GCn20

Thanks DTonOB! So in short the pressures we are allowing are a little bit worse of an outcome than last year but we are allowing less pressure. That screams to me of missed assignments rather than our guys being over matched. Throw that BC game out and I think we are in a pretty good place with our OL they just need a little sharpening.

We finished 3rd in the West in 2019. Not sure what you are talking about? I think there was a little Collaros magic in our 2019 run for sure, but it is overstated. What ZC brought to us that year was a decent QB capable of running our offence in the absence of Nichols. A healthy pre-injury Nichols/Streveler stood a very good chance of running the table in the playoffs with that defence.

He's an intriguing athlete that's for sure. Wish we could have gotten him younger.

Agreed on all points. We dominated on defence. Absolutely dominated. It was a sight to behold. Offensively we were average but very opportunistic. We were a good team with or without Zac. Did Zac put us over the top....yea he did because Streveler is more of a gimmick QB and was playing on a broken foot. All we needed out of Zac that playoff run was competent and our defence was just that damn good. Wasn't until 2021 that Zac really broke out with us imo. In 2019 he was game managing us through the playoffs.

For sure. However, that hasn't happened since and I doubt it will again. That game was an abomination. Worst game by our OL in many years. Gotta think there were some big time communication issues that day.

I will. Sheer determination and will power.....and lemon water....at least that's what I hear.

It's not our typical overwhelming domination this year....I'll give you that. Still the league's best OL. I think you are just spoiled by what we've had here for the last 3 or 4 years. This year our OL has come back to the pack a bit but its hyperbole to say they are playing badly.

In 2019 we were a top tier team with a mid tier QB until ZC came to town. Hell...even Nichols, until his injury, had us in first. We most definitely were not a mid tier team, We were a top tier team in a big time QB jam.

Just to put this all to bed and end the debate I will leave this right here, sorry for highlighting your post when doing so Booch just your comment along with this confirms what we've been saying about our OL. Top rated QB, top rated RB, top rated OL. Sounds pretty good to me. https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/veteran-zach-collaros-earns-top-quarterback-grade-in-cfl-s-honour-roll-1.1988217 BTW, PFF analytics also has our OL ranked number one over the season, not just last week.

Sure...you do what you gotta do to get it done. We are getting it done. Is it the same way we used to do it. No. but so what? I really don't understand the grousing about the run game. It is there when we need/want it and has been very productive for us. I could give a fig if BO's 1st Q rushing avg is a yard less than last year. What matters is overall production, overall TOP, and efficiency. We are doing very well in all those areas on offence.

Yea....I think our OL concerns have been exaggerating because of one really bad outing against BC which imo was more mental than physical. For all the other games I thought our OL was quite good.

Thing is that games haven't been all that tight really. We have won each of our games by a margin of over 10 points. Yes, we lost two games and it wasn't pretty but I would not chalk that up to our running game. Over the past 2-3 years we have had a ton of games where the score was just a handful of points at the half. Then we begin to pull away in the 3rd, and then completely throttle TOP in the 4th Q. This has literally been our MO for years. I am really not sure where the concern comes from in that regard. We can use some better play along the OL down the stretch for sure, but it has still been at a very high level. I think past years have set our expectations up way too high. We are still the best, or at worst top 2 OLs in this league.

We have been a 4th Q rushing team since Andrew Harris came here. We have always piled on our rushing totals in the 4th. The facts just don't bear you out on this. Sorry. Look at our production by Q the last several years in the rushing game. Big jump in the 4th. There is nothing wrong at all with our rushing game. I swear people think that if Brady O doesn't run for 7 yards a gain in every Q that there is a problem. That's unrealistic.

Zach will eat the hit to get the completion. Always has, always will. Our team will live and die by his ability to do that and keep getting up. We knew that when we got him. The RIders tried to get him to play safer, and he sucked. No..it was not.

Run blocking? Our numbers are virtually identical to last year in rushing yards, YPC, and YPG. Therefore, I will categorically deny that. Also, our passing numbers are up almost across the board this year. We have surrendered a lot of sacks compared to years past but that isn't always the best indicator of overall pass pro. Or at least shouldn't be viewed as a stand alone statistic. If the passing numbers show no real discernable difference, then it is just a matter of isolated plays and not an over all performance issue. I agree we gotta get those sack numbers down tho but it really isn't having a dramatic effect on our offensive efficiency. Could very well be that ZC has decided to eat a lot more ball this year and take the sack trying to extend plays. The sack numbers look right. I hesitate to look at them in iso though. Our overall pressures could still be relatively the same just with a worse outcome than years past. Its time for Zach to start chucking more into the 2nd row and see if that gets it in line.

I'm pretty sure if Booch had the chance he would rephrase that. It wasn't luck. our defence was absolutely lights out, and our offence firing on all cylinders all 3 games. We won every one in very convincing fashion. Definitely not one game where we didn't completely overwhelm the opposition in those playoffs. It was one of the most dominant playoff runs I have ever seen in the CFL.

I agree. I think we went into the playoffs last year a little fat and sassy. A little adversity will rebuild that aspect of our players characters that may have been on the shelf. I understand our team wanting to run things back with this group, and so far it looks good, but KW needs to get to work now for next year. In fairness to you first statement....yea....I think a lot of our team needs to evolve this year. I think last year we just kinda rode out the string at the end and weren't hungry.

I agree that we haven't seen much in the way of launch point changes. I want some succession planning on our OL to occur throughout the year but I am not willing to buy into the theory that our OL is struggling. Our offence has looked pretty good for most of the season. We have other issues to iron out that are bigger and must be addressed before playoffs.

Depth at QB? Because if Zach comes into that game healthy you will never convince me that we wouldn't have won that game. The biggest coaching flaw I saw in the GC last year was not using Brown vs, Prukop. Teams didn't give up they got worn down and their compete level beat out of them. I mean maybe in garbage time they gave up...and maybe shouldn't have...but most of our wins last year we clearly outclassed the opposition. I would say the same is true this year as well. Even Ottawa was a rout that was simply our team putting the cart before the horse and it spiralling on us. I chalk that loss up to pure hubris by our players.

I agree. Building a championship and setting up culture are the lynch pins of success. What are arguing about again? I wouldn't trade MOS for any HC in this league....would you?

We most certainly did not get lucky in 2019. We gave a master class in playoff football that year. As for winning with some flawed things....EVERY Grey Cup champ EVER. Hey I don't mind the discussion of our weaknesses, but saying our three year run is flawed and lucky is over the top.

Yea...last year ZC took a lot of hits and pressures as well. I think that is due to some roster turnover on the OL and Harris being gone. I am not seeing it as a big problem though. He is still probably the cleanest or one of the cleanest QBs in the league when it comes to contact. Do we have the 2019/21 OL anymore? No we don't. Is our OL a problem...that is fantasy.

I don't think it does, and I think the amount of hits Zach is taking is being wildly overblown imo. Just my opinion. Yes...in the 4th we are running very well and have for many years. Defences get worn out and if you are in the position to run that is what you do. Again, does anyone have any numbers to back up the claim that ZC is facing more pressure and taking more hits? I think sometimes we build up our legendary OL to the point that we expect too much out of them.

I honestly don't see Zach taking many more hits than he ever has. I'd like to see the numbers on how many hits per game he is taking this year vs last year. There will ALWAYS be bitching on fan forums. That is a given. I like to measure performance by results. Does MOS have flaws, show me a person in the world who doesn't, is he by far and away the best HC in this loop. Hands down...no one even close really. Problem with fans is we like to take a small problem, isolate it, and therefore it becomes overblown and out of context to the over all.

This is more an indication of teams not overlooking him in their game plan anymore. Really says bupkus about anything else.