Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg at Calgary, July 3, 2025

[ModAdmin]

[ModAdmin]

[Stats Junkie]

LOL, put down the chablis.  I mentioned Vanterpool once and you seem stuck on that.  When a team goes from hero to zero in 1 week you start by looking at the changes made.  I never said anything beyond that.  I have no idea how Vanterpool impacted anything until I do a rewatch and grade out the OL.  Zach certainly wasn't clean tonight.

But I can probably say with confidence that it couldn't have been worse with Wallace in, because nothing can be worse than what we saw.

0 sacks against tonight

Vanterpool at LT, Wallace at LG on the TD drive.

[Blue In BC]

CGY hasn't beaten us in how long?  Did CGY's O look like they knew everything and its dog about our D?  Maybe tinfoil, maybe not.

No they didn't look like they knew anything the entire league knows about the Bombers offence. Getting behind makes it more difficult to use all of your offence.

Bighill only signed in Calgary on 06/22.  They had a bye so how many times did they actually practice?

[Blue In BC]

0 sacks against tonight

Vanterpool at LT, Wallace at LG on the TD drive.

I didn't notice that but that's interesting. Did Bryant get nicked? I thought the OL played pretty well since they abandoned the run game early. Collaros had a few dropped passes but overall except for two whiffs ( great defensive plays ), he wasn't as bad as some think. He didn't get sacked once but our receivers couldn't get open deep.

If Oliveria is not a big focus for our offence, we usually lose. Whether that is because a defence takes away that or game score changes our plan. How often did Calgary rush more than 4 after the 1st Q? It didn't seem often but I've deleted the recording already.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

O'Shea's was as contrite as I've ever heard on why it was got so bad:

"Yea, when we look back on it, I probably could have handled the practice week a little differently to try and get them, to try and get the guys a little more physically fresh." Then he talks about penalties, execution and how Calgary is a better team this year and then summarizes his thought with, "We didn't manage to muster up enough juice to make a difference today."

He then further explains:

"We had a tougher day 1 and I pushed them pretty **** hard on day 2 and of course as a group they respond and then we leave them a little short, out of gas, you know. So I gotta take a better look at that."

[blue_or_die]

Someone else can check but it feels like we often get distracted and lay a stinker before a bye. The good news is we usually come out of the gate and win following a bye. I fully expect that on the 18th. If not, then I'll say we have a problem that needs fixing. Otherwise I'm hoping this was the failure we needed to get our act together. I was happy with the first three wins but even so the weaknesses were glaring. Hoping to call this an "opportunity for improvement" as the copium I'll smoke for a few weeks.

Hate going out on such a bad note into 2 weeks without Bomber ball. I suppose the silver lining for me personally is, I'd hate to lose a close one against a mid team. If we are gonna lose, have it be that we were never even in it. That was most certainly the case yesterday.

[blue_gold_84]

They looked in it until that (first) pick six; it all went off the rails after that. The second pick six sealed the deal.

I guess they were due for a stinker. The last time they looked this bad was when Adams and the Lions thumped them at home back in late June of 2023.

Also: what an ugly trophy.

[Waffler]

Ya, awkward.  Well Biggie has his 30 pieces of silver, and CGY got a win with his help.  So CGY got what they wanted.

What did biggie tell them? Our QB is old and the ball hangs up a long time so just bait him and that should be good for 2 picks sixes? Then he earned his money this week.

At one point they showed a replay from 2019 Zach, casual fan I am watching with says afterwards once it sinks in, "that's the same guy?".

[TBURGESS]

We got owned by the Stamps. I did not see that coming. 

[Jesse]

Waaaaay too early for that talk.  He just needs to flip the switch and start putting in way more effort.  3 catchable balls.

Schoen still thinks he's a sub-$175k REC.  When you're $250-$300k you have to do better.

And we don't have much choice as most top guys are spoken for and won't reach FA, and we let our top guy walk.  We decided that Schoen was the future superstar.  We may still be right.

That said, Schoen seems to still have some knee issues/tightness, and playing a bit scared.

Dude, he is a sub-175k receiver.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Dude, he is a sub-175k receiver.

Not only that, he's not even the highest paid Winnipeg receiver and he's 16th highest overall in the league. But hey, facts! If he's actually hurt he's going to come in closer to $165,000 because he's got incentives. He'll be making Malik Henry money.

[Jesse]

So, a game where we get blown out like that, obviously nothing was working. The offence couldn't sustain drives and was turning the ball over. The defence was allowing long drives and allowing explosion plays. The special teams consistently lost the field position battle.

But the offensive plan/strategy was the most concerning for me, as we've seen similar things in each game so far. The dependency on these short passes that only get thrown to the line of scrimmage or just beyond. Against the Elks, it worked as we'd draw them in and then go for the deep pass but last night it wasn't even attempted until the Stamps were waiting for it in certain 2nd and long situations.

After a couple of good flashes, I'm really concerned about Hogan's offence. Brady should have been a focal point, but we got so behind so fast, he just became a part of the short passing game. We went to Clercius so often, they were able to easily anticipate a 2nd INT for a TD. It was just a poorly planned and executed game.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

So, a game where we get blown out like that, obviously nothing was working. The offence couldn't sustain drives and was turning the ball over. The defence was allowing long drives and allowing explosion plays. The special teams consistently lost the field position battle.

But the offensive plan/strategy was the most concerning for me, as we've seen similar things in each game so far. The dependency on these short passes that only get thrown to the line of scrimmage or just beyond. Against the Elks, it worked as we'd draw them in and then go for the deep pass but last night it wasn't even attempted until the Stamps were waiting for it in certain 2nd and long situations.

After a couple of good flashes, I'm really concerned about Hogan's offence. Brady should have been a focal point, but we got so behind so fast, he just became a part of the short passing game. We went to Clercius so often, they were able to easily anticipate a 2nd INT for a TD. It was just a poorly planned and executed game.

All of that is valid and fair but the other thing to consider is that when a game goes so off script like that there's really no magic answer that we just failed to grasp. The playbook shrinks considerably. The deep shots are never there because the defense is fine with you throwing underneath which is why we ended up doing it so much. I don't think we drew up a plan to get Clercius 10 catches.

Hogan had plenty of receivers running down the field in the second half they just didn't get many looks because that's what good defense looks like. The only alternative is throwing into coverage and then everyone is mad that Zach threw three or four picks and two into double coverage down the field. Wasn't a good look for the offense but it's also not really fair to judge a playcaller on a game in which he's down so quickly and so early.

[markf]

What did biggie tell them? Our QB is old and the ball hangs up a long time so just bait him and that should be good for 2 picks sixes? Then he earned his money this week.

At one point they showed a replay from 2019 Zach, casual fan I am watching with says afterwards once it sinks in, "that's the same guy?".

How does Zach go from last week's game performance to last night?

I'm not saying anything about qb, other than Streveler's passes in game one had a LOT  more zip, velocity.

I'm surprised how flat the team was.   They must be seriously disappointed.

They'll bounce back.

Also...Dickensen is still obnoxious.