Winnipeg @ Ottawa

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Fans gotta remember who took this club to 5 grey cups and chill out. This is still Zach's team no question. MOS won't stand for any talk of controversy at all, he will be 100% behind Collaros and rightfully so and the players know that. It's business as usual with a very good backup waiting in the wings if need be

I don't believe anyone is disputing Zach's past record, but you have to acknowledge he has been fairly compensated as one of the CFL's top paid performers throughout his time in Wpg.  So, what does any of that have to do with this season?  Are we supposed to continue to feed him rope and ignore his declining performance over the past 2 seasons as his TD output dropped by half, while his interception rate doubled and then tripled?  A QB transition is dawning and if they want to remain competitive it should be addressed this season rather than pushing it off for another year.

[tlf]

I'm a Zach fan and even I want Dru to play just because.  Worst case scenario is we do our regular thing vs teams we should beat and lose(why do we do that anyhow?).

Would be nice for Dru to lay a 50 burger on them though.  I don't think there'd be a QB controversy after that, there may already be one within the fans.  I think the QB room is pretty good within themselves though. Except Elgersma, I'm unsure he's happy with his situation atm.

[Pete]

As soon as you make Dru the starter, your in a situation like Adams and Rourke. Each will have supporters in the locker room and result in a  divided room and for someone like OShea its not acceptable.
 If Zac fails then its a decision . But not  after just one game with Dru where the opposing team wasn't  fully  prepared to defend him in our offence

[Lincoln Locomotive]

As soon as you make Dru the starter, your in a situation like Adams and Rourke. Each will have supporters in the locker room and result in a  divided room and for someone like OShea its not acceptable.
 If Zac fails then its a decision . But not  after just one game with Dru where the opposing team wasn't  fully  prepared to defend him in our offence

I'm thinking MOS won't pull Zach unless he's not 100%
And he'll most likely play his cards tight to the vest as far as Zach's health status.....he'll wait as long as he needs to to make the official call.    We still aren't sure about Zach's condition so it's anyone's guess at this time!!

[Tecno]

Let's see ...we have a quarterback who knows his former team inside and out....I know which quarterback I'm starting....and it ain't ZC....NO BRAINER

But it's not really the QB who is planning against the old team: it's the OC.  So what we need (and probably has already happened) is Dru needs to spill the entire OTT O book to WFC & Condell.  For once we are on the winning end of that intelligence steal!

I know, y'all are laughing "it's just OTT", but does anyone think for a minute our team is good enough to be a lock against even lowly OTT?  You gonna bet the farm on that one?  So yes, stealing the Dinwiddie book since TC can have a lot of value.

OTT's probably stoked that they are up against arguably the weakest team in the W (from other cities' point of view).  They're probably like "guys, we need to try extra hard as this is the only winnable one!".

[blue_gold_84]

I'd love to see Brown get the start, but I think if Collaros is cleared to play, he starts.

I just hope the latter can stay upright should he play.

[Waffler]

All the talk here is Brown being motivated but I think Dinwiddie will pull out all the stops too. He doesn't want to be any more humiliated than he already is. This might be the biggest game of Ottawa's year. Our QB's should be ready for some cheap shots.

[bwiser]

If you look at Colleros' stats this season he has a very good Qb rating. His Qb rating this season is the highest its been in about 5 years.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

If you look at Colleros' stats this season he has a very good Qb rating. His Qb rating this season is the highest its been in about 5 years.

If both Bo and Zach had not been injured his record would be 1-3, his stat line may look better but the results this season have not been impressive.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

If both Bo and Zach had not been injured his record would be 1-3, his stat line may look better but the results this season have not been impressive.

The biggest difference between Collaros and Brown is that Zach needs everyone to execute pretty well perfectly around him. Brown is mobile and athletic enough to make guys miss in the pocket and he has the footspeed to do some stuff on his own even if he's absolutely a pocket passing QB. Zach used to be like that and maybe even more, but he just can't anymore. It makes a difference 2-3 plays a game and often 2 or 3 plays can be the difference between winning and losing.

[Lincoln Locomotive]

If you look at Colleros' stats this season he has a very good Qb rating. His Qb rating this season is the highest its been in about 5 years.

Before Zach was knocked out of the Hamilton game he was ranked 8th among CFL QBs statistically albeit he had a high QB ranking.  Statistics can often be misleading however Zach threw a pick on the very first play against the Cats.   I can't even remember the last time that happened to a Bomber QB?!?!
Elgersma stepped in and basically helped us win the game and looked more in control than did Zach.  I've been a huge fan of Zach all these years however his best playing days seem to be behind him.   Twice in the loss to the Elks, he threw a bomb on second and medium which were both unsuccessful and killed promising drives.
Was that on Condell or Zach? I yelled at the TV screen "just make the first down ***"!!!
When you have a running back like Brady use him to eat up the clock and make critical first downs at critical times.   Zach hasn't lived up to his paycheck either.....so there's that.
What Zach has is MOS's loyalty at the moment but he needs to step up his performance and prove to the team and to the fans that he's still our guy.   Unfortunately football is a "what have you done for me lately" kind of sport and especially at QB.   I get that he's our starter and MOS will cut him some slack....but his rope is getting shorter each game if he doesn't turn his game around.....despite his favourable "quarterback efficiency rating"....just sayin'

[bomberjunkie]

For succession's sake, it would be great if Dru Brown can get another start. It will also leave Collaros fresher for the post-season which I'm not opposed to.

If Dinwiddie was true with his words, maybe he should set his secondary no farther than 15 yards out and see if Dru Brown really doesn't have the arm.

[bomb squad]

If both Bo and Zach had not been injured his record would be 1-3, his stat line may look better but the results this season have not been impressive.

Would? There was a lot of football left to play in that game. What was it? 10-4? And that's with a touchdown we practically spotted them.

[Tecno]

The biggest difference between Collaros and Brown is that Zach needs everyone to execute pretty well perfectly around him. Brown is mobile and athletic enough to make guys miss in the pocket and he has the footspeed to do some stuff on his own even if he's absolutely a pocket passing QB. Zach used to be like that and maybe even more, but he just can't anymore.

Zach has no ability to form in his head a "picture" of the line situation, and mentally find the best escape route.  In fact, he usually picks the absolute worst direction to go.  Yes, he used to be better at this, but now he just completely sucks.  Maybe worse than T.Harris.

Which is ironic, because Zach is one of the best at forming the picture of the coverage and picking the right read.  Maybe all his brain power is going to the coverage pictures, and leaving no neurons left for the pocket situation.

Then there's guys like Rourke & Alexander (and remember Mike Reilly!) who seem to always pick the absolute best escape route!  But maybe that's because they are using less brainpower on the pictures downfield -- hence why they are quick to leave the pocket.

Maybe Zach should go fully Ricky Ray and just stay in the middle of the pocket no matter what -- come heck or high tackles.  Just trust the OL and take the hits, like Ricky did.  That might improve his passing results.  Why on earth take a sack at the edge of the pocket rather than just sit in the middle and take it there?  Plus, OL job becomes easier if they know for a fact that QB is in that middle no matter what (unless on a designed bootleg, of course).

[Tecno]

All the talk here is Brown being motivated but I think Dinwiddie will pull out all the stops too. He doesn't want to be any more humiliated than he already is. This might be the biggest game of Ottawa's year. Our QB's should be ready for some cheap shots.

You better believe it.  I'm scared to death of what Dinwiddie will come up with.  Our D better be 10X better than the '24 GC, or we're going to get destroyed by useless Maier.  That game was embarrassing, even before Zach's booboo.

If someone knows how to beat WPG with a garbage QB, it's Dinwiddie.  I wonder if he had this game circled since the schedule came out.

I expect full dink & dunk for this one, and we have trouble against that.  It'll be a good test to see if we have solutions that will help vs SSK.