Argos at Blue Bombers PRE GAME thread

[Lincoln Locomotive]

The Argonauts have transformed into Juggernauts and Chad Kelly is playing MOP football.    However they just managed to stave off OT against the Als on the last play of the game by blocking a FG attempt to tie the game.  Can they be beaten?   Certainly, however they are showing no real weaknesses across the board where the Bombers are glaringly deficient on special teams and our bend but don't break D will not be good enough against their offence.

Zach will have pressure and how he escapes it will determine whether or not he can generate enough offence to keep pace with them.
The Argos improved their already good team from last year picking up more talented pieces along the way whereas we more or less "stayed pat" which I mentioned early in the season.    Adding to this factor is Zach's inconsistent play and 18 picks and there's the recipe for failure over the long haul.   We lost against the weakest teams in the CFL on 3 occasions and were embarrassed at home by BC in front of our fans.

If we somehow manage to beat the Argos on the 29th I'll be happy and surprised.    Win or lose, the battle for first in the West will come a week later in BC and that game will tell all as to the state of our team heading into the playoffs.

[Blue In BC]

It's going to be interesting. I do feel the Bombers can defeat the Argos even if all their starters play. The key is stopping their  run game and doing well with ours.

[Pete]

Toronto added Picket and Orimolade to their defense, two potential all-stars .Leake (another all-star)  and Coxie on offence which was an upgrade.
We replaced starters Leggs with Castillo, Taylor  with Holms , and Sayles with  Walker. Really Castillo is the only outside addition.
This is an obvious advantage to the argos having added 3 potential all-stars and toss in Kelly who appears to be an upgrade over MBT because of mobility and its intimidating. The only chink is they aren't as deep in the qb position.
Players that could make a difference to us that weren't available ly are; A healthy  Wilson and Jeffcoat (Assuming he is healthy for playoffs) along with  a big xfactor in Kenny Lawler
I am disappointed we haven't tried to improve vs status quo. Players that look like we needed to bring in stronger  competition for include, Briggs, Miller (injury related and age), Darby, Burtenshaw and a replacement for Sayles, and a backup for grant. I know some of these are hindsight, but most were predictable or obvious early in the season

[Pigskin]

It's going to be interesting. I do feel the Bombers can defeat the Argos even if all their starters play. The key is stopping their  run game and doing well with ours.

I feel it's field position and turnovers. STs have to be better. ZC8 can not give them any gifts.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Their starters are going to play. Toronto isn't going to gear down with 6 games and a bye to go. They've only played 12 games. They going to play safe, restful football for 6 weeks, take a bye and then play the East Final? I don't think so.

[GOLDMEMBER]

I agree with the Golden Hat. They will be playing their starters tomorrow. Did nine hear if Harris is injured or not? If not he will spare Ouelette more than usual if he is hurt he will not play at all. Nothing wrong Ouelette getting more wear on those tires as well.

[Pete]

Harris is limited so they'll likely rest him so he can play against winnipeg. Which is fine by me, Oullette is much more dangerous right now

[TecnoGenius]

Their starters are going to play. Toronto isn't going to gear down with 6 games and a bye to go. They've only played 12 games. They going to play safe, restful football for 6 weeks, take a bye and then play the East Final? I don't think so.

It's not that "their starters" aren't going to play, it's that now they can rotate onto the IR 3-6 players each week to get them healthy, give them time off, and maybe protect against injury vs good opponents.  And the superstar starters in vulnerable positions (QBs, RBs, maybe WRs) will probably play only 1 half of football (again, in a rotational way inter-week).

CFL rosters aren't big enough to do this.

45 man AR?  24 guys needed on field for O/D?  Ya, you can basically have your starters play 1Q and then sit and there's enough B team players to play the game.  Ya, rotation, ST, yada... my point is at the very least you can play it like a last-game-of-season or PS game, no problem.  And you can do that for weeks.  In fact, it's doubly advantageous as you get valuable live reps for your backups.

If you factor in the PR too (another 10 guys?) you can really get your superstar starters a lot of rest.

I will be shocked if TOR isn't changing 3-6 AR players every single week, inserting no-name players IN with no real injuries to the OUT guys.

Imagine if they go out there like it's business as usual and Kelly or Oullette get a season-ender?  Fans would go apoplectic.

[TecnoGenius]

Harris is limited so they'll likely rest him so he can play against winnipeg. Which is fine by me, Oullette is much more dangerous right now

Oullette is nursing some wounds the last few weeks.  He's taking some major punishment and often gets up with Schoen-like facial expressions (which is normal for Schoen, not for Oullette).

Oullette hasn't been anything special lately, and I think we can stuff the TOR run for 3Q.  How well our O does and how tired our D is will determine whether he gets a ton of yards in the 4th.  Remember, Oullette hasn't faced us with Wilson in the line-up since before the '22 GC.

[TecnoGenius]

We keep talking about us vs. T.O in the Grey cup. T.O will have to go through either Hammy or Mtrl. and if it is Mtrl. it's really hard to win, back to back, to back against a single team...

Realistically I just don't see us winning this game regardless if they play vanilla or b's to the wall.

You sayer of Nay.  We're coming off the bye, and we're monster after the bye because our coordinators actually come up with something new on byes.  The guys will be majorly shoulder-chipped from losing to sad sack HAM.  And we're playing at home.  I think if our whole crew wakes up we could be even a full-strength full-on TOR.  When they arrive with 3-6 big players resting on the IR, it may be a bloodbath.

MTL?  MTL's a joke.  Cody can't do anything.  MTL only got as far as they did last week because TOR took MTL as seriously as we took HAM.  TOR will paste MTL in EDF.  MTL will be lucky to get 1 TD.  The E, sans TOR, will be a major joke come post-season.

[Pigskin]

Harris is limited so they'll likely rest him so he can play against winnipeg. Which is fine by me, Oullette is much more dangerous right now

AH took a couple of big hits in there last game, even though he only handled the ball 3 times. I think your right they will probably rest AH.

[dd]

This game will come down to Collaros and whether or not he throws and picks or more importantly pick sixes. In the past he protected the football well, but he?s certainly struggled  this season, I don?t know how many pick sixes he?s thrown but it?s been a lot and it seems when he throws one his entire game goes for a crap and we lose.

[Jesse]

AH took a couple of big hits in there last game, even though he only handled the ball 3 times. I think your right they will probably rest AH.

And wouldn't that just represent the ultimate fail of the CFL schedule makers?

A Ring of Honour candidate of the Bombers, leaves the club in the twilight of his career, immediately wins the Grey Cup with his new club, but never actually plays for his new team in Winnipeg? The CFL bemoans their lack of contact and ways to drive up interest, and then drops the ball on the easy, obvious things every single time.

Harris in Winnipeg - never happened, BLM in Calgary - never happened, Grey Cup re-match to start the season - never happens.

This is free marketing and they just continue to shoot themselves in the foot.

[blue_or_die]

And wouldn't that just represent the ultimate fail of the CFL schedule makers?

A Ring of Honour candidate of the Bombers, leaves the club in the twilight of his career, immediately wins the Grey Cup with his new club, but never actually plays for his new team in Winnipeg? The CFL bemoans their lack of contact and ways to drive up interest, and then drops the ball on the easy, obvious things every single time.

Harris in Winnipeg - never happened, BLM in Calgary - never happened, Grey Cup re-match to start the season - never happens.

This is free marketing and they just continue to shoot themselves in the foot.

At the very least, do the Grey Cup rematch as the home opener with the banner unveiling. I remember that used to be done every time and they just stopped for whatever reason. Probably to do with the fact that they took away non-div games for more in-div games. How good an idea that is is debatable, but nonetheless, it's still possible to make that happen as a tradition. I for one would have loved to march into BMO on W1 and beat their *** as revenge to numb the pain of that loss.

[theaardvark]

And wouldn't that just represent the ultimate fail of the CFL schedule makers?

A Ring of Honour candidate of the Bombers, leaves the club in the twilight of his career, immediately wins the Grey Cup with his new club, but never actually plays for his new team in Winnipeg? The CFL bemoans their lack of contact and ways to drive up interest, and then drops the ball on the easy, obvious things every single time.

Harris in Winnipeg - never happened, BLM in Calgary - never happened, Grey Cup re-match to start the season - never happens.

This is free marketing and they just continue to shoot themselves in the foot.

Not sure the Bombers need to be the focus of CFL marketing.