1pp Many key players have regressed and getting long in the tooth . Simoni, Laurent, Van Zeyl, loss of Filer , Daly , Speedyb and Masoli.
Their Db's are small and not very physical. Loss of physical and tall Breaux is huge. Mike Daly is soft and slow. Frankie maybe too short. Rolle is soft and should be a backup as shown last game on one on TD vs Sask rookie national . When brooks is healthy , I would give Stribling or Lawrence a start at Rolles spot .
You saw in only a small sample size that Katsantonis is more physical than Daly. I hope Daly is not seriously injured.
We have no running Game . This is partly due to a not physical enough Oline. I think STE is a great guy but not a starting running back. He is not even close to Stanback, Powell, or the bombers super Canadian Andrew Harris to name a few.
We need to use an import at RB for certain who is faster and stronger.
It looks like gibbon is not ready to start and the answer is not to use an import lime Yarbrough at guard. I say move Okafor to guard and sign some physical import tackles.
Our dine is also not physical enough against the run and that includes the 2019 Grey cup. Laurent is not as strong as he was and Howsare should get replaced by a more physical player like Mauldin, Akeem or even national Bennett.
Everyone predicted the ticats to win this years Grey cup. I think it got to their heads and need a wake up call.
Injuries
A. Daly in for Adeleke- big drop off
B. Van Zeyl - still recovering. No real replace ment
C. Laurent - ratio change hurts and drop off with Wilson
D. Wynn - big drop off with Wilson or Autry
E. Addison and Posey - huge drop off
F. Frey - big drop off on special teams
G. Brooks - drop off with Stribling with lack of cfl experience
7.Departures
A. The kicking game - big loss in Lirium Having to dress one less import hurts too especially on special teams.
B . Breaux - Rolle is a big drop off
C- Rycker Mathews - Big loss ..no replacement
D. Tasker- We lack that tough reliable experienced receiver right now to come back to the QB when QB is scrambling or broken play .
E. Filer- moving Ciraco to new posiltion will have growing pains and Gibbon not a decent replacement at guard.
Pre-season games is a good point but all 3 teams were in the same boat and the bombers were missing their star ratio buster running back and they lost their big running QB Streveller to the NFL and their best import receiver was out .
As for Sask, they were without their tip receiver in Shaq Evans for most of the game And they had a rash of injuries including MLB Larry Dean .
Good point Crash. I think Acklin is a good 2knd year receiver and is still improving . I am not sure he has yet become the go to guy for when the QB is in trouble just yet though.
I think they are missing a veteran possession type receiver like Tasker, Fantuz, Dipietro for example.
I agree its too soon to judge the receivers but 2 tds in 2 games is pretty light by any standards.
I think/ hope that the return of Addison by next game and the addition of Posey after a few more and the addition of a decent import RB like Don Jackson will help to improve things with their talent and CFL experience.
Bombers aren’t the only ones - already seeing injury troubles for Reilly, Nichols, and Bo Levi. Fajardo looked to be limping on a wonky ankle Saturday night, not sure if it’s the same one he injured in 2019.
Lots of unknowns in the backup QB spot league wide this year. I will say it’s nice to see Collaros playing well and staying upright, even though he’s no longer with the Cats. But all that scrambling outside the pocket makes you wonder how long before he takes a good shot. Winnipeg at least has excellent oline and dlines, which should help to carry the team along if Zach is out for a few games.
Next game? Are you talking about the Addison who just had surgery? I suppose we don’t know the details. Hopefully it was wisdom teeth or a mole removal.
This team is in huge trouble unless they improve the Oline play
4 freaking tries to score a TD from the 1!
Our QB is running for his life
No holes = zero run game
Why are we bringing in rec's(White brothers) when we need olinemen
I agree with most of your points.. way less physical DB's this year with Breaux retired Brooks injured, Adeleke hurt and Leonard in Calgary.. and offense yeah almost the same idea it's tiny guys in this receiving core that can't break tackles, I think Acklins great and will only get better but he's far from a physical receiver he's a an easy to tackle bean pole with amazing hands(any receiver over 6 ft should weigh in over 200lbs)
Funny, I don’t recall much in the way of complaints about our receivers in ‘19. 7 of the 9 (not the 2 Whites) who’ve caught passes, from the same 2 QBs, this year, were with the club then. The only 2019 TiCat receivers over 6’ and 200 lbs, were Brian Jones and Justin Sumpter, neither of whom had a single reception.
Your Cats might already have the Offensive Lineman they need. Most teams carry at least one huge import on their practice rosters. Anytime they wanna make a change all they have to do is put their worst lineman (usually a national) on the one game injury list and insert that huge import. Need more imports in a hurry? Just raid other practice rosters.
I try to not be critical of individual play but I am fixated on him. From just the TV lens he was a tire fire all game. I would rewind and rewind plays and just be shocked at his lack of ability and footwork. Not even touching guys at times.
The line is a mess when your LT can't block even a little bit.
Erlington's struggles come back to the passing game. Cats use the pass to set up the run. When this gets going the run game will follow. I think between Erlington, Bennett, and Irons the run game will be fine.
And so far IMO the D has played fine. Getting Laurent healthy and Wynn, Brooks and Adeleke back will be massive
Speaking about offensive line play, did anybody else notice that Van Zeyl did not play at all in the second half. He was injured near the end of the first half and was replaced by Gibbon at right tackle and the results speak for themselves. The great commentators at TSN never mentioned the fact that Van Zeyl was out of the game!!!
Lots of complaints about Mike Jones doing nothing Tasker was mostly injured and did nothing when he wasnt, Marcus Tucker and Jalin Marshall are both over 200lbs despite being under 6 ft Addison only 5’9 as well and comes in about 200 pounds.
It’s ok to have some guys that are skinnier and not tough tackle breakers but to not have any tackle breaking size guys it’s hard to make after the catch yards… and YAC yds seems to be 90% of condells offensive plan. Addison was arguably more important than Banks last year and it’s cause he got the toughest yards.
