TBURGESS

I don't think Cortez was a huge failure in Hamilton and I don't have any idea if he lost the room. He fixed the offence in his first season. I expected him to fix the defense in his second season, had he been given a chance to. Sure, he made some rookie HC mistakes. Simply throwing the challenge flag at the right times would have probably netted two more wins. I know a lot of folks don't like Cortez because he is a 'my way or the highway' kind of guy. I am too, so it doesn't bother me. It's very important for a Head Coach to be a leader, but that's way more than just being a motivator. The HC has to form the dream then get buy in from all the players or get rid of those who don't buy in. They also have to provide a plan and put the players in the best position to be successful. Benevides had been in BC for a while, had a vet team, had Wally and a seasoned management team behind him. Chamblin was surrounded by vet coordinators in Hall and Cortez. He had an experienced GM and Director of Player personnel above him and a vet team. Milanovich learned from Trestman and had a vet management team above him. He is the best example of a guy who was ready to take the next step to HC in the CFL, but getting Ricky Ray certainly made things a lot easier.

I was thinking about it this morning and I'd like to add Cortez to the HC list. He is one of the best offensive minds in the league and his rookie mistake filled HC gig is already behind him. He's probably a better choice than Jones because we need to fix the offense first and foremost. (FTR: Cortez is who I wanted when we chose PLAP) It surprises me how many people want to bring in rookie HC's like Dickenson, Chapdelaine or O'Shea. It's almost like they haven't been watching the Bombers or Hamilton or Edmonton for the last 5 years. IMO we will have a rookie CEO in Miller and a rookie GM in Walters. They need some experienced people around them and that starts at the HC spot. Mike... I like Parker and would like him to stay with the Bombers, but I doubt Ottawa will pick him due to his injury situation so I didn't see any need to protect him. I too had a hard time coming up with enough imports to protect on talent alone.

Off the top of my head... I'd get rid of the entire coaching staff day one, then knowing i'm not qualified to be GM, I call Higgins and offer him the job. He's the only guy I can think of who is available and has experience building / rebuilding a team. Plan B, John Murphy who hasn't been a GM but has 9 years AGM experience. I'd like to see: AGM/Director Of Player Personnel: Here is where I'd really like John Murphy, but I doubt he'd consider it as he is already the AGM/DirPP in Calgary so we probably have to split this into 2 jobs, so... AGM : Walters to give him the experience he needs. DirPP: Rick Worman, basically because he is Millers choice and you have to give the big boss something. I'd talk to Roy Shivers as a plan B. Yah, he's old, but he has a great eye for talent. I don't have the stomach to go through the growing pains of yet another newbie HC, so that lets Dickenson out for me. I'd call Doug Berry as plan A. He got us to the playoffs every year and doesn't use the rebuilding excuse. I'd call Chris Jones as plan B, but I'd be happy with either. The HC picks his own staff. Next thing on the list is to try and sign some of our 22 or is it 24 FA's. We've got to have some SMS money left so it's time to use it or lose it. Signing Muamba is job 1 and I'm happy to use a good sized chunk of our SMS room as a bonus, which I won't be able to do after midnight on Dec 31. I'll also try to get Kohlert, Parenteau, Sorensen, Stewart, Matthews, and Suber to sign in that order. Signing bonuses get smaller as each guy signs until all this years SMS bonus money is gone. I'd prepare totally differently than most around here for the Ottawa draft. I think they will try to fill their starting spots in the first NI round, so they will go with 1 center, 2 guards, 2 receivers, and at least 1 D lineman. It totally depends on who is available as to what else they can get, but they are only going to get 3 players from us, two of which which will be NI's so the damage won't be too bad. I'm protecting our starters over our backups, actual players over potential. I'm not protecting any player who's a Free Agent as I'll have to bid against Ottawa and every other team to re-sign them anyway. Assuming I can sign Muamba he is our best NI and #1 to be protected. Watson is our best NI receiver he's #2. Neufeld and Greaves are signed and expected to start, so they are #3 and #4. If I can sign Kohlert, he's #5. If I can sign Sorenson, he's #6 (Yup, I know lots of you hate Sorenson, but he is leaps and bounds better than any other center we have). Swiston and Pencer are pure futures players. I doubt Ottawa takes either. Jade is a future and unsigned. I can see them taking Labbe, Kito or Cauchy in round one. (I'd protect Labbe, then Cauchy, then Kito if Muamba|Kohlert|Sorenson won't sign). I have no idea who they will take in round two as we will have protected almost all the guys we want. (Add in Pencer, Swiston, Labbe/Kito, Thomas, C Muamba, Volny, Parenteau) Imports: January, Jones, Turner, Sears, Wild, Dunn, Washington, Denmark, Stewart and Matthews (If I can sign them) I'm expecting Ottawa to take one of Calgary's QB's, Hammy to sign and protect Burris, and Montreal to protect Smith. I do think that Collaros is the best available QB and that we should sign him, but we will have the only uncontested starting QB spot available, which puts us in the drivers seat. Therefore, I'd give up our 3rd rounder to get his rights before the draft as a plan B, but I wouldn't give up our 2nd overall pick because I don't think we need to. I'd offer Collaros a Reilly-esc contract or a bit more, because he has more game experience. I'd look at Willy and Neiswander (I think he'll be available in the off season for very little) to solidify our backup QB spot. I am definitely looking for upgrades across the board, even for the guys we protect. I want to see a TC where every position has viable competition and no one gets a free ride.

You totally contradicted yourself with those two sentences. First you say that Edmonton is one step ahead of us by firing Reed, then you say it's good that we are keeping Burke around for a few weeks. ????? I see your reading comprehension hasn't gotten any better. I'm not contradicting myself. First sentence talks about Edmonton always being one step ahead of us. Second sentence doesn't say anything about a few weeks. Exit interviews, probably happened on the weekend and the rest can be completed this week. Just for the record... I think Burke should be gone the minute he is no longer any use to us, and not a second before.

No surprise that Kavis as let go. No surprise that Edmonton did it before we get rid of Burke. They always seem to be one step ahead of us. Burke is the best guy to do the exit interviews, the player analysis and to create a baseline for the new HC. Getting Burke's input on who we protect and who we should go after in Free Agency is a good idea too. We don't have to go with his choices, but the more good football opinions the better IMHO.

Garrett produced because Regina's O line gave him a chance.

In a nutshell.... Some players and probably coaches have given up and aren't working hard enough anymore. The staff sees it and will get rid of them in the off season. Burke won't, and shouldn't IMHO, name them. Burke would be throwing them under the bus if he said something like "Jade, that jerk! Gave up in the middle of the season so we stopped playing him and will get rid of him in the off season.". (Note this is an example of the type of thing that could be called 'throwing someone under the bus', not a statement of fact) Lots of changes coming up this off season. Some of them will be because the players didn't work hard enough and gave up. It's just a fact in Bomberland.

I'll bet the Bombers are the only pro team of any kind, where a guy can go from a bad special teams coach to AGM to GM in less than a year.

It's been Walters job to lose since they gave it to him in the first place. He hasn't done anything to lose it, so he is the guy. Might as well make it official on Monday. Same goes for Miller.

The two things aren't connected. You might as well ask would you like a beautiful wife or orange juice for breakfast. BTW: The massive debt is a fact of life for the next 40 years.

Miles certainly earned an invite to next years TC.

I'd take Harris in a heartbeat. He is a good starting NI and we NEED better starting NI's. The fact that he is from Winnipeg would probably sell tickets and we need to sell tickets, especially after this season. The fact that he's had an off year, would help in contract negotiations, so he might not even be a huge cap hit. Even if he is, he'd be worth it IMHO.

Toronto's success is more than just Ray. They win with him and they win without him.

As soon as I read that article I thought.. What a bunch of bad choices followed by a bunch of bad reasons. Then I thought... The folks on the forums know more than Penton. Finally I thought... I should get a bowl of popcorn and see what the folks on the forums are saying. Turns out it wasn't as much as I thought it would be. Now I have half a bowl of popcorn left.

I expect AC has already played his last game. Montreal isn't going to protect AC. Ottawa won't take him anyway. Unless AC's brain is completely befuddled, he wouldn't go to Ottawa even if they drafted him because having an old, immobile, expensive QB behind what will be a patchwork O line is a recipe for disaster.

Smith is the real deal folks. One of the two best arms in the league. Doesn't look like a rookie, in his first start. Can run, but still looks down the field to make a throw. Is reading the defense pretty well for a vet, let alone a rook. The good news is that Smith should take Montreal out of the Collaros sweepstakes.

IMO: Ottawa will spend their NI draft picks on starting or closest to starting: 2 Guards, 1 Center, 2 Receivers, 1 DT/DE, 1 other NI starter, probably a safety. If there are 3 rotational DT/DE's available, they could take all of them to rotate over 2 spots. They took a Guard in last years 1st round of the 2013 draft and a DE in the second round, so their backups should be OK as long as they can sign them. For QB's, it's either Tate cuz they are guaranteed to get him or Colaros even know he is a free agent. Both would make some sense, but would mean one less 'vet' in another spot. They could also take Tate in the draft and make a good offer to Colaros / Glenn / Burris if they are still available in FA. There are a couple FA kickers available, so I don't see Ottawa using any draft picks on a kicker, even know they will get a lot of work in the first couple of years.

Congrats. You have just proven that Jade has slightly more yards per catch than the other players.

Exactly my feelings on every count. Couldn't have said it any better. Of course you would agree. Wouldn't expect anything different from the two of you. You're two are brothers from different mothers. It's tired and archaic thinking. The kid is going to be good. I hope it's with us. What on earth are you basing your opinion of Jade on? What makes you think he will be adequate, let alone good?

It's funny that you blame everyone but Jade. Of course fans blame players production or lack thereof on the player. Every receiver on our team is saddled with awful QB's and a brutal staff. Most if not all of them have done better than Jade. (Kito at least started right away, but he has been almost as bad since then) Lets call it the 'Stoddard Syndrome'. If you like a player then lack of production is everyone else's fault. You can't extrapolate a few decent games into a full season. It simply doesn't work that way. Jade had one great game, 2 average for a first round pick games and the rest of the time he hasn't been worth anything. In the meantime, he has been slurping up 1st round money and taking up an NI spot on the 46 for 3 years. You, 17 and others are pulling for Jade to finally show the potential that Mack said he had and are disagreeing with everyone who doesn't see it your way. You still want to win the 3 year old argument: 'was Jade a good pick at 4th overall?' even know it's pretty clear by now he wasn't. My take on Jade... He was a huge reach when he was picked. There were better choices on the board, especially at receiver, who had more experience and could contribute at least on special teams RFN. Nope, it wasn't his fault, but it does color the way fans see him. If Jade had been a 3rd round receiver, fans would see him as the project he still is and would have lowered their expectations for at least a couple of years. They would probably be calling for a replacement by now anyway. I was stoked when he had a couple of good games early in the season. I thought, probably wrongly, that he had turned the corner and we would finally see some return on our investment. Sadly, that hasn't happened. I'd be surprised if he is protected or taken in the Ottawa draft. I have no problem if the Bombers re-sign him, as long as it's not for 3 year NI starters money, because he hasn't earned that. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in Rider green next year as one of their development players.

I like that we got a young somewhat experienced NI O lineman and I don't care that we had to give up Hall for the rest of the year. I do think that giving up our 2nd round, the 11th overall pick, next year is overpaying for Neufield who the Riders would have probably lost for nothing to Ottawa. We need to upgrade our NI's and the top two rounds of the draft is where our NI future lies. I don't care about any 4th round picks as they truly are a crap shoot.

Play Hall for the rest of the season, then get a new QB. Nothing to be gained from bringing in a has been or never was just because they have some experience.

It looked like Sorenson on TV. No idea what was said but TE had to be held back.

I have no problem with Boltus getting the start in the second half. Hall had a bad first half. I have tons of problems with leaving Boltus in after his first two series. It was obvious by that time, that he just wasn't ready to play. He couldn't even fake a hand off successfully. We should have put Hall back in to get him more game reps. Iso.... your conspiracy theory doesn't make any sense. Burke pulled Hall because of the Int's. Once he made that decision, he wasn't going to go back on it so we got to see Boltus for the second half.

Pressure by the Stamps D caused the Hamilton mistakes, TBurg but that Fg hitting the uprights sure helped. Burris tried a stupid jump pass in FG range. That's all on him. All he had to do was eat the ball and they could have kicked the 3.