I know many of us are still basking in the euphoria of the win last night, but it's onward and upward from here on. Up next,  arguably one of the best teams in the league.

What's it going to take to win?

Last year I think we played relatively well against them, and I believe that was against a healthier Stamps team then they currently are.

Are there things Ottawa did to exploit Calgary a bit to have such close games that we can capitalize on?

One of the most notable things I recall from the back to back Ottawa games, was how pedestrian Taylor Reed made Messam look. I know Hurl had a good game last night, but can he do the same? I also noticed BLM pressured a lot more then usual. How does our DL measure up against the Stamps OL?

The Stamps do not look quite as formidable as last year, but this will be a real test for the Big Blue. Calgary's O-line looks suspect.

4 minutes ago, tracker said:

The Stamps do not look quite as formidable as last year, but this will be a real test for the Big Blue. Calgary's O-line looks suspect.

I hope we'll defend better against Hugh Charles than Ottawa did. He might not have racked up the sack tally, but he was up in Harris' face both games.

I noticed Nichols doing a weird move last night... He would take the snap, and instead of drop back, he would do this little spin move that looked very awkward and bad habit-ish. That's very likely to be the difference in getting the ball away and getting sacked when facing a better pass rush then the riders

Edited July 2, 20178 yr by Taynted_Fayth

12 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

I hope we'll defend better against Hugh Charles than Ottawa did. He might not have racked up the sack tally, but he was up in Harris' face both games.

I noticed Nichols doing a weird move last night... He would take the snap, and instead of drop back, he would do this little spin move that looked very awkward and bad habit-ish. That's very likely to be the difference in getting the ball away and getting sacked when facing a better pass rush then the riders

They were moving the launch point.  Just looked different because the camera angle was like 30 degrees to the line of scrimmage.  They started doing a lot of quarter rolls when the Riders started sending a lot of pressure right up the middle.

24 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

I know many of us are still basking in the euphoria of the win last night, but it's onward and upward from here on. Up next,  arguably one of the best teams in the league.

What's it going to take to win?

Last year I think we played relatively well against them, and I believe that was against a healthier Stamps team then they currently are.

Are there things Ottawa did to exploit Calgary a bit to have such close games that we can capitalize on?

One of the most notable things I recall from the back to back Ottawa games, was how pedestrian Taylor Reed made Messam look. I know Hurl had a good game last night, but can he do the same? I also noticed BLM pressured a lot more then usual. How does our DL measure up against the Stamps OL?

Hopefully they can use Knox to nullify Messam in running situations, he sure looks like he can lay the punishment down.

I expect it as much of this season to be a closely fought game. Dont think we win but i do think we play and perform better then we did against sask. 

4 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I expect it as much of this season to be a closely fought game. Dont think we win but i do think we play and perform better then we did against sask. 

After last night I tend to agree.

Sask is better than some might think, particularly their receiving corps and Glenn played well. The defense played better than I expected for the first game and I think it will give BLM all he can handle.

If Bombers don't go ultra conservative they should be in the game competitively with a shot to win it.

 

Bombers O just needs to show up b4 3 minutes left in the half. 

I know people think sask sucks and they do but.. They were obviously fired up last night... They got gifted a non call on a fumble and a few plays later scored a TD. 2 weeks in a row where they were gifted a TD. 

That fumble stands and bombers get a FG out of it at the least and the game is over. 

1 hour ago, TheSource said:

After last night I tend to agree.

Sask is better than some might think, particularly their receiving corps and Glenn played well. The defense played better than I expected for the first game and I think it will give BLM all he can handle.

If Bombers don't go ultra conservative they should be in the game competitively with a shot to win it.

 

I think the balance this year is incredible. Coaching/management will limit the riders more then players this year. That D is pretty thin on names but every year a bunch of guys come into the league and shine. 

The stamps havent looked like the stamps of the last few years. This looks to be a fantastic year for the cfl. 

Also, our offense was mia for almost a half but still managed to put up 43 points. And nichols cashed in 4 tds. Should have been 2 more too which is scary. Maybe if they get more aggressive with the play call as the year goes on we will see a lot more tds and a lot less fgs. 

Riders receivers have some injury issues. Owens on the 6 game. Lost Collins last week. Lost Holley and Demski during the game. 

Lost Muamba during the week causing them NI problems too.

2 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

Riders receivers have some injury issues. Owens on the 6 game. Lost Collins last week. Lost Holley and Demski during the game. 

Lost Muamba during the week causing them NI problems too.

Iirc demski was just a slight hammy strain i think he will be ok. They better keep him healthy for us for next year. 

What will it take to win in Calgary?

Stretch the field.  Actually attempt some throws downfield early, and hopefully open up some space for Harris out of the backfield.

You won't open up any space for the running game by throwing passes at the line of scrimmage to the sidelines.

8 minutes ago, braddman19 said:

What will it take to win in Calgary?

Stretch the field.  Actually attempt some throws downfield early, and hopefully open up some space for Harris out of the backfield.

You won't open up any space for the running game by throwing passes at the line of scrimmage to the sidelines

Game is here but the rest i agree with. 

Beat Calgary?

Need closer to a 60 minute game, more Harris and more killer instinct......

 

Show up in the first quarter 

Use Harris more 

Pressure BLM 

Tackle Messam 

Exploit their D as i dont think they are that great. 

12 minutes ago, braddman19 said:

What will it take to win in Calgary?

 

Alex, I'm going with "What is more points after four quarters?"

32 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Show up in the first quarter 

Use Harris more 

Pressure BLM 

Tackle Messam 

Exploit their D as i dont think they are that great. 

Whatever they did last year got them very close to beating the Stamps, so a bit more of that should do it.

49 minutes ago, braddman19 said:

What will it take to win in Calgary?

Stretch the field.  Actually attempt some throws downfield early, and hopefully open up some space for Harris out of the backfield.

You won't open up any space for the running game by throwing passes at the line of scrimmage to the sidelines.

On offense; Establish harris and dont forget about him. Keep the offense rolling, low amount of 2 and outs. Stretch the field. and protect the ball. 

On D; Keep the pressure we saw in the 2nd half up. Stuff the run again. Limit long drives. Force turn overs again.

On teams, pretty much do the exact same as we did vs sask. Kicking and coverage was phenomenal. Returning was good with some flashes though not great. 

Tackle Messam before he gets a head of steam, controlled pressure on Mitchell and long time consuming drives I think will be the keys.

 

20 minutes ago, coach17 said:

Tackle Messam before he gets a head of steam, controlled pressure on Mitchell and long time consuming drives I think will be the keys.

 

east to say, hard to do    .any idea HOW to do that ... how to make the blitz effective, how you keep contain on blm, how to stuff messam before he gets up a head of steam?

I don't think Lapo changes much of anything until he is suffering real pain and that might be in the form of Saturdays 1st quarter turning into 4 quarters of being shut down by a real defense this coming weekend

We can fix the ROC hole we saw but blm has habit of making our DBs look silly even when we are at the top of our game .... messam vs hurl is no contest ... I am expecting Calgary will blow us away this week and LAPO won't respond until the game is out of hand ... we have the makings of a good team but this week our two coordinators are going to go through a reality check (I fear) and only after eating some serious HUMBLE pie will they begin to make necessary changes to our general strategies and specific schemes

Our only hope is if we can contain blm and keep him in the pocket AND if we can    blitz through messams gaps before he does .... tall orders indeed and I don't yet see the will to do so ... its going to take some pain to go from talented newbies pursuing individual aspirations to real team work where everyone is working collaboratively

I just hope when we are next licking our wounds we start realizing how to use all this talent and that means making changes currently outside our comfort zone

I think this is realist not pessimist ... we are still going to finish first this year but we are not going to do it by out muscling our opponents .... we are going to do it by going beyond our current mindset and stretching to do what actually needs to be done to beat the individual weaknesses of each particular enemy

Edited July 3, 20178 yr by BigBlue

Roc Carmichael=rented mule....He can't be in there or Bo will have his way with him (ouch that doesn't sound right)...IF we have to go with the Roc, I hope he has someone who will be in double coverage, because he'll get eaten alive by Levi....Throw one up against Carmichael or hand off to Messam....pick your poison...We better be in overtime looking at film or it could be a long night.

Stop McDaniel he was really good against us last year. Make them Rush more than four Claybrooks hates doing it. If they are doing that than we got them where we want them.

1 hour ago, BigBlue said:

east to say, hard to do    .any idea HOW to do that ... how to make the blitz effective, how you keep contain on blm, how to stuff messam before he gets up a head of steam?

I don't think Lapo changes much of anything until he is suffering real pain and that might be in the form of Saturdays 1st quarter turning into 4 quarters of being shut down by a real defense this coming weekend

We can fix the ROC hole we saw but blm has habit of making our DBs look silly even when we are at the top of our game .... messam vs hurl is no contest ... I am expecting Calgary will blow us away this week and LAPO won't respond until the game is out of hand ... we have the makings of a good team but this week our two coordinators are going to go through a reality check (I fear) and only after eating some serious HUMBLE pie will they begin to make necessary changes to our general strategies and specific schemes

Our only hope is if we can contain blm and keep him in the pocket AND if we can    blitz through messams gaps before he does .... tall orders indeed and I don't yet see the will to do so ... its going to take some pain to go from talented newbies pursuing individual aspirations to real team work where everyone is working collaboratively

I just hope when we are next licking our wounds we start realizing how to use all this talent and that means making changes currently outside our comfort zone

I think this is realist not pessimist ... we are still going to finish first this year but we are not going to do it by out muscling our opponents .... we are going to do it by going beyond our current mindset and stretching to do what actually needs to be done to beat the individual weaknesses of each particular enemy

Basically by winning the war in the trenches, controlled pressure means you keep Mitchell in the pocket and make him hurry his throws. Calgary looks beatable, I think we have the personall up front to make it happen. Offence needs a grinding type attack with lot of high percentage underneath throws, and a healthy dose of Andrew Harris. We can't afford a lot of 2 and outs early, Calgary's O is just to good to give them a lot of opportunity.

1 hour ago, BigBlue said:

east to say, hard to do    .any idea HOW to do that ... how to make the blitz effective, how you keep contain on blm, how to stuff messam before he gets up a head of steam?

I don't think Lapo changes much of anything until he is suffering real pain and that might be in the form of Saturdays 1st quarter turning into 4 quarters of being shut down by a real defense this coming weekend

We can fix the ROC hole we saw but blm has habit of making our DBs look silly even when we are at the top of our game .... messam vs hurl is no contest ... I am expecting Calgary will blow us away this week and LAPO won't respond until the game is out of hand ... we have the makings of a good team but this week our two coordinators are going to go through a reality check (I fear) and only after eating some serious HUMBLE pie will they begin to make necessary changes to our general strategies and specific schemes

Our only hope is if we can contain blm and keep him in the pocket AND if we can    blitz through messams gaps before he does .... tall orders indeed and I don't yet see the will to do so ... its going to take some pain to go from talented newbies pursuing individual aspirations to real team work where everyone is working collaboratively

I just hope when we are next licking our wounds we start realizing how to use all this talent and that means making changes currently outside our comfort zone

I think this is realist not pessimist ... we are still going to finish first this year but we are not going to do it by out muscling our opponents .... we are going to do it by going beyond our current mindset and stretching to do what actually needs to be done to beat the individual weaknesses of each particular enemy

Disagree, you're describing the 2015 team not this version, they didn't get blown out by any team last year and there's no reason it should happen this year.  This is a competitive team on both sides of the ball and one of the biggest improvements over past teams is the great leadership they have on the field.

Edited July 3, 20178 yr by Throw Long Bannatyne

Paredes not having a great year so far...  its going to be a shootout - another 30+ pt game for each team...  just have to be the last one standing

Singleton is the guy to watch out for, I think he could mess with Nichols and maybe lead to a pick or two

I don't think Messam is as dominant against our team as he used to be - but I think they still make him go-to guy for 3rd Q

I'd really be rotating Hurl/Knox and Thomas/Johnson thru the game - keep fresh legs out there

1 hour ago, coach17 said:

Basically by winning the war in the trenches, controlled pressure means you keep Mitchell in the pocket and make him hurry his throws. Calgary looks beatable, I think we have the personall up front to make it happen. Offence needs a grinding type attack with lot of high percentage underneath throws, and a healthy dose of Andrew Harris. We can't afford a lot of 2 and outs early, Calgary's O is just to good to give them a lot of opportunity.

I'm all for pressure and love the intensity that Westerman and Okpalaugo bring to the table... but they can't take those 15-yarders against the 'Stamps and expect to win.