{"id":58303,"date":"2025-08-10T03:31:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T03:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/58303\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T03:31:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T03:31:24","slug":"game-day-hq-8-blue-bombers-at-stampeders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/58303\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Day HQ #8 | Blue Bombers at Stampeders"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALGARY \u2014 He\u2019s shown the patience of a saint and consistently resisted the urge \u2014 if it was perhaps bubbling under the surface \u2014 to express even a scintilla of frustration.<\/p>\n

And now, some eight months after signing with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as a high-profile free agent and seven games into the 2025 Canadian Football League season, receiver Dillon Mitchell will finally make his debut in blue and gold tonight against the Calgary Stampeders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would just say it\u2019s about making sure we get the win. I\u2019m going out there playing with my brothers and making sure I do my part, do what I\u2019m capable of doing and making sure I do my job,\u201d Mitchell said Friday in a media availability at the team\u2019s hotel. \u201cI feel like making plays is something I always want to do but being a leader on the field, now being out there, I want to give anybody a spark.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dillon Mitchell<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers could use another threat in the receiving game and Mitchell is listed at slotback this week, although he moved all over the field during practice. He comes onto the roster at the spot held by Dalton Schoen to open the season and then filled by Kody Case and Joey Corcoran in subsequent weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to see if we can\u2019t get a guy on the roster who has produced at a high level in this league,\u201d said head coach Mike O\u2019Shea. \u201cHe\u2019s been working diligently, not just biding his time, so he\u2019ll draw in and we\u2019ll see if we can\u2019t get him going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell\u2019s addition gives an offence currently seventh on scoring (22.9 points per game) another potential threat. He had 12 career touchdowns in 45 games with the Edmonton Elks spread out over the last three years, including 58 receptions for 727 yards and four touchdowns a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he had a really good week of practice,\u201d said quarterback Zach Collaros of Mitchell. \u201cHe understands what we\u2019re doing from a gameplan standpoint. You guys have watched him for years and he\u2019s made plays with the ball in the air. I\u2019m excited for him, for his opportunity to get out there and get going. I know he\u2019s been waiting for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

So has everyone in Bomberland \u2014 so much so that the Mitchell watch had become a side story over the last few weeks with him being passed over when the roster was pieced together at the start of the season and especially so following the injury to Schoen. Again, though, don\u2019t expect the 28-year-old former Oregon star to fuel the flames of that narrative.<\/p>\n

Case in point, Mitchell was asked Friday if it\u2019s been tough to wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that,\u201d he began. \u201cCheering my teammates on \u2014 it\u2019s not patience, it\u2019s being able to be a brother and being a good teammate and being a great teammate. That\u2019s all I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, after confirming that this is the longest stretch he\u2019s gone in the CFL without playing he added, \u201cBut everything comes with a valuable lesson. I\u2019ve grown as a leader and a teammate surely over this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two more answers from Mitchell Friday also spoke volumes. First, this when asked how he kept positive during the wait: \u201cBeing around my teammates, being around the coaching staff and everybody that\u2019s in the building, it\u2019s hard to be sad. Being able to still play professional football when I wasn\u2019t able to makes me very, very positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, finally, there\u2019s this when he was asked about what he maybe learned about himself during the seven games where he wasn\u2019t in the lineup: \u201cEverything you put on tape, everything you put on the field is always watched and always looked at. I never try to down another organization, I always try to lift Winnipeg up. I feel the responsibility and the expectation around the building is very high and for myself it rose as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The time for talk and for the conspiracy theories that were growing as he was kept out of the lineup are over. Now Mitchell gets to prove his worth where it matters most: on game day.<\/p>\n

ICYMI, here\u2019s our Game Preview from Friday:<\/p>\n

Game Preview | WPG at CAL<\/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 third and final regular season meeting against the Stampeders here in Calgary in this week\u2019s GAME DAY HQ\u2026<\/p>\n

ZACH IS BACK<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a slow start to the \u201925 season for the Blue Bombers QB1, what with the suspension keeping him out of the opener and a neck injury limiting to about a half of two games and then missing last week\u2019s win over Toronto. Collaros has thrown for 1,031 yards with seven touchdowns against eight interceptions and his QB efficiency rating is the lowest among starters at 89.1.<\/p>\n

All that said, when he\u2019s on Winnipeg\u2019s offence can hit stratospheric heights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to be back on, to get back out there with the guys,\u201d said Collaros. \u201cI feel good to go and am excited for the opportunity tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only do the Blue Bombers get Collaros back, they welcome the return of veteran left tackle Stanley Bryant, who was injured in the loss in Calgary last month and has been out since.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kind of experience is always tough to replace,\u201d said O\u2019Shea of Collaros and Bryant. \u201cThe guys that step in for them, we never ask them to be those two guys because they\u2019re two of the best you\u2019ve ever been around. So, it\u2019s always nice to get that level of experience back on the roster.\u201d<\/p>\n

AND EVEN MORE CHANGES
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Stanley Bryant<\/p>\n

Not only do the Blue Bombers get Collaros and Bryant back and welcome Mitchell to the lineup for the first time, there\u2019s also another change in the secondary with Dexter Lawson, Jr. \u2014 who we wrote about in this piece<\/a> \u2014 making his Winnipeg debut in a secondary that will see another change.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a deep breath to examine some of the turnover we\u2019ve seen on both sides of the ball this season:<\/p>\n

As mentioned above, Collaros has missed two games and been limited to a half in two others.
\nThe Blue Bombers have started three different left tackles this year in Bryant, Micah Vanterpool and Eric Lofton and two different left guards in Vanterpool and Gabe Wallace.
\nThe one receiver spot has featured Schoen, Case, Corcoran and now Mitchell.
\nThe secondary underwent three changes a week ago with Redha Kramdi moving from dime to safety, with Jamal Parker, Jr. moving from safety to corner and Michael Griffin sliding into Kramdi\u2019s old spot. Parker, Jr. was injured a week ago, leading to the change with Lawson, Jr., who becomes the third different corner to man that spot, including Marquise Bridges who was just released.
\nOn top of all that, Brady Oliveira missed two games and most of the opener and was replaced by Matthew Peterson.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a whole lot of revolving pieces and, in part, explains some of the struggles on offence and the dreaded explosion plays on defence. Asked if all the changes has hurt the offence, Collaros offered this:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if \u2018hurt\u2019 is the right word. It just gives us the opportunity to work closer, to work harder together. I know for the O-linemen the more games you have under your belt as a starting five \u2014 starting six when we bring our big team out there \u2014 the better. Any time that you gain repetition together it\u2019s big. The same could be said for Brady and the way he reads their blocks, for the quarterbacks and the receivers, whether it\u2019s the quarterback delivering the football on time, receivers understanding what we want out of certain routes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, those repetitions do matter. But it\u2019s an opportunity for us to work and get it figured out.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTABLE<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Since 2022, Winnipeg is 7-3 against Calgary.
\nZach Collaros is a career 10-8 versus the Stampeders.
\nCalgary last swept a three-game season series between the teams in 2016.
\nThe Stampeders have allowed the fewest big plays (12) and offensive touchdowns (11).
\nVernon Adams Jr. passed for 489 yards and five touchdowns in the two matchups this season against Winnipeg. He is a career 6-3 against Winnipeg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 He\u2019s shown the patience of a saint and consistently resisted the urge \u2014 if it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-58303","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\/58303","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=58303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}