Pre-Game - Zach Collaros 8
There’s so much to unwrap in the latest win by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and inside is a bountiful gift with so many treasures.
The Blue Bombers’ 48-11 victory over the Edmonton Elks Saturday night not only clinched top spot in the West division for the second straight year, but it also tied a franchise record for wins in a season and means the club will host the Western Final.
And, individually, there was Dalton Schoen’s three-touchdown performance, another score for Nic Demski – now six games in a row – two more from the emerging talent that is Brady Oliveira, a stifling performance from all the guys on the ‘Dark Side’ defence and the continuing artistry of Zach Collaros.
A lot of that stuff is pointed out, FYI, in our game recap.
Let’s begin our review of this week’s win by veering away from all that momentarily and salute offensive coordinator Buck Pierce, along with offensive line coach Marty Costello, receivers coach Kevin Bourgoin and running backs coach Jason Hogan because what the attack did against the Elks – and all season, really – has been sensational.
Let’s munch on some numbers here, as the tasty proof:
- The 48 points scored against Edmonton marked the fourth straight game the club has eclipsed the 30-point plateau and the eighth time this season.
- Over the last four games, Winnipeg is averaging 41 points and since a pair of wins over the Ottawa RedBlacks in Weeks 1 and 2 in which the offence managed 19 points, the attack has been held under 20 points just once – in the 20-17 OT loss to the Montreal Alouettes.
- Winnipeg’s 482 points for is the most in the CFL, although the club has played one more game than the Calgary Stampeders (462) and the B.C. Lions (445).
- The club racked up 503 net offensive yards, the highest total this season and just the sixth 500-yards-plus offensive attack in the last six years.
- In addition to the career numbers Collaros is posting, the club has also rushed for over 100 yards in eight of its last nine games.
As Schoen said Friday – he was the first up to speak to the media, but his message was repeated by others who followed – “Buck called a great game.”
That can often get overlooked with the players doing their thing on the field and the coordinators up in the box watching from above. Yet, ask around – which we did – and there’s a collaboration with what Pierce does with his crew, just as defensive coordinator Richie Hall does on that side of the ball, that is critical to all he success the Blue Bombers have had over the past few seasons.
“It’s unique,” said Collaros. “I haven’t really been part of a room like the one Buck has put together since my days in Hamilton with Tommy Condell, from the standpoint of having a say in what I like and what I’d like to have called in certain situations and from a conceptual standpoint of putting this here and that there, depending on what they do.
“I’ve always said about Buck that one of the things I love about him – and it’s a great trait for a leader – is he’s open-minded and he listens, not just to me, but to everybody in the room. If it’s a good idea, we’re going to see if it works and rep it (in practice).”
An example, first pointed out by Oliveira and then confirmed by Collaros: on Oliveira’s first-ever career receiving touchdown – a second-and-four situation with Dakota Prukop and the short-yardage unit in the game for the conversion – it was play put together by Collaros and Dru Brown.
“That play in particular… me and Dru Brown have a text thread of probably a million messages of us sending Instagram clips or Twitter clips of just plays that we see that might work,” said Collaros. “The night before he sent me something, an RPO (run-pass-option) style play and said, ‘This is really cool. I think we could do this.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, especially this week with the fronts (Edmonton) runs.
“We went in, brought it up to Buck in the meeting and he liked the idea, brought it to Marty and asked if we could do this in the run game and I thought it would be even better with Dakota in because he’s a run threat. Everybody agreed and Dakota did a great job.”
There’s an assumption that group thinking like that would be commonplace. But the football meeting rooms can also be rigid work environments and, again, this speaks to the coordinators and Mike O’Shea’s staff.
“I’m sure it applies to every profession – if you feel like you’re a part of it, you play better in your role and you have a better understanding of what’s going on because you were a part of the conversation,” said Collaros.
“I’ve been some places where it’s just, ‘Here are the plays. This is it.’ Credit Buck and Osh for allowing that kind of atmosphere.”
More on the Blue Bombers’ franchise-record-tying 14th win of the season in this week’s edition of UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
THE WIN WILL DUST OFF A SIMILAR CONVERSATION TOPIC… from last season when the Blue Bombers clinched first place early and then had two regular season games that wouldn’t impact their place in the standings before the Western Final.
The Blue Bombers rested some starters periodically – or limited their snaps – in the final two games last year, losing in Montreal and then Calgary. Collaros, for example, did not dress for the loss to the Als – Sean McGuire started that game – and only played the first quarter in a setback to the Stamps.
“We haven’t really had a conversation about it,” Collaros said after the game. “We’ve been focusing on the task at hand and preparing every day and for the opponent we’re playing. I’m sure we’ll have a conversation here over the next couple of days but, at the same time, I’m sure it will be business as usual as far as a preparation standpoint.”
There will be salary cap implications for what the Blue Bombers do here, too, as the club just can’t activate every player from the practice roster or one game injured list without a financial impact. The other obvious factor? Unless a player is hurt, every player in that room wants to keep playing.
“That’s not my decision to make,” said Schoen on the topic of whether he should be in the lineup in the final two regular season games. “I feel great. I obviously want to play. I feel like I’m really starting to catch my stride and I feel good. I’m seeing coverages well and identifying well how I need to run my route well to attack that. We have a great rhythm right now as a whole offence running the ball and throwing the ball, so obviously I want to play.”
Safety Brandon Alexander, meanwhile, offered a common refrain heard in Bomberland – just keep grinding with the daily work and preparation and…
“Just keep loving on each other,” he said “The guys in there really love each other. This locker room is different. Just being around the guys, we want to put it on the line for the guys again and honour them on every single play on every single day.”
ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER HEAPING HELPING OF PRAISE… for Schoen, who now leads the CFL with 14 TDs and in receiving yardage at 1,275.
Asked what his response might have been if someone had told him at the beginning of the year he’d be in this position, Schoen grinned and said:
“I would have thought that was crazy. But I would say it’s a testament to the coaching staff for putting together a great gameplan week in, week out, and it’s a testament to the guys around me. I tell people all the time, I get to play with the best quarterback in the league – he makes the game so easy for me just talking me through stuff and then in the game going out there making plays.
“It starts with the O-line up front, with the other receivers I get to play with – they’re really talented guys, but also really good people. They’ve helped me out so much. It’s always just about the team.”
Consider this: in his last three games Schoen has 17 receptions for 445 yards and four touchdowns.
ONE MORE FROM SCHOEN… earlier in the year the TSN cameras caught him shouting out to the guys attending a bachelor party he was missing and promising one of his touchdown balls to a member of that crew.
In last week’s win he told the cameras he was giving a TD ball to his brother. Question: does he give away all his TD footballs?
“I don’t give them all away,” he said. “My parents have a lot of them, but I more think of it that they’re holding them for the moment. I think they’ve got them up back home. For my brother, it was his birthday and the bachelor party weekend those were special moments I couldn’t be a part of those days for those people when I’m up here playing.
“Tonight – I’m going to keep that ball. That’s a special one… three touchdowns in one game doesn’t come around often so that’s going to be a special one. It’ll probably be up in my parent’s house for the time being.”
And when he was asked if his parents have a large mantle at home for display, he added, “It’s pretty large. And, thankfully, it’s growing.”
AND FINALLY… it was around this time three years ago – October 9, 2019, to be exact – when the Blue Bombers swung the last-second deadline deal with the Toronto Argonauts for Zach Collaros.
Winnipeg sent their first rounder in the 2020 CFL Draft which the Argos used to select OL Theren Churchill and a third-rounder – Toronto chose another OL in Dylan Giffen – in exchange for Collaros and a fifth-round pick, which the Blue Bombers used to grab kicker Marc Liegghio, who has hit 30 of 34 field goals, including 11 straight.
Collaros has now guided the Blue Bombers to a 31-4 record as a starter, including playoffs and two Grey Cups, and is the front-runner for a second straight CFL Most Outstanding Player Award.
Fair to say… BEST. TRADE. EVER.
