2022 Off Season - Back 2 Back Champs Edition

[wbbfan]

Just now, M.Silverback said:

And QB's. And we have the reigning MOP. 

great defenses and MOP qbs are the stuff dynasties are made of. Back2back2back. 

[17to85]

2 minutes ago, M.Silverback said:

And QB's. And we have the reigning MOP. 

And offensive lines... we got the best one of those too.

[GCn20]

D front 7s, OL, and QB are the foundation of champions. I look around the league and we are so far ahead of everyone in these departments as an aggregate it isn't even funny....it's almost unfair.

[Mark F]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

great defenses and MOP qbs are the stuff dynasties are made of. Back2back2back. 

trey with O'Shea.

😩

Edited February 11, 2022 by Mark F

[Jesse]

6 minutes ago, Mark F said:

trey with O'Shea.

😩

Tres?

[Goalie]

I guess maybe I'm concerned about the O a wee bit more than the D

D was damn near historic.. most them Boys are back. The O? Not so much most nights really.. and losing Desjarlais Lawler and Harris(eventho he missed most the year) well.... 

If there is a concern I think the O in general is it. 

[bearpants]

3 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I guess maybe I'm concerned about the O a wee bit more than the D

D was damn near historic.. most them Boys are back. The O? Not so much most nights really.. and losing Desjarlais Lawler and Harris(eventho he missed most the year) well.... 

If there is a concern I think the O in general is it. 

But remember... we have an elite QB now... in previous years we had a good QB or a questionable QB... having an elite QB behind elite protection makes any receiver and RB better

[Goalie]

1 minute ago, bearpants said:

But remember... we have an elite QB now... in previous years we had a good QB or a questionable QB... having an elite QB behind elite protection makes any receiver and RB better

I suppose but... at the same time Hardrick Bryant Neufeld ain't getting younger either. I mean the O needs to replace its 2 most productive players 

[Jesse]

13 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I guess maybe I'm concerned about the O a wee bit more than the D

D was damn near historic.. most them Boys are back. The O? Not so much most nights really.. and losing Desjarlais Lawler and Harris(eventho he missed most the year) well.... 

If there is a concern I think the O in general is it. 

If we freeze this moment in time and pretend that no more additions will be made:

I am concerned about OL depth, as we've had a couple loses there.

I would like a speed guy on offence (Janarion Grant might be this guy, but he also remains unsigned).

I am unconcerned about back-up QB - if Zach is out, so are our Grey Cup chances, I don't care who the back up is.

Everything else looks about equal to me.

[Noeller]

9 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I suppose but... at the same time Hardrick Bryant Neufeld ain't getting younger either. I mean the O needs to replace its 2 most productive players 

You're not going to "replace" a Kenny Lawler and healthy Andrew Harris, but you can sure try....and OllyAugust/AugiVeira and Ellingson is a pretty damn good start....

[Booch]

I'm not concerned in the least with our defense as we are in a  better place now, then we were going into 2021....Stove played half the reg season and we still won, and getting back Wilson improved the run defense just as much if not more than Stove coming back

Also we had no Rose...no Nichols who ended up league all-star, and needed to find 2 new DB's...at very worst...and this isnt a bad thing we will have Glass...a proven starter at boundary...experience all across the  board this summer for DB's...BA will hurt being out, but have the utmost faith we will fill that spot without an issue.

Same with offence...sure we lost Lawler, but Ellingson will replace what we lost there...dude has sick hands and makes crazy how did he make that grabs...Bailey is gonna be better, and we just need to replace what Adams brought to the table...but even then we have 3 legit 1000 yard potential guys as it is, along with Woli, so that 5th option doesn't necessarily need to be a expensive pickup...he wont see a lot of balls unless we unearth some stud.

JABO combo has shown they can gain yards, gonna be durable with split reps, especially behind our oline, so really...other than Harris experience in backfield we not missing much, not like both are first and second yr guys.....and age of our oline with a 31..33 and 36 yr old isnt concerning...if anything all 3 elevated their play last year, and as olineman go...28 to 34..35 is primetime...Bryant is an anomaly tho...even at 35 last yr was lights out...and expect the same this yr

[Brandon]

11 minutes ago, Noeller said:

You're not going to "replace" a Kenny Lawler and healthy Andrew Harris, but you can sure try....and OllyAugust/AugiVeira and Ellingson is a pretty damn good start....

Why not?  We ran the ball perfectly fine with Brady and Augustine and it's not like Lawler was the only guy who was catching balls.     

Also why look at it with the cup half empty,  OIiveria was player of the week in his very first start who is to say that he doesn't improve from last year and performs even better?

[Booch]

11 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Why not?  We ran the ball perfectly fine with Brady and Augustine and it's not like Lawler was the only guy who was catching balls.     

Also why look at it with the cup half empty,  OIiveria was player of the week in his very first start who is to say that he doesn't improve from last year and performs even better?

yeah....we can easily replace the rushing totals...Harris got us 623 yards....Oliveira totalled 429...and that wasnt all in starts....JA got 285 yards...in only 1 true start....thats 714 yards....now give them both a full season lugging the rock...we will be top 2 in team rushing...again

[blue_gold_84]

"Perfectly fine" is absolutely an overstatement. Oliveira had a fantastic week 1 performance but he only had one other 100+ yard rushing game (week 11 v. EDM). His numbers were pretty pedestrian otherwise but you can see the potential he has that's yet to be realized. The loss of Harris will be felt in the backfield and I don't see how that's up for debate. He's the complete package as a tailback and Oliveira or Augustine will have big shoes to fill in his absence. 

Losing Lawler sucks as a top weapon but Collaros made the most of his receivers in 2021 by moving the ball around (Demski and Bailey both had at least 70 targets). A balanced approach like that will be crucial again.

[johnzo]

I wonder if we draft a kicker or perhaps several this year.

[wbbfan]

47 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

"Perfectly fine" is absolutely an overstatement. Oliveira had a fantastic week 1 performance but he only had one other 100+ yard rushing game (week 11 v. EDM). His numbers were pretty pedestrian otherwise but you can see the potential he has that's yet to be realized. The loss of Harris will be felt in the backfield and I don't see how that's up for debate. He's the complete package as a tailback and Oliveira or Augustine will have big shoes to fill in his absence. 

Losing Lawler sucks as a top weapon but Collaros made the most of his receivers in 2021 by moving the ball around (Demski and Bailey both had at least 70 targets). A balanced approach like that will be crucial again.

We are perfectly fine. You'll never see a team in a better position to replace a hof starting ni rb and stay ni at the position. 

Young guys aren't consistent. And our offense in general suffered poor play calling injuries and drops in those early Brady starts. 

If buck can figure out how to use the backs to play off each other our running game in 2022 will be better than 2021. 

 As much credit as collaros gets for leading our wrs to success and he does our ol deserves credit for the run success. Basically any pro imp rb would run for more than 1000 with out breaking a sweat behind our ol. 

[Arnold_Palmer]

56 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

"Perfectly fine" is absolutely an overstatement. Oliveira had a fantastic week 1 performance but he only had one other 100+ yard rushing game (week 11 v. EDM). His numbers were pretty pedestrian otherwise but you can see the potential he has that's yet to be realized. The loss of Harris will be felt in the backfield and I don't see how that's up for debate. He's the complete package as a tailback and Oliveira or Augustine will have big shoes to fill in his absence. 

Losing Lawler sucks as a top weapon but Collaros made the most of his receivers in 2021 by moving the ball around (Demski and Bailey both had at least 70 targets). A balanced approach like that will be crucial again.

Only had one other 100 yard game? Huh how many 100 yard games do you think were in the CFL? Carey Ka’Deem who was second in rushing and who played 13 games had 3, James Wilder jr who finished third in rushing only had 1 in 11 games played. Oliveria did very well all things considered.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Arnold_Palmer

[M.Silverback]

58 minutes ago, Booch said:

yeah....we can easily replace the rushing totals...Harris got us 623 yards....Oliveira totalled 429...and that wasnt all in starts....JA got 285 yards...in only 1 true start....thats 714 yards....now give them both a full season lugging the rock...we will be top 2 in team rushing...again

I also trust the Buck's play calling. Using two young RB's, keeping them fresh, some screens, play actions ... Harris was a player that other D's had to key on, which opened some other things up, so we will miss that. But overall we'll be fine. 

[Atomic]

I'm not worried but also don't think we can expect the same quality of team from last year.... that was the peak. We could get there again but that was one of the best CFL teams I have ever seen. It remains to be seen whether Oliveira or Augustine can fill the starting RB role. I like both players but starting at RB is a tough job and Harris is an all-time great. We can expect a drop in performance and some challenges throughout the season.

Personally I believe the biggest loss will be Desjarlais - he is one of my favourite Bomber OL ever to watch. Our whole OL was spectacular but that left side was unbeatable. I'm confident Geoff Gray can be a starter but again I don't expect the same level of performance. I haven't seen anything to suggest that Stanley Bryant will start to show his age but it will come at some point. Maybe this year maybe not.

Luckily pretty much the entire rest of the CFL is a mess. Continuity has been blown away completely. I think that even though we are seeing more changes in Winnipeg this year, we are STILL going to be the team that brings back the strongest core. We are still the Grey Cup favourite but less so than going into last season.

[Bomber_fanaddict]

34 minutes ago, johnzo said:

I wonder if we draft a kicker or perhaps several this year.

Are there 8 kickers in the draft this year? Maybe we can get all 8 lol

[Jesse]

10 minutes ago, Atomic said:

I'm not worried but also don't think we can expect the same quality of team from last year.... that was the peak. We could get there again but that was one of the best CFL teams I have ever seen. It remains to be seen whether Oliveira or Augustine can fill the starting RB role. I like both players but starting at RB is a tough job and Harris is an all-time great. We can expect a drop in performance and some challenges throughout the season.

Personally I believe the biggest loss will be Desjarlais - he is one of my favourite Bomber OL ever to watch. Our whole OL was spectacular but that left side was unbeatable. I'm confident Geoff Gray can be a starter but again I don't expect the same level of performance. I haven't seen anything to suggest that Stanley Bryant will start to show his age but it will come at some point. Maybe this year maybe not.

Luckily pretty much the entire rest of the CFL is a mess. Continuity has been blown away completely. I think that even though we are seeing more changes in Winnipeg this year, we are STILL going to be the team that brings back the strongest core. We are still the Grey Cup favourite but less so than going into last season.

I expect us to struggle more because we're not coming off of a missed season and teams who were a mess last year will start to catch up.

I honestly don't see an aspect of our team that has dropped off (except our depth which was not really tested last year). 

[do or die]

Of course, we also have the reigning fanbase.....

[Nolby]

3 hours ago, Goalie said:

I guess maybe I'm concerned about the O a wee bit more than the D

D was damn near historic.. most them Boys are back. The O? Not so much most nights really.. and losing Desjarlais Lawler and Harris(eventho he missed most the year) well.... 

If there is a concern I think the O in general is it. 

With those boys leaving we may see the best yet,Brady and Augustine have big shoes to fill and I expect them to try and fill them 150% and I truly believe our drop off at receiver won't be terrible as Ellingson should help and Bailey I believe will have more receiving yards this year than Lawler . Don't get me wrong,I'd kill to have those guys still playing here but it's nowhere near doomsday,not by a long shot.

[Booch]

1 hour ago, Atomic said:

I'm not worried but also don't think we can expect the same quality of team from last year.... that was the peak. We could get there again but that was one of the best CFL teams I have ever seen. It remains to be seen whether Oliveira or Augustine can fill the starting RB role. I like both players but starting at RB is a tough job and Harris is an all-time great. We can expect a drop in performance and some challenges throughout the season.

Personally I believe the biggest loss will be Desjarlais - he is one of my favourite Bomber OL ever to watch. Our whole OL was spectacular but that left side was unbeatable. I'm confident Geoff Gray can be a starter but again I don't expect the same level of performance. I haven't seen anything to suggest that Stanley Bryant will start to show his age but it will come at some point. Maybe this year maybe not.

Luckily pretty much the entire rest of the CFL is a mess. Continuity has been blown away completely. I think that even though we are seeing more changes in Winnipeg this year, we are STILL going to be the team that brings back the strongest core. We are still the Grey Cup favourite but less so than going into last season.

Really....going into last yr we weren't the favorite...everyone was saying cats again....Riders were the team in the west...u till those teams played us.. then the narrative changed and most critics wised up 

We going in just as strong .. especially on defence...we didnt start with a Rose or Wilson...same with Nichols...we are this yr...Stove didn't define us...and our defence with whomever is in his spot will be more than adequate for us to get off running this yr

Maston and Darby is a wash...if anything Maston brings more physicality which will be nice until BA makes his appearance...and what a mid season addition that will be...it will be just like an NFL guy getting back...and it could coincide with a Kongbo sighting.

Same can be said on offence... cohesion and familiarity we have in spades...Ellingson will fit in seemlessly as he and ZC have history...and he knows how to attack CFL defenses...so at worst we playing 1 new guy (reciever) to our system and league in general...again...we will hit the ground running while other teams gotta learn all the new pieces.

[wbbfan]

30 minutes ago, Booch said:

Really....going into last yr we weren't the favorite...everyone was saying cats again....Riders were the team in the west...u till those teams played us.. then the narrative changed and most critics wised up 

We going in just as strong .. especially on defence...we didnt start with a Rose or Wilson...same with Nichols...we are this yr...Stove didn't define us...and our defence with whomever is in his spot will be more than adequate for us to get off running this yr

Maston and Darby is a wash...if anything Maston brings more physicality which will be nice until BA makes his appearance...and what a mid season addition that will be...it will be just like an NFL guy getting back...and it could coincide with a Kongbo sighting.

Same can be said on offence... cohesion and familiarity we have in spades...Ellingson will fit in seemlessly as he and ZC have history...and he knows how to attack CFL defenses...so at worst we playing 1 new guy (reciever) to our system and league in general...again...we will hit the ground running while other teams gotta learn all the new pieces.

People are critically under rated how great mercy is. And how good ellingson was with terrible qbing.