There’s a long-standing desire in some Canadian Football League circles to hammer down on the >> button and fast-forward through the preseason to get to the real games.
You know, the ones that truly matter in the standings.
We get it. As critical as they are to roster shaping, training camps can drag on and seem tedious to outsiders. And as legendary Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray once wrote, “preseason games have as much entertainment value as watching a tree form its annual ring.”
Here’s the thing: they sure as heck matter to all the Winnipeg Blue Bombers travelling to Saskatoon for this Saturday’s first preseason game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, especially for the newbies trying to earn at least one more week.
They matter to some of the vets trying to fight off a challenge from the young talent assembled in camp.
Heck, they even matter to a guy like quarterback Bryce Perkins, a 29-year-old with a Super Bowl ring from his days with the Los Angeles Rams and a UFL MVP salute on his football resumé now trying to find a spot in the CFL.
“To be honest, when I was down south with the Rams, the only reason I was able to get three years on the active roster was because of preseason,” Perkins told bluebombers.com this week. “That helped my career extremely and my trajectory as a player. It’s one of those things — the games always have a different type of flow than practices. It’s always good to get out there — especially in practice — and make sure you’re dialled so that you can go out there and execute the way you’re supposed to in the preseason.
“I’m definitely excited — everybody here is. We’ve been practising against each other for so long it’s always nice to line up against somebody else. You get to a certain point in camp where the offence knows what the defence is running, the defence knows what the offence is running, so it’ll be good to get out there and get some competitive juices flowing, for sure.”
Perkins, FYI, appeared in three preseason games with the Rams in 2021, threw for three touchdowns against one interception and twice led his squad in rushing yards. A year later he completed 71.4 percent of his passes with two TDs and no picks in three preseason games and then made his NFL debut in Week 10 following injuries to Matthew Stafford and John Wolford.
So, heck yeah, he learned a ton from those experiences that he can take into Griffiths Stadium on Saturday. The size of the stage may be different, but not the end goal: showcase his ability to process and put what he’s learned through camp into practice. Flashing his ability to ad lib, too, could be critical.
“The preseason is never perfect,” Perkins said. “Being able to overcome some of those things, especially in the preseason, is definitely a trait that a lot of people look at. It’s also about taking care of the ball. I try to make sure I’m taking care of the ball when I’m out there and move the field and end the drive with a kick at all times.
“There’s definitely a fine balance between not pressing — you have to tell yourself that: Don’t press, the play will be there. Don’t do anything extraordinary that may actually hurt the team. Take the play when it’s there. And when the time is there to make that spectacular play, be ready for it but don’t hunt it out.”
Perkins split his college days between Arizona State (2015-16), Arizona Western (2017) and Virginia (2018-19) before signing with the Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He broke out during his days with the Cavaliers, including setting a school record in 2018 for total offence in a single season with 3,603 yards and 34 touchdowns.
That was then, this is now. And right now Perkins is trying to gobble up as much of the Canadian game as quickly as possible through offensive coordinator and by watching the other QBs in the Blue Bombers room, including Zach Collaros, Taylor Elgersma and Terry Wilson. Perkins is scrapping with Elgersma and Wilson for a spot behind Collaros on the depth chart.
“I’ve had to retrain my brain because it’s definitely different,” he said. “It’s definitely different. You just get so used to seeing certain looks over and over and over that when you come up here you have to retrain yourself and learn the looks again so that you can play fast. That’s been the biggest adjustment for me — being able to see everything and then be comfortable out there. It’s learning process with everything and so it’s been going every day and trying to stack things every day.
“Tommy does a great job of coaching it for us and then it’s just reps, reps, reps. Our defence, from what I hear, is probably one of the most-challenging defences in the league in giving you certain looks and reads. That’s definitely good for us.
“Each day I’m feeling more comfortable in getting out here and learning. I’m looking forward to putting it all together for the preseason game. I don’t care where we’re playing. As long as they got lines on the field, I’m ready to go.”
QB EXITS: The Blue Bombers did see their quarterback room shrink by one on Thursday with Payton Thorne being placed on the suspended list after he decided to leave the team.
Thorne, FYI, was at practice on Wednesday but did not participate.
“We had a great conversation this morning,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “He’s a great kid. He’s really smart. I’m sure he’s got a future in football still, it’s just this is what he had to do.”
Asked if he was disappointed Thorne opted to leave, O’Shea added:
“Yeah. You’re disappointed because you want to run an organization where nobody ever leaves, where they all want to stay all the time. There’s that part.
“But I also am genuinely excited if somebody has things figured out enough that this is the decision they make because it’s not an easy decision. And there are guys I disagree with when I say, ‘I don’t think you’re doing the right thing.’ But they’re all individual conversations. You can’t lump them all in together. Every year it happens and every year you navigate those conversations based on who the guy is and what he’s saying.
“I don’t think he’s done with football yet.”
