johnzo

Josh Johnson!

Hail the Rouge.

Jeez, does the endzone have a restraining order against Chad Kelly?

aaaaaaaarrrrrrggggggoooooooos

paging the MLSE PR staff: you're gonna have to write another apology from Kelly -- this one to #15, who he nearly got killed with a high throw.

one interesting thing about the second BC game was that Stanback gashed us pretty bad but we never really paid for it on the scoreboard and we continued to drop eight or nine guys. I wondered why they didn't try to bullyball us. I've seen the Bombers win games by spamming Oliveira or Harris with just a token passing attack. So, coming back to the Hamilton game, I think Butler is a better back at this point in their careers, do you worry about the TiCats countering our coverage blanket by committing hard to the run and forcing us to adjust?

3 Down Nation has some actual football analysis on Mr. Rourke's wild ride: https://3downnation.com/2024/08/21/no-apology-needed-breaking-down-nathan-rourkes-struggles-against-winnipegs-elite-defence/ (I know, I know, 3DN is hardly a quality brand, but I have enjoyed / learned from Ben Grant's analysis in the past, and the dude is an actual football coach.)

so that set is about blanketing the field with pass coverage and forcing the TiCat QB to go through his reads, right? that seemed to be how it worked against BC. would you adjust that approach based on who's playing QB for Hamilton? Like if BLM is in there, do you really want to extend the play and give him time to find someone? figure the guy knows how to progress through his reads by this point in his career.

I think he's already my favorite. He brings more insight than any of their other commentators. The only color guy who has a skill that Lapo lacks is Matty -- Matty's party uncle vibe is unique to him. I'm happy to hear either of them on a broadcast but I think prefer Lapo.

TSN is doing pretty darn good with color guys right now. Lapo, Matty, and Forde all bring good stuff to the table. I don't mind Suitor all that much, I think a lot of the criticisms of him are overblown, but he rarely says anything interesting nowadays and he really sells out for the game narrative, which is annoying. I like the dynamic when they pair up a straight man with a goofball -- Rod Smith and Matty is a good one, or Neilson with Forde. I think Dustin could turn it down from 11 to about 8 or so, but occasionally an utterly ridiculous CFL game will need an utterly ridiculous call, and he's the man for that job. It's a waste IMO to put Lapo on the sideline. Dude needs to be on the panel or in the booth where he can be the professor, not the guy who's doing the fluffy thirty second spots from the sidelines.

I'll see you a Sheehan and raise you a Jamie Boreham. It's interesting when you look at the net punting stats. Julien in Edmonton and Haggerty in TO are both outkicking Sheehan by 9-10 yards on average, which seems pretty huge, but it nets out to just 3 or 4 yards advantage. So in a punting duel with those teams, we're giving up 3 or 4 yards on every exchange. not great, but not worst in team history. We're also middle of the pack in terms of giving up big plays on special teams, from what I understand ball placement is a giant issue there, tough to get a big return on a ball that's well-placed between the numbers and the sideline. Ottawa's special teams are wicked this year. They've got ten big plays (FG or punt return of 30+ yards or kickoff returns of 40 yards) and just one against. mind you, those numbers don't take Deadmon's ball security issues into account.

looking at the standings, this is such a weird CFL season. Usually by this point in the CFL season you have 3 clear tiers -- 2-3 legit contenders, 2-3 trash fires (one of whom will make the playoffs) and the rest are all mediocre pretenders. But today we have a single elite team, a single trash fire, and everyone else is in the Maybe tier. I could see promoting Ottawa up into the elite tier, they are finding ways to win ... but it all feels so fragile there. Montreal and Ottawa play 2x in the final third of the season, could be the most interesting heavyweight tilts in the East in years.

Suitor made a bunch of excuses for Rourke -- he had only one day with the full set of receivers, only three days in camp, lots of unfamiliar receivers, was unfamiliar with game speed and needed to remember what it was like to be hit, but then clarified that he was not making excuses for Rourke. and actually I kind of agree that this poopy game wasn't really Rourke's fault; the call to put him on the field without so little preparation was crazy. Bad football ops by BC. They exposed their prize kid to a beating, potentially alienated their MOP-candidate starter, cut their insurance policy, and looked really bad in front of a decent crowd. Why not start Dolegala until Rourke is spliced in a little more thoroughly? The dude is still raw, he started like ten games two years ago; he's not exactly a wily CFL veteran.

they were our first road win too.

so one thing about our starting extra Canadians at the start of the year is that two games ago it allowed us to replace national starters with imports while not disrupting starters at any other positions. Lucky in for Woli and Randolph in for Neuf. speaking of national starters, I didn't hear Kramdi's name at all. that seems like a good sign. SAM isn't a position you can hide at. Just two tackles this game. is upright running a sign that the player is looking more to accelerate into a big play instead of pounding through a hard one?

Augustine also a spinach eater.

why wouldn't you kick a field goal there? terrible coaching. Lucky eating his spinach. strong running.

three score game.

oooof. forcing a throw into triple coverage under pressure. not good.

nice pursuit by 32 Griffin there! got to Rourke in a big hurry even if he didn't make the play. love to see it.

Kid Sideline Because My D Can't Get The Ball Back.

ZC8 alley-oooping

Pokey elusive.

wow, that endzone shot on the 2nd-and-10 stop really emphasizes how wide the Bomber three-man front is. The D is outnumbered 3-to-2 right down the middle of the field.

ooof. looks like Rourke ain't the only guy on the field who picked up a case of Printersitis in the NFL.