Eternal optimist

touche

Maybe he meant we need to recruit Bovine Mitchell to play kine backer...he certainly slings enough cowpies with his arrogant attitude...

What's a kine backer? Is this why there was so much blown coverage this year???

1. Big tall, physical receiver. Someone that we can throw a deep ball to on occasion. Adams showed glimmers of excellence - but couldn't stay healthy. I think the PI rule makes this an even more important acquisition. I'd be okay with trying to bringing in some fresh meat - maybe a hidden gem like Chris Matthews from a few years ago. 2. A better kick returner - personally I don't think McDuffie has done enough and I could see the Blue cutting him loose for someone new next year. Especially if the newbie comes at a lower price. If Fogg ends up being the odd man out on D, I'd be interested to see him return kickoffs. 3. Defense - I think we have the right core of guys, if we can replicate our turnover production next year, I have no problem with giving up the massive yardage per game. That said, conventional wisdom would dictate you can't do that consistently without getting burnt... time will tell I guess.

Exhibit A: Bombers attempts to lure Henry Burris and Zach Collaros heading into the 2014 season.

First of all, welcome aboard! I think the dip in attendance at games was pretty much league-wide this year. Calgary also had a great year and even they couldn't sell out home games. Of particular concern though is the Bombers have a shiny, new stadium* to pay for and their attendance has been decreasing the past few years. Personally, I think the Jets 2.0 was a wake-up call for the Bombers. Without the Jets, the biggest sports competition for the Bombers was the Goldeyes. The Jets return in 2011, coupled with the Bombers regression shortly after a 2011 cinderella-run to the Grey Cup, has caused the Blue & Gold to lose lots of their market share. On top of that, there was the stadium fiasco, the 2013 season, and the two following season were unmemorable at best. That said, they had a great year this year, and if they can continue building off this momentum, their attendance should hopefully improve. *Stadium may not actually be shiny, new, or in any way structurally sound.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with the outcome of the Western semi, that said there are definitely some bright spots from this year to building on. 1. Beat the Riders at home for the first time in forever. 2. O-line - Flat out won games for us and were able to protect Nichols and help grind the clock with Harris to put games away late. 3. Free agent signings in the off-season that actually panned out (Harris, Medlock and Dressler - personally I think the jury's still out on Smith). 4. The Drew Willy trade - the 1st rounder will be hugely helpful. Also, glad to see Glenn back as a bomber. Interesting side note for all the Glenn-haters - Glenn didn't throw any interceptions as a Bomber this year (He also only had 4 pass attempts). 5. Medlock breaking the single-season record for most field goals. 6. I know O'Shea will be critiqued for some of his calls, but I've got to say I can't remember the last time the Bombers had a special teams unit that was advantageous overall against opposing teams. Between the good kick coverage, Medlock's fantastic year, and some interesting trick plays, opposing teams are thinking twice on 3rd down. If there's one area we could improve on, I would argue it's our return game... 7. The thing I find most impressive about the best record in 13 years is that the Blue and Gold managed to achieve it whilst competing this year in the hyper-competitive western division. Consider that of our 7 losses, only 1 of them came against what ended up being a non-playoff team (Montreal - Week 1) and 3 of them were against Calgary. 8. Playoffs - say what you will about that game but this year was definitely a step forward in that we made it to the post-season. As always it's another "maybe next year" feeling, which kind of sucks, but at the same time, it's nice to have something to look forward to.

Isn't that always his intention? Great hit in my opinion, for such a tall guy you'd think Arceneux would be better at keeping his head up.

C'mon guys it's obviously going to be the announcement of the new expansion Raskatchewan Soughriders. Their colours will be white and green.

Can we use our first overall pick on a new coach? Seriously, worst call of the year... also fun fact, the longest FG in history was 62 yards but it was outdoors, presumably with the wind at the back of the kicker. In fact, the 4 longest field goals in CFL history were all kicked outdoors, in Saskatchewan (Taylor Field)

Also if anyone else is curious, the worst team to get to the Grey Cup was the 1981 Ottawa Rough Riders, which were 5-11.

I blocked out that Stamps game - thanks for the vietnam-style flashback. ... Also I'm an idiot.

Who comes out of the East is a bit of an oddity this year, if it's Hamilton or Ottawa, there will be a team with a losing record in the Grey cup (not sure if that's ever happened before). If it's Edmonton, they'll be the first cross-over team to make it to the Grey Cup...

We should take a look at Baihetiyaer Tuerxun. I just want to hear Bob Irving try to pronounce some of the names on that list. Also hilarious that Shanghai's fullback is referred to as "The Tank"

Cautiously optimistic.

Montreal might be the only team in the the East that's in need and is also short-sighted enough to think that a quarterback would solve all their problems and heavily overpay for Frankllin via trade. Toronto already has Willy (I guess?), Ottawa still seems okay with their Burris/Harris combination and Hamilton has Collaros... I don't really know what Montreal would really be able to offer Edmonton though, other than draft picks and potential future prospects. They released Carter and Stafford, their defense has some good players, but I think it'd be a tough sell to trade some defensive players for a QB - which is the most important position in the league.

People need to remember that the only reason we even have Nichols, is because he basically lost his job as backup to Franklin. Of course Edmonton realizes Franklin's potential, and I agree with others here that it's a waste to let him sit on their depth chart as a backup... that said, if you were Edmonton...wouldn't you rather have Franklin sit behind Reilly as your backup, instead of him potentially burning as a starter playing elsewhere in the league? I think he'd be a great fit in Winnipeg - but I don't think we should sell the farm to get him, and I don't think Edmonton would let him go for a seventh-round pick in the draft (which is what we traded to get Nichols).

I'm glad to see Kohlert get the hook... twice there were throws to him where Nichols hit him square in the numbers only to have the ball pop up for an INT... just can't turn the ball over like that, especially in the playoffs.

I agree... but you've got to give Barker some credit for taking a risk and trying to go for it all, remember they host the Grey Cup this year and at the time the Willy trade happened, Ray was injured and the Argonauts were still very much so in the East Division playoff picture. I wonder how much of this trade was Milonovich singing Willy's praise and how much was the Argos needing to shake things up. As it stands right now though, it looks like it was a terrible move for the Argos - especially considering the Bombers were likely going to release Willy this off-season if they hadn't traded him.

Add on top of that, it's well into November at that point - the weather could also play a factor as well. I think based on our D that might actually be an additional benefit to the Bombers. That said, B.C. first, whether it be at home or away.

I'd buy $60 scotch and be drunk all the time too if I had a diastema that large. Seriously, considering how much $$$ the guy makes why wouldn't he fix that.

Agreed, they stunk it up today. As others have mentioned, hopefully it was just an off game for Nichols and the O. I'd still say if I had to choose to play 2 road games to get to the Grey Cup I'd rather play Ottawa/Hamilton than B.C./Edmonton and Calgary. Hopefully today was just rust...alot of rust.

So in terms of the playoff shakedown, with B.C. and Edmonton winning this week coupled with this loss, our only hope of hosting the Western semi-final is if we win next week in Ottawa whilst both Edmonton (playing Toronto) AND B.C. (playing Saskatchewan) lose at home. Does anyone else feel it might be better to actually go through the East via cross-over? Playing away against Hamilton or Ottawa sounds better than taking on Edmonton or B.C....

As a non-Rider fan, I take offense to that.

^This^ A Rider win at home against the B.C. Lions would also help the Bombers secure a potential home playoff game. I don't often cheer for the Riders, but when I do, it's when they're out of the playoffs, in a meaningless game for them, with their winning improving the Bombers standings whilst simultaneously worsening their own draft standing (and improving ours).