GCn20

The choice between Hall and Benevides is one of those decisions that is kind of a no lose proposition. Both are excellent football minds. I will be happy with either result. My preference is for Hall, but is based more in my own football philosophy than in merit between the two coaches.

Morley got ejected in one game so that may have skewed his penalty minutes somewhat...I think it was against the Riders.. 1st in yardage, 2nd in infractions. We really shouldn't be too hard on old Morley though since our OL overall was the most penalized in the league. Kinda comes with the territory of having a crap OL. Penalties are taken when assignments are botched. As a Centre he was likely guilty of numerous penalties trying to make sure his QB wasn't killed because of others whiffing on their man.

I like it, defense by committee. However, has this co-defensive coordinator approach ever been done before in the CFL? I've always assumed offense and defense as one man in charge with head coach oversight. Or is this a wish that will always stay a wish? I believe that this is a wish...that should not even be wished for. It's important that the players have one system and one guy to buy into. Can't see how two coordinators would do anything but confuse.

It will be interesting to see how or if Chamblin and Chaps manage to co-exist.

I think Benevides is still in the running because he doesn't necessarily want to be united with Chamblin. Lot of talk that Chamblin is not a great guy to work with. His history of changing coordinators and taking over their duties seems to back this up.

This whole added value in Regina thing is just a myth created by Rider fans anyway. Not in Heenan's case, because he is a hometown boy but with other prospective players. Rider fans have created this myth that if you come to Regina there are tons of businesses that are lining up to throw cash at the players creating this huge advantage for them. The truth is that every city that cares about the CFL can offer the exact same perks through there alumni, booster, and corporate sponsors. Players in Regina make no more money off the field or have any more perks extended than in say Winnipeg or Calgary, In fact, in many cases they offer less because of a smaller market size.

Having money is not nearly as important as who has the most desire to spend money. Ways can be found to fit almost any purchase under the SMS if a GM has his heart set on a player bad enough. It might mean playing ham and eggers elsewhere in the lineup but if a GM wants to spend he will spend.

Sure. But the Riders just freed up $175k of cap space while we just lost $195k. So there's that. Not technically true. The Riders have to replace his NI roster spot with another NI. That eats into their salary cap space they have created. Even rookie or ham and egger NI's cost in the 100k range now. That leaves an actual amount of cap space being created at most around 100k for the Riders unless they replace his roster spot with a very weak NI that is willing to roster up for less. At the end of the day not all the salary lost can be attributed to free cap space. Also, this likely allows us to dump the salary of Hinse. Not sure what he makes but let's say conservatively that it was 90- 100k a year. Suddenly what appears to be a 400k sms swing due to this move turns out to be less than 200k....possibly much less depending on who the Riders sign as a replacement for Picard's roster spot and how much the OL we release was making.

It will take a lot of dollars to pry him away from his home and his farm. Still....he is entering FA for a reason. Likely it's to make the RIders pay top dollar for him. However, at the end of the day even this approach shows that he cares about the money. If he was content with the off-field stuff and the money was secondary his name would be on the dotted line already. Yeah I think he's looking to cash in and will go with the highest bidder. Regardless of where it is. It would likely only be for 2-3 seasons if that. So why not go for the cash!?! I think the highest bidder will need to be considerably more than the Riders but his return to the Riders is far from set in stone.

It will take a lot of dollars to pry him away from his home and his farm. Still....he is entering FA for a reason. Likely it's to make the RIders pay top dollar for him. However, at the end of the day even this approach shows that he cares about the money. If he was content with the off-field stuff and the money was secondary his name would be on the dotted line already.

Sure. But the Riders just freed up $175k of cap space while we just lost $195k. So there's that. The Riders have 28 FA's to sign and one of them is Dressler, so there is that as well.

I have awaited the day we would start debating about which quality OL we will keep, which ones we will let go, and how we will fit them all into the lineup for many years now. The nightmare seems like it is close to being at an end. To all my "Nash" brethren on the forum. Khristos Razhdayetsya

Agreed. He is replaceable. I liked him a lot but he plays a position that lends itself well to scouting and to an easy transition to the Canadian game.

A tough loss but one that we should be able to overcome.

Absolutely, worst case scenario is that Picard gets beat out at Centre and we have to send him to the 6 game IR. If that happens then it means that Goosen/Morley have really stepped up their game. I don't see a way we lose with this acquisition.

We wanted to but didn't get around to it. Too busy beating a Labatte dead horse.

Morley had a good year. Picard brings intangibles with him though that are off the charts. He has been the glue guy on every OL he has centred and they have all been successful OLs.

Just saw that too. That's interesting. Does Goosen stay as 6th OL or do they think he can start at guard? I guess another follow up question is, "what the hell do I know about OL play?" I thought Morley was every bit as good as he was... Morley makes sense as the #6 OL since he has experience and played C, G and T. I'm guessing, Bob Wylie might have something to do with Picard coming here. Could be Wylie. Heads up I think Morley and Picard were pretty even in play last year. However, Picard brings a raft of intanglibles with him to add to our line. I like the move. A mentor for Goosen and a bonafide leader for our OL.

9600 seats....sounds about right. The Argos might get a few sellouts.

I would sign Picard in a heart beat if the price is reasonable. Morley can play guard.

Yep. A player is only out to lunch if there is truly no one who will pay him that money. Ottawa offering Dressler 250k last year kind of dispels that notion. Look for both Dressler and SJ to be in the 200k range this offseason to the teams that sign them.

Not sure how that relates in any way to the discussion at hand but it was entertaining.

Couple things ISO, mentioning race is not racism. Also, I at no point suggested that we hire a black coach for recruitment purposes. Let me clarify. My belief that a black coach can benefit a team is not my own. I attended a coaching seminar about 10 years ago in which Herm Edwards was the keynote speaker. At this time, one of the hot button issues was the lack of black coaches at every level of football. He spoke at great length about how an increase of black coaches could benefit the NFL and other pro leagues because many of the black players came from backgrounds where racism was rampant and how he has seen many young black players "wash out" because they could not get past the racial barriers (his words not mine) that are prevalent in pro sports. He said that many young black men come from hard backgrounds and need guidance and will feel more trustful of a black coach they perceive as more understanding of their problems. What's ironic is that there was a Q&A after his speech and one guy asked, " Isn't discussing this issue also racist. Isn't it wrong to look at the color of a persons skin when hiring someone?" Herm's response was along these lines and I am quite sure that I am pretty close with his words because his speech that day really made me think differently, " In a perfect world we could all walk around and not notice race. This isn't a perfect world. Trust me....a young black man from Southern Alabama does not see the world the same way you do. That's just the reality. If a team is smart they will definitely look at a black coach as adding value to the dressing room if all things are equal....and no that's not racist." Also, ISO you decided to put words in my mouth even though I had clearly qualified my statement. I said in my initial post on the matter that it should not be a big factor in our recruitment of coaches. Just one that shouldn't be ignored. You went off on some ridiculous diatribe accusing me of racism and suggesting that I advocated hiring Hall solely on the color of his skin. Both being grossly incorrect interpretations of my post. All I said is that it could be an added value if we were to go with Hall. I am not alone in that opinion. Many, many black athletes in all sports have advocated for more black coaches. I guess they are racist too. Guess the outreach workers are racist when they send a native worker to a reserve, guess the police are racist when they send a Pakistani officer out to patrol Pakistani neighborhoods. Racism is rampant I tell you. There is no good reason other than bigotry to do such things. You asked me why I brought up racism? I'll tell you why...because it's real and the effects of it exist....yes, even within the Bomber locker room.

I like Hall as well. A true professional, former player, former HC who runs a good system. I will just come right out and address the elephant in the room as well. He is black. I say this without one iota of racism. Many young black males would gravitate towards him as a mentor/leader and given his other excellent traits how could that be a bad thing. Not saying it should be a big factor in who we select as our DC, but it should definitely not be a factor that's overlooked.

LOL....my laptop was acting up yesterday every time I was trying to post it would freeze up. Guess the posts made it through after all.