wbbfan

Keys to the game big Chris becomes big time Chris. He had a good game in week 2, expectations for him should be high when starting with prep time. This is a big chance for him, only so many left. back to bully ball. Brady has been as good as ever just hasn’t been able to get the ball consistently. Gotta keep feeding Brady and mix in Cooley. That’ll keep us out of second and long. new look D, a lot of shuffling with existing pieces. They know well how Toronto whipped them and should be prepared to punch back. Players to watch, secondary, Lofton, Corcoran, jjones, and person. plus, vaval, still has his job if he can refind his early success maybe break one and secure the ball maybe he will keep it. and Hogan, who is pretty close to the hot seat with the fans at this point.

Interesting, how'd he come across like an ass? Was he disregarding the importance of the smoke or something?

Yeah. He didn’t get much of a shot down south because he isn’t a freaky run jump tester, but he’s really quick and plays more than fast enough for S in the cfl. He played really good ball at a high level in college but was still just scratching the surface of his potential. You can see a lot of his play is on instinct, hustle and grit. He showed a real quick grasp of the game up here in camp and ps too imo. As much as we have nuance that guys get stuck on, the cfl is more tailored towards defensive guys who are instinctive like him. I think he could also be a great fit at full time wil doing all the cover stuff, and at sam. Wil has been evolving and the likes of Chris jones thought it would become more of a second Sam, but really it’s more like a SS down south. Big enough to engage with linemen and toss any one smaller, but also able to run with and cover guys. We don’t need a lber lol or a rookie at sam, but I would love to see a big physical Safety that makes guy hear footsteps and look both ways before crossing the middle.

The level of effectiveness in our WRs' blocking has dropped drastically; that is an absolute fact. Adams and Bailey, Drew, even healthier Demski and Schoen did it at a level you seldom see from WRs. I think you're really getting the crux of the issue with our offence, and imo offence in the cfl in general. I believe we made the decision to aim for familiarity, while being willing to settle for mediocrity. We didn't want to try and re invent the offence based around what zach can do now or what our wr room is good at now. We wanted to keep doing the same thing because its familiar. I think Zach is a huge part of that, too. I don't see in him the willingness to reinvent him self in order to extend his career or perform better as an offence. The catch is, at a 7-yard average. In the CFL, it is hard to succeed with less than 9 yards per completion. Less than 8 is doomed territory. But when you aim shorter, you complete more. But then you get stuck in that phase of pass completion on 2nd down, short of the needed distance, then punting it away. Our production on first down has been so bad that even getting 8-9 would be tough. I think the Ni approach is worth a look, I'd like to see kelly and the rooks get a little chance, then flip another spot for imp. But I would also like to see allen in game, I think that guy has tremendous potential. Woodbey was all over the field and very physical as well.

Not as such one game, no, but it starts with one game. You could argue the season opener was that, but it won't take many bad appearances to have him cooked imo. A big game puts the heat on the mafia when Zach continues to be late-stage Zach. No net/cable at the lake? Honestly, that sounds even better lol.

TBH, if this game gets delayed, I think that plays in our favor. Though it likely only gets pushed a day or so.

I feel like we are getting to make or break time with Strevy as well. It's not exactly a fair situation for him, but it never really is at QB. Zach is banged up again this year, and his stats are heavily padded based off 1 game vs Edm. Take that game away, and in 5 starts Zach has: 69% completion, 687 passing yards for 137 per game, 7.3 yards per attempt, with 4 passing tds, and 8 picks. 8 picks on 96 attempts is wild. He did get pulled twice for injury, but that only makes it worse. Game 1, Strevy was really solid. 246, 3 tds 1 int, 10.3 per attempt, last week in junk time throwing under the D he was solid as well. We would've been in the last game with a full start from Strev imo. Even though his production was padded by the situation. The 2nd Calgary game, where Strevy came in, was ugly though. Strev isn't going to get a clear shot at replacing Zach. It'll have to be a game like this where he steps up and overperforms in a tough spot.

Yeah, we can't say that. What we can say is that our commitment to Fodder has prevented us from getting all-star-level players. Of course, we could not have filled all our gaps with All-Stars the last 2 years. But we could've filled a couple. The way we run the roster has taken us out of the free agent market. On top of that, it takes us out of the ability to develop younger guys. Right now, I think Tony Jones is going to be in the conversation for All-Star at Lber. (flawed system as it is) He's on track for 111 tackles and 9 sacks. He only got a shot here because Biggie got hurt. Biggie stayed healthy but ineffective last year. Tony Jones doesn't happen. Now he's not a great player or a top 5 lber imo, but he is worlds better than late stages biggie was. That camp was loaded with extremely talented young Lbers worth developing. But we cut 'em to ride with Biggie. We are still sitting on Ayers, unwilling to give him a role/chance. We've all seen that with long-in-the-tooth vets. But also with random non-bomber vets. Josh Johnsons, Tyquan Glass', Rock Cartwrights, Kelvin McKnights, the marine etc. So many guys get all the rope in the world only for us to eventually admit defeat when we could've made moves monthes earlier and improved instantly. 100%, guys need to play in-game to see what they can do. We hit diminishing returns so hard on guys riding the bench. I think it's most of those points. We aren't doing a great job of developing guys, and guys aren't chomping at the bit for spots because it doesn't happen unless an injury forces it. We need to be cycling imp WRs especially. This is Sterns 3rd season in the cfl. We can't protect him from competition and he isn't winning his spot.

Think we have the worst WR core in the league. Schoen, going Robert Gordon alone is enough to drop us into the bottom bracket. The rest is just salt in the wound. If Wilson came back, that would make us much better than we are, but I think we'd be mid-tier at best then. The job Schoen and Lawler used to do was the most important for Zach in the passing game. We need to find a guy who can make hay over the middle and excel in 50/50 situations. A few guys can do that a little, but not full-time at a high level.

It is a big difference actually. between lining up as a pass catcher or running a downfield route, or catching a quick pass behind the line. Exactly, because the offense hasn't changed much since then. The ball distribution is identical. We heavily depend on the same IZR play very heavily, and check down to the back in extended hand-offs frequently. "...but the O no longer runs primarily through the RB, both passing and running, the way it did when Andrew Harris was starting." Not only did that not happen, but we are almost identical in the volume and way we use our back. The biggest change in our offence from 17/18 to now is that Zach will frequently take deep shots. Nichols tried to take some of the same shots, but didn't have the ability to throw deep like Zach does. The change from Nichols (and Strev) to Zach is a ridiculous amount of change we've seen. Not the change of 3 Cos in that time. The system changes are pretty few and limited compared to the QB change. Which was the point I was making? Lapo liked to be more modular than Buck or Hogan. We would run any play out of any formation with him as OC. That dipped with buck. Lapo would also throw out 1 or 2 random plays that would be more exotic in a week or two. Buck didn't do that; Hogan does it again. Lapo liked check downs, Buck wanted screens more. That is most of the variance. If you looked at the top 5-6 passing concepts, you'd see the same plays save for 1 or so per co. Even at that, we saw the most variance from Buck and his broken playbook last year compared to his previous year. Taking vanilla ice cream and trading it for plain ice cream with reduced amounts of vanilla extract. Right now, Hogan is running watered-down lapo stuff. Even by the standard buck set last year. It's like the downside of what we had with Lapo, without the upside. I don't know that it was publicly stated, but it does seem like the way they are using the increased salary cap this year is on carrying more full non-AR guys at full dollar. It's true, it's been the same for QBs across the league too. Just the worst-case scenario for the CFL in terms of entertainment.

That is actually exactly how Hall ran Ds for most of his career as a DC, and did many times here. Match-zone gives enough cushion to allow pass attempts. The adjustment JY made mid-last year was dropping a DL for an extra DB in a package. But that's not new by any means. Harris wasn't used a lot as a receiver; he caught a bunch of passes as a check-down RB. Which we also do with Brady. Brady had 1200 receiving yards in 2022-2024. In 2023, Bradie's heaviest year for caries, he had a total of 298 touches; the following year, he had 296. In Andrews' highest catch year, he had 294, and the next year, 297. Brady had 57 catches last year. Harris got more throws on block and release than Brady, but that is again on the upswing. They both got similar touches, and Brady has had more carries than Harris has at any point in his career.

He hasn't had the consistent surge he had prior to his injury, and he seems to be blowing up with more than a few reps in a row. I'm optimistic he will get to where he needs to be, but I would've hoped he'd be where he is now, at the start of the season. In run plays he hasn't been able to disrupt gaps as much as he has and should. In the pass game, when he's rested, he can drive his man into the qb, but he isn't able to flatten guys with his bull rush so far. But we are paying him top dollar, and I don't think he could take the top volume of snaps or provide what he did in the past. Perhaps korny sitting is a good sign that his cardio is getting back where it needs to be. ACL recoveries always take longer for the explosivity to come back, especially for a 300lb Dt.

Very good speed for a 285+ lbs Dt. Average jumping ability for the linemen in his draft pool. All of his speed/agi test results are in that range. Excellent hands, though, good route runner from what I've seen. Looks like a guy who is smart enough to beat zone and help his QB when flushed. So, probably a decent upgrade. And now I'm sad. Depth at wr is bad, and starting talent at wr is bad. I don't think this wr core is worse than the worst we saw last year, but I think it's getting close.

Fox has been the best run-stopping DT in the league. He and Sayles have worked extremely well together. How many pressures does he have and has he generated? Adams has been our best DL by far outside of person last game. Lawson has underperformed. He hasn't looked 100% yet this year. Adams requires lots of polish still but he's after it on every snap and is responsible for creating or providing half our pressures.

Hogan, those WRs, the OL, idk take your pick lol. I'm worried about Hogan. He really needs to start showing something, and it isn't going to be made easy for him. I'd love to see Jjones get used well, I'd like to think that will happen. Hard to find a reason to be optimistic for it, though. Would make way more sense to use Jones the way they tried to use ayers, and let ayers play his poisition for sure.

That's a spicy meatball! More change than I was expecting. Kramdi to S, I like this idea. He's a downhill guy, not a strong man-to-man cover guy. The question will be if his instincts to get into positions to make plays translates to S, and if he will continue to struggle to finish plays. Boom or bust guy at S. Either he's going to put fear into WRs and make a bunch of plays on the ball or he's gonna fail to pick up deep guys. I find Griffin to Sam and Parker to cornerback, odd. Parker was very good at sam here in the past, and Griffin is very good at picking up and carrying guys deep. I like the switch. Griffin should excel in most positions. Idk about Parker on the corner. I think he is a couple of games from running out of leash. Vaval, still, the DI KR is odd. Especially with Cobb on the roster. I like the guy, but he's drowning. He needs to sit imo. Happy Jones is on, but I don't think he will see a single defensive snap. He should get some blitz plays, though, and passing situation plays especially. 7 lbers with ayers, 4 of whom are NI, for 2 spots. That is an egregiously bad use of roster flexibility. Boy, that WR core is UGLY. Lofton at LT worries me, especially since its his first game in week 9. I like Cooley, but boy, I don't feel like Hogan will use him well. Glad Chase is in, and Zach is sitting. I'm optimistic for the D, and intrigued. I'm worried about how much of our imp roster flexibility is tied up in a few spots that won't see D/O reps. I'm really worried about the WR core, OL, and Depth. I think Corcoran at least has a chance to do something. I really worry, though, that we will continue to run flood concepts under the secondary, and the whole WR group is SLOW af. If the opposition secondary is going to be faster, they can't get gifted leverage. I'm worried the Argos will just be running downhill, making plays on our WRs/the ball.

Halls D did not rely on pressure. It developed the ability to get pressure with just 4 guys late. Check out the old fire Richie hall thread. It’s all too deep zone not enough pressure talk. It ran through Harris because he was our 2nd/3rd target as a pass catcher and the run game. Harris’ career high Carrie’s was 239 in 18, then 225 in 19. Brady had 260 carries in 2023, and 239 in 24. His average carries are right in line as a starter here with Harris, a bit higher.

We do this most every year at db with one guy.

Makes the reads easy lol

Strange eh? Chris seemed a little banged up which could be it, but mos also seemed to turn on Strev in the post. Be wild if we see Wilson start. Don’t see any thing good out of not committing to strevy but we will see. That’s what we did last year. Zach couldn’t play but stayed on the ar to be on the side line in dress. Hate that move but we probably do the same again. Peterson to the pr is odd. Guys done every thing you can ask. If I’m a few teams around the league I’d try to claim him. He’s legit. I like Cooley, but we are struggling to get enough touches for Brady and not showing the ability to use the weapons we have. idk. We aren’t flipping bridges for a Canadian. Maybe we start Trey and have him kr to clear up a spot. But I don’t feel like this increases Mitchell’s chance to play. I hope it does, that’d be great. One thing’s for sure, this ar is going to be interesting to see. It’s gonna be a far cry from the last couple of no change rosters. Throw in Cobb too lol

Really isn’t an un common happening in sport, or in business. Especially when you have success. maintaining an open minded room that does a good job of incorporating out side views is extremely hard. You have to seek out smart people who are extremely different than you and accept their process. We don’t do that. We find pieces that match what we already have. When is the last time an outside person was hired and given a position above scout/position coach? Long long time. Our coaching and front office approach is the same as our free agency approach. We prioritize our end bench guys over established league guys or blue chip rookies. So we get the same thing from coaching staffs and management that we get from our players. More of the same. that’s why our offence does mainly the same things through 3 different ocs. Why our D is basically the same through 2, our teams through 2, and why each group has the same failings through soo many different people.

It’s counterproductive, and it creates a cyclical problem. Hall was using a lot of 30 front in the late 19 run actually. He used it differently though. Frequently putting 3 guys out who can pass rush instead of a traditional nose and 4is doing 3t stuff. We have not used any where near as much 30 this year as we did after the start last year. We stopped the heavy rotation when stove left, before Jy took over. Front wise, we’ve flipped between the same stuff from 19 to current multiple times. The 5 man stuff with a hands up rusher moving around went from biggie to jones. The rotation came back last game. The big thing that hasn’t come back, is cheetah front 40 where we put out 4 guys who can pass rush. But we haven’t had 4 guys who can pass rush in a long time.

I don’t think it’s as clear cut as that. Partly because we have created a strong echo chamber with forced indoctrination. Fit in or **** off, any one who doesn’t fit doesn’t get any job here or doesn’t stay. Wether some one like Jy thinks Jake gives us a better chance to win or not, I don’t think any one would go against the grain and say other wise. Also, Jy is both great and not great. Hes a young dc still. He’s a coverage/secondary specialist. He’s still learning and developing his approach to fronts. I think Jy/hogan have a lot of control on their rosters, as long as they toe the line. For Jy, I’d certainly be willing to take the lumps and let him develop. He adjusted mid season last year really well. He’s starting to show the same this year. Hogan, my hope for is slipping.

Why don't you go kick Mos dog while you're at it lol We've started 10-11 canadians here in the past, could well happen again.

Wanna bet? Haha 🫠 Bout the size of it. Small outside chance we Stick Eli at rt, but boy I wouldn’t put my worst enemy at qb with Eli at tackle. I think Cobb and Corcoran will go in.