Mr Dee

I’m still going to watch the game, even though I know what’s going to happen from that recap. Or pre-cap, if you will..

CFL Game Notes.. The 2018 season opener between Edmonton and Winnipeg will be the earliest regular season game in league history by one day - the previous record was a game on June 15, 2004 between Saskatchewan and Toronto (21-10 Argos).  Season #61: The founding leagues of the CFL were formed in 1907 in the East (as the IRFU), and in the West in 1936 (as the WIFU). These two formerly independent leagues formally united in 1958 to form the Canadian Football League and standardize playing rules across the country. The 2018 CFL year will mark the 105th season of Canadian football, and the 61st as the CFL itself. QBs straight from college to a Week #1 starting role: The Blue Bombers may start rookie Chris Streveler in the 2018 CFL opener and if so that will end a 24-year period without that unique event happening.  East vs West - 2016-17: In 2017, East Division clubs won only 10 of their 40 meetings against Western rivals (29-10 for the West with one tie). That made it such that an East Division team captured the Grey Cup for the second straight year despite this wide imbalance in regular season inter-divisional play (28-11-1 for the West in 2016). The East has won the overall season series vs the West just once since 2005, but won the Grey Cup in 5 of those 13 years. CFL Season Openers: Going back to 2008 across 10 CFL seasons, here is a look at how our clubs have fared in their Game #1 with four teams tied at six wins out of 10. Calgary has gone 6-3-1 since 2008 but has not won a season opener since 2015. Montreal is 6-4 but have a two-year win streak (2016-17), the only club with more than one in a row. Saskatchewan is also 6-4 but have lost their last three season openers, the longest active opener losing streak in the CFL. Toronto comes in at 6-4 since 2008 while Hamilton has been by far the slowest starter at just 1-9 in season openers winning only in 2016. BC has started slowly having won only in 2016 over the last five years (3-7 since 2008). Winnipeg and Edmonton are each at 5-5 since 2008 but the Bombers are 3-1 over the last four years. Going back to 1958 and the formation of the CFL, the AWAY club has won MORE times than home clubs leading 32 wins to 27 with one tie (54% of the time).  Opening Rosters to Start 2018: Of the 493 players that appeared on the initial Week #1 CFL rosters here is a set of breakdowns of how they are made up with some details by Division and team. A total of 323 players returned to their same club from 2017 while 89 players moved from other clubs. For 2018, opening week rosters consisted of 16% of the players in their first CFL year. Total Returned to same team 323 (65.5%) TOR 48, HAM 41, CGY 40, EDM 39, WPG 35, OTT 33, MTL 32, SSK 31, BC 24 Veterans on New Teams 89 (18.1%) MTL 13, OTT 10, SSK 9, WPG 9, EDM 9, TOR 7, CGY 6, HAM 3 First-year CFL players 81 (16.4%) MTL 18, OTT 12, HAM 12, SSK 11, CGY 9, WPG 7, BC 6, EDM 4, TOR 2 Of the nine 1st Round picks made in the 2018 Draft, six appeared on 2018 opening week rosters. Only Hamilton (#1 Mark Chapman), Saskatchewan (#5 Dakoda Shepley) and Toronto (#9 Ryan Hunter) did not have their #1 selection join their season-opening roster. Among the 18 players selected in the first two rounds in 2018, 14 of those players (78%) made it onto 2018 CFL rosters.

I don’t know where you cut and pasted that from, but there are too many wins claimed, and not enough admitted losses. Must be an American exchange rate thingy..

It’s just like not being able to stop scratching a mosquito bite for you..

We signed Dressler. You guys signed Owens. Say no more.

I agree. I don’t see any reason not to use the QBs in the same way we saw them in that last game. Nobody has stood out as being the next one up. Ross has a slight advantage but we would be better served keeping Edmonton defenders off guard not knowing what or who is coming up next. This is the ideal situation to package an offence around all our QBs. We only have 2 practices this week, so we should roll with what we’re doing.

I’m far more interested in building a competitive roster. There are far more considerations in building a roster taking into account what scouting has provided, the timing and availability of said players, and what else is already available in free agency. Does it really matter that we can brag that Walters found “Joe left tackle” or that we scooped up an all-star like Bryant? Say what you will, but this roster we have now looks to be one of the best in the last decade, home grown or not. That’s really all we should care about.

Lankford. What can you say? He’s doing all he can do to fit somewhere, anywhere on the Bomber’s roster, including studying all the positions in Lapo’s offence so he can fill a role. And he’s producing - top receiver in Friday’s game. And I certainly wasn’t impressed with any returner in that game. I really don’t care for all the reasons NOT to like Lankford, you have to admire his grit and thinking to recognize he can have a role to play, and, apparently he had a very good camp. As lomg as he produces, he can catch with his helmet for all I care, welcome back to the club. Nobody beat you out..

I can just see Chris Jones, sitting hatless, dressed in black, with telephone in hand, in a spitting frenzy, because he now can fill his roster with other team’s National deletions. His master plan is coming together..

Bagg has already received a large chunk of off-season money from the #Riders. #CFL - John Hodge

You have to like the fact that, for the 1st time, we had 3 QBs who looked competent. Aside from the obvious inexperience, they all did some good things. This pre-season game was very valuable for them to get live action against different personnel. It looked like Ross squeaked out the right to start against Edmonton but, Bennett, with virtually no practice, showed well, and Streveler continued on his development path. The only good thing about the injury to Nichols was that it gave the Bombers a ‘free’ game to get a good look at what they have at back ups at QB. Dare they even continue the rotation of these guys during their evaluations??

Ok, so that’s 7 weeks of recovery time for Nichols, including this week.. I’ll be going to that 2nd BC game and I expect to see Nichols as the starter. - 5 weeks. But don’t worry, I’ll check with both John Hodge and Rod Pedersen first..

Well, maybe for just 1 play...🤕

Unless something happens on cut down day, and with the good news regarding Nichols, I wouldn’t expect any kind of signing regarding a veteran QB. Things will proceed as before the injury. They will still look around, but now, not in desperation.

PHEW!

Yeah, and I’ll back you up on that..in case you get injured..😀

In a word... I

Are you kidding? We were worrying EVERY GAME!

Ha! Beat you Tracker!

Talk about man zeal..

Are you sure man? That’s quite a statement..

I don’t see any reason to even play Nichols. A lot of decisions have to be made in other areas and you can only bring so many players to evaluate. Nichols can be there to advise and chart, but I doubt MOS sees it the same way. Play Nichols behind the 2nd string OL? Not a good idea.

Nice game for evaluations and better than a scrimmage against your own teammates. I presume the Coaches got what they wanted to see and will be doing a ton of film work today. The game for the fans was pretty much what we expected, a strong performance from the O and a virtual shutout by the D. Aside from the first ST TD by the Eskimos, we controlled the areas we wanted to look at. The only ‘holy mackerel’ surprise was Streveler totally outplaying Ross. It had been predetermined that it would be the other way around. And now we travel to B.C., and we’re not going to be looking at 70 players. You can be sure of that. Will cuts be made in the meantime? It seems that yesterday’s performance will need more exposure for the guys on the bubble. The really big question is, will Matt Nichols even play in that game or merely be there for an extra set of eyes and to advise? Remember, if Nichols is scheduled to play, that means a commitment to play your front line O-Line. Will they have to anyway to see how the RBs perform? Will Bennett be ready to get some squeeze time in and will MOS spread the QBing around to help with decisions? I know MOS likes to ask the players if they feel it’s necessary for them to play, but really, will Nichols ever say no? You can only take so many players in travel, and it seems we have very good competition in certain areas. Those are the guys you have to play. Hop on the plane guys, and make sure you save seats for Augustine and Streveler..

Whoa..back up a bit..