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West-Battle-Jones Oh wait, Randle-Hurl-Bass

So barring any injuries, trades or pickups, our 46 man active roster will looks like... QB: WILLY, Brohm, Marve OL: BRYANT, GREAVES, PICARD, CHUNG, DANIELS, Goossen WR: D.ADAMS, KOHLERT SB: MOORE, DENMARK, FEOLI-GUDINO, Bastien, Veltung RB: COTTON, Marshall, Pontbriand, Cronk DL: WESTERMAN, ANDERSON, TURNER, PEACH, Gibson, D.Johnson, Thomas LB: BASS, HURL, RANDLE, Newman, Waggoner, Briggs, DB: J.ADAMS, WASHINGTON, B.JOHNSON, BUCKNOR, Unamba, Jones, Morgan S: WRIGHT, Sherman ST: Hajrullaju, Rempel 2 Man: OL Tyler LB Burnett

Well folks, the week we've all been waiting for is finally here and in 4 more days, the real thing the CFL 2015 season starts. Lotta things to watch for this week and while certainly there will be things that can be seen in week 1 that may be misleading when it comes down to the late season, a lot of teams are needing to prove something in terms of where they sit today. Game 1: Thursday at 7:30 ET Redblacks at the Als - Neither team had a very good preseason, but for the Als, they want to start out the 2015 season strong and contend for the East. Their miraculous turnaround last year after starting out 1-7 on the year but finishing 9-9 and making it to the East final despite not winning it, is a momentum swing in and of itself and was done behind the arm of pornstache and Jon Bowman leading a vaunted defense. Both factors are in play again and they are here to prove that run was not a fluke. The Als have been in trouble early the last 2 years but have made the playoffs now for the last almost 20 years in a row, something that does not seem to be coming to a stop anytime soon. The Redblacks, it's their 2nd year now back in the league, and after debuting a 2-16 record, well the only place they can go is up. Their big challenges facing them is that Hank is probably done after this year and they don't even know how much he has left at this point, and I would not be surprised if sometime this year even, Thomas DeMarco took over the controls. Also did adding Mo Price, Greg Ellingson, Chris Williams and others address their receiving issues? I think they'll do better than 2 this year and some wins, even big upsets will be seen this year, but it will not start in Montreal. I will say Alouettes 26-14 Game 2: Friday Night at 9:00 ET Tiger Cats at Stampeders - Hamilton will be trying to get to their 3rd Grey Cup in a row under Kent Austin, something that would've been unimaginable even just 5 years ago. Calgary once again comes out under Bo Levi Mitchell and Jon Cornish who after getting sidelined for a while early last year expects to come back again strong and once again lead the way for the stamps. The Stamps have had a lot of change of receivers over the years from Kenyon Rambo, Jabari Arthur, Mo Price, Nik Lewis, Forzani, Sinopli, and a plethora of others that have all departed now, yet continue to get it done and old Huffnagel is still out to prove his team is in control of the West. The Grey Cup rematch is on and it'll be another nip and tuck close battle, but I think the Stampeders pull it out just barely by a score of 23-20. Game 3: Saturday at 5:00 ET Eskimos at Argos - This game is one of those huge IF games that you really don't know what to expect. For the Argos, they will not have Ricky Ray in this one so all eyes will be on Trevor Harris going up against what was a tough Eskimo defense last year. He will have help however from the much anticipated return of Chad Kackert and the new addition of Brandon Whitaker in the passing game and with a new defensive coordinator, the Argos have some things to look forward to. The Esks also though are not without loss, while Reilly has gotten the credit for much of their play, RB John White who was that one guy who bruised through defenses will not be there opening day, and ex-bomber Chad Simpson will try to get it done. Also no longer there is WR Fred Stamps, and Shamawd Chambers is also on the 6-game IR. Adarius Bowman had a big year last year, but will he do it again? Good solid first year of Chris Jones but those expectations are gonna be way up again so the pressure is on. Really don't know what to call here, but I'll take a surprise Argos by 4 Game 4: Last but not least at Saturday 8:00 ET Bombers at Riders: So we all wonder, will the new additions on our O-line show up and withold the pass rush of Tearrius George? Good news is John Chick is suspended so that will make the job easier. Cotton will be there this time and we want to see Drew Willy and our special teams improve on last year, and our defense stop Allen and Messam. I think it'll be another close tight one here but think we just end up a tad short with a 27-25 loss.

Brohm is Willy without the accuracy. MB doesn't have to change anything in the offensive plan if he has to use Brohm. MB has to change a lot of things if he has to use Marve because he's a very different type of QB.

Off our meds again, are we?

Even better: West-Battle-Jones-Brown

I'm still hoping they put back Randle at weakside CB, Unamba at SAM, J.Adams/Washington at weakside HB

You know what was the single biggest thing that scared me last night? This is one of the first times I can remember a MOS team looking totally flat and having no energy. At no point in that game last night did I feel like we were in it, or had a chance. Hamilton dictated play and it felt like we were just out there going through motions. That's not the MOS way and I don't care to see it ever again.

And it turned out nice again.....at least weather wise.... Shades of bad ole days.....Bomber D scored on in 1st series.... Zach Collaros, RB Holly, and the rest of the Hamilton O, looked sharp.... ....as they found enough holes in Bomber D...to fill the Albert Hall..... Blue D played a ton of zone, not particularly well...... Denmark had a nice bomb from Willy..... ...but most of the night it was 5 yard hooks, curls and slants..... Bombers need work on kick returns..... Ditto short yardage situations...... Also avoiding dumb penalties ( Washington, Gibson, Bass) Gibson did make some plays, though..... ...and K. Bass was working it pretty hard.... Bomber O and D schemes looked pretty....uh, ....OK, will avoid the overused word and call it, uh..inelaborate.... Long kick returns directly set up 10 Hamilton points.... Could of been worse..... ...the Cats stalled in red zone, on a couple drives and dropped 3 picks...... Cotton will start at RB....with perhaps Marshall... MOS drags starting O, back on field to start 2nd half... ....another bad flashback....Willy blindsided on blitz.... ....Drew was then nailed firmly to the bench, at that point... Is there another team in football...as bad as Blue on screen passes? Brohm throws a nice ball....but looks like a paint-by-numbers guy... Portis seems to lack some touch on his throws... J. Adams looks like a keeper at DB..... JFG and Bastien look like an OK rotation at SB....... Tigercat O certainly dropped off, when Collaros departed... Hurl has more range, than I thought...at MLB... Robert Marve helped his cause, tonight..... Can't say the same for Brohm and Portis...... Marve does provide a change up and a different tempo..... Willy got pretty pissed with Jhomo Gordon on a busted pattern... M. Goossen has some attitude....... Too bad Yantz didn't get in...... Not happy with tonight's result.... But back in the park, with gin in hand.... .....will do to go on with, for now...

Do you mean b/c he's white? No, I don't see skin color when I look at people. You are obviously not as advanced as I am.

I will keep beating the drum for moving Randle back to corner. I'd roll with Bass-Hurl-Waggoner.

Not a chance the Riders are letting that guy get away. Even if they handle their PR a little differently the message is the same, "hands off". If that were true they wouldn't have cut him. Rider fans are pissed off at Taman for this move. I think that the Rider faithful will have many more opportunities to get ticked at Taman this year unless they go something like 14-4 and into the western final. Rider fans seem to think that once they win the Grey Cup, they ought to do it at least every second year. We havent won a cup in forever and I expect the same with the bombers Im beyond the point of "just do good, be competitive, patience" really i just want them to outright win. This isnt about who is running the team, how long they've been running the team, I'm happy with the direction we were headed, but as a fan, I just want them to win already

He unretired late last season but injured his hamstring. He was at the Argos mini-camp in the spring.

Brohm is number 2 on the depth chart. Marve is 3.

I'm sure a lot of these 'cuts' will be travelling throughout Canada for looksies'. I'm hoping Goltz comes back .... j/k I'm actually surprised Goltz was even invited to the Eskies camp. This is what really pisses me off about the CFL. We bring in total losers like Goltz, give them chances time after time after time, but a Canadian QB? Nope - not a chance, not a sniff. Canadian Qb's are treated in the CFL exactly like African American QB's were treated in the NFL in the early 70's. It's disgusting. I think it should be mandatory for every team to carry one Canadian QB. Even if it's a 'fourth' one (injuries happen). Or, as I've said previously, get rid of the 'National' Rule altogether. Or a hybrid - you have a Canadian QB on your roster, you get two extra International spots for your team, one starter and one DI.

This strikes me as a risky move. Montreal or BC might grab him. Heck, I'd choose Franklin over Portis.

Significant turnover in Winnipeg's Canadian depth over 2014: Picard Hurl Chungh Bastien Cronk Westerman Gibson Waggoner Morgan Rempel - 10 Canucks who didn't play a down for us last year - 11 if you count Newman who was hurt. The fact that Bastien and Morgan made it - pretty cool. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, pretty soon, sooner than later, those 2 guys will be very good adds for us.

Have you seen any of those anywhere in the league yet? Real games haven't started.

Daniels won that job he was really good last night.

What's the status on Billy Peach? Riders released Vonk... Jas Dhillon was cut by the Argos.

Keola Anatolin would be a great guy to get. Was impressive last year and runs real hard.

I wonder if the Bombers bring in another NI OL relatively soon, like the next couple weeks. One of the guys on the 46 goes down and Tommy Griffiths is the 6th OL.

Daniels stayed healthy. Dile didn't You can't make the club from the tub.

Daniels stayed healthy. Dile didn't

Yantz not given a chance but none are surprising.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers announce today the following transactions. The following players have been released from the roster: International receiver Ja-Mes Logan International offensive lineman Marc Dile International defensive back Dominique Franks International kicker Anthony Santella International defensive back Shaquille Richardson International running back Carlos Anderson International receiver Mike Willie National quarterback Jordan Yantz National receiver Jordan Reaves National defensive back Justin Warden The following players have been placed on the practice roster: International running back Da’Rel Scott International defensive lineman Deantre Harlan International offensive lineman Corey Lewis International defensive back Vernon Kearney International defensive back Malachi Freeman International receiver Toney Clemons International receiver Jhomo Gordon National offensive lineman Thomas Griffiths National fullback Chris Normand National defensive lineman Ettore Lattanzio The following players have been placed on the one-game injured list: International safety Maurice Leggett International quarterback Josh Portis International defensive lineman Kashawn Fraser National defensive lineman Ivan Brown National receiver Addison Richards The following players has been placed on the six-game injured list: International defensive lineman Nate Collins National offensive lineman Pat Neufeld International defensive back Troy Stoudermire

Patrick Neufeld on the 6 game IR. I don't think I'll ever see him play another game as a WBB. Taman got us this time.

Yup, sort of like guys were just looking/waiting around for a big hit, great catch or whatever.......by somebody else..

There are a number of variables....in having short pass plays in front of the marker: How well your scheme clears out the target area - have you already stretched the field, somewhat? Ability of the receiver to get open, find the marker, and break tackles Ability of other receivers to block down the field QB's ability to look off defenders/read the zone The timing of the pass - how fast does it get there/ hits him in stride? Play action/roll out? Bombers have struggled with some of these facets, for some YEARS, now......under a number of coaches btw, sort of fits in with the total bloody ineptitude of this team.... to execute a (@#%#$&* screen pass.

I don't necessarily disagree about this. You could make case that Willy may have the opposite problem at times when he appears to try and wait for a play to develop downfield as opposed to taking the shorter option and sometimes pays for it with a sack. We know this. However this throw short of the sticks on 2nd and long seemed to be a thing that all our QBs ffrom Jyles, Pierce, Brink, and Elliot all did and all while Lapo was coaching. Sometimes it may have been appropriate if the team was in bad field position and needed to get just enough room to get out of their own EZ 1st down or not, but it often ended up becoming too much of an ultraconservative mantra that this team embodied and never got fixed. Elliot later on would sometimes piss the coaches off for attempting to chuck more balls deep in the EZ when they didn't want that, but all in all, r2p was the motto here.

Well to your dismay "Canuck" Veltung is in and Gordon (the lightning fast WR is a practice squadder! Please tell me why Veltung received no and I mean no love from you guys. I told you he ran a 4.46 and gordon a 4.68... Geez I don't know but I think... well what does it matter - Justin Veltung is a starter and majority of you Canadians gave him no chance. May a crazed holy man set fire to your nose hairs!

I think fans fall into the trap of vilifying every ex-coach. Even extends to management, where you can see reporters still blaming Joe Mack for things. I really liked LaPolice. He had his faults, like most coaches, but he also did some really positive things here. It didn't consistently lead to on field success so that hurts his reputation, but he also survived with a roster that wasn't always strong. I was never a huge fan of Bellefuille's but think he gets too much blame around here - at least for now. Last year his starting receivers included Aaron Kelly and Romby Bryant and he had Nic Grigsby at running back. Oh, and an offensive line that was better suited for flag football. I'm not going to completely absolve him of blame because perhaps he could have argued for changes earlier (hello Paris Cotton) but as a coordinator you're going to work with the players you've got. I think next to QB the offensive coordinator will take the most blame from fans, because when plays don't work its easiest to say "I would have called something different."

Wrong on both counts. Whenever Durant was not behind center, Lapolice's play calling stunk to high heaven and was unwatchable. Unacceptable on all counts and if he was as good as people say he is, every single one of those 7 other teams would've been pounding on his door and blowing up his phone telling him he has a job as coach or OC after he got fired here. That didn't happen and for good reason. And trust me there were way more long balls thrown by our offense last year on 2nd and long than there had been in a while. It was sometimes good, sometimes not good, sometimes Willy did need to check it down instead of trying for a home run like he did in the Banjo Bowl, or against BC in that final game last year. But all in all, at least I can say this offense wasn't playing not to lose like that f***ing clown Lapo tried to instill here. I believe LaPo has turned down a few OC jobs as he only wants to be a HC. Completely disagree with this Lapo's conservativism and play not to lose mentality doesn't resonate well at all with anybody on other teams. Do you think Jim Barker and Scott Milanovich would put up with that in Toronto? Absolutely NOT Would Jim Popp and Tom Higgins put up with that in Montreal? Dinwiddie tried that last year and got demoted for it so NO. Would Huggnagel put up with that in Calgary? No f***in way. Would Chris Jones and Ed Hervey put up with that in Edmonton? If they did Steve McAdoo would not have a job there right now and would get dumped for Lapo immediately. Wally Buono had the option to go after him as head coach when he dumped Benevides yet refused to do so, I wonder why? The Ti-Cats? I don't know but I doubt Bob Young is looking for anything new on O there. You'd figure the Riders after dumping Cortez would be trying to take Lapo home after doing that, and why would Lapo turn down a chance to return as OC to the place he had the most success in? Very strange indeed. Only team I could see putting up with Lapo's tactics is Ottawa given that they rolled with a similar guy in Gibson last year. Bottom line, this silly belief that Lapo is a hot commodity has no water in it. PERIOD!!! Sorry, but how can you claim to know what any of those people think? That's just ridiculous and holds no water. PERIOD!!!

Wrong on both counts. Whenever Durant was not behind center, Lapolice's play calling stunk to high heaven and was unwatchable. Unacceptable on all counts and if he was as good as people say he is, every single one of those 7 other teams would've been pounding on his door and blowing up his phone telling him he has a job as coach or OC after he got fired here. That didn't happen and for good reason. And trust me there were way more long balls thrown by our offense last year on 2nd and long than there had been in a while. It was sometimes good, sometimes not good, sometimes Willy did need to check it down instead of trying for a home run like he did in the Banjo Bowl, or against BC in that final game last year. But all in all, at least I can say this offense wasn't playing not to lose like that f***ing clown Lapo tried to instill here. I believe LaPo has turned down a few OC jobs as he only wants to be a HC. Completely disagree with this Lapo's conservativism and play not to lose mentality doesn't resonate well at all with anybody on other teams. Do you think Jim Barker and Scott Milanovich would put up with that in Toronto? Absolutely NOT Would Jim Popp and Tom Higgins put up with that in Montreal? Dinwiddie tried that last year and got demoted for it so NO. Would Huggnagel put up with that in Calgary? No f***in way. Would Chris Jones and Ed Hervey put up with that in Edmonton? If they did Steve McAdoo would not have a job there right now and would get dumped for Lapo immediately. Wally Buono had the option to go after him as head coach when he dumped Benevides yet refused to do so, I wonder why? The Ti-Cats? I don't know but I doubt Bob Young is looking for anything new on O there. You'd figure the Riders after dumping Cortez would be trying to take Lapo home after doing that, and why would Lapo turn down a chance to return as OC to the place he had the most success in? Very strange indeed. Only team I could see putting up with Lapo's tactics is Ottawa given that they rolled with a similar guy in Gibson last year. Bottom line, this silly belief that Lapo is a hot commodity has no water in it. PERIOD!!! I think you are projecting your own thoughts on Lapo onto the rest of the league. You really don't know how Lapos resume resonates with the rest of the league. Here are just a few of the articles and Tweets over the last 2 - 3 years that have mentioned Lapo. Usually where there is smoke there is fire. http://www.news1130.com/2013/12/11/lions-to-interview-khari-jones-for-oc-position/ https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/can-saskatchewan-s-money-get-paul-lapolice-to-replace-george-cortez-as-offensive-coordinator-195610644.html www.twitter.com/herbzurkowsky1/status/405386313177628672

Odds and sods is back! Only means one thing. Football is back! D o D...it's great to have you back and look forward to the insight. I just hope that the team gives us something to be positive about. Odds and sods is better after a victory.

expected by whom?