Winnipeg Blue Bomber Thread

[jerrym]

John Hodge discusses the Bombers final cuts below including what he classes as surprising cuts considering their performance: DB Brian Walker, DL Sam Montgomery and DB Mohammed Seisay probably due to age, and LB Quention Gause probably related to the signing of Adam Bighill. The release of Ekakitie was not considered a surprise.

http://3downnation.com/2018/06/09/br...rs-final-cuts/

[PullTogether73]

We've got Heath back, and I'd like to see Ekakitie brought in. I doubt Petermann is going anywhere though lol.

Ekakitie is the player the Bombers chose with the first overall pick they got from the Argos in the horrible Drew Willy trade.
It would be a full circle thing if the Argos sign this guy.

[R.J]

Ekakitie is the player the Bombers chose with the first overall pick they got from the Argos in the horrible Drew Willy trade.
It would be a full circle thing if the Argos sign this guy.

Technically it'd be full circle if we sign Ekakitie and also managed to get Petermann; since he was the 3rd rounder we gave up.

[Flutie]

Technically it'd be full circle if we sign Ekakitie and also managed to get Petermann; since he was the 3rd rounder we gave up.

Ekakitie was a bust last season with the Bombers and failed to impress in training camp this year. I don't know why the Argos would want him.

[argolio]

If Petermann ever becomes an Argo, the Willy trade will be the greatest in Argo history.

[jerrym]

If Petermann ever becomes an Argo, the Willy trade will be the greatest in Argo history.

I think a lot of people here would rank the Ricky Ray trade way ahead of that.

[jerrym]

Petermann was one of the younger players who stood out in the Bombers' preseason game against BC. So I don't think he'll be coming to the Argos any time soon.

Lining up in the slot, Petermann finished with four catches for 21 yards and had a key block on Bennett’s TD strike to Randle. He also did fumble after a completion, but scrambled to recover the ball which helped set up a 52-yard-field goal by Menard-Briere on the last play of the first half.
“I thought I did well, other than the fumble,” Petermann said. “All I can say is thank God I recovered it. But I thought I had a solid game. Playing the position I do I’m going to have to be able to be physical and do that (also block).”

Petermann’s first half, essentially, was his game in a snapshot. He can make the tough catch over the middle and then has the quickness to then make defenders whiff on tackles afterward.
“That’s what I did in college at McMaster and that’s what I’m going to try and do here.”

https://www.bluebombers.com/2018/06/...-season-vs-bc/

[jerrym]

HC Mike O'Shea discusses why Faith Ekakitie was released below.

“That decision was really tough. Faith is a good football player, a good guy and a guy you’d like to have in the building longer. But when we signed Jake Thomas and you’re out there watching all the reps and watching the film of all the one-on-ones, Jake Thomas is still a better football player right now.
“The responsibility we have right now is to put the best football team on the field, now. It’s not putting the best football team on the field two years from now. Those are extremely tough decisions. They’re tough, obviously, on the player but they’re not easy to make, either, in that room.
“There are other factors that come into play, salary being one of them, the change in the ratio… those kind of things a lot of times are out of the player’s control. I would assume he’s going to be successful somewhere else. Lots of players are when they get a second opportunity.”

https://www.bluebombers.com/2018/06/...eport-june-11/

[jerrym]

#Bombers depth following 25 cuts. We can expect Nichols, Leggett, Wild, and LaFrance to begin the season in the Injured List, plus a few others. Still room for two more on the Practice Roster.

Six new projected starters for 2018 — Fenner, Gaitor, Roh, Bighill, Bowman, Demski. pic.twitter.com/XEeNN63lNw

— Darrin Bauming (@DarrinBauming) June 10, 2018

[jerrym]

QB Chris Streveler has been described as an "athletic freak." He's going to need all his athletic talents in his first CFL game against the Eskimos in the season opener.

He’s turned in a 4.45-second 40-yard dash, posted a 38.5-inch vertical, and fired off a 10-foot, five-inch broad jump – all at six-foot-two, 209 pounds.
Each of the three testing results would have been top among all quarterbacks who attended the 2018 NFL Combine. But take the QB position designation away for a second, and those numbers would be high among any skill position group – and they are certainly elite for signal callers.

Every single NFL franchise had a representative at Streveler’s pro day in March and he worked out privately for the Chicago Bears but went unselected in the 2018 NFL Draft – he actually turned down NFL rookie mini-camp invites to sign in Winnipeg. The Bombers had known about Streveler for a while, putting his name on the team’s negotiation list while he was a senior at the University of South Dakota: Streveler fits the criteria offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice wants for a signal caller in his offence. ...


The 23-year-old was a captain and led the Coyotes to the FCS playoffs for the first time in program history as a senior. Streveler completed 65.7 per cent of his passes for 4,134 yards, 32 touchdowns against eight interceptions while rushing for 720 yards and 11 touchdowns on 168 carries (4.3 yards-per-carry-average) during 13 games in his senior season for South Dakota. For his efforts, Streveler was named an FCS first-team All-American at quarterback. ...


Athleticism, leadership, smarts and production are clearly key traits in what LaPolice looks for in quarterbacks and Streveler checked each box.
The ability to be a fast learner and absorb new information was evident by the 10-for-10, 140-yard, one touchdown performance in Winnipeg’s first pre-season game. So to was the athleticism as Streveler rushed for times for 37 yards, including a 20-yard chunk. However, there was a road bump against the B.C. Lions in the second exhibition outing and Streveler regressed, connecting on just 3-of-9 throws.

http://3downnation.com/2018/06/13/ne...s-athleticism/

[jerrym]

Andrew Harris argued that even with a rookie QB the Bombers would have 'lots of weapons' to produce a strong offence. Turns out the rookie did all right as well.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4272950/w...season-opener/

[jerrym]

Streveler is taking the right attitude towards his first start - a learning experience.

Facing a horde of media after the game, Streveler was asked what might have been the difference in a three-point loss.
“It was just one or two plays there at the end,” said the 23-year-old product of Crystal Lake, IL, who had his parents in the building for his pro debut. “We had the ball back with a chance to win… I threw two incompletions. You want to be able to put the ball in play there. It’s tough. We put the defence in a tough position there. But there are always things that are positive and things that are negative after a game like this. We’ll get in and watch the game tomorrow, learn from it and get better.” ...


“I started to get more and more comfortable as the game went on,” said Streveler. “There’s obviously a different speed between a regular season game and a pre-season game. I felt like I was starting to settle in there. It’s kinda crazy, but with everything being relatively new it seems like every single rep I get I can learn something new. So, as the game’s going on I feel like I’m almost still learning. It’s the same thing with practice. Every single practice rep I take, I really have to learn.” ...

“It’s a good feeling. It felt really good, there’s no doubt about that,” said Streveler. “But I’m not really thinking about that right now, I’m thinking about maybe the couple of passes that I could have made that maybe would have given us a better chance to win.”

https://www.bluebombers.com/2018/06/...edm-33-wpg-30/

[jerrym]

The Bombers have announced their inductees to the Blue Bomber Hall of Fame.

WR Robert 'Flash' Gordon, who spent 13 years in the league from 1991 to 2004, including six with the Bombers and two with the Argos, finishing with 623 receptions for 9,543 yards. In 2017 he became the HC of Shenyang in the China Arena Football League, which I did not know even existed until l read the following article. http://www.americanfootballinternati...robert-gordon/
http://www.cflapedia.com/Players/g/gordon_robert.htm

Bob Miles, the other inductee, was a member of the Blue Bomber board of directors and president during most of the 1990s and played a major role in rebuilding a struggling team.

[jerrym]

Former Argo QB Mitchell Gale, who has also bounced around the league with the Tiger Cats, Riders, Stampeders and Lions, has been signed by the Bombers because of the inexperience of their non-injured QBs, the injury to Matt Nichols and the retirement of Darian Durant.

[jerrym]

QB Chris Streveler and WR Drew Wolitarsky played together at the University of Minnesota and hope to build on their previous on-field and off-field (they lived together) relationship to improve their performance. It seemed to help in the season opener as Wolitarsky caught his first career TD pass from Streveler, after having only one catch last year.

[jerrym]

No. 2 QB Alex Ross will be out 4 to 6 weeks with a lower body injury. The Bombers are having trouble keeping QBs in action with Matt Nichols injured and Darian Durant retired.

[jerrym]

With QBs Matt Nichols and Alex Ross already out of action, you would think Streveler would be mindful of how important his health is to the success of the Bombers so far and minimize the chances of being injured. But that doesn't seem likely when it comes to sliding. I hope it works out for him, especially after what happened to Ray.

And when asked if it has been suggested he slide more when running rather than take on tacklers:
“No. It’s just a matter of being smart. I’ve kind of had that issue throughout my entire playing career. I’ve made coaches mad since high school, running the way I do sometimes. I understand it’s a physical game and up here it’s a different level. I’ve got to continue to get better about being smart and taking care of myself. It’s a really long season up here, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to change who I am and sometimes my mentality out there. It’s something I’ve got to work on, but I don’t think I’m ever going to fully change.”

https://www.bluebombers.com/2018/06/...-know-june-25/

[jerrym]

Chris Streveler has been named CFL Top Performer of the Week. Quite an accomplishment for a QB playing only his second CFL game.

[jerrym]

During their 56-10 rout of the Als, the Bombers set a CFL record by having four Canadians score TDs in a single game.

Andrew Harris, Nic Demski, and Drew Wolitarsky all caught touchdown passes in La Belle Province — Wolitarsky actually caught two — while Kienan LaFrance ran for a major score late in the game.
I mentioned on the latest episode of the Blue Bomber Talk Podcast that I couldn’t recall a game in which four different Canadians on the same team recorded a touchdown. According the CFL stat guru Steve Daniel, Friday’s game was the first one in CFL history to see four different nationals from one team record a touchdown according to the available research.

http://3downnation.com/2018/06/27/bo...uchdowns-game/

[jerrym]

Matt Nichols has been taken off the six game injured list and is splitting first teams reps with Streveler, but it is not clear yet whether he will play this week.