Zach Injury Watch - Calgary pre-game thread

[Pigskin]

This could be perfect timing to let Brown play the Calgary game and see if he is our QB of the future.
There could be a line-up for him next year.

We have a number of free agents next season. DB6, will gets some good offers. BO20 is a must sign. DS83, RB88, JA27, and BOO84. Do you keep DS83 or RB88? I would also keep BOO84 before JA27.

[RebusRankin]

We have a number of free agents next season. DB6, will gets some good offers. BO20 is a must sign. DS83, RB88, JA27, and BOO84. Do you keep DS83 or RB88? I would also keep BOO84 before JA27.

DS83 over RB88 and BOO84 over JA27 and neither is a hard choice.

[GOLDMEMBER]

Hopefully Zach is ok but that play was idiotic. Why would he attempt such poopoo?

I am as pissed of as Jesse there was no rough the passer or whatever, the hit was super super late and unneeded.


Brown has a super fast release and could be a huge key in the end for us winning another cup.

[dizzycamper]

This could be perfect timing to let Brown play the Calgary game and see if he is our QB of the future.
There could be a line-up for him next year.

I would say, Walters will probably be fielding calls.

He played well last year in a game(s), this display last night is now the icing... He is going to be a Bomber asset that other teams (Sk, Ed, Ham for starters) will be looking at as a quarterback. If such is the case, I'm hoping we get a return for the time spent in developing him.

How to keep him a Bomber for the future, is the question. He knows the merits of being in the Bomber organization and does present himself well, which help us. But, of course I'm sure the opportunity of being a starter elsewhere & a bigger pay day will be a draw card.  

[Jesse]

Unless we?re cutting Zach (no), Brown will move on next year.

I know everyone loves the ideal of having our cake and eating it too, but the timeline isn?t going to work out with Brown.

[M.O.A.B.]

As I said before, if Buck moved on and get a HC gig, he will have Brown tagging along with him.
It's a win-win for both of them.
Buck will have a QB familiar with his system.
Brown will get his starting gig and HC that he is familiar with.

Unless the Bombers decide that it's better to keep Brown than an aging Collaros.

[dizzycamper]

Unless we?re cutting Zach (no), Brown will move on next year.

I know everyone loves the ideal of having our cake and eating it too, but the timeline isn?t going to work out with Brown.

Well, I hope the cake you speak of and eating it, would be a trade prior to walk away period (Feb free agency) so as we can have a return in some form for the development that has taken place here.

You are right about the timeline, but this is an asset that I hope we receive compensation of some form (over the past few years the likes of Cal, Tor have received).

[theaardvark]

I would say, Walters will probably be fielding calls.

He played well last year in a game(s), this display last night is now the icing... He is going to be a Bomber asset that other teams (Sk, Ed, Ham for starters) will be looking at as a quarterback. If such is the case, I'm hoping we get a return for the time spent in developing him.

How to keep him a Bomber for the future, is the question. He knows the merits of being in the Bomber organization and does present himself well, which help us. But, of course I'm sure the opportunity of being a starter elsewhere & a bigger pay day will be a draw card.  

I do not think there is a call Walters would entertain regarding Dru.  Period.  No amount of DP's, not players would warrant risking not having the backup that just won them a game they actually came out of the half as 4.5 point underdogs in the live betting to a team that hasn't won a game at home this decade....

[RebusRankin]

No way that Walters trades Brown this year. Now in the off season, do they consider moving on from ZC and going with Brown? Sure. Do they conversely deal Brown for draft compensation in December? Also sure.

[TecnoGenius]

I think the Collaros injury was a blessing in disguise. Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy that Collaros got injured but if that did not happen I don't think we won that game. Elks borrowed the script from the Week 3 Lions win and that was happening early on. Enter Brown, who they didn't prepared for and who has quicker feet on scramble.

Ya, I'm sure a lot of us were thinking that.  It was looking like the BC-slaughters-us game all over again.  However, I'd never count out Zach.  Remember the '21 WDF.

[TecnoGenius]

I don't think it was just a neck injury. I've had a couple of big ones. They hurt like hell, then you can't move your neck as your body tries to lock down the injury. I had to turn at the waist to look at things instead of turning my neck.

Collaros laid on the field not moving much for several minutes. They took him straight to the locker room, where I suspect he went through concussion protocol & failed. Note that I'm not a Dr, nor do I play one on internet forums. My so called diagnosis is based on simple observation.

MOS clearly said in postgame pressers: upper body injury.

Pretty sure for concussion you'd say "head" or "concussion", and you probably would mention the protocol.  MOS never said any of those things.

Yes, neck problems usually show when you're walking around or sitting.  I've had the same.  Weird that Zach seemed to have full mobility on the sidelines.

BUT, almost never do concussion-failure players return from the locker room onto the field.  They just disappear, go home, hospital, whatever.  Thus I'm pretty confident it's not concussion.

I'll repeat, I checked extensively and there is no head hit or contact or whack or anything that jerks Zach's head in a concussion-type way.  Usually there would be something.  Yes, a concussion-prone brain could possibly get another one without a clear blow or jerk, but I can't recall the last time I saw that.  And Zach has taken many head-whacks way harder than that while playing for us, without any problems.

First practice day we should get confirmation because they will have to spell out "upper body" or "head" or (I think) concussion.

[TecnoGenius]

I think I am almost more concerned about the injury to Woli than I am to the injury to Colleros. It looked like Colleros leaving the game was more precautionary. Woli had trouble with his ankle most of the season about two years ago. It appears to be a similar injury. I would like to look at it again but it appeared like the Elks defender was twisting Woli's ankle and thats how he got hurt.

Woli clearly got concussed.  Sitting on the field he's doing the "where am I" thing.  The hit was insane, borderline illegal.  Why Biggie gets flagged the other week and this dude doesn't vs Woli is beyond me (in both cases there was no direct H2H).  I didn't notice Woli having any trouble walking off the field.

Yes, pray for Woli, as he's a key part of the O.  BOO filled in great, but he's not Woli.

[TecnoGenius]

Trainer on the field seemed to be looking at the collar bone, upper chest to me.

I saw them squeezing the back of the neck, that's why I was leaning towards neck problem (and based on the way his neck twisted vs body).  However, you're right, the trainer was squeezing a lot of different parts, so maybe that's just standard protocol to check everything around there.

I do swear that his head twisted far more relative to his body than is natural though.  Turn your head 90 degrees to your side.  Now have someone crank it another 20-30 degrees while holding your torso in place.  What gets injured?  The answer to that question I think is the key.  And I don't know.

I can do the video clip frames thing again if people want.

[TecnoGenius]

I am as pissed of as Jesse there was no rough the passer or whatever, the hit was super super late and unneeded.

Problem was Zach wasn't down.  And whistle had not blown.  Zach still trying to make a play.  And he was a runner and not re-established himself as a passer (falling down doesn't count).

At the very end of the MOS presser he said command gave him the explanation and said they wouldn't flag for RTP because the D guy braced his fall to not put his full weight on Zach.  MOS sounded peeved at that.  If true, that hints that command would have called RTP had the guy belly flopped Zach.

The whole situation sucks but it doesn't really break any existing rules.  I don't know what you do to protect against this, other than do more Nichols throwaways.

[bwiser]

Unless we?re cutting Zach (no), Brown will move on next year.

I know everyone loves the ideal of having our cake and eating it too, but the timeline isn?t going to work out with Brown.

This reminds me of when the Bombers had a young Danny McManus. The Bombers had Tom Burgess who had just won a Grey Cup as the starter so he wasn't going anywhere. Hindsight is 20/20 but obviously the right move would have been to keep McManus but the Bombers had no way of knowing he was going to develop into one of the greatest Qb's in CFL history.