Tom ServoMST3K
In search of a Steinbach Hero
Maier has never wowed me. Seems like a very mid QB option that only looked better by comparison when Bo took a big step back.
OT: Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2023 Season - Another terrible disappointment. NEXT: Tough Decisions on How to Rebuild.
- Thread starter Holden Caulfield
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Calgary’s QBs bring me back to the two-headed monster we used to have of Joey Elliott and Alex Brink
Calgary not quite as dirty as BC was here but getting there
Calgary not quite as dirty as BC was here but getting there
I thought he looked good at the beginning but then it became evident he’s just a dink and dunk check down guy with no arm
bustamente
Fraud Supporter
FonRiesen
Registered User
Snowkiddin was wrong about everything except for his irrational hatred for Richie Hall. He was right about that at least
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Boreal
Registered User
- Jun 26, 2012
- 2,421
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4-1. Kenny Lawler hopefully available soon. We're rounding into form. This organization is extremely solid, so it's hard to ever get too worried. Very pleasant being a fan haha.
None
Registered User
- Feb 22, 2012
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Glad they won but after the first half I was worried we'd dusted off the Matt Nichols gameplan of dink and dunk "game management" offense.
I’m starting to get concerned we might not get Lawler back. Hopefully that stuff gets resolved soon.
puck stoppa
Registered User
Always a great night at the stadium in the summer. Just fun to watch live. Bombers weren’t great and still won easily. Too bad McCrae couldn’t punch it in there. Fun night.
FlyerNutter
In the forest, a man learns what it means to live
I like that they brought it back to basics a little at the end. Even though being up a score allowed that maybe.
I know these aren’t the same Bombers that would pound teams with a running game in the back to back championship years, but I feel they have been a little too reliant on long bombs, and Zach.
Nice win.
I know these aren’t the same Bombers that would pound teams with a running game in the back to back championship years, but I feel they have been a little too reliant on long bombs, and Zach.
Nice win.
Holden Caulfield
CANADA. True North Strong and FREE
I'm not going to have time for this tomorrow, so here we go.
Game Thoughts
Offence
Hard to say the up and down doesn't continue in this unit. Are we spoiled from the extreme success of the past two years plus games 1 and 2 or is this unit not as good as we thought? Hard to tell yet. Averaging 40+ as they did in first two weeks was obviously unsustainable. But the last 3 weeks have combined for just 47 which obviously not enough even if the team is 2-1 in that stretch (weather and other factors obviously play into that).
The OL is the big question mark obviously. But after a rough start they did really settle in. The tackles are starting to show their age at times. Good tackles are right behind QB's as the hardest thing in the world to find, so it is certainly a bit of a concern. Hardrick and Bryant have certainly been up and down. The interior isn't doing them many favours either though. But have to credit the whole unit with a solid 2nd half, even probably a solid final 3 quarters. The run room on that finale drive was marvelous. Now run blocking is "easier" than pass blocking, but it was still overall a decent showing.
Run game certainly struggled with Calgary's impressive interior DL and LB corps early. But Oliveira finally got going in the 2nd half and was key on that 10 minute drive in the 4th quarter. I cannot say enough about that drive to be honest, the whole unit just NFL style killed the clock. That is NOT an easy thing to do in the CFL at all. It didn't amount to too much, but having McCrae and Bailey mixed in in different looks does change the dynamic a lot and will pay off if the Bombers still to it, IMO.
The WR corps is really starting to look like it could use the bolster of Lawler. There were many different reasons for this from protection issues early, to game flow, but they could use a circus catch guy. Schoen had an uncharacteristic off game. Had a drop in the 3rd quarter (I believe that's when it was) and couldn't seem to find much room. He was WIDE open on one play where Collaros decided to go underneath to Oliveira and he turned into the lead blocker though. Bailey continues to be a nice piece to be used in different ways. Demski and Wolitarsky had nothing going. McCrae, as will be a theme in this post, was of course the stand out with the big catch down the field. Loved the setup on that play as it was their first deep shot perfectly set up not only by the play immediately before it, but by the whole game flow of quick hitters. I was harsh on McCrae from what I saw in camp and in pre-season, but he's proving me 100% wrong for sure.
Collaros had another so-so day. I was glad to see that he finally started to take what the defence is giving him. Teams have figured out that Collaros can burn them in a second so they are trying to limit the damage with pressure and keeping him contained. Collaros can open that back up by continuing to use his outlets. That will eventually let the pressure up, he just needs to not get greedy. I think overall he did that well today.
Defence
Secondary looked real solid again, despite an off-night from the superstar in Deatrick Nichols. I haven't seen the replay, but sounds like that costly penalty was legit that directly lead to the Calgary TD. No reason for it either on the far side of the play. But Houston had himself a night. Beyond the pick I don't think there were many if any passes completed on him. Holm, Daramy-Swaray we solid on the wide side. I thought Darby had one of his better games of the year despite maybe not showing up on the stat sheet much. Alexander was solid. Maier tends to shred the Bombers D over the years, so it was nice to see.
The story is along the DL though. Willie and Jackson were up to their old tricks again, like it was 2019 again. Creating pressure from all angles, getting the hands up, forcing Maier into forcing the ball. If they can pressure QB's like that consistently we are going to be just fine. Thomas as well had a solid game, relatively quiet from Walker and Thomas. The interior I had more of a problem with as they struggled to shut down the interior run lanes early, but like much of the team they improved as the game went on. The one guy I haven't mentioned all year is rookie DE Anthony Bennett. I'm only going to mention him cause I barely noticed him again. I have certainly not been wowed by him at all so far this year. Hard to get on a rookie Canadian, but part of why he was drafted 1st round at 26 years old was that he had more potential to make an immediate impact.
The LB corps was anchored by Malik Clements tonight. I thought he had a fairly solid game. Yes they share the blame on the Stamps run game early, but they tightened up well later on. I saw Clements making several solid plays. Bighill had a couple of moments, but it's clear he's primarily a coverage LB at his age. Doesn't seem to quite have the same pop in the run game as he used to.
Special Teams
And this was a game dominated by special teams. A lot of punting in this one, lots of penalties on punts. But really the story of the special teams was the dagger that killed Calgary in the missed FG. Greg McCrae did great on that return, as did the rest of the unit. Janarion was his normal self, taking what he can and breaking tackles. I hope he's ok, but that ankle injury didn't look super great. So we'll see, but McCrae looked real solid back there so I think the Bombers will be able to get by if Grant is injured. Evan Holm and Daramy-Swaray both have return experience as well.
Castillo perfect on kicks again. Won't say more to jinx it, but he's having a great season so far.
Punting was a bit interesting. I'll have to look at the stats to see how effective he was, but it felt like the Bombers weren't doing great on the Sheahan v Grace battles that dominated large portions of this game.
I like to highlight some lesser talked about players when I can and in this case the standout was obviously backup American LB Brian Cole. It's not a name most people will have heard much. He dressed most if not all games last year as a backup American LB as well. Didn't do too much last year, albeit had a few moments. But certainly had his best game as a pro tonight. Started it right from the opening kickoff with a fantastic tackle in the open field (and I missed the number thanks to those awful 3rd jerseys but thankfully someone here helped me out, forget who now but thank you). It was him who got a hand on the Grace punt in the 3rd quarter. Finished the night an impressive 3 ST tackles.
Summary
So overall just another solid Blue Bombers win. This is a solid veteran team that knows how to win football games. Heard plenty of freaking out in the stands after the first quarter, including from people I was at the game with. Important to remember that it's a long game, and an even longer season. This team is not done yet, they are just taking care of business. Can't wait for the next one.
Game Thoughts
Offence
Hard to say the up and down doesn't continue in this unit. Are we spoiled from the extreme success of the past two years plus games 1 and 2 or is this unit not as good as we thought? Hard to tell yet. Averaging 40+ as they did in first two weeks was obviously unsustainable. But the last 3 weeks have combined for just 47 which obviously not enough even if the team is 2-1 in that stretch (weather and other factors obviously play into that).
The OL is the big question mark obviously. But after a rough start they did really settle in. The tackles are starting to show their age at times. Good tackles are right behind QB's as the hardest thing in the world to find, so it is certainly a bit of a concern. Hardrick and Bryant have certainly been up and down. The interior isn't doing them many favours either though. But have to credit the whole unit with a solid 2nd half, even probably a solid final 3 quarters. The run room on that finale drive was marvelous. Now run blocking is "easier" than pass blocking, but it was still overall a decent showing.
Run game certainly struggled with Calgary's impressive interior DL and LB corps early. But Oliveira finally got going in the 2nd half and was key on that 10 minute drive in the 4th quarter. I cannot say enough about that drive to be honest, the whole unit just NFL style killed the clock. That is NOT an easy thing to do in the CFL at all. It didn't amount to too much, but having McCrae and Bailey mixed in in different looks does change the dynamic a lot and will pay off if the Bombers still to it, IMO.
The WR corps is really starting to look like it could use the bolster of Lawler. There were many different reasons for this from protection issues early, to game flow, but they could use a circus catch guy. Schoen had an uncharacteristic off game. Had a drop in the 3rd quarter (I believe that's when it was) and couldn't seem to find much room. He was WIDE open on one play where Collaros decided to go underneath to Oliveira and he turned into the lead blocker though. Bailey continues to be a nice piece to be used in different ways. Demski and Wolitarsky had nothing going. McCrae, as will be a theme in this post, was of course the stand out with the big catch down the field. Loved the setup on that play as it was their first deep shot perfectly set up not only by the play immediately before it, but by the whole game flow of quick hitters. I was harsh on McCrae from what I saw in camp and in pre-season, but he's proving me 100% wrong for sure.
Collaros had another so-so day. I was glad to see that he finally started to take what the defence is giving him. Teams have figured out that Collaros can burn them in a second so they are trying to limit the damage with pressure and keeping him contained. Collaros can open that back up by continuing to use his outlets. That will eventually let the pressure up, he just needs to not get greedy. I think overall he did that well today.
Defence
Secondary looked real solid again, despite an off-night from the superstar in Deatrick Nichols. I haven't seen the replay, but sounds like that costly penalty was legit that directly lead to the Calgary TD. No reason for it either on the far side of the play. But Houston had himself a night. Beyond the pick I don't think there were many if any passes completed on him. Holm, Daramy-Swaray we solid on the wide side. I thought Darby had one of his better games of the year despite maybe not showing up on the stat sheet much. Alexander was solid. Maier tends to shred the Bombers D over the years, so it was nice to see.
The story is along the DL though. Willie and Jackson were up to their old tricks again, like it was 2019 again. Creating pressure from all angles, getting the hands up, forcing Maier into forcing the ball. If they can pressure QB's like that consistently we are going to be just fine. Thomas as well had a solid game, relatively quiet from Walker and Thomas. The interior I had more of a problem with as they struggled to shut down the interior run lanes early, but like much of the team they improved as the game went on. The one guy I haven't mentioned all year is rookie DE Anthony Bennett. I'm only going to mention him cause I barely noticed him again. I have certainly not been wowed by him at all so far this year. Hard to get on a rookie Canadian, but part of why he was drafted 1st round at 26 years old was that he had more potential to make an immediate impact.
The LB corps was anchored by Malik Clements tonight. I thought he had a fairly solid game. Yes they share the blame on the Stamps run game early, but they tightened up well later on. I saw Clements making several solid plays. Bighill had a couple of moments, but it's clear he's primarily a coverage LB at his age. Doesn't seem to quite have the same pop in the run game as he used to.
Special Teams
And this was a game dominated by special teams. A lot of punting in this one, lots of penalties on punts. But really the story of the special teams was the dagger that killed Calgary in the missed FG. Greg McCrae did great on that return, as did the rest of the unit. Janarion was his normal self, taking what he can and breaking tackles. I hope he's ok, but that ankle injury didn't look super great. So we'll see, but McCrae looked real solid back there so I think the Bombers will be able to get by if Grant is injured. Evan Holm and Daramy-Swaray both have return experience as well.
Castillo perfect on kicks again. Won't say more to jinx it, but he's having a great season so far.
Punting was a bit interesting. I'll have to look at the stats to see how effective he was, but it felt like the Bombers weren't doing great on the Sheahan v Grace battles that dominated large portions of this game.
I like to highlight some lesser talked about players when I can and in this case the standout was obviously backup American LB Brian Cole. It's not a name most people will have heard much. He dressed most if not all games last year as a backup American LB as well. Didn't do too much last year, albeit had a few moments. But certainly had his best game as a pro tonight. Started it right from the opening kickoff with a fantastic tackle in the open field (and I missed the number thanks to those awful 3rd jerseys but thankfully someone here helped me out, forget who now but thank you). It was him who got a hand on the Grace punt in the 3rd quarter. Finished the night an impressive 3 ST tackles.
Summary
So overall just another solid Blue Bombers win. This is a solid veteran team that knows how to win football games. Heard plenty of freaking out in the stands after the first quarter, including from people I was at the game with. Important to remember that it's a long game, and an even longer season. This team is not done yet, they are just taking care of business. Can't wait for the next one.
Great review as per usual.
Any thoughts on the HC, OC and DC?
Only a complete idiot would be freaking out and calling for the DC’s execution after the first quarter
I think the BC game freaked a lot of people and this game certainly mirrored that one for the first quarter and a half. The offensive line looks pretty washed, that’s my biggest concern. Collaros is gonna get hurt if they don’t clean things up. We’ll see if they do.
Defensive line is starting to take over which is a big component to the success of Richie Hall’s schemes. Haba is good but Jeffcoat has been stellar. If he can stay healthy and Willie can continue on his 2019-like tear we are gonna be a handful.
I’m pretty invested in this team and so I go through highs and lows but ultimately I’m thinking/hoping the BC game was just a fluke. TSN has done their best to hype up Toronto but I don’t really see it with them.
If Collaros can stay healthy we should have such a significant advantage over every other team. The next best CFL QB after him is …. maybe Masoli? And he hasn’t played for a year. Or Adams, who is “only” a bit below average.
After MOP Collaros, we have:
Toronto: Kelly — overhyped scrambler who doesn’t make the right reads half the time and will probably get worse, not better, the more teams get film on him
Hamilton: Mitchell — been washed since the end of 2019. Shiltz or whatever his name is isn’t a suitable replacement either
Ottawa: Masoli: Hasn’t played regularly in forever and is coming off a serious injury in his 30s
Montreal: Fajardo: Someone said he was Willy’d the other day and that’s the perfect way to put it. Like Dane Evans, he craters at the slightest hint of pressure and is prone to backbreaking mistakes
BC: Vernon Adams Jr. The only thing that worries me with this dude is he’s an athletic scrambler. He’s incredibly inconsistent and he can’t read a defence properly to save his life. Also prone to gaffes.
Edmonton: Cornelius: I asked him on Reddit if he likes pineapple on pizza and he said yes. That about sums it up.
Saskatchewan: Harris: Stat-pumper who dinks and dunks all field, putting up huge numbers, but sucks when the chips are down
Calgary: Maier: A poor man’s Harris, really.
So, yeah, if we can keep Zach healthy and upright we lap the field at QB.
How was the move?
kanadalainen
A pint of dark matter, please.
Maybe I need to rethink my life.
P.S. Another "spoiled brat" game for us by the Bombers.
Haba Willie? yep
Haba Jeffcoat? sure
Quote of the evening - Awarded to @snowkiddin for i) his overt and unabashed self-flagellation (See: Hall, Richie), and ii) for this gem:
"Calgary: Maier: A poor man’s Harris, really."
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kanadalainen
A pint of dark matter, please.
Damn. Another winner, my dude.
collaros is getting hit a lot. Online is definitely not the dominant force they have been in the past.
Father time is catching up.
Father time is catching up.
FonRiesen
Registered User
Haba also put in an appearance in the 4th quarter, put some pressure on Calgary's backup. He's been positively noticeable this year, encouraging sign.
I thought Sheahan did well overall - missed a coffin corner by an inch, though I still think taking punt singles is a more strategic move in close games. Grace was nearly blocked 3x - got our hands on it once (possibly twice - there were 2 really short kicks).
Glad our D adjusted/settled down enough to stop Calgary's run (that averaged 9 yards per carry in the 1st half).
Fun game in the 4th quarter - the fans chipped in with the noise causing a time count/procedure - always good to see!
nobody imp0rtant
Registered pessimist
- May 23, 2018
- 11,013
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What about it was cringy?an Alfa romeo commercial
I thought it was a cringy commercial
I don’t want to give them more clicks
BobTheSolarsystem
Registered User
- Oct 4, 2020
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I do think its time to give Eli or Dobson a shot at C... there is a noticeable drop in protection with Kola compared to the rest of the line - and a massive drop from Couture
Run coverage is an issue this year - not sure if Biggie can't close the gap as much or if we need a bigger/better interior DT
Not the dominant team they were but they are a team that finds ways to win
Run coverage is an issue this year - not sure if Biggie can't close the gap as much or if we need a bigger/better interior DT
Not the dominant team they were but they are a team that finds ways to win
FonRiesen
Registered User
Did they make any personnel changes in the 2nd half on the O Line? I really don't know what changed, other than they just stepped up. Jekyll and Hyde.
I thought our run D has been fine this year apart from yesterday's 1st half. My thought is that Calgary did a good job of finding a scheme that exploited something in our D, but then we adjusted enough in the 2nd half. Although it also seemed to me that they stopped running the ball as much after we stopped them once or twice - maybe they gave up a bit too easy.
But I agree, not as dominant as past years so far... VERY high bar... it's fun backing a good team!
bustamente
Fraud Supporter
I like the way they are using McCrae this year, maybe they use him as a returner if Grant is out. He has had some trouble catching punts in the past but that return after the missed fg says give him a chance
Tom ServoMST3K
In search of a Steinbach Hero
Haba also put in an appearance in the 4th quarter, put some pressure on Calgary's backup. He's been positively noticeable this year, encouraging sign.
I thought Sheahan did well overall - missed a coffin corner by an inch, though I still think taking punt singles is a more strategic move in close games. Grace was nearly blocked 3x - got our hands on it once (possibly twice - there were 2 really short kicks).
Glad our D adjusted/settled down enough to stop Calgary's run (that averaged 9 yards per carry in the 1st half).
Fun game in the 4th quarter - the fans chipped in with the noise causing a time count/procedure - always good to see!
In a close game, where both offenses are moving the ball, but not scoring, I think a Rouge can be a weapon - especially if you kick them from midfield or beyond.
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