I don't create threads very often but I was kind of missing a good ol' post-game thread.

The title of the thread sums up my take on last night's game. Going from a Sunday game that went about as far into overtime that you can get to a Friday match against a high powered Calgary offense. This wasn't going to be easy. I'm not going to say that we win this game otherwise, but a lot of what I saw can be attributed to this.

Everyone, to a man, was a half step behind. First few drives looked like we were trying to conserve energy. That was embarrassing, particularly our first defensive effort. At a point though, they all realized they have to give more if this game was going to stay close.

That said, they were not able to overcome their physical limitations..and that really exposed that we are not a great team. Great teams have enough talent that they will find a way.

The Good

Our defensive front seven has continued to be a force. There is a lot of talent in this group. We had their run game bottled up and they were making life difficult for VA.

Major Williams, to me, was the only DB out there that played well enough. He's a rookie though, and in the CFL you are going to get beat every once in a while.

Our offensive line, I thought, had a solid night minus the last few drives when the game was pretty much out of reach (and one player that I'll get to). They were going against a very good Calgary defensive line. I'm sure some will bite my head off for this but I thought that Wallace even did a fairly good job at RT. I haven't watched the replays or watch every play after the fact. But the plays I watched him I thought he was holding his own.

Demski and Oliveira were the highlights for me. When they are put into situations to play to their strengths, they can be very good. I just don't think this happens enough.

It's hard to say that Dru Brown was good, but I think he's being put in a tough spot. As was brought up by @JuranBoldenRules in another thread, his options are all within 20 yards with DBs and linebackers all over the place within it. I think for the most part he's making the right reads. But he didn't have many open receivers to throw to.

The Bad

Offensive playcalling has to be number one for me. We have to put Brady in a position to make plays. We aren't. He is our workhorse. If anyone is going to thrive on a short week it is going to be him. But no, we continue to put him out wide for some reason. And we are running too many plays that are sending him east-west. That is not his game. Anytime we had him going up the middle tonight he was making something of it.

This will be Stanley Bryant's last year. He is a shadow of his former self. Missing his block left, right and center. When Brox is healthy I'd say we line him up at LT and move on with Bryant.

Defensive backs. A step slow tonight. Showed in their ability to tackle. Showed in their ability to adjust to the ball in the air. I get the feeling that Moxey is playing hurt. He refuses to do anything that requires making a play on the ball. It's pretty embarrassing. Nichols, for being a smaller guy, cannot be slow, and cannot be slow to react. I'm not counting him out completely but it isn't looking good. Holm had a terrible game and just didn't seem to be himself. The short week did a number on this group IMO.

I thought the receivers had a similar problem to the DBs. We rely so much on Pokey Wilson and Tim White to get separation. They couldn't last night, and I think that lead to many of the interceptions. They didn't have enough and made the Calgary DBs look very good. As has been brought up elsewhere, we need some different types of receivers that can make plays in different ways.

Special teams...half step too slow..was all of the difference. Also the 57 yard FG call when our defense was rolling and we could pin them deep. Hated that.

I thought Wilson had an okay game, the frustrating thing about the INTs is so many times it was 1 on 1 coverage where if the throw is better the receiver at least has a chance.

He also had that fumble recovery when a CAL db tried to lateral it.

I'm pretty sure Broxton will be out weeks..so not sure what and how we are gonna fill that spot

We were once again unprepared..out classed out of the shoot..the short week thing is just an excuse...one a loser will use..players in this day and age can manage that easily

We have a tendency tho for excessive days off for no particular reason..ones where we can be going thru play after play..using pictures of teams schemes and literally walking each guy to their spot on the field..repeatedly...if they too weak and feable for that "excessive" work load...getthafuckouttatown

Worried about the O when every O has carved up our D. Maybe when Chase Brice lights us up , maybe.

But the O play calling is garbage for sure. 100 percent. Hogan wasn’t even this inept.

4 hours ago, BBlink said:

Our offensive line, I thought, had a solid night minus the last few drives when the game was pretty much out of reach

I can't disagree with this enough.... They had a few good moments run blocking but they were not good on the whole.

3 hours ago, Goalie said:

Hogan wasn’t even this inept.

Sad thing is he was worse....

7 hours ago, Booch said:

I'm pretty sure Broxton will be out weeks..so not sure what and how we are gonna fill that spot

We were once again unprepared..out classed out of the shoot..the short week thing is just an excuse...one a loser will use..players in this day and age can manage that easily

We have a tendency tho for excessive days off for no particular reason..ones where we can be going thru play after play..using pictures of teams schemes and literally walking each guy to their spot on the field..repeatedly...if they too weak and feable for that "excessive" work load...getthafuckouttatown

I can’t even guess at broxton. he walked off a little gingerly but under his own steam. Could be back soon or in trouble.

I stopped the other pgt because it, the gdt and season thread all seemed to be bleeding into each other and causing repetition. But idk if it’s better with out it.

The thing that kills me is not playing to win or pulling guys to get better. We passed on soo many opportunities to go for it that when we finally did it was pointless and a poor spot. And in the end we didn’t get a good shot at turning the game around and didn’t use reps to protect guys we have and get young guys reps.

12 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I can’t even guess at broxton. he walked off a little gingerly but under his own steam. Could be back soon or in trouble.

I stopped the other pgt because it, the gdt and season thread all seemed to be bleeding into each other and causing repetition. But idk if it’s better with out it.

The thing that kills me is not playing to win or pulling guys to get better. We passed on soo many opportunities to go for it that when we finally did it was pointless and a poor spot. And in the end we didn’t get a good shot at turning the game around and didn’t use reps to protect guys we have and get young guys reps.

They way the game was going...the oline issues...ineptness of the recievers..the god awful game plan...how cgy started defending us..osh shoulda pulled Dru if for anything not get him pummeled and put in Perkins...not TE...Perkins would have forced CGY to switch things up or get gutted...he coulda controlled the pace of game with his scrambling and I bet a lot of off script stuff would actually get some the recievers to actually find soft spots..but nope...he was too clueless

Even yes ...do it in a close game...could have really swung game in our direction...osh has zero game awareness

Again, I do not know what Booch and others know about line play, but from my perspective, it seemed that there was more confusion on our O-line than getting put on the ground or on roller skates. That would seem to be either players trying to compensate for an inept player (like Pat Neufeld did for Kolankowski) or poor coaching.

14 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I can’t even guess at broxton. he walked off a little gingerly but under his own steam. Could be back soon or in trouble.

I stopped the other pgt because it, the gdt and season thread all seemed to be bleeding into each other and causing repetition. But idk if it’s better with out it.

The thing that kills me is not playing to win or pulling guys to get better. We passed on soo many opportunities to go for it that when we finally did it was pointless and a poor spot. And in the end we didn’t get a good shot at turning the game around and didn’t use reps to protect guys we have and get young guys reps.

Broxton seemed to be walking with a normal gait, so I think that was a good sign. Gotta do something about both Elsbury and Bryant, though.

11 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Broxton seemed to be walking with a normal gait, so I think that was a good sign. Gotta do something about both Elsbury and Bryant, though.

I saw him by himself,walking back to the sidelines after halftime and he was limping a bit. He didn't need crutches or anything like that so hopefully it's nothing too serious.

I really hope we don’t put Wallace at RT if Broxton can’t go. A Bryant-Wallace tackle duo would be a disaster.

It would be nice to see a different tackle in for Bryant, a third american WR in the starting group and somebody like Jackson or Allen for Nichols or Moxey imo. Don't expect it but it would be nice.

29 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

I really hope we don’t put Wallace at RT if Broxton can’t go. A Bryant-Wallace tackle duo would be a disaster.

I’d like to see us develop wallace more at rt, but he’s not ready right now. Should be poncius if broxton can’t go.

5 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

I’d like to see us develop wallace more at rt, but he’s not ready right now. Should be poncius if broxton can’t go.

And with that keep Eli at center between Wallace and Nuef...the bang ain't worth the buck (import spot) with Elsbury which makes our offence inept at best

I bet if you gave that trio 3..4 games together in a row you would see positive results

The hard truth is it won’t matter who plays as long as Stanley Bryant is our left tackle. The most important position in football besides the quarter back, and he consistently gets taken to school. Hes simply not quick enough to contain a defensive lineman anymore. I watched him constantly over the last couple of weeks to see how bad it is. He doesn’t just get beat occasionally, he gets beat on almost every single play. He’s either beat clean or has to hold, neither of those things are good for us. I love Stanley Bryant and what he’s meant to this team, but he’s single handily our number one liability out there currently. There’s no way you can watch game film and say hey this is perfectly fine. He’s going to get our quarterbacks killed out there.

Edited July 26Jul 26 by Arnold_Palmer

3 hours ago, sweep the leg said:

I really hope we don’t put Wallace at RT if Broxton can’t go. A Bryant-Wallace tackle duo would be a disaster.

I don't see why Wallace would play T. We don't really have the depth inside to sustain it and we do have a OT on the PR.

Wallace is fine when he plays big but it's not often. He's not exactly a technician so he needs to use his hands to move people and his width to take up space in pass pro, just play simple inside out. He takes up two gaps on his own if he just drops his hips a bit, gets his pads down, throws hands and holds his ground.

Once he starts opening his hips to chase blocks our QB's insurance companies stock price starts going down.

I just see Lawler, Wheatfall & Dobson on the Ti Cats & as a fan I just see red. Like WTF are we doing as an organization??? Nield could have played Cobb's spot & Wheatfall Nield's. We also would have had a monster in Dobson playing Center. We are a draft & develop team for the other 8 teams.

Wheatfall is averaging 40 yards per game in his 3rd CFL season. He's not a good enough player to take an import spot in this league.

See red, but letting him go wasn't a mistake.

Lawler is doing basically nothing to help Ford out. 2nd last drive Hamilton had down 1, Ford put the ball out for Lawler on a scramble and Lawler casually jogged downfield, didn't catch up to it. Perfect chance for him to make a game winning play. I'm not one to praise Tre Ford for the sake of it but that was a great play by him. Lawler has his head up his ass.

Edited July 27Jul 27 by JuranBoldenRules

1 minute ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Wheatfall is averaging 40 yards per game in his 3rd CFL season. He's not a good enough player to take an import spot in this league.

See red, but letting him go wasn't a mistake.

Lawler is doing basically nothing to help Ford out. 2nd last drive Hamilton had down 1, Ford put the ball out for Lawler on a scramble and Lawler casually jogged downfield, didn't catch up to it. Perfect chance for him to make a game winning play. I'm not one to praise Tre Ford for the sake of it but that was a great play by him. Lawler has his head up his ass.

I'm no Lawler fan but I disagree with you on Wheatfall. Then there's Dobson who should be ourt starting Center. Who The Trinity let walk because they wanted Kolankowski.

Sorry an American who can only produce 700 yards a season if he plays 18 games in an era where everyone is passing 75-80% of the time is not a good player, not even an average one.

15 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Sorry an American who can only produce 700 yards a season if he plays 18 games in an era where everyone is passing 75-80% of the time is not a good player, not even an average one.

Yeah, considering the Canadian playing in his spot gets just 400 is a great trade off. Elbows up!

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I'm no Lawler fan but I disagree with you on Wheatfall. Then there's Dobson who should be ourt starting Center. Who The Trinity let walk because they wanted Kolankowski.

hamilton heavily over paid for dobson before he stepped forward. I’ve been his biggest supporter but that deal was a bad gamble even though it worked out.

38 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

hamilton heavily over paid for dobson before he stepped forward. I’ve been his biggest supporter but that deal was a bad gamble even though it worked out.

Then as Dobson did step up his play, the Cats didn't overpay. The key is it worked out for them. Combine that with us keeping Kola & who got the worst deal? If The Trinity didn't want Wheatfall, fine, then go out & either draft his replacement or sign another Canadian receiver in free agency, The Bombers didn't do that, Roster decisions like this have been going on for years. Our asset allocation in terms of roster money is dreadful. We let starters walk but don't replace them. I agree with letting Lawler walk. He's not doing much in terms of leadership or production. The amount of effort he gives on the field just isn't there for what they're paying him.

Edited July 27Jul 27 by SpeedFlex27

3 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

just see Lawler, Wheatfall & Dobson on the Ti Cats & as a fan I just see red. Like WTF are we doing as an organization??? Nield could have played Cobb's spot & Wheatfall Nield's.

Why would the choice be Nield or Wheatfall? White is our WR3, the choice would be likely have been between Wheatfall and White. If for some reason you have White on the roster with Wheatfall... what does Wheatfall bring to the table that is any different from Demski, Wilson or White? At least Nield in theory has an archetype that is different from those 3, and he has the right passport.

It's not like Wheatfall lit the Bombers on fire last year either. In 16 games he had 7 games above 50 yards receiving, and 8 games below 25.

I do find it kind of funny though that there is an outside chance that Lawler ends up as having the 3rd most receiving yards of the former Bombers on the Ti-Cats. That would have been unthinkable at the start of the season

3 hours ago, ShyGuy said:

Why would the choice be Nield or Wheatfall? White is our WR3, the choice would be likely have been between Wheatfall and White. If for some reason you have White on the roster with Wheatfall... what does Wheatfall bring to the table that is any different from Demski, Wilson or White? At least Nield in theory has an archetype that is different from those 3, and he has the right passport.

It's not like Wheatfall lit the Bombers on fire last year either. In 16 games he had 7 games above 50 yards receiving, and 8 games below 25.

I do find it kind of funny though that there is an outside chance that Lawler ends up as having the 3rd most receiving yards of the former Bombers on the Ti-Cats. That would have been unthinkable at the start of the season

Wheatfall has speed & can catch so that makes him more of a threat than Cobb From the role I saw that he had when Mitchell was playing he could have been an effective pass catcher in our offense. He's not a #1 or #2 receiver but he puts up numbers that defenses would have to account for him unlike what thety're doing for Cobb. As I said, if Walters & Osh didn't want Wheatfall then replace him with a free agent signing with someone better. They didn't.

The cats obviously saw the potential and trajectory of Dobson and made choice to pay a bit early for it...the smart choice...stuff like that doesn't happen here..we will gladly pay after the fact big money on guys tho for previous work at an age where in a lot of instances you should be paying less..take it or leave it kinda stuff...moving on totally..or grooming the heir apparent

3 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Wheatfall has speed & can catch so that makes him more of a threat than Cobb From the role I saw that he had when Mitchell was playing he could have been an effective pass catcher in our offense. He's not a #1 or #2 receiver but he puts up numbers that defenses would have to account for him unlike what thety're doing for Cobb. As I said, if Walters & Osh didn't want Wheatfall then replace him with a free agent signing with someone better. They didn't.

They replaced him with White, who's much better. Wheatfall is incredibly average. Had every opportunity to develop while here and never did. He does not look any better in Hamilton than he did here.

Dobson wasn't let go because we wanted to keep Kola either. Dobson played guard for us and Hamilton blew their load on him past our ability to keep up.

I would personally really like to still have Dobson and Ford in our line-up. Those are my two hindsight regrets, but you make those choices and it costs you on other parts of the roster. Who knows if it would have turned out better?