TiCats at Redblacks GDT

[Pigskin]

I didn't find the game all that entertaining. I like good defensive play but this seemed more inept offence than much of anything else. Hamilton held Crum to about 30 yards passing in the 1st half and only 60 yards of total offence. That was somewhat similar to what the Bombers achieved as well.

I don't know how many times Crum ran but man did he get smacked hard and often. Full marks for courage and effort. He's certainly an athletic individual. I think he has some skill but he has not yet adapted to the CFL. Field size, motion and 12 players is a learning curve he will have to master. It's the same question with any new QB.

In that sense he made things interesting and was within 2 yards of winning his 3rd game.

Mitchell's injury on an unnecessary sneak was not smart by either the coaches or Mitchell. 13 seconds left!!! It appears he may be headed to the 6 game IR again and may have played his last game in 2023. The only good news is it's not any sort of head injury or life limiting problem.

The proclamations that Crum would be NFL bound for 2024 were a little premature.

Agree. This was a sloppy O game. Ottawa's OL wasn't very good. BLM was terrible as expected. Leggs looked good again. 100% on FGs. Glad the Blue Jays game was on.

[TBURGESS]

BLM - 5 Picks and he still won the game, but looks like he lost the season with his ankle injury.
REDBLACKS need 2 yards in 2 plays. Bring in the short yardage team and run 2 sneaks, get a first down and run another for the game.
There wasn't enough space for BLM to kneel, but he shouldn't have even been in the game. Bring in the short yardage team and QB.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I didn't find the game all that entertaining. I like good defensive play but this seemed more inept offence than much of anything else. Hamilton held Crum to about 30 yards passing in the 1st half and only 60 yards of total offence. That was somewhat similar to what the Bombers achieved as well.

I don't know how many times Crum ran but man did he get smacked hard and often. Full marks for courage and effort. He's certainly an athletic individual. I think he has some skill but he has not yet adapted to the CFL. Field size, motion and 12 players is a learning curve he will have to master. It's the same question with any new QB.

In that sense he made things interesting and was within 2 yards of winning his 3rd game.

Mitchell's injury on an unnecessary sneak was not smart by either the coaches or Mitchell. 13 seconds left!!! It appears he may be headed to the 6 game IR again and may have played his last game in 2023. The only good news is it's not any sort of head injury or life limiting problem.

The proclamations that Crum would be NFL bound for 2024 were a little premature.

As is, Crum isn't nearly ready to become a legitimate starter yet, best scenario he falls back in line behind whoever Dyce wants to hand the ball to next, be it Arbuckle or Tyrie Adams once they fully recover.  Right now Crum doesn't have enough development time invested to process the field quickly enough to sustain a passing attack and with his penchant for dangerous running he isn't going to last long.  Defences are ganging up on him and almost playing bully ball trying to punish him with every hit instead of just tackling him with reasonable force.  I see similar treatment happening with Schoen.

An ugly quality I've noticed developing on some D's over the past few years especially in the East, certain players (ie. Simoni, Chris Edwards + others) seem to be looking to intentionally take players out of the game.  These games usually devolve into seething bad blood with plenty of misconduct and after whistle pushing and yapping.  It's up to the coaches and the league to recognize these trends and protect their valuable assets from damage, as the players don't have the common sense or decency to look out for each other.  IMO the UR flag needs to be used much more frequently to curb dangerous play and to retain control over these games until the players understand where the line is drawn for aggressive behaviour.

[TBURGESS]

Crum is ready for prime time IMO. His 3 starts resulted in 2 OT wins and 3 yards away from the winning TD. He also came in for the end of a game where he was a couple yards short of scoring the wining TD. What more can you ask of a young QB?

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Crum is ready for prime time IMO. His 3 starts resulted in 2 OT wins and 3 yards away from the winning TD. He also came in for the end of a game where he was a couple yards short of scoring the wining TD. What more can you ask of a young QB?

Do you think that is sustainable?  If Khari is going to continue to rely on him, they need to come up with a way to protect him from damage first.  Threaten to fine him if he doesn't start to slide, Crum isn't a good name for an invulnerable super-hero.

[The Zipp]

From Dave Naylor:

As for the play on which Bo Levi Mitchell was injured, I?m led to believe the expectation on the @Ticats sideline was that he would take a knee to end the game. Unclear why that didn?t happen.#CFL #Ticats


The @Ticats have avoided the worst-case with the injury to QB Bo Levi Mitchell. He suffered a fracture to his lower leg and will undergo surgery Sunday morning. Expectation is he can return following his time on six-game injury list.? #CFL #Ticats

[Blue In BC]

Crum is ready for prime time IMO. His 3 starts resulted in 2 OT wins and 3 yards away from the winning TD. He also came in for the end of a game where he was a couple yards short of scoring the wining TD. What more can you ask of a young QB?

Winning isn't the only criteria. He clearly showed he can't yet read CFL defences fast enough before taking off and running.

[dd]

Crum is ready for prime time IMO. His 3 starts resulted in 2 OT wins and 3 yards away from the winning TD. He also came in for the end of a game where he was a couple yards short of scoring the wining TD. What more can you ask of a young QB?

I dunno. He had ALOT of help from his defense which scored a lot of points enroute to their 2 OT wins. Without the defensive scores, they don?t win either game.

[TBURGESS]

Do you think that is sustainable?  If Khari is going to continue to rely on him, they need to come up with a way to protect him from damage first.  Threaten to fine him if he doesn't start to slide, Crum isn't a good name for an invulnerable super-hero.

I doubt it's sustainable, but he's better than a lot of the young QB's who are forced to play. He's 50-50 against teams who have spied him meaning he's a true running threat. He throws a nice ball too. The big question is will he be able to make the reads quickly enough to become a valid starter?

Personally, I'd take Crum over Cornelesus or Fine.

[GOLDMEMBER]

I doubt it's sustainable, but he's better than a lot of the young QB's who are forced to play. He's 50-50 against teams who have spied him meaning he's a true running threat. He throws a nice ball too. The big question is will he be able to make the reads quickly enough to become a valid starter?

Personally, I'd take Crum over Cornelesus or Fine.

I agree on all fronts. He could become a bonfire starter once he can make the quick reads. Remember the blue bombers are always the perfect proving ground for brand new QBs making the fist start. Lulay, Mitchell immediately come to mind.

[theaardvark]

Crum's effectiveness as a runner is eliminated when they put a spy on him. (DE/LB), and he can't read well or fast enough to take advantage of the weakness putting a spy on him reveals.  Can he learn? We will see.

BLM should not have been in the game, and should have conceded a safety if there was not enough room to take a knee.  Powell gets 6 weeks to make his case.

[Lincoln Locomotive]

was hoping for a RB win and they were oh so close....tough to lose one like that however their bubble finally burst and Crum looked more like a 3rd or 4th stringer....albeit he still managed to put his team into position for the W.  It would have been an epic finish had that happened.....however games often come down to one or two plays and in this one the RBs came up short on two short yardage chances.    Some credit of course to the TiCat D for making the goal line stand when it mattered

[Blue In BC]

Interesting that the Redblacks were so close to winning their 3rd straight game. I didn't think they deserved to win but a win is a win regardless of how you got there.

Crum was contained for the most part and he struggled to find / hit open receivers.

I read somewhere a post suggesting ( in jest ) that he threw 40 passes 5 yards or less. A couple of receivers broke long gains from those but Crum not throwing accurately. More than 50% of passing yards was from YAC. Conversely it was only about 30% for the Ti Cats. Crum was also the RB's leading rusher. That's a recipe for disaster in the long run and getting injured.

That's to be expected with new QB's. Game plan is to avoid making big mistakes. Essentially they hope their defence keeps them in a position to be close.

He may have a future but he's going to have to survive the hits he's taking.