Playoff picture

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I'm as down as anyone right now after Saturday's game, but I'm not sure everyone remembers 2019 all that well. I think a lot of people (I'm guilty as well) kinda remember it either as the season where we won it all and broke the draught or where we were essentially total losers and then scrapped it out after squeaking into the playoffs to win 3 games in a row on the road.

The reality was more complicated (like everything in life). It ended up being a roller coaster of a season, which was not the expectation as we were coming off 3 consecutive years of playoffs finishing: WSF L @BC (2016); WSF L vEDM (2017) and WF L @CGY (2018) and were expecting the take the next step and get to the Grey Cup game. What actually materialized was a total rollercoaster with huge promise and tons of disappointment mixed in. We went

5-0
4-4
1-3

giving us a 10-7 record going into the last game. That record is fine, but look at the trend from the start to the middle to the end. Not good for a team looking to peak and break a 29 year draught.  It looked like we were about to regress from the previous years and certainly not take the next step.

This year was the emergence of Strev who came in multiple times for injured Matt Nichols with some ability (although not near starter level) plus astonishing athleticism and heart. Then we signed some injury prone wash up named Zach Collaros and decided to give him the start in our last game of the season at home against Calgary. I don't need to tell you what happened after that.

Guess my point is, even though I'm pretty worked up about the Edmonton game still, there is precedent to turn it on (as we have done this year, just not consistently) and get into the playoffs and then not look back.

Definitely the glass half full outlook but I do think it's more than just a hope and prayer at this point. We need Zach to be good Zach and not the version on Saturday who throws 5 yards too short or 5 yards too long and honestly, that might be enough to make the difference. Even though I don't think we are a super great team, I'm not blown away by Sask or anyone else. They all look - and are - very beatable. It's just up to us to pull ourselves together and play the way I know we can.

The biggest impediment the team had in 2019 was QB injuries, Nichols started out 7-2 before being wiped out for the season with a shoulder injury.  Once Streveler took over their record slumped to 11-7 and 3rd place as he also struggled to stay healthy, that's when they traded for Zach and the rest is history.

Sad that we have a good and a bad Zach now, more like inconsistent Zach as good Zach only showed up for 2 games.

[Jesse]

I'm as down as anyone right now after Saturday's game, but I'm not sure everyone remembers 2019 all that well. I think a lot of people (I'm guilty as well) kinda remember it either as the season where we won it all and broke the draught or where we were essentially total losers and then scrapped it out after squeaking into the playoffs to win 3 games in a row on the road.

The reality was more complicated (like everything in life). It ended up being a roller coaster of a season, which was not the expectation as we were coming off 3 consecutive years of playoffs finishing: WSF L @BC (2016); WSF L vEDM (2017) and WF L @CGY (2018) and were expecting the take the next step and get to the Grey Cup game. What actually materialized was a total rollercoaster with huge promise and tons of disappointment mixed in. We went

5-0
4-4
1-3

giving us a 10-7 record going into the last game. That record is fine, but look at the trend from the start to the middle to the end. Not good for a team looking to peak and break a 29 year draught.  It looked like we were about to regress from the previous years and certainly not take the next step.

This year was the emergence of Strev who came in multiple times for injured Matt Nichols with some ability (although not near starter level) plus astonishing athleticism and heart. Then we signed some injury prone wash up named Zach Collaros and decided to give him the start in our last game of the season at home against Calgary. I don't need to tell you what happened after that.

Guess my point is, even though I'm pretty worked up about the Edmonton game still, there is precedent to turn it on (as we have done this year, just not consistently) and get into the playoffs and then not look back.

Definitely the glass half full outlook but I do think it's more than just a hope and prayer at this point. We need Zach to be good Zach and not the version on Saturday who throws 5 yards too short or 5 yards too long and honestly, that might be enough to make the difference. Even though I don't think we are a super great team, I'm not blown away by Sask or anyone else. They all look - and are - very beatable. It's just up to us to pull ourselves together and play the way I know we can.

I remember being 100% out on the 2019 team until Zach hit that TD pass to Darvin Adams against Calgary.