Bombers @ Elks Aug 10th

[KINGCHARLES]

Most of our DBs are getting healthy. Like to keep them all around, but is that possible?

Our return game is lacking. Really need someone to step up.

Ford is a slippery QB with a fairly good arm. If we pressure him, I am sure he will make some mistakes.

The only way we lose this game is, turnovers and bad penalties.

Im guessing Darby ends up being an odd man out, for some reason he's in the dog house. Me personally, I'm not impressed by Kramdi's play over Darby. Could Lawrence move into the SAM spot?

[blue_gold_84]

Looks like Ford gets the start at QB for the Elks: https://www.cfl.ca/2023/08/08/tre-ford-to-start-for-elks-on-thursday/

Defense should be pretty fired up for this one!

[The Zipp]

From Ed Tait:

https://www.bluebombers.com/2023/08/07/the-numbers-beside-your-team-name-mean-nothing/


It certainly looks ? from the outside, at least ? exactly like a giant animal trap just waiting for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to accidently step foot in and be gobbled up whole.

The Edmonton Elks, after all, are stumbling along at 0-for-the-season through the first nine weeks of the Canadian Football League schedule, seemingly haven?t won a home game since Moses was a preschooler and are now starting the talented but still raw Tre Ford at quarterback.

And that spells potential danger for a Blue Bombers side that is coming off an emotionally charged 50-14 spanking of the B.C. Lions and has found its way back to the top of the West Division.

?We look at it as the Edmonton Elks as a football team. We would never consider the record,? said head coach Mike O?Shea as the club returned to practice Monday. ?It just doesn?t come up in conversation. There?s nothing about it to even consider because you?re not beating their record, you?re looking at the players and the systems and you?re one on one matchups and how it all fits together. How you plan to attack them, how they?re going to attack us. That?s all really that you?re looking at.

?The numbers beside your team name mean nothing? and our record means nothing to them. I promise you that.?



The Blue Bombers have opened as 12-point road favourites for Thursday?s game in Edmonton and will face a squad struggling to find any kind of traction, especially offensively. Over their bye week ? following a 27-0 loss to the Lions ? the Elks made a change to Jarious Jackson as their new offensive coordinator and he subsequently named Ford, the talented Canadian prospect, as their starter. Taylor Cornelius started the previous meeting between the two clubs, a 28-14 Bombers win back on July 20th. He?s now third string, behind Ford and Jarrett Doege.

?He?s a terrific athlete. He?s as fast as anyone is going to be on the field,? said O?Shea of Ford. ?He can make you miss and he?s certainly strong enough to throw the ball wherever and make a bunch of throws.

?When you talk about containing him, it?s certainly not a one-man job. All guys have to be on point. One of the things about rushing a good running quarterback is making sure you?re correct in your rush lanes and when you are about to get washed out of it, it?s making sure you get back on track. You can?t take the easy way out against guys like that because when they decide to make you pay there are a lot of yards chewed up quickly.?

The Blue Bombers are obviously aware of the dangers of a running QB, having been ripped up by Ottawa?s Dustin Crum for two TDs and 74 yards on eight carries in the 31-28 loss to the RedBlacks back on July 15th. And in the win over Edmonton a week later, Cornelius rushed for times for 57 yards.



That only further fuelled the characterization of the Blue Bombers defence as being vulnerable to QBs who tuck the ball and run at the first sign of pressure.

?We?ve shown that,? said defensive coordinator Richie Hall. ?When we played (Edmonton) last time, we lost containment a couple of times or (Cornelius) got loose a couple times and made some plays. That?s going to happen during the course of the game ? what you want to do is minimize it. If they scramble out and get eight yards or 10 yards, that?s one thing. It?s when they get 25-30 yards that you want to minimize.

?(Ford) is a tremendous athlete who can make plays. We have to be very disciplined. We have to get after him, win first down. Do we do anything different? Yeah, we?ll have some little wrinkles in there, but you need to do what we do.

?It?s a reminder that when the see it, see that we?re not doing what we?re supposed to do, then we become vulnerable. Then it?s about, ?Why did we become vulnerable? And how can we learn from our experiences?? When you take chances and you become a riverboat gambler it?s good when you win, but when you lose, this is what happens.?

[theaardvark]

I don't think Tre Ford will scramble his way singlehandedly to a victory against us, but I do think he warrants extra attention.  We can't let our D do the same Crummy job they did against the Red Blacks in containing a rookie running QB in one of his first starts.

He will have had a week of first team reps to get him timed up with their receivers, and to get in sync with the C, so he should be pretty comfortable.  Our Dline and blitzers have to break that up.

As far as Collaros attacking their D with the tools he has available, if they can drop a 50burger on one of the best D's in the league, what happens against one of the worst?

[The Zipp]

I don't think Tre Ford will scramble his way singlehandedly to a victory against us, but I do think he warrants extra attention.  We can't let our D do the same Crummy job they did against the Red Blacks in containing a rookie running QB in one of his first starts.

He will have had a week of first team reps to get him timed up with their receivers, and to get in sync with the C, so he should be pretty comfortable.  Our Dline and blitzers have to break that up.

As far as Collaros attacking their D with the tools he has available, if they can drop a 50burger on one of the best D's in the league, what happens against one of the worst?

Unfortunately sometimes it happens that the points don't come as easily the next game...I do expect a win and would love to see another 50 but all I need is one more than the Elks to be happy.

[pjrocksmb]

Im guessing Darby ends up being an odd man out, for some reason he's in the dog house. Me personally, I'm not impressed by Kramdi's play over Darby. Could Lawrence move into the SAM spot?

I believe and other have suggested that Kramdi is playing well.  What about his game do you not like?

[blue_gold_84]

Unfortunately sometimes it happens that the points don't come as easily the next game...I do expect a win and would love to see another 50 but all I need is one more than the Elks to be happy.

If the offense can start hot again, it could be a long night for the home team. I feel like the Bombers should have momentum on their side as long as they stick to their game and play smart and clean.

If it's a blowout at half-time, I'd love to see the backups get some reps once the game's been put away.

On the other side of the coin, though, this has trap game written all over it.

[GOLDMEMBER]

How many trap games can one team have in one CFL season? lol

[Pete]

that the thing about this cfl season, the disparity in top 3 teams to the rest of the league is significant. You have to prepare for every team or else you can lose focus and execution game to game. Just have to watch the argo stampeder game for example. Its very difficult to just turn it on when you have to, we have some strong leaders so hopefully they can set the tone to maintain that every game focus,

[bunker]

They're all trap games except BC and Toronto

[pjrocksmb]

We should be able to dominate the line of scrimmage and roll over the Elks if we do.

They're all trap games except BC and Toronto

Yup

that the thing about this cfl season, the disparity in top 3 teams to the rest of the league is significant. You have to prepare for every team or else you can lose focus and execution game to game. Just have to watch the argo stampeder game for example. Its very difficult to just turn it on when you have to, we have some strong leaders so hopefully they can set the tone to maintain that every game focus,

All very true, good points.  1-0 mentality helps.

[3rdand1.5]

Even though Edm. is not very good, they are still a professional team that will have a small boost due to the OC/QB change. They are not to be taken lightly nor are they going to allow us to start with explosion plays. No team will allow us to start like that again! But what that did was show teams what kind of long game explosion we are capable of. That forces teams to plan for that which helps us open up other facets.

Just like BC and it's lighter but deadly fast front on defence allowing them to play so much man coverage. We gave a bit of a blueprint on how to beat that. BC is also a professional team and as such will be adjusting there gameplan to make sure that teams can't do that again.

What I hope is that ZC has a clean game both in regards to turnovers and to hits taken, and that we end up with at least one more point then them.

Another strong game along the line will go along way in confidence.

[PurpleReign]

I don't think Tre Ford will scramble his way singlehandedly to a victory against us, but I do think he warrants extra attention.  We can't let our D do the same Crummy job they did against the Red Blacks in containing a rookie running QB in one of his first starts.

He will have had a week of first team reps to get him timed up with their receivers, and to get in sync with the C, so he should be pretty comfortable.  Our Dline and blitzers have to break that up.

As far as Collaros attacking their D with the tools he has available, if they can drop a 50burger on one of the best D's in the league, what happens against one of the worst?

Honestly wouldn?t surprise me. I saw the kid for 4 years at Usport playing against my Western. He was a handful. Need to gang tackle him or goodbye he will burn you.

[dd]

Not disputing his athletic ability but scrambling around in college and scrambling around in the cfl are 2 different animals. Our boys will be well versed in mr ford and will deal with him accordingly. I don?t see this as being a big deal

[BBRT]

Not disputing his athletic ability but scrambling around in college and scrambling around in the cfl are 2 different animals. Our boys will be well versed in mr ford and will deal with him accordingly. I don?t see this as being a big deal

While I normally would agree with you - scrambling mobil QB's see to give the Bombers fits at times. Man all the times I made my way to the stadium here in Calgary to see Doug Flutie play against my Bombers and the number of times he killed us still gives me nightmares at times. I can remember on time on a QB sneak it took it to house and no one hardly touched him. Tre is no Doug Flutie but mobile scrambling QB's with good wheels seem to give the Bombers fits at times.