Winnipeg Blue Bombers need to limit hits on Zach Collaros

Samantha Keen/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are probably only going to go as far Zach Collaros can take them this season, which is why it was alarming to see how many hits he took last week.

After sitting out four games due to a neck injury, the soon-to-be 38-year-old reentered the lineup against the Ottawa Redblacks, though his return momentarily seemed short-lived.

Collaros took a hellacious blindside hit from linebacker Lucas Cormier, who blitzed free off the edge. The veteran quarterback received attention from medical staff on the field, then sat out five plays before reentering the game.

There was an eery silence at Princess Auto Stadium when Collaros initially went down. Moments later, there was a collective sigh of relief when he trotted back onto the field.

Patrick Neufeld, the team’s longtime right guard, told 3DownNation postgame that Collaros was hot on that particular play, meaning Ottawa rushed more players than Winnipeg could block. Collaros had to throw the ball immediately to beat the blitz but didn’t, seemingly unaware Cormier was rushing.

“(It was a) great call, great pressure by (Ottawa),” said Neufeld. “They caught us in a protection that we had to squeeze down.”

Collaros told the media postgame that he merely had the wind knocked out of him. He finished the contest 21-of-31 on his pass attempts for 222 yards, though Ontaria Wilson dropped what should have been an easy touchdown catch early in the second half.

The Blue Bombers allowed four sacks in the 33-21 victory, which set a new single-game season-high. Collaros addressed the issue postgame, and bore his share of the responsibility.

“A lot of (our issue with pass protection) is all-encompassing,” he said. “It’s 12 guys, and a lot of it has to do with the quarterback, so I’ll take the blame for that.”

Offensive coordinator Tommy Condell gave a similar assessment on Tuesday, reiterating that protecting the quarterback is a team effort.

“I think it’s always a team thing, it’s never one guy,” he said. “Zach’s always going to take accountability like any leader should.

“The biggest thing — it’s not from the naked eye and seeing pressure, it’s not just the offensive line — it’s the receivers getting separation, it’s the tailbacks making sure we’re on the same page, it’s the quarterback understanding where the weaknesses in the defensive structure is, and the protection areas.

“It’s not just one guy. You might just see the outcome, but there’s a lot of things that go into it, where maybe the receiver didn’t get to his depth, or we didn’t have the right call up front, or it was an individual mistake.”

Quarterbacks tend to get too much of the credit when things go well, and too much of the blame when things go poorly.

With that said, Collaros needs to do a better job of protecting himself.

As per Pro Football Focus, the veteran passer has the second-highest average time to throw in the CFL this season at 2.82 seconds.

The only two other quarterbacks above 2.70 seconds are Tre Ford (3.20) and Davis Alexander (2.77), both of whom are a decade younger and considerably more agile than Collaros.

Collaros took a sack on Winnipeg’s first possession on Friday night after holding onto the ball for more than four seconds. The team’s offensive line has to improve, sure, but waiting that long to throw against five-man pressure is going to result in a sack more often than not.

The Blue Bombers have now allowed 21 sacks this season, only one shy of the Calgary Stampeders for most in the CFL. 12 sacks have come with Collaros at the helm with Dru Brown (six) and Taylor Elgersma (three) accounting for the others.

However, despite being sacked twice as many times as Brown, Collaros has attempted two fewer passes than his counterpart this season. He’s been more effective than Brown, but he’s also getting sacked essentially twice as often.

“(Our offence) is still growing,” said Condell. “Anytime when you have a switch of quarterbacks, and playing with different quarterbacks, it’s a different flavour with what that quarterback does properly or well, and then you mould it that way.

“It’s not something that you just come out here and you’re gonna try to fit a square peg in a round hole or anything of that nature. You’re gonna do what they do best, and each quarterback’s different, how they handle situations is different, and what they like is different.”

When asked if taking fewer hits during the second half of the season was a priority for him, Collaros answered wryly.

“I’d love to do that, but that’s just not really my style.”

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-4) will visit the Edmonton Elks (7-3) at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday, August 21 with kickoff scheduled for 9:30 p.m. EDT. The Blue Bombers are coming off a win over the Ottawa Redblacks, while the Elks blasted the Toronto Argonauts by a score of 42-12.

The weather forecast in Edmonton calls for 26 degrees and sun. The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 680 CJOB in Winnipeg or 880 CHED in Edmonton.

John Hodge is a longtime Canadian football reporter, insider, and podcaster for 3DownNation. Based in Winnipeg, Hodge is also a freelance television and radio broadcaster.