Now before anyone gets too excited let me first congratulate the Bombers for winning yet again.

Now let me make an observation that I believe is held by many others. The bomber offense has gotten away from the long throw and now reverted back to Lapo's short game. I believe this game we threw the ball downfield (I'm saying more than 10 yards) once! That resulted in an 82 yard touchdown. The rest were these short 3-5 yard passes that resulted in numerous 2 and outs. That put the pressure on the defense who once again came up big but were hurting in the second half where Sask reeled off 11 straight points and overcame a 19-0 deficit. We won the game only because the Sask kicker could not kick a field goal or a convert and our kicker was nearly perfect. Yes we can rely on Medlock and yes we can rely on the defense but for how long.

A word to Lapo... ditch the short game nonsense and at least test the opposition downfield! Your QB in the post game so said as much..... luckily we had Medlock because without him we would not have won that game. Shake your head and get back to what got you on this streak. Willy can throw the short stuff, it was Nichol's ability to throw downfield that started this run.

And finally what happened to Denmark. Here was a guy who came in when the going was tough, put up great numbers in two games back to back to lead the Bombers and all of a sudden he is missing in action. I repeat, everything thrown his way that is catchable, he catches what is wrong with this picture of him getting what 2 throws all game?????

1 hour ago, Jpan85 said:

Mike OShea checking off all the we have not done this in years boxes.

One more to go...

11 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

just curious, which part of the field do you consider the red zone?

It's within the 25, is it not? We were there 3 times (Medlock had field goals of 18, 25, and 29 yards). We should've converted to TDs, and had missed opportunities to do so.

The Bombers were 50% going into the game in red zone production (after being 0/3 today, that number will drop). Cuthbert or Suitor mentioned near the start of the game that the elite teams in the league are all around 70%.

It needs to get better.

2 hours ago, bustamente said:

Gotta agree great win 5 in a row lots of things going our way but there is definitely room for improvement.

There will always be room for improvement but we went from 1-4 to 6-4  and won our first LDC in 12 years. If it's working keep the toolbox at home. We have some decent mechanics that are paid to tweak as needed. It's hard to understand why we are even discussing this today of all days and when we were 4-0 in takeaways. To each his own I guess.

Edited September 5, 20169 yr by LeBird

Red zone percentages (before this week's games) courtesy of cflmedia.ca:

TOR: 72% (13/18)
MON: 67% (16/24)
HAM: 56% (13/23)
CAL: 55% (18/33)
EDM: 55% (16/29)
BC:  53% (18/34)
WPG: 50% (13/26)
OTT: 46% (12/28)
SSK: 41% (9/22)

Interesting that, aside from the Roughriders, there isn't a super strong correlation between record and red zone percentage.  The top three red zone teams are all under .500.  Meanwhile, Calgary and BC and Ottawa have middling red zone percentage, but they get there more often than the teams that trail them,so they don't have to convert as often and can still be successful.

Also interesting, the Blue Bombers' opponents' red zone success (before this week) was a whopping 73.7% (14/19).  But teams so rarely get into our red zone that their success rate isn't so important.

Edited September 5, 20169 yr by johnzo

Winnipeg is no different than any other team. You take what the defence gives you if they want to give you the stuff underneath you make them pay. When they come in to cover short go over the top. Most teams now are throwing 3-15 yard passes for the most part because of the team speed that allows them to close fast and play of the line to prevent the home run ball. I don't care how they get down the field as long as they get down the field.

Would I like to see more long ball? Sure. IS it essential in winning these days? Absolutely not.

My concern is that their red zone production has dropped the last three games. They need to start working in something different because what they are doing now isn't working. I think it would be a good time to give Davis and Willy some work. This team isn't going to be blowing away many teams and so to give Willy and Davis some work they need to work in the odd package designed for the two back-ups. I would hate to see a scenario like 2007  play out again where the coach had the chance to get the back-ups playing time but stuck with the starter.

2 hours ago, comedygeek said:

It's within the 25, is it not? We were there 3 times (Medlock had field goals of 18, 25, and 29 yards). We should've converted to TDs, and had missed opportunities to do so.

The Bombers were 50% going into the game in red zone production (after being 0/3 today, that number will drop). Cuthbert or Suitor mentioned near the start of the game that the elite teams in the league are all around 70%.

It needs to get better.

I believe this was discussed a couple of weeks ago, but the generally accepted definition of the red zone is inside the 20 yard line.

See Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_zone_(gridiron_football))

This team needs to start putting up 7s instead of 3s. I fear that this could be our downfall against some better teams down the stretch. I don't know if we could come back if we were down against a good team.

 

Hopefully it will come.

52 minutes ago, Sard said:

I believe this was discussed a couple of weeks ago, but the generally accepted definition of the red zone is inside the 20 yard line.

See Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_zone_(gridiron_football))

Not sure why I thought it was 25. Thanks for the correction (hope I remember in the future).

In any case, that's 2 trips into the red zone and another just on the outskirts. (Plus a few more inside the 40.) It still stands that we need to do better across midfield.

Injuries to our three top receivers might have had something to do with the long ball. Nicholls had not played with Dressler so those misses might have been the reason. You play with guys a while your confidence in them goes up. Till then, I will take an eight yard gain instead of a 25 yard interception.

On 9/4/2016 at 8:36 PM, Super Duper Negatron said:

One more to go...

can't wait, though watching Calgary today I don't think they are going to lose another game all year.  Good coaching, good D, good O, good ST.  Good everything.  They are essentially unbeatable right now, kind of reminding me of the 1981 Eskimos.

Edited September 6, 20169 yr by kelownabomberfan