Official Game Day Thread - Ottawa @ Winnipeg, August 14, 2026

[Blue In BC]

I'm a bit surprised you're jumping in the fire younger camp. You're usually quite measured. And to bring it up after a game where it kind of worked?

I guess I understand, but I'm not really in agreement. I'm starting to study and try to understand what younger is trying to do. I mean, we all have to assume mafia and younger aren't stupid.

To me the main issue is are the players just botching the scheme, or is it that the scheme is impossible for mere mortals to execute. If the scheme is utopia, and unobtainable, then its a useless as a bad scheme. That would mean it will never be good on the field.

It has nothing to do with this game or any one single game. It's the constant soft coverage and continual breakdowns in coverage. It's about giving up 377 yards rushing to the Lions. It's about the late drives allowed just before half time or at the end of the game.

Keep in mind that " this game " was against the worst team in the CFL that was win less before this game. That's a pretty low bar to measure against.

I've previously mentioned that the scheme is at the least part of the problem if not the major part of the problem. It was the same issue last year. So whether we don't have the talent or the wrong talent to execute the scheme, that's on the coaching.

It's the worst of bend but don't break since QB's can complete throws uncontested for high %.

The list goes on and are we seeing any improvement against good teams? Let's see how this looks against the Elks then the Als over the next two weeks.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

The story of Younger is that he brought a bit of an unconventional approach to the league which worked for half a season. It got schemed hard last year and ultimately proved so ineffective he basically abandoned it this year in favour of a more traditional approach. The issue is that this version of his defense is even worse (it appears a bit of a hybrid between what he wishes he could run and what the results tells him he has to) and so what you're left with is a guy who made a bit of a splash, got countered hard, and hasn't been able to adapt at all.

Ultimately, he has shown next to nothing, has basically no history of running a successful defensive program and by and large looks lost and hopeless now. I don't think he has any idea what to do. And the unit basically quit on him in the BC game which is unheard of on an O'Shea led team. He had a fair shot but the results aren't good enough. We can do better. He may eventually grow into a better coordinator but how many more years do we want to commit to that? Just like the development of a young player, there's no guarantee.

[Jesse]

The story of Younger is that he brought a bit of an unconventional approach to the league which worked for half a season. It got schemed hard last year and ultimately proved so ineffective he basically abandoned it this year in favour of a more traditional approach. The issue is that this version of his defense is even worse and so what you're left with is a guy who made a bit of a splash, got countered hard, and hasn't been able to adapt at all.

He has shown next to nothing, has basically no history of running a successful defensive program and by and large looks lost and hopeless now. I don't think he has any idea what to do. And the unit basically quit on him in the BC game which is unheard of on an O'Shea team. This is not the best we can do.

I don't even think he needs to change that much. Use less subs and simplify the hand offs in the secondary. Stop using Tony Jones as a 4th rusher and keep your DL on the field.

[blue_gold_84]

A solid enough win overall, even with a few warts. And still gotta keep in mind this was over the winless RedBlacks.

The O-line still scares me, Collaros got pretty tenderized yet again, and the defense as a unit continues to worry me. Seems like a combination of system and personnel issues. Kramdi needs to hurry back, IMO.

Not sure how the next few weeks are gonna go.

[dd]

Both Younger and OShea were schooled in the Rich Stubler defense, so I doubt OShea fires Younger, it would be like firing his brother. He's got Richie Hall to help him out and that's what we're stuck with, warts and all.

[bunker]

I don't even think he needs to change that much. Use less subs and simplify the hand offs in the secondary. Stop using Tony Jones as a 4th rusher and keep your DL on the field.

The substitution seems a bit ridiculous at times. At least 2 players are going on and off every play. The jogging to the sidelines is probably tiring them out as much as one more play would. And he seems to favour putting in players for a special role every down, regardless of the discrepancy in talent level between them and the player they are relieving. Is taking Ceresna or Jefferson out on a second and medium or long down, and putting in Ball or Hallet really going to benefit us? Just seems to add the generalized confusion in the secondary.

I understand that players, D-line in particular, need plays off so they won't burn out, but why not just bring in the extra D-lineman we roster, who seem reasonably talented? All things being equal, there is still something to be said for trying to play your most talented players as much as possible, and keeping your scrubs on the bench or special teams. A simplied scheme with less substituion might also help with all the confusion and busted coverages we are seeing regularly.

And if he's really commited to bringing in an extra DB on passing plays, then  roster a decent extra American DB already for coverage, in place of an American special teams linebacker that rarely sees the field.

[Tecno]

2Q9:31 the Zach hit: Who's the blame?  Brady would normally be the last line of defence here.  He was in the pocket during the cadence, then vacates around the same moment you can start seeing the blitz coming.

It's certainly not Stan or OL's fault: they picked up their proper man, inside out.

Brady should maybe be hesitating before vacating just to take a last look at things.  However, Brady & Zach have both said that Zach often tells Brady when to vacate, so this is probably Brady following orders.

So it's probably mostly on Zach I guess, unless Brady can override his orders.  We've seen this every time: Zach never peeks to the blindside.  He always stays 100% focused on his reads.  He can't peek even more a second right before the snap?  What do other QBs do?

Certainly at quiet PAS Stan could yell out to Zach some codeword... or did Stan think Brady had that block??  Stan didn't look concerned at all as the guy whizzed past him.  He looked a bit surprised when he looked back and found Zach on the turf.

In CGY, when BLM was there, in his last 2 seasons, I could swear that they had a system that told BLM when he was about to be hit or the OL was breaking down, or whatever.  BLM, even when looking 180 degrees the wrong way would always know when to chuck the ball to avoid these hits and sacks.  It was near impossible to sack BLM back then.  No, he wasn't just that good.  I was sure they had a system to ping or talk in his helmet after the snap (which I thought was illegal) to warn him not only that he was in danger, but what side it was coming from.  Maybe if talking/warning is outlawed, they installed some secondary tone system or something.  All you'd need is to put a remote controlled tone generator on each side of the helmet to make a beep when danger was coming from that side.  Zach could greatly benefit from such a thing and I don't know why we just leave him out there defenseless to take these CTE hits.

[bunker]

2Q9:31 the Zach hit: Who's the blame?  Brady would normally be the last line of defence here.  He was in the pocket during the cadence, then vacates around the same moment you can start seeing the blitz coming.

It's certainly not Stan or OL's fault: they picked up their proper man, inside out.

Brady should maybe be hesitating before vacating just to take a last look at things.  However, Brady & Zach have both said that Zach often tells Brady when to vacate, so this is probably Brady following orders.

So it's probably mostly on Zach I guess, unless Brady can override his orders.  We've seen this every time: Zach never peeks to the blindside.  He always stays 100% focused on his reads.  He can't peek even more a second right before the snap?  What do other QBs do?

Certainly at quiet PAS Stan could yell out to Zach some codeword... or did Stan think Brady had that block??  Stan didn't look concerned at all as the guy whizzed past him.  He looked a bit surprised when he looked back and found Zach on the turf.

In CGY, when BLM was there, in his last 2 seasons, I could swear that they had a system that told BLM when he was about to be hit or the OL was breaking down, or whatever.  BLM, even when looking 180 degrees the wrong way would always know when to chuck the ball to avoid these hits and sacks.  It was near impossible to sack BLM back then.  No, he wasn't just that good.  I was sure they had a system to ping or talk in his helmet after the snap (which I thought was illegal) to warn him not only that he was in danger, but what side it was coming from.  Maybe if talking/warning is outlawed, they installed some secondary tone system or something.  All you'd need is to put a remote controlled tone generator on each side of the helmet to make a beep when danger was coming from that side.  Zach could greatly benefit from such a thing and I don't know why we just leave him out there defenseless to take these CTE hits.

But what if the other team hacks into the tone generator, and starts hitting it even when there's no pressure, causing Zach to needlessly throw the ball away 

Techno, you are definitely the most entertaining poster on here.

As for the sack, its hard to know. The overload was well timed, and wasn't obvious until just immediately before the snap, so the centre didn't account for it, and Stan had no choice but to take the inside man, since he couldn't pass him off to Wallace, who was occupied with his own DT. So technically, the free man is the QB's responsibility. Some QB's seem to have a 6th sense of when pressure is coming. Zach may have had it once, but doesn't seem to anymore. He also had at least one receiver open (Brady) where he could have gotten rid of the ball, but chose not to, maybe looking for something longer. He did have almost 2 seconds there. He tends to hang on to the ball too long, kind of the anti Trevor Harris.

[Tecno]

But what if the other team hacks into the tone generator, and starts hitting it even when there's no pressure, causing Zach to needlessly throw the ball away 

I don't know what CGY did, but I promise you, they did something.  No 6th sense is that good.  I talked about it at length here back when it was happening like 5+ years ago.  As for hacking, use an encrypted digital comms channel, easy peasy, I can rig one up on a rasp pi that can fit in a helmet.

As for the sack, its hard to know. The overload was well timed, and wasn't obvious until just immediately before the snap, so the centre didn't account for it, and Stan had no choice but to take the inside man, since he couldn't pass him off to Wallace, who was occupied with his own DT. So technically, the free man is the QB's responsibility. Some QB's seem to have a 6th sense of when pressure is coming. Zach may have had it once, but doesn't seem to anymore. He also had at least one receiver open (Brady) where he could have gotten rid of the ball, but chose not to, maybe looking for something longer. He did have almost 2 seconds there. He tends to hang on to the ball too long, kind of the anti Trevor Harris.

He chose to hang on because he thought everything was covered and he had all day, so of course you don't go for the dump pass when you think you have all day.

As for well-timed blindside overloads: this will just be the trick every team will use on Zach to take him out of the game.  Not like it's complicated or difficult, and we seem completely incapable of stopping them.

DT on the 'OB was saying in the post-game that every team blitzes on us, and it always works and is always easy.  And when we try that on other teams, every single one of them blocks it with ease, every time.  It's true, and it's one of the most frustrating things of Bomber ball.  How can both things be true, that we suck so bad at a simple football task on both sides?

[bunker]

I don't know what CGY did, but I promise you, they did something.  No 6th sense is that good.  I talked about it at length here back when it was happening like 5+ years ago.  As for hacking, use an encrypted digital comms channel, easy peasy, I can rig one up on a rasp pi that can fit in a helmet.

He chose to hang on because he thought everything was covered and he had all day, so of course you don't go for the dump pass when you think you have all day.

As for well-timed blindside overloads: this will just be the trick every team will use on Zach to take him out of the game.  Not like it's complicated or difficult, and we seem completely incapable of stopping them.

DT on the 'OB was saying in the post-game that every team blitzes on us, and it always works and is always easy.  And when we try that on other teams, every single one of them blocks it with ease, every time.  It's true, and it's one of the most frustrating things of Bomber ball.  How can both things be true, that we suck so bad at a simple football task on both sides?

From the Free Press:
Winnipeg Blue Bombers guard Patrick Neufeld stated, "They had the perfect call for the protection we were in," regarding a second-quarter blind-side hit on quarterback Zach Collaros.

SO maybe the Ottawa DC just made a great call, and the players timed it perfectly. If it was so easy, Collaros would be taking blind side hits on every passing down.

But maybe Condell should think twice in the future about only 5 man protection with an empty backfield, when he has an aging, brittle QB. Leave someone like Daniels (who's not much of a threat as a receiver) lined up beside Stan.

[Tecno]

SO maybe the Ottawa DC just made a great call, and the players timed it perfectly. If it was so easy, Collaros would be taking blind side hits on every passing down.

Well obviously you can't do it every snap, you still have to pick your spots.  The point still remains that when other teams blitz it often works on our OL/jumbo.  And it's also true that when we blitz it's largely ineffective.  Doesn't really matter the team we are comparing to, this is universally true.  See, even OTT did it!!

That's the real issue, and DT knows it, and we have yet to find a solution.

[dd]

From the Free Press:
Winnipeg Blue Bombers guard Patrick Neufeld stated, "They had the perfect call for the protection we were in," regarding a second-quarter blind-side hit on quarterback Zach Collaros.

SO maybe the Ottawa DC just made a great call, and the players timed it perfectly. If it was so easy, Collaros would be taking blind side hits on every passing down.

But maybe Condell should think twice in the future about only 5 man protection with an empty backfield, when he has an aging, brittle QB. Leave someone like Daniels (who's not much of a threat as a receiver) lined up beside Stan.

Lining up Daniels beside Stan should be a given especially when you consider the overall contribution our #5 receiver gives our offense. Keeping Collaros protected should be the #1 priority in any given play and when we go empty backfield that ball has got to come out right away to avoid the big hit.

[Tecno]

What is it about opponent RBs/TEs/FBs sneaking out to be wide open for huge passes against us?  So many teams are reaming us this way, sometimes more than once a game, seemingly every week.  And no one ever adjusts or corrects for this simple ruse!

I can understand some of the players being dumb, but what about the braintrust?  Can't they task a guy on each side who is responsible for the extra guy?

This shouldn't be difficult.  And it shouldn't happen every single week.  It got OTT a free easy TD this time.

[theaardvark]

I don't have the game to review, but didn't BO20 release through the B gap on the blindside hit?  With no one else in the backfield?

Maybe they should start lining Daniels/Clercius up as TE beside Broxton, and bring them back across the line to either take out a blindside rush, or release into that flat.

Takes their cover guy as well.

[Blue In BC]

I don't have the game to review, but didn't BO20 release through the B gap on the blindside hit?  With no one else in the backfield?

Maybe they should start lining Daniels/Clercius up as TE beside Broxton, and bring them back across the line to either take out a blindside rush, or release into that flat.

Takes their cover guy as well.

I find it difficult to see when Daniels is on the field or how well he's doing. I'd like to see him used more as a receiver a few times. Isn't that the expectation of a TE, even in the CFL?