Younger's defense

[Blueforlife]

We had an issue with having the opponent in 2nd and long or very long for a couple of years. I don't know what's going on but it almost seems a given that a team with 2nd and 20 will succeed.

Would be interested to see the stats on this vs. others clubs.  I think at times we remember the successful conversions and don't recall the stops.  I will hold my judgement on this take until I see the facts.  I don't have the skills or energy to dig them up but it would be very telling.

The flats are continuosly open on 2nd down, they toss for 7 yds , reciever makes  more and its 3rd and inches.
I've been harping on this but we need a proper safety back in coverage to back up secondary to all our dbs to be more aggressive

One of our weaknesses for a long time

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

This is one of my biggest beefs with Mafia & crew the last 2-ish seasons.  It really seems like they simply aren't putting in the time it takes to be a top team and beat the top teams.  You can tell SSK/HAM/MTL have been doing it.  I bet those guys (Mace, Milanovitch, et al) spent 14-hours a day in the off-season figuring out how to beat their main rivals and overcome any 2025 issues.

When Mafia spouts about the "one week at a time" mantra, I think they are telling us the truth: they only put thought & effort into each game for 1 week before that game.  No high-brain is sitting there in Feb thinking up ways to beat the SSK dink & dunk.  And that's exactly what it will take to beat it.  And so we will lose.

The coaching staff can spend 24 hrs. a day scheming and coming up with new strategies but it wouldn't help if the players can't absorb and execute their assignments on the field. How many of these players automatically bob their heads as if they understand the formation, even when they're completely lost?  Their main driver is the fear of getting cut!

That's one reason O'Shea is so wedded to his veteran players and why he often says the coach's job is to become better teachers.

[Blueforlife]

The coaching staff can spend 24 hrs. a day scheming and coming up with new strategies but it wouldn't help if the players can't absorb and execute their assignments on the field. How many of these players automatically bob their heads as if they understand the formation, even when they're completely lost?  Their main driver is the fear of getting cut!

That's one reason O'Shea is so wedded to his veteran players and why he often says the coach's job is to become better teachers.

Execution at the highest level is required to stop an on fire attack like the one we seen from Bo.  Agree with a lot of this but I don't think fear drives most.  Well written.

[Tecno]

I don't think that's true at all. In season, for the purposes of in-game execution/focus, I think it's a moment-to-moment mentality especially for the players and coordinators. I think in the off-season and even during the season for the head coach and above, there's quite a bit more self-scouting/competition scouting and scenario planning.

Oh for sure, ya, when it comes to FA/DP choices MOS/Walters are giving this stuff thought.  But not the nitty gritty X/O's.  They aren't trying to figure out how they can get WILL or SAM in passing lanes or backup Willy or whatever, to stop the T.Harris 99% completion attack.

That's my beef.  Milanovitch & Mace are doing that.  That's why they are ready for each unique team that comes their way.  They drew out the plan on how to beat that scheme in the off-season.

Heck, MOS says over and over how he doesn't do any X/O's at all.  So he should be taskmastering his OC/DC underlings to be doing this all off-season.  Or he should be high-braining some of it himself!  In any event, it's not getting done and the buck stops with him.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Oh for sure, ya, when it comes to FA/DP choices MOS/Walters are giving this stuff thought.  But not the nitty gritty X/O's.  They aren't trying to figure out how they can get WILL or SAM in passing lanes or backup Willy or whatever, to stop the T.Harris 99% completion attack.

That's my beef.  Milanovitch & Mace are doing that.  That's why they are ready for each unique team that comes their way.  They drew out the plan on how to beat that scheme in the off-season.

Heck, MOS says over and over how he doesn't do any X/O's at all.  So he should be taskmastering his OC/DC underlings to be doing this all off-season.  Or he should be high-braining some of it himself!  In any event, it's not getting done and the buck stops with him.

I need to be honest and say I think you're just making up narratives in your head on this one. We have good coaches who do all the right things. I think the system Younger uses is terrible but he's a good enough coach and certainly no one is out coaching O'Shea in any area. Styles might be different but we're not lacking for coaching process or best practices I don't think.

[Tecno]

I need to be honest and say I think you're just making up narratives in your head on this one. We have good coaches who do all the right things.

It really looks to you like we come into each season having thought for 6 months how to beat each of the league contenders?  We really spent all off-season game-planning how to beat, say, 2026 HAM which is exactly what 2025 HAM was, just better?

If you're right, I'd really hate to see what the last game would have looked like had they spent all off-season twiddling their thumbs like I'm theorizing!!  HAM would win 100-0?

All I know is if we play SSK tomorrow, it's 50-3 and we have no chance, because Mace & co spent 2 whole off-seasons figuring out how to neuter WPG (and other top teams), and our guys only think about it for 7 days prior.

Yes, at the heart of it I'm saying our coaches/coords don't work hard enough.  They work to what their contract & schedule says, sure.  And probably very diligently.  The problem is the hungry & serious crews on some teams are working non-stop, all in-season, all off-season, all the time.

If we come out and handily beat SSK or MTL (and HAM) soon with clearly novel, creative & high-brain schemes, then I'll take that back.  But I'm pretty confident I'm right because we've seen this year after year after year after year.  At least since 2022.  Why?  Because the Mafia & crew lost the hunger after winning it all twice.

The saving grace might be Condell, who I don't think has ever won it.  Maybe his energy is a function of his hunger.  Maybe he can impart some onto the rest of the "meh, tried my best" guys.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

It really looks to you like we come into each season having thought for 6 months how to beat each of the league contenders?  We really spent all off-season game-planning how to beat, say, 2026 HAM which is exactly what 2025 HAM was, just better?

If you're right, I'd really hate to see what the last game would have looked like had they spent all off-season twiddling their thumbs like I'm theorizing!!  HAM would win 100-0?

All I know is if we play SSK tomorrow, it's 50-3 and we have no chance, because Mace & co spent 2 whole off-seasons figuring out how to neuter WPG (and other top teams), and our guys only think about it for 7 days prior.

Yes, at the heart of it I'm saying our coaches/coords don't work hard enough.  They work to what their contract & schedule says, sure.  And probably very diligently.  The problem is the hungry & serious crews on some teams are working non-stop, all in-season, all off-season, all the time.

If we come out and handily beat SSK or MTL (and HAM) soon with clearly novel, creative & high-brain schemes, then I'll take that back.  But I'm pretty confident I'm right because we've seen this year after year after year after year.  At least since 2022.  Why?  Because the Mafia & crew lost the hunger after winning it all twice.

The saving grace might be Condell, who I don't think has ever won it.  Maybe his energy is a function of his hunger.  Maybe he can impart some onto the rest of the "meh, tried my best" guys.

That's a whole can of worms you're opening up, much of it valid.  If their goal is to win the Grey Cup this season I believe they will fall short, not because the coaching staff doesn't work hard enough, that's a bit silly, but because they don't have the best horses in the barn anymore. Nostalgia is not a plan, success did go to their heads but what slipped was the recruitment and turnover of players, they stuck with the status quo through the downturn and have yet to acknowledge deficiencies.

If it wasn't for the resurgence of BLM and Trevor Harris I believe Zach would have retired after last season, he keeps renewing his contract based on "why not me too" I can still play.  The difference is both Harris and BLM went through a re-evaluation based on losing seasons and severe paycuts, were they had to rebuild their games from scratch after they were virtually discarded.  Zach has experienced none of those shocks since coming to Wpg, he's produced a winning record every year and went to the GC 5 years in a row. In his mind why would he ever consider a re-evaluation, even though his recent stats. suggest whatever he was doing a few years ago is not working as well as it once did.

[Jesse]

It really looks to you like we come into each season having thought for 6 months how to beat each of the league contenders?  We really spent all off-season game-planning how to beat, say, 2026 HAM which is exactly what 2025 HAM was, just better?

If you're right, I'd really hate to see what the last game would have looked like had they spent all off-season twiddling their thumbs like I'm theorizing!!  HAM would win 100-0?

All I know is if we play SSK tomorrow, it's 50-3 and we have no chance, because Mace & co spent 2 whole off-seasons figuring out how to neuter WPG (and other top teams), and our guys only think about it for 7 days prior.

Yes, at the heart of it I'm saying our coaches/coords don't work hard enough.  They work to what their contract & schedule says, sure.  And probably very diligently.  The problem is the hungry & serious crews on some teams are working non-stop, all in-season, all off-season, all the time.

If we come out and handily beat SSK or MTL (and HAM) soon with clearly novel, creative & high-brain schemes, then I'll take that back.  But I'm pretty confident I'm right because we've seen this year after year after year after year.  At least since 2022.  Why?  Because the Mafia & crew lost the hunger after winning it all twice.

The saving grace might be Condell, who I don't think has ever won it.  Maybe his energy is a function of his hunger.  Maybe he can impart some onto the rest of the "meh, tried my best" guys.

Again, this is all a made up narrative in your head.

But like most things, any plan will work, it just needs to be executed effectively. It doesn't matter how spart the plan is if the players can't do it or make a mistake.

That said, the common belief is the opposite of what you claim. That JY has too many things going on and the players can't quite operate it effectively yet, leading to missed assignments.

[Blueforlife]

I need to be honest and say I think you're just making up narratives in your head on this one. We have good coaches who do all the right things. I think the system Younger uses is terrible but he's a good enough coach and certainly no one is out coaching O'Shea in any area. Styles might be different but we're not lacking for coaching process or best practices I don't think.

If Youngers systems was terrible our defensive stats would be terrible during his period here which they are not, so this is simply an opinion based on no facts.

Again, this is all a made up narrative in your head.

But like most things, any plan will work, it just needs to be executed effectively. It doesn't matter how spart the plan is if the players can't do it or make a mistake.

That said, the common belief is the opposite of what you claim. That JY has too many things going on and the players can't quite operate it effectively yet, leading to missed assignments.

The complexity of our D is it's strength.  It will come together, in time.  Missed assignments are for sure an issue.  Lots of new faces.

That's a whole can of worms you're opening up, much of it valid.  If their goal is to win the Grey Cup this season I believe they will fall short, not because the coaching staff doesn't work hard enough, that's a bit silly, but because they don't have the best horses in the barn anymore. Nostalgia is not a plan, success did go to their heads but what slipped was the recruitment and turnover of players, they stuck with the status quo through the downturn and have yet to acknowledge deficiencies.

If it wasn't for the resurgence of BLM and Trevor Harris I believe Zach would have retired after last season, he keeps renewing his contract based on "why not me too" I can still play.  The difference is both Harris and BLM went through a re-evaluation based on losing seasons and severe paycuts, were they had to rebuild their games from scratch after they were virtually discarded.  Zach has experienced none of those shocks since coming to Wpg, he's produced a winning record every year and went to the GC 5 years in a row. In his mind why would he ever consider a re-evaluation, even though his recent stats. suggest whatever he was doing a few years ago is not working as well as it once did.

Zach keep playing for three primary reasons imo:
1. He still is a good QB
2a. Money
2b. Love of the game

The suggestion that he is only playing b/c two other older QBs are killing it late it a HUGE stretch imo.  I guess he wakes up and looks at the others players stats and decides if he can still go to work LOL

[Pete]

It really looks to you like we come into each season having thought for 6 months how to beat each of the league contenders?  We really spent all off-season game-planning how to beat, say, 2026 HAM which is exactly what 2025 HAM was, just better?

If you're right, I'd really hate to see what the last game would have looked like had they spent all off-season twiddling their thumbs like I'm theorizing!!  HAM would win 100-0?

All I know is if we play SSK tomorrow, it's 50-3 and we have no chance, because Mace & co spent 2 whole off-seasons figuring out how to neuter WPG (and other top teams), and our guys only think about it for 7 days prior.

Yes, at the heart of it I'm saying our coaches/coords don't work hard enough.  They work to what their contract & schedule says, sure.  And probably very diligently.  The problem is the hungry & serious crews on some teams are working non-stop, all in-season, all off-season, all the time.

If we come out and handily beat SSK or MTL (and HAM) soon with clearly novel, creative & high-brain schemes, then I'll take that back.  But I'm pretty confident I'm right because we've seen this year after year after year after year.  At least since 2022.  Why?  Because the Mafia & crew lost the hunger after winning it all twice.

The saving grace might be Condell, who I don't think has ever won it.  Maybe his energy is a function of his hunger.  Maybe he can impart some onto the rest of the "meh, tried my best" guys.

Blm worked on his short game and trying not to make everything happen by himself. Zac's short game isn't good but we have seen him utilizing more players rather than always going to certain targets which has helped.

[Blueforlife]

Blm worked on his short game and trying not to make everything happen by himself. Zac's short game isn't good but we have seen him utilizing more players rather than always going to certain targets which has helped.

BLM fixed his throwing motion after his injury and had to relearn his mechanics.  He found his arm strength and deep ball accuracy.  His confidence came back.  He checked his ego a bit.  He adapted to Hammy's offense.  That said this season it's old Bo and he is just slinging nasty and that's all he has ever done.  His deep ball looks as nice as any I have ever seen in the CFL.  I think Bo started listening better likely.

I don't see much wrong with Zac's short game but he is a slinger, always will be.  Without the deep ball he is nothing.  Both these guys will also rely on their favorites and timing on the deep ball.  Both can throw dimes.  Bo's arm is somehow just as good or better that this stage.  Zach didn't look great last year, looks a little better this year, I think the strength training might have helped.  Time will tell.

I love an offense that gets all the receivers the ball

[Tecno]

BLM fixed his throwing motion after his injury and had to relearn his mechanics.  He found his arm strength and deep ball accuracy.

We need to find out whoever BLM hired as his trainer / strategist and hire him for Zach.  Zach never got as bad as BLM (who was throwing nothing but Brohm turf-balls for a season), but Zach is easily 15Y weaker than BLM.  And Zach has real zip problems, yet Bo can still zip it 50 on a line.

If they can rehab that washed-up BLM arm, surely they can beef up Zach's?  No idea why someone isn't getting this done.  Zach's balls take FOREVER to arrive at the target, and that is why every DB is creaming our REC right at the catch.  If someone did a speed gun test, I bet Zach is throwing half the velocity of Alexander or Rourke.

[Tecno]

Again, this is all a made up narrative in your head.

Maybe, but it sure does fit the visible facts!  So call it a theory, a hypothesis.  And it's just as valid as any other until proven wrong.

That said, the common belief is the opposite of what you claim. That JY has too many things going on and the players can't quite operate it effectively yet, leading to missed assignments.

My theory doesn't preclude Younger from having a complicated scheme.  He's had it since day 1.  He doesn't have to spend a ton of off-season time making it even more complicated.  And even if he does, the other part of my theory is that our braintrust is not spending all off-season thinking of specific ways to beat each GC contender.

My example is always SSK.  I don't think we'll see anything different from our D when we face SSK.  We'll just play our normal ball.  It'll look just like it did in 2025.  It hasn't been since like '18-'21 Hall that we've seen a specific plan to stop the SSK dink & dunk powerhouse.  Harris & Oullette will rip us a new one, 6-12Y at a time, with 2-3 25-35Y shots and lots of YAC.

I'll be happy to be proven wrong for LDC/BB.

[Tecno]

Simple question: why are other top teams clicking & humming perfectly and we're sputtering?  Other years everyone was sputtering, or, like 2021 we were the ones being perfect in week 1.

HAM & SSK are ready for GC football today.  MTL too, probably.  BC on its way.  TOR even up there.  My hunch is EDM got lucky twice... but if they win the next 2 then lump them in with the "working perfectly from week 1" group.

It can't all be continuity.  No one had super continuity, except maybe SSK on O.  Doesn't explain HAM with half their O changed.  And our continuity has been OK-ish.

The one saving grace: CGY is in the same boat as us.

[Blueforlife]

We need to find out whoever BLM hired as his trainer / strategist and hire him for Zach.  Zach never got as bad as BLM (who was throwing nothing but Brohm turf-balls for a season), but Zach is easily 15Y weaker than BLM.  And Zach has real zip problems, yet Bo can still zip it 50 on a line.

If they can rehab that washed-up BLM arm, surely they can beef up Zach's?  No idea why someone isn't getting this done.  Zach's balls take FOREVER to arrive at the target, and that is why every DB is creaming our REC right at the catch.  If someone did a speed gun test, I bet Zach is throwing half the velocity of Alexander or Rourke.

Not possible, not that easy
Bo had NFL level arm strength imo early, lost it, came back, magic rehab and somehow it come back as strong
Zach has always had a good arm, age took away some range but his gift is his touch