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Imagine if you told Rider fans three years ago that three years into their rebuild, they’d be playing Eddie Steele at OL, Duron Carter would be their full time cornerback, two of their four cornerbacks were Auburn’s #1 and #2 QBs, their starting defensive tackle was a Canadian who started his career at 30 years old because it got derailed for cocaine charges, Sam Hurl would be their starting middle linebacker, they were using three Americans on the OL and still couldn’t keep their starting QB healthy and they were now scouting the Japanese pro circuit for depth.

WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (1-1) at HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (1-1) Kickoff: 6 p.m. CT Friday; Tim Hortons Field, Hamilton TV: TSN, RDS, ESPN2 Radio: CJOB Vegas line: The Ticats are favoured by 4 1/2 points. Coming off a shellacking of the lowly Als, the Bombers face a tough test against the very potent offence of June Jones piloted by the OG J.M. and a defensive scheme drawn up by Jerry Glanville, overseen by Orlondo Steinauer. How will Hall's defense fare? More Mtl and less Eskies, or more of what we've seen these past few years? Are Coach Lapo and "The Strevelation" going to continue their stellar progression or will we see things come back to Earth? What ever the outcome- this promises to be a great game! GO BLUE!!

I bet he couldn’t care less. Bombers by 65

I absolutely love the starting front 7, man oh man that's a good group, and how long has it been since we've rolled out a linebacking corps that looks like that? Bighill is such a revelation for this team.

Win or lose he'll be here making doom and gloom posts after the game. I was foolishly reading the comments on a CFL Facebook page power ranking post the other week, and who shows up in the comments but old T.Burgess, complaining the Bombers were ranked too highly...

This whole thing literally sounds like it was written by a Canadian version of The Onion Sports...

Something tells me Wild may not be hurt

Derek Taylor has some interesting stats on that:

Two things I want to see tonight: 1. I hope Streveler will start to hook slide vs. go head first in to the tackle. I know that's his style but damn he needs to protect himself. 2. Can Richie Hall call a game that will limit Hammies passing to under 300 yds? I love our offence and it could get us far but you need to have your defence win you a couple of games a year.

CFL media poll May 27 Which team will win the West Division? (73 votes) 32% Calgary Stampeders (23 votes) 30% Edmonton Eskimos (22 votes) 29% Saskatchewan Roughriders (21 votes) 7% Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5 votes) 3% BC Lions (2 votes) “The Riders improved on their weaknesses in the off-season and with Zach Collaros and Brandon Bridge, should get more consistent play at QB. They could be scary good.” “Saskatchewan will finish first in the division but enter way too confident and inexperienced. The veteran Stampeders will ‘upset’ them in the Western Final and finally finish the deal with a younger, more motivated group.” 😂

Wonder how pissed he is on deciding to re-sign in that circus

This is a big game for the D as well. Hamilton runs max protect almost 60% of passing downs, no use blitzing against that, I hope Hall calls a lot of 3 man pressure with spy and we force Masoli to make throws.

Don Unamba is playing SAM for the Tabbies. Big night for slot receivers? I hope Lapo keeps things unpredictable and keeps using a ton of misdirection. Got a lot of weapons including Streveler’s legs.

Hammy has a better defense than the Bombers have faced so far and a good to very good offence. Should be a good measuring stick for Streveler and for the Hall/O'Shea defense. The Mazoli story is a good one. I'd rather they talk about that than Manziel. I also expect to hear a bunch about our rookie QB. I doubt that Streveler cares where the media ranks him. He's got way more on his mind right now and 2 games don't get you any respect. If he keeps playing the way he has, he'll move up the charts. Looking forward to tonight's game. Nice not to have that gloom and doom feeling going into games anymore.

Jones makes roster moves like a kid playing Madden

The media seems focused on Mazoli throwing his 8th straight 300+ yard passing stat ... don't think the Bombers sitting in their locker room haven't been listening and talking about it ... they just might have something to prove on both sides of the ball Leggett is replacing Gaitor and both Sayles and Cooper look like they are dressing ... what do you think: will they play their hearts out to make an impression ... and what about Roh: he sat last week in favor to Bryant - - do you think he will have his engine reved up? Has Ritchie gotten his point across to his front seven to stay in their lanes - - will they want to redeem themselves given what happened to them with that greased pig Reilly - - Ritchie must be pteaching Masoli is no less slippery? Streveler says all the right things but don't you believe he is thinking about being ranked well below Masoli and even behind a non performing Ricky Ray? Harris is sure to be loaded for bear and has at times carried the team on his back but with the receivers we have is he going to have to? Neufeld likely feels he needs to prove himself with everyone talking about Couture. Do we have the best O-Line in the league? We are going to find out ... Further Streveler is an improviser that will put huge pressure on Hammy's LBers who will have to continuously decide whether to stay with their cover or creep up to stop our own greased pig. The Bombers have been rated the underdogs for this outing .... I like that bet

Two thoughts: 1. That was bad football. Lots of drops and penalties. 2. Poor job by officials protecting players. Hebert should have been tossed and the ref was looking right at Mitchell when he took that headshot and still didn't call it.

I'm not in love with a guy who makes 5 tackles as a DB. I'd rather see him make 0. The statistics for Gaitor in week 1 were awful. I don't have them in front of me right now but Reilly completed every pass he threw in Gaitor's direction (I think it was eight) and essentially picked on him all night. Not to mention the PI. Got picked on (as best as MTL could) by Willy too, Willy just sucks. I do like the fact that he had a pick, but if we're going to **** on Duron Carter for getting a pick that wasn't really because he made a good play, then I'm not going to sit here and say that Gaitor is awesome when that's all that happened to me. Picks are great but I'm not giving a guy more credit than is deserved for a look what I found play.

Can pick a player till the kickoff in that players game it is stated in the rules in the thread for the first week.

Craaazy

If you don't even follow the CFL why bother posting here?

Cause he's a good player and always has been, maybe watch him actually play the game instead of spouting the groupthink line.

Unfortunate for any athlete. Hope he can resume next year if thats his goal.

When cops are making $200,000+ there is an obvious problem with the service. They need to get their house in order.

At this point there is Brian Walker is sitting at home he would be worth bringing in just to flip Carter back to O.

Before Jones' time is done there he will have to dig himself out of his driveway. Things are going to get stinky.

No..none whatsoever and to top it off u setting yourself up for bigger issues further into season...

My only concern about this game is the fact it is being aired on ESPN2 and we’re facing Hamilton, lots of Americans will be watching and probably most NFL teams. They may come for Johnny football but stay for Chris Streveler....

Is there anyway that kind of roster management makes sense? Honest question.

You just don't understand how brilliant the plan is. Jones is the most stable genius going, he's proven he's the best. Don Matthews come again to save Canada's Team.

I wonder why it appears to be so difficult for Jones to bring in a defensive back that actually most recently played defensive back. I mean ... he's got a receiver ... a quarterback ... a quarterback turned european basketball point guard ... ... and the craziest thing is they've still got nobody if one of them goes down. What do you do if Carter goes down this week in game? Move Moncrief over, then move Brouiliette to Moncrief's spot, then move Judge to Brouiliette's spot? That's a lot of shuffling for mediocre output.

I wonder how pissed Bridge is that Carter is playing D.

It's very comical..he has no business managing a team...none whatsoever When you tie up about half your SMS into 2 QBs..2 recievrrs(one of which u flipped to corner) an aging cdn olineman and rb...and 3 defensive lineman..well this is what you get..fringe at best supporting starters..zero depth anywhere and no quality cdns because u can't afford them. The next few weeks should be interesting there and if any injuries hit..they are royally screwed. I soo hope the MTL defense comes into this game with a huge chip on their shoulders and lays a beating on them

This actually is pretty accurate, I got season tickets to the stamps this year after not having them for a while, and the front office was practically on their knees begging me to buy them, throwing in all kinds of discounts and offers for some pretty decent seats. Apparently they are absolutely floored by the number of season tickets not renewed over the off season. They are definitely already beginning to feel the hurt. Not a good sign when they are hosting the cup next year... Personally I think the underlying issue is Calgary is somehow a huge NFL city, and a good chunk of people here consider the CFL bush league compared to the NFL. And until they fix that image in the city it will continue to suffer a bit in this city.

How do you build a roster where at the first hint of an injury you're swapping guys from O to D? How in gods name is that a plan? And not just one guy, but a bunch of guys... it's stupidity.

Harris and Mitchell both looked terrible in at least the first half, but in the second half, Mitchell was less terrible. Neither team looked like a juggernaut.

Muamba showed his leadership qualities last week...

3 plays from the 4 yard line and Powell doesn’t touch the ball once. Good job.

More concerning is Stamps attendance which is in free fall. Great team but the crowds are getting smaller & smaller.... Fans just don't want to go to games at the 58 year old McMahon Stadium. Plus losing the last 2 Grey Cups has pissed a lot of people off here & have decided that they don't want to go to games anymore. Those 2 losses has really hurt the bottom line. We need a new stadium here but no one wants to build one. The Flames who own the Stamps only care about their team. They want a new $600 million arena for their hockey team & the City & the Flames are back negotiating but it does not include a new stadium. Meanwhile the team keep winning but fans stay away. The scary part is someday the Stamps will fall on hard times & when that happens the stadium will be a ghost town.

A candidate for most boring game of the season.

I like the Zero Fighters AFC. When they play the Hurricanes, it must be a real dogfight...

Cant the Rider scouts find a real CB? What kind of scouts they have?

Well, according to a post at Riderfans Johnson was practicing at corner today. Guess that's what happens when you don't have any back up DBs.

I don't think anyone said he's terrible; he's simply the weakest link in our defensive backfield and Leggett is an upgrade.

I do know some people like that. They think the NFL is superior so they watch the NFL. I think there are many more down east with that mindset rather than in Winnipeg. Aswell as on the Lower Mainland as they are much closer to NFL cities than we are here in Calgary or in Winnipeg.

Anyone see KO on stage with Shania in Montreal? Pretty good stuff.

Thanks for the input, would love to do something like that. Wouldn't even care if nobody listened lol.