Banjo Bowl countdown, Ontaria Wilson starts, Winnipeg Jets pre-camp skate

Banjo Bowl countdown, Ontaria Wilson starts, Winnipeg Jets pre-camp skate

I [Music] [Applause] [Music] alone around This is Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily with Andrew Hustler Patterson and Michael Reis. What is going on everybody? Welcome to Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily, a packed Friday edition with a ton of three and four down football as the NFL kicked off last night. And tomorrow is the biggest game of the regular season here in the Peg, the Banjo Bowl rematch of the Labor Day Classic with the Bombers taking on the Saskatchewan Rough Riders at Princess Auto Stadium. We’re going to be all over both the Canadian Football League and the National Football League today. Starting it off with the godfather of the Banjo Bowl himself, Troy Westwood. Jeff Hamilton of the Winnipeg Free Press popping on as well. We’ve got some big news from the Bomberland. And it is bad news as well. I’ll get to that in just a minute. And then getting ready for a little more of the National Football League. This is Vikings territory for the most part. And uh I know a lot of Viking fans are excited for Monday Night Football. With the off day for the Vikings today, it was a perfect opportunity to get for my money the best in the biz covering the Minnesota Vikings. Matthew Coller of Purple. Insider will join us for a season preview and tell us about JJ McCarthy’s training camp and how things are looking heading into the Bears game Monday night. And a packed NFL notebook for week one with our man Lee Hacksaw Hamilton. Of course, we’ll have marbles a little later on, so stick around for that as we do each and every Friday here on Winnipeg Sports Talk. Just before we bring in Michael Reis did mention that we’re uh well in we’re now officially into NFL season. If you missed it earlier today, uh we’ve got a new NFL pick show on Winnipeg Sports Talk with myself, Pat and Jake, uh Connor producing 10 a.m. Friday mornings, WST winners, weekly NFL picks. We went through our favorite spread picks, our favorite player props, touchdown score, cooked up some boosted parlays for the cool bet combo cards. So, if you missed that, um check it out. Let us know in the comments your favorite spread pick of the week. Actually, we should maybe do a little contest on that. Um, well, as I said, do that in advance for us and I’ll figure out if someone nails it, we’ll pick a winner uh and get them a prize. But make a note that Fridays 10:00 a.m. throughout NFL season, WSD Winners NFL content out. And uh we’re just a few weeks away from firing up WST winners NHL style with myself and Remis and Connor and of course Pat and Jake as well. Um speaking of Pat and Jake, thanks to Cool Bet for their great support of Winnipeg Sports Talk and all of our sponsors including Princess Auto, Princess Auto Stadium going to be rocking tomorrow. Uh Safe Patel Dental Center, Rolly’s Transfer, Canadian Club and Manitoba Battery. Uh F apparel, Akens Lake Wilderness Lodge, Little Brown Jug, Boston Pizza, Royal Sports, a Cine Boy at Downs, Breezy Ben, the Winnipeg Gold Eyes. We will get to a why not question of the day for not Autocorp, but Waverly and McGilly, and of course get your feedback on fan feedback from fansfirst.ca. Let’s get it going. Banjo Bowl tomorrow, NFL’s underway. It is a good time to be a sports fan. And of course for all you Jets fans, many Jets on the ice today and actually a few of them talking to the media after the skate today. Let’s get Remis in here as we welcome everybody in chat. Hit that thumbs up gang. Remo, what’s going on? How are you, man? I’m just sad over here. A lot of reaction in the chat as Mike O’Shea spoke to the media just before we went live and revealed that receiver Dalton Shown out for the season. Darut. Yeah. so so bad. We saw, you know, when they put out the depth chart, he was placed on the six-game injured list and Ontario Wilson is starting. Nice to see him step into the starting. Oh, Dalton shown six game. That’s too bad. But yes, Mike O’Shea uh saying out for the season. They said he tore his ACL in the Calgary game. That was, you know, the Cal game this year. He tore the same knee as last year and then reinjured it against Saskatchewan on the weekend Labor Day Classic. Tried to gut it out to the end of the game. He will have surgery and miss the season. Tough to see him miss another season, you know, have another season ending injury, but I have to say, um, you know, gutsy effort to come back with a torn ACL. tough for anyone to play football with that type of injury. You kind of need the ACL for, you know, the cutting and the quick movements. Had a pretty good game actually. Caught a touchdown, but you saw him in pain at the end there. A lot of speculation about him. We saw he wasn’t in practice and now out for the season. Dalton showing that’s tough. Uh that’s tough one for him. Hopefully he can I don’t know what it means for his career with the Bombers and the CFL. Hopefully he can come back and be 100%. But back-to-back seasons with ending, you know, season ending near knee injuries, man, I feel for the guy. Yeah. No, I’m with you. I mean, and and and to be honest, I had to reread that a couple times when it came out that he tore his ACL. not on the weekend against Saskatchewan, but earlier this year against Calgary and ended up sitting out on the six-game injured list and then coming back. And I mean, Shon was a factor in that game last week. He was targeted seven times. He had five catches, 58 yards. He was the guy that caught the touchdown in the final minute of the game to give them the opportunity to win it, to tie it up and get it to overtime. So, it’s not like he was just sort of on the roster and ran a couple roots and couldn’t go, but to see him limp off after the two-point play. And of course, everyone was focusing more on the pick, too, that turned the game upside down after that stirring bomber comeback that fell just short. But we heard from a number of the I mean, I was in the building. I wasn’t paying attention to Daltton Shown at that point. Um, we heard that he limped off after that play and obviously the uh worst that was feared has now come to reality. Dalton shown not only out for the Banjo Bowl but out for the season. And uh, tell you what, Reis, um, any thoughts on whether they’d spend a long time getting Pokey Wilson back in the lineup? I think made pretty clear by the situation from Dalton shown that he’s going to get a chance to get right back out there kind of like Joe and Joe did last weekend in the Labor Day Classic for Sask. Yeah, and it’s a pretty good fit here with him coming back to the same team and you know it is kind of a silver lining. Do you have the shown injury and you’d be like, “Oh, that’s too bad.” But Pokey Wilson back in the lineup, you know, had a great rookie season last year was pumped to get into the Gray Cup. Said yesterday we played the clip worst part of the season was losing. Uh memorable game for Wilson last year, uh July 13, 201 yards on 13 catches. That was crazy. And a touchdown. And what he had another game, you know, seven catches, 129 yards, and a touchdown. at another 100yard game with seven catch. So he had some big games last season. They need a big game player to make some plays. And with him and Demsky, that’s a pretty solid receiving court. Would be nice to have shown as well. Not the case. And they will move forward. And look with him. Brady Olivera, maybe he gets a couple more touches. They use him a bit more out of the back field uh you know in the passing although he has done a lot of that as well this year. So interested to see how Wilson fits in in his first game back in the CFL. Yeah. Well, I mean, they’re going to need him. Uh they are going to need him, especially with Dalton Sh now out for the year. Hey, a shout out to our buddy Rob Kane. What’s up, Rob? Rob just became a member of the WST YouTube chat. Appreciate you being a supporter of WST, Rob. Um you know, we’re going to get to uh O in just a minute um with a few of his comments. We’ll also hear uh from Pokey Wilson on just adjusting back to the big field in the Canadian Football League. Uh but before we do that, Remo, uh we had kickoff last night in the National Football League, Cowboys and Eagles. Very weird game. Um, there was a long a lengthy weather delay that pushed that game till pretty much midnight, but the start of that game was as bizarre as anything you will see. arguably the most impactful defensive lineman in the league, Jaylen Carter of the Philadelphia Eagles, ejected from the game before the first offensive snap was played for spitting on Dak Prescott. Um, it was a break the Cowboys certainly took advantage of um and ended up playing a real close game. I’m not sure people remember the weather delay, the offensive fireworks early in the game, Philly winning at all, or will it be more about Jaylen Carter and one of the dumbest things that we’ve seen on an NFL field in a long time? Yeah, but first play, 6 seconds in, you have this great opener, raise the banner, you’re ready for some football, and yeah, you get ejective resp. ever knows you can’t spit on a guy. And like it, shout out to the NBC cameras who so clearly caught it. That was a serious lugie, their hustler. It was like Bret Hart when he spit on Vince McMahon after the Montreal screen. I heard someone I think it was Simmons last night saying that, you know, if you were ranking Jaylen Carter’s spit on Dak Yeah. in between zero and Bret Hart on Vince McMahon. Like Bret Hart was the 10. So you’re right. It wasn’t it wasn’t that but it was sort of middle of the road. You certainly saw it. I mean there was no question about what just happened and he did it right in front of the official. Um and they had no short. Now, you know, listen, I I think it’s important right now with the Chiefs playing tonight against the Chargers and knowing that next week is the Chiefs home opener Super Bowl rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles. It is very important that the National Football League protect the shield and the integrity of the game. Jaylen Carter needs at least a oneame suspension for the spitting incident last night. Yeah, I don’t know about that. I think he got his uh game there and protect the shield. We can’t have this going on. This needs to be dealt with with an iron fist right now before the Chiefs Eagles game next week. You know, that game gave me like some CFL vibes with the delay. I was like, “Oh, we’ve done this already this season and you had to watch the NBC crew tap dance for an hour and try to figure out what the heck they were going to talk about.” So, we’re all excited for this game. And yeah, the Eagles looking pretty good. Jaylen Herz running in for two touchdowns. Cidi Lamb, some big drops there. You know, Dak, I thought had a pretty strong game. And the the Cowboys were right there, but that Miles Sanders uh fumble, that was a killer for for Dallas. And uh it was a nice opening. Uh you saw the banner raised, saw some exciting plays. I but I always feel like the Thursday night opener and now we got the Friday night. It’s bit of a tease. I need the full slate of games on Sunday starting at noon. We saw last night why Jaylen Herz is the most consistent fantasy player uh there is. The guy’s floor is just so high. Even on a night where AJ Brown does nothing, Devontto Smith is really quiet. He led the Eagles in rushing more than Saquon Barkley and of course got in twice. And by the way, just I mean we’ll get to the cool bet lines and again please check out the WST winners NFL pick show. Remis put the uh the link to the podcast feed in the chat. It’s on a different feed from WST. Please subscribe there as well. Um we nailed that one. Cowboys plus 8 and a half. CD Lamb over 73 and a half yards and Saquon Barkley under 94 and a half. I believe in Kenny Clark. I think the Dallas run defense is better and uh and it was last night just wasn’t enough to win. Um this on a quick betting side of things. The fact that that game did not go over 48 12 was kind of crazy. Remis, it was touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown to start and then after the rain delay or the light weather delay was all defense the rest of the way. But the Cowboys did have the ball with 3 minutes left down four. I mean, they were very much in it. They deserve to cover the spread and I think there’s actually a lot of positives to take out of the Cowboys performance that uh performance last night. Uh tonight we get Chiefs Chargers and then the full slate Sunday, Bills Ravens Sunday Night Football. I cannot wait for that one. And then for all you Viking fans, you have to wait until Monday to get your guy JJ McCarthy. Some prime time looks in their first game of the season. But we do have a Vik season preview and a lot on McCarthy and what he’s been doing to prepare to take over the reigns with the Minnesota Vikings with Matthew Coller a little bit later on the program. So, we will do all that as we continue. And Remo, we should mention, and maybe if you want to get this tweet, we will be talking Banjo Bowl in about 10 minutes after we hear from Coach O’Shea with the man that started it all, our pal Troy Westwood. And Westy, as he always does in Banjo Bowl Weekend, already getting things a little fired up with a uh with a tweet that could be only only from the man that is the godfather of the Banjo Bowl. Westy me, what’s it like being married to the godfather of the Banjo Bowl? Wife, shut up, you idiot. Go Blue Go. Keep it fun and friendly, peeps. And then the photo that of course Westy brought along with it. Um, that’s that is what it’s all about. Again, if only St. Patel Dental Center could be operating in the great province of Saskatchewan, maybe they’d have uh they’d have less this. And he does mention, we’ve got all kinds of great dentists in Manitoba, so maybe Ryder fans can get a little work done while they’re here in the province and then go. We joke, of course, we want to see many Ryder fans. They were so hospitable to us last week in Saskatchewan. And uh Bomber fans, who I’ll be honest, I’ve seen a few Bomber fans in the past that have kind of been a-holes to Rider fans. Keep it fun. Um it certainly was last week in Saskatchewan and uh going to be a great great atmosphere for tomorrow. Big game for the Bombers though. They got to have it. And uh with Dalton Shonne being out, Ontario aka Pokey Wilson uh is going to get right back into it and hopefully help the Bombers make up for the loss of number 83. Here’s what Pokei had to say about just being back and adjusting to the big field after the last couple months with the National Football League’s New York Jets. Pretty good being able to play in a little bit more space. That’s funny cuz you come you come as an American here and you come to a larger field and you got to adjust to it. And now you go down the NFL and you say, “My god, the field is way too small.” Yeah, it did. It felt It did feel different. Even like the end zone being 10 yards and 20 yards, it just the it kind of my first day out there, it kind of looked weird. Felt weird being on the field, but dodged the uprights either. You’re welcome back. What memories do you have of last season? What what did you take away from last season? Like favorite memories or just memories in general? Favorite or strongest memories? Yeah, I’ll say uh a sour memory is like not being able to bring home the Gay Cup, but a good memory is being able to make it to the Gay Cup in my rookie year. All right. Well, Pokey Wilson, he said he came back to win the Gay Cup and uh they’ve got a lot of work to do. Uh first step will be beating the Saskatchewan Ruff Riders tomorrow and he’s going to be front and center in that Bomber offense despite only getting a couple practices in before returning to the team on a new contract that will keep him here for next season as well with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. But uh let’s hear from Mike O’Shea. Of course, he just spoke just recently this morning. We don’t have the audio on the announcement of Dalton Shonne being out for the year, but presumably they’ve been going throughout this week knowing that Daltton Shonne was probably not going to be in the mix, which meant a lot more Pokey Wilson. But Tony Jones has been a real standout. We had him on the program a couple days ago. Bomber fans, if you missed that, check out Wednesday’s show. Here’s what O’Shea had to say about the developing leader in the middle of his defense, Tony Jones. Yeah, he’s all over the field. He is energy all the time, flying around, making makes a ton of plays. Um, you know, as any speaking from the position, uh, you’re going to miss some plays. You know, you don’t want to, uh, but there’s going to be plays that you miss. So, but he’s I I love what he brings to the field. So, uh, Tony Jones will be a big part of the of the game. guy that won’t be part of the game, doesn’t look like, is Deario Houston. We’ll get to him in a minute. Just quickly, here are the changes for the Banjo Bowl. Uh, Rea Crani is back. Pokey Wilson’s in the game. Matthew Peterson is active at the running back position. Micah Vantpole is back. That’s good news. Doug Brown, as he mentioned on the program, was hoping to see Vanderpole back in the lineup. And defensive tackle uh Colin Cornelson. Dalton Shown is out. He’s moved to the six game injured list. Also out of the lineup are Payton Logan. Interesting. Peterson going in over Logan. Uh Gavin Cobb, Fabian Wentz, and Tanner Schmeichel who was injured last week. Um and of course that means that Deario Houston not there. Well, first off, how’s Pokey Wilson looked to the head coach since coming back from the New York Jets? Here’s what O’Shea had to say on that. Yeah, he looks good. Yep. How did the film breakdown from day one go? Yeah, we didn’t run a ton of plays. So, uh, he was I think he was on he was on point. I’d say once again, I think, you know, anybody who’s trying to learn and get caught back up. They don’t got to do it alone, right? So, they got teammates around him that are helping him and but I don’t think he needed a lot of help. All right. So, uh, some positive comments on Pokey Wilson. Now, I will be honest. Uh, I expected Deario Houston to play last week, so I was certainly expecting to play this week. That isn’t the case. This one’s short and sweet. Uh, Mike OSHA was asked how Deario Houston’s looked so far. Yeah, he’s been good. He’s Yeah, he’s been good. So, it’s another option we have. It’s another option, but I guess he hasn’t good looked good enough to get in. Although I will say this, he didn’t play last week and I mean the Bombers held Trevor Harris to one of his uh quietest days of the year passing the football. So certain point maybe you do got to reward the guys that have been in in uh in in the lineup. Um here’s a little bit more from Oane. Now listen, the one thing we know about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and their fans is uh the stadium’s been full all season long. Sell out, sell out, sell out, sell out. Now, the Banjo Bowl is the one year that’s traditionally sold out. Now, they’re all sold out. Um, but O’Shea was asked if the game feels different in the Banjo Bowl, even if every other game has been filled to capacity. That’s up to the crowd whether it feels different. But what are you doing? That’s not up to us or anything. Well, that’s what I’m saying. I think I think the the crowd will determine that. And I do think there is a little different level of excitement for the for this game, you know, than than maybe others. Should there be, I don’t know. But when you ask about the level of excitement or what we notice, it’s that’s really up to the crowd to bring it so that we do notice it. Okay. Well, coach, if you want to turn that to the fans, I’ll take it from here on that one. Yeah, it’s different. I mean, this isn’t a June game against Hamilton. This isn’t a July game against Toronto. This isn’t even a big divisional game against BC. This is the rematch of the Labor Day Classic in against the B in the Banjo Bowl. And yeah, it’s different. It’s the biggest game of the year. Regardless of the records, this is the one game that Winnipeg Blue Bonner fans that filled that stadium want to win the most. Um, it is the best rivalry and on top of it all, this is a game that Winnipeg just simply has to have. I mean, BC is playing tonight against Ottawa. They could tie the Bombers in wins with a victory today. Um, and again, the Bombers do have the benefit of the tiebreaker against BC, but there’s a lot of football left and the Bombers have a tough schedule. So, um, you got to get it done. The crowd will be full as usual. It’ll be cranked up a few notches tomorrow afternoon. You can take that to the bank. Now, one way to get the crowd into the game that Mike O’Shea and his staff can have a lot of impact is is getting Brady Olivea more involved. Brady had a great start to the game. Got into the end zone early to get the team up 7 nothing in the Labor Day Classic. Uh just did not see the ball enough, I think, for most people’s likings. Maybe the coach as well. Let’s see what he had to say on that. Here’s O’Shea on the lack of touches for Brady in the Labor Day game. There there’s there’s a bunch of factors that go into it, right? Um it starts with the game planning and and what Saskatchewan does, where we’re at in the game, the time remaining, the score, all those things. The success we’ve had earlier on in the game, uh if their part of their plan has changed or not. Um you know, but there’s so many factors that that go into it. Um, I mean, let’s not make any We’re not gonna We love Brady. We love what he can do. We like him touching the ball, whether it’s running or catching the ball or whatever. So, there’s always a there’s never a number, but, you know, every single week it’s all right, Brady needs to touch the ball, but it’s not there’s not a set number. And the above all that, above anybody touching the ball is what do you need to do to win this week or and at halftime, what do you need to do to win that half? What do you need to do to win that quarter? Right? So each game is going to look different and each game might not unfold according to the plan. All right. So there’s the coach. Um they got to get it to Brady Moore. I mean I get it. I mean there’s game plans. There’s what the defense is doing, all that. This is your best player. This is your M OP. This is a guy that makes a difference every time he touches the football. So, let’s give him those chances to do it. And I give Saskatchewan a lot of credit, Ree. I mean, the Bombers, and these were the number one and two ranked rush defenses heading into last week. I’m not sure whether that changed, but Saskatchewan was not getting much on Ulette rushes earlier in the game and they kept on pounding the rock and they kept on pounding the rock enough with Ulette that when later on in the game they gave it to Mario Anderson as a bit of a shakeup, he took it to the house twice on two carries for 24 yards. So, I’ll give Saskatchewan credit for their commitment to running the football. And um listen, Zack and the passing offense was great. So, I mean, it wasn’t like they were doing nothing on that side of the football and it was just three and out, three and out. Like, for instance, it was happening in the Grey Cup last year. But, uh, the bottom line is whether you’re passing it to Brady out of the back field, whether you’re giving him carries, he’s got to touch the ball more, especially now without arguably your most important receiver and go-to guy for Zack Calleros being out. Although, I will say Nick Dempseky is that dude now uh right now. So, we’ll talk about it with Westy coming up. Hammer will certainly have his his takes when he joins us a little bit later on on the program. Um before Westy joins us, which should be in just a couple of minutes, I know our friends at Ries are getting ready to move on down to Princess Auto Stadium tomorrow. Uh Roly’s Transfer, proudly founded in Winnipeg, family-owned and operated and operating now into their seventh decade for over 60 years, serving Manitoba as the most trusted name in moving and storage around. If you have a move, folks, uh if you and your family are uh going somewhere else in southern Manitoba, lean on our friends in Rolies. I mean, they’re of course right here in Winnipeg, but they’re around the province on a daily basis. Um you know, with their logistics business, so you’ll get the best roots, timing, and a great price on that move. And of course, the white glove treatment that they have been famous for that’s made them the most trusted name. Head on over to Rollies and request an estimate. Use the promo code WST for a special discount and let them know when and where you’re planning on moving and what needs to go and they’ll turn it around quickly with a great quote and get you locked in for the white glove treatment that Rowy’s is famous for for over 60 years. For all your moving needs, make it Ry’s transfer. Check them out online and request an estimate today over at rolies.com. Um, we were just mentioning it is the Banjo Bowl of course and there are all sorts of dentist jokes, many started by Troy Westwood himself. Um, but when you say, “Hey, you know a good dentist.” I know a good dentist. Our pal Dr. Terry and his wonderful staff at St. Patel Dental Center. Um, if you or your family are looking for a great spot like generations of Winnipegers and Manitobans have to take care of all their dental needs, St. Patel Dental Center is for you. Beautiful new facility at 167 St. Anne. State-of-the-art equipment, convenient free parking right behind the building, and Dr. Terry and his wonderful staff looking forward to taking care of you. And customers from 6 months to 99 plus with everything from cleanings and checkups to more extensive procedures like dental implants. Pop by and see him at 167 an or go online to staint mattel dental.ca CA and make an appointment today and make sure you tell them that the boys at Winnipeg Sports Talk sent you. And hey, it is a another big weekend. A little chillier than it’s been recently, but it’s the Banjo Bowl tomorrow and people are going to be partying one way or the other, especially for you Bomber fans that are fans of whiskey, the original Canadian whiskey, Canada’s finest Canadian club, also the official spirit of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. And they’ve got a special limited edition Bomber label bottle available now at your local Manitoba liquor mart. So whether you’re doing a Banjo Bowl party tonight, whether you are getting out early to tailgate and making some cocktails for friends, Bomber fans, jump on it before it is gone. The limited edition Canadian Club Bomber label bottle at your local Manitoba liquor marts. And keep your eyes out for that CC Club pack as well, which quickly became one of the favorite ready to drink cocktails of the summer with their three their 12-pack, including CC and Ginger, Citrus Smash, and the Half and Half. Big thanks to Canadian Club for their support of the Bombers and Winnipeg Sports Talk. All right, we’re going to have Westy jump on, I believe, in just a couple of minutes. Um, we just had a great laugh about Troy’s tweet. Um, as I said, directing people to our good friends at St. Patel Dental Center, maybe that have come across for a quick visit for the game. Maybe they can mix it. Not sure whether Dr. Terry’s working on Sunday to get a quick uh implant or two before heading back home, but uh, hey, that’s just part of the fun and hilarity that the Banjo Bull brings us. And, uh, the guy that started it all is Troy Westwood and joins us now on Winnipeg Sports Talk. Westy, what’s good, buddy? How are you? Living the dream, brother. How about you? I’m doing great, man. You know what? I got to tell you, we got a lot of fun and there’s jokes going back and forth, but man, the Labor Day game was uh the game itself was wild. The weekend for those of us that made the trip out to Regina was just phenomenal. And the support for the Bombers there, I honestly I think it was twice as much as it was last year. And we’re getting back to a point from preandemic days where, you know, tons of buses, tons of fans making the drive out and basically a takeover of downtown Regina for the weekend. And I will give Ryder fans credit. I mentioned this earlier, but I’ll say it to you how appreciative they were of the Bomber fans coming out. I mean, they were legitimately thanking us. They say, “You guys make this event.” And uh the funny thing about the Banjo Bowl is that started off as sort of the little brother to the Labor Day Classic with the success of the Bombers on the field, off the field. Um this is a game that hasn’t seen a lot of green because it’s been so hard to get tickets and obviously their team’s been a bit down. But man, does it set up for a juicy rematch tomorrow, especially considering what we saw on Sunday. It’s a cool point you make of what them saying, hey, you guys make Labor Day what it is and how that’s so very true, right? If it was only green and white in the city and in the stadium would not have anywhere near the sort of an atmosphere. So, same with the Banjo Bowl. There’s just something truly sacred. I think for any of us that are fans of football on the prairies, when you see that combo blend of blue, gold, green, white, like just immediately it does something to our hearts and fills it with a little bit of joy. And yeah, what what a game. And and what a I thought it was really cool, too. I saw someone rank the CFL stadiums across the country and I believe it was Mosaic and and Princess Auto that was one two it might have been 13 but two of the upper echelons there and it’s just so gorgeous those are over the stadium sort of things they see the cameras whether it’s coming down on on Princess Auto or on Mosaic there just two gorgeous stadiums too huh oh listen I mean and I’ll give Mosaic take a I maybe a just a little notch above us for just one reason. It has nothing to do with where you’re sitting. It’s the concourses. I mean, if they could have a doover on Princess Auto Stadium, I mean, in the middle of the stadium, it gets insane there. It can be very claustrophobic. It’s a little problematic. Um, other than that though, I mean they’re both first class facilities where when you pack them in like last weekend and going to be doing tomorrow, it is incredible theater for professional football. And you know what has not always been the case, Troy, um, but certainly is the case this year, and I would argue was last year as well, is that both of these teams are really good. And, um, listen, I think the Bombers are dealing with a lot right now injury-wise. And just as they go through things that have been thrown at them this year. But listen, let’s give credit where credit is due. This Saskatchewan team right now is 9 and2 in first place in the West. They’ve lost two games to Calgary, who has been a great story of their own. Um the Bombers are a team that have dominated at Princess Auto Stadium for years. They have been by far the best home team in the Canadian Football League and the fans and that fan support has been a big part of that. But this is a big big test. I mean, you know very well it’s not easy to win on the road, but there’s also an element of throwing everything out of it and embracing the atmosphere. And I thought both of those teams did a very good job of that last weekend. And I don’t think it’ll be any different when we kick off tomorrow afternoon for sure. And I was really surprised. I I knew that the Bombers had showed really well at the Labor Day game for the last number of years, but I heard Claros’s record was something like seven and one or nine and one over the last x number of the Labor Day games. And that was that’s a crazy number for anyone that has experience with the Labor Day game and the the challenges there. But yeah, the way that that game unfolded, the the amount of drama and what’s likely in store here tomorrow is going to be really cool. I giggle at that game last week a little bit Husk cuz when with that onside kick right just uh not a good kick for for Castillo to hit like he just mish hit it but then having a chance for the ball and I was giggling because if you’re at the bottom of a pile and if the dude you’re wrestling at the bottom of the pile is the kicker for the ball like whatever you know those piles you know I can’t even get into the detail of the things that can happen in those piles right when you’re and that was an extended amount of time wrestling for that ball and a rider or two was up against poor Sergio down there battling for the ball. Right. So that’s when the curls and whatever time you spend in the gym comes in handy now just giggling going that’s not good. Right when he’s at the bottom of the pile. I’m glad you brought that up because I did want to get your kicker perspective on what the heck was going on in that situation and the fact that he kind of did get there first. And I think Oh, yeah. You know, arguably you could maybe even make the argument he actually had the ball and was down, but um it’s kind of an anything goes uh WWE street fight rules when the ball is there. And um if it’s a kicker against three special teamers on the other team, you kind of know the way that’s going to end by the time the refs peel off the bodies. Yeah, I I would it would be even fun to have a conversation with uh their to find out what happened down there. I myself had never I’ve never been at the bottom of the pile. I’ve heard the stories though, so everything’s in play, right? Your yaches are in play, eyes are in play. It just there’s right a couple of North End eye gouges and all the rest of it. Like everything’s in play there. And I’m not surprised he did not come out with the rock. Westy, it’s too bad that that never happened because you’ve always prided yourself on being the most jacked kicker around. I mean, maybe you could have been the guy to change the narrative about kickers in the bottom of the pile. Well, the celebration that would have ensued would have been spectacular. That that I promise you. Hey, um, what did you think of the game? I mean, it was a real kind of it was a great start by the Bombers. And I mean, I don’t want to get labor on this too much, but I mean, like, out of the game, the the guy that was taken the most heat was Jason Hogan. I mean, and listen, Michael Sha’s got to own part of it, too. I mean, you get the ball on the five yard line and you keep your quarterback on the on the sidelines with running plays and you get three of the first five yards and then throw the kicker out there. I mean, it just seemed like it was a bit of a was such a conservative play in a scenario that probably called for maybe being a bit more aggressive. Hated the two-point play, you know, the the the call on the that ended up being the pick two going the other way. Um, and then the other questions like Brady Olivera, Brady had the great start to the game. He had, let’s just I don’t want to misspe here, he had five carries in the football game, Troy. like they’re um a lot of heat to towards Jason Hogan and listen he is new in the position but you know for in a game where the Bombers were able to hold Trevor Harris to 219 passing yards uh AJ Olette to 89 yards who by the way had basically an identical yards per carry to Brady. It’s just that he got it 18 times and Brady got it five. It really did seem like there were some maybe decisions from the Bombers that maybe prevented them from having a better chance not to be close but to actually win the football game. Yeah. And I I always kind of get a kick out of the kick taking a taking the points, right? You’re kicking the field goal or however you want to do that. And I spent my time in the jersey in the early stages with a guy like Cal Murphy was like, you take the points when they’re there, right? if they’re on, you put them up on the board, you don’t take any unnecessary inherent risk. And that’s the sort of thing that if they didn’t take the points, they go try and get it and they don’t get it, then there’s all kinds of criticism. So, I I don’t anytime you’re taking points that are just sort of gift wrapped there, I I don’t criticize for that. But for certain the it was very interesting, too, how the game like you were saying there, how the game can unfold sometimes and just getting away to the degree from the run game and what you got in Alivera there was was remarkable. And then you know the the the O line and the number of sacks that’s a concern I think right and that’s the part that part of the Rough Riders is going to travel with them leading the CFL in sacks and like that’s a concern but you would think with how Sage and Ky uh a guy like um Colaros is is that he’s going to be getting rid of the pill a little bit quicker uh this week and a bunch of the noise should help uh as well from from a bunch of the different standpoints that they can generate there at the stadium. But for sure some questionable things. Not typical. I I think that’s fair to say under a Michael Shade le team, right? We’re not normally coming away from games wondering about this and that, but a couple peculiar things that definitely contributed to these question marks once the final whistle blew, you know, and I’ll say this. I mean, if you told me before the game that the Bombers would get a turnover in and start on the 5 yardd line and Calleros would out would pass for over a hundred more yards than Trevor Harris and two more touchdowns and I mean all of that said I’d say okay well the Bombers are going to win this game right? I mean, the Saskatchewan does deserve a lot of credit for, I think, taking advantage of that the decision to take the field goal and okay, it’s a 10-point game. You could feel the momentum change after that game and after that play and it was kind of all Saskatchewan for a pretty extended period. I think at one point there was a run of 31-7 and it seemed like it was over and then it wasn’t. I mean, one play change of the game, the fumble on the punt return, and then it was game on again. and the Bombers, to their credit, came all the way back and were within a two-point convert of tying the football game, which would have truly been incredible. Um, but now they got to do it again. And I would say that they have to be as good, if not better, defensively to give themselves a chance to win. And I think that the passing game is naturally, I think, going to take a bit of a step back. I’m not sure if you heard this, Troy, but just in the last hour, it’s been announced that Dalton Shown’s out for the season. So, thank God Pokey Wilson’s back right now. But to me, this puts even more of an emphasis on the need to commit to giving your best player the football as much as possible and putting him into opportunities to succeed. And with that, if they truly have to be focusing and respecting on Brady on every play, that’s probably the best path to getting that passing game operating the way it was last week. Great. Great. That’s a great statement there, Hus. For sure. right? You establish the run game with with the brilliance of Olivea and then that will also slow them down maybe on the line a little bit and that sort of thing. So the what you gain in establishing that run game a little bit more certainly there’s a bunch to trade off. I was at the end of the game Hudson I kind of wonder what you think of this. Was it more that had hey the Bombers these game some of the game decisions in-game decisions and and this and that and they they could have done more to to have won that game or you’re mentioning some of the shortcomings and the numbers involved with what the Rough Riders brought to the table. Was it more the Rough Riders were had a bit of an off game but survived it or was it more that the Bombers didn’t, you know, are are capable of a whole bunch more and they could have actually walked away with the win? Like I wonder which is more in play there. It’s funny that you asked that and I think we’ll be able to answer that a lot better tomorrow. Like are the Bombers able to do what they did defensively again tomorrow in an environment where they should have a better chance of doing that or do the Riders kind of show that hey, you know, we weren’t at our best. We’ve got another level and then come in and I think that’s what makes this rematch, the fact that it’s coming six days after the game so so interesting. I mean, you’ve been part of this for a long time. You know, and I we were talking to Tony Jones earlier and he said, you know, the week of practice is a little different when you’re in the middle of this home and home series. You know exactly who you’re going up against. Again, the videotape might be a little different. And I mean, from your time, and again, I realize it’s a little different being a kicker in special teams, but overall as a team, how much different is that preparation for the rematch than it would be getting ready for Edmonton on a random game at this point in the season? Well, I think it’s it’s quite a bit different, right? And and certainly it is like you’re not and also the chess match of trying to play a team right away again and and what are you going to change? What would you do this do the same sort of as far as approach and because you’re guessing specifically right after the first game what changes are the other teams going to make uh and and anything that they saw sort of thing. So maybe the chess game of it sort of cranks up through the roof. I think the players are a little bit able to to relax mentally a little bit as far as things that they’ve got to learn and specific things related to the team that you’re playing against. But yeah, the intensity, right? It’s just it’s almost like this week between the It’s almost like that was the first half, this is the whistle, now you got the second half coming up with the second game here. So, what I what what makes it so awesome these back-to-back situations is that the second game tends to be a whole lot more personal, right? all the little things on the field that you know the biting, the grabbing, the jawing, all this sort of stuff is gets now because you’re just, you know, if you have a fresh opponent in front of you, all that stuff sort of starts at ground zero again. But now you’re coming back and these same the same stubble jumping banjo playing suckers are standing in front of you and you’re bam, you’re right away you’re at it again with the same dude that maybe you had a problem with last week. So that that’s always going to be heighten everything for sure. Yeah, no doubt about that. And I’m with you. I think they pick up right where they left off and I mean, tomorrow is going to be an awesome day and a great atmosphere at Princess Auto Stadium. You know, the atmosphere I would argue here is as good as it has ever been. I mean, we’ve got this sellout string. I mean, it’s the I keep calling it the kind of golden era bomber football. I keep hearing stories and I know that you’re, you know, if I’m going to pick one dude from Winnipeg that’s like at the hub of this, but I keep hearing these stories about ba like what the rum and that rum hut and the whole area basically has morphed into and how it’s been nurtured along by Wade Miller and all the brilliance of what they do now with tailgating and the game game day delivery. It’s just off the chain. Dude, remember back in your Playboy days when you’d be a star in the club at night? That area has turned into a it turned into a nightclub. And I mean, we’re talking that same window of people that used to fill Take your pick from every one of the big bars back in the day. I mean, it’s 18 to 25 26. And I mean, the Toronto game that was that Friday night, there was four or 5,000 people. I mean, young, good-looking, mixing up with everybody. I mean, it’s the greatest advertisement you could have for the Canadian Football League right there every single game. And this here’s the one thing. This is the one game that’s a little different. Like, you know, your Friday game against Toronto in the summer, um, you know, the Thursday game they had against Ottawa was was the same thing. And listen, when you have it as packed as it’s been, I mean, I think you’re getting that like they have gotten that group. young people know like we got to get to the game. I mean, it is just so much fun and great. Isn’t that really cool, Hus? Because that was the question. That’s that’s the question across the country for the CFL, but that’s always how do we get the young folks, right? How do we get that young that that that uh demographic you’re talking about, the 18 to 25 or whatever it is for the young and they got it, right? that you’re you’re saying like they got it through that magic of whatever all the teamwork with the bomber brass and and creating and nurturing this and like you’re saying if you take for all the old-timers out there you take wise guys the palamino and whatever the third one is and put it there every that’s what’s happening every game night. Yeah. Scandals every word you hear is true. Um remember those old ads. Um but I will say this tomorrow I think as much as like it’ll be crazy there as it always is. This is the game that I think we can count on the fans to be more dialed in on every play from the get-go. Like there will still be people that’ll be crushing in that North End and having fun, but even those people I think will be more locked into paying attention to what is actually happening because this is the game that the fans can make maybe the biggest impact of uh of all. And I think we’d all agree that with the quality of team that Saskatchewan’s coming uh with this is uh this is an all hands- on deck situation. Whether you’re a defensive player, whether you’re an offensive player, whether you’re a special teamrer or whether you’re putting on blue to go in and support the home team. I mean, this is going to take everyone because as I said, I got a lot of respect like what Cory Mace has done with that team. They had the 4-0 start last year. Then they lost some weird games. They went like seven games without winning and then they were good again at the end of the year and went to the West final and it seems like they picked up. They haven’t fallen off right now and it is going to be a uh a full full slate. Hey, just before we go, um this is not necessarily about the game, but more about the rivalry, I always love bringing you on and talking about what it was like as a player making those trips out to Regina. Now, at times you guys were staying like well out of the city before like just for people that maybe miss uses like what were you guys dealing with on the road when you made those annual trips to Regina for that weekend? And uh how did the rider fans get up for bombers back in the day? And that’s part of the cool part of being um of having experienced those times. a lot of I I think maybe it was all in fun. Like there was never I don’t recall for any of the guys or any of the situations where it was something that was dangerous or threatening. It was always just an immense amount of fun. And whether it was the rider players putting stuff in the heads of the shower heads or when we showered after our pregame practice and everybody rireed of something or like there was that sort of thing going on the locker room there. You were always shoulder checking to see who or what was following you as you walked into a restaurant getting into a restaurant or into the into the hotel in Regina and all kinds of beacon going on and craziness. And then that time we we we a couple years we were in Moose Jaw sort of thing and and boy the old days when we would bust there and bust black like that added stuff and we’d stop in Brandon and all the rest of it. It’s it’s just it’s sacred, man, is what it is. For anyone that grew up in Manitoba and my my dad and my uncles would do the whole bus track out on those games and I grew up just wideeyed and and big eared listening to their stories about Labor Day stories and then to actually be able to be a part of that and live in it and add a little bit of a spice to the rivalry, man. It’s just it’s truly sacred stuff for any pretty football loving kind of guy. Hustle Westy, I need you to do one thing. you go into that 2026 calendar and see if you can manage to uh talk to your associates and book off Saturday to Monday of Labor Day weekend. You’re going to be the number one draft pick to come and be a part of it next year with me and Bannon and Carter on the trip. We had such a good time this year. The only way it could be better is if we had the godfather of the Banable with us heading into Saskatchewan. You think about that. Let’s make that work. We’ll let take very good care of you, Wesley. It would be so much fun to make that happen. That would be a lot of fun. And before we we depart here, I just I have to comment on Jeff Hamilton just for a smidge. Okay. Please, please. He’s I remember how young he was when when you know when he first came onto the scene and I was with the bombers stuff. He was just a young fella. Always conducted himself, you know, super classy, fantastic writer. But I saw, you know, I see him now on some of these videos with you and the dude looks like a handsome beast. He’s like, to me, he’s just emanates like Shilabuff almost like the beard and just has that aura and presence like holy hammer’s looking awesome. The the hunk rating is off the charts for Hammer right now. I mean, it’s uh this is why I mean, listen, I don’t mind his takes on CFL 110, but we really have him on for the mean the huge growing female demo that we’ve got on the program. I mean, you got to you got to keep the people happy and we’re doing that in one way. Westy, thanks so much for doing this, dude. Enjoy the Banjo Bowl tomorrow and uh let’s do this soon. We got a big hockey season coming up. NFL starting. This is uh the most fun time of the year for guys like us. Appreciate you, dude. Dream Hust and Hammer. Take care, boys. Thanks so much. There’s Troy Westwood. He’s back on Twitter. The suspension is over. The takes are flying. Troy Westwood. You know where to find him. All right. Hammer is ready to go. Uh we mentioned tomorrow. Princess Auto Stadium. You know where we’ll be at. 300 p.m. kickoff. Things are going to get going probably in and around noon tomorrow. Of course, Princess Auto welcomes you all to the game in Princess Auto Stadium. And Princess Auto is also the place where you’ll find the best deals on the most unique assortment of tools and equipment around. Everything you need to complete the projects on your list or start something new is waiting for you at Princess Auto. So don’t go there tomorrow afternoon. You should be at Princess Auto Stadium, but at any other time, pop by and see him in store, Panet Road, Portage Avenue, West Brandon, or hey, shop online 24/7 365 over at princessauto.com. I know Donnie and the gang at Manitoba Battery are fired up for tomorrow. Of course, being a great local business. Manitoba Battery behind the Jets and the Bombers like we all are on a weekly basis. Manitoba Battery and Donnie will be the first one to tell you to wake up Winnipeg and stop overpaying for batteries at the big box stores. Much like you support your local team, support your local businesses and get the best deals in town. Period. They’ve got a big sale right now on the harvest battery sale as we get into harvest time and the fall. And you can see right now massive deals on top post, dual terminer, GM Ford, 13-in case, booster cables, and much more. The sale details are all on the website at manitoba battery.com. You can pop by and see them on Logan Avenue, on Dover Court Drive, their two Winnipeg locations, or simply call them up or order online and they’ll deliver those batteries to you for free with any purchase over 60 bucks. It’s just that easy. The harvest sale is on the best prices in batteries, period. Anywhere in Winnipeg is at Manitoba Battery. Order online today at manitoba battery.com. Now, tomorrow at the game, we’ll see probably some blue and gold suits. Uh fellas, if you need a new suit or some new men’s wear as you get into fall, head on down to F apparel at 190 Smith Street. They of course are the leaders in custom men’s clothing for 15 years now in town. And uh have custom suits starting at 400 bucks. Chinos, golf pants, custom shirts, both tucked and untucked styles. The best selection of men’s accessories in town. And hey, if you are getting married uh or in a wedding party, make sure to talk to them about a special discount for when the fellas get their suits for the big day at F apparel, 190 Smith Street. Check them out online and make an appointment to come in for a fitting at F, that’s epapparel.com. All right, after getting glazed by Westwood, we now welcome in Jeff Hamilton of the Winnipeg Free Press and of course CFL 110 fame. New CFL 110 is up right now on the Winnipeg Sports Talk channel. Hammer, we got the rematch tomorrow. How you doing, buddy? Great to see you last week in Regina. Fun CFL 110 this week. And uh rematch tomorrow at Princess Auto Stadium. us. I wish I could get Westy to introduce me or or go ahead of me be uh before every time I I do a hit with you guys. That was just terrific. I uh Westy so funny, man. He’s so good. Yeah, from the Heartbreaker himself, it means it means that much more. So, a great intro. I’m doing okay. I I’ve been under the weather hustling. I think it’s might be from the fact that I’ve had four drafts in four nights and it’s just it’s been a bit of a long week as far as different teams, you know, as as seriously as I take my role as a as a manager out there. So, it’s uh but all is good. Looking forward to tomorrow’s game and um I think we’re going to get a lot of as you alluded to earlier in your segment, I think we’re going to get a lot of answers from uh from some of the questions we have about this team and about this rivalry here with the Banjo Bull. So, ready to chop it up. Well, listen. I mean, let’s just get to the big news of the day. I mean, before we really dive into what’ll happen tomorrow between the White Lions, uh, brutal news for the Bombers and for Dalton Shown. Um, and crazy like I, as I said before, I had to read this a couple times when I saw it. He was reporting that he tore his ACL in the Calgary game and tried to play through it and come back and pretty valiant effort last week knowing that the guy was playing on a torn ACL with five catches and a touchdown that could have very well been a famous one in a thrilling bomber comeback, the one that unfortunately fell just short. Um Kenny Lawers in Hamilton. Nick Demsky has been incredible this year, but Daltton Sh was really thought to be the guy for Zack Calleros. And uh him being out out for the season is a real real tough blow for Winnipeg moving forward. Yeah. And it’s not his fault directly, Hus, but there, you know, they went with Dalton Shown over Kenny Lawler, right? And we all know what Kenny Lawler has been doing in Hamilton. He he had an incredible start. Kind of slowed up. um allowed Kandre Smith to become a superstar in this league as I’m sure he attracted double teams and was back at it last week in what was a you know ultimately um a losing effort but a spectacular performance from him right the Bombers could use a guy like him who could high point the ball who could get in the end zone who could score some touchdowns um particularly in the second half of games for this team um that obviously wasn’t the case last week as the as the Bombers scrambled to uh uh to to get that game within reach um of course but I mean to the point here Dalton shown being lost on at two-point um convert. I apologized to a few people. I got some messages from people, emails asking me if I knew more about the injury and at that point I hadn’t. And and to be honest with you, with all kind of the attention on on um Ontario Wilson’s signing and and just really from the from the loss and some of the questionable play calls that came out of that loss, uh Dalton Shown’s health was kind of side a little bit of a sidebar thinking, okay, there’s no way this guy could be injured. But I’m with you. when you find out u kind of the context of the injury and that he tore his ACL earlier in the season, I got more questions, you know, and I’m not would certainly never question the medical staff on the Bombers. Alcure and company are the are the best in the league. They set the standard by far. Um it’s just curious on, you know, because of he reheed the year before that that limited him to three games. So just just like, you know, how much longer were you really going to have a guy with a torn ACL? and was this just a matter of time before, you know, it got worse and he required surgery. So, it’s interesting to me kind of how they handled this one this year rather than doing a surgery. Obviously, he wanted the the chance to come back and play after missing the the the prior season or a majority of it. It’s just you look at it now and you wonder if if that was the right call. I think that was probably the right call, of course, because if he’s having surgery, you know, five weeks ago, he’s done for the season. So this was seemed like clearly a last ditch effort and you know piggyback off some of the things you were saying earlier. I mean kudos to him on coming into that game and and not just per not just being a body a warm body to attract attention but actually having an impact. But this one sucks for Winnipeg. Uh it sucks for Zack Calleris. It sucks for the O line. It sucks for Brady. It sucks for anybody who’s on that offense. Um because you know we know how important Daltton Shown is and can be in games. It’s great that Wilson’s back, but it would be even sweeter, of course, if it was Wilson, you know, Wilson Wishon and Demsky and and, you know, and their attack here, right? You know, especially with the two receivers they picked up before. Looks like guys like Kairen Moore and Cam Eckles will be probably relied on sooner than later here, right? We’re still not even through the end of the season, so there’s bound to be more more hiccups or whatever, injuries, bumps, and bruises. So, um, they have they seem to have the depth. I just think that overall their ceiling is just lower, right? They have quality receivers. They’re just not um when you look at them as a full-on group, there’s some proven talent in there. There’s just no one that necessarily pops out. And that’s no disrespect to Nick Demsky. I’m not including them in that group. And certainly Wilson can be that guy. It’s just when you’re looking at some of the better receiving groups from across the league. It’s more than it’s usually three, four, sometimes in some cases five solid contributors. And I just don’t know if you can necessarily say that with Winnipeg right now. You know, the one thing that I will say, and again, this is very much recency bias. But guys that had been really, really quiet stepped up with massive games in the Labor Day game. I mean, the catch that Clarius made, I mean, Weedfall and listen, Zack Zack underthrew Weedfall on a play that he was five five yards clear. I mean, if he hits him on the money, that’s six and another touchdown. I mean, it does seem like the receivers are are stepping up more after that real dry spell that they had. Demsky’s been everything for the team and Shan was such a nice addition back in. Obviously, Pokey Wilson’s going to have to be that guy, but it kind of feels like it’s one step forward and one maybe two steps back depending on how important you think Dalton Shown is. I do wonder just quickly on Shawn before we get to really focusing on the game, you know, what his future, you know, you know, might be. I mean, you you you know, you go backto back years injuring an ACL. Like, I certainly think that, you know, if he’s planning on resuming his career and coming back, there’ll be a spot for him in Winnipeg, but you’d have to think that, you know, the money’s going to go down a little bit. I mean, you know, they’re going to need to fill that number one spot probably elsewhere. And I would think that if Daltton Shown can come back and be a real productive bomber next season, that’ll almost have to be looked at as a bonus or found money considering what’s happened these last two years. Yeah, there’s probably not much value talking about Dalton Shown’s future, what his contract is at this point in time. I think it’s fair to say that coming off back-to-back significant, you know, injuries and and lost seasons, his stock has gone down. I don’t think he needs the reminder of that. I do also think to your point in the off seasonason when it comes to, you know, inking a contract. I think he still has a deal for next year, right? And the Bombers knowing how they do things, probably honor it, right? Probably giving him him an opportunity to live up to his contract. It’s just, you know, I think if they don’t get him to restructure if or if something isn’t done, you know, and he is pursuing other deals. I mean, of course, your stock goes down. The thing is he was so good when he was healthy, right? He wasn’t just, you know, a good receiver. He wasn’t an Ontario Wilson, right? who who in his first year um you know registered a thousand yards. This guy led the league in receiving in his rookie season and tied the the league with 16 touchdowns or 14 whatever it is I believe with 16 touchdowns. Um and then yet you look at the next year and he’s leading receivers with 10 touchdowns and is and is eclipsing a thousand yards, right? Like he wasn’t just a good receiver, he was a great receiver. And so, you know, if you’re the Bombers, you’re hoping, you know, they were certainly hoping this year that, you know, being a being a guy who’s 28 years old heading into this season would would rebound, you know, he’s a dedicated guy. He’s, you know, as clean as they come, um would would be able to rebound fairly quickly to this and be effective, right? I mean, now that puts the question mark in is, okay, can you rely on him next season the same way you were relying in on relying on him this season? And and again, given what they what they ultimately did with Kenny Lawler and and Dalton Shonne, I don’t think you can have the same expectations. You can be don’t worry, you can be pleasantly surprised if he does do that, but I just think you have to give him more time here. The other thing, too, is is did he come back early? And again, I’m not suggesting he came back early. It’s just one of those things where you’re anxious to come back. You know, you’ve been missing for as long as you have. You know, would he would he have benefited from a few more weeks? Again, hindsight’s 2020 on that. Again, I’m not and I’m not judging the decision to come back. The staff in Winnipeg is is as good as it gets and Dalton Shown isn’t going to come back unless he’s super comfortable. So, I I just, you know, the fact that it happens so early on, I I think does kind of raise questions, but um you know, the the other thing I’ll address too, H, is like when you take Dalton shown out, there’s more pressure on Wilson, there’s more pressure on Demsky, there’s more pressure on Wheatfall. to your point like you know I guess the idea of stepping up you could certainly classify a wheatfall doing that scoring that that 33 yard touchdown and what was a critical moment in the game but I mean Carrick Wheatfall has been the number one receiver now for weeks like that’s the expectation like that’s what you need from your guy who’s your number one receiver right you need him to be scoring points you need him to be racking up yards you can’t have him disappearing for weeks and in some this in this case is you know for a while right started really hot needs kind of that complimentary group, but when you’re asked to be the number one, when you’re asked to really step up, the expectation in the CFL is seven, eight, nine catches and and, uh, you know, over a 100 yard yards and usually a touchdown. Like that is what you expect from your top receiver. That’s what you get from your top receivers in this league. So, um, I do think it puts a lot of pressure on them. And again, some of those other guys like the Kairen Morris, Cam Eckles, like there is opportunity here for them to put together a decent group to help, you know, help out the Wheatfalls, help out Demsky get open, right? or help out those other players and then when they do get their opportunities to excel. So, it’s a lot a lot of talk around the receiver group, but that’s because there’s a lot of moving parts here. Um, and they need that. They need that to be effective in that group for the run game to be good, for for Zack Calleris to be good, for the O line to be good. So, it is it is an area of concern. And while um, you know, it’s not exactly how they drew it up or hope this year, they do have some pieces that they didn’t envision being in their plan that are now in their plan that I think could potentially save them or at least not drown them as they as they figure this thing out. Hey, just one note on Moore. He technically was released earlier this week. Oh, was he? Okay. I didn’t even see that. Was he added to? He was probably sticking around. You know what I mean? I was just about to say he was released when Ontario Wilson was signed, but that was before they got clarity on what was happening with Shown. So, for sure they would say, don’t be surprised if he was hanging around a little bit and well, and even the fact that Sh had an, you know, that that’s them understanding that Sh was a bit of a ticking time bomb, right? So like and those guys they don’t bring them in like they’ll hang around for a bit, right? They’ll they’ll they might not be on officially on the practice roster, but I think you kind of get a little bit of a grace period, you know, where you’re working out with the team cuz that’s at the end of the day, they brought those guys in strictly because they needed bodies. Yeah, I I appreciate the correction for sure. I I I wouldn’t rule more out as an option. Um even though obviously Eckles is a guy they they like more. Yeah, I mean, let’s see what the transaction list says on Monday or Tuesday. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he was back in the mix, you know, with Dalton Shonne being out for the uh year. As far as the game goes tomorrow, you know, going back, re-watching the game, diving into the numbers, there was a lot of real good things that happened for the Bombers. Um, you know, I thought that their defense, especially against a rider team that had been just rolling for most of the season, did an incredible job at limiting Trevor Harris. Um, and for the most part, they did a pretty good job, particularly early on against the run. Um, it is hard for me to imagine Trevor Harris going for 219 again and one touchdown. Um, I do think that it’ll have to be a focus to to, you know, stay on top of that run game and force Trevor Harris to be in more second and eights and second and nines as opposed to twos and threes, which are easier to do. But from an offensive perspective, Jeff, to me, it’s so clear like Zack had arguably his best game of the season. The receivers were in there. That has to continue. The one thing that was missing was any consistent dose of Brady Olivea. And listen, you can maybe tell us what it was like around Bomberland this week. I mean, we a lot of tough questions for Jason Hogan. Um Brady Olivera has to be the centerpiece of this offense going forward. Would you not not imagine? And what can they do to ensure that Michael Sheay isn’t asking questions again about Well, what was it? Five carries. Is that enough for Brady Olivera? I mean, I don’t think many people probably in that locker room as well feel that that’s enough to get it done against a quality opponent like Sask. Yeah, look, you can understand the logic of wanting to attack the passing game. Even though you have the one of the leagues, if not the league’s best run offense, they have the league’s best run defense and they have been susceptible in the secondary. And in that particular instance, they they were missing their starting safety in the combo and Marcus Sales had been banged up, so he wasn’t 100%. So, I can understand the idea of wanting to exploit that and they did. Zacharis threw for 326 yards. It wasn’t his highest of the season, but it was certainly his best, I would say, his best performance of the year, uh, all things considered. Um, that being said, you need to mix in your the reigning MP. You need to have this guy, you need to have the O line feel good about establishing a run game, right? It’s not just about Brady Oliver and getting him his touches. It’s about getting that identity back on the offense. And well, you know, it’s great that Zack Claris was able to push the ball downfield. I mean, I I also think we should make note here. Um, you know, good chunk of that. I mean, not a lot, a huge chunk because 57 yards of that um was was defensive pass interference. So, of course, that doesn’t affect his his passing one way or the other. Um, but he did throw a lot at the end there, right, in desperate times. I think that they need to take what they learned in the final five minutes. And I understand that’s easy to say. It’s not just about what they saw on defense. It’s about their, you know, ability to be aggressive, take take shots, you know. Um, but again, back to Brady, it’s important to incorporate him into the offense, whether it’s whether it is design run plays, whether it’s catching it out of the back field, like his physicality, getting his motor going, gets the whole offense going. So, um, and you’d think that opening up the, you know, much like the run game establishing opensing opens up the passing game. you would have thought last week the passing game would have opened up some opportunities for some you know for some notable runs and um you know so I I think obviously you I don’t think you need to adjust too much I mean I especially when you look at that game hus a lot of it felt self-inflicted so a lot of these things are you know protecting the ball and and Brady is part of that too obviously he had a a critical fumble that led to six the other way I mean you can’t be making those mistakes in these key games where margin of error is incredibly slim so you know whether it’s play whether it’s some smarter play calling, whether it’s just better protection of the ball. Um, uh, those things are of course things you can certainly improve on from last week. The added mark needs to be incorporating that run game, getting Brady going, um, and and really giving him the opportunity to uh, to to control the line of scrimmage because that certainly wasn’t an area that Winnipeg was winning despite Zack Collaris racking up the pass yards. Now, this is more of a topic that we’ll probably and we certainly will dive into on Tuesday, uh, looking at the aftermath of this weekend, but I mean, we can talk about Saskatchewan and and Calgary at the top of the division and chasing them. This is a massive game for Winnipeg when it comes to the rest of the West. The BC Lions are one game behind them. Now, again, they will have a tiebreaker if they’re tied, but BC’s a 6 and 12 point favorite tonight in Ottawa. Uh, and BC’s played a lot of their tough games, you know, particularly in the division, at least against Saskatchewan and Winnipeg already this season. There’s no more head-to-head matchups. So, you know, knowing that there’s tough games against Hamilton coming up, including in Hamilton where the Bombers have had a tough time, another game against the Riders later on, it’s incumbent on the Bombers to seize the moment, feed off the energy of the crowd and uh and find a way to get this get the job done tomorrow because this could be a white knuckle ride through to game 18 of the season if all of a sudden they are neck andneck with the British Columbia Lions um going down the stretch with a guy like Nathan Ror playing the way he is right now. Yeah, I mean all these games are going to matter and e even if you when you look at the playoff picture in the west uh that that spot that fourth spot that felt like a safe crossover is suddenly you know in danger here with with the Toronto Argonauts winning games that you know being at four and eight they’re still not you know they’re still behind and and you have a cushion there even if you’re even if you’re BC Lions but um you know who also have a game in hand but you know you you you really want to create that distance. The other thing, Hus, is no one’s talking about squeezing into the playoffs, right? Everybody wants to be playing their best game at this time of the year, and those weeks are running out. We’re getting into week we’re getting into week 14 here, right? There’s 21 weeks in a season. So, it is it is officially crunch time. So, all those games you’re back two games don’t seem two games back doesn’t seem like a like a big obstacle in week seven and eight and nine, but when you start getting into 16, 17, and 18, you start running out of runway. And that’s where we’re headed right now. So, of course, these games are super important. You look at the you look at the BC Lions, they play back-to-back games against the Ottawa Red Blacks. So, you know, that’s that’s a key series for both those teams. Those teams are are both desperate, both trying to get back into the playoff picture. So, that you know, I don’t think either of those teams can really afford to split. Uh, so I think it’s desperate times for a lot of teams, especially if you’re in the mushy middle here and you’re trying to in Winnipeg’s situation. Yeah, you’re you’re you’re leading the mushy middle, but you’re still trying you’re still well back of of Calgary and Saskatchewan and you need to start getting those wins. So, all those things considered, especially when you consider Saskatchewan at 9 and two in the season series, still still open or up for grabs with two more games left. Both are in Winnipeg. Winnipeg’s got to get this game for a lot of reasons. Uh but especially if they hope to be hosting a a home playoff game um later on this year. Seven games left for Winnipeg in the regular season. Home to the Riders tomorrow. They travel to Hamilton next week. That has been a Listen, Hamilton is in a bit of a skid right now. But Ted Gay Bowl, too, the Ted game. Yeah. um in Ottawa the following week, back at home for the Thaiats, on the road to Edmonton, and then home to the Riders and home to the Alowettes. And that final game of the season for the Alowettes could be incredibly important. I mean, they could very well be playing for first place and a buy. So, um listen, there’s a lot of work to be done for the Bombers, but uh a big one tomorrow. Hey, uh before we go, as a Jaylen Herz owner, how much did you enjoy the beginning of the season last night? This is why we say that this guy has the highest floor of any player. He is so consistent. Even when AJ Brown for Mr. Bilick going up against me, gets one catch for eight yards. Jaylen Herz automatic in the 20s. Uh he outrushed Saquon Barkley last night 65 to 60 and of course had the two touchdowns which is super disappointing. He was also topheavy so it was you know he had like 20 points at the half and I think he finished with just under 24. So he was he was rolling with his touchdowns for sure and I mean that’s uh I I don’t like to do this in fantasy. Um but I didn’t even really notice it till last night. I have Jaylen Herz on all three of my big competitive teams. I have I don’t have him in the Good guy to have though. Yeah. the best ball in the best ball I don’t know how much best ball you play um but my best ball when I don’t have them but I in my three you know absolute every week you know focused in on waiverwire kind of leagues I have them in all of them so it’s a good it’s a good player to have I also benefited last night we we drafted on the night of our the group we’ve been doing it for more than 15 years we draft on the night the Thursday night so we’re watching the game so we can all watch who’s performing Williams’s uh stock skyrocketed in the middle of the game and I I’d already taken Jaylen hurt. So, it wasn’t that big a deal, but I had George Pickkins and I had uh Devonte Smith and and and so now I have the luxury of pulling them out of my roster because they got a combined 10 points and I could start two other players. But, uh anyways, I’m getting two insider baseball into my crap and fast fantasy leagues. But, um I am looking forward to it this year and and the media crown. Uh God rest his soul. Ted was the only one who got in my way last year in the final. I’m I’m coming. I’m I’m going for keeps now. uh can’t wait to uh impress him in week one already. I tell I tell people that story about Ted passing away mid-season and us as a league saying there will be no transactions for Ted but his lineup will be set every week and for him to postumously win the league is just I mean it’s one of the coolest insane one of the considering he was such a bad fantasy player too. It was just perfect. They were just perfect, you know, like that’s why so amazing and and to and for him to be like as he marched his way through the finals as I was doing the same to me like you know he just I think he set weekly highs in the playoffs too. So it wasn’t even like it was all that wasn’t even like it was all that close which is even this team went nuclear. It was it felt like it was divine intervention and uh it was a lot of fun and just you know just on the way out um you know in addition to being the champion of the Winnipeg Media League um the one thing Ted I think is missing big time was last weekend and this weekend because we’ve talked about on CFL 110 and on this program before I mean there is just nothing like it in the CFL and last weekend was phenomenal in Reginaina and as this game continues to pro. Um, this is one of those days where we and I think the league really misses uh misses Ted Wyman. Oh yeah, absolutely. And anyone who who followed me on Instagram knows how much fun we’d have on that weekend. We documented and whatever. It was Yeah, it was definitely a fun weekend and I was very fortunate to share many of those with uh with Ted. So yeah, it is different. It it feels different. um he is missed and uh you know I think um you know and and in all our different ways we honor him in those weekends and particularly these two. So I know he would love to be there and I guess in some ways he is. Um but yeah it was uh it was definitely a fitting end to our fantasy and uh you know now now that now that we can you know honor him in different ways in fantasy we at least don’t have to worry about his his lineups uh dominating us wherever he is. So looking forward to this season too. And by the way, for all the people that are asking in the chat, yes, the the Reheis hammer feud died down quickly just another day in the group chat of the that made that made that made its way to uh WST viewers. I didn’t Is that a must readad? I can’t remember when we referred to it or whatever, but we t we talked about it. Okay. Yeah. Nice. I didn’t know we were air airing our laundry on online, but that’s okay. That’s fine. That’s why we have that’s why we have the league so we can talk about it. We need some content. No. Yeah. Slow on a slow Monday. Ramp things up. Hey, we won’t be reading out the group chat word for word. But um Oh, no. Too bad. We’ll we’ll see. Yeah. Yeah. Too bad. That’d be a nice stream. Um hey, listen. We’ll look forward to you and the free team with a ton on the Banjo Bowl heading into the game tomorrow in the paper and of course after that. And uh should be a big CFL 110 next week. Uh us with the two of us here on Winnipeg Sports Talk. Have a great weekend. Good luck, but not too much luck. Although Jaylen Herz is already in with 24 as usual, so a nice start for you. Have a great one, pal. We’ll talk to you soon. Yeah, you too, guys. Always have fun uh chopping it up, even when we’re uh even when we’re going at it. So, talk to you guys soon. You got it. All right, there’s Jeff Hamilton at Jeff K. Hamilton. And uh yeah, we’ll get back on the grind with CFL 110 on Tuesday here on Winnipeg Sports Talk. Uh listen, it is NFL opening weekend. Hacksaw’s going to come by for the NFL notebook in a couple minutes, but we should. For all the Viking fans out there, I’ve got a soft spot for the Vikes in the NFC. Um, there’s a lot of intrigue about this upcoming season. Heck of a team, unproven rookie quarterback or well, secondyear quarterback, never played a game. Um, we’re going to talk to Matt Coller about that coming up in just a couple minutes down into it. Uh, but of course, Banjo Bowl, hockey season, tent sale, everything happening at Royal Sports right now. 750 Pemina Highway, your number one sports supertore, um, all the new NFL gear in for the season. You need something for the Banjo Bowl, they’ve got you covered. You want Jets gear, a new Taves jersey for the upcoming season, Royal has you that there. And of course, the only spot you need to go, one trip to get fully geared up for hockey season as Royal’s been the hockey supertore in town 50 years and counting. Get on down to 750 Pemina Highway and make sure to follow their feed on Instagram. Give them a follow, Royal Sports Winnipeg for the latest merch drops, new NFL stuff coming in, and of course, tent sale information coming up. Hey, if you don’t have tickets for the game tomorrow and you can’t make it in, well, you can always head on down to your local Boston Pizza with the gang. CFL Triple Header tomorrow, NFL Sunday, Roy BP’s got you covered with all the big games on all the screens. And of course, you can always count on ice cold schooners, world famous BP wings, gourmet pizzas, more from the BP summer menu. Make a Boston pizza this weekend for your game for your big game with the gang. And hey, boston pizza.com to get it hot and fresh to your door by delivery as well. All right, just before we head down to the Twin Cities, let’s give a big Friday cheers to our friends at Winnipeg’s favorite local brewery, Little Brown Jug. You train day in and day out, learning new techniques, approaching new concepts, and living out the thrill of achieving your goals. Building craft beer is no different. While you spend your hours on the ice, we spend ours here, brewing our trademark beer. Again, again, and again, here’s to pushing the status quo and challenging ourselves to build something memorable. 1919 by Little Brown Jug. Viking fans, you got to wait until Monday night to see the debut of JJ McCarthy, but let’s hope that wait will be worth it. Uh, pleasure to welcome in the Purple Insider himself, Matthew Collard from the Twin Cities for a Vikings preview. Matt, great to have you back on the program. How are you? Thanks for having me. Uh, it’s a little bit weird because I have a day off from going out to the team facility and press conferences and everything because of Monday Night Football. So, I’m like, what what do I what do I do with myself? Do I just go back and watch them all 22 of uh Eagles and Cowboys? I mean, there’s just been so much hype for this season. So much buildup. So much has happened over this year. And we’ve been really waiting for JJ McCarthy for is it like 18 months to be the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. And now that it’s finally arrived, I think everybody kind of feels exactly the same way. Is like, let let’s get it on. Let’s see what this kid is really made of. And of course, it’s only going to be one week and we’ll overreact like crazy and then we’ll be right back into football season. So, uh, but definitely the most interesting training camp that I’ve covered because I’ve only covered veteran quarterbacks before. Sam Bradford, uh, and then, you know, you go to Kirk Cousins and even Sam Darnold was a veteran quarterback. So, we didn’t obsess over every single detail like we did this year. And it was also just interesting to hear from Kevin Oonnell about his philosophies of teaching JJ McCarthy the quarterback position because he had been working with veterans before Matthew Stafford in LA and then Kirk and then Sam Darnold. So this is even a new experience for someone like Kevin Oonnell. Well, I mean and listen, this is a very good football team and we’ll hit a number of aspects of it. Uh, but coming off the season that they had last year, the focus, as you just mentioned, is all on the quarterback. Um, but I mean, listen, there’s a ton of excitement that comes with a first round quarterback, especially that, you know, was injured last year and had to wait his time. Give us an idea is it’s a ballsy move. They could have kept Sam Darnold. There was a number of options they could have had to maybe have a safer spot. They obviously really believe in JJ McCarthy and feel the ceiling and the upside was just too good to not have him be QB1. I mean, fill us in on the vibe around and the focus on JJ McCarthy through the camp that the Vikings have just closed up, right? I think that bold is the right word to use for the decision because I can’t think of too many examples of teams winning 14 games and then changing quarterbacks. I think the closest you get is probably the Alex Smith to Patrick Mahomes where the Alex Smith Kansas City Chiefs were extremely good and successful and got to the playoffs and won a lot of games and then they said, you know, it’s just not enough. In this case, I think that they believe that Sam Darnold could win with this team if he had more offensive line help, if he had more running help, if they had a better interior defensive line. The problem with that is where are you going to get that money if you have to franchise tag Sam Darnold? Because even though there was some talk about offering Darnold a contract, he was never going to come back to Minnesota, knowing that JJ McCarthy was there and was the darling for the fans and that there would be a quarterback controversy with the first game that he lost. So, they would have had to have franchise tagged him for $40 million. Instead, they decided to use that on bringing back Byron Murphy, bringing back Aaron Jones, signing two interior offensive linemen that have been absolutely terrific in their time in Indianapolis, signing two defensive linemen who have been terrific in their time in the NFL and Jayvon Hardgrave and Jonathan Allen. And now you look around and go, okay, it is an inexperienced quarterback, that’s for sure. But he has everything at his disposal. And even when we get to the last minute, they’re going to miss Jordan Addison for three games. And just I think this tells you a lot about how they feel as a franchise. Three games they’re missing a receiver. Okay, that happens all the time. And they still go and trade for Adam Theland to give JJ McCarthy one more weapon. They have given him every single thing that they possibly could. And I think that this was the plan all along when they got here in 2022. the leadership of Kevin O’Connell and Quacia Adafensa was to build a lot through free agency with proven players around a rookie quarterback contract because when you look at the NFC, this has worked many times in the recent past. Jaylen Herz was in his third year when he went to the Super Bowl in 2000, was that 22? Brock Pury in 2023 was on his rookie contract. even go back Jared Goff in 2018 like this has been the hack in the NFC since there’s no Mahomes there’s no Lamar Jackson there’s no Josh Allen in this conference and they know it and I think that they have built either the strongest or second strongest roster third maybe somewhere in that range in the entire NFC and it says a lot about their roster strength that if you look at Vegas right now the overunder for the Vikings is nine and a half there’s only four teams that have higher overunders than this Vikings team despite having a completely unproven quarterback. You never see that. But that’s I think tells you how talented they are and where the expectations are for this team. Well, you know, it’s funny you mentioned that total for their wins. Um it also speaks to just how damn good the division is because um they’re the third of four teams when we’re looking at odds to win the division and yet people think that this is a playoff team and like a legitimate contender and that’s division. But just to McCarthy for a minute, and I’ll echo your statements on everything around him. I I don’t not sure you could have a quarterback in his spot be in a better situation going into the season, like built for success. And listen, the defense is going to keep them in games and could potentially win games for them. You’ve got arguably the best def wide receiver on the planet in Justin Jefferson. Thelen’s an incredibly effective veteran receiver that will fit in seamlessly. Addison when he’s back. I mean, they have the weapons. But to me, what is different that you that you you can’t maybe compared to other young players is the fact that he’s got Kevin Oonnell as his head coach who has consistently proven that he is able to bring the best out of his quarterback regardless of where they are in their development and stages. if you can speak to the relationship and the belief of KOC in JJ McCarthy and and how important that can be early on and throughout this season in having him steer the ship as a player without the experience that most other starters in the league have. Yeah, that’s been really our biggest discussion here and my biggest question is just how much is Kevin Oonnell going to push the gas pedal down with JJ McCarthy? Because I think in our minds, having seen it through the years with the way coaches handle quarterbacks, we’re like, “Okay, so they should run the ball a lot, right? Play action and try to play it safe. They’ve got a great defense and just, you know, play a low-scoring game and have JJ McCarthy not make many mistakes.” Well, I’m pretty sure we said the same thing about Sam Darnold last year. Hey, if you know Darnold could just manage the game, make one or two throws and by the end of the year, Sam Darnold’s throwing 35 40 passes a game and he’s leading the entire offense. I don’t think that it’s in Kevin Oonnell’s nature to say we’re going to run first, first down and second down hand off, third down, complete a pass, have 14 play drives. I just don’t think that’s who he is. I think his philosophy is no risk it no biscuit like Bruce Arens and he’s going to push the ball down the field to Justin Jefferson and he’s got the weapons to do it. But you know I think what’s different between Sam Darnold and JJ McCarthy is that Darnold had such an unbelievable arm that they just said all right we’ve got to have a deep passing game. We’ve got to hunt the explosive plays downfield which led to a boomer bust offense. Darnold took a lot of sacks. There were negative plays. there were interceptions in the red zone of him trying to be a little too risky where I think that JJ McCarthy is much more of a intermediate type passer. Sees the middle of the field extremely well. Uh he’s really good in terms of his timing on inbreaking routes. We saw that all the time when it came to training camp when he was working with Jordan Addison especially. And I think that what KC has to do is have a really good feel for McCarthy. When is he a little overwhelmed? when is he in the flow and feeling really confident? When does he need Aaron Jones out of the back field on a screen? When does he need Jordan Mason to be pounding the other team’s face in a little bit? And a a way that general manager Quesafensa described building this roster was he said that he wanted to be able to win a lot of different types of fights was the way that he described it. So, if you are in a knockdown dragout game and it’s raining in Soldier Field and it’s gross and all that, like you can win that game because you’ve got Jordan Mason, you’ve got a rebuilt offensive line. If you are playing a track meet against the Cincinnati Bengals in week three or against the Atlanta Falcons in week two, that you can win that because you’ve got the type of weapons that that can go down the field and that can make plays. And I think with McCarthy, because there are good players at every single position, he just has to do what’s on the play sheet and and not a ton more. He’s going to have to scramble. He’s going to have to make plays. It’s the NFL. There’s always going to be pressure and blitzes and confusing looks. But for the most part, if you throw it to the tight end, it’s a Pro Bowler. If you throw it to your number one receiver, it’s a Pro Bowler. If you throw it to your number two receiver, it’s a Pro Bowler. If you throw swing pass out of the back field, it’s a Pro Bowler. I mean, you’ve got you’re taking snaps from a Pro Bowler. like there is a lot going on around him that if he follows the directions of his center with protection and he follows where the plays are supposed to take him that guys are going to get open and guys are going to make plays and I think that we have seen this work for Jaylen Herz we’ve seen this work for Brock Pury and maybe when you get to the Super Bowl it’s very hard to beat Mahomes but I guess they’ll have to figure that out when they get there but I think it’s that’s the setup to me with O’Connell where whatever’s working for JJ McCarthy he can go with because he’s got the dudes to be able to do it. They aren’t going to be one-dimensional like I feel like they have been at times in the past. Um, so just, you know, before we move off of the quarterback position, I mean, you mentioned that, you know, I think he’s had, by all accounts, a pretty nice camp, but there’s a lot of pressure on it. He’s also the leader of an offense, albeit someone that’s never played a game before. Uh, what have you learned from JJ McCarthy when he’s been in front of the microphone? and uh you know what what should Viking fans that have just heard a lot about him but haven’t seen him speak or play in a game right now, how should they be feeling going into the season? Yeah, there’s a couple different things. I mean, I think that we talk a lot about what quarterback superpowers are. Uh it’s not too hard to figure out what Josh Allen’s superpower is being 6’6, 250 lbs and throwing it over the mountains. Uh with JJ McCarthy, I think that those superpowers are a little more subtle. Uh number one is that he has command of the offense and that is not the sexiest thing you’re ever going to hear. And yet it’s probably the most important uh because getting the call in, getting out of the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage, running the plays correctly, understanding the offense, and getting everybody lined up in the right spot. You would be amazed at how many quarterbacks have failed the National Football League because they couldn’t do that stuff. And by the end of training camp, he was doing it at a really, really high level. and practices were going extremely well, especially their joint practices against the New England Patriots. I gave him an A grade for those. I I thought that that was the hardest test he faced all summer, much harder than a couple of preseason snaps. And he passed that with flying colors and looked like somebody who you can build your team around. That doesn’t mean I think he is going to be Momes or something. and we’re going to have to find out in the real games. But in practice, he’s given a ton of confidence to the idea that he can run this offense and throw on time and not sit back there and pat the football, not look scared, not look confused. And even though I am a strong believer that college is not the NFL and you cannot replicate this stuff that you face on an NFL stage, you had about the biggest stage you can have in playing in the national championship, the college football playoff against Alabama. I don’t think that stages are new for him. I think it it really comes down to him trying not to do too much to prove himself, right? It’s sort of the stay within yourself idea. Don’t try to do too much. Don’t try to be a hero because that’s when you’re going to make a mistake. And as far as like him at the podium, uh he is one of the most mature 22 year olds that you will ever meet in your life. Most 22 year olds have maybe not left theirh parents’ spare room or whatever at this point. And not that I blame anybody for that or be critical if that’s you. Uh but JJ McCarthy is uh his uh he’s about to become a father. He’s about to become a franchise quarterback. He’s a guy who said to us when he got drafted that he edited his entire life at 11 12 years old to become a franchise NFL quarterback someday. and his first offer from a college university was when he was 13 years old. So, this kid has been ready for this moment for a really long time. And I think that that’s the only thing you’d be concerned about going into this. It’s not can he play. Uh it’s not can he run the offense. It’s not can they beat the Chicago Bears. They definitely can. It’s, hey kid, just remember like don’t look at the hundreds of thousands of fans in the stands and the millions of fans watching and all that and don’t don’t think too much about how your entire life has led up to this moment. Just go play football free, right? It’s that easy. Matthew Coller’s with us. Uh, you can check out all his work at Purple Insider. Great great piece right now on JJ McCarthy. JJ is ready for the big stage. You can check that out. Uh it it is a team game and while we obsess and focus all on the quarterback, there are 52 other guys on that roster, Matt, and um the defense is going to play a big part in the success. Um I don’t think we’ve talked enough, you know, in football spaces about this Minnesota Vikings defense. I mean, how good can this unit be and how helpful will that be to a rookie quarterback in his first start on Monday? Yeah, the interesting thing about this defense is I think that they are much better than last year in terms of their talent, but I also think that the track that they’re running this year is much more difficult. Last year they played the AFC South. So, it’s a free win against Joe Flacco. It’s a free win against M. Jones. It’s a free win against Will Levis. Those guys are not on this schedule. I mean, this is really tough. You start out the season with the number one draft pick from 2024, a firstrounder who was drafted ahead of McCarthy from 2024, one of the greatest quarterbacks in the world, one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. Then it’s Cleveland. But then you come out of that and you’re facing the Eagles and the Lions and the Chargers. And I mean, this the NFC North, as you mentioned, is I think the most difficult division in football. and Green Bay. I know they’ve made all their noise by trading for Micah Parsons, but it’s not like they have a nothing as an offense. I mean, they can run the football extremely well. Jordan Love is capable of huge games. We know how good the Detroit Lions have been under Jared Goff. And if Caleb Williams is good, I mean, holy cow, you’re talking about facing six really good quarterbacks there in this division. Not to mention the NFC East and the AFC North. Lamar Jackson is coming to town. Jaden Daniels is coming to town. So, you’ve got some of the best offenses, best quarterbacks, and I think they knew that when they went into the off season and they said, “We we can’t just fill this hole with whoever. We can’t just say, “Oh, this guy, we’ll pay him 2 million bucks and he’ll play defensive tackle.” They knew that they had to up their defensive talent if they were going to get the same results as last season. And what we saw was that they have so much talent on the defensive line that they were able to trade away Harrison Phillips right at the at the end there of of the off season because he wasn’t going to get on the field all that much with Jayvon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen, and an ascending player that most people don’t know in Jaylen Redmond who I think was just better than Harrison Phillips during training camp. The only questions are really in the secondary. They’re starting Theo Jackson, a guy who they’ve developed for a couple years but hasn’t played a lot of football. Isaiah Rogers at outside corner, his career high in snaps is something like 530, so he’s never been that thousand snap lock down type of corner. But if we’re getting into those questions, nitpicking on, well, you know, this guy, they’ve developed him and they love him and they’re going to start him, but that’s a huge concern. Like there are defenses around the league that are playing guys you’ve never heard of that are you way in over their head. Uh this team is their their most concerning parts still have really good arguments for them being good. So I think it’s a complete toptobottom defense that is as well coached as anybody in the entire NFL. But that group of teams they’re about to face, they are going to have to not be just okay to get into the playoffs. They’re going to have to be really really good. Well, we’re one game down of the season after last night. We got Chiefs Chargers tonight. We have an incredible slate on Sunday, finishing up with that Bills Ravens game on Sunday night. And then it is go time for the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears. JJ McCarthy’s first NFL start, which gives Viking fans a little bit of extra time to dive into Purple Insider before Monday night. Matt, let let people know what you’ve got cooking at Purple Insider and how they can get all the best and the latest on the Minnesota Vikings. Yeah, you can find everything over at purpleinsider.com. The newsletter is Purple Insider. The podcast is Purple Insider. I have Purple Insider tattooed on my chest. Uh so any Google search with that will get you uh my work. But I I am I’m very very excited. I’m going to need every bit of that extra day to prepare myself for this Monday Night Football game. Well, listen, uh, we had a lot of Viking fans say, “Hey, when’s Collard coming on before the season?” We appreciate you jumping on. I know how busy it’s been going through training camp and hopefully we can catch up a few times throughout the season. A lot of Viking fans here in the Peg and in Southern Manitoba making their way down to games on a regular basis. So, uh, closest thing we’ve got to a home team here in Manitoba and, uh, if you’re a Viking fan, you’re missing out if you’re not at Purple Insider on a daily basis. Matthew, thanks so much. Enjoy week one of the National Football League, Monday Night Football, and we’ll do this again soon. Really appreciate it. Thanks for all the support, man. Thank you. All right, great stuff with our pal Matthew Caller. Um, we are going to get into the NFL notebook with Hacksaw in just a second, but I do want to throw out the why not question of the day for not Autocorp, but Waverly McGillry. And it is prediction time, everybody. How are we feeling about this game tomorrow? I want Blue Bomber Rider Banjo Ball predictions in the chat. We’ll get to some of those and your thoughts. How are we feeling going into this game tomorrow? Can the Bombers get it done? Where are you at on that? Let us know for the why not question of the day in the chat right now. And uh we’ll uh we’ll we’ll fire it up right away after we talk with Hacksaw with some fan feedback. And of course, cool bet lines coming up. marbles, don’t you go anywhere. Um, we will have live racing back at a Cineoa Downs next Tuesday and Wednesday and the following week 15 161 17 Monday as well. Um, the racing season often ends around now. Not this year. We’re going into October, Tuesday and Wednesday night along with September 15th. So, make a plan to get out to the track. Free parking, free admission at Asinoad Downs. or information at cineboyadowns.com for things like club host dining room reservations for the nights of live racing. And uh we’re counting down three weeks from the RDER Cup. Cannot wait for that. The golf season, it feels like it’s kind of winding down, but I think we’ve got some more golf weather coming up in the next couple weeks per my weather sources. Um of course, if you’re thinking already about the 2026 season, go to breezyben.ca CA and find out more on potentially making Breezy Bend you and your family’s long-term golfing home, one of Winnipeg’s top private courses in the city and the home of the 2025 Manitoba Open. 8957205. Cory Johnson’s the guy you want to talk to or as they mentioned, contact them through breezybend.ca. All right. Uh, marbles are open right now. Get in on that. Let’s welcome in Lee Hacksaw Hamilton as NFL football is back. And uh Saw uh great to have you back on the program. Great that our wait for NFL is over. What a weird one last night in Philly. um offensive fireworks early, all defense later after an extended break. But the most significant play of the game happened before offensive snap had even taken place. Jaylen Carter kicked out for spitting on Dak Prescott. What the hell was that? I don’t know if it was accidental. I don’t know if it was intentional. Everybody’s apologized to everybody. I thought the ejection was was really premature. I mean, it wasn’t a cheap shot. It wasn’t a flagrant hit. Was it You spit on him. What are you talking about? I concur. But it was not a football related incident. It was stupidity beyond a doubt for Jaylen Carter to do that because he really put his team at risk. Uh, and they could have lost that game. Maybe should have lost that game. Uh, but he’s apologized. Dak Prescuit apologized. Things were said as they were crisscrossing onto the field after the opening kickoff. And of course there was a delay because there was a long injury stoppage right after the opening kickoff. So that was that was really bizarre. He’s going to get tagged by the league he’s going to get a pretty significant fine. I don’t think he’s going to get a suspension. But you know the league in the off season privately secretly did not tell the media uh put out a leaguewide memo to everybody. They’re going to cut down on all the crap that’s going on after plays. All the yakking, all the showboating, all the taunting. and they threw a whole pile of these penalty flags in that first game. So, the message everybody was watching that first game. So, the message is you’re not going to point and you’re not going to MF a guy that you just made a big hit on, etc. And they threw a lot of those flags and obviously Carter falls under that umbrella. It was it was really stupid. But I I don’t think he deserved to be ejected, but he is going to get slapped. He he could get a$10 to $20,000 fine because he’s now become the poster boy and the example. never going to do this again. Lee, not only did he need to be ejected from the game, but the NFL needs to protect the shield and the decorum of NFL players setting a standard that you can’t do that. The only way to protect the NFL in this situation is to suspend him for the Chiefs game next week at Arrowhead. I would expect that coming from somebody wearing a faded a faded Kansas City red jersey today. But, you know, there’s been a lot of inconsistency about handing out discipline around the league. You know, we we just came through the whole two-year saga with Rashi Rice and finally he gets docked the six game suspension, which I think is a huge setback for Kansas City, but there’s been no consistency whatsoever in terms of sanctions. You know, when we went through a stretch of time where the league handed out fines for guys who were running around the field doing this after making big plays and all of a sudden those sanctions disappeared and I see a lot of this junk going on in the end zones and you know then the league said we’re going to find anybody that pulls his finger out like he’s shooting somebody. Well, they did that forum a season or so and that went away and that stuff started to show up again last year in the end zone. If they’re going to crack down, that’s fine. Do it across the board. We need to show class. And now Jaylen Carter is the posted boy for stupidity. Hey, um, aside from that incident, um, it was, uh, a really interesting game, I thought the Cowboy offense looked really good against a good Philly defense early on. I know Philly does have some question marks about their second quarterback. And, you know, we talk a lot of fantasy football right now coming out of all these games. Jaylen Herz showing why he’s got, you know, at least statistically the lowest floor in the game. Even when the passing game isn’t maybe clicking at mid-season form, he can do it himself. I mean, what a first half by Herz. He ended up outrushing Saquon Barkley last night and of course scored two touchdowns. Well, a couple of items. Philadelphia, and you and I have talked about this prior uh in the offseason. Philadelphia let a whole number of key defensive players go. Some of it was age like a Darius Slay on the back end, but they let they let a couple of their young defensive front guys go in free agency. That might have been salary cap driven, but those guys can play the Milton Williams of the world and who went to New England and Josh Sweat who wound up going to Arizona. So, I was a little surprised at that. And Philly is nicked up in the offensive line right now. Landon Dickerson reinjured himself again after missing a chunk of of the preeason. So, they’re they’re a little bit concerned. They don’t have the right guard. he he was allowed to leave after a kind of a star season for Mecky Beckton. So, not quite the same roster that Philadelphia had, but they do draft well and they drafted their top excuse me, their top five draft picks were all defensive players. So, they they know personnel, so they’re they’re plugging guys in. Uh really, really balanced good Philadelphia team. Uh I I was more surprised by anything about Dallas. I mean, I couldn’t believe how hard they played under Shottenheimer. I couldn’t believe Dak Prescuit looks like he’s reinvented himself. He looks so more fluid, so more much more athletic, less thick, moving the pocket, making accurate throws, whistling balls everywhere, and they could have won that game. CD Lamb dropped two on that final possession. One one was an unbelievably hard catch, but it was right in his fingertips. The second one was really tough in traffic and people around him, etc. But Dallas really played well. And on the flip side, the Cowboys are just, you know, they were wrecked by injuries defensively, Hustler, all last season. And they got all those guys back. They had five defensive starters. They got maimed with injuries last year. All those guys are back. Now granted, there’s no Michael Parsons and maybe that’ll catch up as the season goes on, but boy, Dallas played really hard and they were right in that game right to the end. And if CD Lamb catches one or two of those passes on that final possession, maybe the outcome of the game is is different. So it open that whole Dallas entourage really opened my eyes. I wondered about Shottenheimimer and the play calling was pretty vibrant and hell they ran the damn ball. They don’t this is not Emtt Smith type running football. This is is not Ezekiel Elliott as we’ve known, but they got yardage and they got production. So keep an eye on Dallas. Maybe maybe this is going to turn out to be a surprise. Although in the the big picture back in the big D, nobody’s happy over this Michael Parson’s outcome. Well, you know, but I will say one thing in Jerry Jones defense, and I know he just has been getting killed for a week since they made that deal. But Kenny Clark coming in from Green Bay in the middle of that defensive line is a real significant upgrade for the line. Will they be able to get to the quarterback as much? Definitely not. Parsons is the difference maker. But you look at that game last night, they last year got absolutely humiliated, run over by the Philadelphia Eagles and for them to be able to step up. Listen, Jaylen’s going to get his. He’s brilliant, you know, moving out of the pocket and he’s very tough to bring down, but they held Saquon Barkley to 60 yards and uh that was not on the table before Clark showed up. So, you know, maybe there is a method to the madness. We’ll see what they do with the picks where they use them. Maybe they trade them and and acquire somewhere some help elsewhere. But I do think there is another side to that trade that we maybe hadn’t talked about enough. But um let’s get to it. First off, quick thoughts on tonight in Brazil. Chiefs Chargers uh down down here in Southern California on the West Coast. Charger fans of the opinion we have arrived. I don’t view it that way. I still think they got issues in this line. Uh, now we find out that the big right guard that they gave all the money to in free agency can’t play tonight because he got sick, Mickey Beckton, and he’s not practiced hardly at all in preseason because he’s seems to have a historically chronic knee issue that flares on him. And of course, they don’t have their Pro Bowl left tackle, Rashawn Slater. So, all of a sudden, that front that’s supposed to protect Justin Herbert is is operating at 50% efficiency. They got a right tackle who they didn’t want to be a right tackle. They moved him last year. Now he’s got to play right tackle again. And now they got a backup right guard. The center was the 32nd ranked center in the league. And he’s back there as the guy in the pivot in the middle of the line. Naji Harris, the heavy duty Pittsburgh running back is back. He’s going to start. He’s had only six practices, hardly any heavy contact. He had the eye injury from the fireworks incident July 4th. So to me, there’s some uncertainty there. And they got to protect Justin Herbert. That’s the big issue. And the flip side for the Chargers, they lost both their starting defensive tackles. They let him go. They got five guys wearing name tag. Hi, my name is I’m trying out for defensive tackle. They haven’t they haven’t proven to me. And there is no Joey Bosa. Now, granted, they got some other pass rushers. From the Kansas City perspective, you know, they’re they’re talking all positives even though Rushy Rice is now sidelined for six games. But the the unique aspect of Kansas City, if they saw left tackle, right tackle with the number one pick Josh Simmons and a different Jawan Taylor or the backup Jaylen Moore, if they saw the pass blocking on the edge, this be a very different Kansas City team. Now, we’re going to find out tonight because a Chargers defensive coordinator, mad man, Jesse Mentor, he will ratchet up every freaking blitz in the playbook and they’re going to challenge that those kids out at left tackle and right tackle. So, that that’s the thing to watch. Are they going to get in the face of Mahomes and cause chaos or as Andy Reed said, we solve this with the first round pick and the new right tackle? That to me is the most fascinating aspect. And you know, Kansas City’s got Spagnola. head scientist and I’ll tell you what, he looks at that Charger offensive front. He’s gonna be sending people everywhere against all these backups of these guys that haven’t played. So, I think it’s gonna be a great game. Here’s the thing that really bothers me. I And I can’t believe nobody in the media on the West Coast has brought this up. The Chargers gave up a home game, first game of the season against the enemy, Kansas City. Why would you forfeit homefield advantage against the guys you got to beat in the division and take this thing to a neutral field? And I guarantee you because a Taylor Kelsey Swift, everybody in that stadium is going to be a Taylor Swift fan and a Travis Kelce fan and Kansas City fan. Lee, in all seriousness, how different is that when the Chiefs go to Sofly to play the Chargers? Well, Kansas City fan does come, but this is homefield advantage. And the Chargers had an 11-hour flight and they gave up homefield advantage. I don’t understand ownership. You know, if ownership said they should have gone back to the league and said, “You want to take my home game against the Jaguars or the Colts?” Okay. Forfeited home field advantage against the Kansas City Chiefs, the enemy, the team that you got to beat. And by the way, Patrick Mahomes is 10-2 against the Bolts. and Justin Herbert who’s played really well against Kansas City. He’s two and eight, but he hasn’t been able to win those games because they keep losing one touchdown games because they don’t have a complete roster. Um Lee, the Sunday schedule is is so good. As I said, I’ve been glazing the schedule maker all week long. You got 10 games of 16 of point spreads of three or less. And I got to tell you, I mean, listen, I was pumped for last night. I can’t wait for my team to play tonight. The Monday nighter will be really interesting. But my god, this Sunday nighter, I mean, this could be legitimate, not only one of the games of the year, Lee, but one of the most important high leverage games of the entire season in the fact that it could absolutely be the Bills and the Ravens battling right there with the Chiefs and anyone else. Those two teams are going to be there at the end battling for the AFC. Um, this is a game that could determine home field in a playoff game. Hell, the AFC Championship. must see TV. Period. Exclamation point. End of discussion. Now, now I will say this, until they get to the Super Bowl, this thing is going to hang around the neck of Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. It’s huge. I mean, their postseason records are their postseason records and they’ve not accomplished it yet because that roadblock in Kansas City, but at the end of the day, Baltimore’s got every ingredient possible on the roster because all they’ve done is added people around Lamar Jackson led by the 2000 rusher Derrick Henry and the wide receivers and the tight ends. and they’ve gone into the draft every year and gotten guys you can play, including their top pick this year, Malachi Starks, a safety, and they drafted another linebacker. So, that to me is a complete team. I think it’s it’s time for Baltimore to do this. In terms of Buffalo, Josh Allen has just been a stud that has carried that franchise. It’s weird to me. Buffalo defensively is not what Buffalo used to be. It’s just not the same from a personnel standpoint. I’ll be intrigued to see what the excharger Joey Bosa brings as a special day pass rusher, but they’re just not a bunch of warriors on defense any longer like they were in the early years with Shawn McDermott. Will say this though, Buffalo did go get firepower. They got a big 6-4 wide receiver they got from the Chargers, Josh Palmer, who’s going to come in and they got the the young receiver, Shakur, if they can keep him on the field. I think Buffalo’s added some ingredients. So, you’re correct. I mean, this is this is a doozy. And the pressure points of when are these guys going to get to the Super Bowl and and vault past Mahomes and Kansas City, it’s got to be one of these. And what a you’re correct. What a matchup. CTV. Hey Lee, uh before we uh before we jet, um why don’t we put some coaches on the hot seat before they even get a game into the regular season? I mean, who are the guys that need to win early to avoid guys like us talking about their job security every day? Well, we’re going to talk about them regardless. Um, I I I would think in Miami, I think Mike McDaniel’s in big trouble. I don’t like the prospects of what’s happened to that Miami roster. And yes, they do have Tua and they do have Tyreek Hill, but that that relationship is a little bit strained. And they they got rid of all their defensive backs. They can’t keep their young running back on the field. Uh, I I think Miami is headed for a bit of a downfall season. I think that’s a hot trigger point there. There’s rumblings about what’s going on with the New York Giants, but Brian Dval, the the coach, seems to have the confidence of the general manager, and they both have the confidence of the Mara family as owners. I happen to think the Giants are going to be better than anybody realizes because their defense just plays with their on fire. Yeah, they added Abdul Carter from Penn State to an already good defense. And Russell Wilson won’t lose games for them. He might make them and manage the games a little bit more competitively. But Dave Bull’s name is out there. Shane Stiken in Indianapolis is out there. He’s kind of being held accountable because he wanted Anthony Richardson two years ago with that high first round pick and it has not worked out and AR-15 is hasn’t been able to stay on the field and he’s not ready and polished and might not be a student of the game. Uh now Daniel Jones comes in as a a one-year rental the ex Giant quarterback. Maybe he stabilizes it, makes it competitive. I think Stikken is probably a little bit of hot water there. So, just off the top of my head, those are just a couple, but it’s week one. We’re not firing anybody yet, but I’ll guarantee you by week two, we’ll be talking about it again. Well, and Phil, people on what you’re talking about at leehack hamilton.com. I mean, goes without saying it’s NFL opening weekend, but I know you were saying before we jumped on the pennant races have you, you know, locked in right now. I mean, as I said, for for my money, this is the most fun time of the year. The start of the hockey season, start of the football season, CFL’s running, and of course, baseball playoff races. And it’s all there at leisah hamilton.com. Now, if you like sports, I write about it every day. Go to my website if you like the NFL. Go to my website because I did a team byteam breakdown of every game that’s being played this weekend. It’s it’s on the one man’s opinion page. And if you go back one day, I have a breakdown of each of the divisional races and Hustler’s going to cheat and going to read it and use it as if he created the content. But you have you have my you have my permission to steal my stuff. Just send send the check to me uh in the mail. But there’s there’s always stuff there and you’re correct. I mean, we got football, you know, can we top this first week in the NFL? Well, hell, last Saturday in college football here in the States went crazy. And then obviously you see we got the pennant races with what’s going on with the Milwaukee Brewers and what’s happening with the Dodgers and the Padres’s and the Penetent races and here come the Yankees and Mets trying to claw their way into this. So by the way, hockey camps are about to open. Yeah, there’s a hell of a lot of stuff a lot of, as I say, topics on the table. Hacksaw, enjoy the game tonight and the entire weekend. I look forward to talking to you next week as we uh kind of pick away at what we learned from week one. Have a good one, my friend. I’ll tell you that’s bad threads you’re wearing there, pal. We’re something else. Hey, have yourself a great sports weekend right there for you. If you seen a lot of that red tonight and all season long, the revenge season starts now for Mr. MS. Take it easy. There’s Lee Axaw Hamilton. All right, last call for Marbles. Remo, if you want to wrap that up, I will quickly get to uh some fan feedback for fansfirst.ca. I’m asking you how you’re feeling about the game tonight. And of course, by the way, Fans First, your number one spot for buying and selling Winnipeg tickets on the resale market with no added fees. What you see is what you pay. A lot of people looking to get into the Banjo Bowl tomorrow. Well, the game is sold out. fansfirst.ca, keep your eyes on that site for tickets for tomorrow’s game. And hey, if you got an extra pair, a lot of people looking for them. Fansfirst.ca, number one place to sell them. All right, Keys. Uh, says 3128 Bombers. Keenan Lotitz 2814 for the blue. Rob Pepper 30 to 20. Justin F. Blue by 8. I love I like the confidence. I like the confidence in the chat right now. Shane Payne not as confident. He’s got riders 34, Bombers 26. Phyllis is 3126 for the Bombers. And the running man who is a Rider fan says, “I’m a bit biased, but hope 3331 Riders will be a field goal at the end.” Brett Law the hero. Well, that would be big for him, that’s for sure. Um Lesie and Alex both on the bombers as well. And Eagle Eyes, Eagle Eyes 3633 Blue Bomber win as Remo gets marbles ready. By the way, fans feedback brought to you by fans first by fans for fans. No fees. Again, the site fansfirst.ca. All right, we got to get to the cool bet lines right now. And I will again remind you if you joined us late this morning, 10:00 a.m. our first of the weekly WST winners NFL pick show with myself and Jake Bowwin Moss, Pat as well. Um, we went through them all. Our favorite picks against the spread. Uh, our favorite player props. We did a touchdown parlay together. And I’m just looking to see how we’re looking. Oh, we got it all done together. So, quickly to run through this line tonight. Chiefs three-point favorites in Brazil against the Chargers. Minus 159 on the money line. Um, the other games, I’ll just quickly rip through the favorites. Commanders five-point favorites over the Giants. Bengals five-point favorites at Cleveland. New England 2 and a half point favorites at home against the Raiders. Cardinals laying six on the road against the Saints. Tampa a slight one and a half point road favorite in Atlanta. Uh the Broncos biggest favorite on the board. Eight-point favorites at home to the Titans. Cam Ward number one overall pick making his first start for Tennessee. The Packers two-point home favorites over Detroit. Pittsburgh laying two and a half on the road at the Jets. Panthers and Jags go at it in Florida. Jaguars three and a half point favorites at home. Colts are a pick them against the Dolphins and the Ners one and a half point favorites over the um se Seattle Seahawks in Seattle Rams laying three at home against the Houston Texans. And that is your slate. Bills actually dropped to a one-point underdog at home, interestingly enough, in that Sunday night game. and uh Vikings right now one-point favorites on the road at Chicago against the uh the Minnesota Vikings. Now, we made all of our picks uh four spread picks, some player props, but this is what has been cooked up and boosted in the cool bet parlays. So, our WST winners pay dirt parley. These are our touchdown scorers. Jake’s riding with Trey McBride with the Cardinals in Arizon in uh New Orleans. Patty has Chase Brown going into the in for a touchdown against Cleveland and I’m taking Jir Gibbs of the Detroit Lions against the Packers. That one is 804 if you put it in. It’s boosted up to plus 924. Our spread pick parlay has the Colts beating Miami in a pickum. Pittsburgh minus two and a half at the Jets. And we just talked about the Giants. the New York Giants plus five and a half against the Commanders. That’s plus 568. Boost it to plus 655. And then if you click over into the exclusives, you look downstairs at the Winnipeg Sports Talk parlay, we’ve got uh the uh Brian Thomas Jr. over 77 yards. That’s my pick. Jake has Drake May 30 plus rushing yards and uh Patty’s got be John Robinson 21 or more receiving yards. That one is up at six to one. And then I also have the ride with Husford tonight. Let me burrow bury Horowitz myself for a winner on night one. We cash the plus 525 Cowboys plus 8 and a half. CD Lamb over 73 receiving yards. Barkley under 95 rushing yards. That one cashed tonight. We’re cooking with the Chiefs here, folks. Chiefs minus 2 and a half. Patrick Mahomes, two passing touchdowns. Mr. Swift himself, Travis Kelce to score a touchdown. And Keenan Allen back with the Chargers 40 or more receiving yards. That is in the exclusives at plus 725. You can still get that Chiefs or Bills prop to win the Super Bowl at plus 335 and up until this is a nice boost. Most places had the Saints to be the worst team in the league at 4:1 plus 460 in the exclusives under Winnipeg Sports Talk Parlay. It is all there. If you haven’t played a cool bet before, uh, use the promo code WST for a 100% bonus up to 200 bucks on your first deposit. And if you have been a cool better, we got a hookup for the start of the season. Use the promo bonus reload 25 and uh we’ll match any deposit up to 50 bucks 100%. So deposit 50 get 50 for the NFL this season. Uh CFL lines for tomorrow. Well, tonight first of all BC is now up to a 7point favorite. Uh tomorrow early Hamilton three and a half point favorites in Montreal. The Bombers are now a one and a half point favorite. Um, this was a pick on minus 110 on both sides. Bombers now minus 122 and the Stamps are up to seven point favorites in the game on uh in the late game against the Edmonton Elks. There is the CFL 110 parlay that I put up. I switched from Hamilton. I do like Montreal. I think this is going to be a real close game. Uh, so we’ve got the CFL 110 parlay. It’s boosted to plus 534. Alowettes plus three and a half. Bombers money line and Calgary minus 5 a.5 plus 466 to plus 534. So there’s so much going on. Check out all of it. They’ve even got some you sports parlay, some college football stuff, all with boosts and of course best lines you’ll find anywhere and great customer service with our friends at Cool Bet. But please check out the WST Winners NFL show in the future. Join us live at 10:00 a.m. on Friday mornings for the picks. And uh if you go in there on YouTube, give a thumbs up and throw your favorite pick of the week in the chat. We’ll start running contests for uh commenters in that one as well. All right, that is about uh it was been a busy show. Lots of football to get to. We got a game tonight, but the weekend doesn’t start until it is marbles time on WST. I think we’re just about ready to go, but the marbles don’t start until Tristan Rivers hits the music. So, uh, let’s play the song Remis and then let’s do some marbles on WST. It’s Friday, another week of words gone by. You deserve to treat yourself. Maybe an ice cream cake or a B of ride for the whole day. So, you can’t deny. Do I use effort even for pleasure? Give my luck a try. It’s time to do a moral race. No skills separated the best words. Mar just like marvel race. Don’t spare or you will suffer. marble praise into your mind before it’s too late to let go. All right, just about marbles time. And uh hey Remo, we should give a big shout out to our pal Rick Delane driving the Winnipeg Sports Talk car once again this season. Championship belt in order for Rick. Certainly a trophy has uh ended up winning the points title over at uh uh at Victory Lanes. Yes. Uh over the weekend uh Rick Delane rocking the WST car. Look at this car. We are so lucky to be have our logo on the car of uh the points champion Victory Lane Speedway. Look how beautiful that thing looks. Uh so shout out to Rick. puts in so much work all season driving around racing. Not only just racing us, winning championships, getting that checkered flag. And there he is. Nice family, you know, family involved. There he is with the with the family. And uh here there he is with the checkered flag. So points championship. Look at this car. Like this is so cool that this logo is on making us proud every time he uh he hits the track. I’ve driven in that thing. It’s awesome. Um is a wild wild piece of machinery. So congratulations to Rick. Also, congratulations to Canada’s men’s national team. Just finished up whooping Romania in Romania in an international friendly. Great to have the stackman, Stephen Estakio back in the middle. Shaffleberg missed the game serving his suspension for that red card that ended up undoing our performance at the Gold Cup. Uh but a great start to this international window for Canada. And good luck to Felix Olyasim. He’s a massive underdog. 12 to1 against Yanick S. center minus 3333. I think there’s a chance John Horn said this could be Felix’s time. So, we’ll jump on that as well. But, uh, Remo, let’s get into some marbles. What do we say about that? Oh, that Djokovic Alcarez match is on right now. It is on right now. Alcarz up one set to nothing. And Joker won the first game. Man, I’ve been set. US Open is my favorite tournament. You know, big prize money involved, but also the matches, unlike the other majors, are at amazing times. I love the late night match, and it was a great match last night with uh Osaka and Animova with Anisionova take taking it going to the final against Sabalanka this weekend. So, love it. Love it. No love for no Naomi Osaka the way she did our Canadian girl Vicki Embokco so dirty after Embokco beat her in the Montreal final. Um Animova taking losing the first set, winning the next two. She’s on a run. I am going to be playing the underdog in that final tomorrow. Sabalena minus 213. Favioa plus 170. I’m going with the underdog. Um let’s do some marbles. Yes, we have 149 marbles. Let me close it. 149. Did you put me in? I haven’t put anyone in. I’m trying to close uh the list here. Having some difficulties. Uh it’s Kyle says, “Hurry up. Almost done work. Uh I want to go home.” Oh, sorry. Way more entries. It was not updating properly. 245 entries now. Wow. That’s like the highest ratio of uh viewers to entries we’ve ever had. We’re back up over 300 live. Everybody comes out for the marbles. Hey, check out the rest of the show. It was a banger. We had Westy on Hammer. Matt Coller with an amazing Vikings preview and of course the NFL notebook with Lee Hacksaw Hamilton. And if you need more CFL 110s up heading into the CFL 110 weekend and of course we’ve got WST winners for our NFL picks and this Sunday the return of WST Sunday live with Connor and Liss. So uh they’ll be getting your hockey fix midweek. Uh and I’m sure maybe those two are big football fans too. I’m sure they’ll be getting into it as as well. Man, I got to say we have had some great shows this week. So, if you missed anything and you want to get notified with our newsletter, I’m putting the link in the chat. I’m pinning it. Uh, subscribe to our newsletter. It’ll tell you, you know, we send it out every week if you missed any great segments because, you know, who do we have? Yesterday was a legendary show with Doug Brown and Jen Jones and of course, uh, Ken Weeb, Tony Jones earlier on this weekend. Uh, some hockey talk on Wednesday with Dave Pagnata and Morat. So, we’ve had a number of great shows and today the godfather of the Banjo Bowl, yes, Troy Troy Westwood. So, it was lovely. Uh, some great conversations and looking forward to keeping going next week. Hopefully talking about a Bombers win. Hus, I don’t want to be talking about uh controversial play calling at all. No. on Monday. Talk about Brady Olivera being a freaking bulldozer all day long tomorrow and uh getting a couple into the end zone and an absolutely uh amazing day, which it will be at Princess Auto or Princess Auto Stadium. I think win or lose, but a bomber win would go a lot to help us through the weekend. Um all right, throw me in in all caps and uh let’s uh let’s do this. I forgot you. I we have 246 marbles and now that you’re in the race. So, thanks everyone for coming out. still doing it here Friday. You know it. Um and shout out to our friends at Shipman Associates for the hoodies. If you win, um we’ll need an email from you and a size at Winnipeg Sports [email protected]. All right. Where what course are we doing? Uh you talked about what it was Jeff uh Troy who was glazing Jeff earlier on the show talking about how handsome he is now with his beard and nicely done hair. So where the track is nice glazed feeling dedicated to the hammer dedicated. Yeah from Troy Westwood. Yeah. Here it is. Uh all right. So 246, the nice glazed feeling, a new track. Good luck to all of you. Good luck to the Bombers. Good luck to Momes and the Chiefs tonight. Let’s drop the marbles on WST. Big cylinder start. I like this. All right, they’re spinning down the opening cylinder. as we get going on today’s WST marble race. A nice casual pace early on for all the marbles. See Gremlin taking a bit of extra time to to come down. It looks like Jesse and CP Hustler. Yes, a nice start for me. Haven’t had one of those for a while. Right in the mix. I’m in third. Jet Oil Tom. Rob Bacon also right there. Jet Oil Tom just got whacked. And look at this. Hustler and Jesse never had a chance to announce myself as a leader and I am not the leader right now and I’m falling backwards. So it was short-lived. Lauren Finley. Lauren. Unfortunately, he and King Kenny Jesse 33 getting whacked. And it’s Garrett Solowy. Tyson Ducharm. North Side Sandwich. North Side Sandwich attempting to be the first ever EST winner of the marble race. Scott Westman right there trying to make it happen. Demart. I think I might have earned myself back into the mix I think a little bit. I don’t know. We’ll see. Demart right now though in first place. Kool-Aid and S. Eldder. Lori and Tyson Ducharm also in the mix. Uh, Demart in first. We’re now getting into a spot where you can go one of two ways. Demart went left. Where does that take him? Okay, Demart’s still in first. Scott Westman on the right, Demart on the left. New course. Interesting transitions in this one. Tracy O’ Corey S. Elder, Voice of Fire, James Zelstra, all in the top 10 right now. But uh it’s Demart Rad Scott Westman first up. Demart with Scott hot on his tail right now as Keith Bartell and a few others get thrown over the top rope. Demart slowed down a little bit. Scott Westman has now taken the lead. Rad add right behind him. But Scott Westman, who represented with Tyson very well and the crew last weekend in Regina, is now in first place in a complete dead heat. But now DJ has gone ahead. DJ Rosco in the mix. I see Tracy O. But DJ is our winner today. One ahead of Tracy O. Larry Eloy making the slide to grab fourth place. Lisa Foster, DJ22, not to be confused with DJ, our winner. Tango, Demart, the SMA, and S. Elder, the winner. I wonder what happened to me. I don’t know whether I got tossed over the top rope or just got passed by the entire place, but Oh, I did just get top rope just now. Did not finish. What a disappointment after such a good start. What a race. I thought it was going to be Scott Westman and Demart. It was theirs to lose. They were neck andneck and DJ out of nowhere passed them uh for the finish. Uh exciting. That was a good course. That was a course and there’s lots of lead changes, lots of things happening. We should remember that one um for future uh for future races. Let’s see who gets burnt and who actually makes it in. Uh all right. So DJ52, not DJ22, but DJ, congratulations. Send us an email, winnipeg sports [email protected]. Let me know your hoodie size. We’ll holler at you next week and get you all set up for uh to uh come and pick that up. Debbart, I got job for my Banjo Bowl prediction. Rad rigged. It’s not rigged. Rad, why would we rig it against you? You would have been great. We always love first time new winners. If it was going to be rigged, I wouldn’t have blown out my lead and then been thrown over the top rope. Here’s the rest. Outside of our top 10 is Rad very frustrated after uh being right there but falling back to 11th. Hey, at least you didn’t fall back as far as I did and get bounced. Farmer Brain. There’s Alex How Lesie M. Rosco. Nice one, Ross. You got one over on myself and Sha. Uh North Side Sandwich Cowboy. Hey, honor. We’ll just keep it rolling. Bonfire sports bombing. What’s up? 27th. Nicely done. Great times last weekend. There’s Spency 5 Centy. There’s Wolf’s World. Todd Fertani for Tanny. By the way, they need your help on Winnipeg Reddit right now. You’ll know which thread I mean when you see him. Um, Michael Sofur. Uh, Mr. Mr. Vov, Mark Amp, uh, there’s Duck Dad. What’s up, Duck Dad? Good luck with the picks this weekend. And I know you were on Canada. What a performance. Uh Dan Jets fan. There’s Candace Jane, Brandt Batters. What’s up, Brandt? Rick Jensen, Rick Benson, Paul Carr, Gus Coro, and our final puckin hoots. Last one in. Everybody else was eliminated. And I was in that group after a very, very promising start. But hey, I’ll tell you what. I have no problem taking the L in the marble race because what’s really important to me tonight is the Chiefs starting 1 and0 in Brazil. And then what is important tomorrow is our Winnipeg Blue Bombers getting one back on the Riders and winning the annual Banjo Bowl at Princess Auto Stadium. It’s going to be a zoo down there. Get there early, take in the tailgate activities. DJ Finesse and the gang will be rolling with cheap beers and hot dogs in the tailgate area and then a 3:00 kickoff right in the middle of a CFL triple header and then Sunday, our first NFL Sunday. This is such a great weekend. I cannot wait. Hopefully, we’ll see many of you at the Banjo Bowl tomorrow. Make sure to say hi if you see me rolling through uh the uh the the stadium. Always great to say hi to WST listeners and uh I would love to see you all on Monday to break down a Blue Bomber win and of course the first weekend in the NFL and get ready for the JJ McCarthy debut against the Bears on Monday Night Football. Thank you to Troy Westwood. Thank you to Jeff Hamilton, of course, Hacksaw and Matthew Coller. Check out Purple Insider, you Vikings fans and uh everyone that joined us today. Hit that thumbs up button if you haven’t already. Have yourself a great weekend. Enjoy the Banjo Bowl and NFL Sunday and join us Monday. More hockey talk coming. Jets are back in town. Going to hear from Jonathan Taves next week and much more. But uh we’ll be getting after it. You know where 100 p.m. live right here on Winnipeg Sports Talk YouTube. Shout out to you podcast listeners as well. And again, check out WST winners if you want all the NFL picks. Hopefully make some money over a cool bet heading into the weekend. For Michael Reis, I’m Andrew Patterson. Have a good one. See you Monday. Oh my god. Shut it down. Let’s go home. Thanks for tuning in to Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast feed at winnipegport.com. Heat. [Music] Heat.

Andrew “Hustler” Paterson hosts Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily with Michael Remis. They count down to tomorrow’s Banjo Bowl where Ontaria Wilson will make his 2025 CFL season debut and discuss the Winnipeg Jets pre-training camp skates at Hockey For All Centre. Guests: Blue Bombers legend Troy Westwood, Jeff Hamilton of the Winnipeg Free Press, Lee “Hacksaw” Hamilton on the NFL and Matthew Coller @PurpleInsider

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