Official Game Day Thread - Sask. at Winnipeg, (Banjo Bowl) September 7, 2024

[Blueforlife]

I m thinking this is Jakey s swan song, he played his 200th game today, which is a tremendous accomplishment, but he is dreadfully slow and always in chase mode. He's always been the sentimental fan favourite, but I'm thinking this is it for him

Time will tell.  See how the season ends.  Not an old man's game or position.

[ModAdmin]

Game Recap | SSK 21 WPG 26 - Ed Tait

..."When you've got two physical football teams meeting together it's going to be a slugfest," said (Kenny) Lawler. "You've just got to be the one to keep swinging and not let off. As tough as it got, we kept swinging, we kept hanging in there and we figured out how to pull it out.

"Just a tremendous team effort in all phases. We've been locked in, dialled in every practice and like we've said we're just trying to go 1-0 each week and we've been doing that. We've been dialled in, focused, executing, figuring out how to win these close games. We're back playing the type of football we play."

More on another Banjo Bowl win – Winnipeg's 13th in the 20-year history of the game – from our view in the press box...

https://www.bluebombers.com/2024/09/07/game-recap-ssk-21-wpg-26/

[TecnoGenius]

Does it feel like we have to fight so much harder for our first downs?

On my rewatch I was thinking just exactly that!  Every game this year except maybe the LDC we fight and scratch for every yard and every single catch has 2+ defenders right there harassing and taking down our R.

Then you watch Trevor just effortlessly getting 49 10-yard slants, curls and outs a game without any issue and guys wide open.  Well, until he doesn't and it's an INT or a batdown.

I get it, our D is doing this on purpose, so OK, ignore the D... why can't our O get separation?  Why aren't we out-thinking them and getting busts in coverage?

Take the Lawler fingertip whiff in this game.  If he doesn't have that DB draped all over him tipping it away, he gets a 55Y catch.  So why did he have 2 DBs draped all over him?

In theory if other teams are playing our guys super tight, that should open up the busts and double moves.  But it doesn't and isn't.  Why?

I don't care as much, because we are winning, but it would certainly help in the future if we had some "easy" yards like every other team does.

[TecnoGenius]

3Q6:18 The Johnson circus catch at the rail ruled OOB... I'm pretty sure he's inbounds and that's a completion.  He purposely puts his heel down before the toes, and the heel is inbounds.  When the toes tap after, they are OOB.

Basically impossible to discern without freezeframe, as it all happens in about 2 frames.

Too bad, he got robbed of his best catch of the season, and first time he's shown some real capability.  Good no-challenge, because after the MTL Alexander debacle, this would prove to be basically the same thing: command wouldn't care it was ruled incorrectly because freezeframe would be needed to prove otherwise.

Also, totally wicked pass by Zach under such pressure!!  Watch that again, completely insane.  He got robbed too.

[J5V]

I was driving through Sask on my way to Edmonton listening to the game on the radio. Loved the Blink tribute and Ring of Honour thing. He was great!

What a game! Punch, counter punch, etc. Back and forth, and once again, under pressure, when we needed it the most, Zach connects with Lawler for the winning score. I just loved it!

CJOB faded out in the 3rd quarter and I was scanning radio stations trying to find the game. Bingo! I found the Sask broadcast. That was a treat! LOL!

[J5V]

The best part was the call in show. Lol! A lot of fans want Harris gone and Patterson playing. Why? Cuz he's not mobile and Patterson is.

Oh, and according to them, the Brown hit on Streveler was clean.

[TecnoGenius]

Pull helmet off not a penalty?

I just checked and it's totally a helmet pull off, from the FM and also below the FM (2 hands).  He got away with it because he did it "upside down" from above.  EITS should step in on those and flag the UR.

[J5V]

I haven't watched the game yet, only listened. Someone tell me, is Sask the dirtiest team in the league or what? BTW, they were accusing us of being a dirty team. Hmmm ... not that I've seen.

[J5V]

I thought the John Liu interview with Osh was great.

[TecnoGenius]

I haven't watched the game yet, only listened. Someone tell me, is Sask the dirtiest team in the league or what? BTW, they were accusing us of being a dirty team. Hmmm ... not that I've seen.

SSK has always been a cheatin' team, in terms of doing extra holding (yes, even moreso than the "if you're not holding you're not trying" norm), faking injuries to substitute players, etc.

However, I'm seeing a ton of teams doing every little extra hit they can just nanoseconds before the whistle, on guys who are already down or clearly going down.  Ya, it's a part of football, but the desire to hurt/maim seems increased this season.  It's like most teams plan around grinding down RBs, Rs and QBs by getting every little lick in they can.

So "dirtiest team"... I don't know.  Depends how you define it.  But I would give them credit as the most underhanded and pushing-the-limits, especially when they play us.

The jury's still out on Brown#90... almost worthy of its own thread.  However, no one can now say he "doesn't have a history", because 3 QBs knocked out of games is 100% "a history" and cannot be disputed or overlooked.  The big question will be does he get a mere fine again, or a full suspension (2 games would probably fit precedent).  The league will now look at the "history" and full "body of work" when deciding, not just the latest hit itself.

[TecnoGenius]

Thomas played well? He recorded no stats. Didn't get in the same postal code as Harris. He did squat against the run.

You can never judge Fatboi by the stats sheet.  I watched him keenly today (I usually do).  He was doing his normal Fatboi things that clearly many missed.

There was a Trevor turf-throw that was directly caused by Fatboi.  He was pushing his hoggie back on roller skates until he directly bumped into Trevor who was setting up to throw.  Ya, he pushed that guy back like 8Y like he was only 200 lbs.  Trevor had to turf it in a panic, and SSK was off the field.

So many other times SSK devoted 2 OL to Fatboi alone.  They don't do that if they think he's nobody: they'd double or triple Willie instead.  If Fatboi is tying up 2 hoggies, then he's helping us win the math game, and MOS is big on the LoS math.

I'm sure he did a lot more, too, but on first rewatch those are what stood out.  So at least 1 force-SSK-off-the-field, which is pretty darn good seeing as how SSK got maybe 9 drives the whole game?

Not saying he's the best... but I noticed him more than whoever our other DT was!!  Oh ya, and Schmeckel was getting manhandled and pushed around like a DB by the OL... so careful who you are criticizing!

[TecnoGenius]

Earlier in the game I saw a defensive player down but didn't see who it was or whether he returned. Looked like a DL due to his size.

Anyone notice?

I could have sworn Neufeld went down when I was at @PAS, and it looked somewhat bad.  But he did return to the game in 1-2 series.

Very strange, but I didn't notice this at all on TSN on my rewatch, but I wasn't really looking for it.  Did TSN miss it completely?  I guess I'll look for the plays where Eli was in for Neuf.

[TecnoGenius]

I also saw (who I thought was) #0 Milligan take a knee and get help on the field, I think after a P or K play.  He gets help for a while and then the trainers leave with some other player and #0 was still on the field!

I noticed this stuff as I track injuries with my binocs @PAS and check the charts to see how much the team will be hurt.

I'm trying to find it on the broadcast, or at least a hint of it.  But I'm having trouble.  Did anyone remember around what time this occurred?  Anything shown on TSN?

I got really irate at the game and was then watching MOS to see if he noticed, and he seemed to be chirping to his closets ref, but not too angrily.  And nothing was done about it, though maybe #0 came out a play later.

What's the penalty for a team leaving a took-the-knee player in the game??  I've seen refs stop games before for this and force them out.  Did everyone botch this?

(There's a small chance the player had a number that ended in 0, not #0 exactly, as I never got a 100% clear look at it.)

[Blue In BC]

You can never judge Fatboi by the stats sheet.  I watched him keenly today (I usually do).  He was doing his normal Fatboi things that clearly many missed.

There was a Trevor turf-throw that was directly caused by Fatboi.  He was pushing his hoggie back on roller skates until he directly bumped into Trevor who was setting up to throw.  Ya, he pushed that guy back like 8Y like he was only 200 lbs.  Trevor had to turf it in a panic, and SSK was off the field.

So many other times SSK devoted 2 OL to Fatboi alone.  They don't do that if they think he's nobody: they'd double or triple Willie instead.  If Fatboi is tying up 2 hoggies, then he's helping us win the math game, and MOS is big on the LoS math.

I'm sure he did a lot more, too, but on first rewatch those are what stood out.  So at least 1 force-SSK-off-the-field, which is pretty darn good seeing as how SSK got maybe 9 drives the whole game?

Not saying he's the best... but I noticed him more than whoever our other DT was!!  Oh ya, and Schmeckel was getting manhandled and pushed around like a DB by the OL... so careful who you are criticizing!

I know he often is taking up more than one DL but he's still ultimately washed out. Watch the 1st TD drive by the Riders and watch him in chase mode. That's what we see too often.

It's not what you might do right every now and then, it's the failures that are more meaningful.

Schmekel is a rookie and hardly ever on the AR. Saying Thomas might be better than our import DL could be setting a low bar. Noting that Adams that we didn't dress has 4 sacks to Thomas's 1.

[Blue In BC]

Ok. Now that we have a good grasp on 1st place, the question will be how healthy can we get going forward.

We might not have lost Streveler yet but it didn't look good. Hopefully it's more pain than actual injury and he recovers during the bye.

Woli got nicked but I think he's ok but not 100%. Lots of players will be that way for the rest of the season.

Bryant should be back after the bye in theory. If he isn't then there is more to this than we're being told.

Bighill might have a similar issue as Streveler. Could be very serious or just tweeked and back after the bye.

We can't afford to lose anybody else.