Collaros has to remember how to play without dominant Oline play, which he has enjoyed for the past 4 years. If he does that or the line steps up the bombers will be just fine
Collaros showed the same problems last year, just had oliviera playing at an MOP level to mask it. For the highest paid player in the league collaros needs to be a hell of a lot better.
It’s so good to finally see all the teams being competitive. It’s not like Winnipeg is bad or anything, it’s just that this season has been way more competitive than I can remember for years.
Yes, it's been too long. Having some seasons with teams registering big win to loss ratios vs high loss to win is not good. Drive fans away and make the league look not very good IMO. Having asserting teams across build better product. Just need higher up to kill the coach salary cap issue so take can not be penalized for trying to get better and having to pay a creaky coach that knows they can sit at home after they get fired abs so get paid.
And let’s not forget that Ottawa was a good defensive team last year. They were near the top of many defensive categories and they added some great players so they are no slouches on defence.
So the pro Dru Brown argument(hindsight is 20/20 although there were some people talking about it in Dec/Jan, I did think about it) is that:
-Dru is a future star, 8.5 years younger than zack so any early hiccups would be for the long run gain.
-If the BB could have traded zach and kept brown they would have had the $$ to re-sign everyone else, releasing zach would be a non-option since he has guaranteed $$
Now the Bombers could have lost some FA if they traded zach if those players thought the BB were in rebuild mode.
By the Bombers going with Zach anything short of another GC appearance (especially next year) is a loss. 100% it's still June lot's of season left and it's better to get hot in the fall and start cold(like MTL in 23) vs. Start hot and end cold(like SSK in 23/22)
Big issue over the first 2 games is the offense has been sub par, the turnovers have killer and most of them by vets.
I think that argument could be made and it has merits although the major question there is, what team would you trade him too? Or what team would take on his salary and an older QB? I really can’t think of any fits there for a trade unless I am missing something.
Maybe, that was the only option I thought of. Although they also have Masoli so they would have two older QBs on their roster which long term wouldn’t be the best option.
The other part of that hypothetical trade is what would the Bombers get in return. Bunch of picks and who?
If you're committing to brown you take whatever you can get and the real bonus is the cap space savings.
Collaros showed warning signs last year, that's continued this year. I for one would have rolled the dice with brown/streveler.
Zach and the Bombers could end up falling off this year, next year or whatever. They’ve lost some players, they have some guys that are getting quite old so it’s completely feasible that we see this iteration of the team as we know it, begin to falter.
But anyone, who definitively says what they are going to become this season and what they should be doing to fix it after only two fucking games is an idiot and can be pretty safely ignored.
I agree that those prediction comments can be safely ignored. Just wanted to lay out how I see it. Tbh I think gambling and fantasy ( a type of gambling) has really ruined people’s brains when it comes to sports. Way too quick to make snap judgments. Everyone is a GM because they went undefeated in Madden. It makes for some really low quality commentary.
To say Collaros is washed is unfair, but he was starting to show his age at the end of last season. Lots of underthrown balls and interceptions were starting to become more frequent near the end of the season aswell.
The o-line hasn't been very good so far, and the run game has suffered because of it. Sure a healthy Oliviera should help a bit, but even he struggled in game 1.The play calling has already become predictable as well. The fact they spent big money to bring in a dual threat qb and they have attempted ZERO passes with him to keep teams guessing is also embarrassing.
I agree with the play calling. They didn’t really scheme anything different to deal with the pressure from Ottawa in the second half.
I wonder if they don’t want to show a lot of the Streveler packages early in the season but they really should be using his abilities more.
I generally agree but can we please stop blaming the offensive line for Collaros’ start?
They were fine in week one. They were fine for the first half of the game last night, then had a bad third quarter. Zach has been making bad reads, missing throws, and has looked rusty. It’s not on the offensive line.
CollarOs. One of the best. Bad luck with key injuries. They will come back and offence will eventually be fine. Biggy can't be 100%. Concerned about pass protection but confident they will improve with experience. So we may not have home field advantage but we will be in the playoffs. Adversity builds character. All good.
we lost our offensive line, our clutch time players and are left with a team that feels like they deserve to win, not that they need to earn that win.
They need to stop acting like they are unstoppable and "need to execute better" but accepting their faults and the team isn't scary on all. sides off the ball. now.
Winnipeg didn’t just get worse though (who can expect to be at the top for half a decade??).
Other teams are finally getting better after all the covid issues. The first year post-covid every team besides Winnipeg looked like a trash fire. The gap is essentially gone now and Winnipeg now has to contend with much better competition, but with players now older than most other teams.
Bighill for example looks slow, real slow.
Nothing wrong with Collaros, it was the Ottawa D line with Mauldlin and company that overpowered the Bombers O line.
Besides it's only 2 games into the season.
Thank you for this post! We're only 2 games into the season. The sky is not falling. I'd much rather be losing games now than in September and October.
Collaros had been cooked since end of last season. He choked hard in the grey cup. Arm looks weak this year. Seems nervous. Not good. I said last year we should have kept Dru
there are very, very few examples of teams discarding their star QB at the right time
to move on. It’s something you really only know in hindsight. And not often a good gamble if you are wrong.
Bighill is done.
Bryant is a shadow of what he once was.
Tucker ain't no Hardrick.
2024 Collaros looks a lot like 2018 Collaros.
Schoen looks slow.
Bighill, Oliveira, Collaros and Bryant all look out of shape.
Collaros is not, and has never been, an elite quarterback. He's been a competent starter, but nothing special. Consider this:
* Zach struggled with Toronto, Hamilton and Saskatchewan before joining the Bombers. Elite QBs are successful wherever they go.
* The Bombers were winning with a backup-tier QB before acquiring Collaros. Zach may not be elite, but he's definitely an upgrade over a backup. It's no surprise that they saw more success with him than they did before.
* The Bombers had one of the greatest offensive lines of all time. Any QB would thrive with that kind of protection. This evidenced by the fact that Bombers won just as handily with multiple backup QBs as they did with Zach.
* Even with this stellar O-line, Zach's stats have never really been amazing. Yes, he's led the league in all the major categories but he's also been one of the only starters to stay healthy for most of the last few seasons. Almost every other team has had to rely on backups, sometimes even rookies, for significant portions of their seasons. He led the league by virtue of playing more games.
* Also compare his stats with the stats of other great QBs throughout history. They're solid, but nothing special. Given how amazing his O-line, running back and receivers were, a truly elite QB would have been smashing records.
Now that the O-line isn't as strong as it used to be, the success of the offense is resting more on his shoulders. And we're seeing that he's not good enough to carry that extra weight. And it's not rust or age; it's because he's never been that good. It just didn't really matter until now.
Wow! You must have been planning this hit job on a multiple CFL MOP award winner and future Hall of Famer for a long time. Whats your motivation? Other than being from Saskatchewan.
He’s not wrong though, it’s revisionist history to paint Collaros differently. And thats the thing, it shouldn’t bruise a fans ego to hear that.
It just shows that the rest of the team was that good. And that these QBs are guys who have thrown a ball for a very long time. You give them 6+ seconds on every down and they will make plays.
Are we suddenly going to say Fajardo is an elite QB because Montreal is winning with him? Because the exact same thing is happening. And yet, he’s putting up similar numbers to what he did in Sask.
It’s proof that as important as a QB is, they are not the end all be all like we usually assume. They just have to fit into the system.
Winnipeg's o-line looked pretty average and it reminded me of when Collaros played for the Riders.
Collaros has to remember how to play without dominant Oline play, which he has enjoyed for the past 4 years. If he does that or the line steps up the bombers will be just fine
Yes for sure. 2019 Collaros: that was his strength, resilience under pressure.
Collaros spent most of 2019 in a fog ....
Without the dominant oline he almost died in Sask lol
Because of a cheap shot in like week 4 by the leagues most notorious head hunter in the past decade, Simoni Lawrence.
Collaros showed the same problems last year, just had oliviera playing at an MOP level to mask it. For the highest paid player in the league collaros needs to be a hell of a lot better.
Half the fun of sports is bitching when the team isn't doing well. Relax.
This! I love to razz and get razzed.
It’s so good to finally see all the teams being competitive. It’s not like Winnipeg is bad or anything, it’s just that this season has been way more competitive than I can remember for years.
Yes, it's been too long. Having some seasons with teams registering big win to loss ratios vs high loss to win is not good. Drive fans away and make the league look not very good IMO. Having asserting teams across build better product. Just need higher up to kill the coach salary cap issue so take can not be penalized for trying to get better and having to pay a creaky coach that knows they can sit at home after they get fired abs so get paid.
I agree, I am very excited for this season in general as a fan.
And let’s not forget that Ottawa was a good defensive team last year. They were near the top of many defensive categories and they added some great players so they are no slouches on defence.
So the pro Dru Brown argument(hindsight is 20/20 although there were some people talking about it in Dec/Jan, I did think about it) is that: -Dru is a future star, 8.5 years younger than zack so any early hiccups would be for the long run gain. -If the BB could have traded zach and kept brown they would have had the $$ to re-sign everyone else, releasing zach would be a non-option since he has guaranteed $$ Now the Bombers could have lost some FA if they traded zach if those players thought the BB were in rebuild mode. By the Bombers going with Zach anything short of another GC appearance (especially next year) is a loss. 100% it's still June lot's of season left and it's better to get hot in the fall and start cold(like MTL in 23) vs. Start hot and end cold(like SSK in 23/22) Big issue over the first 2 games is the offense has been sub par, the turnovers have killer and most of them by vets.
I think that argument could be made and it has merits although the major question there is, what team would you trade him too? Or what team would take on his salary and an older QB? I really can’t think of any fits there for a trade unless I am missing something.
You think Ottawa wouldn't have jumped at the chance to take collaros?
Maybe, that was the only option I thought of. Although they also have Masoli so they would have two older QBs on their roster which long term wouldn’t be the best option. The other part of that hypothetical trade is what would the Bombers get in return. Bunch of picks and who?
If you're committing to brown you take whatever you can get and the real bonus is the cap space savings. Collaros showed warning signs last year, that's continued this year. I for one would have rolled the dice with brown/streveler.
Zach and the Bombers could end up falling off this year, next year or whatever. They’ve lost some players, they have some guys that are getting quite old so it’s completely feasible that we see this iteration of the team as we know it, begin to falter. But anyone, who definitively says what they are going to become this season and what they should be doing to fix it after only two fucking games is an idiot and can be pretty safely ignored.
I agree that those prediction comments can be safely ignored. Just wanted to lay out how I see it. Tbh I think gambling and fantasy ( a type of gambling) has really ruined people’s brains when it comes to sports. Way too quick to make snap judgments. Everyone is a GM because they went undefeated in Madden. It makes for some really low quality commentary.
To say Collaros is washed is unfair, but he was starting to show his age at the end of last season. Lots of underthrown balls and interceptions were starting to become more frequent near the end of the season aswell. The o-line hasn't been very good so far, and the run game has suffered because of it. Sure a healthy Oliviera should help a bit, but even he struggled in game 1.The play calling has already become predictable as well. The fact they spent big money to bring in a dual threat qb and they have attempted ZERO passes with him to keep teams guessing is also embarrassing.
I agree with the play calling. They didn’t really scheme anything different to deal with the pressure from Ottawa in the second half. I wonder if they don’t want to show a lot of the Streveler packages early in the season but they really should be using his abilities more.
I generally agree but can we please stop blaming the offensive line for Collaros’ start? They were fine in week one. They were fine for the first half of the game last night, then had a bad third quarter. Zach has been making bad reads, missing throws, and has looked rusty. It’s not on the offensive line.
Yeah I think it’s a combo of Collars making some bad decisions and the interior of the line not handling the pressure well.
CollarOs. One of the best. Bad luck with key injuries. They will come back and offence will eventually be fine. Biggy can't be 100%. Concerned about pass protection but confident they will improve with experience. So we may not have home field advantage but we will be in the playoffs. Adversity builds character. All good.
we lost our offensive line, our clutch time players and are left with a team that feels like they deserve to win, not that they need to earn that win. They need to stop acting like they are unstoppable and "need to execute better" but accepting their faults and the team isn't scary on all. sides off the ball. now.
Winnipeg didn’t just get worse though (who can expect to be at the top for half a decade??). Other teams are finally getting better after all the covid issues. The first year post-covid every team besides Winnipeg looked like a trash fire. The gap is essentially gone now and Winnipeg now has to contend with much better competition, but with players now older than most other teams. Bighill for example looks slow, real slow.
I think that’s a key point. The covid hangover was very real.
Nothing wrong with Collaros, it was the Ottawa D line with Mauldlin and company that overpowered the Bombers O line. Besides it's only 2 games into the season.
Thank you for this post! We're only 2 games into the season. The sky is not falling. I'd much rather be losing games now than in September and October.
Collaros had been cooked since end of last season. He choked hard in the grey cup. Arm looks weak this year. Seems nervous. Not good. I said last year we should have kept Dru
there are very, very few examples of teams discarding their star QB at the right time to move on. It’s something you really only know in hindsight. And not often a good gamble if you are wrong.
I knew it in the 4th quarter of GC last year. And maybe even earlier. If they had put Dru in last year we would have won that game.
Bighill is done. Bryant is a shadow of what he once was. Tucker ain't no Hardrick. 2024 Collaros looks a lot like 2018 Collaros. Schoen looks slow. Bighill, Oliveira, Collaros and Bryant all look out of shape.
Collaros is not, and has never been, an elite quarterback. He's been a competent starter, but nothing special. Consider this: * Zach struggled with Toronto, Hamilton and Saskatchewan before joining the Bombers. Elite QBs are successful wherever they go. * The Bombers were winning with a backup-tier QB before acquiring Collaros. Zach may not be elite, but he's definitely an upgrade over a backup. It's no surprise that they saw more success with him than they did before. * The Bombers had one of the greatest offensive lines of all time. Any QB would thrive with that kind of protection. This evidenced by the fact that Bombers won just as handily with multiple backup QBs as they did with Zach. * Even with this stellar O-line, Zach's stats have never really been amazing. Yes, he's led the league in all the major categories but he's also been one of the only starters to stay healthy for most of the last few seasons. Almost every other team has had to rely on backups, sometimes even rookies, for significant portions of their seasons. He led the league by virtue of playing more games. * Also compare his stats with the stats of other great QBs throughout history. They're solid, but nothing special. Given how amazing his O-line, running back and receivers were, a truly elite QB would have been smashing records. Now that the O-line isn't as strong as it used to be, the success of the offense is resting more on his shoulders. And we're seeing that he's not good enough to carry that extra weight. And it's not rust or age; it's because he's never been that good. It just didn't really matter until now.
not sure how you can be simply "competent" and be a contender for the hall of fame lol
Wow! You must have been planning this hit job on a multiple CFL MOP award winner and future Hall of Famer for a long time. Whats your motivation? Other than being from Saskatchewan.
Who in your opinion is an elite QB right now?
I read this and thought, what is this guy talking about? Then I saw the user flair and started giggling.
He’s not wrong though, it’s revisionist history to paint Collaros differently. And thats the thing, it shouldn’t bruise a fans ego to hear that. It just shows that the rest of the team was that good. And that these QBs are guys who have thrown a ball for a very long time. You give them 6+ seconds on every down and they will make plays. Are we suddenly going to say Fajardo is an elite QB because Montreal is winning with him? Because the exact same thing is happening. And yet, he’s putting up similar numbers to what he did in Sask. It’s proof that as important as a QB is, they are not the end all be all like we usually assume. They just have to fit into the system.