Zach Collaros stepped up to the podium early Friday afternoon completely outfitted in a Winnipeg Blue Bombers toque, T-shirt and sweatpants.
And it was in that moment – before the veteran quarterback even began to address questions about his first start for the Bombers and his first action since Week 1 – when it was difficult not to be completely struck by the bizarreness of his 2019 Canadian Football League season.
Consider that back in June, he led the Saskatchewan Roughriders onto the field in their opener against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and took two snaps before a dirty hit sidelined him from then until now. He was traded to the Toronto Argonauts in August and then flipped to the Bombers at the trade deadline a couple of weeks ago.
And just to add even more intrigue to this whole thing, there’s this: as much as Collaros is – to borrow a hockey term – a ‘rental’ player for the Bombers, his future and the club’s future are so very much entwined right now.
Yes, not only is Collaros making his first start Friday night against the Calgary Stampeders and tasked with helping resuscitate a team that is 1-4 in its last five games, he’s only trying to breathe some life into his own career.
Yeah, no pressure or anything.
“You always put pressure on yourself. I mean, every player does, anybody who wants to be a really good player does,” began Collaros. “What’s nice is knowing you’re prepared for the game and our coaching staff and our unit this week have done a really good job of preparation. Knowing that and being able to go out there and have an understanding of why we’re doing things and knowing the guys are going to be in the right place… now it’s all about execution and it takes 12 guys to do that.”
He’s bang on there, of course. And as much as his acquisition provided the Bombers with a bit of a safety net at the quarterback position with Chris Streveler and rookie Sean McGuire previously the only options after the season-ending shoulder surgery to Matt Nichols, the decision to let him have a go at the controls of the offence is an intriguing one in the last game before the playoffs.
The Bombers have pounded the football along the line of scrimmage better than any team in the CFL, averaging 151.4 yards per game – the highest total since the 1999 Edmonton Eskimos and the most by a Winnipeg squad since 1976 (153.6). That won’t change even with Streveler sidelined as the Bombers could opt to feed those extra touches to the best running back in the league in Andrew Harris, currently chasing his third-straight rushing title.
What does potentially change with Collaros at the controls is his ability to read and distribute the ball to his receiving corps consistently, and in that department the Bombers could certainly use a boost. Winnipeg’s attack ranks dead last in passing, averaging 210.8 yards per game.
If Collaros can return to his form of last year – he threw for 2,999 yards with a sub-par touchdown-to-interception ratio of 9:13 – the Bombers could follow the same formula the Riders did in going 10-4 in his starts, namely play stellar defence and try to take care of the ball offensively.
The pot-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow scenario for both Collars and the Bombers would see him return to his form of 2015-16 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats when he was a legit Most Outstanding Player Candidate.
“He’s learned the playbook quickly,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “He’s a pro, he’s been on a team that’s won a Grey Cup and led another team to a Grey Cup. So, he’s been through this time of year lots of times before. He’s a good quarterback and one of the most important things about bringing him in was having a veteran guy and a guy you knew could fit. And with his type of character he can fit in pretty quickly.”
The Collaros that took to the field last week for his first reps with the Bombers – and first since being medically cleared by both the Argos and Winnipeg’s medical staffs – showed flashes, but also hints of rust. But by Tuesday of this week he looked much sharper at the controls and that’s massive for a club that is trying to find some magic again for a November run.
“It’s been great,” said Andrew Harris of the progress Collaros has made since his arrival. “It’s crazy with this league… a lot of the teams have the same protections, similar concepts, so his learning curve has been great. He’s picked it up really well. There are obviously going to be some hiccups, but for the most part, he’s picked it up well. He’ll do just fine tomorrow.”
Just getting back on the field has been a massive development for Collaros in itself. His last full game was, ironically, a win over the Stampeders last October when he threw for 352 yards. A week later he took his last snap of 2018 after a headshot from Odell Willis of the B.C. Lions – for which he was fined – leading into the opener this year in which he was drilled again by Simoni Lawrence, for which the Ticats linebacker was suspended.
Collaros was asked Thursday about the concern everyone across the CFL has expressed for his health and said:
“I appreciate people’s concern. I said this earlier – I trust the doctors and the specialists that we’ve seen. And honestly, hats off to every doctor I’ve worked with throughout this whole process. This year has been a crazy year, and especially the Argos organization did a really good job of checking all those boxes off. They were very thorough with it and I appreciate them for that. It definitely gave them some ease, and especially my wife.
“I feel really good. I’ve felt good for a long time. Every specialist I’ve seen has said, ‘You’re fine.’”
Earlier this week and then again on Thursday Collaros gushed about the opportunity just to be on the field again, to hear a play call, relay it in the huddle and then see it executed properly on the field. And, as short as this relationship with the Bombers might be – the Argos have said they would love to have him back for 2020 – Collaros has been made to feel at home here in Winnipeg.
“Honestly, since the day I walked through the door here two weeks ago everybody was very friendly and at the same time it was, ‘Hey, we’re going to get this thing done. However we’re going to do it, we’re going to get it done,’” he said. “It speaks a lot to the culture that has been built here from Coach O’Shea through his coaching staff into the veterans in that locker room.
“There wasn’t a moment where I’m like, ‘Man, this kinda sucks. I’m a new guy.’ There wasn’t any feeling of that, it was more, ‘Hey man, if you need some help figuring some stuff out, whether it’s where to get a bite to eat, what this play is’ there were a lot of guys there for that. It’s a good feeling knowing that.”
However this turns out – whether Collaros and the Bombers pen a storybook finish or not – it’s been a strange chapter in his career. Asked what he would think about when he looks back at this year he grinned, then added:
“I guess it depends on how it ends. We’ll have to see, I guess.”
