Dragon37

Ottawa will have won more GCs than Winnipeg before Winnipeg wins another GC.

The Nissan deal is pretty much par for the course for the clowns running this show. Anyone that thinks the prices for the GC were reasonable clearly had their head somewhere other than Winnipeg. There was no way in hell my Dad and I were going to buy tickets. When I saw the prices I was pretty darn sure that it epwas going to be a really hard sell. First off most of the sales have to come from the host city and the best way to sell to themselves is field a competitive team. While there was some reason for optimism that we should have had a better team I confident that most people were not going to blindly commit hundreds of dollars hoping Winnipeg would be there. So they held off. Next, with the game being in late November chances were very good that it was going to be really freaking cold. Now who in their right mind outside Winnipeg is going to want to pay so much money to potentially freeze their butts off for three plus hours. (That alone was enough to keep myself and my dad away, we are just not that hardy anymore.) IMHO the largest mistake the Bombers made was going for a GC game before the team was fixed. However, knowing who is running this team and how long this team has been run like a circus it doesn't surprise me that they went for a GC game here so soon, slapped committed fans in the face for their commitment, and had a hard time selling this game. Luckily the fates intervened and supplied two teams that have GC hungry fans rather than regular attendees. I hope that Ottawa and Edmonton fans flood here and really enjoy themselves. I wish both teams luck and hope they gives us a great show.

Yeah four years straight of sucking is far too soon to get worried. One of these decades Walters and MOS will have a winning record.

Two years I would say. Since he is not the only one struggling on the team I would put it down to the team in general. What I like about Harris is he has great outside speed, probably the best in the league out of the backfield. He has great hands too. Winnipeg DESPERATELY needs that.

I would agree with one exception, just how long can they wait to come back before they lose interest. I do completely agree that winning a GC is not crucial next year, however, they MUST field a team that doesn't suck or isn't a step away from being good. While I would like to say that I don't worry about the team's demise I just can't. (I do think the league would intervene before that though)

I am skeptical they can improve significantly enough to draw fans back next year never mind ten years down the road. Next year is crucial. I believe they are already going to drop a few thousand STH and staying the course with the HC, GM, and CEO that have already shown themselves to be not very good at building a winner could really pose some massive issues next season. Sadly, I think next year is make it or break it. Something is rotten in the franchise and I doubt the current regime (right up to the BOD) knows it. It may be an issue with the CEO, GM, or coaches or it may be something higher up at the BOD level. Until that is rooted out this current regime and the next will continue to flounder. There is SOMETHING that is preventing us from fixing this team (and has been preventing it for this 25+ year rebuild).

It isn't rocket science and he still doesn't know. That is just plain sad our GM doesn't know which picks he has.

The thing about Sinopoli is that there really was no indication that he was anywhere near what he turned out to be this year. He went from a reliable hands receiver to a 1000 yard receiver and one that was getting it done after the catch as well. Westerman had a great year, no doubt, but it was pretty much anticipated that he would. He has the experience. Not one person here would have predicted how much of a jump that Sinopoli would make. I wouldn't be disappointed if Westerman won and it it would be deserved, but I just cannot see any voting member ignoring what Sinopoli did this year. Either way the big winner will be the NI talent across the league because of what these two managed to do. I hope this inspires more NIs to higher goals and encourages more NI to stick with the CFL

I don't care what Walters has to say. I already know he talks the talk. He just can't walk the walk. If you know the problems, then fix them. Hell, you should have done that two years ago when you claimed "the right person is in the job now." Charlatan.

Guys who have jobs that they're not likely to leave for a lateral move. Why not just wish for Austin or Hufnagel while we've got our heads in the clouds? Guys who have jobs because other teams want them. That makes them more, not less desirable. It would cost more than picking from the coaches the other teams don't want but that money doesn't come out of the SMS so who cares and they're much more likely to be useful right off the bat. There's lots of reasons one or more might want to take our OC job: Might want to coach where it matters instead of Toronto where they get maybe 10K out to a game. Might want to get out from the shadow of their HC to prove that's not the reason they're good at what they do. Might want to get a direct shot at being an HC sooner than waiting behind their current HC's. They might be able to do that by mid-season next year. Might want more money than they are currently making. Might want to have the Assistant HC title for their resume and O'Shea said he's OK with that. Why not Austin or Hufnagel? Sure if we were replacing O'Shea and Walters, but unfortunately that's not happening. And then come to Winning instead where we fire coaches like it's going out of style? Not great for the resume because a lot of coaches have had their reputations damaged coaching in Winnipeg for a variety of reasons. Even things like token assistant HC titles and more money aren't enough to lure people out of good situations. Be a realist here, would love leave a good stable environment to come to Winnipeg? Is that really the best career move for any of those guys? Better off correctly identifying an up and comer and hiring him. Which coaches have had their rep hurt by coming here and then losing their job? Lapo? No he didn't get an offer because no one needed his services and he was already being paid by us. Burke? He was quickly signed by TO. And so forth. I should point out that both Hamilton and Edmonton were really unstable places for HCs but they had no problems at all signing Austin and Jones. Even with decent success until this year Sask had no troubles getting decent coaches, and firing them I might add. Now you say hire an up and comer? We have been supposedly doing that for five years now and just how has that worked out? IMHO they likely are going to have to resort to a rookie because any idiot is going to see that our brain trust isn't providing quality talent so it is a total lost cause to come here and try to turn lead into gold. They will lose their job before Walters, Miller, and MOS.

I predict every award will go east.

Miller won't do that with MOS. He'll earn every penny win or lose. I can't imagine the pressure that poor guy will be under next season. Ever worked at a job where you know that your firing is an inevitability? I have & it's a terrible situation. Except his firing isn't inevitable. Seems to be the tiny detail missing from your theory. He wins, he stays. So what record will O'Shea have to achieve next year to earn another contract? 9-9? 10-8? Surely it must be better then .500. IMHO if they are not at least two games above .500 and showing tons more improvement in overall talent and depth then it should be the big boot for MOS, his crew and Walters. Polishing that boot right now because there is no way in heck this regime is going to be over .500.

Argh if Walby thinks positively about someone then stay away. It took Walby three years to figure out he was washed up and in that time he was quite good at passing blame onto other teammates. He was a good player but he is no football analyst and far too old school in his football ways/thinking.

We haven't had a coach or GM in place to carefully groom anyone and that's part of the problem. coaches get fired and they bring in a whole slew of new players or they throw them into the deep end too soon and they sink to the bottom. Um until Lyle brought in Kelly and royally ****** this team up our GM position was pretty stable. Coach not so much but you can thank Lyle for that. However, the QB pool was fairly stable, we just never actually found decent back up talent. They were patient and groomed lots of players but when push came to shove they sucked. No matter how much you baby and coach a QB it ALWAYS comes down to whether or not they can cut it. Eventually they have to go on the field and prove they have the skills.

Oh please. Did you even note how many times our receivers dropped the ball this year? Or what about coming back the QB? The fact they stuck with Darvin "stone hands" Adams all year should tell you about our lack of talent. Where was that game in and game out threat? You can keep scapegoating MB all you want but that doesn't change the fact that this team was want for talent on both sides of the ball. They scored the fewest points in nine years and gave up more than last year. It's good that MB is gone but it doesn't change the fact that we lack talent in more areas than just OC. Firing MB isn't the magic bullet for this team.

I have to agree. Jovon is way over rated. I think the fact that he has the name power from years gone by that he got the nod. Other than the Bomber game he was pretty invisible for Ottawa. I look forward to him crashing out and being divisive the way he was with Winnipeg after his award year. After his award he couldn't cover anything and was routinely beaten for bundles of yards.

Well I think that we all get what you were saying. While the comparison isn't perfect I believe you make a valid point. However, Going by last week poor decision making isn't going to be an issue. If Ray craps out the change will be made. Harris was much more back to form last week too. Hamilton cannot take them lightly regardless of what happened during the year.

Personally I have no confidence that our current regime will make a good choice.

Moo point! Moo!

The defence crapped the bed just as much as the offence.

Well Walters was the top NI scout when Mack was here, perhaps Mack is taking too much heat from fans? Yes Mack took way more heat. Back when they fired him I remember Walters sliding in potshots as well and stating the right person was now in charge, etc. Basically he was off-loading all the blame onto Mack. Very easy to do because he was directly in the headlights. Don't forget though that Walters was brought in as some Canadian talent expert and held the second highest position next to Mack. So it was not like he was powerless. He basically admitted he was a toothless coward. Now that he is in charge though we find that he is definitely not living up to the hype. We have had weak NI talent for the five years(?) he has been here and before that he was a middling ST coach. IN all honesty if I had to pick and choose between keeping one of MOS or Walters I would give Walters the heave-ho first. There is more than enough evidence that he doesn't do a good job, while going by what MOS was able to do with STs he at least may have an upside. (Realistically though both should be shown the door with MB)

Not when that QB can't finish a season and has limited talent to throw to. Every GM has brought in one or two good players but what we should be using to judge Walters (and the scouts) is the overall talent and depth and that has not improved in the entire time Walters has been involved with player personnel. Having patience or giving the benefit of the doubt really isn't going to improve anything ... unless we are on the 25 year building plan.

I agree. I think Howell returned one for us many years ago and that was the only one I ever saw.

A convert returned by the defense in Canadian football is always worth 2 points.To the OP, the returner isn't conceding s point on a PAT. If they really cared about what you are talking about on FG's they'd adopt the Football Canada rule of putting the ball on the 20 if the ball is returned out of the end zone. Thanks, I stand corrected.

If the returner had left the end zone and gone back and had been tackled it would count as two. Missed and not conceded and tackled, conceded, or missed through the end zone is a rouge. Because the ball is live missed and return is a TD. Think of it as a kick-off. A missed PAT returned the other way is only one point a returned two pointer is worth two.