wbbfan

This is a big thing too. People think harris has disappeared from the passing game. Hes just as good at catching it out of the back field as ever, and as open as usual but collaros is finding guys down field. Slowly teams will sag on him more and more in the pass game he will probably see a bit more passes and first downs rather than getting a 5 yard toss on 2nd and 10 and being swallowed up. Id love to see them start sending harris on deeper routes. The old out n up, wheel stuff and even just 10-15 down field. What a nightmare for a wil to try and cover him. Np, I love the Xs and Os and talking about football gameplans. It certainly is more straight forward. Plop had a love for niche trick plays. The famous once a year darvin adams pass, or direct snaps to harris, throw backs etc. But most of what buck has taken out is very rarely used, (and still might be used) or low efficiency stuff. He's streamlined our offense, and I hope he is slowly adding to it. Itll really be all about how he adapts. What we are doing right now is creating a lot of defensive shifts. We are opening a whole bunch of options that could take our offense to 2001/2002 levels. I worry buck isnt going to adapt but I hope he will. Ive been watching closely and after the game at the half way point, week 7, we have a bye so Ill probably make a tldr post about bucks offense in the first half.

Could be. Itd make sense why hes frequently on the IR reports. Not necessarily. No good competitive player wants to be the back up. Its not that he'd be un happy here even, as much as it would be either he becomes wasted or leaves as a fa for the chance to play when he can. Im a big believer in gray. I didnt get to see TC obviously this year, but last year I thought he was a head of desjarlais in some things. (pass pro and zone blocking) And has much more upside, he has the tools to play tackle which is rare for an NI. Qadr spooner declined two teams (i know bc for one) trying to claim him off our PR as he was happy learning here in 2018. and 2019 he signed as a FA in edmonton. Players are happy backing up till they arent any more. Desjarlais has certainly taken a good step forward this year, that guy improves by leaps and bounds. And yeah Eli might start at C or G for every other team in the league. He is an extraordinary talent. When he comes in for heavy sets he just deletes premiere DL from the field. In the last 2 weeks I saw him line up in side the tackles on short yardage, and our side the tackles. You dont see that kind of thing displacing a T like bryant or hardrick.

A run blitz is when you send extra defenders, generally linebackers into the back field, but instead of running in in pursuit of the qb they are fixated on the RB and more cautious and aware of angles. You might send a lber off the edge but in a contain rush. Very much the same as you might do to a qb whose primary skill is running. Its often mixed with twists where rushers switch the rush lane from the one they line up in, it helps disturb inside zone runs like ours. Technically a blitz is when you send 1 more rusher than the offense has blockers, but its generally used for sending any rushers other than the DL. Sending pressure that is less than a blitz (like we frequently do with Bighill and our wils) is technically a stunt. Toronto mixed run blitzes, twists, Gap cancellation (dl and lbers attacking the gaps rather than the OL infront of them) and edge contain very well. They also anchored and released. Engaging with the OL, but not trying to rush. Waiting for the rb to get close then rip away from the OL to make a tackle. Basically trying to hold your ground with the OL, not mash them or beat them. Pretty much tldr yes.

Also, we've been using an 11 formation with collaros under center, but we've only run out of it. The riders started keying on it pretty heavily as did the argos. That adjustment, the adam fumble and bailey drop was really what killed our offensive momentum.

Yeah i mentioned hes doing his school at the u of m. But generally that doesnt stop guys from moving. He was in the NFL prior to coming back here. He could put it on hold or transfer else where. Football is a short window. Especially as you start to close in on 30. It also demands an awful lot of your time. If the pull was that strong Id think he'd be a candidate to retire. If he wasnt a flight risk either, Im sure he'd be on the PR and would just decline the claim of other teams. We've seen a few guys do that here under the mos era. Spooner comes to mind as one.

Michel wouldnt come here to play DI, or at that kind of money. He's a starter for sure. He'd have a monster year in the riders offense. He could be a big yac threat. He would be a nice piece for us, but I dont know if we can lure him here. Part of it would have to be adapting our offense to feed him the ball. Other wise a team like ham, ssk, or cal could slot him into the type of role that gets him another nfl chance.

I rewatched the LDC and took a detailed look at the offensive play call. Man its strange. We are deadly allergic to using play action in the pass game. When we used jet motion to spread the D for the inside zone runs no one follows the motion. We havent used the jet sweep to set up a screen pass, it couldve scored an un touched major every time if we just PA'd harris and tossed it to the sweeper. We used the jet sweep to the same side as our fake power toss to harris. A power toss we havent run all year. And we had a slow blocking scheme with 2 pulling ol. And maybe the strangest part is we pulled the guard right in front of the sweep hand off. Lanier the riders back up dt just walked right into the back field and instantly tackled Bailey. We didnt run it or any of our run plays as a read option. If it had been a read option collaros couldve walked the naked bootleg for 20 +yards. Woli really had another phenomenal game blocking. Bailey not soo much. But I mean he ended up on the wil a couple times. Woli can turn a will inside out. Bailey struggles with Sams. The riders like most teams really crowded the box to take our run away. We frequently run into 7-8 man boxes with 6 blockers and no read to occupy 1 extra man. If we started mixing in some outside zone runs and walling off the over zealous pursuits of harris and let him cut it back he'd be getting a lot more 7+ yard runs in place of fighting tooth and nail for 1-3 yards. Our heavy set with Eli and miller eats up defenses. Especially when woli is also on the field. Its 7/8 blockers and we just eat up opposing defenses. Teams just dont have the depth of front 7 players that can get off the great blocks of those 3. Its a man handling. I dont expect to see us start to adopt RPO this year. But if we mixed in draws, out side zone runs, screens to jet sweepers, and attacked Lbers positions on play action with crossers and yankee concept (combo routes with some one attacking the mid field with another wr running off the S/HB with a deep route) we'd torch defenses.

We might get a chance to see maas throw his head set and have a tantrum if our defense repeats the performance from the LDC in the BJB. Idk Fajardo previous to this year didnt seem like the tantrum type. But it was his worst game as a pro and he is fiery. At best I think it would be enhanced by maas, and maas sure isnt the guy whose gonna calm a QB down.

I trust wiki about as much as I trust people who wear melons for hats

Pretty much the guys that are available are the guys who will be available. Were past the cut down day any one cut during the season is probably moving between PR IR or release due to injury or is gonna end up on another team. Duke is out, michel is a good player that'd fit in nice. But he's not elite like getting a duke williams. I wouldnt want to lock in at that kind of money. Begelton is above michel for me but I think he will wait around for another NFL chance and idk if he fits really well here. We arent going to put him in lawlers spot and useage imo. Even those guys, and NL type guys will be sitting around the NFL wire for atleast another month trying to get a PR deal. After that they have to sit 2 more weeks. I think any additions like that come late and play a hand full of games. More of a play off push move than a mid season move. And with their salary pro rated it isnt a huge hit. I feel like most teams have more cap room than normal. Also we never seemed to spend the Bryant retirement salary room. So im not worried about our cap situation. And as others have stated if its a GC push you spend the money and deal with the blow back later. Duke is on the bills IR and almost certainly wont be in the cfl this year. I think thats the biggest FA move we could make right now.

As bad, yes. Worse? Now thats tough. But Id say also yes.

I think its way, way too soon to be proclaiming their ni wrs air canada 2.0. They have a talented young group. Couple years ago we did too. As booch said, they just dont have an OL remotely capable of pounding the ball consistently. Especially not vs a front 7 like ours. But really, they arent a group you can expect to run 20 times a game vs any cfl DL. Combine that with maas whose play book and inclination is to drop back 35+ times a game and its pretty much the kiss of death for your run game. Powell looks to have lost a step too and was never fast. Powell is basically a decoy now, and most effective in surprise usage. His two best runs came on a delayed hand off and a full on draw play on 2nd and long. They cant run the ball, and cant throw it down field. Dont know what they could or would change. Unless some one like lirim is signed its gonna be par for the course for a while.

Nope. https://www.cfl.ca/players/geoff-gray/163151/ Hes the 1 healthy scratch every week and yeah its 100% to protect him. If he was on on the PR im 100% sure atleast edm, ham, ssk, and bc would claim and start him.

Idk, mbt doesnt seem like a check down guy. I think masoli would fit their system much better. Wouldnt it be funny if they traded for Arbuckle? 😆 Cant say, you dont usually see deals like this in the cfl. But in the covid year where nfl cuts could be very problematic to bring in we could see some unusual movement. Thats what the speculation is based on. If we could trade gray and a pick for an elite wr I dont think we'd hesitate. Gray has been the inactive guy pretty much since nuefeld came back from injury in 19. Hes 27 or 28 I know hes finishing his degree at the U of M but at some point he's not going to be content to be the healthy scratch each week when he would start for maybe half the league.

No I dont think so, I think the only real assets that arent starters for the bombers that other teams would want are gray and kongbo though.

Yeah hes not a spring chicken. But he doesnt have a ton of pro games on his body for wear and tear. Hes been with a lot of teams though and spent a handful of years on NFL rosters. Its a low risk high reward move. He kind of reminds me of kevin fogg. I feel like DBs tend to peak later and last a bit longer than many positions in football. Which makes alford soo much more impressive. 23 year old true rookie and doesnt look it.

I doubt it. Their cupboards are pretty bare as it is. Even if they gave up no value BLM would be furious and toxic af on that team. I think Toronto might be a prime candidate. They have ample depth at rb, wr, dl and lber to offer immediate value. They can also include about as good a back up qb as it gets in the cfl right now. They pulled mbt then they pulled arbuckle. And of course DW worked with BLM for a good while. They could trade shane ray, dexter mccoil, 1 of rogers, braverman, or daniels plus calgarys pick of mbt and arbuckle for BLM and some draft pick / roster filler. Maybe cal wouldnt want mccoil but im not soo keen on sankey for them. But tor has depth at a bunch of positions to deal from. I think if we see a flurry of trades its going to be Tor involved alot because of that depth. The only position I could see us being sellers in is NI ol. Gray makes a lot of money, has as much upside as any ni ol and seems to have been passed by eli. We are deep at DL but I dont see teams wanting our young DTs, or our team parting with any of the DEs. Kongbo might be the closest guy to move, but he rotates in a lot.

Thats an interesting pick up. Hes the kind of guy we seem to take a flyer on a lot. Well traveled pro. Smaller college school. Wiry and extremely athletic. 4.32 40, 36" vert, 10'7 broad jump, sub 4 sec shuttle 6.5 3 cone and 17 reps.

It should be a good one indeed. The league has a few back ups that are gonna be ready to do more next year too.

Did they give nichols an apple and a road map?

Haha I believe that 100%. Hes one of those "big deal" college coaches. The treatment they get is some thing else. I do love watching his sytems at work though. Hes with UCLA since the NFL. And this year it seems like he finally has that team executing his newest variants of his offense.

If you look back to his play at oregon its night and day. He used to catch and run, he had good speed and strong elusiveness. He was a multi cut runner. I feel like the injuries have diminished him, that could be physical and mental. Being a return man is a tough gig. Youre gonna get blasted a bunch. If you lose the aggressive mindset youre toast. Honestly he runs soo seldom I cant even say if hes lost a step or not. He looks like a QB with happy feet hearing foot steps. Or a wr with aligator arms who doesnt wanna go over the middle. Maybe thats not the case, but what ever the cause is its bad. And probably not easily fixed. There are older return men in the league who was much more dangerous. Its too easy to find young speed tool guys who can return. But nelson might be this years Mos guy. Hope fully he either gets it together soon, or mos moves on.

Kind of OT, but the recent Bishop sycamore scandal has a canadian twist. The team was actively trying to recruit canadian and euro talent to their "High school" program. Two canadian brothers Mark and Matt armah who had talks with bishop sycamore about joining were listed on their game day roster for the bungled game vs IMG academy. Reading about the living conditions the kids, and people playing for that team went through is atrocious. Im glad the canadian kids didnt get roped into it. Adding this for any one who hasnt heard of the bishop sycamore thing.

Hes got one of the best sets of hands in the league. No question he'd be an upgrade at our final wr slot. However his skill set and diminished speed (that was never a strong suit to begin with) Itd make more sense to put him in woli's spot and put woli in the slot at long last. High ankle is nasty, they can nag you for a long time. But a broken ankle would be brutal. I hope hes getting close but I guess we will see in the next few weeks.

Damned if that didnt warm my heart thanks for sharing it. Id love it if he could be a part time international scout for us or some thing. “I’d usually start training camp with ‘Well, you rookies look left and right because tomorrow you’re not going to be here’,” the old coach chuckles. The old bugger hasnt changed a bit!