Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg at BC August 18, 2024

[GOLDMEMBER]

Bluto called this one to a T on the pre game show....he said if we score early and take the fans out of the game we will likely win.  Well we took them out early and our D did the rest.    We left points on the board again with another "doink" off the goal post yielding 0 points and a botched 3rd and 2 gamble by Strevvy who tripped over Bryant's leg attempting to run off tackle.    The score at the half could easily have been 16-0 or more.    We fortunately made good on our first drive after receiving the 2nd half kick off and kept the pressure on the BC defence.   

Clearly Nathan Rourke was not himself playing in this game and I believe they would have had a better shot with Dolegala however with all the media hype around Rourke and his big contract....BC was more or less obliged to start him.  However Nathan isn't Superman either and was definitely not in sync with his receivers or O-Line.

That being said, when Zach started for us after only a few days practice we ended up beating the Stamps for the first timein a long long time and we all remember that famous 4th quarter scramble from the blitz and his magical throw to Adams who toe dragged and made the TD score!  I alluded back to that game when factoring in Nathan Rourke playing with only a few days practice and being bounced around the NFL like a ping pong ball.    Well it turns out Nathan IS human after all and our D had its jaw set to make his life miserable which they did in spades.....so it ended up that we caught a break and almost shut them out other than a last minute garbage time drive for 8 points when the game was basically out of reach.

Not to take anything away from our Defence who played their hearts out and nearly shut them out for the 2nd game in a row.    Having Lawler, Haba and Garbutt back had a huge impact as well as playing Lucky who I'm really liking these days.  He even blocked for JA on a KO return which also kind of scared me but he's definitely not afraid of contact.    Lucky's speed kept their D honest and almost every one of his receiving yards were YAC yards....also impressive.

I thought this would be a pivotal game for both teams and losing the game and the series with the Lions would seriously have put us in a 3-7 hole.    BC has lost 4 straight now but I can see Rourke rebounding with a better performance next game but he's also not the Messiah and the team has injury problems going forward.

At 4-6 we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel and the TiCats are up next at home and we should win this game all things considered.  Assuming we dispatch the hapless Cats we will be 5-6 and in a better position to take on the Riders in the LDC and Banjo Bowl.....as we all know this is when the season really begins in the CFL.

We are definitely back on track playing "Bomber Football" after a horrific start to the season and with all the injuries to so many key players.  Go Bombers go!!

I would have liked to us run the ball more on Offence.
We should really dominate Hammytown.
The old saying "season starts after LDC" is not as relevant anymore do to the season being moved up a a few weeks from years past. I'd say the "real season" began this week against BC the true game after half way point.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Sure, but Jones is already starting. No evidence that Ayers gets the promotion.

Barring airlifting some one in, there only appears to be two plausible scenarios:

1) Gauthier replaces Bighill directly
2) Jones to MLB and Ayers to WILL.

[peg_city]

Bighill to Gauthier is a huge drop off.

[Stats Junkie]

darn I was hoping it was you. You were sporting Blue and Gold, weren't you?

I'm not allowed to wear team colours in the press box.

I think Junkie was one of those CFL stats officials they showed during the broadcast!     

I just saw that and no I am not in frame. I believe Steve Daniel was talking to me at that moment - he was moving back and forth so we could hear each other.

[GOLDMEMBER]

I'm not allowed to wear team colours in the press box.
I just saw that and no I am not in frame. I believe Steve Daniel was talking to me at that moment - he was moving back and forth so we could hear each other.

and the mystery continues...

[TecnoGenius]

I noticed at times Hallett and Griffin were on the field. Everyone has a role and doing it well.

I think it was Hallett who rushed in from the flat on one of the Rourke scrambles that forced him to throw the INT.  Whoever it was, he went from 0-60 in no time flat and shocked Rourke.  That smells like Ni.Hallett to me.  It was a weird player set, like we often do on long passing downs.

[TecnoGenius]

Rourke looked like a QB with only 3 practices. He took way to long to make decisions and was off on his throws. Both of our Picks were mostly bad throws.

I also think both were out to the rail.  Maybe Rourke forgot how much wider the field was and his internal-angle-distance-calculator was still calibrated for the wimpy NFL field?  I wonder if we anticipated this and coached up the DBs on being aggressive on the wide outs?

[TecnoGenius]

I was saying at the start of this season not to expect a fair shake from the league or the officials.

I definitely felt some of the calls against us were bogus and had the feeling that the officials were not helping.....let's face it the CFL wants BC to be in the Grey Cup

I'm not sure the CFL will bias things for BC (however, it does make sense if Rourke is back)... but I'm pretty sure the entire league and country is biased against WPG because literally no one except us wants to see WPG in the GC again.

Think back to when CGY was in 80% of the cups for a few years.  It got boring and we all hated it, right?  Ya, so that's us now.

So I expect no help from refs or command.  Our best hope is they don't outright screw us over with chintzy calls.  No, I don't expect outright rigging, but even tiny little things like an extra holding call here or there can ruin our day.  It will probably get worse as we get closer, and into, the post-season.

And none of this requires tinfoil... it's just human nature for nobody to want the see the same team win every time.  Who wanted to see the Brady/Patriots in their 168th SB in a row?  Not me.

[TecnoGenius]

Barring airlifting some one in, there only appears to be two plausible scenarios:

1) Gauthier replaces Bighill directly
2) Jones to MLB and Ayers to WILL.

If past history is anything to go by, the Bighill temp will be in-house and vet, which basically means Gauthier now that Briggs is gone.

Only if Biggie seems set for a 6G or season-ender do we even think about a rookie/sophomore at MLB.

Intriguing possibility: if 6G+ might we finally get our dream of an airlifted (couch or trade) legit allstar MLB?  Should we start the "who's on the couch", "who's a possible trade" chatter?

[TecnoGenius]

and the mystery continues...

Kinda cool we have an actual booth-sitter who dabbles in our forum!  I guess that explains why he really is The Stats Junkie!

The stats guy shown on the screen looked pretty close to retirement age... is our Junkie the heir apparent?

[J5V]

Think back to when CGY was in 80% of the cups for a few years.  It got boring and we all hated it, right?  Ya, so that's us now.

I get that there surely exists a percentage of CFL fans that want to see us fail. The part I don't get is that I don't remember Calgary, or Edmonton, or Montreal during their dynasty years, getting screwed over like we appear to be. In fact, I remember it in reverse. They seemed to get the benefit of most calls.

I almost wonder if it's the way we rose to the top after being bottom dwellers for so long. Doing it with a QB that everyone thought was damaged and washed up. Doing it with a Richie Hall defense that many people thought for years would never be a system that could be successful at the top level. Doing it with a head coach that came in raw and green and built and instilled a system and culture known as "Bomber Ball". We didn't have an Einstein like Mark Trestman, or a veteran coach like Hugh Campbell or Don Matthews, we didn't have Warren Moon or Anthony Calvillo. We didn't go after and sign the big name players. We took the guys that had a certain something. That special quality that Mike O'Shea is always looking for. We build, promote, and reward from within. We dance with the one that brung us. We're loyal. We're a team, a team with a chip on their shoulder that has each other's back.

I almost wonder ...

[TecnoGenius]

I almost wonder if it's the way we rose to the top after being bottom dwellers for so long. Doing it with a QB that everyone thought was damaged and washed up. Doing it with a Richie Hall defense that many people thought for years would never be a system that could be successful at the top level. Doing it with a head coach that came in raw and green and built and instilled a system and culture known as "Bomber Ball".
[...]

What you're describing would be an entrenched snobbery or elitism or an ol' boys' network.  That does occur in some organizations.  Is it a thing in today's CFL?  I'm not sure, but my hunch is "no".  If it is, it would probably be a function of Ambrosie, and maybe Proulx.  Not many others are left from the (original) Trestman years.

MOS does bring a certain "blue collar" aura: a nobody lowly NAT player having risen up earning his chops.  Some other teams' fans hate him with a passion.

It's a theory as good as any other!  Let's hope it's wrong and we get a fair shot at our GC run this year.

[dd]

Mike O Shea is hardly a low nobody NAT--perrenial Allstar who hit like a ton of bricks, lead the league in tackles year after year, is at the top of the CFL tackle list...that's hardly a nobody. Sure he was green as a coach, but heck, he was a player coach towards the end of his career and had tons of street cred with his playing accomplishments.

[J5V]

I have a very odd feeling developing somewhere near the pit of my stomach that this version of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is going to write a treatise of suspense, excitement, and intrigue where the principles reveal themselves to be an O'Shea lead eclectic group of collaborators in something very special. Perhaps a masterpiece.

For some reason I don't think I've ever been as locked-in and captivated by the potential of a Bomber team as I am about this one. Let's go blue!

[TecnoGenius]

Mike O Shea is hardly a low nobody NAT--perrenial Allstar who hit like a ton of bricks, lead the league in tackles year after year, is at the top of the CFL tackle list...that's hardly a nobody. Sure he was green as a coach, but heck, he was a player coach towards the end of his career and had tons of street cred with his playing accomplishments.

I meant when he started out.  Just another NAT draft pick, who to most fans will be just a "nobody".  At first.  Ok, so he was drafted #4, so I guess he'd be known to the uber-fans who follow U sports, but still a nobody to Mr Schmo EDM fan.

Certainly by the time he was done as a player he was a household name across the league.  I meant no disrespect, only that he had to work his way up the hard way from U sports, not from some elite US college getting NFL draft looks!!

It speaks to his grit, determination and blue-collar-ness.  I think he carries that aura to this very day, and I think it's what makes him popular with the players.