It’s hardly a newsflash or hot take, but Zach Collaros had this thought re-confirmed last Friday in Calgary: watching a game from the sidelines absolutely, positively stinks.
That, in part, is what helped make the return-to-work Monday for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers QB1 so important both for the club and for his own sanity.
“I feel good. I feel really good,” Collaros said after participating in a full session on Monday. “Nice to be back out at practice running around, throwing the ball around, taking hard drops, reading the defence… all of those things. I feel ready to go for the game for sure. Obviously, we’ll assess after this, but I don’t believe there will be any setback.
“… It’s tough. You never want to miss. You don’t get a lot of opportunities in this game and so you cherish every one and obviously when you’re not able to go, it’s tough.”
Collaros exited the Blue Bombers win over the Elks in Edmonton on August 10th after being squished by defensive lineman Kony Ealy in the first half and was replaced by Dru Brown, who then started last week’s win over the Stampeders in Calgary. He called the decision to not play last week – made in concert with head coach Mike O’Shea and head athletic therapist Al Couture – ‘precautionary’, adding that there was no concern with what was listed as a neck injury. Asked specifically about the hit, Collaros was succinct in repeating a message he has said before: “I doubt it was something intentional. At the same time, protecting the quarterback has never really been a priority in this league.”
Collaros accompanied the team to Calgary and was listed on the team’s depth chart, but did not dress for the 19-18 victory, instead spending his time on the sidelines. The Blue Bombers QB room features three pivots who work well together in Collaros, Brown and Dakota Prukop, and with offensive coordinator Buck Pierce.
Collaros was available for Brown or Prukop as a resource, but also didn’t want to overwhelm the two pivots during the game – a potentially delicate situation to manage.
“I’ve always said to Dru and any quarterback I’ve worked with – especially if I’ve been the starter in that instance – I’m kind of a ‘just leave me alone person’ in a game and figure things out on my own and talk to who I need to talk to,” said Collaros. “That sounds bad to say, but I told Dru and I told Dakota the same thing, ‘Hey, if you need me and you want to talk to me about something or you want me to watch for something – and I told Bourgs (receiver coach Kevin Bourgoin) and Marty (Costello, offensive line coach) and Buck the same thing – if there’s something you need me to look for, I’ll look for that kind of stuff. But the guys on the field, I try to stay as hands-off as possible unless he wants me talking to him. Dru, Dakota and I have really good relationships, so it’s easy to do that with those guys.
“A lot of times for me I just wanted to come off and take a deep breath and think about what happened on that series. You try to give advice, you try to point things out without overwhelming people and Dru has a really good grasp of what we do, obviously, and has a really good understanding of what defences do as well and he’ll continue to grow in that aspect with more reps that he gets.
“So, again, I’m never trying to crowd or clutter his mind and just stay hands off unless there’s something really pertinent I want to say to him, or he asks.”
Brown helped the Blue Bombers to the win in his second career start, completing 17-of-27 passes for 171 yards with no TDs or, just as important, no interceptions in what became a defensive slugfest.
“There were some things I could have done better,” said Brown Monday, “but as far as the kind of game it was, I think we all took away there weren’t a ton of plays made on either side, but we were able to make a few more than them.”
Brown’s numbers this season are a solid 40-of-60 for 579 yards with five TDs and zero picks and in a quarterback-starved league he was asked again on Monday how his performances, especially over the last two weeks, were big in looking ahead to next winter in free agency when CFL teams go shopping.
“It’s good. It was a lot of fun,” he said. “I know I’ve said this before, but I sometimes forget how much fun playing the game is, just because I’ve been in this role for a little over two years now. You forget how fun it is when you’re out there and you’re with the guys and you’re competing and not just on the sidelines observing and trying to help from where you’re standing in that kind of role.
“It’s just been a lot of fun and I haven’t really had a chance – and I won’t until this season is over with – (to think) about how important this is for me moving forward. I just try to think about it.”
In the meantime, Brown is cool with now yielding back to Collaros, the CFL’s reigning two-time Most Outstanding Player.
“The cool thing about being here is, ‘Yeah, do I want to be a starter? Absolutely.’ But being a back-up here, being in that room, you still find a lot of purpose, you still have a huge role,” said Brown. “Even though the people sitting here (fans) or you guys (media) won’t necessarily see it, it brings a lot of fulfillment to me.
“Whatever the team needs – it’s cliché – but I’m here for it.”
More news from the Blue Bombers return to practice this week in NEED TO KNOW…
BUCK THOUGHTS:
Some takes from Buck Pierce after Monday’s practice…
On the work of Brown:
“I thought he did well. I thought he executed our offence up and down the field. Obviously, there’s some learning things for him and for all of us, but for the most part he made good decisions on first down and kept us out of certain second and longs because that’s a very good defensive team when you get behind the sticks like that. It was a learning process for him, but he did some really good things for us.”
On the two fumbles by Dakota Prukop, both recovered by the Blue Bombers:
“Just a mistake. It’s a game of mistakes and certain things like that happen. Knowing Dakota, he learns from all those. He’s a valuable asset to our roster, to our quarterback room and to our offence. We’re going to continue to look at ways he can help us win football games.”
PUTTING THE ‘SPECIAL’ BACK IN SPECIAL TEAMS:
Last Friday’s performance by the foot soldiers on specials wasn’t one for the time capsule. Jamieson Sheahan had a punt block and Stamps returner Tommylee Lewis scorched the cover units. On the flip side, kicker Sergio Castillo was a perfect 4-for-4 in the field goal department.
“You try and find the positives and then move on,” said special teams coordinator Paul Boudreau. “There were still some good things that were done, but unfortunately the bad ones overshadow the good.”
Boudreau said the punt block, the second against this season, was a miscommunication ‘all across the board’ against a look that they had seen before.
“That’s part of football,” added O’Shea. “You’ve got 12 guys out there all trying to do the right thing, communicate and see the pictures the same way and get it sorted out. It’s not easy. I sat back in those spots and there’s a lot of stuff going on. It’s one of those things that doesn’t happen very often and then we’ve got a good group that makes sure it’s not going to happen again, and it may. But nobody’s concerned about the amount of work they’re going to put in and how hard they’re going to try to make sure it doesn’t. It just did and it’s unfortunate. But the D held them to three after that.”
QUOTABLE:
O’Shea when asked for his take on last week’s win after having the chance to study the game film:
“We got out of there with a win. I don’t think it was the best-looking win you’ll ever have, but you’re on the road, divisional opponent, you get two points… I’m pretty sure it will be in the rearview mirror so quickly we won’t remember how we won.
“It was certainly a great effort by our defence shutting down their offence and a couple times being put in bad positions and still holding them to field goals. Sergio kicked well… Demerio’s interception… and we ran the ball well and the offence did enough to help us win a football game in a defensive battle.
“… It was another one where you’re just sitting back after and you’re going, ‘That was weird. That was a weird one.’ But you take ‘em however you can get ‘em.”
