I'll preface this thread by saying, I am not complaining at all about the win tonight.  Beating Saskatchewan is the best thing in the world no matter  how it was done.  We rarely win in Regina and this is a happy occasion.

 

Do not get me wrong at all, it was a great game, our offense was fantastic, Drew Willy played exceptional, Paris Cotton is a beast, Nick Moore is back and better than before, Clarence Denmark is a warrior.  And screw the Bellefeuille haters, he outdid Chapdelaine this game.

 

 

 

 

But......

 

Richie Hall's defense was not looking good out there.  Lots of plays where guys were out of position, vanilla playcalling, getting gashed in the run, thank god Adams came up with that pick on that one throw or we might really have gotten in trouble.  A little surprised too that the Riders didn't go for it on 3rd and short when they were on their last possession and punted it there even though I know Messam got a bit whacked there.

 

It was a good game but this defense had better not be getting gashed like that week in and week out.  Hall was hired to fix it and fix the run and so far, he almost looks worse than Etcheverry.  I'm gonna enjoy the win for the time being but we can't afford that in Hamilton next week or late in the season.

Bauming was saying only one PI for the Bombers, and it was on Johnny Adams

Also we did hold em to 3 points from middle of the third to the end of the game. A bend don't break defense no? Gotta trust that a DC that has won a cup might know a little bit more of what needs to be fixed rather than posters around here. Let's chill give him a little time say second game then we fire his a$$.

The DB's looked pretty good last night, they are in tough this year due to the new rule changes. DL needs to get more pressure, not sure if this is lack of talent or the riders just have a good OL, except I thought Clark looked shaky at times. I have more faith in Richie turning this D around then Etch ever could. And the defense made stops at the end when it mattered most.

You could have the best cover db's in the league but if you don't get pressure on the qb it's going to be a long night. If the dline can't plug holes on runs this lb's will get destroyed. Let's see what they can do against Hamilton.

Its amazing how much smarter coaches are when they work with good players.

Got a stop when they needed to get one

don't know who it was, at the end of the game a lineman came running full speed after Messam, jumped on him from above and behind and squashed him. It was funny/great.

I think that was Westerman

I think that was Westerman

Yep I just re-watched the game and it was Westerman.

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned already but the Freep today reported that the Bombers' D gave up almost 500 yards. Ouch-can't let that happen again or we're hooped.

It was a good pop...

The thing we have to remember is Hamilton has Banks and he seems to be a great returning/RB?  I know he was running very well against Calgary so he could be scary come Thursday.  I don't remember if Hamilton suffered any Injuries in the Calgary game.  Looks like us and them were the only two teams that didn't suffer a lot during week 1 due to injuries

Will give the Defense a half mulligan - first game, new guys, new system etc.   Be interesting to see what adjustments are made on D.  If nothing else, Hall is a pretty experienced DC

My biggest concern about the D was the complete and utter lack of pressure on the qb most plays. Tough to win when you can't make life hard on the qb. 

The thing we have to remember is Hamilton has Banks and he seems to be a great returning/RB?  I know he was running very well against Calgary so he could be scary come Thursday.  I don't remember if Hamilton suffered any Injuries in the Calgary game.  Looks like us and them were the only two teams that didn't suffer a lot during week 1 due to injuries

Who was injured for Calgary?

My biggest concern about the D was the complete and utter lack of pressure on the qb most plays. Tough to win when you can't make life hard on the qb.

Strangely enough this may help them out this week... Collaros seemed to only make plays when he was on the run being flushed out of the pocket.

Will give the Defense a half mulligan - first game, new guys, new system etc.   Be interesting to see what adjustments are made on D.  If nothing else, Hall is a pretty experienced DC

 

Experience doesn't always translate into success or eliteness.

 

I'll grant this, our D has always had some struggles showing up in Regina, and I don't think our struggles like that one will be typical of every week here, but at the same time I have a hard time giving the D a pass.

 

I think our offense is much improved, getting better, and provided Cotton stays healthy, I think they'll help out the D some, but they shouldn't be constantly playing on their heels all the time and i was starting to worry about them having to play catch-up all of this last game.  They can't constantly be doing that and expect to win.  I'll also say this, I'm no fan of Etch's schemes and was okay with letting him go, but vanilla defense is never a good thing.  What I just have to wonder is whether or not he looked good in Saskatchewan simply because he had Chick and George among others up front getting those sacks and making his defensive schemes look better than they are?  Somewhat similar to Tim Burke, looking good when he had players like Odell Willis, Doug Brown, Jason Vega in his best year, and others.  But after losing that defensive presence up front, his defenses from there on out, including last year in Toronto looked very mediocre.

 

I know in a lot of cases yes, you only go so far as the strength of the men up front, but I tend to think a lot of good defensive coordinators can make up for weaknesses in some areas or generate pressure by using better disguised blitzes and confusing looks to throw off opposing offenses, and I'm not too sure of Hall's ability to do that.

 

I'm not gonna call for him to go, he does deserve a chance to get things right around here, but there is no question, this defense should not play that poorly like that, and I really hope getting Legget back does fix things, but on top of that, I sure hope we're not gonna have to suffer through John Cornish, Andrew Harris, and John White when he gets back making our defense look like a noodle.

So i was at the game and just watched the game twice on the tsn feed.

 

My take on the D.

 

A lot of mistakes that caused big plays. Some mental some physical some just lack of experience. I.e. Adams getting picked by bass on the Taj smith TD. A bad switch call from wash on the 2 point play

 

 Start with the D line

 

Thought Gibson played better than Peach

I know a lot of ppl love Anderson but with turner dropping weight I think Anderson playing the 1 tech simple does not work. Brendon Labatte and the interior guys out played our 2 dts by a mile. My biggest worry is the DTs in the run game

Lacks of pressure was not great but think westerman will get better as the season goes on same with Gibson

 

LB

 

This could be called the good bad and ugly. They made some plays they did not make others, a lot of 5 man fronts in this game with a lb walking down. Thought hurl was better than bass some may find that hard to believe. Both have to improve to win games big time and think they can. We were just short on blitzes from these guys.

 

DB

 

Strength of this D. With the new rules giving up a lot of yards passing is going to be a norm. Two big plays both I think mental mistakes but a lot of zone and lack of pi's. Happy with there play and only get better with moe back

I'm wondering if we couldn't score a LB from Montreal, maybe not one of their key star linebackers, but someone whose value is cheap enough for us to trade Brohm for.  I want to keep Robert Marve, his ceiling is higher than Brohm's, but Brohm is capable enough to warrant to some looks at by other teams in need of a QB.  Wouldn't hurt I don't think.

I just don't want us to get tested if an injury befalls Willy, for the same reasons as the Coaches. I wouldn't move our backup QB from his current position...especially in a trade, especially now that there is a dearth of serviceable QBs.

So i was at the game and just watched the game twice on the tsn feed.

 

My take on the D.

 

A lot of mistakes that caused big plays. Some mental some physical some just lack of experience. I.e. Adams getting picked by bass on the Taj smith TD. A bad switch call from wash on the 2 point play

 

 Start with the D line

 

Thought Gibson played better than Peach

I know a lot of ppl love Anderson but with turner dropping weight I think Anderson playing the 1 tech simple does not work. Brendon Labatte and the interior guys out played our 2 dts by a mile. My biggest worry is the DTs in the run game

Lacks of pressure was not great but think westerman will get better as the season goes on same with Gibson

 

LB

 

This could be called the good bad and ugly. They made some plays they did not make others, a lot of 5 man fronts in this game with a lb walking down. Thought hurl was better than bass some may find that hard to believe. Both have to improve to win games big time and think they can. We were just short on blitzes from these guys.

 

DB

 

Strength of this D. With the new rules giving up a lot of yards passing is going to be a norm. Two big plays both I think mental mistakes but a lot of zone and lack of pi's. Happy with there play and only get better with moe back

 

I agree on Bass.  In watching the game again, that's the guy the Riders were really attacking, and Bass did a horrible job of gap control on the stretch/read plays, letting all those runs get outside away from where he has help.  Bass is obviously learning to play the width of the field, but he better learn fast or he should be off the field.  Hurl was not that bad, he didn't really have a chance to make a lot of plays because of how easy it was to get to the sideline on the weak-side of our defense.

 

The big passing plays were both huge busts off of blitzes that were totally ineffective.  Hard to blame the guys in coverage on those, if you're sending 6 or more at the QB and can't even make him change his launch point the guys blitzing have not done their job.

My biggest concern about the D was the complete and utter lack of pressure on the qb most plays. Tough to win when you can't make life hard on the qb. 

This was a concern to me as well, however, that could be Hall calling a more conservative  game knowing what Durant can do with his legs

Trying to be positive, how much did have 6 new guys (Westerman, 3LBs, Adams, Wright) impact things? How much not having Legget at safety?

I just don't want us to get tested if an injury befalls Willy, for the same reasons as the Coaches. I wouldn't move our backup QB from his current position...especially in a trade, especially now that there is a dearth of serviceable QBs.

 

Yup, I do not want to help out any team at the moment. Unless we HAVE to, keep our qbs with us. Let the other teams suffer!!!

6 new starters had an impact alright....in a radically different defensive philosophy, than last year.   The deal will be some incremental improvement, going forward.  Having Legget back is a good start....but we need a lot more from the front 7.