Mike

I'm really worried about Dressler's health to be honest. He's a weapon we NEED to have out there. Adams, while productive, is not as valuable. We can't be without Dressler and Smith. It'll kill us.

That isn't really what happened at all and I'm sure if we were to present the posts (as Atomic did earlier with another instance where you tried to pull this nonsense) to people so they could judge for themselves, you'd find that you'd be one of the only people to see it that way. You have a bad habit of saying stuff and then pretending you said something else and wondering why someone would criticize something you never said in the first place. You made this post: And when I replied to it, I bolded the same line I've bolded above and responded How in the world is that me "turning the entire thread into a debate about Tony Burnett"? How is that you raising a point about Garrett Waggoner? You made a post that covered a number of things and I chose to respond to a specific portion of it that I had a question about. Stop playing this victim card over and over. Maybe you need to start reading what YOU post instead of being so upset about what other people post.

To be fair, Willy has thrown a bunch of those over his Bomber career too. He almost got Nick Moore beheaded last year.

So then why did you single out Atomic originally as well? If this is now your claim, it's sure a change from what you implied earlier. Seems like bringing up someone's name and accusing them of doing something that they were not is almost like ... bullying them

For someone who complains about being bullied so much, you sure go out of your way to bring up my name negatively in discussions that I'm not even participating in. Almost as if you're bullying me.

The one thing I will say is that I don't think Willy would have played as well as Nichols last night, based on his current body of work this year. Nichols made throws Willy has failed to make all year. However, if Willy gets the run support that Nichols had last night, the throws Willy CAN make that Nichols made last night probably have the kind of results Nichols had. I guess what I'm saying is Nichols hit deep shots that Willy simply hasn't hit this year, but Nichols also got better results from things like those Dressler screen passes because our run game was clicking.

Quite honestly, I'm so tired of this "there are bullies" nonsense that gets thrown around here. I'm not a bully. Chase isn't a bully. Atomic isn't a bully. There is literally not a single bully on this entire forum. There are strong opinions. There are people who tend to agree with eachother. There are people who tend to disagree with eachother. If you feel like you're being bullied (aka verbally abused, insulted, beaten down) then absolutely the staff will address it. If you feel like you're being bullied because your definition of the word is "someone who disagrees with my opinion", then toughen up. This is a discussion forum, not a sounding board. TBURGESS probably hates it, but he's always my example when someone brings up this argument. He and I probably disagree on 90% of what we discuss on this forum, but I don't think he's ever referred to me as a bully. Do you know why? Because he actually likes to discuss his opinion. I may not agree with it, but he at least doesn't get all up in arms about it. He tells me why he thinks I'm wrong, I tell him why I think he's wrong, we discuss, we pick apart then we get over it and either agree or agree to disagree and we move on. There are always a certain group of "victims" on any forum you will ever visit who are so strongly opinionated, but can not handle being addressed in return by an opposing strong opinion. This is a discussion forum where opinions are subject to - you guessed it - discussion. If you don't like your opinion being discussed, the internet is probably not the place to share it.

Is Eddie Steele a starting NI OL? Because he started a couple games too. Starting football games doesn't make you a starting caliber football player.

Yes he did. 100%

There were quite a few drive killing mistakes and quite a few close calls that all of a sudden makes his line a lot worse if Edmonton doesn't blow it. Great stats. But I'm not sure how you're in a position to question how I feel when you admittedly didn't even watch half the game.

1. Harris 2. Bond 3. Frederick/Loffler/BJ

I'm not shitting on anything. I'm thrilled we won and I'm glad Nichols played as well as he did. I'm just saying he really didn't play all that well.

The difference in the OL wasn't pass protection tonight at all. It was as bad as ever the difference was in the run game. Bond opened up the biggest holes Harris has seen all year and he feasted on it. I will give Nichols credit where it is due - he did the important things that don't show up on the stat sheet. Looked off receivers, sold handoffs, all the little details that sometimes get forgotten by fans. Nichols pulled those all off tonight. He still is what he is though. A backup quality QB. He's not starter material because as much as he provided a spark, he also folded like a cheap tent when he got hit with adversity which has been his calling card all CFL career long. Nichols did a lot of things Willy wouldn't have done tonight but he also did a lot of things Willy did that he gets crucified for around here, but Nichols is the fresh face so people are blind to it.

Quite honestly there's no reason to think Willy would have played as well as Nichols did tonight but Nichols really didn't play all that well either. Looking forward to seeing him continue with this momentum, but the search for a QB is still on and I'm certainly not getting rid of Willy.

... It was an entirely different OL. and yes, Bond DID make that much of a difference.

It's an indication of proper cap management.

I guess I should've said "doesn't look that bad in comparison to what I was expecting" I like having Frederick out there, especially because he's going to go against his buddy and training partner in coverage. Excited to see what he can do, hopefully more than tire fire CJ Roberts. BJ25 is a good one to have back, glad to see Loffler at safety (this isn't even a downgrade to me) and happy to have Cole on the team with his injuries (hopefully) behind him. Sheppard over Mayo, I'm not a fan of because I like Mayo but I'll give O'Shea credit - he's not waiting for guys to get hurt to replace them anymore. Performance is getting you benched which hasn't always been the case with him. Excited to see Bond too.

doesn't look that bad to me

Tough to say. Tough to say until Nichols plays a game. Tough to say until we see how they go forward beyond this week. Tough to say until we see what happens with the coach. Tough to say.

Riiiiiiiiight

Not the same coach we got rid of 20 years ago, to say the least. Look at the coaches who have hired him since then. Trestman ... Austin ... he's got the support of some very well respected coaches within CFL circles and suffice it to say that if you actually equipped the guy with some talent, 20 years later he might actually be able to do something with it.

This probably sounds ridiculous but if "experienced head coach" is part of the criteria for what we'd be looking for with an O'Shea replacement, the guy at the top of my list very well could be Jeff Reinebold.

In what world is Demond Washington able to play both outside linebacker spots? SAM, I'll give you. WIL? Absolutely not. I don't know where you're getting all these ideas about players ability to play positions they're not.

To me, his need is that he's an excellent special teams with the versatility to backup multiple positions. I've always held the belief that your roster backups don't always NEED starter potential. For example, Burnett would be a great backup in-game if Bass were to get hurt, but obviously Knox would likely start if the injury kept Bass out of more than just the one game. I think the reason we don't have an import backup for DB is because we have so many serviceable Canadian backups. Morgan, Loffler and Jones are all major assets for the club.

I think the only relevant thing you mentioned is the noise we bring. But I don't think it's up to us.