Atomic

Kristian Matte was a first round pick in 2010 and didn't start until this year for Montreal. Bad pick??So, your point? We need to see what Goosen can do. What's Matte have to do with it.My point is that whether he is a bad pick or not cannot be determined this early in his career. I was using Matte as an example to illustrate that it can take time for a young Canadian OL to develop... Sometimes in the order of several years. Teams like Calgary & Montreal who used to have a strong OL can afford to wait 5 years for a draft pick to develop. Please don't compare Winnipeg's OL to the Stamps or Als. We desperately need our draft picks (especially the OL) to contribute & start quickly. We can't afford to develop a player for 5 years. So, while your point may be valid, it's difficult to apply it to the Bombers. So your argument is that to develop a great line like Calgary or Montreal, we should employ the total opposite draft strategy and only aim for picks ready to start right now? Seems counter intuitive to me.

I'm waiting to get cheap tickets from one of my friends who work for the big corporations in Winnipeg that always seem to get cheap tickets funnelled through them such as Hydro and Investor's Group.

Kristian Matte was a first round pick in 2010 and didn't start until this year for Montreal. Bad pick?? So, your point? We need to see what Goosen can do. What's Matte have to do with it. My point is that whether he is a bad pick or not cannot be determined this early in his career. I was using Matte as an example to illustrate that it can take time for a young Canadian OL to develop... Sometimes in the order of several years.

Kristian Matte was a first round pick in 2010 and didn't start until this year for Montreal. Bad pick??

I met him when I was playing basketball in middle school and we all got to go to a Cyclones game. Sad!

Yes. As another poster said, Mtl is in turmoil. Ottawa has the same problem as us, unproven coaching. If Ottawa has an edge on us I believe it is Henry Burris and his experience. We don't have a veteran leader like that, someone that can teach the players how to win. We have to rely on Mike O'Shea for that and thusfar the results have been sporadic at best. Marcel Bellefeuille could have been that guy but I don't think he is up to the challenge either. We sorely lack the coaching and/or veteran leadership required. I wish we had a Buono type here to serve as an adviser to O'Shea.We also have a multiple time Grey Cup champion defensive coordinator with a couple decades of CFL experience. True. It's ST that really baffles me. With O'Shea's experience as ST coach and him bringing in his pal, Pat Tracey, I can't understand why ST play has been so poor this year. Calgary will feast on our STs if that doesn't change fast. We put too much pressure on our young Canadians to perform on special teams. Not enough veteran Canadians there and no American studs. Looking back a couple years you see Americans like Suber and B. Stewart leading the charge, or guys like Deon Lacey in Edmonton. We don't have that this season. Too much pressure on second year guys like Derek Jones and Jesse Briggs. They are still young... Coaching good or bad, young guys will **** up. That's just the way it is and you have to limit it by using better personnel.

Lol barely a year and a half into Goossen's career and people think this is a make-or-break moment. I swear some people just don't pay attention whatsoever.

Except they haven't... Pencer wasn't expected to step in right away, neither was Etienne or Goossen or Labatte... but you need them to show up at some point Trouble is that since 2008 different bomber regimes give up on the draft picks of the last guy It's hard to tell what the Bombers' strategy has been in past drafts because whatever it was, it hasn't worked. But they have mentioned before multiple drafts, needing players that can step in right away. Etienne was expected to contribute in the first year, as ridiculous as that seems. That's why they kept him on the roster all year. They could have had Tyler Holmes but were afraid they'd have to wait. What a blunder!

No way Higgins ends up in Wpg in any role under O'Shea. Why would O'Shea hire his potential replacement? Does Mike O'Shea strike you as the kind of person who wouldn't hire someone because he's afraid they might take his job? His coordinators are both former head coaches.

My question would be whether this is based on total number of conversions or conversion percentage. I'm not sure of the answer.

I believe it's just an average of all the rankings, which means it is basically meaningless. The overall ranking isn't that interesting to me, but the rankings in each category are indisputable as they are based on hard data.

First time I've ever seen anything like this attempted. Overall ranking is subjective but interesting look at the numbers. Credit to Mark Fulton @FenderGuy69 on Twitter. The numbering can be a little confusing, keep in mind it is rankings throughout. So for example Montreal doesn't have 9 illegal blocks, they have the most illegal blocks and therefore rank 9th.

Montreal's starting offensive guards right now were drafted in 2010 and 2011 respectively and didn't end up starting for Montreal until this year. Take the best player and if you have to wait then you have to wait. The CFL draft is about long term success and I cringe every time the Bombers approach the draft saying "We need impact players right now."

150% this.......Or to put it another way 27,000 or so is a pretty good average attendance for a mino league sports franchise and better than most other teams in the exact same league.east Final vs Hamilton was sold out. Check your facts kid. I apologize. East final was sold out. 2007 semi final vs Montreal was just over 22,000. As for this year's attendance, looking at the east side and end zones from the west side upper deck, the 27,000 average from this year looks quite inflated. Well you know what they say about the west side.

Yes. As another poster said, Mtl is in turmoil. Ottawa has the same problem as us, unproven coaching. If Ottawa has an edge on us I believe it is Henry Burris and his experience. We don't have a veteran leader like that, someone that can teach the players how to win. We have to rely on Mike O'Shea for that and thusfar the results have been sporadic at best. Marcel Bellefeuille could have been that guy but I don't think he is up to the challenge either. We sorely lack the coaching and/or veteran leadership required. I wish we had a Buono type here to serve as an adviser to O'Shea. We also have a multiple time Grey Cup champion defensive coordinator with a couple decades of CFL experience.

The Bombers could definitely win this game. But like others have said, they have to play a very clean game. Marve has to keep the turnovers to a minimum and the defence is going to have to step up. No special teams blow-ups. Calgary isn't going to just give the game away and if the Bombers give them any space they will run away with it.

Sure I could buy into that. Give Goossen some playing time but don't cut Picard... not yet.

This is the best news I've heard all week. Praying for a surprise post-bye week purge of the excess fat on the roster. ehhhh.... While Picard's snaps have been horrific I'd rather not cut an experience NI Oline at the moment I can understand where you're coming from but what good is experience if his play has been declining for years to the point where he's a complete liability out there? Rider fans have been looking to be rid of him for his bad snaps for at least 2 seasons prior to this one and he was never a great blocker. He's not getting any better and it's hard to imagine Goossen possibly being worse. I don't even care about whether we would save salary or not, just get rid of him so there is no temptation to play him in the case Goossen has a bad game. To me, experience only makes a difference if you have at least something positive to contribute on the field. Picard does not at this point in his career. Ok and then we have a couple injuries and suddenly Thomas Griffiths is starting or we have 3 Americans on the OL. And there's no guarantee the Americans are going to be any good anyways, as we saw last year. It's a terrible idea to cut Canadian OL midseason, more so now than ever. Goossen will get his chance when the time is right, no need to force it.

Garrett was great to end 2011 as well. 576 yards in 6 games for a 6.3 yard avg with 4 TD. Not to mention the 190+ yard performance in the East Final.Both Garrett and Simpson were great for one small segment of time and then completely dropped off. Well to be fair to Garrett he tore his Achilles. He never really "fell off".

Either that or we start 9 Canadians, to an absolute uproar on here.

No I don't, I still haven't gotten into NXT but I have definitely heard the women's matches are better.

Yep we heard this exact same refrain last off-season.

As politically incorrect as it may be to say it, I simply do not get entertained by women's wrestling. The hotness factor is really all that's in it for me. Sorry not sorry .

Also curious to see what happens on the OL. Is Neufeld the guy at RT or no?

Garrett was great to end 2011 as well. 576 yards in 6 games for a 6.3 yard avg with 4 TD. Not to mention the 190+ yard performance in the East Final.