TBURGESS

It's funny that BLM, who everyone recognizes as being injured and having a bad season, still passed for more yards than Nichols did this year. Yet, folks around here think Nichols should be the MOP of the league. I absolutely expected the Stamps to win. What I didn't expect was that Buckley would look so bad or that he'd throw a 50+ yard pick 6 on his first throw. Serious question back... What do expectations have to do with the way the game unfolded?

For 1 quarter. How does their backup QB's playing like crap have any bearing on the outcome of the game? I can't believe you're actually trying to sell that. Maybe you should go back to one of my earlier posts so you can understand it better. Yes, the 1st turnover of the game set the tone and turned it in our favour. It put 7 points on the board. It made a backup QB starting his first game even more tentative. The 7 points turned out to be enough to win the whole freaking game. Without it, they most likely punt the ball, we get it in our end and we don't get 7, we likely don't score any points. Why do I say that... because we didn't drive the field or score any TD's in the entire game. Their defense held our offense to under 200 net yards, which not surprisingly is about the same as our defense held their offense to. We didn't outplay Calgary. we out-turnovered them, plain and simple. Why does it matter so much to you how we won? The main thing is that we did win.

The pick 6, which changed the game in our favour, wasn't a forced turnover. It was a bad, telegraphed throw by a newbie Canadian QB in his first start. I'll go as far as to say that if LeFevour's first throw was a 50+ yard pick 6, the game would have turned in their favour. The Wild hit/Oko TD was a great defensive play and a forced turnover. The first turnover on downs was a forced takeaway. The second turnover on downs was a poor decision IMO, should have kicked the FG. Both of Stanzi's picks were horrible QB play. Messam's fumble was forced as was Harris'. You want to give all the credit to the Bombers. Everyone who watched the game could see that Messam was slip sliding away. The D line had a great game, but they also had a lot of help because the backup QB's weren't making quick decisions. It's the difference of Willy or Nichols behind the same O line. One takes sacks. The other takes first downs. Cut out the pertinent part of my post then whine that I typed the same thing to you that you did to me? I wish I could say that I expected better from you but sadly not. What about those backup QB's telegraphing their throws and taking too long to make their decisions? That means nothing to you?

Caused by backup QB's telegraphing their throws and taking too long to make their decisions... Why is that so hard for you to admit?

It's actually read a bunch of positrons with blue goggles on, who can only see the good things that the Bombers do. Give them other side of the story. Wait for a bunch of whining and whinging about stuff I didn't say from the same folks who can only see the good things. They did. Net yards for both teams were under 200. Our offence produced 6 points. They produced 3 points and they went on 3rd down well within easy FG range and I'm not even including their TD that was called back. They took Singleton out by the end of the first quarter. Not surprisingly, I think that had something to do with Harris getting his 68 rushing yards. Messam was obviously having footing problems, which had at least something to do with his 30 yard rushing day. We won the battle in the trenches (Much, not all, of it due to bad QB play), but the game came down to one simple thing... turnovers. 17 points off of 7 turnovers.

Oh look! There it is again. I post, you post. Starting to get creepy bud.

When one team needs to win and the other team couldn't care less, the team that needs the win often wins, especially when they get up by more than a TD. Most folks can see that BC mailed it in, but can't see that Calgary did. Some are even saying that pro teams don't ever mail in a game. Can't take me seriously, but have to post something derogatory every single time I post.

Without a doubt, it was the Stamps giveaways, or our takeaways and special teams that beat the Stamps. Folks want to focus on how great our defence was and ignore how bad the Stamps offense was. BLM out was huge as it meant we could blitz at will and their backup QB's weren't going to pick it up. Add in the fact that their backup QB's were taking way to long to make their decisions and were telegraphing their throws and suddenly our defence looks great. Anyone think that BLM would have thrown the first pick 6 that set the tone for the game? Lefevour had a great completion percentage because he only threw the ball 10 yards and because our RB's/Receivers dug some low balls out of the dirt or snow. The fact that we were 10 points up in the 1st quarter meant that he didn't have to do any more than that, but lets not pretend that was a good offensive performance. Folks want the story to be how great we played to beat the stamps and ignore that teams with nothing to play for often mail it in, especially after they get down by more than a TD. Toronto showed everyone what it looks like when a good team plays a team that mails it in when they destroyed BC 40-13 and it could have been worse if they had better red zone production. We beat a disinterested team, in a snowstorm, against their backup QB's and others, when the offense didn't score a single TD and mistakes cost the Stamps at least 10 if not 17 points.

Translation: Yup, I make stuff up then complain about the stuff I made up. How dare you bring that up.

That depends on if the teams think that Calgary can get their mojo back. The Riders, Esks and Bombers have all beaten Calgary in the last 3 weeks, so they aren't the unbeatable team they were a month ago. No Nichols, Adams or Leggett and we might be easier to beat than either the Argos with Ray or the Redblacks with Harris.

It's always fun around here. When we lose, everyone sucks. When we win everyone was great. I didn't say that we didn't deserve to win or that the points scored by the defense don't count or that it's easy to kick a 52 yard FG in the cold or that there was some sort of 'but' that we won. I simply said that our offense only scored 6 points and their offense only scored 3 points and they would have scored 6 if they'd taken an easy FG instead of going for it on 3rd down and folks tripped all over themselves making up things I didn't say. Par for the course.

Didn't, not because we stopped them, but because our D put up 17 points. They would have if the score was close.

Our offense beat their offense 6 to 3 and they could have scored an additional FG instead of going for it on 3rd down.

Snow warning cancelled. A light snow is coming down/blowing around in the SW as I type. -11 C, just feels cold cuz it's the first time we've got cold this year.

I certainly wasn't happy how Davis performed last week, but then again, I wasn't happy how LeFevour performed either. In fact, I think that Davis out performed LeFevour. I'm guessing that the 'film' showed that LeFevour was making the right decisions with poor execution and Davis wasn't even making the right decisions. Can't fix the decision making process in 2 practices, so you go with the hope that LeFevour can execute better this week.

Does this mean that Trent Richardson's ankle injury is worse than first thought?

A month ago, you could make a very good argument for Nichols over Reilly. I don't think you can now. The higher completion percentage and the lower number of Int's is because of the number of short, uncontested passes that Nichols has thrown to RB's behind the LOS. It's what PLAP's offence is based on. Voters will go with the big plays and will mostly ignore the Int's because they know that Reilly got a bunch of them when he was pushing for wins late and trying to will the team to win on his own when he only had Zylstra to throw to.

Lefevour's got more CFL experience. Davis has more upside down the road. If MOS is valuing experience over upside, then I have to wonder if we've lost Nichols for the playoffs, otherwise it would make more sense to get Davis some much needed reps.

Just cuz LeFevour's starting doesn't mean he's finishing. I still expect to see Davis for at least part of the game.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the hit on Harris. He caught the ball and took a hit. That's a football play, just ask O'Shea if you don't believe me.

On the hot seat: Nope. 11 win seasons get you another year and we played better this year than last year, when we won a bunch of games by good luck, good calls and playing backup QB's. Injuries/Depth: Every team has injuries. Most teams had it worse than the Bombers this year. When you get injuries it's up to the GM/Scouts to provide decent replacements and the coaches to put them in the best positions to excel. Our results speak for themselves and it doesn't put the GM/Scouts or coaches in a good light. Defence: It's been a problem for a couple of years now. The offense and special teams have bailed our defence out time and time again. I can think of a couple of games this year that the defence won us a game, but that's just not good enough. I'd get rid of Hall and Hurl. PLAP: I'm guessing he'll be looked at for open HC jobs and it's as likely as not that he'll get one. As much as I didn't like his hire, he's been great at turning Nichols into a good starting QB and giving us a chance in most games. It's a bit of a worry that other teams have figured out our offence in the last month, tho. Trolls: This is a discussion forum. There have been some trolls who got their id's deleted, but the rest aren't actually trolls. Troll around here gets used for everyone who types anything negative or anyone who disagrees with certain poster's. Those aren't trolls.

Likely win... Should win... Sure. Must win, not even close. This game may or may not mean anything at all in the standings depending on if Edmonton can beat Calgary.

Before the season, Wally said it was his last season as HC. He's softened that in the last few weeks as he realized that he'll go out as a loser in his last season. I suspect that everyone involved assumed that the Lions would be sold this off season and therefore would want to go a different direction, but in the last couple of weeks Brailey said that the sale is being hung up because of pending lawsuits. IMO: No sale = Brailey stays = Wally stays

The Lions have only won 1 of their last 9 games and that one was against the Als. We just need to go out, play our game, win it and get our home playoff game.

I don't think Wally's coaching is the problem in BC. The O line is. Fix that one thing and they are in the playoffs again this year.