JuranBoldenRules

IMO the new illegal contact rule has had minimal impact in the actual game. They aren't all that strict with it, and pass interference is still wildly inconsistent in how it is being applied. Biggest impact has been the shift to zone defense in preparation for the perceived change.

Thinking about the Toronto-Saskatchewan game, would you have liked to see it end, after Toronto drove the entire field to score a major, on a missed 1 point convert? I wouldn't and that's why I really dislike the new convert. Kicking is already a HUGE part of the Canadian game without adding to the difficulty of the convert. I also think moving the 2 pt convert to the 3 just devalues points, and I'm not sure why teams aren't going for 2 more. The Bombers are a good example. That triple option with Marve, Cotton, Marshall that they run on short yardage would probably be about 80% on 2 pt converts over the long haul. I'd rather they force teams to go for 2 from the 5 than any other change they've made, but personally I'd just leave it how it always was and let the players decide the games, not the kickers.

They just did it in Regina. Regina wasn't brining the house every other play like the Cats They were sending 5 or 6 on most passing downs, and they have probably the best pass rushing end and tackle in the league. Hamilton didn't send much more than that, the Bombers just had the wrong gameplan. The Bombers handled it in Regina by using the backs just beyond the rush in the passing game and hitting hot routes with max protect on. Took way too long vs Hamilton to get into max protect even as it became obvious that just leaving 5 in to block was not allowing Willy to even get his eyes downfield. Ended with Willy out of the game. Greaves chasing guys and leaving his inside gap wide open did not help, along with Picard being unable to take on anybody when he gets isolated by a blitz or stunt.

Good news on Twitter right now. Mike Ritchott is coming back to town to play for the Rifles from the VI Raiders. Andrew Harris, Nic Demski potential there. Most dominant WHSFL running back since Demski for sure. Hell of a rugby player too for Grant Park. Bombers can use a territorial exemption on him if he doesn't end up in CIS. Had two 100+ yard kick return TD's in the same BCFC game last season as an 18 year old. Over 9 yards per carry last season. Would be nice to see the Bombers develop him as BC did Harris. Bring him in for training camp, keep him on the PR, have him practice with the Bombers while he plays his last couple years of junior. Pretty easy since they are in the same stadium.

They've already traded away their 2nd and 3rd round picks. Is there a 33 year old NI who hasn't played well in 2-3 years that Taman can trade the 1st for?

They just did it in Regina.

Who said that? It's a moot point anyway if they don't start apply the UR penalties in-game correctly. Saw another bad one today at the end of the game. Macho Harris ends up on Trevor Harris and pushes down on his head with all of his weight against the ground, gets up and head butts Whitaker when the Argos called him out on it. The "shoulda called it's" should be incredibly embarrassing to the league (particularly when a QB is lying on the field unconscious) and lead to a change in officiating. Guys like Bradbury need to get with it or go work high school football along with the high school basketball he already works.

Cuthbert losing it. Macho Harris should be tossed. Just headbutted Whitaker after he took a late shot on Harris way after the whistle. Player safety?

Not a catch. The ball is clearly laying underneath his midsection on the turf.

Ya, to be honest if a guy is at least making a play for the ball I'd always be fine with the PI being a 10 yard penalty and first down. It's the ones like the PI's O'Shea had to challenge vs Hamilton where the guy doesn't even know where the ball is and is just trailing the receiver and then stopping him from working to the ball that should be spot fouls. Could go to "intentional" (not playing the ball) and "unintentional" (at least making an attempt on the ball) PI.

Contact was about half a second early. At least the DB was going for the ball. Could have gone either way, the 10 yard call was fair.

Brackenridge really blew it there. Covering grass. That's the problem with playing so much zone, guys get passive and forget to actually play the ball.

The Lobendahn play literally occurred in a different era, if the league is serious about protecting players (and they now have to be) they can not let this incident slide by unacknowledged. They either have to take some form of token action against the player involved or at least acknowledge publicly that there should have been a penalty called on the Willy hit. To do nothing sends the wrong message. Yep, a QB in the pocket is extremely vulnerable and very easy to lay a cheap shot on, which is why there's a strikezone in terms of where they can be hit. Bradbury should be in crap too for not blowing the whistle when the QB is in the grasp. That is something that is overlooked with player safety IMO, with QB's and anyone carrying the ball. Blow the damn whistle when forward progress is stopped. The Lobendahn hit on Lemon was in a different era and different AREA as Lemon was out of the pocket, completely different circumstance. Lemon declared late in terms of a hook slide while running outside the pocket and Lobendahn was already fully broken down to form tackle him.

Wonder how long Messam can take this workload. He runs so upright that he takes a lot of shots in the knee/lower leg without his knees being bent to give him shock absorption against those hits.

They've struggled with receivers, linebackers and rush ends for 2 years now. Done relatively well at DB, running back, kick returner and import OL. IMO, they aren't very patient in terms of keeping a guy around for a bit on the PR and letting him develop. That has contributed to the struggles with import receivers and probably linebacker. Bass has been a disaster through two games at WIL, just real bad fundamentals in terms of staying on the right side of the ball to limit gains. Say Denmark goes down, and he didn't look right vs Hamilton after ending the game with a rough fall on the ball in Regina, who's in his place? Jhomo Gordon? The guy who couldn't get on the same page with any QB in either pre-season game? Raw talent there, but I'd like to see someone who could play well with little drop-off from the regular guy in the next game if we have an injury. Rush ends should be easy to find, even if they are lacking in other areas, like against the run. You need a few guys who can just get after the QB in this league. IMO Gibson is one, but they need to turn him loose and get him on the field more. Average overall. Not awful because they are unearthing some very good imports (Cotton, Marshall, Leggett, J Adams, Marve, Stoudermire, Veltung, Davis), but struggling to find good guys at spots like WIL and rush end. I appreciate the move to acquire Davis and get rid of Portis after the pre-season. Portis has basically no upside as a passer, good to have a couple developmental guys with upside.

I agree they have been very soft and inconsistent on the player safety issue, despite having it pretty clearly spelled out in the rules. Don't really see any relation to the objectionable conduct penalties though.

Just like in the Brohm thread how people label them as haters? Unless people fart rainbows they hatin' It's a football board. Becomes pretty crappy when it's a soap opera between posters and basically no football. Being critical and having opinions is the point, but it would be nice if we could stick to football and avoid the soap opera garbage, like labeling and trying very hard to play the role to get the label/reaction, for example.

See, thats the thing. You know it's a penalty so you shouldn't go ahead and do it. It's like going 20 KM over the speed limit then getting shocked you got a speeding ticket. While I agree with you in theory, there's no reason to throw the flag either. Talking or miming doesn't really amount to much and it's certainly not going to protect the players. A bench penalty for yapping almost cost Calgary a win in week 1. Dumb thing to do... sure, but it should never be a game changer. BLM got a penalty for calling for a penalty that was called a penalty. Changed the ball placement from the 1 to the 10(?) which could have changed the outcome. Well, they've declared zero tolerance on certain actions and words. They'd look awfully stupid if they didn't enforce it, about as stupid as the guys still performing/saying the things that they've been told (second season for some of these things) there's zero tolerance on. Coaches need to exert some control on their players and sidelines too.

Here's to hoping this place doesn't dip like OurBombers and become filled with crappy threads like this and very little football talk. Trend is not positive in that regard.

Everyone is playing zone so far this year in their base defense. It's pretty much impossible to play the man/match coverages when you can't run receivers into "checkpoints" downfield and toss them off their routes without it being called a penalty. The Bombers problem is in their front.

My point is you cannot expect that on a regular basis especially with all the penalties being called on passing plays (not necessarily pass interference by the way) which artificially decreases the number of real passing plays in a game. Also, as I stated in my previous quote, you will only see a 50-50 split if the opposing defense and coordinator are incapable or incompetent in stopping the run. This was the case with Saskatchewan last week. So when the Bombers have a 60-40 or 65-35 split in favor of the passing game for the majority of their games this season, don't start crying about them not running enough. A team normally cannot run on first down every time as it's entirely to predictable nor can they run on second and long as it's a low percentage play for a first down. This necessitates a stronger emphasis on the passing game. Add in the fact that we have a QB who is one of the weakest scramblers in the league and you should probably not expect to see more than 20 - 22 runs in a game. It does make a difference if your leading rusher is averaging 7-8 yds. per carry. He won't if you run every first down.

The way Cato played is the way I'd like to see Marve play, really the way a "mobile" QB needs to play. Get on the move when you can, but be composed in the pocket and make throws from the pocket when you need to. Cato could zip the ball around the field from the pocket because his lower body was not busy, his feet were set and toward his target most of the time. This is the biggest problem Marve still had in the pre-season, causing inaccurate throws. Still a lot of luck for Cato in that game IMO, and who knows if he can keep that up as teams force him to sit in the pocket, an experience guy like Collaros struggles when teams do that effectively to him. Too early to move Cato out of the Rocky Butler category.

Teach the receivers, linemen and blitzers how to stay onside and you'll cut that number by 1/3. If anything the officials are being lenient on IC/PI and UR calls to this point. I haven't watched every CFL game attentively, but I've only seen this called 3 times myself. Also haven't seen the illegal contact called more than it has been in the past other than on Saskatchewan in our first game.

If you're leading with your head it isn't a form tackle. If he wrapped up around his head, I'd hate to see it called, but he led with his helmet and that needs to be penalized (both to discourage idiots from leading with their helmets for their own protection and for the players they are hitting with their helmets) and probably answered on the Bombers end. Just a quick question, and I ask this because when I look at an A&P book the head is normally at the top of the body: If you are aiming to hit your opponent in the midsection/hips area and you are running at full speed, how can you not lead with your head? Your body isn't static heading into a tackle. Google form tackling. A tackle is a stick and a wrap, not launching your helmet into somebody. Upper body should make first contact and the rest follows through with the arms wrapping. Head should be back and turned. Obviously there will be contact with helmets but it shouldn't be the first and/or only point of contact. It's probably more dangerous for the tackler who launches head first, see Shea Emry and the scrambled eggs he has in his cranium. Interesting. Thanks for that info. On a related note, I just watched the replay in stop action and it appears to me that the Hamilton player does not leave his feet until contact. So I think that saying "he launched himself" is a bit inaccurate. It really does appear that this was simply a matter of two players moving in just the right directions and at just the right moment that their heads collided. I get that people are ticked, but I really can't fault the TigerCat. Just plain old bad luck. Lord knows, we should be good at dealing with that. If you're leading with your helmet and leaving your feet at any point in the hit you're launching yourself into someone and using your helmet as a weapon. Timing of when you leave your feet is fairly irrelevant.

This is a personnel issue IMO. Second straight year that Walters and the scouts whiffed on LB's and DL's. Our only DL getting upfield consistently in the pass rush is Gibson. Westerman can't beat anyone 1 on 1. You could point to finer details and say it's been awhile for him both playing and playing Canadian rules, but the lack of ability to even compete 1 on 1 is extremely troubling. Sadly I think my worst fear when we signed him is coming true, he's a 20-25 snap a game guy, not a guy who can play the majority of the game. Bass is getting torched and everyone has the film so that will continue until he figures out how to play his position and force plays into the middle of the field while he works his way to the ball. Blitzing has been useless, not even forcing the opposing QB to change his launch point and has often left our secondary out to dry. Firing the coordinator would make no sense.