{"id":125585,"date":"2025-09-07T02:16:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T02:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/125585\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T02:16:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T02:16:16","slug":"game-day-hq-banjo-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/125585\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Day HQ | Banjo Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dalton Schoen holds an engineering degree and a master\u2019s in data analytics, so he can certainly crunch the probability numbers on his own injury nightmares over the last couple of seasons.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re horrific.<\/p>\n

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced Friday \u2014 on the eve of today\u2019s Banjo Bowl \u2014 that the veteran receiver will be lost for the remainder of the season due to an ACL injury he suffered in Calgary on July 3rd. Schoen returned to the lineup for last week\u2019s loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Labour Day Classic after spending a month and a half rehabbing it. And while he finished with five catches for 58 yards and a touchdown, the knee will now need surgery for a second straight year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision he made is one other guys make \u2014 they just want to play for their teammates, and they want to lay it on the line for them,\u201d said head coach Mike O\u2019Shea in opening his pre-game press conference with an update on the veteran receiver. \u201cHe worked his ass off to get back in position to try and do that. It just didn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 It just goes to show you the sacrifices these guys make for their teammates and the desire for them to do everything they can to help their team win, and then sometimes it just doesn\u2019t work out. So, from a human side, it stinks. His teammates understand what he was trying to do and who he was trying to do it for and it\u2019s just not going to work out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe effort he put in for this not to be the outcome was second to none,\u201d O\u2019Shea added. \u201cI\u2019ve said up here and talked about this on a personal level \u2014 it can crush guys. But he\u2019s a strong, strong person, otherwise this conversation might have happened after Week 4. Just the type of person he is, you know he\u2019s going to bust his ass to get back and play good football again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schoen was arguably the CFL\u2019s most dangerous receiver in 2022-23, earning the league\u2019s Most Outstanding Rookie award in \u201922 and twice being named a CFL All-Star while pulling in 141 passes for 2,663 yards and a whopping 26 touchdowns in 34 games. Yet, over the last two years he has appeared in just eight games, now twice suffering the ACL injury.<\/p>\n

Schoen opted to attempt to rehab the injury to get back on the field rather than immediately have surgery and that sacrifice certainly wasn\u2019t lost on his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs always, I can\u2019t say enough good things about Dalton,\u201d said Collaros on Friday. \u201cSelfless\u2026 for with what happened with his knee in Week 4 and to try to rehab it as much as he possibly could to be out there for the team and his teammates. His love of the game and his love of this organization I don\u2019t think should be discounted. He could have had surgery however many weeks ago but, again, he put the team first. I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s an example of a receiver playing through an injury like that trying to play through it, and then as well as he played last game \u2014 I think he won every single rep that he took.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove the guy. Just love the guy. He\u2019s just so tough and cares so much about this sport and his teammates and cares so much about the people in this building. That\u2019s why he laid his body on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he would say the same thing \u2014 it\u2019s part of the sport. He\u2019s not the first person this has happened to. But as an onlooker and somebody that\u2019s not going through it, it\u2019s tough. It\u2019s tough to watch, especially knowing the kind of person that Dalton is and how much he cares about this game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is a potential silver lining here for the offence, though, with the return of Pokey Wilson from the New York Jets. He\u2019ll be immediately inserted into the lineup at slotback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just excited to be back with my teammates and be on the field, try to make some plays to help my team,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cIt\u2019s probably going to feel like back to normal and when I was here before.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The transition back) has been pretty smooth. Everybody\u2019s helping me out. I\u2019m getting pretty polished on the playbook and trying to learn new names and new plays but I\u2019m pretty good on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schoen, before the injury, was both a deep threat for the club and a chain mover as an intelligent route-runner who had 48.4 percent of his receptions heading into this season be second-down conversions.<\/p>\n

Wilson has his own dynamic skillset, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings will look different,\u201d Collaros said. \u201cYou\u2019ll have to play a different way and plan a different way but bringing a guy like Pokey back certainly helps and like I\u2019ve been telling you guys all year, I think we have a good room. Obviously, Dalton is a major piece of who we are and what we wanted to be this season and moving forward but you\u2019ve got to attack things differently now.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcellent route runner,\u201d added Collaros of Wilson. \u201cExcellent acceleration. I\u2019m not surprised, but I forgot just how smart of a football player he is with respect to just learning what we\u2019re doing because it is a different playbook, it is different terminology than what he had here last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a guy who can make some pretty incredible plays with the ball in the air and with the ball in his hands. It\u2019s awesome to have him back, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collaros has long praised Schoen as one of the smartest dudes on the team and was asked Friday if the receiver might still be available to help as an offensive consultant of sorts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019d love that. I\u2019d love that,\u201d Collaros said with a grin. \u201c\u2026 There\u2019s a reason he laid his body on the line and his future, his career \u2014 it was to play. And it wasn\u2019t just because it was the Labour Day Classic, it was just the next game and the next opportunity to play for the organization. He wants to be here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat being said, I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s going to happen with the surgery or whatever has to happen. But I was talking to him on the field, and I was like, \u2018Hey man, on Day Zero (before practice resumes) can you watch some of this for me and give me your thoughts? And Day 1.\u2019 I know he\u2019ll still want to be involved. I know I\u2019ll be calling him and picking his brain and texting him \u2014 \u2018Hey, what do you like here? What are you seeing?’\u201d<\/p>\n

ICYMI: here is our Game Preview from Friday:<\/p>\n

Game Preview | Banjo Bowl \u2014 Sask at Wpg<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And follow along here as we present a collection of notes\/quotes\/anecdotes to help get Blue Bombers fans up to speed for today\u2019s Banjo Bowl in this week\u2019s GAME DAY HQ\u2026<\/p>\n

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers will officially add Tyrone Jones to the club\u2019s Ring of Honour during Saturday\u2019s Banjo Bowl with the late, great rush end becoming the 17th member of the franchise\u2019s most-prestigious collection of men. We wrote a story on Jones\u2019 addition to the Ring of Honour in early July. Check that piece out here, if you wish:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had so much joy on the football field.\u201d | Tyrone Jones added to Ring of Honour<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

THE CHESS MATCH AROUND THE SEQUEL<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Banjo Bowl will be the second of three meetings between the CFL\u2019s two Prairie rivals \u2014 they meet again on Friday, October 17th back here in Winnipeg \u2014 and with these two games six days apart there are some compelling side stories to keep an eye on in terms of the punch\/counterpunch.<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers defensive charges, for what it\u2019s worth, were satisfied in limiting Most Outstanding Player candidate Trevor Harris to 219 yards passing and one TD last week but also know he\u2019s one of the most-intelligent QBs in the league and will have some answers today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the balance between maximizing the things you did well and getting as much utility as you can out of those calls and then mixing up some things that looked like the things you did,\u201d said Blue Bombers defensive coordinator Jordan Younger. \u201cThat\u2019s the challenge \u2014 what do we take out, what do we add to\u2026 you never know how they\u2019re going to attack, how they\u2019re going to respond. We have some blind spots we\u2019ll find out about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the game was the same every time it wouldn\u2019t be much fun,\u201d added defensive back Evan Holm. \u201cIf you\u2019re not challenged every game this wouldn\u2019t be fun. I love the, \u2018OK, they did this, now they did this. What\u2019s my response? Are we going to play it differently?\u2019 That\u2019s the most fun. They\u2019re going to have plays for us \u2014 especially Trevor because he likes to study and he studies body language so they\u2019re going to have answers. Their offensive coordinator is going to have answers. At the same time, we think we know where they might go because we self-scout as well. That\u2019s the fun part of these matchups back-to-back.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTABLE<\/p>\n

A Saskatchewan victory would secure the season series win against the Blue Bombers \u2013 their first since 2018.
\nWinnipeg leads the Banjo Bowl series 13-7 all time, with eight wins in the past nine meetings. Saskatchewan\u2019s last win was in 2018 with Zach Collaros at the helm.
\nSaskatchewan is looking for its tenth win of the season; the last time they reached double digits was in 2019 (13-5).
\nLast week, Trevor Harris had his lowest completion percentage of the season: 17-of-27 (63 per cent).
\nWinnipeg has led by 10+ points in each of its last five games but lost two of them in the final minute.
\nZach Collaros will start his sixth Banjo Bowl. He is a perfect 5-0 in the matchup (four wins with Winnipeg, one with Saskatchewan).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dalton Schoen holds an engineering degree and a master\u2019s in data analytics, so he can certainly crunch the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-125585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}