Mike

Did he actually say that? He knows we can cut anyone we want in the offseason, right? That statement makes no sense. It makes quite a bit of sense actually, so I'm glad Walters/Mack put the team in this situation. Use the leftover $$$ on guys like Etienne, Alex Hall, etc and give them bonus dollars to count against 2013 cap. Free up as much 2014 cash as possible for a guy like Collaros or some OL

Highly doubt it but hey, who knows.

Walters is looking good because Mack was asleep at the wheel... Walters found import tackles and signed some castoffs - but all GMs (except Mack) do that... I would agree that the jury is still out - i.e. Bo Smith, Levi Brown, etc... However, I do think that Walters ends up as our full-time GM - there is such a tiny window to sign Collaros or anyone before the Ottawa draft... if he gets that done, how do you fire/demote him after that? If he doesn't get it done, is there really time to get a new GM in place before free agency? If Higgins or someone is available, they would have to be in here by mid-December at the latest. Chances are Mack would have brought in the same tackles just because it's the scouting that finds players and we have the same scouts, other than that Kelly is the only guy Walters has brought in that has made an actual impact so far. People are freaking out cause the guy said the right things and brought in a couple bodies, but Mack brought in bodies when he needed them too, just tended to be from a different source. The amount of crap that Mack gets thrown at him is too damned high and because he made such a good scape goat Walters has a pretty easy job. Never mind that the biggest mistake is still there (Burke) and the team still has no life and still regularly gets out coached and continually shows no signs of life. Except Mack didn't bring in those guys. He brought in Taormina, Boatman and Simmons... maybe as usual he was going off his 'gut' instead of listening to his scouts ...anyway, whatever. Walters found us a new tackle prospect, Mack didn't. The best player on our OL is a holdover from the Kelly days - that is sad. As for Burke, everyone was pretty excited when he came here and everyone kind of knew he was the next HC after Lapo... the biggest mistake Mack made was not Burke, it was cheaping out on Asst Coaches... ignoring the OL... not signing any substantial free agents... and... and... and... maybe there is no one 'biggest' mistake. Had to isolate this because a) he doesn't pick the assistants and we actually have/had a few of the higher paid assistants in the league. Oh wait, you think Craig Dickenson works for free, right? And I suppose Gary Crowton came up here with a D1 resume as a hobby.

He has said in some interviews that he would like to go back to being a GM and/or HC. He's also applied for a few openings in the past few years as well including here after Kelly and Bauer were gone. Interesting... Sorry TB, but this is pretty common knowledge. The CFL job is a gig until he finds something else coaching wise. If not, it's a nice cushy job to fall back on. But Higgins does want to coach again. I'm not sure why your apologizing here. I questioned your statement because I hadn't heard anything about it. I don't claim to know ALL of what goes on in the CFL, so if there is something I haven't heard, I'll ask about it. That's part of what a message board is about. Besides, if it was "common knowledge" then shouldn't I be the one apologizing?? Sorry, TB.

I don't want Willy just because he's got a ridiculous name. Drew P. Willy Droopy Willy.

Ask Saskatchewan fans how solid their OL is.

Drives me nuts that Burke gets such a free pass from guys like Kirk Penton. Penton is a quality writer, but his absolute hate on for Joe Mack drives me nuts. http://www.winnipegsun.com/2013/09/23/all-hope-is-not-lost-with-bombers Seriously? Give me a break. Such a double standard lol

You don't think they take a combo of Willy and Glenn? At most Ottawa will draft 1 QB. They need/want to stock up NI's in the draft, and drafting a QB gives that team the opportunity to protect more NI's. Collaros, Willy, Glenn are all free agents anyways. And of those three, if you were the GM...which one would you set your sites on talent wise only?. except in Glenn's case I guess age would have to be a factor Glenn's not a winner. A guy who threw 12 passes before this season takes over the 4th quarter of a close game while he fades away. Personally I'd have zero interest in Glenn as a starter if I were Ottawa, or any CFL team if I'm setting the goal at winning a Grey Cup. I'd target BLM heavily, offer Calgary the 1st overall pick in the draft and a high pick in 2015 too. Willy hasn't played enough, and while I like that Collaros has that mentality where he's able to put it all together in the 4th quarter, I have some doubts that he's working in a great environment for a young QB with Milanovich on a very good football team that would be hard to replicate elsewhere. I'm not sure Collaros could step onto a bad team and make them a good team. I think BLM is much more likely to be that guy, he's got the best arm (all things considered, strength accuracy placement) of all the QB's in the league IMO and he doesn't lack poise. McPherson had a nearly perfect QB rating as a starter with Milanovich BTW. That's when he was the next big thing. While I don't discount the potential of what you're saying about Collaros being true to an extent, let's not try and compare him to McPherson. McPherson has 240 pass attempts in his CFL career and Collaros already has 210 this season alone. He's put up more scoring drives, less turnovers and more yardage than McPherson ever did and honestly, Collaros has the *it* factor I like to see in a QB. I want a guy who can take over in the fourth quarter and make you confident that no matter what, he's going to give you a chance. Can he complete nearly 70% of his passes without Milanovich? Probably not. But he can take what he's learned and put a new team in a good position to thrive with him as their starter. As much as I prefer Mitchell, I know he's not available so I'm all in on Collaros. Winnipeg needs him.

I honestly can't believe we'd criticize Walters for inquiring about another "unavailable" QB. I'd phone Hufnagel every day if I was Walters. "You ready to trade Mitchell yet? No? Okay, call me when you are."

I still feel like Ottawa takes him in the expansion draft and tries to lock him up before free agency. Winnipeg might have to pay to get that opportunity.

To be fair, our red zone offense is almost entirely based on running whereas most teams have a lot more pass plays in those pages of their play book. Still brutal though.

I'm officially on the Collaros bandwagon. He's for real.

You JUST called Muamba "exceptional by NI standards" on the other site. Make up your damn mind.

Burke's attitude is the type of attitude that instills a losing culture in a locker room. He shows no faith in any of his players, he's a horrible motivator and he is no good at maximizing the talent (no matter its shortcomings) he has at his disposal. I mean really, who can possibly have respect for a head coach who throws his entire roster under the bus by saying "I'm doing the best with what I've got?" How can I respect a guy who doesn't even have the stones to go for a win on his HOME FIELD with 30 seconds and a timeout remaining? Burke may not think much of the roster he has to work with and that's his perogative, but a good coach or even a sensible one would find a way to get the most they could out of that talent by motivating them and sticking by his guys even if they didn't necessarily deserve it. Burke, OTOH, seems content to mail it in and not even try. We were tied with the ball in our possession last night, our team is 2-9 and while I'm not expecting it to spark some kind of miraculous season turnaround, Burke had a golden opportunity to show his offensive guys that he has trust in them. No one would have blamed him for trying and failing, it's not the end of the world. But instead of taking his guys aside and telling them that he felt they could give it a shot, he basically mailed it in, showed them he doesn't trust them enough to do a damn thing and said "**** it." How do you think our players feel? Tim Burke literally could not trust them for 30 seconds because apparently he thought the most likely result was a turnover. What the hell is that? If that's the attitude he's going to coach with, we may as well forfeit. It's absolutely embarrassing. FWIW, I heard a few stories from the Legacy Dinner the other night. Couple conversations with some of our stronger defensive players and apparently it was a good chance to get their honest thoughts instead of the "proper" media replies. I bet you can guess what they think of Tim Burke and his coaching staff. I'll give you a hint. It's the same thing I think of them.

They are not mutually exclusive. Trace what Burke does and at the end of your drawing you will have a conclusion that Burke shares the blame...heavily. Just go back to what I asked, is he or isn't he responsible for the personnel who are starting? We have seen more personnel turnover in the last month under our Interim GM than Mack made in his 3 years. So I ask again, who is responsible the personnel on the field and why aren't they making plays when the opportunity hits them right in the hands. You want to talk personnel, then lay the page out. This thread is on Burke and if you have decided he shares no blame..then say so. All I will say then is, put any other coach in the league in Burke's shoes and how do you think he would fair. If you answer that question honestly then you will see that the HC position is meaningless for this current mess. I disagree.

You can (and I will) easily point to Burke being unable to get ANYTHING out of his players.

Well alrighty then.

What does Suber's injury or Reilly's statistics have to do with our offense?

But at least we could say we tried. In throwing that ball you have a percentage whatever that is with Goltz, taking a knee you have zero. I would even venture to say going for it gave us a better chance than hoping we could beat them in overtime. We had scored 7 points in three quarters. I know, it's easy to be a Saturday morning coach. What gets me is they still had a timeout as well. If Burke just planned intelligently, they start at their 35 with 24 seconds left. Then they'd need what, 30 yards in 24 seconds to have a shot at a single? 40 yards to give it a shot at a field goal? With a timeout remaining, you have at least one play call where the whole field is at your disposal. You can't be assuming as a head coach that your QB is going to throw an interception or fumble the ball. If that's the best assumption you can make about him, don't even put him out there in the first place. Use those 24 seconds to stretch the field, it's enough to get 3 plays off especially with that timeout in your back pocket. At least TRY. No one is going to be mad at you if you try and fail, we're already all aware that our team blows. But not even trying just makes you an absolute coward.

No kidding. Bellefeuille is middle of the road at best.

Flip side is why are their fans who hate Burke so much calling out his coaching ability yet treat Joe Mack with kid gloves? Saying that if we were more patient he'd have built a winner. There's absolutely no proof that would have ever happened. Why can't these fans be as critical of Mack as they are of Burke? This team doesn't have the talent & that was the responsibility of Joe Mack. A GM gets more patience because he's further from the direct result. His mistakes can take weeks, months or years to reveal themselves. A head coach is criticized immediately because his stupid decisions have a more immediate impact.

Hall is decent but he's not even close to approaching a level that makes me think we don't need to go after Collaros this offseason.

Jarvis Jones looked like a stud. You can tell which guy came from Arena ball and which guy was in NFL shape. Knapp will be alright but his NFL weight dragged him down as the game speed caught up with him.

Other than just my emotional frustration, I also have so many questions about his thought process. No faith in the offense so you have Edmonton kick off? Bad decision right there, give them as much time as possible and put them in the best possible spot to succeed. I just don't get how he can say that the BEST decision was to put Goltz on an even playing field in OT when he clearly had no faith in him. ******* idiot. How can the club expect fans to support a team when this supposed "leader" doesn't even try to win?

What a *****.