Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg at Hamilton September 17, 2022

[Blue In BC]

Not just the DT's. The front 7 was not very good tonight.

ZC8 with 3 turnovers really didn't help.
[/quote

Ti Cats got the early momentum and we never really totally recovered. The sack / fumble / TD was the early writing on the wall. However, we had a small chance before the Ti-Cats drove for another score with about 7 minutes left.

I don't buy the defence was tired. Bombers won TOP 30:13. Not a big difference but they weren't on the field excessively. Their problem was that they allowed 10 yard plays and long drives consistently. Only forcing 2 punts indicates that. That was the same number of punts for Winnipeg and the Ti Cats didn't look tired.

Letting another team march for 5 - 8 minute drives is self inflicted even when the other team is playing well.

Few contested receptions.

[Pigskin]

Bombers have 13 days to figure a few things out. Gauthier isn't the answer at WIL. Parker plays to far off the ball. Grant doesn't look healthy. And our front 7 needs to get more pressure. I am concerned with ZC8's trunovers this season. But for the most part the O is playing well.

[dd]

We laid an egg against Montreal and another one today. Big deal, with injuries and the long season there?s bound to be bumps. We hit a couple. No doubt MOS and the team uses this as a humbling, grounding experience and we move on.

[ModAdmin]

Game Recap | WPG 31 HAM 48 - Ed Tait

HAMILTON - It was so out of character and so unexpected it certainly left everyone who watched the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Saturday afternoon left with one pressing question: Just who the heck were those guys wearing the blue and gold and white uniforms at Tim Hortons Field, anyways?

The Blue Bombers were mauled 48-31 by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in front of 22,288 at the Canadian Football League's annual Hall of Fame Game, bringing their three-game win streak to an abrupt end and dropping their overall record to 12-2. The Ticats, meanwhile, breathed some life back into their season with the win to improve to 4-9.

"Coach O'Shea said, 'Keep your head up. It's only one game.' Hamilton got the best of us today," began Blue Bombers cornerback Winston Rose. "I've got to tip my hat to them. But we also know we can't let this happen because it's going down to the stretch right now to playoffs where it's win or go home. So, if it was playoffs today, we're going home. Luckily, it's not. So, we can learn from this and just keep pushing."

Winnipeg's first road loss this season after seven wins was disturbing on a few key levels. Hamilton QB Dane Evans lit up the defence, completing 25 of 32 passes for 327 yards and a whopping five touchdowns as the Ticats scored three touchdowns and added two field goals on their first five possessions of the game.

Overall, Hamilton's attack amassed 409 yards of net offence and aside from their last possession of both halves - both clock killers - scored points on seven touches.

On the other side of the ball, while the Blue Bombers offence cranked out 445 net yards and got two Zach Collaros TD strikes - one to Nic Demski, the other to Rasheed Bailey - they were also guilty of three turnovers in two interceptions and a fumble-recovery score by Malike Carney after he brought down Collaros.

"We've got to play two good halves of football," Collaros said. "Offensively I thought we moved the ball fairly well throughout the game, but the fumble was a huge momentum swing, and you can't do that. Obviously, if you lose the turnover battle, you're going to lose the game.

"It's one game. They're a good football team. We need to use this bye to get better, stay in shape - get in shape if you?re not in shape - and get ready for the stretch run."

The bye week reference opens a pertinent discussion, as much as the Blue Bombers will stiff-arm the topic to the ground - both losses this season have come just before the club headed into a break.

"I don't think there's anything to it," said Collaros. "Both times we lost (the other team) had great gameplans, they played physical, they played well, and the better team won."

Winnipeg had managed to cut Hamilton's lead to 10 points at 41-31 early in the fourth quarter but, as had been the case all day, the Evans-led Ticat offence then rolled over the Blue Bombers when the club needed the ball back.

"They had 14 points off takeaways, and I don?t think we started as fast as we needed to - we didn't really match them in the first half," said head coach Mike O'Shea. "I liked our fourth quarter. We just needed one more stop. They put together a really long drive in the fourth after we scored twice, which is too bad. I thought we just missed a couple tackles on that drive that could have put them in a second-and-long situation and might have changed it.

"We went 0-1 this week. They put it on us. How we lose is not indicative of the team we've been for quite some time. I take it as an anomaly. We'll look at the film and come back from the break better.?

Winnipeg will return to play host to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on September 30th and has three games following that - a home date with the Edmonton Elks and then a home-and-home with the B.C. Lions.

"The message is there's a lot more football ahead," said linebacker Adam Bighill. "It's the bye week. Get your mind and body right and come back ready to work. We're in the final stretch here where we're trying to set up playoffs and make a run. It has to level up here week in, week out as we get towards playoffs. It just has to. I mean, that's the natural evolution no matter what position you are - if you're last in the league, first in the league you have to keep pushing and get better as you get into November here.

"That's the message: keep pushing, keep getting better, keep levelling up and we're going to take care of business when it comes."

THE BIG MOMENT:

The Blue Bombers had cut the Ticat advantage to 41-31 with nine minutes remaining on a Collaros to Rasheed Bailey TD to suddenly add some drama to a game that had seemed to be out of reach at the intermission.

The Ticats then put together a 14-play scoring drive covering 90 yards that also took 7:20 off the clock, capping the possession with a six-yard David Ungerer that put the home side ahead 48-31.

THE BIG STAT: 48

The Blue Bombers haven't given up this many points in a game since a 52-26 loss to Hamilton back on July 2, 2015.

BLUE BOMBERS GAME BALLS

Offence: Dalton Schoen, Rec: Led all receivers with 158 yards on six receptions. It was his highest receiving yardage total of his rookie CFL season, and he now has 53 receptions for 988 yards and 10 TDs.

Defence: Shayne Gauthier, LB: Not a lot of candidates on a day like this, but the veteran linebacker finished with six tackles and another on special teams.

Special teams: Marc Liegghio, K: Hit all three of his field goal attempts and had a 45-yard average on two punts.
FYI

The Ticats are 2-0 coming off a bye this year and now 6-1 after a bye week under Orlondo Steinauer... Jackson Jeffcoat left the game with an injury and did not return, with Casey Sayles moving out to end for snaps and Ricky Walker's workload increasing inside.

MILESTONE WATCH

Collaros finished the day 23 of 34 for 342 yards and moved past Danny Barrett and into 25th place on the CFL's all-time passing yardage list. Collaros is now at 23,742 and just behind Roy Dewalt (24,147) for 24th spot on the all-time list.

Adam Bighill had four tackles and now needs just two to move past Eddie Davis into seventh place on the CFL's all-time list. Bighill has 800; Davis retired in 2009 with 801.

NEXT: The Blue Bombers now head into their second of three bye weeks and return to action on Friday, September 30th at 7 p.m.

https://www.bluebombers.com/2022/09/17/game-recap-wpg-31-ham-48/

[TecnoGenius]

Hamilton full marks for the win and Dane Evans has his best game as a TiCat!   We made a game of it but they were just a better team today and may have turned the corner on their season.   We continue to lose key players with JJ the latest casualty and maybe McCrae as well.   The bye week will give them some time to reflect on their season so far.....we play the Riders next after the bye and they will also be playing for their playoff lives.   There are no more easy games from this point on....

Perfect summary.  100% correct.

The difference here was HAM completed every important pass.  Our R's had knock-outs / big hits for drops.  It was literally HAM's best performance in ages.  They had the answer to our DL by having Evans get the ball out instantly every other play... not time to pass rush and Willie wasn't getting into the hot lane to disrupt.

So I'm not too worked up about the loss.  When a capable team is making every hit in terms of execution, they are hard to stop.  It was basically a mirror of us in the Banjo Bowl.  Maybe the worst part is HAM did this without really honoring the run... only in garbage time did they really bother (need) to run.  It's not a good sign when the other team is one dimensional (the way we like them) and we still get eviscerated.

Well this game appears over. WTH happened to our D, where is PJrocks to explain this?

Like I said in the first posts of the Nicked Taylor thread, Taylor is the lynchpin of the strong side, if not the whole DB corps.  I was worried we'd miss him more than people thought, and it looks like I was right.  Taylor isn't someone easily replaced.  Evans picked on the Holm/Parker side most of the night.  It was clear they were told to play off a bit to not let things over the top.  But that gave up the easy mid-range pass on countless downs!

I'm more convinced now that we must implement my idea of splitting the Rose/Nichols duo to put some more experience on the strong side.  Or we must move BA to another position so we can sit one of Holm/Parker.  BA is too good to waste at FS, especially against a team that isn't going to run.

All is not bad.  Our O did a great job getting back in it, and getting big yards/score.  We lost it on D.  Ya, a couple of Buck-wanna-be-Maas calls with Prukop may have cost us 1-2 TDs, but I really don't doubt HAM would have just scored more to make up for it.

[TecnoGenius]

Maybe the Bombers want the Ti Cats to win and prevent the Riders from crossing over. LOL

Well, maybe not so much the Bomber's choice as the Cats were up against the wall and had to up their game or miss the playoffs, which would be embarrassing for them after 2 GC appearances.

SSK losing to EDM was huge because it looks like SSK will now win zero of their remaining games.  No way SSK beats a HAM team putting up nearly 50 on WPG.  Unfortunately for us, SSK losing means HAM has a chance of stopping the xover this year, all they have to do is win a few more and beat SSK in a couple of weeks.

And let's not forget that Evans' career is on the line.  He's been pulled for a #2 and a #3 this year.  He's getting his "one more chance" shot and he clearly wants to keep his job.  That's a big motivator.  And Beard has clearly upped the OL game in HAM.  Their OL was league-best this weekend.

It's a week that nearly everything went bad for us and everything went right for the opponent.  Kudos to them.  The game after the bye will be telling.  I think we come out swinging.

[northof30]

Well at least the Bombers get the Western Semi-Final at home. Given the injury situation and what they displayed today I think the only remaining game they win is against Edmonton. If BC can hold it together it should be a good battle between them and Calgary, winner going to the Grey Cup.

[TecnoGenius]

Well at least the Bombers get the Western Semi-Final at home. Given the injury situation and what they displayed today I think the only remaining game they win is against Edmonton. If BC can hold it together it should be a good battle between them and Calgary, winner going to the Grey Cup.

Wow.  One game we lose on D and still put up 31 against a team that kept their foot on the gas and you're calling for us to lose all remaining games?  That sounds like Rider forums dooming.

Our D was horrible partly because HAM's O was virtually perfect, and had a great plan to bypass our pass rush, and had superb OL play.  I don't see any of the remaining teams we play repeating that feat.

I say we win all the remaining games until we secure #1 in W, except maybe 1 loss (which one is a crapshoot).  After that who cares as we start our #2's.  Our team will come back much stronger after this D and ST beatdown.  MOS/KW will not just sit pat.  Other teams will not replicate with HAM did.

[TecnoGenius]

Did we run the 6 man OL with Dobson much tonight?  I didn't see it, but I was barely watching with a friend and their family over.  It looked to me we were doing standard 5 man pass pro.  When we were letting all those unblocked rushers in, why didn't we adjust and play our Banjo Bowl 6 man OL plan a bit on passing downs?

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Not just the DT's. The front 7 was not very good tonight.

ZC8 with 3 turnovers really didn't help.

Did 22 Cooper even play?  I wasn't able to watch the entire game but after Jeffcoat went down I noticed Mauro and Sayles masquerading as DE's, but no Cooper.  Without Jeffcoat it appeared Willy had to play the remainder of the game with no rotation and very little assistance.

[TecnoGenius]

One other saving grace: I think all teams are sucking pretty bad right now.  BC is pretty lost without Rourke even with the lucky win, CGY was never that great, TOR so hit & miss, the rest of the east usually garbage unless they hit their stride for 1 game, SSK can't win to save its life and fandom in total meltdown, EDM doesn't even care about 2022.

If you're going to lose, lose to the East, and that's what we did for our only 2 losses this year.  Very shortly we'll clinch #1 in W virtually because the other W teams can't run the tables.  Every other team would kill to be us right now, with our QB, our OL, our coaches and coords, our number or wins, etc.

So what remains will be beat 1 team at home and go to the GC (vs TOR).  I don't care what happens in the GC, just getting there will be a victory for this injury year.  We can all snap up cheap GC tickets from disillusioned near-last-in-west SSK fans.

[Pigskin]

Did 22 Cooper even play?  I wasn't able to watch the entire game but after Jeffcoat went down I noticed Mauro and Sayles masquerading as DE's, but no Cooper.  Without Jeffcoat it appeared Willy had to play the remainder of the game with no rotation and very little assistance.

DL, made 10 tackles today. Jefferson 3, Sayles 3, Walker 2, Lawson 2, Jeffcoat, Maruo, and Thomas 0. Thomas 1 tackle in the last 3 games.

[3rdand1.5]

After watching the game again, my question becomes, is the db's that need to play better or was it the d-line leaving the db's in a position to fail due to lack of pass rush?

On a positive note after re-watching give our offence props for making this a game, they didn't panic and darn near put us in a chance

[Blue In BC]

After watching the game again, my question becomes, is the db's that need to play better or was it the d-line leaving the db's in a position to fail due to lack of pass rush?

On a positive note after re-watching give our offence props for making this a game, they didn't panic and darn near put us in a chance

I haven't re-watched the game yet but IMO it's a combination of both + some issues with strategy. DB's playing that far off receivers is a decision by the DC to not give up the big chunk play. That leads and has led to long TOP drives that result in scoring by the opposition.

The net result is the same.

I've been worried about our front 4 since the beginning of the season. Losing Wilson, then Houston and now Taylor has made that more obvious.

Parker and Holm might develop into good players but it's a combination of what is happening or not happening in front of them.

A few posters mentioned Jeffcoat getting injured this game. While I didn't notice that, it wouldn't have made anything any easier.

[dd]

DL, made 10 tackles today. Jefferson 3, Sayles 3, Walker 2, Lawson 2, Jeffcoat, Maruo, and Thomas 0. Thomas 1 tackle in the last 3 games.

Thomas is slow out there. Sooooo slow, I know he's a NAT and sentimental favourite but time to move on.