wbbfan

They do. 1 quarter and 1 half in the two games is standard and should be pretty close to it plus or minus a bit. honestly, with the failure to execute in the pivotal game the last few years, I’d consider running them out longer. It used to be a hand shake agreement with the hcs when you’d switch to rookies and how long vets would stay out. That doesn’t seem to be it any more. I might split up quarters of the first game, then let the best players of the first game play 3/4 together. Send a strong message to the locker room, every game is important and no one is taking a month off this year. Be ready be sharp or be replaced.

Like gm/football ops and president. That’d be much better.

It is. The lack of experience in football will hurt in areas like punishment, rule enforcement/adjustments, etc. it almost needs to be 2 jobs in reality.

Good athlete, big modern athletic build, he’s more of a project not a lot of experience.

Was a teammate of big Kev. Didn’t get a ton of catches or yards at uconn either. But he’s got a good release, smooth fast runner more than an explosive quick guy.

https://3downnation.com/2025/04/03/roughrider-foundation-invests-1-8m-in-saskatchewan-amateur-football/ riders put out a big investment in the grass roots game with some much needed equipment. We do this and a couple other teams do it every soo often. I’d love to see the league and the teams go in together on this stuff. If every team was invest 1 million bucks every 3-4 years like this, and grouped that money to make a single large purchase I’m sure they’d get a lot more bang for their buck. Id also love to see a compensatory pick round for the two teams that do the most each year to grow the game at the grass roots level.

Yep, the lack of progression is one of the biggest issues we had. We didn’t set any thing up. We saw a heavy reduction in the play action to set up deep shots, and we went from a team that ran every play in our book out of every formation we used to extremely predictable plays out of formations. The pa screen off motion / half boot was getting jumped soo fast even by bad Ds.

Same. I mean demski was that guy most of the time previously, and we threw all kinds of guys at it in the past new and old. If bailey can leg those out no one else has any excuses IMO. Agree. Zach is an issue, but buck was a big one.

Yep 100%

It’s entirely true of the product on the field. We took vanilla and made it bland gelatine. I have no doubt the room was watching and talking about stuff but virtually none of it made it to the field.

The scheme certainly did get lazy. But I think the cause was a bit different. It seems to me like the last year and a half or so so a lot of frustration between zach and buck, and possibly the staff and buck. I think zach became a weak spot for buck just like nichols did for lapo. We saw a few games prior where the screen game and read option seam attacks worked brilliantly. But that is not how zach is wired. I think Buck wanted to rewire the offence to work around stuff that doesn't suit zach, and he got push back. So he pulled out the old wrinkles and let the offence flounder running just what zach likes.

That’s a good point. The ol is for sure an entity all its own. They Maybe the greatest anachronism in all of sports. Especially the Canadian ol up here. May as well still be the 70s with them in many ways. It’s kind of funny too actually, ol are more athletic and trim now like they were back then. Still gigantic human beings these days, but the middle of the late 80s through early 2ks we saw a ton of heavy none athletic guys. Think he was banged up to end the previous year too. Being a tall guard who turns 37 this year and has played some 140 games mostly starts will make it hard to stay healthy. And slow down recovery

Honestly, camp isn't nearly what it used to be. The limitations on impact, banning of junk like Oklahoma drill, length, etc, have de-toothed it significantly. It isn't like the old days where the 2 a days had guys re-tapping raw skin and doing 2 full run-throughs of full contact and high exertion. The off season for players is also far more active, and you don't need to do nearly as much reconditioning. Now that said you still have to be smart, not like chris jones blowing out a half dozen guys ACLs per day for the first few days. Frankly, I don't care if the vets sit half the day or every other day or what ever they need to. As long as they can be ready to play 1q of the first preseason game, 1 half of the 2nd, and be at full pop for the first regular season week. Aside from injuries in camp and guys coming back from injuries, if a vet can't consistently do that, they are probably done anyway.

I think he’s a high level business side guy for this position. I do have concerns though with the fact he has no experience running a league or team, in football, and that his tsn ties could be a conflict of interest with the upcoming tv deal renewal. Maybe for us maybe for them. I don’t know. Jbr summed it up perfectly. In whelmed. I don’t think many people want the commish job.

All the vets need to play half a game in the last pre season game.

I don’t think he got lucky in the wf, if any one was lucky it was buck. I think he’s had two good strong games in the play offs here, and they are similar. He was able to get his deep shots. That’s kind of how it goes with Zach. He could score a td on every drive, or complete barely 10 in a game and toss a bunch to the wrong team. Hes always been that guy. Live by the sword die by the sword. I get rolling with that a few years ago. I don’t think zach is zach any more. I’m not expecting to see 3-4 td passes in a half or score on every drive into the 4th any more. I think his injuries from the past season and a half ish. I think he’s injured and aged to a point where he just isn’t that same guy. At this point, I would take other guys over Zach right now going into the season. Straight up, I’d rather bank this year and the future both on any of Dru/rourke/vaj. I wouldn’t be happy paying rourke that money, and I’m not sold on Adam’s maturity/culture. But I’d still take the risk on those guys. Even just for this year. The fact all 3 should play as good if not better next year is a bonus. Id love to be wrong, and I think the oc/ol changes and wr health will go far to help Zach. But at this point I kind of expect us to finish with another qb as our starter one way or another.

The thing is his bad games have very largely been in the post season with all kinds of teams around him. That kind of consistent struggle is worthy of criticism. Sport performances are biased towards play off success. From Marino to big shot bob. Expectations are higher in the play offs, success and failure are amplified justly. We’ve seen similar loses our self here like with Kelly off the bench. The chances for a qb other than Zach winning that game was real low for us. But the chances of post injury Zach winning it was zero.

I think we could potentially look at one of the two who have been in camp with us and are candidates to switch to wr, late late in the draft. A wr who can be a short yardage guy, holder potentially, maybe run option pack etc and be an extra qb as a Canadian offers a lot. 6th round type thing. I see no chance we take a qb that high. We are really well poised to get some depth guys with lots of upside in the exact spots we can use them. Makes no sense to go after a qb, even if we thought rourke was the guy and would be here soon. Which he certainly won’t be here any time soon, and I’m not sold on him.

Nailed it. The get off is the single most important tool they can have. The next, is their ability to shed/beat blocks. Neither of these come from raw athletics. Big de at 3tech would be great. Realistically, that spot doesn’t need to be significantly better at run stopping than an end. And facing all ni ol you can get a good consistent pass rusher easier than vs the imp tackles of the league. Yup. Active hands playing the pass lanes is important, with in your rush. You can’t run 4-5 rushers with a goal of getting pkd. You have to push the pocket and create pressures.

Every thing clicked in that game. Ssk couldn’t even get in our way to slow us down. Probably peak buck, peak zach play off performance. I think that performance was due to many factors, I think we’d a won easily in a lot of worst case scenarios. Buck had a few good games that year. He showed some great game prep and adaption a couple times. I had a lot of optimism for him following that, if he took a step forward from his best moments of that year he’d be well on the road to greatness. I was bitterly disappointed that instead he collapsed to his worst level, sustained that and hit new depths. A great oc is consistent, innovates new ways to succeed with game plans and adjustments and is always pushing his offence into the future. Buck flashed those things but never came close to sustaining them. That means he never hit great imo. He’s still really young though. And a change of scenery could be just what he needs. Could well still become a great offensive mind. I like the guy a lot, but I’m glad he’s gone.

I’m convinced zachs hand was busted up that whole time too. He’s had 3-4 really bad follow through motion plays where he hit his hand on helmets. It may never be the same after last years gc. Zach has had very few good play off games in blue n gold. Often just good enough in the wins. We should’ve had a ton more blow out wins. Injuries, personnel, buck, a lot of issues at play.

Greenwood has tremendous size and athleticism. That’s a great guy to have in camp. Hall is small for and end which isn’t the biggest deal, he does have really good athleticism for the edge but not as amazing considering his size kind of what you should expect for that size. Camp can’t come soon enough. Soo many great position battles coming up.

I have a lot of hope that S will be a good fight where the best guy wins. WR I think will as well. I am really hoping we go that way at Lber and don't instantly pencil in tony and kyrie. I don't think tony ill be penciled or penned in, but I worry kyrie will be. C, I have little to no hope. DT, I have some hope with lawson. From my perspective, some guys are personal favorites but not the best man. Wallace is a big one. he could step up and become that guy, but I think it's better than even money chance that he won't be better than one of the Imports. Makonzo is my favorite, but I think he will be and should be a depth piece / rotational guy. Cadwallader is a favorite but not the best guy on D. And Adams at DL is a big favorite for me, but not the best guy. He is going to be in tough this year. Woods, Lawson, Vaughters, and Willy are going to be tough to crack. Plus, we won't have a ton of DI flexibility with Lber, DB, Kr, and K almost certainly all locked up. Game action is worth 10x camp reps. Maybe more. For me, camp evaluation is more about mistakes, red flags, and intangibles. Throw a right tackle or end at the left side and see how they do. Throw a tackle at the guard, have your RB run routes half the day, and see if his hands are as good when you force him to rely on them rather than when he has to make the odd snag. Camp keeps you in camp, live fire reps is where you make the team. That is also why I am a fan of throwing your green guys, especially at turnover positions, against the other teams' starters. See how those guys do versus league starters, rather than guys who will be working at a Kinkos or some thing in a couple of weeks. I'll also say that live reps in person are worth a lot more than game film, which is worth a whole lot more than highlights. And we have made decisions that clearly broke with all logic in camp. Like investing a couple picks in NI rbs, and not giving those guys a real chance no matter how they perform. Like Rosery, who could've been a key depth Wr, Rb and teams guy getting cut for guys who are interchangeable with him at one of those roles but with out the versatility.

https://3downnation.com/2025/04/01/what-does-the-new-rogers-nhl-tv-deal-mean-for-the-cfl/ will the new cfl deal be the biggest ever? Almost certainly. Will it be big enough that it has a substantial impact and creates any sort of noticeable change? I kind of doubt it. I’m more worried about tsn dying off than I am optimistic that the cfl being its corner stone means big things for us.

Love how he moves in coverage. A Canadian S who can pick up any one on a bust underneath is a great luxury. Forget if he takes a step forward this year. I just want to see more of what we’ve seen from him.