"Big Resiliency Guy—You Continue to Believe"

Intro that's not a not an ideal way to start the game especially when you put your defense in a scenario like that I thought they responded well um and I thought we did as an offense too you know um again there's things that we can certainly clean up it starts with me but uh it felt good to you know string some successful plays together and um score some touchdowns Zach what was it like watching being a part of Ontario Wilson's just bust out game uh I didn't Ontario Wilson realize uh the amount of yards in receptions you know just felt like we were just really in the flow uh in the pass game you know and calling them uh calling passes on first down and second down mixing it up and I thought he did a a really good job of uh you know he had no misassignments did a really good job of getting to his depth and all those things and and like I've said to you you know from the beginning he's really special when the ball's in the air um so you just put it put it around him and he's going to make a play on it um exceptional speed really good teammate super competitive you know all those all those characteristics that you want in a guy and uh really happy for him he uh he's he puts in a lot of work again he really cares so it was awesome you guys What does it take to go right back didn't hook up on the first try here in this end zone but then you go essentially go right back to him what does it what does it take to do that either from you from him or from the offense yeah they play the coverage that we you know they jumped outside there and he he did a good job of slipping that and still almost made the play on it it was it was almost a heck of a play but uh yeah man you can't hold grudges you know out there um you got plays in every single week that you want to get called and uh so happened on the the first or on the touchdown that he had um just made a heck of a play on the ball and you know I thought did did the right thing based on what the coverage uh you know showed do you get excited in the Do you get excited in the moment moment when a guy's going off like that do you get excited afterward I was really excited for him on on his TouchDown for sure and uh you know any anytime you begin to develop some chemistry like that with a guy it's exciting Zach was that big that week big Zach Ertz Touchdown for you too I me I don't want to say that you had a slower start to the year but it's been maybe a a challenging one for you yeah for sure um yeah it's it's good to to get first downs you know uh keep possession of the football score touchdowns all those things so it's definitely encouraging uh confidence boosting all those things so um yeah I don't think that's an unfair question so I think uh certainly when you when you score touchdowns and you again you're on the field longer you get more plays called it it uh it helps with morale and also confidence feel like you got in the zone a little bit or uh got in the end zone you know so uh again I think again when you can stram plays together and they successful plays you get into a bit of a rhythm and uh a Zone whatever you want to call it so yeah you sorry no just like I mean A slower start you've been in the league for so long I mean you probably don't expect to go through some of the stuff that maybe you did earlier in the year but yeah is has it been a bit of a A Journey in it's been a slower start than we would have liked obviously um you know for myself too um but you know that's what's that's what makes this game great you know it's um obviously you want you want all the highs and uh you want everything to go right all the time but you know it's that it's that battle that inner battle whether it's during the week of prep in game you know if something doesn't go right how do you respond and uh when you reflect on games and Seasons those are the kind of things you remember so um obviously you don't want to put your team in a bad situation you don't want to lose football games etc etc but um you remember moments like like that when you feel like everything's working against you and you know how do you climb out of that uh that brain fog that hole that you're in and and just keep pushing forward what kind of experience Life experience were you were you drawing from when you were going through that lots of experience and you know lots of football experience obviously life experience too you know and um you know you kind of live and and you put one foot in front of the other and um prepare prepare yourself for things that are going to happen and and hope for the best and but again when things go wrong uh I'm a big resiliency guy so you just can you know continue to believe in you know what your plan is whether we're talking about football or in life so um yeah you draw on life experience things that happen Snapping clear was part of that challenge maybe compounded with a a ball tipped by Mike Rose early in the game where you know you you've talked about snapping clear before to get into that early yeah second play of the game um you know it's that's not a not an ideal way to start the game especially when you put your defense in a scenario like that I thought they responded well um and I thought we did as an offense too you know um again there's things that we can certainly clean up it starts with me but uh it felt good to you know drink some successful plays together and um score some touchdowns how has it been playing Different WRs with so many different receivers this year that both been in and out of the lineup but a lot of you know first year Blue Bombers as well it's been different you know we've been really really lucky and uh with with kind of the injury issue over the last couple seasons and and this season we kind of get stung by it early on but at the same time it's exciting you know getting those younger guys in the football field you know they got different types of uh traits different type of skill sets than than guys that we've had here in the past and uh you know getting the ball in their hands and watching them you know run with it after things like that or watch them get in there and mix it up in in the Run game uh it's been exciting and a lot of fun to again as I always talk about with you guys see their growth from day one of training camp to now it's uh they've done a really good job 16 targets is that a a individual Opportunities chemistry thing or is that the opportunities that the opposition gave you I think opportunities you know there's there's definitely plays where you're you're kind of focused on a guy being the number one target but a lot of them are based on what the defense does um so if they got into situations where they wanted to start to roll to you know poke side then we would go the other way um and that's based on whoever's at that spot usually or whoever's at the r and and most teams do that in this league you know based on formation so that's the early scouting report on the saskat and Rough Riders who um you know are in the conversation as one of the best defenses in the CFL yeah I mean I feel like they're they're that way all the time on the defensive side it starts with their front four and they rotate guys over there too and uh lanir is an unbelievable football player Mike is having a heck of a season um um they do a great job getting after the passer they're uh Relentless um I think they're super athletic on the back end you know thurm in the middle there is a really good football player um so we're going to have our work cut out for cut out for us in a in a really um you know fun environment to play in every season has Benefits of adversity adversity Zach but what are the benefits to going through a little bit of it early on in the in the year well I mean I think if you can get it out of your system early then that's a good thing right um it doesn't continue to drag on so I guess yeah again um it's all learning experience you know whatever whatever it might be so um trying to draw on that day after day whether it's a practice in the meetings or or in the game I think that's something you can benefit from a couple Vintage Zack of the guys thought it was vintage Zack on Friday did it did it feel that way I think I could play a lot better um you know I I would say that after a a a game that we played even better into so um it was fun you know dropping back a lot and uh you know being able to spread the football around was a lot of fun it was a great environment here you know hats off to fans as always and uh you know I thought the offensive line was was really good really physical there took the game over there at the end um kept me clean most of the night and then uh our receivers made play Brady too um there's a lot of cut UPS to him uh in pass protection you know doing an unbelievable job of protecting me so how do you thought you got back to your identity would you agree as as an offense uh yeah I mean I I think identities are always are ever evolving and morphing you know but but we also uh you know want to be a physical football team and uh I think those guys were you know very physical uh all night long so Self Criticism I have to ask the the self-criticism is that part and parcel of just being a quarterback or is that just how you've maybe always looked I got buddies that tell me all the time and you got to just chill out on criticizing yourself you're you're you're offering these guys criticisms for yourself so yeah I have buddies that tell me that all the time than [Music] oh [Music]