Haha, Dru's our guy! LOL ROFL

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

He definitely was not brought in for SY, and he definitely did not come north for that.

If he's not happy getting paid to play the UFL beckons.

[dd]

His experience is kinda didly squat. He's a 29 year old CFL rookie whose strength is his athleticism. He was immediately put in the SY position while Elgersma was elevated above him. And Dru was brought in at the first opportunity. He was brought in for a single reason and he is doing just that.

It is strange that elgerma, a raw rookie, who couldn't make a UFL team, is higher on our depth chart than a fella who was MVP of the league, it just makes no sense. If you can't give the MVP of the UFL an opportunity, forget about recruiting from that league altogether

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

It is strange that elgerma, a raw rookie, who couldn't make a UFL team, is higher on our depth chart than a fella who was MVP of the league, it just makes no sense. If you can't give the MVP of the UFL an opportunity, forget about recruiting from that league altogether

It wasn't that Elgersma couldn't make a UFL team, he had trouble getting a work permit because he didn't apply for one early enough.

[theaardvark]

His experience is kinda didly squat. He's a 29 year old CFL rookie whose strength is his athleticism. He was immediately put in the SY position while Elgersma was elevated above him. And Dru was brought in at the first opportunity. He was brought in for a single reason and he is doing just that.

You missed my point.

When Perkins was signed, we had ZC8 and Wilson under contract.  That's the playing field Perkins thought he was competing with.  I know, any player has to anticipate personnel changes, but that was the lay of the land at that moment.

You may say that he has no experience, and as far as 3 down, sure.  But he didn't sign here because he was out of options.  He was MVP in the USFL last year, pretty sure he'd have a choice of gigs there.  But he wanted more, and starting in the CFL would be a step up from starting in the USFL. 

But running SY on a CFL team is nothing special, I think he'd prefer to actually play down south.  The arrival of Elgersma was an unexpected hurdle.   And no one ever expected Dru to come available.

So, yeah, our QB room is complicated.  ZC8's injury.  Dru's bad game.  Elgersma's early m'eh showing.

What is the downside to giving Perkins the rock against a wounded BC team and their third string QB?

[Tecno]

It is strange that elgerma, a raw rookie, who couldn't make a UFL team, is higher on our depth chart than a fella who was MVP of the league

Because

1. Elgs is NAT and if we can start a NAT QB in 2-3 seasons we have a huge ratio advantage

and

2. Elgs is, what, 24?  Perkins 30-ish?  No one knows Elg's upside, and he has a huge dev capacity.  Perkins is probably set at what he is now.

[Tecno]

Bad idea. One of the few advantages we have this game is we are trotting out a veteran CFL QB, who, although he has his warts, has shown he can be effective if he's given some time in the pocket.

Except our QBs have no time in the pocket if any shuffling occurs.  Whoever starts vs BC is going to be running for their life should Broxton be out.  In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Dru gets royally creamed and HE has to leave the game.

[Tecno]

What is the downside to giving Perkins a week of first team reps, and letting him show us his game?  He's been in the room all year, and without Elgersma and Brown here, he'd most likely be starting.

The downside is 2 lost 1RDPs.  The price of Dru means we need to max-play Dru.  Anything less is to admit total failure and mental miasma.

As for Perkins playing, I actually agree with you it would be fun to see what he can do (hopefully better than the PS!), but only if the #1 gets injured first.  50/50 chance Perkins pulls off some magic and win -- or completely Brohm's it out.  No way you start Perkins "just because".

[Tecno]

The way we played last game, we'll be hard pressed to beat teams that are dressing raw rookies as their Qb, forget facing legit #1 Qb's, we'll be shredded.

I totally agree.  On rewatch of the game I was thinking the entire time, "can this team beat a QBless-BC?".  And I'm trying very hard to be nice & generous & optimistic, and I'm like "can they??".  Absolutely nothing convinced me that we can win against a injury-laden BC.  And that's a crying shame.  I don't think it's a slam dunk loss either, it's the fact we're even thinking about it that is pathetic.

Like MOS said: for this last game it wasn't a case of "every guy would like 1 play back: it's more like 2 or more" (paraphrase).  My "bad plays" list on the GB&U proves he's not wrong.

Sad.

[Tecno]

BC and Hamilton have been hit hardest by the injury bug.

Not if BC has Rourke back for vs us or their game next week, which Farhan seems desperate to believe.  A couple of missing OL don't matter to them, Rourke will just bootleg everything or run for 1st downs himself.  Our team?? We ain't doing any of that!!

[Tecno]

a return to the GC may have to become a longer term plan focused on Elgersma.

An interesting point to ponder.  What if "trying for the cup" was abandoned already in '25?  We all wondered why we put together such a lackluster garbage pile in our home GC year.  Maybe we wanted to? -- for some sort of longer term gain? (Not sure what that might be though!)

Should we then think of this season as a rebuild year?  And yet, normally in rebuilds you want to maximize your future DPs and NAT situation and sign high-end FA to long term deals.  No sure we're doing this right.

At least we did lock Brady into 3 years!  Haha Brady, better get used to losing!

[Tecno]

What does that even mean? Discussing Collaros' well-documented issues with concussions on a forum has zero effect on anything, and it doesn't "pre-doom" him should he return once healthy. Superstition is for idiots, BTW.

I meant many fans pre-doom Zach to getting knocked out of almost every game he starts.  As in they think the odds of him staying upright more than 1-2 games in a row approaches zero.  It's not "superstition", it's calculating probabilities based on actual occurrences.

My point is I think we need to always give him the benefit of the doubt that he can remain healthy.  Otherwise, why is he even still playing?  Yes, I'm being overly optimistic and putting my head in the sand somewhat.  But it's no worse than every MTL fan believing that hammy can last a whole season...

[Tecno]

We seem to just go out and play our game then adjust when other teams have scouted us to limit our effectiveness

Except we're lucky if we adjust   

MOS/Younger/Condell have talked a bit more "process" this year (which I love!).  They do mention that they tailor our schemes to match the opponent.  One of them said something like they study film on them from their last 3-4 games or whatever, plus when we last played them.  I would assume this means planning around how the other team does things, tendencies, their process, etc.

That's what we hope, anyway!

But a couple of times this year we've had post-games (like this last one) where players/coaches are saying "they did some new things", "we didn't expect these things".  Well, if you didn't see it coming, then your planning isn't good enough.  Your strategic ability sucks.  Why?  Because all the other teams are being strategic enough to both throw new things at us (like CGY becoming a "possession" O) AND properly plan to stop our glacially-changing schemes.

I always go back to chess.  We are the toddler thinking one move ahead.  Many other teams' braintrusts are thinking 3 moves ahead.  Aggravating.  Maybe we need smarter people.

[Tecno]

You do that for three hours a day and you're going to get blown out 70-3 on game day.

I didn't mean 5 days a week!  But certainly every single practice day, which for us is 1 or 2 days a week, should be 3 hours on the field!  Remember, no pads, and no one is going 100%.  It's the hits that wear them out, not running around for 3 hours.  Look at hockey players with their 835-games-a-year schedule -- they are essentially running around for 3 hours every other night!  (barf, I just said something nice about hockey players vs football players!)

None of our issues are coming from the fact that we practice less than other teams.

I totally disagree, well insofar as more practice can't make us better.  Look at Nield's drops.  How on earth can you improve that if not for practice?  There literally is no other way than throwing him the ball.  And the "QB/REC chemistry", that literally can only materialize when QB throws to REC -- whether in games or practice.  Since we have limited games and limited reps in games, practice is the only other method!

Even MOS has mentioned this very year that the CFL doesn't have enough practice, and not enough padded practice, and this definitely hurts development at some positions.  (I think he was specifically talking about D tackling, but I bet he means everyone.)

Now, if you're specifically talking about our practice time vs other teams... that's very hard to say, since I'm not sure any of us follows other teams' practice schedules.  But SOMETHING has got to account for SSK and MTL operating like well-oiled machines even with all the new pieces both have plugged in this year!

[theaardvark]

Just a reminder, Dru came in for an injured Collaros as a raw rookie, and that's what put him on the map...

[Tecno]

Original Tecno quote:
I was poking fun at the many posters who said, before Zach got hurt, that we should bench Zach in favour of dru.

Pretty bold claim. Who said that?

https://forums.bluebombers.com/index.php?msg=1693192
M.O.A.B.
If Brown is ready, I'll do Brown, Zach and Perkins.
Zach will not get us anywhere anymore.

https://forums.bluebombers.com/index.php?msg=1694262
barbk: ZC is just too slow, and did Stanley Bryant get beat again?
GOLDMEMBER: Both are done and should retire Barb.

https://forums.bluebombers.com/index.php?msg=1694279
Horseman
Yep time for Zach to retire or move on and if he won't, OSH has to do it.

https://forums.bluebombers.com/index.php?msg=1694281
Bunker
Why is Drew not on the roster yet. Not that O'Shea would ever take Zach out no matter how badly he plays.

https://forums.bluebombers.com/index.php?msg=1694319
Horseman
If Zach gets hurt (not wishing for that) it might actually be a good thing, gives Elgerma and Brown a chance to play despite MOS.

https://forums.bluebombers.com/index.php?msg=1694355
The Zipp
if a hit like that ends zach for the game time to move on

https://forums.bluebombers.com/index.php?msg=1694365
Go_Big_D
collaros has been done for a couple of years now

And many more too.  After doing a review, I do believe Horseman is the biggest Zach-hater.  Trophy for him.  Maybe he wants to chime on our Dru's current performance?