TBURGESS

Neuf > Gray right now. We have no idea if Gray can even start at the CFL level yet. He's just a high draft pick trying to make the team. FTR: I'm not a Neuf fan, but he did play well this year.

Jesus Christ.... any halfway competent QB would have done that with our team. All we ask of Nichols is to not give the ball away and to throw for 150+ freaking yards. IT'S NOT NICHOLS. IT'S THE REST OF THE TEAM! Sorry for yelling, but this is getting ridiculous.

Would the designated Mexican (What a stupid idea) have to be a starter or would teams just bring in one token Mexican for contractual obligations?

IIRC the AAF's contracts let players out if they get an NFL look, so the only downside to playing for a young guy is the possibility of getting hurt.

I'd take that level of 'failure' over what we've had to endure every single time.

Loffler is a difference making, all star, Canadian starter. He's going to get paid this year. Losing him means changing the ratio and I don't see us as having anyone in house who can take the starting spot. Bringing in another NI starter will also be expensive, especially an all-star variety. I certainly hope we re-sign Loffler, even if it costs a bunch-o-bucks.

Streveler got 4 starts this year, 3 due to injury. I can't see him getting that many next year. I'd ask you to read it again, but that's obviously a waste of time. I didn't say nothing would change if we fired MOS. It's funny that folks get so upset that everyone doesn't agree with them.

I'm surprised that Harris isn't the RB. Singleton over Bighill could be debated too.

MOS didn't do any of those things. I don't hate him, either. The only thing I hold against him is his lack of post season success. Note that's not the same thing as lack of a Grey Cup win or 28 years without a cup to our name. This years team was the first time in this regime that I thought we had the talent to be a Grey Cup contender on paper. Turned out we didn't, even though most things went our way. We went into the playoffs on a winning streak with an incredibly healthy team (Only 1 starter out), rested starters and we got to play a team who was missing their starting QB. Winning that game turned it into the most successful year of our current regime. Without that win, we'd have had a less successful year than last year. We'd be talking about less wins, no home playoff game, and another complete failure in the post season. I doubt MOS would have survived an o-fer in the playoffs after 5 years. Firing MOS doesn't equal going back to square one, no matter how many times fans say it does. The core of this team and the locker room character is Harris, the O line and the Canadian content. None of that changes if MOS were to be fired. I'd happily trade some of the character in the room for post season successes. Next years team will look quite different anyway. We'll lose some good players and pick up some good players. MOS doesn't change that, unless you believe that players are ONLY signing with Winnipeg because of MOS. I fully expect MOS to be back. I expect that he will get a contract extension. I expect Nichols will be our starting QB and Streveler won't get as much playing time as he got this year unless Nichols is hurt again. I expect to see guys who are on our PR at the end of this year make it onto the team next year. I expect guys who get cut in TC being brought back later in the year. I expect the fans to talk about bringing in this or that player to help down the stretch. I expect to hear about how we like the players we have. I expect to have this argument again next year.

You don't consider 2-5 as the start of the free fall? 🤣 I wouldn't have fired Richie when we did. His successes both in season and in the playoffs out weighed his failures. The same can't be said for MOS.

You keep comparing MOS to Richie so lets 'go there'. Richie's first 5 years... 1 3rd, 2 seconds and a 1st. Made the playoffs 4 out of 5 years. 7 playoff games. Lost 4. 1st playoff win in year 2. One Grey Cup appearance. MOS's first 5 years... 2 3rds, 1 2nd, 0 1st. Made the playoffs 3 out of 5 years. 4 Playoff games. Lost 3. First playoff win in year 5. Zero Grey Cup appearances. Richie got a 6th year. His 2-5 start and being fired doesn't help your patience argument.

This regime has been in place for 5 years. They own the record, just ask MOS. Fans in Bomberland are so happy with MOS that they ignore how many years he's been a HC and pump up the in season wins, that got us 2nd once, 3rd twice and one playoff win. They say that changing poorly performing HC's hasn't got us a Grey Cup in 28 years and ignore the fact that keeping HC's for 5 or more years hasn't brought us one either. Is MOS the coach to take us from poor to competitive? Absolutely. Is he the coach to take us the next step to being a Grey Cup contender? Maybe, but how long will it take at the current rate of improvement? 5 years for a playoff win. 6? for a Grey Cup berth. 7? for a win. More? Less?

I don't think we made a big push for Matthews. I think that the 'we're happy with the guys we've got' is what management actually believes, not just what they say to the media.

I guess you just don't like successful teams.

When we were a bad team, it was hard to sign FA's, because we were a bad team. We had to 'overpay' to get good players, much like Montreal has to nowadays. Now that we're competitive we attract FA's. Walters opens his cheque book for FA's in part because our scouting isn't that good and in part because it's the fastest way to go from bad to competitive, which is where we are now. In any case, culture only takes you so far. In our case that equals 1 playoff win in 5 years. Not winning a cup, isn't what I'm talking about. We haven't even made it to the cup because we haven't been good enough to even win a single playoff game until this year. I'd trade Calgary's record for ours every single year of the current regime. Losing the Grey Cup or the Western final is better than anything this regime has ever done. Success isn't measured in Stats. It's measured in wins, playoff wins and championships. This regime gets one out of three on that scale. 4th overall this year is middle of the pack no matter how you want to spin it.

We were able to complete balls in the last 3 minutes because they were up by 10 and were playing prevent.

Calgary beat us once in those three years, so no, that's not the problem. The only folks who are talking about 28 years are those who are preaching patience. That's where the stupidity lies.

What if I told you that Calgary went to the Grey Cup every year in the past 3 and we only won 1 playoff game? No one is suggesting blowing it up.

BLM had 3 TD drives. Nichols zero.

No, I watched the game on TV. It seemed to me, that Nichols was vacating the pocket early to the short side of the field, thereby eliminating at least half of the field. Calgary did a good to great job of taking Harris away in the flats, forcing Nichols to throw deep, which he isn't great at or running the ball, which he isn't great at. Nichols chose to throw out of bounds rather than throw up a 50-50 ball. Put Streveler in that situation and he'll make a few more first downs with his legs. As Nichols only threw for about 80 yards before 3:30 was left in the game, it didn't matter if Nichols is the better passer.

Yes, we beat the Lions on turnovers and Nichols had a whole 160 yards passing. In fact, the Lions won the next week when Nichols managed 214 yards but gave up 3 Int's. Booch... Keep pounding on those 28 years like you're making some point. I don't blame all 28 years on this regime. Never have. Never will. I've only blamed this regime for their 5 years and counting. You can't know that healthy Nichols would have won more games then Streveler. Nichols injury might have cost us a game or two, it might have been a blessing in disguise, and It might not have cost us anything. The tear it all down won't work argument, when no one is suggesting tearing it all down. No one is even saying that we're not in a better place now than when this regime took over. You can keep a foundation in place even if you change out the coaching staff. I'd argue that some coaches are good at turning poor teams into competitive teams, but sometimes can't get the team over the hump from competitive to the Grey Cup. The comparison to Calgary, the best team in the league who, won 13 or more games, came in 1st in the division, and made the Grey Cup every year under Dickenson is absolutely ridiculous. FTR: Calgary would have fired MOS after his second year for missing the playoffs twice. MOS is 45-45 with the Bombers and it's good enough for most around here and for managment. I doubt he'd have lasted 5 years on many teams in the league. Are you trying to argue that effort, culture, players wanting to be here, and an exciting team (Which I'd argue we aren't) is more important than getting to and winning Grey Cups? That's exactly why I say that folks are OK with the team we have.

You're trying to move the argument away from 'most fans and management are just happy with a playoff game and a playoff win every now and then' because you know it's true. It's not about the first 3 games. Streveler went 1-2 . Should have started the next game or two, cuz Nichols was obviously not ready yet. Coaching mistake IMO.

A bunch of excuses then a dumb question, that I'll answer just cuz you asked... Most folks around here want this regime to get more years because they took us from doormats to competitive. Just look at this thread if you want some examples. They, like you, make excuses for the losses and point to all the coulda shoulda woulda moments in games that caused us to lose and don't want to even hear about the other teams coulda woulda shoulda moments especially when we win. Management knows that if they just make the playoffs and maybe win a playoff game or two, then most fans will be satisfied. Keep everyone. We'll be better next year cuz consistency and patience will eventually get us there. 5 years so far and we've got a playoff win.

PLAP created one of the highest scoring teams in the league despite having to use a rookie QB for 4 games, an average QB for the rest, below average receivers and 6 starting Canadians. I expect he will be in the running for a HC job this year. Harris is the guy who makes our offense work. Stop him and force Nichols to win games is the other teams recipe for success. Most teams can't do it, but Calgary did. Nichols needed to take some chances. He needed to trust his O line to give him time, stand in and deliver. Take a few hits if he had to. Instead, he rolled out and threw to the 3rd row or ran for a couple of yards over and over and over.

We won less games this year than we did last year, even tho we had a better team on paper. We didn't get a home playoff game. We were 4th overall and 3rd in the West. We played our best games during the stretch run, which hasn't happened for years. We had one of, if not the, healthiest team going into the play offs. I'd guess, without checking, that we had the least number of man games lost to injury during the season. We beat a Riders team who were forced to play their backup QB by 5 points in the semi and that backup QB missed 4 open receivers who were behind our defense. We lost to a Stamps team with 4 injured starting receivers. The progress has been painfully slow. It took 5 years to get a single playoff win, but that win saved MOS's job. Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans and management are happy with being a middle of the pack team that wins enough games to make it to the playoffs and who sometimes even wins a playoff game.