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

[TecnoGenius]

In all of this, I can't help but wonder if Dru Brown returns to the fold after 2026.

Brown hasn't looked anything other than a more mobile Maier, or maybe a Cody, since taking over in OTT.  And he's really injury prone, which I find a bit strange.  I'm not sure he's any better than Cody was in SSK (who fought us in 2 WDFs), to be honest.

But he's young and could still improve.  Jury will probably be out for 1-3 seasons, if he can survive.

I think if you're WFC and you need a QB in FA when Zach's done, you do whatever it takes to woo Alexander here.  He's the future #1-in-CFL QB, clearly.  The keys there will be if MTL doesn't go far in the playoffs this year, and if WPG gets to another cup...

We need to show this is where you win, then you simply have to get close to the next highest bidder, and Mafia has always been willing to pony up legit money for their franchise QB.

[Waffler]

Brown hasn't looked anything other than a more mobile Maier

He's taking a beating on a bad team that expects him to do it all. He looked much better here when he had the tools to win with.

And as far as the next QB isn't it just promote Streveller? That's O'Shea's modus operandi.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

He's taking a beating on a bad team that expects him to do it all. He looked much better here when he had the tools to win with.

And as far as the next QB isn't it just promote Streveller? That's O'Shea's modus operandi.

Hope not, they'll obviously be sticking with Zach through next season no matter what so a lot can change in 2 years.  Strev may leave in the off-season for better opportunity or pay, same for Wilson if they do nothing with him, at this point draft pick Taylor Elgersma has as good a chance as any of becoming Zach's replacement.

[dd]

I m not sold that Alexander is the next #1 Qb in the league...Chad Kelly is going to be coming off a leg injury, and he was arguably #1, and Vernon Adams is making some serious noise out in Calgary and I think those 2 are ahead of the up and coming Alexander, and there's always Rourke out in BC who has to find his groove from his rookie season

[Blue In BC]

Bombers only gave up 222 yards passing to Adams. That included 2 big busts in coverage. OTOH, the Riders gave up 428 yards which also included at least one big bust for 81 yards to Alford.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Bombers only gave up 222 yards passing to Adams. That included 2 big busts in coverage. OTOH, the Riders gave up 428 yards which also included at least one big bust for 81 yards to Alford.

That's two games in a row the secondary has busted on big plays, I hope they can put an end to that trend or they may need to put someone other than Parker in charge back there.  I'm thinking Kramdi might eventually be the solution as they have multiple players that can fill his spot at SAM.

[Blue In BC]

That's two games in a row the secondary has busted on big plays, I hope they can put an end to that trend or they may need to put someone other than Parker in charge back there.  I'm thinking Kramdi might eventually be the solution as they have multiple players that can fill his spot at SAM.

I don't think it was Parker that messed up. It appeared to be both the CB's. I wouldn't think Kramdi is an alternate solution at safety. IMO we might eventually see Griffin moved to safety and Parker to CB if a change is made.

However, players in the secondary make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. Bridges is a 1st year starter so we'll see how things go. Bonds is just a 2nd year starter and he's made fewer mistakes.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I don't think it was Parker that messed up. It appeared to be both the CB's. I wouldn't think Kramdi is an alternate solution at safety. IMO we might eventually see Griffin moved to safety and Parker to CB if a change is made.

However, players in the secondary make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. Bridges is a 1st year starter so we'll see how things go. Bonds is just a 2nd year starter and he's made fewer mistakes.

The point is the secondary busts are likely due to communications problems, the young DB's get easily confused on which player to cover, whether that is the fault of the Safety, the specific DB or the coaching needs to be determined, as it rarely happened in prior seasons.  Kramdi is the smartest player on the field and he appears to be a very good communicator, which was BA's real strength.

[Blue In BC]

The point is the secondary busts are likely due to communications problems, the young DB's get easily confused on which player to cover, whether that is the fault of the Safety, the specific DB or the coaching needs to be determined, as it rarely happened in prior seasons.  Kramdi is the smartest player on the field and he appears to be a very good communicator, which was BA's real strength.

All possibly true but both the CB's have been around since the beginning of 2024. IMO the busts were due to biting on the double moves which suggests the error was on the CB's. It is possible they thought they had deep help from the safety but it didn't look that to have been the case.

Kramdi may be the smartest but he's not a great cover guy. I'd be surprised if a move was made eventually to that option. IMO Parker at CB and Griffin at safety might be preferable. Or adding Allen to the AR and bumping Bridges if he struggles.

Kelly is back a practice and might be available after week 6. He might get a chance to start at safety? That would give us a new ratio advantage. There are a few options but I'm not convinced we need to make any change.

Adams is going to beat some good players on defence. Only our coaches know whether there were some communications issues.

[TecnoGenius]

I m not sold that Alexander is the next #1 Qb in the league...Chad Kelly is going to be coming off a leg injury, and he was arguably #1

Kelly is a headcase and will likely screw up again somehow.  Alexander looks like a good clean kid with tons of upside and none of the baggage.

If I could pick from any QB right now to take my team through the next 5 years, it would be Alexander no question.

[TecnoGenius]

Vaval could be our future at FS.  That dude is like a clone of Dequoy's body type.  I'd love to have a flyer / interceptor type FS.

[TecnoGenius]

Often these games come totally out of the blue and happen at home in front of a stadium full of baffled semi-angry Bomber fans.  Bad trend.

That's why we should be thankful this year's big blowout (hopefully the only one) was an away game.

[TecnoGenius]

The win-loss record is heavily attributed to having some excellent receivers

RECs were pretty weak in '24.  No Schoen for almost all of it.  No Kenny for half of it.  No Woli.  Rookies galore, and Pokey didn't start shining until mid-season.

And yet didn't Zach have his most yards season ever?  Let's give Zach some credit for making that happen (and getting to the GC) with a hodgepodge mess of a REC corps.

[TecnoGenius]

Sounds like Biggie helped the Stamps Defence out quite a bit. Wpg. Sun article below by Paul Friesen.

Ehem... where's all the "tinfoil Tecno" peanut gallery now, eh?  They bought Biggie precisely for this reason, he'll never see the field even once, and they'll likely make him an asst coach next year.

CGY has one hurdle to get to the GC: WPG.  We're the team to beat.  Now they've neutered our O, and know how to attack our D.

[TecnoGenius]

I dunno, Houston played on Calgary last year and he knew our defense as well, so why did we beat the crap out of Calgary last year if Houston was playing there and knew all our defensive plays??

Haha.  Houston.  That's funny.  Biggie is a football genius.  A true student of the game.  The QB of every D he has ever been on.  Houston, while a good DB, was basically nothing at all.  Also, CGY was gonna suck last year, even with WPG's complete book, due to lack of talent.  Not so much this year!

Maybe the better question is why didn't we keep Biggie in-house as consultant?  Or heck, Biggie probably went for under $100k this season as a player, should have just paid him and put him on the 6GIR the entire season with absolutely zero hit to the SMS.

This may come back to bite us.  Our OC/DC may need to make huge U-turns with scheme whenever we play CGY...