O2L

Get out of here with your facts!

Well, after two weeks, here we are sitting at 0-2 as many predicted. Once again the other team had more passing yards which is how we measure wins. So crazy that we lost when we had the lead for literally the entire game. It’s really a shame we didn’t spread those TDs out across four quarters instead of two, that also matters. TDs scored on long drives (like we did in game one, mind you) are the ones that really count, dontcha know? It’s almost like we played a team that held their opponent to -2 total offensive yards after the midway point of the second quarter last week. I just wish scoring more points than your opponent, an opponent who right now seems to be one of the top teams in the league, counted for something. Ah well, if only points mattered more than stats. Shame on Nichols for telling Harris to fumble twice! Shame on him for calling a weird sweep on second and short! Shame on him for the o-line opening no holes for Harris and us constantly being stuffed, putting us in second and long! Shame on Nichols not forcing plays when we’re leading on the scoreboard and our punting and defence are playing very well! Considering there’s no salary cap, it’s so odd that we don’t have Mitchell, Reilly, and Harris as our three QBs, not to mention upgrading all of our weakest positions with the top players in the league! Walters is clearly an idiot. No wait, NICHOLS is an idiot for that one too! Phew, almost forgot there. Well, back to the drawing board. See you guys next year, this one is already a write-off.

Pretty sure Chris Matthews and Drew Wolitarsky are on the roster tonight. I think they’ll have a bone to pick with your post, in the best possible way. GO BLUE!

I was thinking “Jacked Galifianakis” for Hecht. Watch an interview with him on the Bombers site, the resemblance is uncanny aside from the build.

This. Our defence held them to one touchdown and 4 rushing yards. 100 of Reilly’s passing yards happened on two plays and that drive resulted in a whopping three points.

Streveler

Well yeah, that’s how the preseason works. Oh wait...

It feels like almost all the teams are. Who is actually good? Us and Edmonton and...Toronto?

Sure would be odd to have Kevin Glen’s head coach be the guy whose starting job he took back in the day. Imagine if Ricky Ray hasn’t retired and was playing for Jason Maas and the Esks right now.

You guys focus way too much on points. What really matters is which QB will throw for 300+ yards, that’s how wins are determined, dontcha know?

Great news!

I was afraid that’d turn into a typical Bomber “are you effing kidding me?” moment with Castillo recovering the punt. So happy that wasn’t the case.

In his presser today the media got him talking about passing yards and he said something to the effect of, “I’m not sure why people are so obsessed with 300 yards passing. I care about winning and I’m pretty good at that.” I enjoyed the little bit of confidence/arrogance there. He’s 100% correct.

Also Wilson is the one that ran down Burnham on his second big catch (in a row) to save a TD that became a field goal. Fixed that for you.

Nichols played great. Bombers played great. But Harris 100% had the best game of any QB this week. Pretty hard to argue that.

Dom Davis

If Calgary isn’t a top team this year we’ll find out pretty quickly if their fans care or not. For cities that only support winners, see Alouettes, Montreal. You still had the ninth-best OC in the league calling the game, so no.

Our defence gave up a ton of passing yards and yet only about 10-15 of those yards wound up being a touchdown. Their defence gave up few passing yards and yet those few yards accounted for four touchdowns (yes, I’m counting the Strev one since that ball was on the one yard line thanks to the Woli catch). Where the yards happen on the field matters.

Yeah I think the Riders D will keep most games close but their O needs to produce. They'll win some games in similar fashion to how BC scored 23 last night (with a kick return or pick 6 etc to keep the score manageable), but they're also going to have games where they score sub-20 points. I do think that Bennett would give them the best chance right now, but will take them time to get him up to speed. He has a strong, accurate arm, but his fault is that he'll make some poor decisions.

I'm not sure what game those of you saying our d-line was underwhelming watched. We collapsed the pocket on nearly every play, manhandling their O-line, with Reilly constantly throwing under duress, and held them to four yards rushing. Good d-line play doesn't just boil down to sacks...

The beauty of having a team not be built around a “guy that's going to take over a game and win it for you” is that if that player gets injured, the drop off shouldn’t be too substantial. Nichols is still our best QB, but if he goes down it’s not game over for the Bombers. If Reilly goes down in BC? Yikes. And he didn’t even win yesterday. Not to mention the other benefit that people often forget is that unlike BC and Calgary, we haven’t dedicated the majority of our salary cap to one player. The reason our team is well rounded is because we can afford to have it that way. Thank you Kyle Walters.

1. Winnipeg Blue Bombers The only team to play well on both O and D. Despite giving up yardage, held Reilly to one TD and two INTs. 0 turnovers. One botched kick return made this game look closer than it was. 2. Ottawa REDBLACKS Four interceptions and a QB that is keying in on guys and having trouble reading defences isn’t a good sign, but Ottawa looks to have a strong D and anytime you can go into Calgary, in week one no less, and win, that’s saying something. Credit where credit is due. 3. Edmonton Eskimos This team, much like in previous years, will live and die on the arm of its QB. No D to speak of, nearly let a backup to the league’s worst starter of a team that changed head coaches a week ago back into the game. I think as the season progresses both Calgary and B.C. will prove to be better teams, but unlike those teams, Edmonton still came out with the W this week. 4. Calgary Stampeders Four takeaways and a 15-point lead and they still lost. This is not the Calgary of old, but I also don’t see them losing two in a row. I expect some anger next game. This team took their opponents for granted and the results speak for themselves. Mitchell missing some passes that he’ll make in the future, sure, but maybe, just maybe, the mighty have finally fallen. 5. BC Lions Eight offensive points from a Mike Reilly-led team does not instil a lot of confidence, but maybe that’s more a testament to the Bombers’ D (who had their share of mistakes, but tightened up when they needed to). The Lions D gave up three wide-open TDs, which is a concern, but I think Claybrooks will get them sorted out once they have some time to gel. I expect BC to be battling it out in the west all season. 6. Hamilton Tiger-Cats Easily the worst looking team to come out of week one with a W. Had they played anyone other than Sask (including Montreal), they lose this game. Two question: Can Masoli regain his 2018 form? Can their defence play well without playing dirty? 7. Montreal Alouettes The jury is still out on the defence. Sure, they gave up a stupid amount of yards, but their starting QB had less than 60 yards of production in three quarters, so hard to fault them for being on the field the whole game. A pending QB controversy that we haven’t seen since the likes of Brink v. Goltz, Montreal looks to be the enigma of 2019 - they’ll upset teams that they shouldn’t beat and then lose games they should win. 6-12 finish unless one of these QBs can step up and give them an offence. 8. Saskatchewan Roughriders They were already going to be a bad team with Collaros at QB, they’re worse without him. The problem with this offence is the coordinator and as long as McAdoo has a job, there won’t be much to cheer for on the offensive side of the ball in Saskatchewan. Did Harker look better than Fjardo? Sure, but that’s because Fjardo has more reps in the offence and was trying to execute the patented check—downs that his coordinator is famous for. Harker is young and came off the bench hungry so made decisions that were more instinct than play-call. They do seem to still have a good defence though, but one of their leading scorers, Willie Jefferson, no longer wears green. Combine all the above with a head coach that looked lost and, may I introduce you to the residents of the western basement. TBD. Toronto Argonauts No game this week so unfair to put them on the list aside for getting a few laughs, but I expect Toronto to be top two in the east if Franklin stays healthy. He’s better than he showed last year and we’ll see that this year, and Chamblin is a solid coach that’ll right that ship.

Yeah I still think BC will be one of the top teams, definitely expect them to turn it around by mid-season and I see their défense getting much much better. Their head coach is arguably (or maybe just straight up?) the best defensive coordinator in the league - I don’t see him putting up with last night’s effort for long. Glad we got them when we did.

I have no doubt that he will.

Here’s a hot take after week one: the best team in the east is Toronto. I think if Masoli can’t get back to 2018 form, Franklin will be the top QB in the east. My money is on TO winning the east.