Blue Bombers - 2023 Regular Season - Discussion Thread

[blue85gold]

48 minutes ago, Booch said:

thats my only issue with Jackson.....

Ya if was Canadian he'd be a great versatile guy to have. Just doesn't make sense to use a DA spot

[Booch]

1 hour ago, blue85gold said:

Ya if was Canadian he'd be a great versatile guy to have. Just doesn't make sense to use a DA spot

Nope 

[wbbfan]

32 minutes ago, Booch said:

Nope 

Thing is he’s good at blocking down to smaller guys and he doesn’t seem capable of putting a rush on any one eating blocks or covering kicks. Even as an ni I think you can find a guy who can block down and  provide value carrying the ball a bit or covering on teams. He’s like 1/10th a thiadric Hansen. 
 Maybe he will develop more but despite his career as a marine and his size he just doesn’t seem to have more than average athleticism. And even that I think is generous. 

[Noeller]

Interesting note from Our Man Tait (and always I encourage you to head to BB.com and read all the pieces in full) in the latest edition of Upon Further Review:

 

"AND, FINALLY… there was some confusion Thursday as to the capacity at IG Field and whether the announced crowd of 32,343. Some background: when the building first opened capacity was listed at 33,500. Sellouts last year when the club led the CFL in attendance for the first time in franchise history were listed at 33,234.

 

The new capacity is 32,343 with the further expansion of the party decks and the removal of flex seating to improve the fan experience. Thursday’s crowd was the first sellout of the season and the third attendance total to eclipse the 30,000 mark. The next two home dates include the Banjo Bowl vs. the Saskatchewan Roughriders on September 9th – that game is already sold out – plus a visit from the Toronto Argonauts and the return of Andrew Harris on September 29th. The Edmonton Elks round out the regular season schedule on October 21."

[Booch]

yeah, cant see us not leading the league again this yr

[JohnnyAbonny]

1 hour ago, Booch said:

yeah, cant see us not leading the league again this yr

I’m pretty sure they could cancel everything after BB and we’d still be in the lead. 

[Super Duper Negatron]

This reminds me so much of this board it hurts.

[wbbfan]

9 hours ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

I’m pretty sure they could cancel everything after BB and we’d still be in the lead. 

Over under 3.5 years for the Argos to draw the same number of fans we will this year 

[Noeller]

I know we've talked about this a bunch, but I'm not sure I realized that Collaros turned 35 on Sunday. For some reason I was thinking he was still like 32 or 33. So he'd be 37 if he makes it through his current contract... how old was Calvillo when he retired....about the same? It's definitely impressive to be a pro athlete excelling like he is right now, considering that age, and some of the hard miles he's got on him. 

[JohnnyAbonny]

1 minute ago, Noeller said:

I know we've talked about this a bunch, but I'm not sure I realized that Collaros turned 35 on Sunday. For some reason I was thinking he was still like 32 or 33. So he'd be 37 if he makes it through his current contract... how old was Calvillo when he retired....about the same? It's definitely impressive to be a pro athlete excelling like he is right now, considering that age, and some of the hard miles he's got on him. 

Calvillo was 41 when he retired iirc. Point remains, it’s very impressive to be an MOP front runner at 35-36 years old

[Jesse]

1 hour ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

Calvillo was 41 when he retired iirc. Point remains, it’s very impressive to be an MOP front runner at 35-36 years old

Feels pretty routine in the CFL. The guys who are good stick around.

[BomberfanMKS]

12 hours ago, Jesse said:

Feels pretty routine in the CFL. The guys who are good stick around.

 

13 hours ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

Calvillo was 41 when he retired iirc. Point remains, it’s very impressive to be an MOP front runner at 35-36 years old

Calvillo never really felt like a gunslinger/move the pocket/big play guy.

He was a methodological pick you apart with accuracy and knowing exactly where the open guy would be as the ball hit his hands guy.

I thinkd those kinds of QBs have a much longer shelf life.

[GCn20]

15 hours ago, Noeller said:

I know we've talked about this a bunch, but I'm not sure I realized that Collaros turned 35 on Sunday. For some reason I was thinking he was still like 32 or 33. So he'd be 37 if he makes it through his current contract... how old was Calvillo when he retired....about the same? It's definitely impressive to be a pro athlete excelling like he is right now, considering that age, and some of the hard miles he's got on him. 

35 isn't really old for a QB. A ton of QBs now play to a very high level into their late thirties or even fortyish now. Of course, injuries can change all that but there is no reason to believe that if we can protect Zac well that he can't be very good for another 4-5 years.

[Geebrr]

On 2023-08-27 at 7:47 PM, Noeller said:

Interesting note from Our Man Tait (and always I encourage you to head to BB.com and read all the pieces in full) in the latest edition of Upon Further Review:

 

"AND, FINALLY… there was some confusion Thursday as to the capacity at IG Field and whether the announced crowd of 32,343. Some background: when the building first opened capacity was listed at 33,500. Sellouts last year when the club led the CFL in attendance for the first time in franchise history were listed at 33,234.

 

The new capacity is 32,343 with the further expansion of the party decks and the removal of flex seating to improve the fan experience. Thursday’s crowd was the first sellout of the season and the third attendance total to eclipse the 30,000 mark. The next two home dates include the Banjo Bowl vs. the Saskatchewan Roughriders on September 9th – that game is already sold out – plus a visit from the Toronto Argonauts and the return of Andrew Harris on September 29th. The Edmonton Elks round out the regular season schedule on October 21."

It blows me away that media people who claim to cover the Bombers didn’t know this. Specifically Bauming and Hodge. 

On 2023-08-28 at 6:26 PM, Noeller said:

I know we've talked about this a bunch, but I'm not sure I realized that Collaros turned 35 on Sunday. For some reason I was thinking he was still like 32 or 33. So he'd be 37 if he makes it through his current contract... how old was Calvillo when he retired....about the same? It's definitely impressive to be a pro athlete excelling like he is right now, considering that age, and some of the hard miles he's got on him. 

The useful life of QBs has definitely been extended with rules (that are supposed) to protect them (seemingly applied indiscriminately). That is/was a positive change. 

[wbbfan]

On 2023-08-29 at 8:16 AM, BomberfanMKS said:

 

Calvillo never really felt like a gunslinger/move the pocket/big play guy.

He was a methodological pick you apart with accuracy and knowing exactly where the open guy would be as the ball hit his hands guy.

I thinkd those kinds of QBs have a much longer shelf life.

Calvillo was certainly a gun slinger for most of his career. Real late he played more Ricky ray type football. But the prime ALs days and especially before that he was chucking deep taking risks and etc. 99 when he really cemented him self as the ALs qb he was tossing 10.4 yards per pass. Kari was averaging 8 when he took the same step with us.  5.1% passes go for tds in his that span Vs khari with 5.5 Zach with 5.3 Harris with 4.5 and ray with 4.4. 
 Put that in comparison with Danny Mac who had a career 3.9. Also in that 5 year span 99-03 calvillo had a combined 1190 rush yards and 10 tds. (In an era when qb keepers on the goal line was a rarity.) 

ac had the second biggest career revamp going from a running gun slinging 4 WRs with 1k plus to a possession passing game west coast classic. Damon Allen being the biggest revamp imo

[BomberfanMKS]

Yeh on maybe I'm remembering the second half of his career more clearly since those were the years I started with season tickets. 

 

My strongest memories of Calvillo was him absolutely shredding our zone maybe 1 steamboat out of his drop and leaving the pocket no more than a couple times a game

Edited September 1, 2023 by BomberfanMKS

[johnzo]

On 2023-08-28 at 4:28 PM, JohnnyAbonny said:

Calvillo was 41 when he retired iirc. Point remains, it’s very impressive to be an MOP front runner at 35-36 years old

For a lot of his career Calvillo had a wicked good OL to go with his fast delivery.  The dude was low mileage for someone his age ... compare the amount of punishment he took to what someone like Ricky Ray took.

Man Ricky Ray took a licking and kept on ticking.  You look at QBs like Khari or Matt Nichols or even Drew Willy who faded so quick after getting beat up and then you look at Ray who was never anything less than effective even behind shitty OLs ... RR15 underrated for toughness...

[Booch]

looks like we are actually finally looking at some PR depth...Nice to see a legit returner, tho not sure why the need for another receiver...and why bring back a DB now for the 3rd time??....another end is interesting...

[wbbfan]

16 minutes ago, Booch said:

looks like we are actually finally looking at some PR depth...Nice to see a legit returner, tho not sure why the need for another receiver...and why bring back a DB now for the 3rd time??....another end is interesting...

Only thing I can think is the WRs are just talent grabs guys we’ve wanted for a while. That or it’s advanced looks for tc next year though it is early for that. 
 4 WRs on the pr is crazy given our current depth though. 
 If we aren’t going to make use of Agudosi on teams then we should probably just move on from him. I’d rather see him get a di spot than Jackson or gmc and get used in packages down field and a lot of teams use but it’s still not ideal. 
wonder who we cut. 

[Booch]

3 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Only thing I can think is the WRs are just talent grabs guys we’ve wanted for a while. That or it’s advanced looks for tc next year though it is early for that. 
 4 WRs on the pr is crazy given our current depth though. 
 If we aren’t going to make use of Agudosi on teams then we should probably just move on from him. I’d rather see him get a di spot than Jackson or gmc and get used in packages down field and a lot of teams use but it’s still not ideal. 
wonder who we cut. 

he is an animal on teams....yet we didnt use him....

[wbbfan]

2 hours ago, Booch said:

he is an animal on teams....yet we didnt use him....

Imagine that guy coming off the edge to block a kick? 
 It’s insane how we fall in love with guys who can’t return as return men and a marine who can only block down in size has no use on teams or o but won’t use a guy who made his bones as a specialist. 
 Some times it seems like mos is trolling with the roster or soo complacent in his teams character that he thinks we can’t lose. 
 

[Stickem]

4 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

 Some times it seems like mos is trolling with the roster or soo complacent in his teams character that he thinks we can’t lose. 
 

We just did.....and I hope it doesn't balloon.....I'm certainly looking for changes in the special teams dept. next game.....but won't hold my breath

Edited September 6, 2023 by Stickem

[GCn20]

6 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Imagine that guy coming off the edge to block a kick? 
 It’s insane how we fall in love with guys who can’t return as return men and a marine who can only block down in size has no use on teams or o but won’t use a guy who made his bones as a specialist. 
 Some times it seems like mos is trolling with the roster or soo complacent in his teams character that he thinks we can’t lose. 
 

Yea, he could do better in roster management but I will take his win loss record over the past 5 years every day and twice on Sunday.

[Booch]

20 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Yea, he could do better in roster management but I will take his win loss record over the past 5 years every day and twice on Sunday.

Key point of your statement is in past tho...there's the thing...things change...teams adapt...we have stood pat basically for 3 yrs now... dominance in first cup win...eeked out 2nd...lost 3rd with deficiencies that have compounded ...and gotten worse...our dominance isnt there as teams have adapted...changed...evolved....we havnt and don't seem overly concerned to do so..and that's troubling

[GCn20]

12 minutes ago, Booch said:

Key point of your statement is in past tho...there's the thing...things change...teams adapt...we have stood pat basically for 3 yrs now... dominance in first cup win...eeked out 2nd...lost 3rd with deficiencies that have compounded ...and gotten worse...our dominance isnt there as teams have adapted...changed...evolved....we havnt and don't seem overly concerned to do so..and that's troubling

We are 9-3 and all but two victories have come by 2 score of more margins. We are currently on pace for a 13 win season and first place finish. We have DEFINITELY been dominant in a lot of games this season. Our margins of victory average higher than the 2021 season where no one can deny we would be perceived as a dominant team. The only difference this year is that we have let a couple more games go then we normally would have in past years. That's not on talent imo. It would be very difficult to call the loss to Ottawa anything more than us checking out early, the BC loss we simply did not prepare and come in focused, and last week we did not respect the fact that the RIders were playing their Grey Cup game and we treated it as just another game.

Edited September 6, 2023 by GCn20