There were enough people who commented on my last article, Reflections: Bombers' Pre-Season Loss Is Not That Encouraging Offensively, who think I missed the boat by not mentioning penalties.
So right out of the gate, at number 1 is penalties.
1) Penalties
I will still disagree with those who think penalties cost the Bombers the game. For me, it was interceptions. Yet, since two things can be true at the same point, I will talk about penalties. Penalties kill drives, stall momentum and take your offence off the field. Unnecessary penalties also infuriate Bombers' head coach Mike O'Shea. So I will be watching to see if last week's game was a one-off, or a growing concern.
2) Passing Game
The Bomber's passing game against Saskatchewan was not good. If you only look at the averages, they are misleading. Saskatchewan averaged 8.6 yards per pass, while Winnipeg averaged 7.8 yards. That is a close average. But, the offensive performance was way different. Saskatchewan completed 42 passes for 361 yards. Whereas Winnipeg only completed 26 passes for 202 yards. It may be easy to say that the reason for that is because Winnipeg threw 3 interceptions. But so did Saskatchewan. The passing game must be better for Winnipeg.
3) Rushing
Winnipeg did not have a good game rushing the ball. The Bombers' new offensive coordinator is known for not running the ball as often. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out as the season progresses because Winnipeg's identity has been built around running the ball; especially late in the game.
Winnipeg
Saskatchewan
Bonus: Quarterbacks & Rookies
On one hand, I love what the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are doing!
I have been fairly critical of the Bombers at the number 2 quarterback position. Most CFL teams need two quality quarterbacks to get through a season. So, for the Bombers to only dress Perkins and Elgersma gives them a chance to decide who their number 2 will be.
However, as we saw in previous years, not giving Collaros enough reps in pre-season was detrimental to the club.
To me, it makes a lot of sense to see a lot of Elgersma and Perkins. At this point, I do not care who the number 2 quarterback is! I care that the Bombers are ready with a backup quarterback...whoever that is!
It is also quite unusual to see this many rookies on the roster for a home pre-season game. There are usually a handful of starters listed. This depth chart makes it obvious that the Bombers are really giving guys one more look before they decide their final roster.
Final Thoughts:
This game is not about winning or losing. You will see that the Bombers are resting a lot of their starters. For the Bombers, this game is about making decisions on who makes the team. The outcome of this game will not matter to me as much as the areas highlighted above do.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments section wherever you are reading this. Catch all my articles here.