Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg at BC., June 21, 2025

[J5V]

Just finished a re-watch of this game. Thanks to Zip!

A few observations:

Our O-line is playing with attitude!
Betts is a whiner when being manhandled by an O-Lineman
Corallos is spreading the ball around well, throwing left, right, centre
Zac looks very comfortable throwing the ball this year.
If Zac could hit his guys in stride, man! Always an underthrow.
Zac sometimes makes/forces throws that a veteran QB shouldn't be making. Annoying.
Wheatfall has nice hands
Shoen is back and looking great!
Peterson is hard to bring down
Chris-Ike is a beast!
Vaval is a fearless returner and is definitely going to break one!
Evan Holm made a spectacular INT in the end zone! Highlight reel stuff!
Eli the tight-end with the TD catch! Love it!

Masoli is a good QB. Far from washed up.
Not Masoli's fault on the Hatcher miscue, re: lateral. Good alertness by Wpg D!
Hatcher and McInnis are good receivers. Got to wrap them up or they'll break loose!
McInnis is a load! Hard to bring down.
Butler is a good back.

Refs:
#29 of BC clearly PI on Sterns trying to come back for an underthrown ball. No call. New rules?
Wpg D-line creating havoc resulting in proc. calls, holds, and INTs.
Who got DQ'd near the end of the game? Official announced #5???

Suitor:
Couldn't be less enthused for the Bombers. He loved the call-back on the Chris-Ike major and was hoping for a non-lateral pass on the Butler miscue. Grudgingly admitted at the end of the game that the Bombers are looking really good.

[TecnoGenius]

DIDN'T hit the ref... Better he just says I might have but it was an accident.

I rewatched and that guy is so toast.  I guess he was trying to argue it was the WPG arm that hit the ref, and it was... but you can see the BC guy flexing with both arms and causing 100% of the WPG arm movement.  We'll see what supplemental he'll get.  But the WPG guy whose arm he used will have 0 fault assigned.

[TecnoGenius]

What do you say about the hang time? Seems he compensates for lack of zip by by putting more rainbow on the ball to get it to the target.

You are 100% right.  Less zip, but not always rainbows.  There were a couple of wide hitch screens where the ball took forever to get there.  One with a view from behind and the ball barely seems to move but takes so long to arrive (a bit low, but easily caught).

I'm not complaining though because so many QBs (BLM cough cough) will throw that wide hitch into the turf.  For some reason these lateral angles are harder for QBs to judge, or maybe the fact they throw without turning (usually) means they can't get the heat on it.

Anyhow, so guys will just have to be more open, blockers will have to hold their man longer, etc.  And Zach will have to throw sooner on most plays.

Zach does these little steamboat twitches on the long balls, you can actually see it.  His internal timing is superb, but we now need one less twitch before he heaves it, because his brain's idea of his throw distance does not equal reality.

Here's hoping Jarious can work with him on this better than Buck (never) did.

[TecnoGenius]

Not Masoli's fault on the Hatcher miscue, re: lateral. Good alertness by Wpg D!

Not his fault it was dropped, but his fault it was a lateral.  The QB needs to know how many steps he took back, and he should take extra back-steps if he's going to lateral it.  If he's scrambling, like he was here, he needs to be aware how much he's moved back vs forward.  He must ensure it's not a lateral.

The reason is even in the best of situations it's a tricky pass and we see turf balls and RECs whiffing on catchable balls all the time, even when no one is being harangued!

If he's not sure about the vertical spacing, he needs to eat it, chuck it into the stands, or run downhill.  He won't make that mistake again, and it's a good reminder for all other QBs.  (Similar to the lesson Zach just learned about not chucking it when 3 pocket-collapsers are in the process of whacking you!)

[TecnoGenius]

#29 of BC clearly PI on Sterns trying to come back for an underthrown ball. No call. New rules?

Nah, they call it like this a lot.  Sterns needs to actually make an attempt to stop cold so he gets pushed down, not do the slow-down thing.  I think when they are in this situation they should be coached to stop trying to get a catch, and instead go for the DPI.  Just halt your movement with a jarring both-feet hop-stab and get plowed over.  That gets the flag every time.

Who got DQ'd near the end of the game? Official announced #5

Check earlier in the GDT when that happens.  More chatter then.  It's Willie with a 2nd misconduct.  Tsk tsk.  MOS looked about as angry as you ever see him.  I don't think Willie hit anyone, he was just getting beaky with BC all night.  Maybe there was a ref that really had it in for him (love to know if both calls came from the same one).  I think he may have been saying naughty words, but this is pure speculation.

Players need to remember that once they are given that 1st misconduct that they need to walk on eggshells and be boyscouts.  I don't think Willie cared, and that's a bit alarming.  Can't have that.

[Blueforlife]

Everyone can say what they want about Thomas, but there's one incredible point everyone seems to miss: Fatboi never really changes, never really gets worse, doesn't seem to be aging.

Many say he is aging or getting slower or whatever, but they're wrong.  He's always been precisely this!  People say he has less impact, but he's always been middle of the pack and nothing more.

This is precisely why he seems to be on the roster until the end of time.  He is precisely what he is, and Mafia knows exactly what that is, and he stays that way.  No surprises.  If they didn't can him for being him 5 seasons ago, why would they do so now?  Nonsense.

But anyone who dismisses Fatboi isn't watching all the mayhem he's causing back there.  They're not watching how he's plowing over top 350lb OL multiple times a game.  They're not watching him getting his mitt back there in the face of the QB when he thinks he's safe to throw.  And he does this every game.

I don't care about the stat sheet for him.  And I promise you Mafia doesn't care either.  As long as he keeps doing what he's been doing for a decade, and we haven't found the next next NAT DT (need 2!), he'll be on the AR in some capacity.

Well said, well written, agree all.  Consistency is key.

[Blue In BC]

Everyone can say what they want about Thomas, but there's one incredible point everyone seems to miss: Fatboi never really changes, never really gets worse, doesn't seem to be aging.

Many say he is aging or getting slower or whatever, but they're wrong.  He's always been precisely this!  People say he has less impact, but he's always been middle of the pack and nothing more.

This is precisely why he seems to be on the roster until the end of time.  He is precisely what he is, and Mafia knows exactly what that is, and he stays that way.  No surprises.  If they didn't can him for being him 5 seasons ago, why would they do so now?  Nonsense.

But anyone who dismisses Fatboi isn't watching all the mayhem he's causing back there.  They're not watching how he's plowing over top 350lb OL multiple times a game.  They're not watching him getting his mitt back there in the face of the QB when he thinks he's safe to throw.  And he does this every game.

I don't care about the stat sheet for him.  And I promise you Mafia doesn't care either.  As long as he keeps doing what he's been doing for a decade, and we haven't found the next next NAT DT (need 2!), he'll be on the AR in some capacity.

On the roster and starting are two different things. You think we don't watch what he does and don't know what his liabilities are?

The argument has always been he shouldn't be starting and should be getting less reps.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

On the roster and starting are two different things. You think we don't watch what he does and don't know what his liabilities are?

The argument has always been he shouldn't be starting and should be getting less reps.

You think the coaching staff doesn't watch what Jake does and evaluate accurately his effectiveness in film breakdown, game in and game out?  One thing about Jake, he puts in 100% effort every play from start to finish, no matter how many snaps he plays. Adams has looked great a few times, but in both games he's faded away badly and becomes a non-factor later in the game.

[Blue In BC]

You think the coaching staff doesn't watch what Jake does and evaluate accurately his effectiveness in film breakdown, game in and game out?  One thing about Jake, he puts in 100% effort every play from start to finish, no matter how many snaps he plays. Adams has looked great a few times, but in both games he's faded away badly and becomes a non-factor later in the game.

Lawson is coming back from a serious injury and it takes awhile to get back to game speed. Lawson is already taking reps that Thomas would have been getting so this is likely to continue. Lawson missed the entire 2024 season.

I also think that the coaches adjust to accommodate his deficiencies. That means more 34 fronts as one of the options.

[theaardvark]

Both Thomas and Lawson were getting deep into the backfield.  Repeatedly.  Which forces the QB out. 

Against a mobile QB, it puts things into the DE and LB's hands to finish him off.

No soft pockets with Thomas and Lawson bullrushing.

[Blue In BC]

We knew two things going into free agency 2025.

1. We were going to lose 2 Canadian starters in Dobson and Ford.

2. Our DL as a group in 2024 was not very good overall.

The logical thing to attempt in free agency was to try and upgrade Canadian content on either the OL or DL. We did neither.

That doesn't mean we didn't try but players wanting to come to Winnipeg or SMS demands may have made those choices difficult.

We've seen the conversation since TC and after 2 games, the dilemma of our current ratio after BO was injured. Today we may find that we're going to be missing Demski this week. I hope he plays but we've already seen some suggestions of adding Mitchell for an example. That would cause another domino effect.

I'm not proposing it if Demski doesn't play, but depth and options behind our Canadian starters is more limited than last year.

We added some good Canadians in the draft but none are expected to be immediate # 2 player at any position in 2025.  We didn't expect Smith to be available in the 1st round and he may have great upside. The next 7 players drafted were either OL or DL and we may have been deciding to improve our lot with a different choice.

As the coaches suggested, Smith was just too good to not take when he became available. That couldn't have been predicted going into free agency. I'm not even sure which Canadian DT's might have been available or contacted by the team in the tampering window.

It's pretty easy to see that we replaced Ford and Dobson with 2 imports and that hurts our flexibility.

[theaardvark]

Yes, our flexibility is hurt, but our talent level on Nat's remains very high.

Losing two when you are starting 9 isn't as much of a deal.

And our draft picks are all looking great in development, the scouts did a great job in choosing some real talent.  So, we could see that starting ratio climb as we develop these guys.  Wallace has already stepped in for Dobson.

The league looks at FS as a ratio spot, and we did forever, but since Alexander and Kramdi swapped those spots, I'm OK with the job Parker is doing, regardless passport.

Losing Demski AND Brady is tough to take, but I like that Chris-Ike got a target last game and showed well.

I think we'll be just fine...

[blue_gold_84]

I think we'll be just fine...

+1

Trust In The Canadian Mafia.

[Blue In BC]

Both Thomas and Lawson were getting deep into the backfield.  Repeatedly.  Which forces the QB out. 

Against a mobile QB, it puts things into the DE and LB's hands to finish him off.

No soft pockets with Thomas and Lawson bullrushing.

You might ask whether either or both are forcing the QB outside or stepping up into the pocket. That later is preferable but we're seeing QB's buy time and escape outside to complete passes into the flat.

[TecnoGenius]

You might ask whether either or both are forcing the QB outside or stepping up into the pocket. That later is preferable but we're seeing QB's buy time and escape outside to complete passes into the flat.

But pressure leads many (most? all?) QBs to also complete more INTs.  When harassed, they also make more mistakes.  The main thing is to achieve that without letting them run 20Y downfield for a 1st down and big gain.

The WFC D motto is get the QB off their mark, relentless pressure.  I have a feeling they know what they are doing.  The only time it fails is when you have a Flutie-esque QB, which thankfully is rare.