Official Game Day Thread - Calgary at Winnipeg - May 31, 2024

[TecnoGenius]

I thought it was a pretty good night for us. Their starters didn't do much against our backups and we were surprisingly stout against the run.

[...]

I wouldn't want to be Calgary after the first half. Super disappointing for them given the guys they played and who they played against.

I totally agree.  Exactly what I was thinking.  We held them to 2 FGs for how long?... against their #1 top-tier O?!  With almost no starters on our D?  Wow!!

And yes(!) our run D was stout all night, especially up the gut.  That means the DTs were showing well, even though I couldn't really spot specific names.  In the 2nd half CGY adjusted and started bouncing the run outside, and that got them more YPC, but still almost no 1st downs or explosions.

You can look at the score and get all bummed out, but we did quite well against a decent team's starters, and, like you said, CGY should be scared...

The biggest downside I see was either our DC didn't adjust as well as their OC, or our guys were getting gassed in the 2nd H (lots of hands on hips).  Neither is good.  Hopefully Younger will be a master "adjuster", not one of those "no changes at halftime" guys.

[TecnoGenius]

My take, after a pretty nice night @PAS and lots of binocular use:

Bye-bye:
QB Grainger
WR Mitchell
WR Cruickshank
WR Ford (the IMP version)

Possible keepers:
WR Clercius
RB Smith
QB Wilson
DTs: whoever was so stout on the run
LB Charbonneau
LB Thomas
DB McGhee
DB Hackett
DB Ford (the NAT version) -- even though I didn't see him out there?

OL I couldn't really judge @PAS as I needed to focus on QB/WR.  But they did pretty well for much of the game.  The weakest play in pass pro seemed to come from the left side, not sure if G or T (or both).  But OL stunk rocks in the run game.  Made it really hard to judge the RBs.

Castillo looking solid was nice to see: and the shaved dome & beard, haha.

Shehan has clearly worked on booming high-arcers, which is great to see so we know we have that option.  In fact, I saw very few wacky-aussie side-foot punts.  The only "bad" punt I saw was that one that went out at the 16.  I thought it was close live from where I sat, and I thought it was in the 15, but the judge thought otherwise.

The 2nd best play of the night was the dropped snap by P Mastro G leading to the 1st down on 3rd.  That had the crowd excited!  Dickenson The Remaining writes note to self: make sure 2 guys rush the punter, not 1...

My final beef is we didn't let Wilson take shots down the field like we did in PS#1.  I saw him look at the go route a couple of times, but he decided against it.  Hard to tell who to blame most for this: QB or OC (or even WR).  Opening up the field might have made life a little easier in the run/short game.  CGY quickly realized they only had to defend the LoS and flat.

[TecnoGenius]

WFC completely redid the Ring of Honor, with all the names moved closer together, starting at the far North end, with plenty of room to add more names.  And the whole thing in deep Bomber blue.  I thought it looked great.

24.3k announced tickets sold.  But maybe 14k there IMHO.  Still looking across at the east side (the perennial pizza-pass losers!) it was a very good crowd for a PS.  But my section was pretty dead and the section next door even worse.  Not complaining: I like the extra space!

Shawarma only +$1 this year.  I'm very, very pleased WFC et al are keeping a lid on inflation.  I'm sure this is appreciated by all fans.

Love the new Bomber Store layout!!  Makes much more sense vs the chaos that was the previous layout.  Although harder to exit without buying anything, it should also help with "shrink".

There was no STH lanyard pickup outside the Store... oh well, it was a longshot.  Will have to trek out during the week.

Really the only downside, besides the score, was getting my legs back in 6-7 flight climbing shape after a flabby off-season. 

[TecnoGenius]

Wow... I said to my son when leaving that I bet our entire O didn't produce 300Y all night.  Then I thought about it and said "make that 250Y".

Ya, so cfl.ca gametracker says 121Y total O!!!! !!!!!! (vs 521 for CGY)  And I wonder if that 121 includes the 40Y 3rd down failed punt conversion??   

Mega yikes.  Definitely not trying to wow the fans tonight!   

[GOLDMEMBER]

QB: Terrible. Bring in Cornelius.

KR: Smith

LB: Thomas, Petrishen, Gemmel.

DL: Upshaw, Adams, Rivers.

DB: Bridges, Fuller, Norman.

RB: Rosery to the PR.

Short rainy practice week coming up. Next Thursday will be interesting.

Hard pass on Cornelius who is the definition of horrible if you look it up in Websters dictionary.
Fuller, aside from making a nice pass break, up was caught getting burned one to many times. McGhee gave up the massive shot in the first quarter had a rough outing.

[CrazyCanuck89]

My take, after a pretty nice night @PAS and lots of binocular use:

Bye-bye:
QB Grainger
WR Mitchell
WR Cruickshank
WR Ford (the IMP version)

Possible keepers:
WR Clercius
RB Smith
QB Wilson
DTs: whoever was so stout on the run
LB Charbonneau
LB Thomas
DB McGhee
DB Hackett
DB Ford (the NAT version) -- even though I didn't see him out there?

OL I couldn't really judge @PAS as I needed to focus on QB/WR.  But they did pretty well for much of the game.  The weakest play in pass pro seemed to come from the left side, not sure if G or T (or both).  But OL stunk rocks in the run game.  Made it really hard to judge the RBs.

Castillo looking solid was nice to see: and the shaved dome & beard, haha.

Shehan has clearly worked on booming high-arcers, which is great to see so we know we have that option.  In fact, I saw very few wacky-aussie side-foot punts.  The only "bad" punt I saw was that one that went out at the 16.  I thought it was close live from where I sat, and I thought it was in the 15, but the judge thought otherwise.

The 2nd best play of the night was the dropped snap by P Mastro G leading to the 1st down on 3rd.  That had the crowd excited!  Dickenson The Remaining writes note to self: make sure 2 guys rush the punter, not 1...

My final beef is we didn't let Wilson take shots down the field like we did in PS#1.  I saw him look at the go route a couple of times, but he decided against it.  Hard to tell who to blame most for this: QB or OC (or even WR).  Opening up the field might have made life a little easier in the run/short game.  CGY quickly realized they only had to defend the LoS and flat.

I'm confused why you think Tyrell Ford is a possible keeper.  The guy will be starting at Field Cornerback.

[Blue In BC]

Hard pass on Cornelius who is the definition of horrible if you look it up in Websters dictionary.
Fuller, aside from making a nice pass break, up was caught getting burned one to many times. McGhee gave up the massive shot in the first quarter had a rough outing.

I liked we saw from the rookie imports mentioned. A couple could end up as DI's. I wouldn't rule out a couple of them actually starting. It's too many to get all on the AR so several will be sent to the PR if they accept.

Hard pass on Cornelius who is the definition of horrible if you look it up in Websters dictionary.
Fuller, aside from making a nice pass break, up was caught getting burned one to many times. McGhee gave up the massive shot in the first quarter had a rough outing.

McGhee was in the right place and the receiver made a very good catch. A couple of times he was playing off too far but that may have been the defensive call.

[BomberFan73]

Jake Kelly stood out a couple times with some physical hits.  I remember he did the same lastyear when he saw the field.
Like this kid.

[pdirks67]

I liked we saw from the rookie imports mentioned. A couple could end up as DI's. I wouldn't rule out a couple of them actually starting. It's too many to get all on the AR so several will be sent to the PR if they accept.
McGhee was in the right place and the receiver made a very good catch. A couple of times he was playing off too far but that may have been the defensive call.

Watching live from the stadium, it looked to me like McGhee was beat. It's only one play,so it's not like you can judge him solely on it, but he looked beat.

[Mike]

Watching live from the stadium, it looked to me like McGhee was beat. It's only one play,so it's not like you can judge him solely on it, but he looked beat.

He was very obviously beat and beat badly. Tracked the ball horribly, stopped running for a moment while the ball was in flight ... that and a couple other plays ... yikes, he's an easy cut for me

[BomberFan73]

You'd have hoped for a better showing from McGhee, who was a fav to win a spot.  But I agree, he stood out in a bad way. 
I think they've seen enough good stuff from him previously though, and that might save him.

[Horseman]

Looks like we need to scout some more for a 3rd string qb.

I liked the work of Cal back up QB's particularly Bonner, if he gets released we should pick him up.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

My take, after a pretty nice night @PAS and lots of binocular use:

Bye-bye:
QB Grainger
WR Mitchell
WR Cruickshank
WR Ford (the IMP version)

Possible keepers:
WR Clercius
RB Smith
QB Wilson
DTs: whoever was so stout on the run
LB Charbonneau
LB Thomas
DB McGhee
DB Hackett
DB Ford (the NAT version) -- even though I didn't see him out there?

OL I couldn't really judge @PAS as I needed to focus on QB/WR.  But they did pretty well for much of the game.  The weakest play in pass pro seemed to come from the left side, not sure if G or T (or both).  But OL stunk rocks in the run game.  Made it really hard to judge the RBs.

Castillo looking solid was nice to see: and the shaved dome & beard, haha.

Shehan has clearly worked on booming high-arcers, which is great to see so we know we have that option.  In fact, I saw very few wacky-aussie side-foot punts.  The only "bad" punt I saw was that one that went out at the 16.  I thought it was close live from where I sat, and I thought it was in the 15, but the judge thought otherwise.

The 2nd best play of the night was the dropped snap by P Mastro G leading to the 1st down on 3rd.  That had the crowd excited!  Dickenson The Remaining writes note to self: make sure 2 guys rush the punter, not 1...

My final beef is we didn't let Wilson take shots down the field like we did in PS#1.  I saw him look at the go route a couple of times, but he decided against it.  Hard to tell who to blame most for this: QB or OC (or even WR).  Opening up the field might have made life a little easier in the run/short game.  CGY quickly realized they only had to defend the LoS and flat.

I think later in the game Wilson was spooked by the 2 interceptions he'd already thrown and the memory of Barriere being cut for making the same mistakes. He had enough time to complete deeper passes but lacking the vision to see the field clearly he just wouldn't pull the trigger, pulling the ball down and tried to scramble instead. In some ways admirable in other ways troubling, it looks like he has the physical skills, only time will tell if he has the mental skills to process the game.

[Pigskin]

Thomas and Bridges, the kid from North Dakota are very physical players and are very quick to the ball.   

[Blueforlife]

I bet you can. Check outside the Bomber Store. They will probably have a table set up as they have done in past years.

They did have that, really bad communication from Bombers on this though, I called and said couldn't pick up game day.  Understandable but was disappointed (I am 1.5 hrs out of town).  Then we try anyway yesterday at the store and they say no dice.  We see people with bobble heads so I ask again and they told me go to gate 2 table as you mentioned, very quick service, Bombers need to advertise this better next year and train their staff better so STH are given the correct info.