As Winnipeg continues to struggle getting it done in the air and on the ground the Bombers will need to find a way to not only put up their own points, but also stop Tiger-Cats receiver Lawler, who is having a record year.

Bombers’ Depth Chart

The Bombers will be without some key players, but they will bring Houston into the game. For a defense that has been torched with the long ball, the Bombers’ and their fans hope Houston will bring some much needed deep ball coverage.

As for Streveler, I believe that if he does not get the job done, or if the game is not close and the Bombers lose, we should see Wilson at quarterback in the next game. Whether the Bombers agree with me or not is yet to be seen. Yes, I am speculating that Collaros will be out for an extended period of time; although the Bombers have not confirmed this.

Hamilton Depth Chart

The Bombers are going to be in it tough against Mitchell!

Winnipeg Game Keys
We have a matchup of the Number 3 quarterback vs. the Number 8 quarterback. As such, Winnipeg cannot hope to go head to head on offense. I suggest that Hamilton does better than Winnipeg offensively. This means that the Bomber are going to need to win the other 2 phases of the game.

Special Teams
The Bombers’ special teams are going to indeed need to be special! Vaval simply cannot put the ball on the turf even if he recovers it. He does not necessarily need to ‘break one,’ although that would be helpful, but he must secure the ball. And how about some decent returns? If Vaval is not getting returns, expect the Bombers to elect to take the ball without a kickoff…but they will still need to return the punts. I simply cannot remember another year where a returner, for the Bombers, has had issues with ball security and is still returning kicks…nevertheless still on the team. The Bombers must believe that his upside is far greater than his ball security issues.

As for coverage, the Bombers would go a long in helping themselves making sure that Brooks has no room. With the Bombers sure to struggle to match Hamilton on offense, the last thing that they can do is give Hamilton good starting position. And if the Bombers could generate a turnover on their coverage game, that could be huge!

Defense
The Bombers are not terrible on defense, and that is not what has been costing Winnipeg games. Going into last week the Bombers were best in the league in stopping opponents from completing passes. And they showed that again against Saskatchewan in the Banjo Bowl.

However, the Bombers’ achilles heal has been allowing the deep ball. Before their last game Winnipeg was ranked 7th in defending the long ball. Make now doubt about it, Mitchell has the ability to go down field and he will do so.

The Bombers’ defense does not have to be outstanding, although that would help. They simply cannot get burnt for long passes. The other thing that they cannot do is play so soft that Mitchell can dink and dunk all the way down the field. I have been critical that the Bombers have played too soft; allowing their opponents to get 7-8 yard on first down at critical points in the game.

In my opinion, the Bombers need to win this one, so I say play press coverage and/or bring the house against Mitchell…after all, at this point what do they have to lose?

Final Thoughts
The Bombers are in it tough against Hamilton and doing the same thing and hoping for a different outcome is the definition of insanity. I have said it before, the Bombers do not just need to play better/harder. It is time the Bombers do something differently if they hope to salvage their season…in a year Winnipeg hosts the Grey Cup. And the time to do so is now!

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