JuranBoldenRules

They were 100% attacking zone at some points. On several plays that went for first downs Ford just dropped into his deep third and watched the rest of the play happen in front of him. We don't know what their keys are, but I assume they don't want guys to drop right out like that when the route from the slot is in breaking in a 3 man route. At that point in any Cover 3 I've been a part of the corner is reading deep outside breaking route (none) and down to the wideout, not keep giving up depth for no reason. The half has to cover that route to the safety and the SAM would trail the inside slot/tight end either way. It was basically a free first down once they ran it a couple times and realized Ford was lost. Then they just played with his eyes all night, short and deep. Get him worried about smoke screens, run the setup to give that look and go over top of him. Hopefully comes back with lessons learned from this experience because he hasn't played much actual football since he left U Sports.

For all the hand wringing on the depth chart.... Wilson played MLB. Gauthier barely played D. Wilson was godawful and got burned by Fajardo scrambles multiple times. A couple times it was hard to understand what he saw but I have to believe he was worried about abandoning coverage to track Fajardo...but at least a couple time Fajardo was already over the line. Karamoko took the most snaps at WIL....the guy listed as 3rd on the depth chart. Cole took some at both WIL and SAM, played about 3/4 snaps. Almost half of Fajardo's of passes were targeted at Ford. So Montreal really liked that matchup. Which is not a typical one to attack with a pop gun arm QB to the field. And almost half of their total offense and two TD's came from those targets. Expect that to be attacked by everyone until there's a change or Ford turns it around. Athleticism counts for nil if you're watching the ball/covering turf and standing on flat feet.

I think he's let a group take over for sure. There's kind of a "do no wrong" crew. I think it was ok when they were at their peak and could self-regulate with the right voices. We've lost a lot of those voices though. Personalities like Lawler and Jefferson aren't fit to be those guys, can't lead by example so their words are pretty hollow when the cards are on the table. I agree that there's quite a mess they'll have to manage pretty quick. O'Shea wants the players to run the room but this group needs more from him until they are (maybe) ready for that. Didn't help having 96 guys in camp as of 6 days ago either. This team needs to find an identity and mesh. They've had two practices.

I thought Haba was pretty good, lots of good pressure that killed plays for the Als. Jefferson plays really shitty against any QB who has an inkling to leave the pocket, like Fajardo. And last night was just another example of that. Very undisciplined on rush, doesn't finish plays. Over pursues and leaves that lane for the QB to escape. Needs a major come to football Jesus moment in terms of realizing what he needs to do to make this team better. And it's not chase his own numbers, yell at the stat man when you're down 3 TD's that you tipped a ball. He's the leader now. He's 33. Not 23. Time to walk the walk and not be a complete clown.

Wilson and Mitchell both looked like they had no clue what was happening when they were out on O. They’ll see that pretty quick on film against their assignments. Potentially a significant part of the issue downfield with Collaros holding onto the ball. Clercius looked the best of the 3. I’ll have more thoughts later….some really bad vibes off the sideline in this one though in summary. The kind of game that will be a turning point in either direction. Saw a lot of individual efforts and self-aggrandizing unfortunately from a couple vets. Guys who maybe have to fill a bit of a void of core guys who departed. Not a good look.

Spring football sucks. Should start last week of June. Prefer fall games to spring ones.

Then you’d have 6 import DL rostered! That’s a little much. 2-3 on the sideline every snap even if you don’t use any Canadians on DL. Need some consideration of special teams too which could easily be 20 plays in this game.

Have to cover kicks too. Supposed to be a 50 km/h wind tomorrow. Going to be a lot of special teams.

Run through his 04 Grey Cup team. Almost as many convictions as Canadian players. Guy has always been willing to sacrifice ethics to win.

Who do you take off the roster if we did have another DE? Perhaps there's a bit of game planning involved given the opponent. I kind of like having all the LB's and DB's plus the heavier line. Run a bunch of 30 fronts, disguise rush, have guys that can chase and tackle, disciplined rush to hold Fajardo in pocket. Rush in waves. In 2023 playoffs we had Bennett, Hansen dressed as rotational ends. At that point both basically useless. I'd rather have a guy who is useful on special teams than Hubert. On the inside we only had Lawson, Thomas and Walker. To me our DL looks a lot stronger if we can extrapolate a bit from pre-season performance. Not a huge fan of dressing 7 OL. Just missing a body we could use on special teams. Especially with our inexperienced our group is now in terms of special teams. They might use that 7th OL for 4-5 snaps.

Yeah that we know of yet. I don't think it's a bad thing to have some cover for basically all of the rookies in Game 1. The intensity level of the preseason games was incredibly low. There were maybe a dozen CFL players in each game. There will be a sharp learning curve for almost everyone. Like the rookie DB's having some cover in the form of each other and some vets should be for the better in this game and the long run. They are going to see a lot of **** that they probably have barely seen on film to this point. Bonds has at least played a couple NFL games and USFL, Bridges played some arena ball. Same goes for the receivers.

Thomas is miscast as a nose IMO. Always has been, even when he was a more useful player. Fine with him rotating in at DT on passing downs. Hate when he's out there on 1st down. There's only been a couple years where he wasn't used primarily as a nose, and those are the two years we won Grey Cups. In a lot of ways the bias toward Canadian DL has played out in how our Canadian coach has viewed his role. Because he's not a nose.

Yeah for sure. As I've said, the "starting" thing is a red herring. All teams declare is: The game roster, the QB's, the 4 DI's (to me 2 of ours are obvious...Castillo and Mitchell, I'd guess Ayers then it's between 1 DL or Bridges) and how many Canadians on each side of the ball (7 across O and D...doesn't matter if you "start 10" this doesn't change).

Spent 5 years at Nebraska and started in his 6th at Buffalo. If he was in the CFL Draft "talent evaluators" would need to change their shorts.

Lapo is in the mix with people like Jim Daley as a head coach. His play not to lose decision making style results in a lot of 4-14 type seasons. And he's never developed a QB. He needs an O'Shea or Ken Miller to make sure he is aggressive.

American "backups" who aren't DI's can sub for anyone. So say Adams isn't marked as a DI. He can sub for Thomas/Gauthier etc. If he's a DI when he comes on the field an American has to come off. But ultimately they only need 1 Canadian on the field any given down on D. Just a bit nuanced as to who can sub for who.

They should have to list who the DI's are. Big difference if it's one of the DL or Bridges. Castillo and Mitchell for sure. Ayers likely. 4th would be DL or Bridges.

We might have a silly looking DL for this game. Surprised they didn't keep a Canadian LB/DB type around.

Sounds to me like people are aching more for actual football analysis from media here rather than narrative analysis. It's a problem with all sports coverage in this town going on a couple decades. Nothing stopping CJOB from having that show, or putting together a podcast. They have a decent podcast with Mackling and Doug Brown. Could put that on the air. You can really expect a coach to go on air and breakdown his own team or the next opponent etc.

Stanback is kind of a one dimensional player. They will have to commit to the run. He's pretty useless from pass sets as both a runner and receiver.

I disagree. Kelly would be willing to tear guys down and go into depth on why what he was doing was great. O'Shea isn't going to talk about personnel as a full boundary. He isn't going to dissect players in public. And that's fine. Whenever he is engaged on intelligent football discussion about tactics, schemes etc he will go into great depth and engage. It's just that we don't really have media who can engage that way.

IMO BC's Canadian depth on D and OL is worse than ours minus Betts. They need a lot from Bemiy, Cherry, Hladik, Beaulieu, Greene. And they are hoping Covington isn't cooked. We need to stay healthy though.

It's too bad 3Down has lost the insider kind of edge it started with. At least 7 of the 9 people making those predictions contribute nothing journalistically. Abbott fawns over BC and Hodge's basic knowledge of the sport is lacking.

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.

Mitchell didn't return a single punt in two preseason games and won the job. Scared as **** for miscues on special teams.