{"id":24782,"date":"2025-07-26T05:30:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/24782\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T05:30:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:30:15","slug":"game-preview-6-wpg-at-tor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/24782\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview #6 | WPG at TOR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kickoff: Saturday, July 26th, 6 p.m. CDT; BMO Field, Toronto
TV\/Streaming: TSN 1\/4, CTV, CBS SportsNetwork; CFL+<\/a>
Radio: 680 CJOB (pre-game begins at 4 p.m. CDT); Play-by-play: Derek Taylor\/analyst: Doug Brown; Sirius XM (ch. 167)<\/p>\n

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Scene Setter<\/p>\n

TORONTO \u2014 It\u2019s a natural storyline \u2014 a Grey Cup rematch between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts \u2014 hanging there all plump and ripe and ready to plucked and devoured by fans and media alike.<\/p>\n

Thing is, that angle \u2014 as juicy as it might appear to the outside world \u2014 hasn\u2019t moved the needle even a bit this week in Bomberland. Not one millimetre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s even popped up one time around here this week, the idea of this being a Grey Cup rematch,\u201d said veteran slotback Nic Demski in a chat with bluebombers.com. \u201cI got asked by someone in the media about it a couple days ago, but around here \u2014 around the boys, around the coaches \u2014 I never heard it once.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s a completely different season. All we care about is getting back on track and playing the football we know how to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nic Demski at Blue Bombers practice earlier this week<\/p>\n

Yes, there are clearly more pressing matters for both the Blue Bombers and Argonauts for Saturday\u2019s matchup with Winnipeg trying to halt a two-game losing skid and the Boatmen trying to right the ship after a 1-5 start. Here\u2019s the other thing: last November\u2019s championship win by the Argos has virtually no meaning for so many new faces suiting up this weekend.<\/p>\n

Case in point: Winnipeg returns 17 starters, 13 roster players and another 13 members of the injured\/practice roster from last year\u2019s Grey Cup. Of the 71 names listed on the depth chart\/practice roster\/injured list for last year\u2019s Grey Cup seven starters are gone, as well as 21 others. Those numbers are even greater for the Argos, who had their championship roster ravaged in free agency, including losing a dozen starters.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou obviously remember the Grey Cup game \u2014 it hurt all offseason \u2014 but once we got rolling this season it really is that we\u2019re on to 2025,\u201d said centre Chris Kolankowski. \u201cBesides, you look at both rosters and they\u2019re both very different. That\u2019s common with the CFL where there\u2019s a lot of turnover. I remember my first year in the CFL \u2014 I was lucky enough to be a part of a Grey Cup team \u2014 and Marc Trestman, my first coach, said at the end of that Grey Cup, \u2018Appreciate the guys in this room as you celebrate because this collection of individuals will likely never be in the same room again together.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how it is every year. I took that to heart back then and I remember it every year in those last couple of days we\u2019re together. It\u2019s the same thing when I come into this room for the first time at training camp and this isn\u2019t the team as last year. We have to learn to win together because we\u2019ve got a lot of new guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you can bet in Toronto they\u2019re doing the same thing with their room, just like every other team in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Grey Cup rematch story angle has been floated all week by various media but with few players or coaches, if any, biting on that narrative. A few days ago it was CJOB\u2019s Derek Taylor broaching it with head coach Mike O\u2019Shea and before the radio voice of the Blue Bombers could even finish the question, the boss was shaking his head negatively, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s so far in the rear-view mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Defensive coordinator Jordan Younger<\/p>\n

Football is a here and now business, of course, and coaches and players seldom spend too much time worrying or relishing about the games played because it has no impact the next time the ball is put on the tee. And it was defensive coordinator Jordan Younger who may have slammed the door closed on the Grey Cup rematch discussion when he was asked if during his playing days he didn\u2019t want to exact some sort of revenge\/payback after losing to an opponent previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe there were some individual matchups I brought to the game where if you had a rough showing against a guy you wanted to play better the next time,\u201d he said. \u201d That\u2019s natural for any competitor but as far as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, it\u2019s 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all we can worry about. If we\u2019re carrying the weight of 2024 into this game, we\u2019re doing the wrong thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE LINEUP: The Blue Bombers depth chart features just one change for this week with rookie Canadian safety Ethan Ball coming aboard for linebacker Lane Novak to make his CFL debut. Ball was a sixth-round pick of the club in the 2025 CFL Draft after playing his college ball at North Dakota and Calgary.<\/p>\n

This means future hall of fame left tackle Stanley Bryant will be absent for a second straight week and will be replaced again by Micah Vanterpool. Bryant, long-snapper Mike Benson, LB Jonathan Jones, RB\/KR Peyton Logan, WR Dillon Mitchell and DT Tanner Schmekel are on the one-game injured list.<\/p>\n

Novak, unfortunately, has now been moved to the six-game injured list, joining WR Dalton Schoen, DB Jake Kelly, OL Eric Lofton, DB Enock Makonzo and DT Jamal Woods.<\/p>\n

FULL DEPTH CHART<\/a><\/p>\n

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