Official Game Day Thread - Grey Cup - Winnipeg & Toronto - Nov. 17, 2024

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

This is what usually happens if you have a backup quarterback who hasn't played and your starter gets injured. You're toast. Up until then it was still anybody's game. It was quite apparent Collaros couldn't throw with the finger, but they stuck with him anyway because they had 0 confidence in the backup. Guaranteed that was O'Shea's decision.

Agreed, they actually picked up Dolegala to wear a jersey and sit on the sideline till the end of the year, there was no higher expectation of him, he's played and won games in the CFL before, including the '23 LDC.  After Willie intercepted the ball was the time to insert him, a TD on a short field at that time could have changed the tide of the game.

[bluebeard]

I was worried about this with the Riders, over confident because of the Kelly injury and what the bookies were saying.  Plus the innjury to Collaros finger did not help.  TO D played well.

[dd]

Zach wasn't exactly doing great before he injured his hand. I don't understand why when he's struggling, do we stick with the low percentage long ball, vs the high percentage short passing game, or use the running game more!!! We totally abandoned BO and the running game yesterday, why?? That was our undoing. If we had used Toronto's offensive game plan, we would have won-short, high percentage passes that don't turn the ball over!!

[TecnoGenius]

How could you have no idea?  He left game bleeding.

At the stadium they didn't announce anything.  Heck, the announcer barely said anything all game!

Maybe they showed things on the jumbotron, but I wouldn't know as I was wrangling 2 young children and chatting with a very animated TOR fan next to me.

Wilson being in for a red zone sequence was the only hint I had something was wrong.  And no one around me was saying anything about an injured Zach.

[TecnoGenius]

The OL played exceptionally well.  I was wrong about their talent, but was right that maybe they could be better as a gestalt.  They gave Zach the time he needed.  You could argue they did better than the TOR OL.  The worst you can say about them is they let whatever get close to Zach that busted his finger.

Hats off to the hoggies.  If they can take this and build on it and improve the unit next season, we could be back to a league-top OL.  The best part is I don't think anyone will try to poach our hoggies this year.

[TecnoGenius]

So almost everything I said we needed to win actually occurred, and TOR did basically what we expected.  Yet we still lost.

The difference (outside of later INTs) was execution.  I think every single REC had a drop.  Ya they were contested and tough.  But it's the GC.

Ya, TOR RECs dropped a few too, but they also made a handful of clutch catches.  Those catches kept drives going, whereas our massive drop rate stopped drives dead.  And their RECs busted some good YAC and YAFC a few times.  Our RECs got almost zero YAC.

They executed, we didn't.  They had lots of rookies too.  No excuse.  And you can't blame Zach for all the dropsies.  They mostly looked like well-thrown balls.

Yes, our game plan stunk, but if we had executed even a handful of those plays, we likely win.  Just sloppy lack of focus and execution all around.  And they all did it.  Sad.

[Blue In BC]

Interesting info over on Lionbackers. Bombers were a man short twice including the Bissett TD. Nichols took a penalty when he touched the ball before the snap. That explains why he choose to do that.

Rotating so many players so often is bound to catch you sometime with too many or not enough.

[dd]

Interesting info over on Lionbackers. Bombers were a man short twice including the Bissett TD. Nichols took a penalty when he touched the ball before the snap. That explains why he choose to do that.

Rotating so many players so often is bound to catch you sometime with too many or not enough.

Yes, a defensive player touching a down linemen is an instant kill play and commonly done, even at the amateur level. It draws a 5 yard offside penalty. Becoming unglued and upset because you're short on the field that you slap the ball will get you a 15 yard misconduct penalty everytime. I have a problem that someone playing high school football knows how to kill the play before it gets started when you're a man short, yet a professional playing on a first place team doesn't. ***!!! Same with Wilson's loose ball interference. That's a high school penalty, someone in the pro ranks should have had the football IQ and awareness of what to do on a blocked punt behind the LOS. C' mon man, these penalties were ridiculous and inexcusable and totally illustrate how ill prepared we were for this game, both as players and coaches.

[Blue In BC]

Yes, a defensive player touching a down linemen is an instant kill play and commonly done, even at the amateur level. It draws a 5 yard offside penalty. Becoming unglued and upset because you're short on the field that you slap the ball will get you a 15 yard misconduct penalty everytime. I have a problem that someone playing high school football knows how to kill the play before it gets started when you're a man short, yet a professional playing on a first place team doesn't. ***!!! Same with Wilson's loose ball interference. That's a high school penalty, someone in the pro ranks should have had the football IQ and awareness of what to do on a blocked punt behind the LOS. C' mon man, these penalties were ridiculous and inexcusable and totally illustrate how ill prepared we were for this game, both as players and coaches.

I agree that both penalties were inexcusable. I was just pointing out why he took any action at all even though it was the wrong action.

Bombers overall had lack of focus. Eli taking a procedure before the 1st snap of the game. Lawler not getting a foot down on one good play. Taylor not adjusting soon enough on a TD. These were all mental errors.

[dd]

I agree that both penalties were inexcusable. I was just pointing out why he took any action at all even though it was the wrong action.

Bombers overall had lack of focus. Eli taking a procedure before the 1st snap of the game. Lawler not getting a foot down on one good play. Taylor not adjusting soon enough on a TD. These were all mental errors.

When Eli went offside, I thought, oh boy, is this how mentally prepared we are, we know the snap count and we go offside. Little did we know that that was just the tip of the ice berg!!

[Sir Blue and Gold]

When Eli went offside, I thought, oh boy, is this how mentally prepared we are, we know the snap count and we go offside. Little did we know that that was just the tip of the ice berg!!

We were up 10-9 at halftime. The Lucky fumble really turned things for us and then Zach getting hurt was pretty crushing.

The team was ready. The game was in the balance until the pick six late in the fourth. The offensive line in particular played a decent game against a really good defensive front. Collaros didn't deliver was the biggest factor though. Hurt hand or not.

I'm frustrated we lost too, it super sucks, but it's not like we didn't come out strapped in and ready to play.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I agree that both penalties were inexcusable. I was just pointing out why he took any action at all even though it was the wrong action.

Bombers overall had lack of focus. Eli taking a procedure before the 1st snap of the game. Lawler not getting a foot down on one good play. Taylor not adjusting soon enough on a TD. These were all mental errors.

Also the one series early on in the redzone were communication screwed up 2 consecutive plays and they had to settle for a FG.  I'd like to know what went wrong on that drive.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Zach's fiery pre-game speech.

https://x.com/Wpg_BlueBombers/status/1858292401506546171

[dd]

Also the one series early on in the redzone were communication screwed up 2 consecutive plays and they had to settle for a FG.  I'd like to know what went wrong on that drive.

And Collaros was furious after that and I don't blame him. Everyone is blaming him for our poor offense, but if linemen are jumping offside the very first play and recievers running the wrong routes in the red zone, need say more. Wake the hell up boys, it was the grey cup you were playing in, this wasn't pre-season. You should be embarassed on your poor performance.

[Blue In BC]

The 50/50 from the game has gone unclaimed. It's worth over $434K. Check your tickets!!!