2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[Fatty Liver]

2 hours ago, blue85gold said:

Anybody listen to the OB special?

Anything interesting of note?

Haven't listened to it yet but here is the spotify link

 

The commercials were top shelf, put the Super Bowl ads to shame.

Edited Wednesday at 06:26 PM by Fatty Liver

[wbbfan]

59 minutes ago, Noeller said:

It was really good. Good convos with some interesting people. Encouraged by the new OCs comments. Listening to Collaros, it's clear that the whole season, something was off. Maybe I'm reading too much between the lines but I'm very curious if something was amiss with Buck last year. 

After listening to that last night, I'm praying for health and think there's a high ceiling for this team. 

I really got a lot of the same feeling. Some of zachs comments seemed guarded in a way that hinted at things with buck previously not being great. And that he just wants to be on the same page as hogan. 

Overall I thought it was heavy on fluff. And to be fair it is likely that is what people tune into these things for.

Some highlights:

Vaughters was careful in his wording of why things in calgary fell off, a lot of it sounded applicable to us though as well. Loved his comments about guys putting in all the little bits of hard work in order to win and his move here being based on wanting to win.

Wallace talking about his recovery sounds very promising, as well as his continued improvements to his conditioning. Love that buffalo moved him side to side and out to tackle from early on in his days in practice. 

Hogan didn't give much for specifics, which is no surprise. Sounds like hes been going down the rabbit hole a bit in terms of what is in vogue down south these days. Said he likes simple concepts but has a special interest in trick plays and stuff that has higher engagement. Honestly he sounded a lot like lapo, but it is a very brief conversation. 

[Fatty Liver]

25 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I really got a lot of the same feeling. Some of zachs comments seemed guarded in a way that hinted at things with buck previously not being great. And that he just wants to be on the same page as hogan. 

Overall I thought it was heavy on fluff. And to be fair it is likely that is what people tune into these things for.

Some highlights:

Vaughters was careful in his wording of why things in calgary fell off, a lot of it sounded applicable to us though as well. Loved his comments about guys putting in all the little bits of hard work in order to win and his move here being based on wanting to win.

Wallace talking about his recovery sounds very promising, as well as his continued improvements to his conditioning. Love that buffalo moved him side to side and out to tackle from early on in his days in practice. 

Hogan didn't give much for specifics, which is no surprise. Sounds like hes been going down the rabbit hole a bit in terms of what is in vogue down south these days. Said he likes simple concepts but has a special interest in trick plays and stuff that has higher engagement. Honestly he sounded a lot like lapo, but it is a very brief conversation. 

Hogan mentioned keeping his offence simple, which probably reflects how much trouble they had with rookie receivers not understanding the playbook well last season.  

[GCn20]

2 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

Hogan mentioned keeping his offence simple, which probably reflects how much trouble they had with rookie receivers not understanding the playbook well last season.  

An issue that can't be understated from last year for sure. Buck is a very good OC if you give him what he had to start with. the second we started to rebuild our offensive player group the wheels fell off. That's not a knock on Buck's offence, just that it needs continuity of personnel and perhaps a slight criticism of his ability to tweak his offence to accommodate a bit of a rebuild of our receiving corps.

[Noeller]

Maybe it's just because I've never played football and don't have full understanding of X's and O's, but I thought it was really impressive when DT described a play that he saw the Bisons run once back around 2013 and Hogan listened to him and knew immediately what the play was and said it's what the Detroit Lions have been doing a lot of this past year. Some kinda jet sweep type thing with both Brady and Demski running off the left side at the same time...

[HardCoreBlue]

2 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

Hogan mentioned keeping his offence simple, which probably reflects how much trouble they had with rookie receivers not understanding the playbook well last season.  

Obviously I'm not an expert but one way to keep the O simple is when you have the best RB in the league deploy him (health permitting) with discipline to help the receivers with separation, i.e., DB's.

[GCn20]

1 hour ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Obviously I'm not an expert but one way to keep the O simple is when you have the best RB in the league deploy him (health permitting) with discipline to help the receivers with separation, i.e., DB's.

Running game certainly helps, but it's pretty straight forward really and doesn't really simplify the passing playbook. You are right that it does allow the passing playbook to be simplified though. The last 2 years we ran the ball more than anyone. We can't blame our offensive woes last year on a lack of running. It was the fact that half our offence were new players and we didn't simplify the play book to reflect the fact that there would be inevitable growing pains because of that imo.

Edited Wednesday at 08:26 PM by GCn20

[Brandon]

So we can blame Buck for Zach throwing it into double coverage on a frequent basis?

[wbbfan]

13 minutes ago, Brandon said:

So we can blame Buck for Zach throwing it into double coverage on a frequent basis?

We can blame buck for not off setting some of zach and the offenses weaknesses.  Zach is a chucker, and if you don't give him a clear effective path to victory with your game plan, thats gonna happen a lot. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

We can blame Buck for the ridiculous Grey Cup scheme that used the league MOP as a decoy rather than actually run the ball. Was quietly very happy when BC scooped him up to be the head coach. I put a lot of the last Cup loss on Pierce’s game plan. 

[wbbfan]

https://3downnation.com/2025/02/26/15-players-to-watch-at-the-2025-cfl-invitational-combine/

[Goalie]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

https://3downnation.com/2025/02/26/15-players-to-watch-at-the-2025-cfl-invitational-combine/

Looks like a couple of oline centers mentioned there. Perhaps guys to keep an eye on. Gotta think we looking OL and WR for sure.  Based on nothing but write up’s on them OLs Horth and Pyle as well as Manitoba DB Nitychoruk and DL/DE Carter Maurice all sound interesting. Receivers all seem meh. 

Edited yesterday at 01:08 AM by Goalie

[wbbfan]

44 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Looks like a couple of oline centers mentioned there. Perhaps guys to keep an eye on. Gotta think we looking OL and WR for sure.  Based on nothing but write up’s on them OLs Horth and Pyle as well as Manitoba DB Nitychoruk and DL/DE Carter Maurice all sound interesting. Receivers all seem meh. 

Horth and pile fit a need for us in a big way. 
 Nitychoruk I think we only go after if he’s a late pick. We don’t seem to go after u of m guys mid to high. His size is tremendous and he can fit easily as a back up but idk if he has the upside we go for. 
 Wanadi will be interesting to see how he tracks through the process. I could see him going at the bottom or earning his way into the top 1/3rd of the draft. He really needs to nail the interviews and 1on1s though. 

[Tracker]

8 hours ago, Fatty Liver said:

Hogan mentioned keeping his offence simple, which probably reflects how much trouble they had with rookie receivers not understanding the playbook well last season.  

Would our new offensive coordinator's charges now be called , "Hogan's Heroes"  if they do well?

[MrFreakzilla]

8 hours ago, Brandon said:

So we can blame Buck for Zach throwing it into double coverage on a frequent basis?

We can definitely blame Buck for not giving Brady the ball more in the biggest game of the season.

[SpeedFlex27]

16 hours ago, GCn20 said:

An issue that can't be understated from last year for sure. Buck is a very good OC if you give him what he had to start with. the second we started to rebuild our offensive player group the wheels fell off. That's not a knock on Buck's offence, just that it needs continuity of personnel and perhaps a slight criticism of his ability to tweak his offence to accommodate a bit of a rebuild of our receiving corps.

Buck's offense went off the rails at times last season. His playcalling at times left a lot to be desired. Not sorry to see him go. 

[Mike]

Nitychoruk would be a pretty long option to develop at safety. Not athletic enough to play pro corner, but I’d be curious at how he’d translate to safety.

 

[wbbfan]

20 minutes ago, Mike said:

Nitychoruk would be a pretty long option to develop at safety. Not athletic enough to play pro corner, but I’d be curious at how he’d translate to safety.

 

I'll preface this by saying I am biased against the unathletic Canadian safety who sits in the smallest zone, hoping he doesn't have to pick anyone up. But I don't see that fitting in our system, tbh. 

JY's D is all about guys coming up and making plays on the ball/target. And it requires considerable flexibility from each position in terms of being able to switch off on guys to maintain leverage. We pack most of the best athletes on the team into the secondary with one guy here and there otherwise. 

[Bigblue204]

I bet Nitychoruk will be available via FA after the draft.

[GCn20]

19 hours ago, Brandon said:

So we can blame Buck for Zach throwing it into double coverage on a frequent basis?

Should you blame a cold virus for a runny nose? Yes. Throwing into double coverage is a symptom of a weak offensive scheme. Should the QB do it? No....obviously not, but he is paid to make plays and when he is throwing into double coverage one has to ask why the QB felt that was his best/only option. Also, he may have thrown into double coverage 3-4 times all season. Don't exaggerate to try and make your point, we've all watched the games and know this was not something that happened game in and game out. Did he throw into tight coverage often, yes, and that is the DB reading the route far easier than he should have been able to. That's on the OC mostly, and partly on the receiver not recognizing his route tree options based on the DB positioning.

Edited 17 hours ago by GCn20

[Tracker]

5 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Buck's offense went off the rails at times last season. His play-calling at times left a lot to be desired. Not sorry to see him go. 

IMO, that still falls on O'Shea who ought to have stepped in if Buck was not doing  job.

[Goalie]

14 minutes ago, Tracker said:

IMO, that still falls on O'Shea who ought to have stepped in if Buck was not doing  job.

Then you don’t know how O’Shea coaches. Yeah I’m sure the dude who was a linebacker gonna tell the former QB how to run an O.  
 

sometimes I wonder if some of you have actually paid attention to how Osh does things. Was the missed tackles his fault also? The interceptions. Now buck being a moron Is on O’Shea? What else? Egg prices? 

Edited 15 hours ago by Goalie

[GCn20]

23 minutes ago, Tracker said:

IMO, that still falls on O'Shea who ought to have stepped in if Buck was not doing  job.

Yes and no. Buck didn't do a great job last year but it was a mix of things, personnel being one issue as well. We went into last year trying to get younger. Realistically, anyone should have expected some growing pains early in the season to allow us to do that. MOS gave the benefit of the doubt to an OC, that up to last year, did a decent job. Also, not a single one of us knows what conversations MOS did/didn't have with Buck last year regarding the offensive inconsistency. Our offence got better as the season progressed so there is that as well. The GC game....short of MOS running upstairs and kicking Buck out of the booth there was little he could have done.

Edited 15 hours ago by GCn20

[wbbfan]

5 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Buck's offense went off the rails at times last season. His playcalling at times left a lot to be desired. Not sorry to see him go. 

It went off the rails at times the previous year. It was derailed almost all of last year. Couple good games is it. 
 

4 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Then you don’t know how O’Shea coaches. Yeah I’m sure the dude who was a linebacker gonna tell the former QB how to run an O.  
 

sometimes I wonder if some of you have actually paid attention to how Osh does things. Was the missed tackles his fault also? The interceptions. Now buck being a moron Is on O’Shea? What else? Egg prices? 

he should’ve, but wouldn’t do it on a large scale. In the mic’d up game we saw him over ride play call twice. 
 Also that is how football works on the larger scale. Hcs manage co’s. Some more than others, but on most pro teams you have a hc who wasn’t a qb telling a former qb coach what to do. 
 

In our case that usually boils down to situations where mos told buck run or pass and buck called a specific play of that variety or the odd time that mos would that changed. The times I saw it with the mic’s hot was putting in runs on 2nd and short. 

3 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Yes and no. Buck didn't do a great job last year but it was a mix of things, personnel being one issue as well. We went into last year trying to get younger. Realistically, anyone should have expected some growing pains early in the season to allow us to do that.

I don’t think the issue is that we had growing pains, it’s that buck didn’t do any thing to make it easier for the new guys. He basically expected Zach to sit back and chuck deep when we didn’t run and do the same stuff we did when we had the best ol and we core in the league. 
 He simplified things by taking out pa, sweep and motion. Instead of simplifying the roles of the new guys he took away our multiplicity, versatility, and wrinkles. Which failed miserably. And he never tried to adjust it in another direction. 

[GCn20]

5 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

It went off the rails at times the previous year. It was derailed almost all of last year. Couple good games is it. 
 

he should’ve, but wouldn’t do it on a large scale. In the mic’d up game we saw him over ride play call twice. 
 Also that is how football works on the larger scale. Hcs manage co’s. Some more than others, but on most pro teams you have a hc who wasn’t a qb telling a former qb coach what to do. 
 

In our case that usually boils down to situations where mos told buck run or pass and buck called a specific play of that variety or the odd time that mos would that changed. The times I saw it with the mic’s hot was putting in runs on 2nd and short. 

The HC will only very occasionally over ride an OC's play call and it is almost always in a decision like you described above. 2nd and short and the OC wants to go into the bag of tricks or something and the HC will dash his dreams by over riding. Specific play calling on 2nd and long for instance...nope...doubt the HC even knows the offensive playbook well enough to do so.

5 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

It went off the rails at times the previous year. It was derailed almost all of last year. Couple good games is it. 
 

he should’ve, but wouldn’t do it on a large scale. In the mic’d up game we saw him over ride play call twice. 
 Also that is how football works on the larger scale. Hcs manage co’s. Some more than others, but on most pro teams you have a hc who wasn’t a qb telling a former qb coach what to do. 
 

In our case that usually boils down to situations where mos told buck run or pass and buck called a specific play of that variety or the odd time that mos would that changed. The times I saw it with the mic’s hot was putting in runs on 2nd and short. 

I don’t think the issue is that we had growing pains, it’s that buck didn’t do any thing to make it easier for the new guys. He basically expected Zach to sit back and chuck deep when we didn’t run and do the same stuff we did when we had the best ol and we core in the league. 
 He simplified things by taking out pa, sweep and motion. Instead of simplifying the roles of the new guys he took away our multiplicity, versatility, and wrinkles. Which failed miserably. And he never tried to adjust it in another direction. 

Growing pains is my way of saying that we couldn't run the complexities of our offence totally because of unfamiliarity with the playbook, and that chemistry was not there yet either. Those first few games last year the timing was brutal as well. Just out of synch and it is my opinion it is because players were somewhat confused and just not enough reps to get comfortable yet.

Edited 15 hours ago by GCn20