TSN Calling for Zach Collaros to Retire

[Pete]

Bauming had a good point I think. It wasnt the helmet to helmet hit that did the damage, its being hit so violently that your head moves inside the helmet and rattles your brain. If you watch the replay carefully you'll see his helmet not really move but his head jerks inside of it. Its much like a whiplash

On another note i do like what Ottawa does in moving up to the line of scrimmage earlier than most to give their qb time to read the defense. Certainly on a few of those hits it wasnt as if riders disguised the blitz very much

[barbk]

It's not up to us but I also think he should retire immediately. His long term health is more important. Knocked out of 3 games in 2025 and forced to miss another game. We don't even know if he'll be " cleared " to play this week and that would be the final straw IMO.

Thanks for all the games but agree to be placed on 6 game IR and call it a career.

Kinda reminds me of Matt Dunigan with his 12 concussions.  I understand the love the game but I think your health would be more important.  Maybe mentor QB backups and take some time off.

[DM83]

Are you gullible? they said it was his neck, because if they said it was his 10th concussion and 2nd or 3rd in 8 weeks, he would not be playing anymore. I think his neck hurts every time he gets touched in the head. Come on!

[TecnoGenius]

The only thing Reavis did wrong was some helmet to helmet contact and, while a penalty, wasn't exactly the most egregious hit we've ever seen.

I never want to hear Ridersforum bring up the Jeffcoat on Brandon Bridges hit in the '18(?) WSF ever again!  That one wasn't even illegal (yes, it now is).

We're even now!

[TecnoGenius]

Last season Miles Brown took Zach out for a game and Strev. out for the entire season with double dirty hits, ended up in CGY were the coaching staff has always condoned after the whistle chicanery. At least Dickie 2 was an innocent doofus, Mace is schooled in dirty football.

I wonder if there is a camera shot of Mace's face right after the hit.  I bet he was doing that bad-poker-face tiny smirk he does.  He was lovin' it.  Guaranteed win that day plus potential no-Zach in a few weeks for the 3rd game.

If it comes down to it, I hope CGY smokes them in the WDF.

[TecnoGenius]

I too didn't think he was knocked out after the hit.

I didn't get the impression he was knocked out but if that is true then even more room for worry.

Well, I promise you he wasn't knocked out going down because the instant he hits the turf he puts his hands deliberately and normally up to his eyes.  Like he always does.

When you're concussed on the way down, or concussed by hitting the turf, your arms go half-limp half-tense and you usually have your elbows bent 90 degrees.  And you just lay like that.  It's very unique and obvious.  There are no deliberate extreme arm movements, like covering your eyes and holding it there.

I guarantee he was seeing stars and saying "here we go again... lay here until it passes": but out cold?, not this time.

Doesn't mean he's not taking damage or getting concussed though!  There are many degrees.

[TecnoGenius]

That Reavis hit is NOT on the O line, they rushed more people than there were blockers.

If the SAM was showing blitz before the snap then it is (partially) up to the OL to call it out and work out assignments.  The QB listens and watches what the OL calls/points out.

So both OL and QB are to blame.

The odd thing about this hit is it was a completely unseen blindside hit from the non-blind side!  Zach is supposed to have at least a peripheral eye on that side.  I wonder if he was totally focused on some super wide pass on the other side.

Anyone work out what the #1 read was supposed to be?

[TecnoGenius]

I'm sure he received plenty of pats on the head in the locker room afterwards for a job well done.

Oh they were lovin' it up, guaranteed.  Dinner & drinks paid for for Reavis for weeks to come.

I think Yoshi may have enjoyed it more than anyone.  Traitor.  Go stand up a split second too early every snap (IP) some more, and do more of your neuro-damage pre-snap head bob thing (also IP) too.

[TecnoGenius]

Here's a radical theory: instead of paying big for running backs or recievers we put the money into the oline. Maybe it's Zach with the clean jersey instead of Harris.

It's hard or impossible to "buy" a top OL (FA/trades).  You can maybe make one splash NAT signing (like the teams who take our top NAT OG every season), but it hampers your budget for other things.  So even if you wanted to, you can't do it.

No, the key is spotting good DPs and dev'ing them.  We used to be so good at that.  But every year we got a bit worse at it.  Desjar was the last superstar.  Wallace likely will be a bust.

But this DP -> dev pipeline usually takes at least 1-2 seasons per top guy.  We've been behind for around 3 seasons now.  It may take a while to catch up.

You can buy your way into a decent OL if you use 3 IMP, if you have the ratio room.  And that's what I think we'll settle on this season.

But we've wasted so much "gel time" with Wallace!  That should have all been going to Vant, who I don't think was ever really nicked up bad enough he couldn't play, and certainly wasn't the last couple of weeks.

[TecnoGenius]

Thanks for all the games but agree to be placed on 6 game IR and call it a career.

Zach has $600,000 reasons (plus some bonus MMM) to keep playing through '26.  His salary will probably be a tiny fraction of that post-football.  Make hay while the sun shines.

And I guarantee you he still wants to aim for that home GC.  If he reaches it and wins, he'll be cemented into never before seen hero status.  Guaranteed ROH, HOF, maybe even our first "official" retired jersey #.  He'd become more of a legend than Milt.

If it was me?  I'd keep playing in '25 until it was clear we can't make the cup.  And if the team looked promising in '26 FA, I'd play then too.  I wouldn't give a rat's butt what any doctors thought.  But I'm still relatively young, and such crazy mindsets are a thing of youth.

[TecnoGenius]

I often wonder why Zach doesn't get out of the pocket and move around.

Because Hogan isn't calling bootlegs and roll outs.  He was a bit for a while, but clearly not much lately.  Maybe he prefers the safety of the pocket.  SSK's DEs all know to sniff out the "roll right" thing and rush to cream him if he tries.

And Randolph isn't the edge-sealer that Yoshi is... (calling Lofton, calling Lofton)

[blue_gold_84]

I literally laughed when I heard OShea say he was concerned about zach the person, is he concerned the same way he was for schoen?? That's 2 weeks in a row we ve watched players careers end.

This is a pretty bad take. What does one injury have to do with the other, especially when one's a concussion?