Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg at Ottawa, July 15, 2023

[bunker]

Pretty sure Crum is Ottawa's starting QB, not their 4th string.  He may have been 4th on the preseason DC, but he got all the starting reps in practice this week.  That's a huge difference from having a guy who is third on the current depth chart with no practice snaps having to come in cold of the bench.  And no team carries a "4th string" QB on an AR.

So, while I get your point, and he was not on the radar to be a starting QB when the season started, he's not "the 4th string QB"

That said, we should have crushed Ottawa the full game, not just the first half...  What led to our second half collapse needs to be explored.

If you get my point, why are you wasting time on semantics? If Masolie and Adams were healthy, he'd be stapled to the bench. He was considered their fourth best QB when evaluated at beginning of season.
Playing the most important and arguably difficult position on the field as a raw rookie.

And you're trying to explain our loss based on a guy playing WIL who's been here forever, and in live action at that position multiple times? Give me a break. Injuries would rank below tenth on my list of why we lost that game.

[Pigskin]

Well it's kind of based on history - they seem to be flat on Saturday afternoon games - they may end up winning but rarely is it great football.  I don't know why this is..

You were right, Mr. Zipp. We haven't had great results on Saturday afternoons. Add another one to the list.

[theaardvark]

I was questioning that as well. He has had a bunch of reps in other games but not so much with the game on the line. Not sure about the injury question but does this mean Maruo is better than Cole as an injury replacement?

It seemed that Maruo, Briggs and Bennett were all on the field when it counted. Total failure.

https://www.bluebombers.com/2023-position-charts/

Looks like Cole is 4th on the DC at WIL behind Briggs and Cadwallader, and Mauro is backing up Bighill at MIKE. 

I can understand if our depth players were ill, and our starters were being used more heavily, that they would be gassed in the second half, especially near the end.  Biggie made a couple of glaring misses, plays I'd never expect to see him blow.  And BA was also uncharacteristically not where he should be when he should have been.  Even WJ5 seemed not to be pursuing the play with his normal vigor after the initial rush.  Normally he runs the play down to the end, and I saw him loop out past the QB and then just jog...

[bunker]

I'm not making excuses about injuries. I'm just wondering if we had injuries and making a comment on our depth or lack thereof. I've mentioned / questioned a couple of times why we didn't add a defensive player instead of Agudosi. It's a coaching question about roster management both on the AR and PR.

Fair point. I agree with you about Agudosi.

[Blue In BC]

https://www.bluebombers.com/2023-position-charts/

Looks like Cole is 4th on the DC at WIL behind Briggs and Cadwallader, and Mauro is backing up Bighill at MIKE. 

I can understand if our depth players were ill, and our starters were being used more heavily, that they would be gassed in the second half, especially near the end.  Biggie made a couple of glaring misses, plays I'd never expect to see him blow.  And BA was also uncharacteristically not where he should be when he should have been.  Even WJ5 seemed not to be pursuing the play with his normal vigor after the initial rush.  Normally he runs the play down to the end, and I saw him loop out past the QB and then just jog...

Overall TOP evened out. Bombers had TOP of nearly 20 minutes in the 1st half. The 2nd half was nearly the exact opposite. We can out flat footed to start the 2nd half on defence when we weren't " tired ".  There were no excuses.  Redblacks should have been tired going into the 2nd half and they were on fire.

[GOLDMEMBER]

You were right, Mr. Zipp. We haven't had great results on Saturday afternoons. Add another one to the list.

very true Zipp called it!

[Pigskin]

Numbers:

ZC8 22/32 for 354, 2TDs, 1 Int.
BO20 9 for 16 yards.  1.8 avg.
BO20 3 for 93 yards, 63 yards longest.

AB4 7 DT, 2 sacks
JJ94 6 DT, 1 sack.
RW9 2 DT, 1 sack.

Thomas and Lawson 0 DT.

Crum:  26/42  261 yards, 1 Int. Ottawa also ran for 121 yards.

Ottawa out scores us 19-0 in the 4th. quarter.

Nice to see JJ94 have a very good game. Now we just need someone to back him and WJ5 up. When is Hansen back?

[bunker]

Pretty sure Crum is Ottawa's starting QB, not their 4th string.  He may have been 4th on the preseason DC, but he got all the starting reps in practice this week.  That's a huge difference from having a guy who is third on the current depth chart with no practice snaps having to come in cold of the bench.  And no team carries a "4th string" QB on an AR.

So, while I get your point, and he was not on the radar to be a starting QB when the season started, he's not "the 4th string QB"

That said, we should have crushed Ottawa the full game, not just the first half...  What led to our second half collapse needs to be explored.

And just to add, Ottawa apparently was hit at least as hard, if not harder by injuries on D than we were

https://3downnation.com/2023/07/14/ottawa-redblacks-lose-three-defensive-starters-for-qb-dustin-crums-debut-vs-bombers/

[The Zipp]

You were right, Mr. Zipp. We haven't had great results on Saturday afternoons. Add another one to the list.

Man that was tough.  I shut the tv off, didn't watch one second of the Sask game, before I went to bed I saw the "miracle" catch by Sask and was so PO'ed I was mad all night as I slept...woke up at 4 this morning, looked at my phone and saw that Calgary won and it was great!!

The Saturday issue has to be shared by coaches and players - they just seem to be flat...

[dd]

Numbers:

ZC8 22/32 for 354, 2TDs, 1 Int.
BO20 9 for 16 yards.  1.8 avg.
BO20 3 for 93 yards, 63 yards longest.

AB4 7 DT, 2 sacks
JJ94 6 DT, 1 sack.
RW9 2 DT, 1 sack.

Thomas and Lawson 0 DT.

Crum:  26/42  261 yards, 1 Int. Ottawa also ran for 121 yards.

Ottawa out scores us 19-0 in the 4th. quarter.

Nice to see JJ94 have a very good game. Now we just need someone to back him and WJ5 up. When is Hansen back?

I know Thomas is a fan favourite, but he is an absolute non factor out there. He?s just taking up space literally. You wanna stop the run, it begins at D tackle. I guess it maybe a SMS and ratio move- may JJ and WJ big bucks and pay the NAT interior linemen peanuts, but we ve went downhill since we lost Richardson and then Sayles and now Walker , yikes

[blue_gold_84]

Brutal choke. No other way to put it.

[Blue In BC]

The team must still be figuring out what hit them. 19 point lead and 2 turnovers by the Redblacks in the red zone. Although the Redblacks were controlling TOP and yardage in the 2nd half, nothing was helping their cause.

Then we throw a pic 6 and it's all downhill from there. Football is a 60 minute game, not 57 minutes.

[LXTSN]

I know Thomas is a fan favourite, but he is an absolute non factor out there. He?s just taking up space literally. You wanna stop the run, it begins at D tackle. I guess it maybe a SMS and ratio move- may JJ and WJ big bucks and pay the NAT interior linemen peanuts, but we ve went downhill since we lost Richardson and then Sayles and now Walker , yikes

Thomas is not our best player for sure, but he was not even close to a reason why we lost the game. He did actually open up a lane for biggie to get a sack on that big stunt rush. I'm relatively happy with our interior play this year, as their main objective is to stop the run.

We only made a few glaring mistakes but putting them all together lost us the game.

1. Bighill missing an open field tackle on a QB to send it to OT
2. Buck calling a run on 2nd and 7 with a minute and a half left - First down here and we are laughing to the finish line. Put it in the hands of our MVP!
3. Fluke pick-6. If that ball was on target or it Woli didn't bat it straight into Ottawa's hands it would be a different story.
4. Hall not having a linebacker spying Crum consistantly. Especially second and long in OT.
EDIT: 5. Schoen's Drop. Easiest catch he will ever have in his life!

Bighill, Collaros, Schoen, Buck and Richie Hall have all been super important to our success these last few years, and it shows that anyone can make these types of mistakes. BUT mistakes like this will cost a championship and they need to be more focused when closing out these games.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I know Thomas is a fan favourite, but he is an absolute non factor out there. He?s just taking up space literally. You wanna stop the run, it begins at D tackle. I guess it maybe a SMS and ratio move- may JJ and WJ big bucks and pay the NAT interior linemen peanuts, but we ve went downhill since we lost Richardson and then Sayles and now Walker , yikes

Not true, you've been reading the opinions of the "experts" on the other forum that believe Jake is a liability and Rickie Walker is totally inadequate at his job.  If that was anywhere near true, why would they both take substantial number of reps. every game on one of the very best teams in the league?  Jake's endurance amazes me, he's a much better athlete than anyone gives him credit for, he starts every game and is usually the one DT still taking the most reps. at the end of games.

[LXTSN]

This is the clip of Thomas opening up a huge hole for Bighill
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxI3SV5veTFEFofuquXaNvgt3iOvJ4CzZe