doubt, a huge asset and a monster with the rock.  But he does not do it on an island.

Younger was promoted to prevent him from being stolen.  Might have been too soon, but I find a lot of his defense setups interesting, and no doubt Hall's influence is there, whether that is good or bad, I don't know (Younger seems to have a more aggressive set of ideas, Hall may be toning them down, again, good or bad?).  I don't think he has the best assets to acheive results, and offseason upgrades will probably make a big difference to next year's results.

I agree we may not have the best assets. However, we continue to make too many mental errors. It's one thing to get beaten by a talented offensive player but getting beaten by a player with no defensive player around him is something else.

That goes beyond the soft coverage problems that allows QB's to complete 70% of their passes uncontested.

A few cases in point:

1. The receiver that caught a pass with no defender in the picture and came up lame while streaking for a TD. He may not have scored but this happens all too often.

2. The Maier pass that hit the upright with a receiver wide open in the end zone.

3. Re-view the Ottawa TD passes which seemed virtually uncovered.

Sure it's possible that they may not have scored, been stripped of the ball etc etc.

It is a pattern of miscommunication, strategy and / or bad talent we're seeing every game. That is on the coaching to a significant degree. Is the strategy too complicated?

Quote from: Blueforlife on August 15, 2026, 04:44:26 PMAgree x2

Hogs had a good night in run block, so did receivers who Brady mentioned post game I think.

Your 2nd post sums up my thoughts exactly
Hard to argue with this.
You said fire him last night but then say it wouldn't make a significant impact to the outcome.  They why do it or suggest it? Hmmmm

I said it because he's had enough time to improve and has not. Why would we continue to allow him more time? There might be an opportunity to bring on a new assistant and give him part of the season to develop.

Hall was more of a bend but don't break DC. He didn't give up as many big plays as often as Younger. When he did, we were more often losing contested plays.

It's always a risk but coaches are hired to be fired at some point.

Can you honestly say we have had one complete good defensive game in 2026?

You suggest waiting until the off season to make coaching changes. In theory I agree with that.

OTOH, you have to question why we didn't do that in the off season in 2025. Season record of 10 - 8 and were the crossover team.  Gave up 42 points and over 500 yards to the Als in an early exit.

Quote from: theaardvark on August 15, 2026, 04:30:41 PMFor all the praise Brady is getting, its a team game, and he gets a lot of those yards because Oline opens holes, and his Rec's make blocks.

He is, no doubt, a huge asset and a monster with the rock.  But he does not do it on an island.

Younger was promoted to prevent him from being stolen.  Might have been too soon, but I find a lot of his defense setups interesting, and no doubt Hall's influence is there, whether that is good or bad, I don't know (Younger seems to have a more aggressive set of ideas, Hall may be toning them down, again, good or bad?).  I don't think he has the best assets to acheive results, and offseason upgrades will probably make a big difference to next year's results.

I don't think it's the personel, like RB's recently fired DC William Field, Younger's defence is too complicated for the players to follow, the fact he has to rely so heavily on Kramdi to line everyone up is telling.  No need to reinvent the wheel, play solid positional football that limits explosion plays and emphasize good tackling and always running to the ball covers 80% of the basics, just like Richie Hall would teach.

I don't know how many times I saw one (or 2) of our front seven show blitz, and Meier just do a hard count and our guys drop back into empty space.

We don't send enough guys after the QB, and we can't cover WRs. But we have all these LBers just standing around the middle all alone.

We are lucky that pass hit the uprights and that guy fell after getting behind our guys.

How did we go from having a top secondary for years to this garbage?

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 04:51:50 PMI said it because he's had enough time to improve and has not. Why would we continue to allow him more time? There might be an opportunity to bring on a new assistant and give him part of the season to develop.

Hall was more of a bend but don't break DC. He didn't give up as many big plays as often as Younger. When he did, we were more often losing contested plays.

It's always a risk but coaches are hired to be fired at some point.

Can you honestly say we have had one complete good defensive game in 2026?

You suggest waiting until the off season to make coaching changes. In theory I agree with that.

OTOH, you have to question why we didn't do that in the off season in 2025. Season record of 10 - 8 and were the crossover team.  Gave up 42 points and over 500 yards to the Als in an early exit.

Agree better to wait.  We got our issues and challenges.  What happens next depends on an incredible tough back half of the season.  Sink or swim.  We likely tread water and kicker the rubber over winter.

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 15, 2026, 04:57:05 PMI don't think it's the personel, like RB's recently fired DC William Field, Younger's defence is too complicated for the players to follow, the fact he has to rely so heavily on Kramdi to line everyone up is telling.  No need to reinvent the wheel, play solid positional football that limits explosion plays and emphasize good tackling and running to the ball covers 80% of the basics, just like Richie Hall would.

Hard to argue but we lost our communication leader on D and switched him to FS same year.  That hurt x2 big!

Quote from: Blueforlife on August 15, 2026, 05:04:27 PMAgree better to wait.  We got our issues and challenges.  What happens next depends on an incredible tough back half of the season.  Sink or swim.  We likely tread water and kicker the rubber over winter.

I did say I agree in principle normally but IMO we've passed that point.

As mentioned before, we've had worsening win / loss records in the previous 4 years. 15, 14, 11 and then 10 last year. We may end up with more than 10 wins in 2026 but it sure doesn't look that way.  It looks like we'll be hard pressed to finish higher than 3rd and even the crossover is in doubt.

The very nature of our roster suggest big changes in 2027 to the old guard. Collaros, Bryant, Neufeld, Nichols and even Jefferson may be casualties of SMS, age and injury histories.

We continue to stand pat on roster choices and so on. That's a fools plan.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 05:11:39 PMI did say I agree in principle normally but IMO we've passed that point.

As mentioned before, we've had worsening win / loss records in the previous 4 years. 15, 14, 11 and then 10 last year. We may end up with more than 10 wins in 2026 but it sure doesn't look that way.  It looks like we'll be hard pressed to finish higher than 3rd and even the crossover is in doubt.

The very nature of our roster suggest big changes in 2027 to the old guard. Collaros, Bryant, Neufeld, Nichols and even Jefferson may be casualties of SMS, age and injury histories.

We continue to stand pat on roster choices and so on. That's a fools plan.

Change will come, not this year.  This is our last dance with the old guard.  Rebuild coming, will suck but will pay off if we are patient like last time.

Quote from: Blueforlife on August 15, 2026, 05:21:56 PMChange will come, not this year.  This is our last dance with the old guard.  Rebuild coming, will suck but will pay off if we are patient like last time.

O'Shea has long hesitated moving away from from old guard players. I doubt he changes that next season. He'll add a few free agents and stick with several vets that should be gone. I'll be surprised if he doesn't bring back Collaros as an example.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 05:28:30 PMO'Shea has long hesitated moving away from from old guard players. I doubt he changes that next season. He'll add a few free agents and stick with several vets that should be gone. I'll be surprised if he doesn't bring back Collaros as an example.

I think there will be more change than you suggest.  All depends on how this season turns out and how our coaches and players do during this critical phase which would test even for the best clubs.  You not wrong but can't hold em forever.  I would likely move on from Zach but his replacement must be better and we haven't seen that (yet).  Unless Zach signs for cheap.  I hope he can stay healthy but our OL doesn't give that a fair chance imo.  I enjoyed the game yesterday, would have preferred Ottawa to play a little better, love league parity.  They are so far behind.

As mentioned some guys, Brady, Vaval, Castillo had outstanding games, some guys like Willie, Ceresna, had really good games. Many others played good....In saying that we got the win...yah....but our offence again didn't have fluidity and rythem. I find we do things like run with great success, but don't build on it...I find the offence isn't terrible but it just doesn't flow.....

Defence outside of our D-line is a disaster and at times Our d-line has been terrible at contain, so they aren't without some flaws, but this defensive system doesn't work...Again blown coverages, how many completely open guys and RB's sneaking out of the backfield with no one picking them up.....and this is with so much of our resources being used on defence...I didn't hate our defence before this year, but this year it has been ripe with mistakes, blown coverages, contains etc. I have lost faith in youngers ability to correct it....

I think a lot of yards came because we need a better FS.  Kelly had a few good games, but he's back to "why is he dressing" mode.  I saw a couple times he got deked out of his jock, and for some plays (like the deep shot, came up lame catch) wasn't even on the screen.

We are missing Kramdi something fierce.  Both for his QB role, his cover role, and his creep up to the line for extra pressure role.

We need a better answer back there, if it is on our PR or neg list, and does not have the right passport, well, we started 9 Nats.

Well I enjoyed the game (other than a bike ride home in the rain), and I'm happy to get the two points. But that was 2 really bad teams going at each other. Luckily Ottawa is really really bad. I will rewatch the game today, but I don't feel particularly optomistic in spite of the win.

Brady was great, he was breaking tackles, dragging people with him, and even ran outside successfully a couple of times. Never drops a pass, and gets good YAC. He earned his salary last night. Vaval great as always, fearless. Castillo is a luxury we tend to take for granted...he has great range and gets us 3 points where other teams would be punting. I thought Jefferson had one of his better games. He's actually been freed up to pressure QBs, (maybe because contain is less of an issue with a QB like Maier) and its a pleasure to watch. He even used a bull rush successfully, which I cannot recall seeing from him in years. Demski was very good also.

Zac did what he needed to get the win, although his long ball is really starting to float, with a couple of near interceptions. Some are speculating whether he will be back next year. By all rights he shouldn't be, but the sad fact is I don't think we have anyone better at the moment. Not convinced Dru gives us a better chance to win, and there's not much else available, with Taylor Powell tied up in Edmonton for 2 years.

Ceresna and the rest of the D line stopped the run, and got decent pressure.

But this was against an 0-8 team who had just turned over about a quarter of their roster. And against a pretty mediocre QB with accuracy issues, who is not a threat to run. I shudder to think what are defense is going to look like against the better teams. I was able to watch Moxey a fair bit, and I don't know if its Younger's instruction or his own decision, but he plays incredibly far back off the receiver. On second and medium, he's playing back 10 yards, and backpedalling during the receivers first few steps another 5. All the receiver has to do is turn into the middle, and its an easy 7-10 yards. I know the Younger Hall philosophy is to force teams to make multiple small gains up the field until they eventually make a mistake, but the conversion rate on those plays against better teams is going to be close to 100%.

Quote from: bunker on August 15, 2026, 05:59:00 PMWell I enjoyed the game (other than a bike ride home in the rain), and I'm happy to get the two points. But that was 2 really bad teams going at each other. Luckily Ottawa is really really bad. I will rewatch the game today, but I don't feel particularly optomistic in spite of the win.

Brady was great, he was breaking tackles, dragging people with him, and even ran outside successfully a couple of times. Never drops a pass, and gets good YAC. He earned his salary last night. Vaval great as always, fearless. Castillo is a luxury we tend to take for granted...he has great range and gets us 3 points where other teams would be punting. I thought Jefferson had one of his better games. He's actually been freed up to pressure QBs, (maybe because contain is less of an issue with a QB like Maier) and its a pleasure to watch. He even used a bull rush successfully, which I cannot recall seeing from him in years. Demski was very good also.

Zac did what he needed to get the win, although his long ball is really starting to float, with a couple of near interceptions. Some are speculating whether he will be back next year. By all rights he shouldn't be, but the sad fact is I don't think we have anyone better at the moment. Not convinced Dru gives us a better chance to win, and there's not much else available, with Taylor Powell tied up in Edmonton for 2 years.

Ceresna and the rest of the D line stopped the run, and got decent pressure.

But this was against an 0-8 team who had just turned over about a quarter of their roster. And against a pretty mediocre QB with accuracy issues, who is not a threat to run. I shudder to think what are defense is going to look like against the better teams. I was able to watch Moxey a fair bit, and I don't know if its Younger's instruction or his own decision, but he plays incredibly far back off the receiver. On second and medium, he's playing back 10 yards, and backpedalling during the receivers first few steps another 5. All the receiver has to do is turn into the middle, and its an easy 7-10 yards. I know the Younger Hall philosophy is to force teams to make multiple small gains up the field until they eventually make a mistake, but the conversion rate on those plays against better teams is going to be close to 100%.

Ya, we noticed Moxey giving too much space at the start as well. I think they targeted him most of the 1st Q, completion after completion.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 04:20:13 PMNo surprise you'd take that position on Younger. How much worse does it need to get?

I'm a bit surprised you're jumping in the fire younger camp. You're usually quite measured. And to bring it up after a game where it kind of worked?

I guess I understand, but I'm not really in agreement. I'm starting to study and try to understand what younger is trying to do. I mean, we all have to assume mafia and younger aren't stupid.

To me the main issue is are the players just botching the scheme, or is it that the scheme is impossible for mere mortals to execute. If the scheme is utopia, and unobtainable, then its a useless as a bad scheme. That would mean it will never be good on the field.

Quote from: Waffler on August 15, 2026, 11:30:18 PMHall is 65 not 85. Kind of shocked you would say this without proof. His knee has been getting worse (limp) until this year, which is why I speculate he had it replaced. Yeah, he doesn't move that great. I remember we had an o-line coach that used a cane and Bob Wylie weighed what? Barker in Toronto, Rod Rust was 80. Dave Richie was 69 his last year as DC in BC.  Lots more examples out there. I have no doubt Hall could do it.

This is Hall stepping back on his own accord. He does not want to take on the job anymore. Without getting into the specifics of his health issues, this is what he has shared with us.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 15, 2026, 05:28:30 PMO'Shea has long hesitated moving away from from old guard players. I doubt he changes that next season. He'll add a few free agents and stick with several vets that should be gone. I'll be surprised if he doesn't bring back Collaros as an example.

O'Shea isn't GM - he's not signing free agents and extending contracts of vets. 

I'm not naive enough to think he doesn't have say in the make-up of the team, but you may be forgetting about Walters altogether?

I agree though - O'Shea definitely seems to depend on the vets that he has at his disposal more than giving others a chance.

Quote from: Jesse on August 16, 2026, 02:23:24 AMThis is Hall stepping back on his own accord. He does not want to take on the job anymore. Without getting into the specifics of his health issues, this is what he has shared with us.

It was never Hall's choice. It was O'Shea's. He may be ok with it now because he's been doing it a while. But it doesn't change the fact that we have a replacement for Younger in house were he not to last the year. In the off season you do a full search. Again, the point is moot because Younger and MOS will live or die as one.

Quote from: Waffler on August 16, 2026, 02:34:47 PMIt was never Hall's choice. It was O'Shea's. He may be ok with it now because he's been doing it a while. But it doesn't change the fact that we have a replacement for Younger in house were he not to last the year. In the off season you do a full search. Again, the point is moot because Younger and MOS will live or die as one.

I'm pretty sure Hall would be fully retired if not for MOS convincing him to stick around. From everything we've been told, Hall didn't have a bum knee, he had a serious health scare which prevents him from putting in the hours that DC requires.

Quote from: Jesse on August 16, 2026, 02:47:50 PMI'm pretty sure Hall would be fully retired if not for MOS convincing him to stick around. From everything we've been told, Hall didn't have a bum knee, he had a serious health scare which prevents him from putting in the hours that DC requires.

Which was what? I remember his brother passing not long ago but I've never heard anything about Richie Hall being sick. It was a demotion so we could retain Younger.

From the Free Press when it happened, no mention of health:

Not wanting to lose him, O'Shea offered Hall a demotion from his current role, which he gracefully accepted...
"That many years is such a precious resource. You need to find a way to keep it," O'Shea said. "We're grateful that Richie even, put in a tough spot like this, has decided to stay with our team."

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/01/08/big-blue-shuffle-coaching-deck

Quote from: Waffler on August 16, 2026, 05:44:38 PMWhich was what? I remember his brother passing not long ago but I've never heard anything about Richie Hall being sick. It was a demotion so we could retain Younger.

From the Free Press when it happened, no mention of health:

Not wanting to lose him, O'Shea offered Hall a demotion from his current role, which he gracefully accepted...
"That many years is such a precious resource. You need to find a way to keep it," O'Shea said. "We're grateful that Richie even, put in a tough spot like this, has decided to stay with our team."

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/01/08/big-blue-shuffle-coaching-deck

Even after all these years Richie still owns a home and lives in Regina in the off-season with his wife, so for more than half the year he's living in an apartment on his own.

"When you look at the cycle of coaches and stuff like that, I'm an old guy and head coaching and coordinating is kind of for the up-and-coming people," Hall said. "Different ideas and different relationships with the players. They're the 'now' guys. I'm just one of those, I wouldn't say the old men, but I got a chance to experience it and just to share the knowledge that I have."

"I'm happy with my role. I'm happy with the opportunity that I have now. So that's what I'm really focusing on."

https://3downnation.com/2025/04/07/its-what-makes-you-happy-richie-hall-not-concerned-with-titles-after-stepping-back-from-bombers-dc-job/ (https://3downnation.com/2025/04/07/its-what-makes-you-happy-richie-hall-not-concerned-with-titles-after-stepping-back-from-bombers-dc-job/)

Quote from: Tecno on August 15, 2026, 11:25:39 PMI'm a bit surprised you're jumping in the fire younger camp. You're usually quite measured. And to bring it up after a game where it kind of worked?

I guess I understand, but I'm not really in agreement. I'm starting to study and try to understand what younger is trying to do. I mean, we all have to assume mafia and younger aren't stupid.

To me the main issue is are the players just botching the scheme, or is it that the scheme is impossible for mere mortals to execute. If the scheme is utopia, and unobtainable, then its a useless as a bad scheme. That would mean it will never be good on the field.

It has nothing to do with this game or any one single game. It's the constant soft coverage and continual breakdowns in coverage. It's about giving up 377 yards rushing to the Lions. It's about the late drives allowed just before half time or at the end of the game.

Keep in mind that " this game " was against the worst team in the CFL that was win less before this game. That's a pretty low bar to measure against.

I've previously mentioned that the scheme is at the least part of the problem if not the major part of the problem. It was the same issue last year. So whether we don't have the talent or the wrong talent to execute the scheme, that's on the coaching.

It's the worst of bend but don't break since QB's can complete throws uncontested for high %.

The list goes on and are we seeing any improvement against good teams? Let's see how this looks against the Elks then the Als over the next two weeks.

The story of Younger is that he brought a bit of an unconventional approach to the league which worked for half a season. It got schemed hard last year and ultimately proved so ineffective he basically abandoned it this year in favour of a more traditional approach. The issue is that this version of his defense is even worse (it appears a bit of a hybrid between what he wishes he could run and what the results tells him he has to) and so what you're left with is a guy who made a bit of a splash, got countered hard, and hasn't been able to adapt at all.

Ultimately, he has shown next to nothing, has basically no history of running a successful defensive program and by and large looks lost and hopeless now. I don't think he has any idea what to do. And the unit basically quit on him in the BC game which is unheard of on an O'Shea led team. He had a fair shot but the results aren't good enough. We can do better. He may eventually grow into a better coordinator but how many more years do we want to commit to that? Just like the development of a young player, there's no guarantee.

Quote from: Sir Blue and Gold on August 16, 2026, 07:29:05 PMThe story of Younger is that he brought a bit of an unconventional approach to the league which worked for half a season. It got schemed hard last year and ultimately proved so ineffective he basically abandoned it this year in favour of a more traditional approach. The issue is that this version of his defense is even worse and so what you're left with is a guy who made a bit of a splash, got countered hard, and hasn't been able to adapt at all.

He has shown next to nothing, has basically no history of running a successful defensive program and by and large looks lost and hopeless now. I don't think he has any idea what to do. And the unit basically quit on him in the BC game which is unheard of on an O'Shea team. This is not the best we can do.

I don't even think he needs to change that much. Use less subs and simplify the hand offs in the secondary. Stop using Tony Jones as a 4th rusher and keep your DL on the field.

A solid enough win overall, even with a few warts. And still gotta keep in mind this was over the winless RedBlacks.

The O-line still scares me, Collaros got pretty tenderized yet again, and the defense as a unit continues to worry me. Seems like a combination of system and personnel issues. Kramdi needs to hurry back, IMO.

Not sure how the next few weeks are gonna go.

Both Younger and OShea were schooled in the Rich Stubler defense, so I doubt OShea fires Younger, it would be like firing his brother. He's got Richie Hall to help him out and that's what we're stuck with, warts and all.

Quote from: Jesse on August 16, 2026, 07:32:02 PMI don't even think he needs to change that much. Use less subs and simplify the hand offs in the secondary. Stop using Tony Jones as a 4th rusher and keep your DL on the field.

The substitution seems a bit ridiculous at times. At least 2 players are going on and off every play. The jogging to the sidelines is probably tiring them out as much as one more play would. And he seems to favour putting in players for a special role every down, regardless of the discrepancy in talent level between them and the player they are relieving. Is taking Ceresna or Jefferson out on a second and medium or long down, and putting in Ball or Hallet really going to benefit us? Just seems to add the generalized confusion in the secondary.

I understand that players, D-line in particular, need plays off so they won't burn out, but why not just bring in the extra D-lineman we roster, who seem reasonably talented? All things being equal, there is still something to be said for trying to play your most talented players as much as possible, and keeping your scrubs on the bench or special teams. A simplied scheme with less substituion might also help with all the confusion and busted coverages we are seeing regularly.

And if he's really commited to bringing in an extra DB on passing plays, then  roster a decent extra American DB already for coverage, in place of an American special teams linebacker that rarely sees the field.

2Q9:31 the Zach hit: Who's the blame?  Brady would normally be the last line of defence here.  He was in the pocket during the cadence, then vacates around the same moment you can start seeing the blitz coming.

It's certainly not Stan or OL's fault: they picked up their proper man, inside out.

Brady should maybe be hesitating before vacating just to take a last look at things.  However, Brady & Zach have both said that Zach often tells Brady when to vacate, so this is probably Brady following orders.

So it's probably mostly on Zach I guess, unless Brady can override his orders.  We've seen this every time: Zach never peeks to the blindside.  He always stays 100% focused on his reads.  He can't peek even more a second right before the snap?  What do other QBs do?

Certainly at quiet PAS Stan could yell out to Zach some codeword... or did Stan think Brady had that block??  Stan didn't look concerned at all as the guy whizzed past him.  He looked a bit surprised when he looked back and found Zach on the turf.

In CGY, when BLM was there, in his last 2 seasons, I could swear that they had a system that told BLM when he was about to be hit or the OL was breaking down, or whatever.  BLM, even when looking 180 degrees the wrong way would always know when to chuck the ball to avoid these hits and sacks.  It was near impossible to sack BLM back then.  No, he wasn't just that good.  I was sure they had a system to ping or talk in his helmet after the snap (which I thought was illegal) to warn him not only that he was in danger, but what side it was coming from.  Maybe if talking/warning is outlawed, they installed some secondary tone system or something.  All you'd need is to put a remote controlled tone generator on each side of the helmet to make a beep when danger was coming from that side.  Zach could greatly benefit from such a thing and I don't know why we just leave him out there defenseless to take these CTE hits.

Quote from: Tecno on August 17, 2026, 02:59:49 AM2Q9:31 the Zach hit: Who's the blame?  Brady would normally be the last line of defence here.  He was in the pocket during the cadence, then vacates around the same moment you can start seeing the blitz coming.

It's certainly not Stan or OL's fault: they picked up their proper man, inside out.

Brady should maybe be hesitating before vacating just to take a last look at things.  However, Brady & Zach have both said that Zach often tells Brady when to vacate, so this is probably Brady following orders.

So it's probably mostly on Zach I guess, unless Brady can override his orders.  We've seen this every time: Zach never peeks to the blindside.  He always stays 100% focused on his reads.  He can't peek even more a second right before the snap?  What do other QBs do?

Certainly at quiet PAS Stan could yell out to Zach some codeword... or did Stan think Brady had that block??  Stan didn't look concerned at all as the guy whizzed past him.  He looked a bit surprised when he looked back and found Zach on the turf.

In CGY, when BLM was there, in his last 2 seasons, I could swear that they had a system that told BLM when he was about to be hit or the OL was breaking down, or whatever.  BLM, even when looking 180 degrees the wrong way would always know when to chuck the ball to avoid these hits and sacks.  It was near impossible to sack BLM back then.  No, he wasn't just that good.  I was sure they had a system to ping or talk in his helmet after the snap (which I thought was illegal) to warn him not only that he was in danger, but what side it was coming from.  Maybe if talking/warning is outlawed, they installed some secondary tone system or something.  All you'd need is to put a remote controlled tone generator on each side of the helmet to make a beep when danger was coming from that side.  Zach could greatly benefit from such a thing and I don't know why we just leave him out there defenseless to take these CTE hits.

But what if the other team hacks into the tone generator, and starts hitting it even when there's no pressure, causing Zach to needlessly throw the ball away  :D

Techno, you are definitely the most entertaining poster on here.

As for the sack, its hard to know. The overload was well timed, and wasn't obvious until just immediately before the snap, so the centre didn't account for it, and Stan had no choice but to take the inside man, since he couldn't pass him off to Wallace, who was occupied with his own DT. So technically, the free man is the QB's responsibility. Some QB's seem to have a 6th sense of when pressure is coming. Zach may have had it once, but doesn't seem to anymore. He also had at least one receiver open (Brady) where he could have gotten rid of the ball, but chose not to, maybe looking for something longer. He did have almost 2 seconds there. He tends to hang on to the ball too long, kind of the anti Trevor Harris.

Quote from: bunker on August 17, 2026, 03:22:14 AMBut what if the other team hacks into the tone generator, and starts hitting it even when there's no pressure, causing Zach to needlessly throw the ball away  :D

I don't know what CGY did, but I promise you, they did something.  No 6th sense is that good.  I talked about it at length here back when it was happening like 5+ years ago.  As for hacking, use an encrypted digital comms channel, easy peasy, I can rig one up on a rasp pi that can fit in a helmet.

Quote from: bunker on August 17, 2026, 03:22:14 AMAs for the sack, its hard to know. The overload was well timed, and wasn't obvious until just immediately before the snap, so the centre didn't account for it, and Stan had no choice but to take the inside man, since he couldn't pass him off to Wallace, who was occupied with his own DT. So technically, the free man is the QB's responsibility. Some QB's seem to have a 6th sense of when pressure is coming. Zach may have had it once, but doesn't seem to anymore. He also had at least one receiver open (Brady) where he could have gotten rid of the ball, but chose not to, maybe looking for something longer. He did have almost 2 seconds there. He tends to hang on to the ball too long, kind of the anti Trevor Harris.

He chose to hang on because he thought everything was covered and he had all day, so of course you don't go for the dump pass when you think you have all day.

As for well-timed blindside overloads: this will just be the trick every team will use on Zach to take him out of the game.  Not like it's complicated or difficult, and we seem completely incapable of stopping them.

DT on the 'OB was saying in the post-game that every team blitzes on us, and it always works and is always easy.  And when we try that on other teams, every single one of them blocks it with ease, every time.  It's true, and it's one of the most frustrating things of Bomber ball.  How can both things be true, that we suck so bad at a simple football task on both sides?

Quote from: Tecno on August 17, 2026, 03:32:53 AMI don't know what CGY did, but I promise you, they did something.  No 6th sense is that good.  I talked about it at length here back when it was happening like 5+ years ago.  As for hacking, use an encrypted digital comms channel, easy peasy, I can rig one up on a rasp pi that can fit in a helmet.

He chose to hang on because he thought everything was covered and he had all day, so of course you don't go for the dump pass when you think you have all day.

As for well-timed blindside overloads: this will just be the trick every team will use on Zach to take him out of the game.  Not like it's complicated or difficult, and we seem completely incapable of stopping them.

DT on the 'OB was saying in the post-game that every team blitzes on us, and it always works and is always easy.  And when we try that on other teams, every single one of them blocks it with ease, every time.  It's true, and it's one of the most frustrating things of Bomber ball.  How can both things be true, that we suck so bad at a simple football task on both sides?

From the Free Press:
Winnipeg Blue Bombers guard Patrick Neufeld stated, "They had the perfect call for the protection we were in," regarding a second-quarter blind-side hit on quarterback Zach Collaros.

SO maybe the Ottawa DC just made a great call, and the players timed it perfectly. If it was so easy, Collaros would be taking blind side hits on every passing down.

But maybe Condell should think twice in the future about only 5 man protection with an empty backfield, when he has an aging, brittle QB. Leave someone like Daniels (who's not much of a threat as a receiver) lined up beside Stan.

Quote from: bunker on August 17, 2026, 03:47:21 AMSO maybe the Ottawa DC just made a great call, and the players timed it perfectly. If it was so easy, Collaros would be taking blind side hits on every passing down.

Well obviously you can't do it every snap, you still have to pick your spots.  The point still remains that when other teams blitz it often works on our OL/jumbo.  And it's also true that when we blitz it's largely ineffective.  Doesn't really matter the team we are comparing to, this is universally true.  See, even OTT did it!!

That's the real issue, and DT knows it, and we have yet to find a solution.

QuoteFrom the Free Press:
Winnipeg Blue Bombers guard Patrick Neufeld stated, "They had the perfect call for the protection we were in," regarding a second-quarter blind-side hit on quarterback Zach Collaros.

SO maybe the Ottawa DC just made a great call, and the players timed it perfectly. If it was so easy, Collaros would be taking blind side hits on every passing down.

But maybe Condell should think twice in the future about only 5 man protection with an empty backfield, when he has an aging, brittle QB. Leave someone like Daniels (who's not much of a threat as a receiver) lined up beside Stan.

Lining up Daniels beside Stan should be a given especially when you consider the overall contribution our #5 receiver gives our offense. Keeping Collaros protected should be the #1 priority in any given play and when we go empty backfield that ball has got to come out right away to avoid the big hit.

What is it about opponent RBs/TEs/FBs sneaking out to be wide open for huge passes against us?  So many teams are reaming us this way, sometimes more than once a game, seemingly every week.  And no one ever adjusts or corrects for this simple ruse!

I can understand some of the players being dumb, but what about the braintrust?  Can't they task a guy on each side who is responsible for the extra guy?

This shouldn't be difficult.  And it shouldn't happen every single week.  It got OTT a free easy TD this time.

I don't have the game to review, but didn't BO20 release through the B gap on the blindside hit?  With no one else in the backfield?

Maybe they should start lining Daniels/Clercius up as TE beside Broxton, and bring them back across the line to either take out a blindside rush, or release into that flat.

Takes their cover guy as well.

Quote from: theaardvark on August 17, 2026, 03:35:24 PMI don't have the game to review, but didn't BO20 release through the B gap on the blindside hit?  With no one else in the backfield?

Maybe they should start lining Daniels/Clercius up as TE beside Broxton, and bring them back across the line to either take out a blindside rush, or release into that flat.

Takes their cover guy as well.

I find it difficult to see when Daniels is on the field or how well he's doing. I'd like to see him used more as a receiver a few times. Isn't that the expectation of a TE, even in the CFL?

Quote from: theaardvark on August 17, 2026, 03:35:24 PMI don't have the game to review, but didn't BO20 release through the B gap on the blindside hit?  With no one else in the backfield?

Maybe they should start lining Daniels/Clercius up as TE beside Broxton, and bring them back across the line to either take out a blindside rush, or release into that flat.

Takes their cover guy as well.

Brady slips out of the backfield without chipping anyone far too quickly and far too often, of course he wants the ball on every single play but Condell should make it a rule that he only leaves after making sure no one has a free shot at the QB. Watch the Als protect Alexander, the RB always steps up and looks for someone to block if he's not running the ball, it's his job and there is no B plan except to protect their most valuable asset.

Quote from: Tecno on August 17, 2026, 05:19:10 AMWhat is it about opponent RBs/TEs/FBs sneaking out to be wide open for huge passes against us?  So many teams are reaming us this way, sometimes more than once a game, seemingly every week.  And no one ever adjusts or corrects for this simple ruse!

I can understand some of the players being dumb, but what about the braintrust?  Can't they task a guy on each side who is responsible for the extra guy?

This shouldn't be difficult.  And it shouldn't happen every single week.  It got OTT a free easy TD this time.

Younger's schemes and personal substitution are very (probably overly) complex. Its really hard to follow. There are a few patterns, like an extra DB like Ball coming in on second and long, and someone like Lawson going out. But there are times when Jones comes in on second and long, (who's not great in coverage IMO) and then lines up on the line, only to back off into coverage. They were doing the same thing with Reese, bringing him in on second and long, and then having him back up into coverage, even though he lined up as a DT. There is alot of change off of LBs also, with Wilson and Jones frequently going on for each other. (Smith and Woodbey were getting most of the reps, and rarely came off). I can't imagine all those substitutions and changes in roles doesn't increase the risk of mistakes and busted coverages.

I was actually impressed with out D-line last game. Granted its Ottawa, and Maier presents less challenges than someone like Fajardo, but they got excellent pressure rushing 4, and 2 of their sacks were actually rushing 3 if I remember correctly. I thought Willy, Ceresna, Fletcher, Reese and Lawson all played well, both against the run and pressuring against the pass. Curious to see if they can continue that against Edmonton.

On the negative, 3/5s of our secondary was terrible. Moxey and Kelly are terrible in coverage, and Nichols is not much better. I don't think the huge cushions they are giving is all scheme either, since Williams plays tighter. I think its partly that Nichols and Moxey no longer have the speed to close on a receiver if they get behind them and the cushion is a survival strategy to avoid an explosion play.

Quote from: theaardvark on August 17, 2026, 03:35:24 PMI don't have the game to review, but didn't BO20 release through the B gap on the blindside hit?  With no one else in the backfield?

I didn't post my review of that play yet? I guess it's in the tecnos takes I'm composing still.

Short of it is, yes Brady was in and vacates during the snap count, but Zach says he tells Brady when to vacate and in this instance I think he's doing just that. You can hear him doing it. So no one spotted it, and it's Zach to blame imho. Someone needs to spot it and communicate.

Quote from: Tecno on August 17, 2026, 11:46:52 PMI didn't post my review of that play yet? I guess it's in the tecnos takes I'm composing still.

Short of it is, yes Brady was in and vacates during the snap count, but Zach says he tells Brady when to vacate and in this instance I think he's doing just that. You can hear him doing it. So no one spotted it, and it's Zach to blame imho. Someone needs to spot it and communicate.

Easier said then done.The tell was not really there until just at the snap. By then Zach's eyes are already focused on receiving the snap and looking downfield.
I just rewatched the Edmonton Toronto game. Cody was sacked 3 times from the blind side by Toronto on blitzes. Blitz happens.

Someone's gotta solve it though. One of these days it'll be the last time we see Zach. Surely there's a solution.

Quote from: Tecno on August 18, 2026, 02:43:22 AMSomeone's gotta solve it though. One of these days it'll be the last time we see Zach. Surely there's a solution.

Best solution is a dominant O-line and an offense where the QB gets rid of the ball quickly. Like Calvillo in his heyday with Montreal, you couldn't get near him. Or Harris in Saskatchewan now. But we don't have that O-line and we don't have that QB.

Quote from: Tecno on August 18, 2026, 02:43:22 AMSomeone's gotta solve it though. One of these days it'll be the last time we see Zach. Surely there's a solution.

Solving these issues midway through the season is no easy task. Upgrading personnel on the O-line is typically an off-season thing, and making significant changes to the system in place is pretty rare.

I think the team is stuck slogging it out as is. It's unfortunate because it's starting to feel similar to last season.

But no amount of allstar hoggies would have saved Zach from his 2 big hits this season.

Both were extra blocker and Zach vision failures.

The problem is thus scheme and or auxiliary blocking personnel. If the former, that means it's solvable.

I think Fletcher and Reese are good new players as they get more playing time. Gatkouth seems to be on the field often and might also be starting to make an impact. Sample sizes are still a little small, but signs are good.

Smith led the team with 7 DT's. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing depending on assignment on each play. However he is showing up and looks like a keeper going forward.

Quote from: Tecno on August 18, 2026, 01:52:39 PMBut no amount of allstar hoggies would have saved Zach from his 2 big hits this season.

Both were extra blocker and Zach vision failures.

The problem is thus scheme and or auxiliary blocking personnel. If the former, that means it's solvable.

Take "max protection" seriously and use whenever needed, when employing there should be no side projects that distract from it's purpose.  It is to be used for deep developing routes only, taking long shots, which are inherently low percentage risky plays to begin with that should only be used in moderation.

Nothing wrong with the O-line personnel per se other than Stan aging out, no one is constantly whiffing or getting knocked on their butt by bull rushes, the personnel is big, strong and solid.  If anything communication of assignments on switch overs and stunts has been their biggest liability.

Yes, fletcher and Reese are good finds. Our DL is the strongest it's been since jeffcoat left.

Quote from: Tecno on August 18, 2026, 11:22:34 PMYes, fletcher and Reese are good finds. Our DL is the strongest it's been since jeffcoat left.

Agree. With Lawson healthy we seem to have 5 starting caliber D linemen, which is a luxury we have not had for a long time. Still not sure about Gatcuoth, but he's young and hopefully will improve.

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 18, 2026, 03:59:44 PMTake "max protection" seriously and use whenever needed, when employing there should be no side projects that distract from it's purpose.  It is to be used for deep developing routes only, taking long shots, which are inherently low percentage risky plays to begin with that should only be used in moderation.

Nothing wrong with the O-line personnel per se other than Stan aging out, no one is constantly whiffing or getting knocked on their butt by bull rushes, the personnel is big, strong and solid.  If anything, communication of assignments on switch overs and stunts has been their biggest liability.

I'm not sure why on second and long we don't seem to know that the opponent is going to overload our left side and scheme accordingly (teams continue to blitz us regularly in those situations). Zac needs to take blame as well, change up the snap count and instead of waiting till the last second to get to the line of scrimmage do what Hamilton does with BLM and let Zac have time to view the defense and change the play call if necessary. I honestly have seldom seen Zac call an audible.

Quote from: Pete on August 19, 2026, 02:44:53 AMI'm not sure why on second and long we don't seem to know that the opponent is going to overload our left side and scheme accordingly (teams continue to blitz us regularly in those situations). Zac needs to take blame as well, change up the snap count and instead of waiting till the last second to get to the line of scrimmage do what Hamilton does with BLM and let Zac have time to view the defense and change the play call if necessary. I honestly have seldom seen Zac call an audible.

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Could be wrong but Zach seemed to be doing this more than usual last game.

Quote from: Pete on August 19, 2026, 02:44:53 AMZac needs to take blame as well, change up the snap count and instead of waiting till the last second to get to the line of scrimmage do what Hamilton does with BLM and let Zac have time to view the defense and change the play call if necessary. I honestly have seldom seen Zac call an audible.

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 19, 2026, 03:18:18 AMCould be wrong but Zach seemed to be doing this more than usual last game.

Zach called a metric ton of audibles.  He was changing the play like every third snap!  I've never seen so much chatter.

However, some of it might be a fake-out.  Did anyone notice the little new Condell trick of everyone fake-waggle-stop then instantly go?  Usually it's a waggle-stop then audibles/reload/reinitiate.  But he has this new trick where it's waggle-stop then 1s later everyone goes -- no reload.  Because the DL/LBs get out of their stance on the fake and are not ready to go 1s later.  We did this at least twice and it was very entertaining.  And it only works if you do a lot of waggle-fakes and reloads.

Tecno's Take - Midweek Edition:

GOOD PLAY count
zach 17.5
brady 10.5
white 7
willie 5.5
demski 4.5
ceresna 4.5
perkins 4.5
vaval 4
lawson 3.5
kyrie 3
moxey 3
nichols 3
nield 2.5
neuf 2.5
wallace 2.5
holm 2.5
fletcher 2.5
ayers 2.5
eli 2.5
2 each: sheahan, kelly, major, hallett, ike, reese
1.5 each: els, woodbey, stan, smith
1 each: goalpost, broxton, demski, jones, daniels, castillo, pokey

BAD PLAYS count
zach 3
pokey 2.5
kelly 2.5
brady 2
neuf 1.5
wallace 1.5
1 each: els, wallace, cobb, ball, major, kyrie, fletcher
0.5 each: white, smith, nichols

1Q11:38 Too many men?  How do you do that on the first drive of the first game back from the bye?

2Q9:07 Brady's big 2nd & 17 conversion: very AH-esque, nice!  This is the stuff that AH would do and win you playoffs and cups.  And he managed to stay up even after low leg hits/tackles.  Maybe we're seeing some progression & improvement by Brady.

3Q10:46 White's "dancing" is very entertaining, and pretty incredible.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a WPG REC that nimble and quick to change direction.  Want to see more of that!  And 4Q9:39

4Q6:08 Hardy mugs Nichols and gets the free 1st down call.  D has to be taught to take muggings without using their hands.  Make it clear to the refs that you are the one being mugged.

Nice mega-holding all over the place on that huge Pimpleton return to end the half.

Can't overstate how difficult that last pass before the half is, with 6s on the clock to execute within 5.  Very well done.  So few appreciate this.

Brady's best game in forever.  And I don't just mean stats.  He was taking low hits and leg/foot interference and keeping going -- something he's had trouble with.  Balance is looking way better.  Certainly the effort level has massively increased.

Ball non-contact again.  Kid can't stay healthy.  Another Schoen-like case, whose body can't handle football?

On OTT's final TD drive our DL is getting after it 4 on 5 shows the true potential of that group in a pressure situation when they can pin their ears back.

Has Eli put on weight?  Looks much bigger out there than normal.  And he was making more of a positive impact than usual.  He was in on jumbo quite a bit and I didn't see him blow a single block.  He's often the main grader/selaer on SY.  Good for Eli, bad as starter, but the absolute best 6th in the league by a country mile.  Can you be a jumbo specialist?  Dunno, but that's what he's become!

QuoteTecno's Take - Midweek Edition:

GOOD PLAY count
zach 17.5
brady 10.5
white 7
willie 5.5
demski 4.5
ceresna 4.5
perkins 4.5
vaval 4
lawson 3.5
kyrie 3
moxey 3
nichols 3
nield 2.5
neuf 2.5
wallace 2.5
holm 2.5
fletcher 2.5
ayers 2.5
eli 2.5
2 each: sheahan, kelly, major, hallett, ike, reese
1.5 each: els, woodbey, stan, smith
1 each: goalpost, broxton, demski, jones, daniels, castillo, pokey

BAD PLAYS count
zach 3
pokey 2.5
kelly 2.5
brady 2
neuf 1.5
wallace 1.5
1 each: els, wallace, cobb, ball, major, kyrie, fletcher
0.5 each: white, smith, nichols

1Q11:38 Too many men?  How do you do that on the first drive of the first game back from the bye?

2Q9:07 Brady's big 2nd & 17 conversion: very AH-esque, nice!  This is the stuff that AH would do and win you playoffs and cups.  And he managed to stay up even after low leg hits/tackles.  Maybe we're seeing some progression & improvement by Brady.

3Q10:46 White's "dancing" is very entertaining, and pretty incredible.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a WPG REC that nimble and quick to change direction.  Want to see more of that!  And 4Q9:39

4Q6:08 Hardy mugs Nichols and gets the free 1st down call.  D has to be taught to take muggings without using their hands.  Make it clear to the refs that you are the one being mugged.

Nice mega-holding all over the place on that huge Pimpleton return to end the half.

Can't overstate how difficult that last pass before the half is, with 6s on the clock to execute within 5.  Very well done.  So few appreciate this.

Brady's best game in forever.  And I don't just mean stats.  He was taking low hits and leg/foot interference and keeping going -- something he's had trouble with.  Balance is looking way better.  Certainly the effort level has massively increased.

Ball non-contact again.  Kid can't stay healthy.  Another Schoen-like case, whose body can't handle football?

On OTT's final TD drive our DL is getting after it 4 on 5 shows the true potential of that group in a pressure situation when they can pin their ears back.

Has Eli put on weight?  Looks much bigger out there than normal.  And he was making more of a positive impact than usual.  He was in on jumbo quite a bit and I didn't see him blow a single block.  He's often the main grader/selaer on SY.  Good for Eli, bad as starter, but the absolute best 6th in the league by a country mile.  Can you be a jumbo specialist?  Dunno, but that's what he's become!

Thanks for providing this detailed breakdown, it provides good insight into who's really contributing . When I coached high school, I had assistant coach count our defense every play, as well, I had our safety, and when we had too few or too many, the safety was to run up and cross the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped to kill the play before they snapped the ball. Why oh why this simple system isn't being done in the pros is beyond me. Things happen when there's massive substitutions but with 2 people counting you can eliminate the free 10 yd TMM penalties.

good to see Eli kicking but, he may be 6th O lineman now, but he ll make the starting roster

I really don't think OTT is as bad as their record indicates.  If a couple of plays they botched instead went their way they'd have had us on the ropes in this game.  Some of their units are quite good, and Maier is at least a '15 Nichols or anytime Arbuckle level game manager -- won't win them on his own, but can certainly win.  Even TOR with all-Arbuckle in '25 won 5.

Their biggest problem is their OL is weak, far worse than ours, and their run game doesn't exist (and these are actually 2 sides of the same coin).  So they don't have time or open-ness to use their above-average (on paper) REC corps.  You simply cannot pass every single down.

One of these days someone is going to lose to them, especially if luck finally goes OTT's way.  Hard to believe it'll be MTL in MTL coming up, but certainly vs BC or TOR is doable.  Then again, it's often the most lopsided matchup that turns into the trap game.  The problem is, I really want their first win to be a team I totally hate -- for max schadenfreude.  So I guess BC in week 14, please!

Something I forgot to ask immediately after the game, but what did everything think of head ref Tom Vallesi? He doesn't come by Winnipeg too often. He seems perpetually happy, that smile hard to wipe off his face.

It feels like we get Proulx more often than not.

After more thought, I think Stuart comes on the AR for Ball. However, I'm not sure he can fill that actual role on defence. He'll play on ST's though.

Because of that I'm thinking I'm leaning towards adding Texada as another DB and pushing Hazen back to the PR. While we don't need another LB, we do have a gap in the secondary. Losing Kramdi, Griffin and now Ball. Our problem has been coverage.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 20, 2026, 01:10:59 PMAfter more thought, I think Stuart comes on the AR for Ball. However, I'm not sure he can fill that actual role on defence. He'll play on ST's though.

Because of that I'm thinking I'm leaning towards adding Texada as another DB and pushing Hazen back to the PR. While we don't need another LB, we do have a gap in the secondary. Losing Kramdi, Griffin and now Ball. Our problem has been coverage.

Best I can do is add another linebacker.

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 20, 2026, 01:10:59 PMAfter more thought, I think Stuart comes on the AR for Ball. However, I'm not sure he can fill that actual role on defence. He'll play on ST's though.

Because of that I'm thinking I'm leaning towards adding Texada as another DB and pushing Hazen back to the PR. While we don't need another LB, we do have a gap in the secondary. Losing Kramdi, Griffin and now Ball. Our problem has been coverage.

Looks like they consider Novak and Clark ahead of Stuart but he's more of a DB/Safety prospect.

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 20, 2026, 04:15:11 PMLooks like they consider Novak and Clark ahead of Stuart but he's more of a DB/Safety prospect.

That's the point. We lost Ball who was a DB / safety and I would have thought adding Stuart as a better choice. Option 2 was to add Texada since the ratio would now allow that.

I guess Woodbey is back up to game speed and will get more reps this week. It's either that or Vaval sees some duty on some defensive sets.

Quote from: bomberjunkie on August 20, 2026, 12:53:15 PMwhat did everything think of head ref Tom Vallesi? He doesn't come by Winnipeg too often. He seems perpetually happy, that smile hard to wipe off his face.

Valesi is bad. He's the new First Down Foxcroft. He feels the need to sometimes play up the showmanship when announcing something the crowd will like. And he doesn't tighten the chain for measurements, just like l'il Kim used to do.

His smile thing is a disease or tic. There's a thread in the last week in the rider fans forum if you want more info, where the moderation is less strict.