Official Game Day Thread - Saskatchewan at Winnipeg , September 6, 2025

[Blue In BC]

I don't think things are that bad, other than Zach's injury which I will react to once we know it's severtiy or duration.  I am not being "this positive".  Hopeful Zach is ok.  Not positive at all if he isn't.  Just calling it like I see it.  On a swing there are two chains, lost one, we are a 500 team hanging on our the one chain with eyes on mending the otherside imo.
We were not dead before the season began.  We are an average club that had their leader go down yesterday again.  When healthy this is a good ball club.  Good enough to make the playoffs.

We're 6 - 6. The Elks and Lions may be playing better than us. It's seems very unlikely we finish higher than 3rd in the west and will not have a home play off game. Loss of revenue and home crowd is very important in the playoffs and in general.

We might be fighting for a cross over as the Elks and Lions have softer schedules. We have a slight edge on them but it's not insurmountable. That's true whether Collaros can or can't play.

You don't think that's as bad as we've seen since 2018 or before?

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I think we're playing desperation football on offence. I mentioned that Wheatfall, Clercius and Mitchell had a combined 3 catches for 16 yards. There has to be a lack of confidence, talent and play calling for that to happen.

I'd be showing Mitchell the door Monday morning. Put in Echols as the only viable option and start bringing in NFL cuts.

I'd also say that if the receiver in many of those situations was Lawler,half or more would have been caught. Great receivers catch passes in coverage.

Can't see why you're blaming reciviers that didn't have many passes thrown their way, Clercius, and Wheatfall have demonstrated they have the talent to succeed when given the chance, especially as the 3rd or 5th options behind Demski, Wilson, Sterns or Echols.

[Blueforlife]

We're 6 - 6. The Elks and Lions may be playing better than us. It's seems very unlikely we finish higher than 3rd in the west and will not have a home play off game. Loss of revenue and home crowd is very important in the playoffs and in general.

We might be fighting for a cross over as the Elks and Lions have softer schedules. We have a slight edge on them but it's not insurmountable. That's true whether Collaros can or can't play.

You don't think that's as bad as we've seen since 2018 or before?

We are an average club, as good as our record and have a chance to make the playoffs
We obviously have fallen from our previously high which is ok.  If Zach comes back and the OL and get get healthy and gel, I think we can beat all teams but won't be easy.  BC and Edm about the same level as us.  Sask and Cgy the only top tier teams until the East gets their QBs back.  Hammy also very good as Bo is back slinging nasty.  I am not overly negative, worried or panicking at this time.  All about our QB and OL, which could fix itself.  We shall see.

[Blue In BC]

Can't see why you're blaming reciviers that didn't have many passes thrown their way, Clercius, and Wheatfall have demonstrated they have the talent to succeed when given the chance, especially as the 3rd or 5th options behind Demski, Wilson, Sterns or Echols.

There has to be something to the fact we aren't throwing to them. Maybe someone that goes to the game at the stadium can provide further insight.

It defies logic that we aren't throwing to them if the are open. Everyone of them might be the 1st read on some designed plays.

Wilson was targeted 8 times and had 5 catches for 89 yards in his first game after a short week of practice. That's more yardage than Mitchell in 5 games.

Collaros has been known for spreading the ball around in previous years. Why isn't that happening now?  Wheatfall should be a 1st or 2nd read often, not 3rd to 5th.  This is not just from yesterdays game but many games.

Clercius will be a 4th or 5th read often and he's Canadian so he gets a pass. No excuse like that exists for Mitchell that replaced Sterns who was productive. It's a comparative statement.

Riders had 4 receivers with 3 or more receptions we had 2. Ouellette had 1 for 9 yards which was just slightly less than combined yardage of Wheatfall, Clercius and Mitchell.

This can't all be on Collaros. Who did Streveler try to throw to when he went in?  It's hardly worth checking 9 attempts, 2 int's 5 completions for 39 yards.

[Blueforlife]

I think we're playing desperation football on offence. I mentioned that Wheatfall, Clercius and Mitchell had a combined 3 catches for 16 yards. There has to be a lack of confidence, talent and play calling for that to happen.

I'd be showing Mitchell the door Monday morning. Put in Echols as the only viable option and start bringing in NFL cuts.

I'd also say that if the receiver in many of those situations was Lawler,half or more would have been caught. Great receivers catch passes in coverage.

Over stated on the negative
Terrible idea to cut Mitchell at this stage imo

Can't see why you're blaming reciviers that didn't have many passes thrown their way, Clercius, and Wheatfall have demonstrated they have the talent to succeed when given the chance, especially as the 3rd or 5th options behind Demski, Wilson, Sterns or Echols.

Agree all

Our receivers are not our problem at the moment but need to be more consistent and getting Sterns back is key

[Blue In BC]

Over stated on the negative
Terrible idea to cut Mitchell at this stage imo
Agree all

Our receivers are not our problem at the moment but need to be more consistent and getting Sterns back is key

Over stated on the positive once again. Getting Sterns back is an improvement which is the exact reason Mitchell should be shown the door. Patience doesn't always pay off.

If Sterns is healthy this week or anytime soon, he gets added and Mitchell gets bumped. We all know that is the expectation he'd be pushed back to PR or released. Echols can't be any worse so take it a step further and would make that change next week if Sterns can't play.

[Blueforlife]

Over stated on the positive once again. Getting Sterns back is an improvement which is the exact reason Mitchell should be shown the door. Patience doesn't always pay off.

If Sterns is healthy this week or anytime soon, he gets added and Mitchell gets bumped. We all know that is the expectation he'd be pushed back to PR or released. Echols can't be any worse so take it a step further and would make that change next week if Sterns can't play.

Painting me as one dimensional and only positive isn't fair, it has nothing to do with patience, it's about rostering our best options and not worrying about a positional group that isn't our biggest issue
Our receivers are good.  Mitchell is decent and isn't getting cut imo.
I believe Mitchell > Echols for now
That said I would like most of our players to get a sniff to evaluate them
I see Mitchell on the up swing.  Not a huge fan but he might be ok.
We don't all know what Mitchell would get cut, that's just what you would do, some would agree, I don't

[Pete]

its not the receivers' our they do as well as anyone in hanging on to the ball. Zac is not making great decisions and the Oline just has to be better. We improved this game, but not nearly good enough and to me is the main reason our offence sputtered. Well that and hogans play calling to offset the rush was dismal.
I will say we could use some faster receivers' ie like Philpot to give us more options and maybe echols for Mitchell makes sense until Stern returns

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

There has to be something to the fact we aren't throwing to them. Maybe someone that goes to the game at the stadium can provide further insight.

It defies logic that we aren't throwing to them if the are open. Everyone of them might be the 1st read on some designed plays.

Wilson was targeted 8 times and had 5 catches for 89 yards in his first game after a short week of practice. That's more yardage than Mitchell in 5 games.

Collaros has been known for spreading the ball around in previous years. Why isn't that happening now?  Wheatfall should be a 1st or 2nd read often, not 3rd to 5th.  This is not just from yesterdays game but many games.

Clercius will be a 4th or 5th read often and he's Canadian so he gets a pass. No excuse like that exists for Mitchell that replaced Sterns who was productive. It's a comparative statement.

Riders had 4 receivers with 3 or more receptions we had 2. Ouellette had 1 for 9 yards which was just slightly less than combined yardage of Wheatfall, Clercius and Mitchell.

This can't all be on Collaros. Who did Streveler try to throw to when he went in?  It's hardly worth checking 9 attempts, 2 int's 5 completions for 39 yards.

You must be mixing up Zach for some other QB like Nichols, Zach has been known to play favourites and completely ignores certain receivers for games on end. You may be right about recievers route running ability as that is usually supported by YAC ability, which seems to be limited to Demski and Wilson presently.

Hard to compare the Rider receiving corps, they're 9 strides ahead of the Bombers currently in planning and depth, and Harris is playing the best football of his life.

[Blue In BC]

You must be mixing up Zach for some other QB like Nichols, Zach has been known to play favourites and completely ignores certain receivers for games on end. You may be right about recievers route running ability as that is usually supported by YAC ability, which seems to be limited to Demski and Wilson presently.

Hard to compare the Rider receiving corps, they're 9 strides ahead of the Bombers currently in planning and depth, and Harris is playing the best football of his life.

Every QB has favourite receivers but the good ones use all their offensive weapons. Is it Collaros, Hogan, the receivers or all of the above?

In Montreal, Morgan threw to 7 different receivers and 6 had 2 or more receptions.

[theaardvark]

Our head office has been decimated over the recent years, BC and Hamilton each have GM's now that were part of our original Canadian Mafia scouting staff.

Our lists of potential players for recruitment was decimated along with the loss of those men.  Not an excuse, we needed to build up that pipeline again, both of potential recruits, neg list players as well as the scouts themselves.

That doesn't happen overnight, but it should get better as time goes by.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Our head office has been decimated over the recent years, BC and Hamilton each have GM's now that were part of our original Canadian Mafia scouting staff.

Our lists of potential players for recruitment was decimated along with the loss of those men.  Not an excuse, we needed to build up that pipeline again, both of potential recruits, neg list players as well as the scouts themselves.

That doesn't happen overnight, but it should get better as time goes by.

They hired replacements last off-season, time to see what the new scouts can produce.

[theaardvark]

They hired replacements last off-season, time to see what the new scouts can produce.

Sure, there are bodies in the chairs, but replacing 2 guys (and the people they took with them) that have moved on to GM duties running clubs is NOT a simple thing...

[Blue In BC]

Painting me as one dimensional and only positive isn't fair, it has nothing to do with patience, it's about rostering our best options and not worrying about a positional group that isn't our biggest issue
Our receivers are good.  Mitchell is decent and isn't getting cut imo.
I believe Mitchell > Echols for now
That said I would like most of our players to get a sniff to evaluate them
I see Mitchell on the up swing.  Not a huge fan but he might be ok.
We don't all know what Mitchell would get cut, that's just what you would do, some would agree, I don't

Beige

[Blueforlife]

Beige

No idea what this means, nor do I care.  One word responses are against the forum rules.  Best to talk ball and I enjoy when we stick to that.