{"id":26438,"date":"2025-07-26T22:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T22:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/26438\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T22:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T22:10:10","slug":"game-day-hq-6-blue-bombers-3-2-at-argonauts-1-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/26438\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Day HQ #6 | Blue Bombers (3-2) at Argonauts (1-5)"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Watching it once was more than enough for every citizen in Blue Bombers Nation. Twice? That is the true definition of cruel and usual punishment.<\/p>\n

So, with that painful intro serving as a reminder of what is still visible in the rear-view mirror for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, we can report the team is here in the centre of the universe attempting to right their wrongs in tonight\u2019s matchup with the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field. It will be the squad\u2019s first opportunity to bury the memories of a pair of three-touchdown losses to the Calgary Stampeders which opened eyes for all the wrong reasons across the Canadian Football League.<\/p>\n

Those two defeats spoiled what had been a promising 3-0 start and brought to the surface a ton of concerns about the 2025 Blue Bombers as it marked the first time since 2014 the team had dropped consecutive games by 2o or more points.<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s an expression in football that a short-term memory leads to long-term success and this bunch is putting its shoulder into the belief those losses are part of early season growing pains.<\/p>\n

There is good news, although it\u2019s hardly \u2018new\u2019 news \u2014 Zach Collaros will officially be behind centre as the club works to get back into the race for top spot in the West Division.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve felt so much better as the week went on,\u201d said Collaros upon arrival at the team\u2019s hotel on Friday. \u201cI took a good shot there and had some lingering effects. But from that day to now I feel the same as I did going into the last game.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Game Preview #6 | WPG at TOR<\/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 tonight\u2019s showdown against Toronto tonight in this week\u2019s GAME DAY HQ\u2026<\/p>\n

RESET, RELOAD ON \u2018D\u2019
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Willie Jefferson during practice this week<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers defence has spent the last week saying their mea culpas after the Stampeder losses and, in particular, all the explosion plays against. In the last two games the defenders have surrendered five plays of 30 yards or more while the Calgary offence converted 63.2 percent (12 of 19) second-down opportunities and were a whopping 67 percent (9 of 13) on second-and-seven or more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s concerning in the sense that it\u2019s always the focus of any good defence, to limit the big plays,\u201d said defensive coordinator Jordan Younger earlier this week. \u201cSo, it\u2019s attention to detail, understanding of opponent tendencies, understanding of our tendencies \u2014 what we\u2019re showing them. We\u2019ll keep working at it. There\u2019s a couple new bodies out there in new places trying to work through things, trying to see things the same way. Again, some of it is just attention to detail and bringing the gameplan to the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Younger had an excellent explanation as to what happens after the offence breaks the huddle and then how the defence reacts to it in the seconds before the ball is snapped.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s two main philosophies,\u201d he said. \u201cYou go out there, you call a defence, and you just run it no matter what the offence does. My philosophy is that puts you at a disadvantage play calling-wise \u2014 you\u2019re not in position to defend what they\u2019re doing. The next one is to read and react to the formation you get and then make the best call based on that formation. Our breakdowns are not necessarily a matter of that. We\u2019re seeing the formations the right way; we\u2019ve got to see the route concepts the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Younger said from the time the offensive huddle breaks the defence has about seven seconds to get their information and communication done before getting lined up. They also have to react on the fly if the formation changes through motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re good at that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going through a little bit of a rough patch these last few games. I\u2019m not concerned about it in the sense that the system has rules to take care of that \u2014 we\u2019ve just got to be sharper in understanding those rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys on the defence want to play better,\u201d added head coach Mike O\u2019Shea on Friday. \u201cThey\u2019re not happy with the explosions they\u2019ve given up and the mistakes they\u2019ve made and the lack of communication on certain plays. They want to be the reason why the team wins \u2014 every phase does. The overall idea is just work to play better and they have a little more urgency that\u2019s probably a positive thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

RESET, RELOAD ON \u2018O\u2019
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Wide receiver Keric Wheatfall doing his thing during practice this week<\/p>\n

The offence hardly gets a free pass for their work in discussing what went wrong over the last two weeks. Some of the numbers are just as frightening with Collaros and Chris Streveler combining to throw six interceptions. Winnipeg QBs have thrown nine TDs this season, six in the last two games as the team was a grotesque -8 in the turnover differential.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same message week to week,\u201d said offensive coordinator Jason Hogan. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be clean and that means taking better care of the football, substitutions in and out of the huddle \u2014 we didn\u2019t have any issues there \u2014 but I thought we just could have been cleaner overall, assignment wise, Day 1 stuff like that in just coming back to the ball. If we do that, we\u2019ve proved with both quarterbacks we can drive efficiently down the football field. We\u2019ve just got to figure out how to put the nail in the coffin and score points \u2014 six are better than three.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The offence) is where we want it to be, we\u2019ve just got to find a way to execute and finish. We\u2019ve driven the ball. You look statistically the last two games we\u2019ve got 400 offensive yards we\u2019ve just got to get it in the end zone for points. Any football game, 400-plus yards is pretty darn good in my opinion. Again, we\u2019ve just got to find a way to finish, clear the mental mistakes and keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLICK NIC POSTING BIG NUMBERS
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Nic Demski leads the Blue Bombers in receiving<\/p>\n

Nic Demski leads the Blue Bombers with 26 catches for 371 yards and five TDs \u2014 just one off tying his TD total in each of the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing well but there\u2019s a lot of things I\u2019ve still got to fix,\u201d Demski said. \u201cIt has nothing to do with the stats. Bigger picture and being a part of this offence there\u2019s still things we all want to fix and do better. That\u2019s what I\u2019m focussed on. I know the production is going come. I know Zach and I and Strev and I all have good connections and so it\u2019s just about making sure everybody\u2019s in sync and that\u2019s part of my job with this offence.\u201d<\/p>\n

INTRODUCING\u2026 ETHAN BALL
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Ethan Ball<\/p>\n

Rookie defensive back Ethan Ball will make his CFL debut tonight as the club\u2019s sixth-round pick, 54th overall, from this year\u2019s draft comes aboard for the injured Lane Novak. A Regina product, Ball played his college ball at North Dakota before joining Calgary last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true,\u201d Ball told bluebombers.com. \u201cYou have your job, and I\u2019m locked in right now for that but this is probably something I\u2019ll reflect on after the game when we get the win and come home. I\u2019m pretty excited. You want to be assignment sharp and do your job. Other than that, you want to fly around and stick your neck in there and just play fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about managing soaking up the experience of playing in his first game with not being overwhelmed by it all, Ball added:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had experiences like this before being at North Dakota and playing in my first Division 1 game and then transferring to University of Calgary and getting the bugs out there in my first game back in Canadian football. So, I do have some previous experiences that I can draw on. Obviously, it\u2019s not professional football. But I will try to soak it in and then once you get on the field it\u2019s just football and another game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something I\u2019ve been working toward since I was probably six-seven years old. It\u2019s special, 100 percent, and it\u2019s going to be amazing to see my name on a CFL jersey and it\u2019s awesome to be with a prestigious organization like the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added O\u2019Shea on Ball: \u201cHe was having a good training camp and got nicked up and basically has to now wait his turn. He\u2019s got high football IQ and he always seems to be in the right spot or real close. Good eyes, good feet and a good competitive spirit. He\u2019ll get a good taste of it now and see where he\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTABLE<\/p>\n

Demski needs two catches to move past Rick House into sixth spot on the Blue Bombers all-time receptions list. He\u2019s at 384 with House at 385. The Top five are Milt Stegall (854), James Murphy (573), Joe Poplawski (549), Terrence Edwards (469) and Clarence Denmark (417).
\nBrady Oliveira needs 11 yards along the ground to move past Fred Reid into seventh place on the Blue Bombers all-time list. Charles Roberts leads (9,387) followed by Leo Lewis (8,861), Willard Reaves (5,923), Jim Washington (5.736), Gerry James (5,541), Andrew Harris (5.402), Reid (4,505) and Oliveira (4,495).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Watching it once was more than enough for every citizen in Blue Bombers Nation. Twice? That…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-26438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26438","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=26438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}