2024 Blue Bomber Training Camp

[Atomic]

1 minute ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

For 28,000 of the people in the stands they know Collaros, Willie, Oliviera and maybe Schoen or Bighill.

Don't forget Sergio "Garcia" Castillo

[Tracker]

1 minute ago, Atomic said:

Don't forget Sergio "Garcia" Castillo

Yup. you don't wanna disparage a man whose ancestors were nobility. He could raise an army and come for you.

[Doublezero]

I count 18 new faces on the roster (including PR). That is a lot of turnover - the most, I think, of any Blue Bombers lineup I can remember in the past several years. Usually, continuity has been the hallmark. There were holes to fill due to departures of certain vets and very few vets (so far) have been outright released unless you count OL Chris Ivy - not sure of his health status. Not predicting anything, but often when this degree of turnover happens a team takes a step back for the first few games. 

Edited June 2 by Doublezero

[BigBlue]

7 hours ago, Mark H. said:

What is the fan loyalty cost - of not using preseason to properly evaluate talent? 

Our season-ticket holders and other fans would actually like to see some battles going on and a certain amount of competitiveness. They're the ones who pay the money.

I don't buy that you just throw out all the vets and let the rookies stand there in their underwear. To evaluate a player you need some degree of game -like conditions and we had none. We might as well have watched them do drills; that would have been more fun.

We should've at least tried to put out enough skilled players to give us a distant open of winning. Anything less is fan abuse. It's totally selfish with disdain for the paying customer.

It's also a team spirit killer. If were going to do this kind of thing in a preseason game, we would be better off to kill the entire preseason and do something else instead. I can think of lots of ideas. We have a president and the general manager that are capable of thinking and enjoyment.

What we did Friday night prevented any notion of personality evaluation. You can evaluate nothing when you are shooting fish in a barrel. There is no sense of harmony or team. You cannot see the subtleties of what real talent can do in a noncompetitive situation.

Don't you think?

Edited June 2 by BigBlue

[Stickem]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

Yup. you don't wanna disparage a man whose ancestors were nobility. He could raise an army and come for you.

for sure like the 'Don' Quixote and his pals

 

(wait a minute ....this ain't football)

Edited June 2 by Stickem

[Goalie]

16 minutes ago, BigBlue said:

Our season-ticket holders and other fans would actually like to see some battles going on and a certain amount of competitiveness. They're the ones who pay the money.

I don't buy that you just throw out all the vets and let the rookies stand there in their underwear. To evaluate a player you need some degree of game -like conditions and we had none. We might as well have watched them do drills; that would have been more fun.

We should've at least tried to put out enough skilled players to give us a distant open of winning. Anything less is fan abuse. It's totally selfish with disdain for the paying customer.

It's also a team spirit killer. If were going to do this kind of thing in a preseason game, we would be better off to kill the entire preseason and do something else instead. I can think of lots of ideas. We have a president and the general manager that are capable of thinking and enjoyment.

What we did Friday night prevented any notion of personality evaluation. You can evaluate nothing when you are shooting fish in a barrel. There is no sense of harmony or team. You cannot see the subtleties of what real talent can do in a noncompetitive situation.

Don't you think?

Short answer. No. 
 

would I as a fan liked to see Zach and the 1’s for a series or 2 ? Sure. But pre season isn’t about winning. It’s about the rooks getting a chance. The rookie D did damn fine against Calgary starters. Our rookie o didn’t do so well against the Calgary starters and backups. The oline they put out meant no Zach. And after watching Wilson being Given 2 seconds to throw the ball and get smacked, this fan is glad we didn’t play the 1’s. 

[Booch]

21 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Short answer. No. 
 

would I as a fan liked to see Zach and the 1’s for a series or 2 ? Sure. But pre season isn’t about winning. It’s about the rooks getting a chance. The rookie D did damn fine against Calgary starters. Our rookie o didn’t do so well against the Calgary starters and backups. The oline they put out meant no Zach. And after watching Wilson being Given 2 seconds to throw the ball and get smacked, this fan is glad we didn’t play the 1’s. 

That being said...hate to lose a game early in season...when we have a team wih most continuity in the the league...due to rust....timing....not in actual live game shape....and then say lose out 1st place and a WF at home by one game or lose a tie breaker cause of it

Last pre-season game...at home....no limitations on how many guys can realistically travel to....no reason the defacto starters could get even 1 series....

Edited June 2 by Booch

[kelownabomberfan]

man I want to see the Bombers crush the Al's right into the ground next week.  Payback time! 

[Nolby]

Im excited to see how our new D cooridnator cooks things up. A younger view should be beneficial.

[wbbfan]

22 minutes ago, Nolby said:

Im excited to see how our new D cooridnator cooks things up. A younger view should be beneficial.

😄

Same here, I have very high expectations for JY bringing a new spark. I haven't heard a peep about Hall this TC, other than people talking about JY taking over for him. 

[kelownabomberfan]

3 hours ago, Nolby said:

Im excited to see how our new D cooridnator cooks things up. A younger view should be beneficial.

No pun intended...

[JuranBoldenRules]

6 hours ago, Nolby said:

Im excited to see how our new D cooridnator cooks things up. A younger view should be beneficial.

I don't think it will be much different and that's a good thing.  Going to use everyone on roster, lots of guys that fit multiple roles.  Really well disguised.

Important thing to learn from 2023 looking back at earlier teams is importance of that DL rotation...8 guys need to be running through there.

[Booch]

I see already from snippets in practice, and the pre-season that we will be more of an attacking and aggressive defense, as opposed to the let the play come to us style we have used last several yrs, with a more give them this....to try and take away that mentality...but this yr with some of the skill-sets we kept, and the numbers of some positions we are gonna be a more take it all away style and try and exploit us style...which will serve us way better in the big picture

Edited June 3 by Booch

[JuranBoldenRules]

Bighill became very predictable and didn't disguise anything.  He was either 12 yards off the ball to drop into 2 deep/Cover 2 or standing over the centre to blitz.

Interested to see how things look without him.

[17to85]

Ritchie Hall had the least disguised blitzes in the whole world. He didn't care he just wanted a quick throw. Hoping younger hides things a little more because that's how you force mistakes in this day and age in the cfl.

[Booch]

Just now, 17to85 said:

Ritchie Hall had the least disguised blitzes in the whole world. He didn't care he just wanted a quick throw. Hoping younger hides things a little more because that's how you force mistakes in this day and age in the cfl.

also didnt help when we wante to force the quick throw...knew they had to do that...and still played way off allowing the play to be made...then try ti limit it...hated that

[Goalie]

Sounds like versatility is gonna be key with the D and a little more aggressive play instead of passive. Perhaps less bend but don’t break. 

[JuranBoldenRules]

35 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Ritchie Hall had the least disguised blitzes in the whole world. He didn't care he just wanted a quick throw. Hoping younger hides things a little more because that's how you force mistakes in this day and age in the cfl.

Blitzing in general is a bad strategy.  Teams on O and QB's are prepared for it generally.  Need to be able to get pressure with 4 which was a deficiency last season.

[wbbfan]

3 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Blitzing in general is a bad strategy.  Teams on O and QB's are prepared for it generally.  Need to be able to get pressure with 4 which was a deficiency last season.

You have to really set it up and prioritize blitzing to counter specific looks. Show and drop a lot, move guys around, etc. delay blitzing a db from the blind side is about as good as it gets. 
 Sending 1-3 guys on a regular basis especially spread out is awful. 
 Our defensive success came with getting pressure from our front. Creativity is better spent on front alignments twists etc. 

[GCn20]

16 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Blitzing in general is a bad strategy.  Teams on O and QB's are prepared for it generally.  Need to be able to get pressure with 4 which was a deficiency last season.

I agree. Blitzing is only effective when it can catch an OL by surprise. Done too much you are going to get torched. You gotta have a front 4 that can at the very least get the QB off his spot consistently. 

[wbbfan]

54 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

I agree. Blitzing is only effective when it can catch an OL by surprise. Done too much you are going to get torched. You gotta have a front 4 that can at the very least get the QB off his spot consistently. 

Yep. Virtually all cfl QBS are mobile enough to over come an asymmetrical overload, unless the guy you rush is super fast and or the qb fails to read it he will escape the open side. Like fajardo has soo often. 

 Blitzing/Pressures are a funny thing. The most effective action a D can take is to create a pressure. But all pressures aren't the same. Just being able to push the ol back into the pocket and shrink it can be very effective. Using your arms and positioning to limit throwing lanes can help even more if you can continually push the pocket. As valuable as pressures are, Blitzing actually devalues pressure (qb reads blitz and gets rid of the ball faster) and is proportionally worse than sending just the DL, while opening up big gaps in coverage. A few very specific blitzes are situationally more efficient and effective. But really require a lot of set up. 

Sending a single LBer with regularity into an OL, like we have gotten into is about the worst use of players as you can have. The OL take their man, spreads and creates a wide arching pocket. The pass rushers have to get around their man and come up the back of the play. By which time the ball should be out already. Plus, A lot of teams chip with Wrs, and play block and release with rbs. Which slows down the rush, makes the angle less of an advantage and creates an easy outlet for the qb.  

A lot of times people are surprised by pressures from 3 man rushes. But in the CFL, teams seldom rush out of 30 fronts, and it's alignments are more difficult for ol. It also allows more disguise in your rush lanes vs a 40 front. We've had tons of success putting 3-4 guys on the line who are all pass rushing. From all DE alignments to willy on the nose in a 30 OLs are the weak spot of most every team. I think running various alignments like a 30 front, and 30 over with a jack lber where you have 2-3 tweener DT/DEs who can pass rush and a nose with a good rotation of guys can give you a whole lot more than sending 5 guys with a lber running into a linemen. Or even 6 guys and getting a guy chipped/ forcing the pocket to move.