Bombers at Riders LDC Early chat

[SpeedFlex27]

2 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

Question is at this point does Zach have an upside left? He still has a competitive spirit but physically he's diminished from what he was, a 10 yd. scramble has him seriously winded so he's not doing everything he can to stay in the best shape at his age. He used to be fleet of foot, now he looks as sluggish as Bighill when escaping the pocket.

His success as a passer always depended on his ability to throw on the run, every DC in the league has figured this out and has been cutting the field down and flooding the drop zone with angry DB's.  He never has gone through multiple progression on a play and never will, he's mostly a gunslinger who loves to shoot from the hip.

Last game, he looked seriously confused as his inability to move the ball, without reliable protection from his O-line, his plays of choice were to hand off to Brady or throw the ball in the general direction of Lawler, Wilson or Demski whether they were fully covered or not, using them as crutches to make up for Buck's ill conceived plans to achieve a quick strike. 

The last drive was reminiscent of the desperation Maier played with in previous seasons to move the ball on last minute drives, before he discovered any sense of composure.  The plays looked mostly scripted with Zach firing the ball blindly to a spot whether a receiver was there or not.  Fortunately it worked out for Zach on that one last drive.

 

 

Whether we get younger at qb this off season will depend on Buck Pierce, O'Shea & Walters. We can if we want to but I can see O'Shea saying no. 

[JohnnyAbonny]

7 hours ago, Fatty Liver said:

Question is at this point does Zach have an upside left? He still has a competitive spirit but physically he's diminished from what he was, a 10 yd. scramble has him seriously winded so he's not doing everything he can to stay in the best shape at his age. He used to be fleet of foot, now he looks as sluggish as Bighill when escaping the pocket.

His success as a passer always depended on his ability to throw on the run, every DC in the league has figured this out and has been cutting the field down and flooding the drop zone with angry DB's.  He never has gone through multiple progression on a play and never will, he's mostly a gunslinger who loves to shoot from the hip.

Last game, he looked seriously confused at his inability to move the ball, without reliable protection from his O-line, his plays of choice were to hand off to Brady or throw the ball in the general direction of Lawler, Wilson or Demski whether they were fully covered or not, using them as crutches to make up for Buck's ill conceived plans to achieve a quick strike. 

The last drive was reminiscent of the desperation Maier played with in previous seasons to move the ball on last minute drives, before he discovered any sense of composure.  The plays looked mostly scripted with Zach firing the ball blindly to a spot whether a receiver was there or not.  Fortunately it worked out for Zach on that one last drive.

 

 

He’s 36. He’s on his upside, which is to simply still be playing at all. 
The home game against Stamps is his ceiling now imo, and that will be even less frequent as the weather turns poor. 

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

10 hours ago, Goalie said:

I’ll say this if the guy who showed up on the last drive shows up in Regina, we good. 

If that Zach shows up... we have a great shot at the cup this year.

[IC Khari]

This game is our D against theirs (plus the refs and CC of course 😁). Im not convinced their D is better than ours, so if our offence performs a bit better than Sask’s, we win. Hopefully number 20 is ready to go that will help greatly!

Edited August 26 by IC Khari

[JohnnyAbonny]

4 minutes ago, IC Khari said:

This game is our D against theirs (plus the refs and CC of course 😁). Im not convinced their D is better than ours, so if our offence performs a bit better than Sask’s, we win. Hopefully number 20 is ready to go that will help greatly!

I don’t think theirs is better. Luckier and more opportunistic if anything.

the refs/CC..it’s Labour Day. Hopes high, expectations low on that. 

My concerns are our OL in pass pro vs their DL, and the punter keeping us in a field position hole all day. 

Bombers are the better team in every other way. Secure the ball on offence, we should be able to grind out a tough win. 

If Brady can’t go, we’re ****** though for real. 

 

 

 

[Fatty Liver]

1 hour ago, Wanna-B-Fanboy said:

If that Zach shows up... we have a great shot at the cup this year.

That's more of a hope and a prayer than a logical assumption at this time.  They have a good chance to win the GC if they consistently play well and win most games by outplaying their opponents in all 3 phases, as they have for the past few years.  A couple of key indicators are not in their favour this season, they are not winning consistently and they also are not playing that well on offence.

[Tracker]

13 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Whether we get younger at qb this off season will depend on Buck Pierce, O'Shea & Walters. We can if we want to but I can see O'Shea saying no. 

We did get Younger at defensive coordinator.

[ShyGuy]

People keep suggesting having kept Brown like it was a possibility... that move would have been unprecedented in sports, to move on from your QB, who if the MOP candidates were ranked probably would have been #3, to a relatively small sample size backup QB. The problem is that everyone was expecting a somewhat graceful decline in Collaros... but what happened was a huge nosedive.

 

Also, if the Riders refuse to acknowledge the Banjo Bowl and insist on calling it the Labour Day Rematch, can we start referring to the game on Labour Day as the Banjo Bowl Preview? Maybe the Banjo Bowl Backstory to keep it all Bs?

[17to85]

23 minutes ago, ShyGuy said:

The problem is that everyone was expecting a somewhat graceful decline in Collaros... but what happened was a huge nosedive.

There were a hell of a lot of us expecting just this to happen.... because he showed this last season at times. 

[IC Khari]

The thing is, many thought Collaros was finshed back in 2019 before we got him when he was 30. Thats why we were able to trade for him. Then he somehow got back to the MOP level he was in 2021 and 2022 with us. Can he get back there at 35? He has shown some flashes but so far he hasn't been as consistent as he once was that's obvious. Are there some midigating circumstances like injuries etc? Definitely. Not comparing him, but Brett Farve came back at 39 and almost took his team to the Superbowl and then crashed the next season. Point is, veteran QB's are a gamble but they also can reap great rewards. At the start of this season after what Collaros has put ups for a resume (remember we still finished first in the West and made the Grey Cup), there was no way the Bombers were going to give his job to Dru Brown. Brown wanted to be a starter and he deserved the chance. That's the breaks. If Collaros is 37 or 38 at the start of this year, I don't doubt the team looks for a replacement. 

Edited August 26 by IC Khari

[blue85gold]

31 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

There were a hell of a lot of us expecting just this to happen.... because he showed this last season at times. 

But come on... you weren't expecting 6TDs to 12INTS.  Nobody was. 

[17to85]

25 minutes ago, blue85gold said:

But come on... you weren't expecting 6TDs to 12INTS.  Nobody was. 

Dude was outplayed by brown last year, he showed he can't play without top teir protection... this is not really much of a surprise. After the summer the offense was Brady Brady and more Brady. 

[BaconNBigBlue]

I have set the bar very low for this game.  That way I won't be depressed to end the long weekend.  If they pull out a win I can be pleasantly surprised and enjoy the rest of the week.  Based on how this season has gone, I may not have set the bar low enough.  Only time will tell.

 

[itchy]

2 hours ago, ShyGuy said:

People keep suggesting having kept Brown like it was a possibility... that move would have been unprecedented in sports, to move on from your QB, who if the MOP candidates were ranked probably would have been #3, to a relatively small sample size backup QB. The problem is that everyone was expecting a somewhat graceful decline in Collaros... but what happened was a huge nosedive.

I see it as a key point in a team's evolution, do you try to ride out a wily vet, or cut bait and risk on a younger guy? It's been done before, but maybe not to the same degree. Calgary cut bait on Bo when he looked to be downgrading, and went with maier McCheese instead of losing him, the Packers cut bait on Favre and went with Rodgers. Happens lots. Hard decisions, but in retrospect probably the right ones- especially Rodgers. The Packers i recall were roasted early for that one. Then they made the decision to cut bait on Rodgers.

We were in a need for a reset/retool, and that cap space alone could have done wonders. Brown earned a starting shot with us or someone else.

Edited August 26 by itchy

[bearpants]

1 hour ago, blue85gold said:

But come on... you weren't expecting 6TDs to 12INTS.  Nobody was. 

I we got extremely unlucky on the timing... if Collaros played like this last year, or Brown still had one more year at his entry level contract... it would have been much easier/justifiable to move on

[HardCoreBlue]

I'm wondering who is on our qb prospects radar in the next 1-3 years on top of any qb we may recycle from another CFL team once its clear Zach is saying bye bye.

[Rod Black]

11 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

I'm wondering who is on our qb prospects radar in the next 1-3 years on top of any qb we may recycle from another CFL team once its clear Zach is saying bye bye.

This article might be currently irrelevant. It seems the next prospects list is published in September. There are a few QB’s listed. 
https://www.bluebombers.com/2023/12/12/neg-list-players-revealed/ 

[Jpan85]

1 minute ago, Rod Black said:

This article might be currently irrelevant. It seems the next prospects list is published in September. There are a few QB’s listed. 
https://www.bluebombers.com/2023/12/12/neg-list-players-revealed/ 

 Interesting not sure he is still on the Bombers list but former Notre Dame QB was released by Chiefs today 

[Fatty Liver]

13 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

I'm wondering who is on our qb prospects radar in the next 1-3 years on top of any qb we may recycle from another CFL team once its clear Zach is saying bye bye.

Wish they had a reasonable plan of action to prepare their next QB but you know they probably don't.  It'll come down to whatever falls from the sky at that moment. Sooner or later Zach will get injured which may force them to address the issue beforehand.

[Fatty Liver]

18 minutes ago, Rod Black said:

This article might be currently irrelevant. It seems the next prospects list is published in September. There are a few QB’s listed. 
https://www.bluebombers.com/2023/12/12/neg-list-players-revealed/ 

After Barrierre flopped so badly, don't have much faith in these lists.

[Noeller]

Has there been any word on the big OL we drafted this year that was not expected to ever play in the CFL? How's his camp been down south?

[JohnnyAbonny]

7 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Has there been any word on the big OL we drafted this year that was not expected to ever play in the CFL? How's his camp been down south?

He’s never coming here. 

[Rod Black]

33 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

After Barrierre flopped so badly, don't have much faith in these lists.

Barrierre wasnt on the list. Lol

[JuranBoldenRules]

It's crazy to me how many teams aren't carrying 4 QB's.

I wouldn't have minded seeing more of Grainger.

Wonder if guys are refusing PR spots to try US spring leagues instead.

[IC Khari]

Speaking of the future at QB, Terry Wilson looked pretty good during the preseason I thought. I did like his wheels and his arm seemed quite strong. Also he has good size for a QB. https://www.bluebombers.com/players/terry-wilson/166694/. Not saying he’s a Dru Brown yet, but perhaps we have a QB in waiting eventually?

Edited August 26 by IC Khari