Leaderboard

Honestly, I’m not sure you can ever quantify something like this but I would have to suspect word gets around by now about Winnipeg has to be one of the worst places for a young player to come to in the CFL if they want a legitimate opportunity. And don’t give me all that “what, they don’t wanna win and be a part of an amazing locker room?” nonsense. No, they want an opportunity to compete and maximize their earning potential and playing potential. That’s not here anymore. Veterans don’t even have to participate in training camp but they’re handed spots. We have mismanaged our use of training camp two years in a row. The practice roster is wasted. I’m not saying every spot needs to be an open competition. But look at Brandon Alexander, he has been clearly falling off in performance for a few years but hasn’t been asked to take a single snap in camp since 2022 and is just handed a job. We had a ton of options to get younger in lieu of trotting out Kyrie Wilson, who was already having his workload managed in camp, but we just hand him the spot despite new players showing incredibly well. How does McManus sell that to a young American player, especially when we’re now competing with other leagues.

This is never spoken about enough. He was a huge loss.

I’d love to see us bring in Shawn Oakman but there’s zero chance we do

I'm hoping that MOS acknowledging that he over-estimated their readiness is a sign he might be open to being wrong about other things and they can correct them before it's too late.

I can't wait for the win this weekend. We need it around here.

Zach is our starter .. no doubt about it. But .... As I alluded to in the game day thread, you can't make Streveler just a gadget guy. He's an athlete and god yes, take advantage of that athleticism but he's needs to execute in passing situations as well - if for no other reason than to keep teams honest when he's on the field.

If I had to guess, I'd say Ryan Rigmaiden was responsible for that. He was the Lions main US scout in 2015 when Sheed signed with them. He was working for us when we signed him in 2019 so Rigmaiden may have kept tabs on him.

I think they've lost their way. The advantage the 16-19 teams had was being better prepared and willing to play harder than opponents. Think of all the key special teams plays, the way they forced turnovers, the straight effort plays that won them games. Coming out of the pandemic year that has changed and back slid each year. The preparation isn't the same. They think they can show up and things will bounce their way. We get none of that anymore. It's whether Collaros and the receivers can make up for the overall **** ups in a given game, including their own. It's not really a sustainable way to win.

I said in the post game thread, game 1 after no preseason I can understand keeping collaros in to work out the kinks, especially with strevelers ankle getting the twist from douchebag earlier, but going forward he needs to be used.

Rigmaiden is a front office loss that sucked. Glad he left for a promotion but he took our scouting to another level.

He's gonna turn it around, He's gonna turn it around, He's gonna turn it around said in fetal position.

American scouting? Oh yeah for a decade. Yeah totally. Nichols, Alford, Jeffcoat, BA, Wilson, Schoen, Dru Brown, BA, Strev, Mike Jones, Santos-Knox, Stove, Holm, Eli, Jamaal Westerman, Woli, Leggett, Sayles, Bailey all sucked during their time here. Not to mention a boatload of others. Fire Goveia. Come on.

Sure, the Als D is quick and hits hard. But our O was simply a clown show......

If last year was any indication, I hope he’s in playoff form from the get-go..

So I was ok last year running it back because that was a choice and a 1 point loss in the cup fine give it a go. This year needed to be different though because it didn't work last year not going to work any better this year. Honestly would probably be best to get smacked around all of June. Might snap them out of it. But I can't ever hope for losses so go kick ass whoever wears the jersey.

I think you’re getting lost talking about the Week 1 performance while most people here are talking about the past two years plus one game. It’s not the specific on-field performance that is worrying to me. It’s the approach we have taken to everything.

Seems like a preparation issue to me.

5 years in football time might as well be 100. Look at the 2013 sea hawks, their entire core was washed up by 2018.

Which version? You don't want this one showing up...

We just need Brian Dennehy to show up with those cocoons and we'll be fine.

Rigmaiden was a massive blow for sure. We are actually quite lucky we even had him for a couple years because of clash of personalities in BC.

It's probably going to take Zach getting knocked out of a game before we get to see Strev. in an expanded role, till then he's stuck with a pretty small playsheet.

Ok, I didn’t know that. I could argue the point remains. Keeping track of a guy who spent a week on the Lions PR for 4 years is good scouting.

Logan Stanley Syndrome.

This is such a ridiculous statement I don’t even know where to begin

Last time he played that badly was against Edmonton last year but he got hurt and Dru came in and we won.

It's a nice thought but pulling guys off their couch is unlikely to yield any immediate results.

This site sometimes, man.....

14 man DL rotation

Or Hamilton.

Marion would actually be worth a look imo. Roster him instead of schmekel, gives us a back up rotational ni de who contributes on teams. Salary, age, and the fact they have young talented guys to who stepped in.

I love what the guy brings. But it’s pretty low priority Imo. Adam’s is a monster woods is damned good. Fox is a beast. Thomas has compromising pictures of mos. Oakman Adam’s fox rotation would be insane.

I've been alluding to this since 2022..and was heavily spouting off about it all last yr and into the offseaso. Was met with all the yeah buts...won the west..most wins...4 straight cups...failing to see we barely eeeked out the 2nd Cup...and lost 2 straight now...ones we should have won easily I also said a few times we won in spite of what some of the things Osh did..got met with more ridicule...we rode and won with some superior top line talent despite the warts that were developing...then wore a lot of them right out...all the while not developing anyone..and filling the roster with guys who were just that...1 trick poney filler...and now we are in a possible scuffling mode...big-time. Been there..done that...seen that personally and was seeing the exact same thing simmering here...hence why was so vocal...hopefully we use the first half of season to re-evaluate things and nip it in the bud now...or it's gonna get fugly

That’s just it, I really don’t understand our blatant blind spot to the reality of pro sports. It happens to EVERYBODY. Why are the Bombers pretending it hasn’t happened to them?

Be interesting to see how many targets the young receivers get. Zach has a habit of forcing things to Schoen or Demski and ignoring the new guys altogether. It was kind of weird how Bailey seemed to re-emerge every time Dru played...

100%. If you are an agent that reps football players, and you have an imp rb, and we offer them a deal going into camp, what do you do? Get this guy to up root his life go to another country, risk injury for modest money and no chance at playing? I suspect the large portion of good prospects we sign are neg list. Come here or no cfl, or low level guys playing d2 and lower or schools that barely register when it comes to football. We managed to bring in a bunch of long term nl guys with tons of upside this camp, and hardly any are left. I don’t have hope that we will have such a bumper crop next year. Even cfl vets. Who wants to come here? We bring in guys like Rosie and Muhammad, and leave them on the pr while struggling at their position. We had a lot of trouble attracting key free agents prior to 19/21. We got spurned by virtually every major fa wr. Biggie fell to us because when he left the nfl we were the team with an opening and cap spend. We made wj the highest paid dl in the league. A guy like McManis would never sign here given another option in the league. We even passed on lemon to play a dt at de which bit us in the butt last year. Our only chances at improving are vets retiring and leaving no option, vets leaving in fa for over pay leaving no option, hitting the lotto in the cfl draft, and guys becoming all stars late in their career. Some one in the top end of the mafia needs to put on some big boy pants and lay down the law. Improving the team is more important than having the team self coach accountability, more important than nationality, more important than the old boys club, and more important than being comfortable.

No kidding. It’s like why did you bring him in at all if you were going to use him like Prukop. The offense was sputtering with Zach, give Streveler a couple of series as a change of pace and let him throw the ball.

100% it is. Same with Lawler and arguably Adams

I sure hope it's rust with collaros but there's been concerning things with his game since the 2022 grey cup. Sure he had some big games last summer but otherwise he's been shaky. He started the year as MOP front runner but by fall Brady took over that mantle and was the straw stirring the drink for the Bombers offensively. Collaros continues to struggle and they must work streveler into the passing game much much more.

I didn't expect you would get the point. 90% of your posts stem from a horribly inaccurate interpretation of another members post.

He was that lost for reason in ssk too. Some of his answers to such questions just awful back then. I didn’t think he had the ssk mild career come back in him or the big one here. So I hope he again proves me wrong. But damn I’m worried. They are really good. However Zach was tossing gutter balls all over the place and missing reads badly. And missing open guys. Really gotta hope it’s rust.

I meant a full game, but you’re right that counts. I’m positive he wouldn’t have led that comeback, that was an awful, awful game from him

At one point I’d have expected him to. Now, I don’t know. Last time I saw Zach play that badly, he was about to be run out of Hamilton.

Yeah I mean it’s really how things soured quickly and how he responded to the bombers wanting accountability and a reasonable contract. Bad attitude and stuff I think is a bit over blown. He’s a great guy and player I have a lot of love for him. I don’t think he was a fifo problem while under contract here. I think he expected us to be happy with him no matter what and he clearly was not physically up to it any more. zachs interview on bonfire sports makes me feel sick. Had the guys and the looks felt good felt ready just missed some times you miss. Idk what to expect him to say but that isn’t it. He really needs to have a big game vs ott to take the taste out of people’s mouthes or it’s gonna get ugly quick.

Says you. I’m ready to go.

Meh, he was one of the younger guys who did have ample opportunity here. I’d pass, rather see what the new WRs can actually do.

If you're looking to the past, which I don't think they should be, Agudosi is currently a free agent and already knows the playbook.

I think after his knee injury last year, his career might be done.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but looking at our training camp cuts and depth chart, I don't think one vet lost a spot to another player. Not one cut and not one demoted to a backup role. That seems problematic to me. Not one person that jumped off the chart to gain a spot or a vet that declined to lose a spot (other than those not re-signed)? Not even something somewhat surprising like Eli jumping ahead of Kolankowski or Lofton losing the starting RT spot he was basically assigned when he joined our team? Augustine losing his spot to Rosery? Perhaps that will change as the season rolls along, but I don't take it as a good sign that we could have penciled in the depth chart other than which rookies grabbed the spots not contested by vets.

In conclusion........Namaste...................................