Collaros ‘playing like his old self’ ‘Vintage Zach’: Bombers QB keeps moving forward after slow start By: Ken Wiebe Posted: 6:18 PM CDT Monday, Jul. 15, 2024 Last Modified: 8:34 PM CDT Monday, Jul. 15, 2024 Updates

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As his scrum was winding down, Zach Collaros left a lasting nugget that offers some insight into why he’s become one of the best players at his position.

The franchise quarterback of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had spent a good chunk of seven minutes on Monday afternoon assessing his performance through six games of the 2024 CFL season when a final question was delivered, asking if self criticism simply comes with the position he plays or is it more of a personal trait he’s embodied over the years?

“I’ve got buddies that tell me all the time that you’ve got to chill out on criticizing yourself,” Collaros said before making his way down the tunnel. “You’re offering these guys (in the media) criticisms for yourself.”

During his time at the controls of the Blue Bombers offence, Collaros hasn’t given members of the media too much ammunition when it comes to criticism.

For the most part, he’s been a dominant force, piling up gaudy personal statistics to go along with a boatload of victories, including a pair of Grey Cups in 2019 and 2021.

That’s part of the reason the slow start to the 2024 CFL campaign for Collaros was so surprising.

Although he missed Week 5 due to injury, Collaros hadn’t recorded a single touchdown pass until finding Ontaria Wilson in the second quarter on Friday night in what ended up being a 41-37 victory over the Calgary Stampeders.

Before the clock ran out on the win that helped the Blue Bombers improve to 2-4, Collaros found Nic Demski for another passing TD, then hit Demski for a two-point conversion that gave Winnipeg the season series with the Stampeders.

“That’s what he’s capable of doing and he’s lethal. It’s good, having him back out there and playing like his old self.”–Brady Oliveira

To be blunt, it looked like Zach was back.

“Vintage,” said Blue Bombers running back Brady Oliveira when asked to provide his assessment. “That’s him, man. That’s what he brings to this team, to this offence. I’ve said it, him being a leader. But playmaker — the guy’s a stud.

“That’s what he does when he’s out here. That’s what he’s capable of doing and he’s lethal. It’s good, having him back out there and playing like his old self.”

Blue Bombers offensive lineman Paddy Neufeld shared a similar sentiment.

“It’s just his confidence and his fiery competitiveness,” said Neufled. “Standing back there, throwing downfield and making tough throws. Trusting himself and making plays when he had to. That’s vintage Zach.

“It’s repeated experiences over time and it’s the things we’ve come to know and love about Zach.”

While his mood was generally upbeat on Monday, Collaros was quick to find things he wished that he had been able to do better — despite the fact this was clearly his most productive outing of the season.

The stat line was impressive enough, with Collaros completing 27 of 36 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns.

The lone blemish was a pair of interceptions in the contest, though they didn’t come back to bite the Blue Bombers.

“I think I can play a lot better,” said Collaros. “I would say that after a game that we played even better in, too. It was fun, dropping back a lot. Being able to throw the football around was a lot of fun.”

Before his answer was complete, Collaros had praised the work of the offensive line, his receivers and running backs — both for exceptional plays made and the under-the-radar stuff that doesn’t show up in the traditional box score but is littered throughout the video review.

Collaros is a calm and composed leader, someone who has been through a lot and someone who feels there is still plenty to learn.

“It’s been a slower start than we would have liked, obviously. For myself, too. But that’s what makes this game great,” said Collaros. “Obviously, you want all of the highs and you want everything to go right all of the time, but it’s that battle, that inner battle — whether it’s during the week of prep or in-game, that if something doesn’t go right, how do you respond? When you reflect on games and seasons, those are the kind of things you remember.

“When things go wrong, I’m a big resiliency guy … So, you just continue to believe in what your plan is — whether we’re talking about football or life. You draw on life experience and things that happen.”–Zach Collaros

“You don’t want to put your team in a bad situation and you don’t want to lose football games, etc., etc., but you remember moments like that, where you feel like everything is working against you and how do you climb out of that brain fog, or that hole that you’re in and just keep pushing forward.”

Pushing forward is exactly what Collaros and the Blue Bombers plan to do.

Dealing with some early-season adversity is something he believes can help the team over the long run.

“When things go wrong, I’m a big resiliency guy,” said Collaros. “So, you just continue to believe in what your plan is — whether we’re talking about football or life. You draw on life experience and things that happen.”

Collaros’ comment about his friends telling him to stop criticizing himself was brought to the attention of Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea, who was also asked how quarterbacks can strike that balance between always wanting to make more plays while trying to accept it’s virtually impossible to be perfect during the course of a football game.

“The second part, you’re delving into the deep-brain stuff that I’m probably not qualified to answer,” said O’Shea, who is definitely qualified, despite his public declaration. “The first part, I would ask the question is whether his buddies had played football or not. I generally think that high-level athletes, pros, Olympians, they get to where they are because they are critical and striving and aren’t satisfied and want more than the other person who doesn’t make it quite as far.

“It’s a quality you have to have to be at this level. Then, because it isn’t a perfect game, every pro, every Olympian, every high-level athlete has to have some level of forgiveness for themselves when it doesn’t go exactly right. I think Zach’s got it all figured out.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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