Beating SSK

[TecnoGenius]

I saw VAJ running a lot on Saturday, I do not see Zach being able to sustain to much running with the pressure the Riders can get on a QB.

Because he was hanging onto the ball for 4+ seconds all the time.  He was gun shy and timid and didn't trust his eyes.  That's why he lost.  He should have thrown caution to the wind and just been VAJ -- it couldn't have turned out any worse.

Zach won't have that problem, and Zach will throw it away or eat it if he has to.

Buck will have to find ways to get guys open.  Luckily one of the opponents he is best at that is the Riders!!

[TecnoGenius]

This one I have to disagree with you on QB- WPG much better - Harris is very bit as good as Zach.I think Zach is past his best before days.

Trevor is now a strictly one-dimensional QB.  How often does he target > 25Y downfield?  3%?  I'd love to see one of those fancy target-area heat maps for Trevor this year.  It would be laughable.

I'm not really sure why Trevor is this way.  Maybe it's him.  Maybe he lost his arm.  Maybe it's all the OC/HC.  Maybe it's their not-great OL.  Maybe it's their low-budget RECs.  Maybe it's all of those things.

Zach will throw anywhere and everywhere with about a 55Y in-the-air range.  He can feather them in Ricky Ray style or zip 'em in through the tight window.  His heat map is pretty evenly spread out -- probably one of the best.

Durability: Yes, Zach is one head knock from leaving the game, but Trevor is one anything knock from leaving.  Dude is glass on his entire body.

"Bad Trevor".  Ya, there's Bad Zach, but he often shrugs it off/corrects later in the game (like that WDF where we turned the ball over 4 times in one half?).  We've all seen Bad Trevor show up before and he never does recover.

Granted, both are very good QBs.  But Zach is great.  How many rings does Trevor have as starting QB??  Ya... as many as SSK has cups in the last decade.  And he's been on like 3-4 teams to try!

[TecnoGenius]

I don't think Rider RB or DB's are a wash. We're clearly better if our OL plays well.

Ouellette plus Armstead may be as good as Brady.  I'm pretty sure they'll combine for more yards on Saturday.  Neither is as good as Brady individually.  And no one is as tough & durable as Brady.

I gave the DBs a lot of thought.  We have the much better average DB talent.  SSK has much-vaunted Milligan.  We have the more cohesive unit.  We have better communications.  Their Sayles is also good (as we well know from 2019.)

Milligan will showboat and cheat up to try to get the INT and we can exploit that.  (Contrast with Ford who is Team First but still gets the stats.)

We have one weak link: Bonds.  SSK has 3: Henderson (most games every fan wants him fired), Fields (who?), and Lokombo (also often cut by halftime).

My point with calling it a "wash" is we'll get more stops, shut down more drives, and give us a shot at an INT maybe; SSK will let more passes through but will put a big effort into the game-changing INTs.  It kind of balances out: however, our DB corps will be solid like they've been all year, SSK is relying on luck and mistakes to force a turnover.

They are basically the 2014 Bombers!  As we found out then, if you have to rely on TOs to win, you ain't gonna win when the opponent doesn't give them to you.

[TecnoGenius]

GR55 on Riderfans kindly provided us with some cools stats:

"
We haven't won in Winnipeg since the 2018 Banjo Bowl.
Winnipeg is 7-1 in west division playoff games dating back to 2018.
"

[Blueforlife]

My keys to the game:
1. Establish the run early and use it heavy late
2. Rattle Harris with confusing looks and pressure him / knock downs
3. Limit their run game (big plays)
4. Play clean ball
5.  Protect Zach

Riders have a good team, well coached and have good receivers, RBs and a steady QB.  That said we can attack them on the ground and with the deep ball.  Bombs and Brady is my recipe.

[Jesse]

I would definitely try to get the run game going earlier, but if they're able to stop that right away with their excellent run D, I'd like to see Olive Oil used creatively - as a receiver (proven and underrated in this role), whether it's a planned play or more likely, set up as an outlet if Zach can't find anyone open after a couple reads and they're aggressive at the line. Aside from that, if our pass protect plays well on the OL and/or they back off the LoS more or less, Zach needs to be accurate and make smart decisions, and our receivers need to do their part and catch balls when space might not be so available. We are paying Lawler to do that kind of thing regularly.

On D, I expect us to continue the 3 man rush and focus on limiting the dink-and-dunk that they will try. Outlette and Armstead are pretty good but they will ultimately need to be able to pass as well so as long at the secondary and LBs are dialed in we should be able to do our bend-don't-break D and limit them to 3s or ideally stop them before. No explosion plays pls. Let's make them boring and predicatable.

This is big, I think.

Brady hasn't had much success on the ground in any of our games against the Rider, but he has big receiving numbers. So have him as that hot route for Zach; make it easy to keep the chains moving.

But the pressure is on Zach. Gotta play up to the moment and avoid the mistakes of early in the season.

One thing I'm afraid of is BA and Kyrie suddenly practicing. I can't handle a repeat of Grey Cup where we're rostering injured players because "they earned it".

[jayrock]

GR55 on Riderfans kindly provided us with some cools stats:

"
We haven't won in Winnipeg since the 2018 Banjo Bowl.
Winnipeg is 7-1 in west division playoff games dating back to 2018.
"

I will add the rest of it where he goes on to say that the riders will win. As well he gives credit to a good bomber team.

"Winnipeg no doubt is a beast, especially at home. It'll be hostile territory... but I have full faith in this team to get it done. Harris is always cool as a cucumber, Thurman & Micah will keep the D in check.

I thought the entire secondary overall played a good game, albeit a couple big plays. Lokombo's confidence should be way up that he can make a play now.

We have a far better DL than they do, they generate very little pressure on opposing QBs. The DL needs to get their hands on Oliveira early & often, make Collaros beat us on Saturday. Perhaps Lanier should draw back in?

AJO will undoubtedly be huge as Winnipeg likes to send their linebackers on blitzes.

Winnipeg's secondary is extremely good. As much as humanly possible, I'm getting Emilus onto Evan Holm, and KeeSean Johnson onto Terrell Bonds. Deatrick Nichols & Tyrell Ford make opposing teams pay too often.

This isn't years passed where Winnipeg was clearly better, I would argue we could've easily went 3-0 vs them this year."

[Mick]

I will add the rest of it where he goes on to say that the riders will win. As well he gives credit to a good bomber team.

"Winnipeg no doubt is a beast, especially at home. It'll be hostile territory... but I have full faith in this team to get it done. Harris is always cool as a cucumber, Thurman & Micah will keep the D in check.

I thought the entire secondary overall played a good game, albeit a couple big plays. Lokombo's confidence should be way up that he can make a play now.

We have a far better DL than they do, they generate very little pressure on opposing QBs. The DL needs to get their hands on Oliveira early & often, make Collaros beat us on Saturday. Perhaps Lanier should draw back in?

AJO will undoubtedly be huge as Winnipeg likes to send their linebackers on blitzes.

Winnipeg's secondary is extremely good. As much as humanly possible, I'm getting Emilus onto Evan Holm, and KeeSean Johnson onto Terrell Bonds. Deatrick Nichols & Tyrell Ford make opposing teams pay too often.

This isn't years passed where Winnipeg was clearly better, I would argue we could've easily went 3-0 vs them this year."

Interested to see that injury report out of SSK today. The organization requesting fans not to post pictures on social media is interesting, are they trying some new wrinkles? are they not wanting anyone to see who is taking 1st team reps?

[jayrock]

Injury report will be key. Not the nail in the coffin, but will be interesting. OL will be fine, they have all season.

[Mick]

Injury report will be key. Not the nail in the coffin, but will be interesting. OL will be fine, they have all season.

You don't need an OL when your QB just throws 5-10 yard passes all game, if SSK plans to beat the bombers Harris is going to have to put some balls up, but he hasn't done this all year.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I will add the rest of it where he goes on to say that the riders will win. As well he gives credit to a good bomber team.

"Winnipeg no doubt is a beast, especially at home. It'll be hostile territory... but I have full faith in this team to get it done. Harris is always cool as a cucumber, Thurman & Micah will keep the D in check.

I thought the entire secondary overall played a good game, albeit a couple big plays. Lokombo's confidence should be way up that he can make a play now.

We have a far better DL than they do, they generate very little pressure on opposing QBs. The DL needs to get their hands on Oliveira early & often, make Collaros beat us on Saturday. Perhaps Lanier should draw back in?

AJO will undoubtedly be huge as Winnipeg likes to send their linebackers on blitzes.

Winnipeg's secondary is extremely good. As much as humanly possible, I'm getting Emilus onto Evan Holm, and KeeSean Johnson onto Terrell Bonds. Deatrick Nichols & Tyrell Ford make opposing teams pay too often.

This isn't years passed where Winnipeg was clearly better, I would argue we could've easily went 3-0 vs them this year."

Why post this ill-informed drivel here?  The Bombers are playing 3-man fronts most of the time, obviously they're not focusing on the pass rush and they have not been blitzing LB's much at all this season. This person's analysis is based on Richie Hall's configurations, but can't expect Rider fans to watch Bomber games when most have excuses not to attend their own games.

[blue_gold_84]

My favourite part: "We could've easily went 3-0 vs them"



Last I checked 11-7 is better than 9-8-1, and 2-1 is better than 1-2.

Me trying to not make a Rider Math joke:

[Pete]

I will add the rest of it where he goes on to say that the riders will win. As well he gives credit to a good bomber team.

"Winnipeg no doubt is a beast, especially at home. It'll be hostile territory... but I have full faith in this team to get it done. Harris is always cool as a cucumber, Thurman & Micah will keep the D in check.

I thought the entire secondary overall played a good game, albeit a couple big plays. Lokombo's confidence should be way up that he can make a play now.

We have a far better DL than they do, they generate very little pressure on opposing QBs. The DL needs to get their hands on Oliveira early & often, make Collaros beat us on Saturday. Perhaps Lanier should draw back in?

AJO will undoubtedly be huge as Winnipeg likes to send their linebackers on blitzes.

Winnipeg's secondary is extremely good. As much as humanly possible, I'm getting Emilus onto Evan Holm, and KeeSean Johnson onto Terrell Bonds. Deatrick Nichols & Tyrell Ford make opposing teams pay too often.

This isn't years passed where Winnipeg was clearly better, I would argue we could've easily went 3-0 vs them this year."

whats interesting is that if we had posted something similar with a bomber slant to it on the rider forum we would be cursed at, told to get the **** out of here etc. and likely a referral to years gone past with DUrant, bighill and Oshea negative references thrown in for good measure. At least when we object we have some arguements to offset.

[Mick]

Very interesting watch how Zach dismantled their D with patience and experience.

https://youtu.be/9qOag6TGDLo

[Blue In BC]

Collaros needs to step up his play off performance and not just have an average day. Bonds needs to have a better day as well. While he's not a bad DB he is the one being targeted often since our other DB's are so good.

I think part of that is the strategy of keeping receivers in front of coverage, but even so he can play tighter.

It's now or never.