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Unless Neufeld returns to his 2023 form (where he was largely dependable) then I'm not entirely sure that him returning is a positive thing. I said it earlier in this thread: the tandem of Neufeld and Lofton were abysmal to start the year. It was only after Neufeld went down, and Randolph was inserted into the lineup, that things started to smooth out. I'll reserve judgement until I see him play but, to date, 2024 Neufeld has not looked good in any way shape or form.

Personally don't think he has a hope in hell of playing pro QB with his lack of accuracy/zip. But will be a nice receiver at his size and toughness. Kind of the traditional Canadian slotback although those guys often play at the field WR now with the hashmark change. Might be a nice piece as an offensive weapon where you can use him taking the snap in run sets.

got zero pressure last week... so let's dress less DL this week...

Really all Miller did was this:

too bad about stan....Nuef back tho will help Add another marginal DB ..and not add arguably our best all round DT when we had zero pressure last week....what a cagey move coach...smh for the amount of reps Vanterpool will get...and the good work Schmeck did in jumbo....another waste of the American spot really....and again..Johnson for minimal reps...and even less production....why? and essentially 11 db's?...as kramdi is essentiallyba db...again why? and looking at that linebacking group...man thats the weakest and most uninspiring in the league....horrible

JY has lead us to running a 30 base front in our defense, but we also saw large changes to our scheme in 2023 as well. I've seen confusion and angst towards the front in many GDTs and else where on line. So I wanted to start this separate discussion around our front, mainly the changes we've made the past couple of years, and why we have gotten less and less pressure since 2021. First I'll throw in a rudimentary break down of the alignments and techniques. 5-4-4i-3- 2-2i-1-0-1-2i -2 -3-4i-4-5 DL technique TE LT LG C RG RT TE Position D C B A A B C D Gap identification Note obviously the TE is used sparingly in the cfl, though heavy sets are becoming more popular with 6ol, its mainly academic having them in as most defenses don't have DL who play a counter role to that other than in short yardage. Down south they also have Techs 6/7/9. With 6 lining up right on the TE, 7 on the inside shoulder of the TE, and 9 outside the TE. An 8 tech comes in when a team lines up a 6th OL beside a TE, also a short yardage type of set. You also see a Wide 9 alignment down south which is generally an even front, where the edge is far outside the furthest blocker on his side. The i alignment means inside shade, and has the DL lining up inside shoulder to out side shoulder on the opposing linemen. So a 1 and a 3 tech are right in the gap equally between the two OL, a 2i and 4i line up half in the gap and half on a linemen. Roles: 0 Tech = nose tackle/nose guard. Their primary role is to push the Centre back, and create pressure opportunities for other linemen. They almost allways draw a double team when executed right, and good ones will play both A gaps (2 gap player.) They generally push the centre to one side to body block it, and if the rb comes to the gap they are standing in, will disengage to make a tackle. These are your Stoves, Drake Nevis' etc. Most often, a 0 tech is seen in 30 fronts. in a 40 front, you see more 1 tech play. 1 Tech. Similar role to a nose, but plays only 1 gap in the run scheme. generally a guy doesn't need to be as much of a thumper or as heavy to play the 1 vs the 0. Its more common in 40 fronts, where you might use 1, with a 3, or a 2i. An advantage of shading the nose vs playing straight up is it can be easier to twist with the DT in a 2/2i alignment, and vs 5 man blocking fronts it basically prevents the offense from doubling your End on the shade side. So if Woods is in 1 alignment, and Adams is in the 3, where ever willy jefferson lines up on that side, hes sure to only be facing 1 ol. Woods is smaller than our previous noses and is really good at both that and 1 tech. But we generally use 1/0 interchangeably. 2i/2 These are the most common alignments in a 40 front, This is primarily a run stopping tech, unless twisting with another DL. Or some times it will be paired with a 1 shade to the other side of the line, in order for the 2/2i to shoot the gap in pass rush, or when the centre/guard is slow/sloppy with footwork and crossing the face of the guard alone creates pressure. 3 Tech, the inside pass rusher. Mainly this player will shot a single gap with the goal of creating pressure/disruption and making a play. Casey sayles is a good example of a 3tech. Lighter than most DT, but heavier than a DE. A bullrusher with a single gap in the run gap, but who mostly plays the same on every snap. Beat the guard, inside or out, get in the back field and tear things up. Usually a good 30 front team will have 1 or 2 3 techs. 2 3 tech guys with a nose tackle. This is often what happens when you see a 30 front get a sack. The tackles pinch in to help, but you can only block soo long before one of the interior get home. Either the nose is getting a 1v1, or one of the 3s gets a free pass to the qb. When successful a tackle is often left upright and unable to get in on the play. 4i. The other common end alignment in a 30 front. This is generally more of a run stopping alignment with a primary goal of turning a rb side ways and denying the B gap. This position does not start in the gap as much as a 2i generally. They tend to scrape into the gap and play that spot no matter the blocking scheme. Previously we used Jonathon Kongbo with great success in the 4i alignment. 4/5 Tech. A 4 tech alignment is often more of a bull rusher in the cfl, like jackson jeffcoat, or you might use a 4 when you send a blitz (like our DB delay off the edge package) off their side. 5 tech is the prototypical pass rushing spot, think Willy jefferson on most of his edge snaps. We havent made a ton of use of wide alignments, forcing the Tackle to reach and possibly over commit to the end. It is also a bit dependent on the pass rushers moves. Our ends currently mainly try to curl around the edge of the tackle, rather than trying to sprint on a dart. We have seen some of that play from Montreal, and BC in the past. In the earlies mafia days we started bringing in, and excelled at finding, Nose tackles. We pretty much fit our DL scheme around the nose. Often in 0, or some times a 1 tech, with a 3 tech DT and 2 4/5s. In 19 we used nevis and stove with jake rotating inside, two guys capable of playing nose and 2 guys who could play 3 tech. We let Nevis walk in 21, and stove missed a chunk of the season, so we let him walk in the off season of 21. Late in 21 we started working in more Cheetah front as well. where all the guys put on the DL can all pass rush especially with speed. Some times this would include stove on the nose with 3 des, other times it would be 4 Des with hansen, kongbo, jeffcoat, and willy, or 30 fronts with 3 of those guys on, often with willy on the nose. Though willy aligned on the nose in this front, he mainly played like a 3 tech, trying to shoot the inside gap on the centre. This is especially effective if the OL gap spread is wider than normal, or if you have a good combination of a quick end and a slow/sloppy centre. At the end of 21 we let stove walk, and made another wholesale change to the strategy of our front. We put jake at a 1/0 tech frequently, with casey sayles playing a 3 tech, and willy/JJ on the 4/5. It was kind of a hybrid from our cheetah pack, with the goal of jake drawing a double and forcing teams to block the other 3 one on one. But Jeffcoat missed almost half the season and dipped in his production. 22 Ended and again we let our prized FA dl walk, casey sayles left, with the spot filled internally by Ricky walker. We moved walker around a lot in 23, tried him in the 3 tech spot to modest success, then as the extra end rotating inside out, this to more success. But still the interior was a fraction of the force it was with stove, and sayles etc. JJ and WJ enjoyed a good year doing the same as usual, but better and a bit healthier. Cam lawson took a big step forward as the rotational piece, providing us with the most impact in the fewest snaps along the interior. But JJ still missed a good chunk with age catching up and we let him go in the off season of 23, also letting walker go. Lawson has missed all of this year to date, and we have tried to again fill the gaps internally with garbutt and habba, to very little success. This year we saw the largest shake up on our DL in a few years, between loses and the change to much more 30 front. We've had success with Adams and Woods, but both have seen stints on the PR sitting behind Jake, garbutt and habba. We've at times tried garbutt and habba in 3, 4, and 5 techs. Habba has been worse than his limited play last year and garbutt not much better. Jake has deteriorated to a fraction of his former self, and WJ has struggled with oppressive double teams killing his drive and his motor. We also got away from the no-thrill-for-bighill package that certainly shortened his career. Frequently sending Biggie on a "blitz" into a guard to try and force on on ones for willy. It seldom succeeded, as Jake doesn't demand double teams in side. And bighill rarely got pressure or disruption in the face of 300lbs guards. We have seem glimpses of all import 30 fronts, with woods at 0, Adams at 4i/3 and WJ in 4i/4/5 alignments. Which has done a tremendous job of creating pressure and closing gaps. Hopefully this is more of what we will see in the future, especially next year. We could easily succeed and disrupt the back field with that unit and a rotation including a healthy lawson, a second year Hubert, and the better of habba/garbutt or a new end. We could weave in 40 fronts with mainly different guys playing different alignments. Hubert could play some 3 tech, lawson 0 through 3, and adams just about any where. Those snaps have been far too few though, as our once vaunted pressure packed front has gone from the forefront of our defensive scheming, to an after thought. JY has done a tremendous job with the secondary, and limiting the bleeding of wasted snaps with edges who cant get pressure and blitzes that only waste a man. Taking the DL front to the next level is the key to our long term success on D, as we saw in the LDC, you can always get openings and create offence in the CFL if you have time to pass.

There will be at least two. My youngest (adopted and dropped on his head) and my mom. I put them in the end zone at the furthest point away from me when I get tickets.

Got mine **** you

How many more offshore tax havens are Canadian billionaires stashing their cash in.....multi I would suggest....The whole oil industry in Alta. rips off Canadians in that royalties aren't what they chould be...Maybe if we ran the industry like the yanks, they might be able to afford a state of the art stadium in Cal. and Edm....If we can do it minus an oil industry, what the hells the matter with them??

Our blitzes are like blintzes. Soft and cheesy.

They've been playing with 7 DB's on the field for the last 6 weeks as their base D. I'm counting Kramdi and Griffin as DB's. For the majority of snaps both are on the field. If teams start playing heavier they've played two of Bighill/Jones/Gauthier but usually were playing with only one of Bighill/Jones on the field behind 40 fronts. When they go 30 front they usually bring in another DB. So we'll probably win 55-3 then.

Yeah ill bet that is one guy Walters really regrets not keeping. Mind you he's been nothing but injured since he left, but he was an absolute force when he was here.

Devin Adams on the PR is a goddamned travesty. Fast, powerful, smart and most of all effective. Want to run a 30 front and not get picked apart? How about letting Adams dent the pocket and not hang your secondary out to dry… ffs 🤦🏻‍♂️

I sometimes think our DL is still practicing social distancing.

I just don’t see what they see in Johnson. When you have a tall deep threat like Wheatfall ready to go. A guy that had a 100 yard gsme and was developing chemistry with Zach. It’s so obvious Zach doesn’t trust Johnson they always try to game plan to get him involved early but when it’s crunch time the ball is never thrown his way.

if you cant get to....or have no belief you can with their crap oline...something is seriously wrong with coaching...talent....or scheme....

Our drop 9 really puts teams in a position where the fronts impact is minimalized. You can only block guys for soo long and when you have 9 guys sandwiching 5 targets, it takes a lot to make a play. Teams are also deathly allergic to the run these days, and to be frank the quality of qbing in the cfl is at atleast a 30 year low. Yeah, while I don't agree with the decision not to keep him, it worked out very well. The real issue is that we moved on from stove and sayles with out any decent next man up.

Not sure if this was mentioned but Maier gets benched ...

There's your future short yardage QB. 😊 Jackson Tachinski, QB, University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, MB.) Rounding out the list is the University of Manitoba’s pivot Jackson Tachinski. There arguably isn’t a better dual-threat option in the country as the 22-year-old completed 60 percent of his passes for 1757 yards, 10 touchdowns, and only one interception. The six-foot-four, 215-pound passer also rumbled for 538 yards and six touchdowns along the ground, both of which were among the top in the Canada West last year. He ran for 62 yards and threw two majors in his opener this year and will be expected to take another step forward.

Why was Nick Hallett on defence so much last game? Who was he replacing?

They drafted Bennett specifically to try and replace Kongo and trotted him out for useless rep after useless rep. Thomas has one foot in the grave and is trotted out. Hubert I like but as a rookie he got too many reps too because reasons. There were a million ways to make the ratio work on D and they chose the worst way IMO.

They became too married to the idea of a Canadian on the DL. It wasn't a necessity and they haven't got the heart to wind Thomas down.

You know, I respected your football knowledge before but now?? Off the charts, wbbhan. Great description of defensive fronts & recap of the history of our defense since 2019. That is a must read for any Bomber fan wondering what happened to our crushing defensive philosophy in 2019 & 2021. No idea why the Bombers went away from this philosophy to what we have now. We have a few outstanding posters here who should be coaching young players & developing them. Hint, hint. .

TL/DR

yeah....It seems you need no actual football background and minimal knowledge to post things on 3down

Celebrating a loss. Classic Saskatchewan bush league media.

Lmao both nailed it. Since the early season struggles we blitz very seldom. Usually its the DB trying to sneak back side. When we get stuck for what ever reason on sending a bunch of guys it really amounts to nothing. Better chance of blocking kicks than productive blitz packages. But atleast the bighill sacrifice blitz is shelved now. I wish we would bring our sam, wil/nikel, and mac to the line more. Show and drop them. Give the offence some thing to think about. Shift the Dl, twist really do a lot more with our pass rush. But we really don't have much on the AR for the BJB to work with. Could be. Idk, once guys are here for a while they tend to lock in. No one else was giving schmek a shot either. Only time will tell. But we do have a couple guys developing on the DL if that does happen. I do agree adams isn't ready for thomas rep volume. But I really don't think any of the DL should play that volume either. Yeah pretty much. And it's sad because biggie was soo much better than that role. Tbh we could've gone with gauthier and had him do that will dropping biggie back. Dude had crazy range and wheels at his best. I hope we see new wrinkles start to emerge in the D. I have great hope for JY. Next year I think we are due for some shaking up of the Def asts. Stanley is more of a analytics guy than lber coach, and I love Patterson but I don't think he's done well coaching pass rushing. Hall could retire any year as well. I think our D really needs a coaching focus on pass rushing, getting off blocks, scraping to the hole/back etc. Been a really good discussion in here, I'm glad it's gone well.

Having players in spots tho...sure is depth....but are they quality tho making it worth while?...or actual legit "starter" quality.....In this regard...thats a big hell no Lawson is quality...thats about it...we dont even know if Samson is as he never gets a chance.... Our Canadian Corner is top notch...no questions there Our canadian Sam is average at best....look around the league...where would he go and be a starter...i see nowhere The thing is we don't even need to start 3 on defence....based on who we declare on offence....so why dont we go with our "best" dline guys...and best SAM....and then you have a good back-up in Kramdi who can be used with rotational reps, and you can have a Canadian DT spell off your better Import DT's for 8 to 10 snaps a game...and when Lawson is back then it's even a non-issue as he can/could be the defacto starter himself Thats the questions I ask...and want to hear good reasoning for I used to feel the same with BA but the last 4 ..5 games he seems to have got his game back and the groups overall play as well is attributed to his leadership and direction out there

Yah the track around Commonwealth really takes the fans away from the action. I don't HATE Commonwealth but there's little to no atmosphere...

I'd like another DL. And if we're dressing the number we are, Haba wouldn't be on my roster. But this is probably the healthiest roster they've fielded in awhile aside from Whitehead who is a bit of a concern. I think we can read into dressing Bridges over Adams into what their game plan is a little bit. They like to go heavy on O so having the 7 OL back could be a big difference in getting the run game going. Have to assume Sask is going to be a bit more concerned about defending vertical after last week but Mace hasn't adjusted all year so maybe not.

If that's the number in Edmonton and I'm the CFL team I'm saying build us a new stadium. That stadium SUCKS for football as a fan. You'll never get the atmosphere of Winnipeg or Regina...**** even Hamilton in there unless they are demolishing it and rebuilding it completely to put proper stands in for football.

My guess is O'Day is the ghost writer. 🙂

I read the entire OP and then I read this... it's amazing how accurate of recap this is Literally... he never took a single snap in a BC uniform

Low hanging fruit but, It looks like the 3Down people are wildly favouring Riders — until you realise they just can’t count https://3downnation.com/2024/09/06/3downnation-cfl-picks-will-bad-blood-fuel-bombers-in-banjo-bowl/

For what it's worth. I know KW tried to get Stove back from BC multiple times.

The funny thing about the ownership in Calgary with football. Murray Edwards the Stamps owner refuses to put a penny on a new stadium because it's owned by the U of C. Run by a non profit Corp called the McMahon Stadium Society. So, when it comes to football he won't spend a cent. The new arena for the Flames is not owned by him either. It's owned by the City of Calgary. He will own all parking, concessions, all merch sold & revenue from all other concerts there. In return, he'll provide maintenance for the new building over the life of the 30 year lease. Edwards won't do that for McMahon Stadium. I guess there are no revenue streams available from that old dump to make it worthwhile. Edwards could get the ball rolling on a new stadium away from the U of C where he could be the sole owner or work out a deal similar to that of the new Flames arena. He doesn't want that, either. You wonder why he bought the team in the first place. I think he should sell to someone who is interested in making the Stamps a much better organization. Probably wants $30 million.

Guessing both are done. Lawson coming back will be a big help. Hubert was very solid early, they like schmeck and are hooked on Jake. Plus we have Samson on the pr who is a legit prospect.

Too much ratio not enough quality for sure is a big part of it. Hansen and Kongbo brought a lot in reserve reps, Jake next to a nose with heavy rotation was solid too. Now we’re leaning on the ratio no matter the production. We’ve run out a considerable amount of underwhelming imps inside and out as well.

The 3 man front was ineffective against the Riders, would be stupid to try it again. Adams just adds a dimension that no one else can to that group.

It has too I think if we keep and develop Adams and Woods...Have Lawson back and either draft smart...and sign a big fish free agent end or actually find one we will be sitting good I see no spot for Schmeck...Thomas has to be gone...Biggie and Wilson likely too...revamping that with youth and skill sets us up nicely

Haha yep that’s the goal! yeah im a big believer in cross training with other sports, and that every one can find some thing they’d enjoy playing, and it makes kids much better people. He’s done swimming and gymnastics which he loves too. Some hitting pads and grappling with me which he thinks is the funniest thing in the world.

Yup volunteered coached both my kids soccer and football starting at the age of five, football started at the age of seven all the way up until high school. My goal was to lovingly irritate the hell out of the parents and the real coaches who knew the ins and outs of these two great games. Goal accomplished, so much fun. btw multi sport for both my kids did wonders for their sport and non sport development.

Disappointing doesn't even begin to be good enough to describe this. A fine doesn't come close to dealing with the issue.

What in the actual **** is this pile of nonsense....?

Thanks. I was actually musing about contacting them the other day, my work schedule has opened up a lot. Might volunteer for a local football team instead. Reading the post ldc game articles on 3dn actually made me mad at how bad they were. It makes the reffing in the league look semi competent this year.

Fine but no suspension? **** Ambroise and the rest of the CFL office. Its Brown's second play like that this year and the third year in a row this stuff has occured at the LDC. Suspend Brown and fine the Riders organization.

I'm not sure Calgary can afford the paint to add the racing stripe to McMahon.

Get this man a job at 3DN yesterday