Mark H.

To which Putin responded "we're not in Ukraine."

If the Riders had lost tonight, they would be 9-9. They split the season series with B.C. and they won the point differential by 9 points. Am I missing something? Would they not have finished third even if they lost today? They lost to BC by 13 and won by four. They lost the point differential not won it. I really must stop crunching stats while drinking scotch...

If the Riders had lost tonight, they would be 9-9. They split the season series with B.C. and they won the point differential by 9 points. Am I missing something? Would they not have finished third even if they lost today?

It wasn't a forward pass.

If the Bombers had beaten BC there wouldn't be a crossover. Winnipeg and BC would both be 8 - 10 and out of the playoffs. There are 3 teams in the East with at least 8 wins right now.

He's taking his teaching degree at the U of M so he's nicely set for life after football. There is actually an oversupply of teaching candidates these days - many end up working in another field.

Tomorrow night should be interesting...the Pens have a lot of guys who can finish.

On the contrary, I think the skies the limit for Ghomeshi. He's a fantastic interviewer and I predict he will leave Canada and find a home stateside on satellite radio ala Howard Stern, another leper. When you work for the CBC and Chuck Adler will actually commend you - you're bloody good at what you do. History says your prediction is probably correct - which is unfortunate.

IMO, the '06 team was one of our most underrated teams.

Whatever it takes to get JFG on the field.

That's just stupid - oops - I can't tell you that because I'm mod.

Agreed. It's like the Argos going 11 - 1 with Bishop. Or better yet, the Riders trading Joseph after winning the Grey Cup.

I find (after watching for an entire season) that Etch's scheme puts players in more one on one tackling situations. When linebackers and even DB's are retreating from the LOS after the ball is snapped, the player who ends up being in a tackling situation is less likely to have help. Simply because his team mates have not had enough time time to read and react to the play. A more traditional alignment affords LB's and DB's more time to read the play and react to it. As the season wore on, we started noticing more missed tackles. IMO, that was because teams became more aware of how to exploit the scheme...not because the linebackers forgot how to tackle.

And he's had time to watch the film now... Hes known all along but you don't admit it to the media.. thats like cutting your arm and putting it in a piranha tank.. Thats why the obligatory "gotta watch the film" or "we played hard..." Etc etc.. Yes, yes...I was being a sarcastic Captain Obvious...if there is such a thing.

And he's had time to watch the film now...

The first Sask game is a good example too, everyone freaked out about the rushing yards but it was the turnovers that lost them the game. The Turnovers led directly to many times the points all those rushing yards did. There is a lot more to consider about rushing yards allowed than the overall stat. We have been hurt by being the worst against the run more time on the field for the defence and less time on the field for the offence, which leads to less points scored. More time for the defence translates to a defence which is more tired later in games and cost us at least a couple of games bad tackling and schemes on defence cost us touchdowns against. many times inability to stop the run put us behind, and hurt our own ability to call run plays. It's not so simple to say the run didn't hurt us. matter of fact what I read in the paper today was particulary troubling quote from MOS "We still gave up a bunch of rushing yards but we managed to win," said O’Shea. "And that maybe lends a bit more credence to the idea that rushing yards aren’t all they’re cracked up to be." Of course, it also doesn’t hurt if, while your opponent is rushing for 214 yards, they also turn the ball over six times. How MOS could not realize why we won and that giving up that many rushing yards is a REAL problem, game in and game out is beyond me, and really troubling. It has become clear that he won't say anything like that publicly...whether he realizes it or not.

'We will work harder'

The max protect schemes worked for Montreal because: a) They had a QB who could throw into tight coverage effectively The running game was effective enough to keep the D off balance I think focussing on the max protect idea is wrong.. the real concerning things to me would be the lack of moving the pocket, the lack of slide protections all that kind of thing. When you basically tell the OL to just catch the incoming rushers (which is the impression I get from the article) you're just making it harder on your OL and easier on the guys rushing the qb. Change it up, throw the D off balance. That seems like a big part of the problem with the offense lately to be honest, no one is fooled they know exactly what is coming. Was a problem with Bellefeuille in all his other stops too. He was very vanilla and it was predictable and easier to stop if the talent didn't just out skill their opponents. Well yes...I know they weren't running only max protect schemes...but it undoubtedly was their base offense.

Those comments should give O-Shea some cause for concern, at the very least.

The max protect schemes worked for Montreal because: a) They had a QB who could throw into tight coverage effectively The running game was effective enough to keep the D off balance

Chris Randle. If he'd played a full season - Ian Wild

Oh no, he can't do any of that; all he can do is orchestrate a scoring drive and throw a 27 yard TD on third down to win the game.

Someone said Willy's protection has been similar to Mitchell's this year. Sorry, but I just can't give a comment like that too much respect

Collaros had rough start to the season, Willy is not having a good finish. Both QBs are a victim of circumstances to a certain extent

Yes, but points of view can be expressed without throwing our developing franchise QB under the bus. Just look at Reilly with the Esks last year compared to this year.