Cameron Dukes is the relief QB that will come in and win the cup, Bryan Scott is just there to give away the playbook and make it possibleJust please dont let Bryan Scott come in as relief QB and win the cup...
Late to the party here but was at the game and it was a blast. I thought our offense had an excellent game plan that worked, and then once the Blue got the running game going they really bullied the Riders D. The Riders D was gassed in the 2nd IMO.
On D, the Bombers really showed up. When Harris is throwing one step quick hitters you're not going to get to him, but our D line had him contained (not that he's a huge running threat), and besides a good run or two, really stopped their run. But our DB's really came to play. We didn't have the 8 yard cushion BS. Evan Holm especially balled out.
Special teams were the only real sore spot. The punt fake got them 7 when the team was off the field, and Lucky's fumble was costly and unnecessary as well.
Looking forward, it will be interesting to see the Bombers game plan for next week. Would love to hear thoughts from @Holden Caulfield, and @WPGChief. On O I'm wondering if something similar to the Riders game is in order. The Argos have a strong DL, so quick hitters to soften them up? On D with Arbuckle in, I'm not sure which way they go. Cover the run, but also bring more blitzes? Or just repeat the game plan from the Riders and contain and have the DB's play tight coverage and force them to march down the field?
I, too, am certainly not an expert and would honestly defer to Holden over myself on anything "predictive" - but I largely agree with the above, and mostly would emphasize the point that it's a one game, winner-take-all, so anything can happen.I was there and lost my voice for a couple of days as well haha.
I'll be the first to tell you, I've never coached the game of football and never played above the high school level. I am no expert. But since asked...
1) This game is going to come down to the Bomber offense. Toronto scored 9 and 14 offensive points against the Bombers this year. But this O put up 14 and 11 for. They need to find a way to score some points. What has really stood out against TOR is that they are very very good at pressuring the QB. Zach is not going to have time to sit back and lob it up to Lawler like they did last week. Use Brady to take the pressure off. Not only just running the ball, but dump offs, swing routes, etc. Hell I wouldn't mind a few WR screens, get Demski/Whitehead going east-west on sweeps. They might have some struggles with that early, maybe some negative plays but STICK TO THE GAME PLAN. Anything to take the edge off the TO pass rush is going to be key. If they can back that pass rush off, TO has weaknesses in the secondary. Particularly on the quick short passes, Dru Brown ate them up with it in the East Semi but couldn't get any help from his D.
2) There's going to be alot made of Arbuckle. Who cares. Scott put up 9 pts, Kelly put up 14. This TO offense depends on the big play. The Bombers are fantastic at shutting down the big plays. I'm not really concerned about the D, just keep limiting those big plays and they'll be fine. Bombers run D can be a little suspect, but with very little air threat it should mostly eliminate the run game. I'd be shocked if TO puts up more than 17 pts on O and that's on the high side.
3) We ARE going to lose the special teams game. Just a fact. TO is better at returning the ball, better at covering kicks, better at punting, more reliable in the kicking game. The key is going to be at limiting it. They either need to limit the damage here or win so big in the other phases to make this irrelevant as we saw last week.
4) It's a one game playoff. One game samples are inherently unpredictable. Limit big swings. Pick 6's, return TD's, fumbles, deep shots etc. Bombers are the better team, more repeatable team. Stay focused and prepared on the details and limit the big plays is really all there is too this. But easier said than done of course.
So basically it. There's really two ways this goes, IMO. One is that they let TO hang around and a big play (Janarion return TD or a Zach pick 6) wins TO the Cup. Or Wpg dominates it from start to finish and TO can't overcome the lack of offense they'll have. Those are the scenarios I think are most likely. If I was a betting man I'd be betting the under. I think this being played in BC is a huge advantage to Winnipeg as Zach has really struggled in the cold over the years.