Mike
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Posts posted by Mike
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Just now, Geebrr said:
Cole has never really jumped off the page to me.
Same.
I wonder how many neg-list guys are getting scooped up by the XFL/USFL. I know we’ve been hit hard by it. Donald Payne, Terrell Bonds, John Daka are all names we’ve released on that neg-list reveal that are now in the XFL.
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1 minute ago, Geebrr said:
I can see the argument for McManis. But, like you mentioned, he isn’t an MLB. We do lack depth at LB I’d agree, but to say injuries (Bighill and Wilson’s) weren’t a valid reason is unfair. Wilson is a really good linebacker and him and Bighill probably do play interchangeably- Wilson is covering the deep third like Bighill does, and I don’t see any of the other guys you mentioned doing that either.
I get the concern, he did miss some plays, one was arguably the most important one of the year (the Kelly scramble). People wanted to dump him after 2019 too and he won the DMOP the next year.
You can call me an apologist, but he gets guys in the spots they are supposed to be better than anyone, and when he is healthy and not worrying about a SAM struggling in coverage and a WIL who isn’t elite getting to the sidelines, I think he will be better.
No argument about the validity of injuries, I’m just saying they’re both starting to develop a history of missing too many games and/or being too beat up at the end of the year, so if we don’t have a well thought out plan B going into this season, it’s really our own fault.
- rebusrankin, Jesse, JohnnyAbonny and 1 other
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1 hour ago, blue_gold_84 said:
Who's responsible for contract particulars, then?
The general consensus you’ll hear is that the hold up is the majority of lower level players don’t want their salaries published.
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59 minutes ago, Geebrr said:
Still waiting to hear which MLB is actually better than Bighill in this league.
Most teams have their 2 non-SAM linebackers playing essentially interchangeably these days, so I’ll just use that criteria and say I’d rather have McManus, either Williams (Avery or Jordan), Thurman or Judge over Bighill at this point in time. Feels to me like we’re stuck in the same time warp that makes Hamilton fans think Simoni Lawrence is still good.
What I’d really like to see is if we can scout a young one to come in and replace either Kyrie or Bighill. If we have to use the same excuses of “they’re just covering up for injuries” this year when we’re going to trot out the same guys who we’ve been having that problem with for two years, we’re really doing it to ourselves at this point.
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1 minute ago, blue_gold_84 said:
Operating a professional sports league with financial transparency and accountability...?
CFL HQ:
Has nothing to do with the league though
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8 minutes ago, GCn20 said:
Not me. I will probably get raked over the coals for this but I think Jeffcoat is a guy we should have moved on from. He just is in the tub way too much.
I would hope it is more than that because last year Jeffcoat was 180k, and he most certainly should not have gotten a raise.
I don’t mind bringing Jeffcoat back, but we obviously need a third (and probably fourth) DE that can rotate in.
The only known guy left that interests me is Shane Ray but obviously he’s pretty injury prone himself and for some reason, I get the sense he’s XFL or USFL bound anyways- GCn20 and rebusrankin
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22 minutes ago, camper_2 said:
Hear you wbbfan, but think some of that money is being left aside for this years draft class.
doesn't really work that way though, you're still trying to create competition for camp. If you sign a guy and he's beat out by a drafted player, off he goes. It's not like these bottom half of the roster types are leveraging bonuses.
- rebusrankin and wbbfan
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Serious question: who takes Jeffcoat over Orimolade this year?
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I’d love to have Bailey, I just don’t know where you play him if you’re putting Demski, Schoen and Lawler in the slot (which they should be)
- Noeller, BBlink and rebusrankin
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16 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:
Who is coming off major surgery? And Jeffcoat is injury prone sure...but other than that...?
Referring to last year when we made the mistake of prioritizing Maston over Darby and then pairing him with Kyrie to surround Bighill.
Love me some Kyrie … really really underrated and fantastic player … but the guy is a bandaid. He’s played like 33% of our games in the past two years.
- TBURGESS, Jesse and Bigblue204
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Just now, 17to85 said:
It's easy to look a step slow when you have to cover for everyone. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt at this point simply because he did improve later in the year when some other areas started to get solidified. I don't know he has a long time left, but for now I give him the benefit of the doubt.
If only we had not committed ourselves to surrounding our struggling, aging MLB with players who are very injury prone or coming off major surgeries.
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1 minute ago, 17to85 said:
You are too critical of him. Yeah he ain't what he once was, but he is still pretty good. We had a shitn load of problems on D last year.
“he’s pretty good” isn’t exactly what I’m going for when we’re talking about the highest paid player in his position, but I wouldn’t even agree with that assessment, personally.
He was a step behind a ton of plays and as it was happening, everyone chalked it up to “well he’s just covering for other people so they’re using him differently” and to me, he just looked slow and a step behind. He was probably the most constant offender on our entire D when it came to whiffed arm tackles. He averaged 4 tackles a game and didn’t really contribute a whole lot else, which is not what I’m looking for from a top level MLB. Yes, I get he can drop back in coverage and give different looks, but so can a guy who can fly around a bit more and have a little more impact on the field. Part of me wonders if O’Shea sees a reflection of himself in Bighill, the decline in overall play has been very similar to what O’Shea saw when his time was coming to an end.
4 minutes ago, Stickem said:I hope Biggie has one helluva year to prove Mike wrong......Those words can come back to haunt
If you’re looking to set me up for an I told you so, you’ll be looking for a long time. I hope Bighill has an absolutely massive season for us. Why would I want anything less?
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1 minute ago, Jesse said:
Bighill is the highest paid American LB in the league and is not what he once was.
Genuinely one of the worst contracts in the CFL, in my opinion.
Statistically one of the worst middle linebackers in the CFL and he’s the highest paid American LB? If we’re in the Grey Cup this year, he’ll be 35 at kickoff, has developed a recent trend of being too hurt by the end of the season to be effective when it matters and is visibly slower every single year, but we treat him around here like he’s 28 year old MOP candidate Bighill because FIFO, “he’s covering for other people” and because he’s a SAV4GE. I know Bighill has intangibles and leadership that bring value to the room, but the blind love for his play over the past few years has me really puzzled. He’s not good.
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21 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:
The 15-3 Bombers who added the best receiver in the game aren’t the best team on paper? I mean fair enough @Mikeplease educate us on who you think the best team on “paper” is it the Toronto Argonauts who don’t have a starting QB currently?
I really like Toronto’s roster construction a lot. If MBT is back, I feel like they have a shot to do big things again and I feel like we could see a Grey Cup rematch, although that could depend on Bo and his arm in Hamilton.
Our offense is clearly head and shoulders above Toronto’s (and anyone else’s) but their D was better than ours (imo) last year and you can definitely argue they’ll be even better this year … going from McManis/Henoc/Edwards to McManis/Williams/Pickett is huge, they’ve got a lot of good solid bodies in the secondary … especially if Carnell is as legit as he looked in limited action last year … and a similar ability as our front office to find new ones, plus I really do think between both DL, the most impactful player is Shawn Oakman and we don’t, as of right now, have anyone comparable. Willie and Jeffcoat are still impact players but in my opinion, they need someone around them to take the pressure off, they were often one step late last year and if it’s not age, then it’s likely a lack of support and rotation. I’m not saying we don’t have a very good defence, but on a straight up talent level taking anything and everything else out of the equation, I genuinely would trade our best DL and LB (let’s call it Willie and Kyrie) for theirs (Oakman and McManis) and not really think twice about it. Depth is a different discussion, but I also don’t love how we trot out Gauthier, Briggs, Maruo and Jake Thomas so frequently. Our D depth has taken a big hit over the last year or so everywhere but in the secondary, there’s no Kongbo or Rutledge as of today to fill those rotational reps that we may need to depend on this year.
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2 minutes ago, Jesse said:
Guys that teams would normally be able to get at a value because there were no other options.
I’m wondering if Bailey ends up being a guy who comes back here just because it’s that or the XFL/USFL for him. Seems like he may get caught in a situation where other teams don’t want to pay for the intangibles we appreciate from him.
- blue_gold_84, blue85gold and Noeller
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25 minutes ago, Stickem said:
Of course he was going to get taunted making comments like that....Would you just sit there and take it and not respond.....This isn't a 'turn the other cheek' sport
Just to make sure … you know you’re not on the team, right?
- JohnnyAbonny, bluto and blue_gold_84
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17 minutes ago, Stickem said:
I think AFTER all of those bloody years of being in a Cup drought and finally gaining some respect in this league , I don't get the peeing on Bomber fans who want to flaunt our talented team and it's winning ways....For cripes sake Mike...cut the fans a break who want to wallow a bit in our recent success....Playing the arrogant card and comparing us to that green team next door is unbelievable....Sure guys can get over the top....especially when somebody comes on OUR board and starts insulting us....but we are in no way like those yokels....Remember ...success is fleeting ...we are in an up time with this club...enjoy it and if some of the guys on here get a little over the top....find a way to cut them some slack......
“It’s different because it’s me, not them”
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8 minutes ago, Bubba Zanetti said:
I think youre underestimating the whole FIFO thing Mike. Its really been the catalyst for our turnaround. Its established a group of team first players that value winning more than individual stats. A bunch of guys who truly love each-other and would go headfirst into a wall for their teammate and coach. You dont think these players feel a privilege/pride to play on this team? We know for a fact a lot of these guys could have gotten more money elsewhere, and you can be damn sure there are players across the league on other teams that would love to be a part of what weve got going on. Im glad we dont bring in me first headcase locker room cancer Rider type players that worry about their numbers and getting paid first. And your declaration yesterday that we are not the class of the league on paper anymore is just garbage. Best QB, best group of receivers, best o-line, best book-ends, best running back, etc. Even one year older we are still the class of the league and its not even close.
I’m not underestimating it, I’m just saying it’s weird that some people here apply it as a blanket to every talking point possible.
I think we’re a top two team and I don’t really think it’s close. I don’t agree with the suggestion that we’re clearly the best team on paper. I think there’s certainly an argument, but I have a lot of concern about our linebackers (old, injury prone, recent history of falling off at the end of the season), our DL (we’re managing snap counts on our two impact guys there and nobody else on our roster has shown any ability to help carry the weight), our OL (hasn’t really been AS good as it’s historically been, but truly this concern is more of a “are they going to hit the age wall?”) and our kicking game.
I think there’s an argument to be made for Toronto, because they play a very similar style of football to what we played when we used to have Matt Nichols. Athleticism to create big plays on defense, enough game management to overcome a lack of overall talent at the QB spot. Call it a fluke all you want, if that D doesn’t drop a few easy picks in the GC, they beat our brakes off and run us out of the building early. I’d definitely trade their LB and DL for ours in a talent-only vacuum. I’m just hoping (confidently) that our front office can find us some impact guys on D that can provide a bit of youth to that side of the ball, but as of right now, the age stuff makes me hesitant to say we’re easily the best team in the league on paper. Best offense? Absolutely. But I think Toronto has the best D and they’ve added there the same way we have on O.
1 minute ago, HardCoreBlue said:And to break that down further, identifying areas where the Argos play was the reason we played crappy and identifying areas where it had nothing to do with the Argos play, it was purely self-inflicted.
You can point to that mind boggling Prukop call all you want as self-inflicted harm, but the gift wrapped interceptions the Argos dropped were just as much of a fluke on their side, imo
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7 hours ago, Brandon said:
For Mike to suggest that the Blue are old and decrepit and that we sucked majorly and were a crap team and all is the end of the world is equally ridiculous, someone peed in his corn flakes and he's just mad for whatever reason.
Is that really what I said? Because I don’t think that’s really what I said.
This is the exact kind of dumb **** I’m talking about. For some reason, a handful of people here have started to drink this weird kool-aid that the Bombers can do no wrong. Any loss is a fluke. Any Bomber is better than literally any other football player. Any guy we don’t want isn’t “FIFO” enough. Any guy we do want has a high enough FIFO score for us to allow him the highly esteemed privilege of wearing our team colours. Any critical thought directed at the front office or players is grounds for being publicly berated.
The part I don’t like about it is not that we’re winning or that we’re become a confident fanbase with high expectations. That part is awesome and I’m glad we’re all getting to experience it, especially knowing what we all have gone through in those dark years. The part I don’t like is that the way some of you are acting about it now is literally textbook Rider fan behaviour and it’s gross. This is the stuff that made everyone hate them. Not because they were good for a brief period of time, but because they were oblivious, borderline delusional weirdos about it.
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9 hours ago, Jesse said:
I like having posters from other teams. I don't get why some of you get so butt hurt over it. Other teams have good players/seasons. It's ok to acknowledge it. DOesn't take anything away from our team.
Amen to this lol this golden age of Bomber football has created some weird complexes up in here
- rebusrankin, blue_gold_84, CodyT and 7 others
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32 minutes ago, WBBFanWest said:
Ya, ok. A 15-3 team signs a bunch of the very people that made it a 15-3 team and that's a bad thing. A team that beat itself in the Grey Cup is now somehow worse than a 11-7 team that fluked out a GC win. Thanks for your opinion...
The crazy thing is suggesting they fluked out a GC win
Does that mean we fluked out the win in 2021?
They beat us and we’re a year older in a sport where older isn’t always better. That’s a legit concern. Maybe it’s unwarranted and they’ll have another amazing season, I hope that ends up being the case. But for now, it’s a concern for me.
- WBBFanWest and Bubba Zanetti
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24 minutes ago, GCn20 said:
Baloney. Hitting the bong a little too hard today Mike?
Baloney why?
The only thing we've done this offseason is add someone we subtracted a year ago and then lost a whole bunch of other players (none of which I'm too torn up about) but it's not as if there's been an overall improvement to this roster. We're not better than we were when we won our last Grey Cup, but we're a whole lot older.
Bryant and Jeffcoat can barely practice, Bighill falls off a cliff in October ... we're going to have to get younger in a few spots for sure and I have no doubt that our front office can scout some difference makers, I just don't like the approach that we've taken of essentially just hoping and praying that our older guys keep it together for one more year. Somebody posted up above that they think we have a better DL than Toronto, which is laughable to me. Their entire defence as a whole is stronger than ours and it starts right up front. Willie and Jeffcoat are still impact players but if the answer to take some of the pressure off them is to trot out Jake Thomas and Ricky Walker up the middle, we're in trouble. Bighill/Darby/Kyrie doesn't strike me as a unit that can play 18 games or more.
Do I think we're a contender? Absolutely. Top two team in the CFL and it's not particularly close at this point but I don't think we're #1. And people can talk about the difference in QB talent all they want, it's valid and certainly evident but let's not forget - Collaros has been pretty bad in November each of the last two seasons. He's the MOP that has brought us to the show but he certainly hasn't been a game changer when we get there. What's he at in the last two West Finals / Grey Cups? 4 TD / 7 INT? Something like that? It hasn't been great.
Mark me down as optimistic yet slightly worried.
3 minutes ago, Geebrr said:Outside of LB are they that talented on defence? No
Yes.
- JohnnyAbonny and Noeller
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2022/2023 Off-Season (League/Non-Bombers-specific News)
in Blue Bomber Discussion
Posted
I’d be shocked if Hamilton traded us Bennett.
I’d also be shocked if we didn’t heavily consider the idea of trying to trade for him or someone like him. They’ve made it pretty clear that this year is *the* year for us, our first round draft pick probably isn’t going to contribute at the level a third year Canadian can. Sure, you can try and sign him next offseason but we want to win now.
I’d offer up our first rounder without hesitation. I think it’d take more