Mike

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

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.

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?

Feels like at this rate it’s going to be January 2026, Collaros, O’Shea, Bighill, Willie and BA will all be gone and we’ll be wondering how we got beat in the divisional semi final in a GC host year

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.

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

The way we see the team being run right now, we would’ve kept Harris over Brady.

I can appreciate that, but until it comes in the form of competition, I don’t think it’s equal.

You are correct.

The practice roster is what makes me more frustrated than anything, to be honest. The use of it is just horrendous. Historically, here have been the past couple years looking at our American PR August 2022: OL Witt, OL Lofton, K Mourtada, DL Wilcots, WR Harrison, DL Mack, DB Holm October 2022 (post expanded PR): OL Witt, OL Lofton, OL Fornadel, OL Muljo, K Mourtada, WR Harrison, WR Heiligh, DL Adams, DL Massie, DB Texada July 2023: OL Ivy, OL Richmond, DB Muhammad, DB McGhee, DL Fox, LB Cole, WR Jones, FB Jackson October 2023: OL Richmond, DL Haba, DL Garbutt, DL Fox, WR Alston, DB Lawrence, DB McGhee We’ve been carrying a ton of OL on the practice roster since 2022 and it’s netted us absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, we’ve carried literally one linebacker, zero running backs, no receivers who have amounted to anything (mostly due to not ever getting an opportunity), a kicker that was absolute trash, a fullback and usually a DB or two. Obviously these are just snapshots, but the formula isn’t working. Look at the turnover and look what it’s amounted to. This is not how we should be using this part of our roster at all.

I really just wished they didn’t treat the 45 man roster and the practice roster as if they are two separate entities. The gameday depth chart should not be our week to week depth chart. We should not be using JA as anything beyond a gameday backup to Brady, if Brady can’t go one week then there should be a player on the practice roster ready to fill that role as a starter. Same with Gauthier, Ford, etc. I swear if Jake Thomas got hurt, we’d be starting Kyle Samson the next week. This is not the way the team should be operating. Our practice roster use continues to be so frustrating, we should be employing players who can develop their skills so that when they are called to play, there’s a shot you may have an immediate impact player not just some ham and egger who can do enough to get by.

Brown/Dukes/Powell in that order

Toronto Montreal Saskatchewan Calgary BC Hamilton Edmonton Winnipeg not ranked: Ottawa

I want to be fair with the last comment I made though: I don’t think our young players were the big problem this past week. It was definitely on the veterans.

Seeing what Toronto put out on the field yesterday was so frustrating. Do they have weak spots? Sure. But the young talent pool is impressive. They lost so many pieces and more just step right up - not necessarily rookies, but guys they’re recruited and developed and now asked to play bigger roles. Brinkman, Pierce, Dukes, Williams, Franklin … they do a good job of talent assessment over there for sure It’s not all on Zach though. A lot of it is, but not all of it. It’s crazy how in preseason, you were ALL OVER Booch and I for saying some negative things that ended up being entirely true but now that we’re one game in, you’ve got completely off the deep end on the other side of the argument. Our preparedness on offense left a lot to be desired. Zach wasn’t making throws, but those throws also involve rhythm, timing, understanding of blocking assignments, chemistry and a lot more. The whole offense was out of sync and Zach is a big part of that but he’s not entirely to blame.

I’m not giving up on these guys like Mitchell as options at KR. let’s be fair about it, we just spent the whole week saying the team looked unprepared and like they were not ready to play. Mitchell is the exception, he just stinks?

So kick returners and receivers are a weak spot despite us bringing in two of the best players at those positions that the league has seen in a decade?

So flip it to American. We start 817 Canadians.

I don’t read too much into the Feltmate add beyond they took the opportunity to add a good player who was available

We didn’t recruit him

Tony Jones was good for Edmonton in limited time last year but this annoys me because it just is another example of how we don’t want to ever recruit

You’re welcome

I mean, what’s unfair about what I said

Honestly what I’m worried about most is that he’s going to do something stupid while he’s injured. If he stays out of trouble, he’ll be back for the games that matter