Official Game Day Thread - Ottawa at Winnipeg, July 5, 2024

[Blue In BC]

Last game showed Brady can't run at will against a team keying on him, nor could Andrew Harris. It's up to the O-line to make holes for him to run through and Strev. to punish Ottawa from keying on him.

Yeah, that's been our history. If we can't establish the run and produce a balanced attack we struggle.

The Redblacks will stack the box we have to show we can complete passes downfield to loosen that up.

I'm not convinced we can't run on the Redblacks but we'll see early in the game.

Like I said, don't run up the gut on offensive play # 1. Be less predictable.

[gordo]

Last game showed Brady can't run at will against a team keying on him, nor could Andrew Harris. It's up to the O-line to make holes for him to run through and Strev. to punish Ottawa from keying on him.

Ya I was thinking our less than stellar O-line also has to step up.  But a motivated healthy Brady can overcome and dominate. 

And hopefully Buck has inserted some play action, options and rollouts for Strev that will stretch the Ottawa defense and hopefully not allow them to key on Brady as much.  If they keep much the same playbook as they have for Zach and have Strev in the pocket all night then it will be a long night.

[peg_city]

I think these next two games will determine our season. If we lose both, we are done. If we win both, we will probably be in a playoff spot (or close to it).

I know there is a narrative that you can make the playoffs at 6-12, but realistically, we need to be 8-10.

If we go 1-5, we will need to go 7-5 to make the playoffs.

[dd]

Last game showed Brady can't run at will against a team keying on him, nor could Andrew Harris. It's up to the O-line to make holes for him to run through and Strev. to punish Ottawa from keying on him.

Agreed. As much as Brady will want to run and impress the home crowd, everyone and his brother knows this and they'll be keying on him for sure. Add to that, our O line has been less than stellar, I don't see a huge game from him--I see a huge effort from him, just don't think he's going to have a big game running the ball. They are going to force Strev to pass the ball, and we are doomed. 0-5 here we come!!

[Jesse]

Yeah, that's been our history. If we can't establish the run and produce a balanced attack we struggle.

The Redblacks will stack the box we have to show we can complete passes downfield to loosen that up.

I'm not convinced we can't run on the Redblacks but we'll see early in the game.

Like I said, don't run up the gut on offensive play # 1. Be less predictable.

In the second half against our game against BC, we saw some misdirection in the run game and Brady rumble to a 7 yard average. And we completely abandoned that against Calgary, running straight up the middle before abandoning the run game completely in the second half.

I truly don't understand what we're trying to do on offence this year.

[Blueforlife]

Agreed. As much as Brady will want to run and impress the home crowd, everyone and his brother knows this and they'll be keying on him for sure. Add to that, our O line has been less than stellar, I don't see a huge game from him--I see a huge effort from him, just don't think he's going to have a big game running the ball. They are going to force Strev to pass the ball, and we are doomed. 0-5 here we come!!

We are not doomed.  We have the best back in the league, a good backup and Desmki will be sprinkled in.  We have a good OC.  Strev can win if a few things go our way.  I expect a decent run game and a competitive match.  Overstated on the negative imo.  Overall I see two teams that are fairly close.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I think these next two games will determine our season. If we lose both, we are done. If we win both, we will probably be in a playoff spot (or close to it).

I know there is a narrative that you can make the playoffs at 6-12, but realistically, we need to be 8-10.

If we go 1-5, we will need to go 7-5 to make the playoffs.

This game will be a good test to see if Strev. has improved over the past 4 years, hopefully he gets a few more full games this season to see if he's worth investing in long-term or not. If this season is going to end out of the playoffs the last thing I want to see in the off-season is them making an ill-informed decision regarding their future QB just because he's a fan favourite.

[ichabod_crane]

The slump ends tomorrow or my name is not ICHABOD CRANE!! The Headless horseman from Sleep Hollow is coming for the RedBlacks!!

[TecnoGenius]

He wants to see a bloody win! Against anyone!

Would the Oak Park Raiders count?  Could we beat them??      

[TecnoGenius]

Overall I see two teams that are fairly close.

Ya, and OTT may be the league's 2nd worst team based on what I see from them on-field (standings notwithstanding)... so what does that say about us?  Being "fairly close" to OTT means we are either worst in the league or 2nd worst.  Yay.

[TecnoGenius]

We've seen a QB nicked that could play and is dressed as an emergency.

Well, by dressing him we are also giving him a full game cheque.  MOS often does this to "reward" PR-ish players for being patient... or keeping the superstars flush with cash and happy.

Two things:

1) Why put him on AR and not dress him?  It's ridiculous.  You dress 3 because your 2 QBs could get hurt.  Especially when one of those QBs is "Raging Bull" Strevie.  I'm assuming he's not so injured he couldn't even take 1 snap.

2) Say Strevie/Wilson get hurt... can Zach run to the locker room and get dressed?  He is rostered.  Us saying "he's not dressing" is not anything official (is it?).  Surely if 2 QBs get hurt we can suit up Zach rather than put Gauthier in at QB?

[TecnoGenius]

What are we doing dressing 2 FB's?!  That's crazy talk.  Has Buck/MOS finally spent some time coming up with novel and creative schemes?  Could it be true?

What if we put all OLS and RBs and FBs in and put everyone in the box?  I think we may see a ton of max-pro / super-jumbo sets to shore up our OL woes.

This game will be exciting because I have no idea what to expect.  If we get the same lame O schemes as the last 4 weeks I'm gonna be pretty disappointed!

[TecnoGenius]

I'm cautiously optimistic... though I still think we'll lose as of right now.

Why?  Our D depth chart is actually starting to look ok.  Our DBs are 1 shy of our desired week 1 line-up (Bonds for Parker).  Our LB corps is exactly as desired, and healthy and pretty stout.  DL, though still beat up and hurting from no Lawson, actually looks ok on paper... Adams/Woods rotation isn't bad, and Fayad might be the real deal (crossing fingers).

The O still looks like beat-up pulp, but if we can manage a ball-control O and NOT TURN IT OVER LIKE DUKES, we might just have a chance.  If we can see even a teensy bit of improvement from the OL, Brady can break a couple loose, and if at least 1 of the new receivers has a break-out game, maybe we can do it!

On the other side of the equation: OTT has a killer R corps in Acklin, Hardy, Addison, Rhymes!  Yowzers!  Mardner is the only no-name.  Their OL is pretty good.  On D their front 7 is monster and will make our run game difficult.  We'll need deception and creativity and lots of outside runs.  Their DBs are now a solid unit so passing deep will be dangerous if Strev isn't on target.

[markf]

In the second half against our game against BC, we saw some misdirection in the run game and Brady rumble to a 7 yard average. And we completely abandoned that against Calgary, running straight up the middle before abandoning the run game completely in the second half.

I truly don't understand what we're trying to do on offence this year.

Brady.... Two carries second half in the Calgary game. 

[Blue In BC]

Well, by dressing him we are also giving him a full game cheque.  MOS often does this to "reward" PR-ish players for being patient... or keeping the superstars flush with cash and happy.

Two things:

1) Why put him on AR and not dress him?  It's ridiculous.  You dress 3 because your 2 QBs could get hurt.  Especially when one of those QBs is "Raging Bull" Strevie.  I'm assuming he's not so injured he couldn't even take 1 snap.

2) Say Strevie/Wilson get hurt... can Zach run to the locker room and get dressed?  He is rostered.  Us saying "he's not dressing" is not anything official (is it?).  Surely if 2 QBs get hurt we can suit up Zach rather than put Gauthier in at QB?

He gets paid on 1 game IR. However as mentioned if we had another QB on the PR, it would cost us more to add him to the AR.

Regardless, we don't have another QB and there doesn't seem to be an expectation that Collaros will miss multiple games.

I'm not sure what the rule is on the depth chart versus not dressed.  As I mentioned I thought he'd dress as # 3 and never see the field unless multiple injuries to our other 2 QB's.