GCn20

It's a guessing game really. Is Schoen at 70% better than BOLO at 100%....I guess we'll never know now, but hindsight would suggest he couldn't have been worse. Thing is at the time, if I were coach, I probably go with Schoen too just because if adrenaline can take that 70% up to 80% then there is no contest. It just didn't work out well in the end, no denying that, but the decision itself could go either way really.

I want more too. Way more....much much more. I am a greedy pig when it comes to winning.

In the end it's all just our opinion one way or another and how much benefit of the doubt one feels comfortable with. I just have thoroughly enjoyed watching Bomber ball the past 5-6 years, so I am willing to cut some slack. Booch knows his shyte, I'm not going to pretend otherwise. He knows that I do to but am just coming from a different angle. Therefore, mutual respect just takes over. Nothing he has said I feel is inherently wrong, it's just not my interpretation. Doesn't make my interpretation correct, or his, just a difference in opinion. At the end of the day all I need to know about Booch, and most of the guys on this forum is that we all live and breathe Bomber football, and hate the Riders. Any disagreement other than that is just how a forum generates conversation and how people learn more about the game. I've learned more about football from people who have a different outlook from me than I ever did from people who are aligned with my thinking. I think that stands to reason. When you are talking in an echo chamber you only learn what you already knew.

I don't really care how old a player is until I see signs of regression. I agree with your assessment. I see no issues with bringing JJ back as long as we understand and prepare for the eventuality that he will likely miss games. Bring in a viable 3rd DE that can be an effective starter when JJ is down and resign JJ and I'm good with that.

I have not spoken to any of the players or professional coaches that I know that were at the game. So I will consider what you are saying there. It very well may have looked different live and you are right I have never played professional ball. NCAA was as far as I went in my playing career and CIS as far as I went coaching before I retired from football entirely. Not professional, but still good football.

You can't KNOW unless you are in their bodies. You go by what the trainers tell you and what the players tell you. All you can do is make the call based on that. Problem with GC week is that neither team gets a real honest practice to judge them as it's a circus and practices are little more than walk throughs.

Did you watch the game live in stadium? Neither did I? Can't criticize my viewpoint when it was the exact same as yours. We are both passing judgement on the same film.

I don't need to defend Osh. His record speaks for itself. Just not going to run with this narrative that inserting these guys into the lineup was a big mistake. Could we have managed in-game better, I have already stated we could. Was the roster managed right. Already voiced my displeasure with not giving BOLO reps, and not dressing Rose was a massive mistake as well when Parker was clearly out to lunch and then injuries hit. However, I will never ever succumb to the narrative that you leave Biggie and Schoen out of the lineup if you think they can go. It just needed to be handled better in game.

Don't know what you were watching quite frankly. Seems you have succumbed to the groupthink. I have watched the game several times and I watch between the whistles to make my judgement. I stand by my assessment of his play. At NO time during that game did I see him laboring or unable to make plays. Cite me ONE example on video that backs up your assessment.

BA says he played most of the 2nd half with the injury. Are you calling him a liar? Also my comparisons are meaningful as there is a very clear precedent of player playing through injury with great success that MOS would have considered when making his decisions on these guys. One can argue that in game adjustments should have been made for Schoen particularly, but it is nonsense to suggest that Biggie played poorly. He didn't make any highlight package plays but that's more due to lack of opportunity than anything. Every uneducated football guy points to the TD where he couldn't get back into coverage as proof he should not have been playing. Wasn't his coverage assignment. Other than that play explain where Biggie hurt us?

Please tell me where Schoen ever stated he was not prepared to play. Shocked maybe,,,,unprepared? I highly doubt it. And so what if Strev was still producing and effective? What difference does that make. It only re-inforces my initial argument that a player can be injured and effective. Zac Collaros the year before, Strev in 2019, and laid a blueprint that if you dress a banged up guy he can still overcome that injury and be effective. Will he be a 100%...probably not...but these guys are warriors and suggesting that MOS made some kind of massive mistake not giving an absolute warrior like Bighill a chance to be one is nonsense. Did Biggie or Schoen shine in the big game. NOPE. Did anyone on the Bombers who were healthy? NOPE. It was a let down straight across the board and not because of injuries. The team didn't bring their A game simple as that. Schoen, Demski, Jeffcoat, Biggie, and all the guys that were banged up played through it and weren't liabilities in any way. Zac Collaros was healthy but he shat the bed, the OL was healthy but they shat the bed in pass pro, our secondary was healthy but they were terrible.

Injuries are something that all teams deal with, and I guarantee that there were players on the other sidelines playing banged up as well. Would it have been nice to walk into that game completely healthy, you bet, but it was not a likelihood. Didn't hear anyone crying about Brandon Alexander or Chris Streveler playing with broken bones in our Cup wins and the only difference was we won those games. I guess it's only a coaching mistake if we lose.

I am of the same opinion. If we sign JJ, there is a very high probability that he misses significant time, but we have to sign him based on the hope we get the full 18 out of him or don't sign him at all. If what we know about JJ's injury history is taken into account in contract bargaining so that we aren't holding the bag on him if he's injured, he could be a guy that we want back and use his trim to sign a strong rotational DE that can take on his reps if he goes down again. The counter argument that we should just move on is also valid, providing we get an impact DE to replace him. I'm good either way we play it, as long as it is played right and we don't push all our chips in on JJ to stay healthy.

Yea, if he's willing to put up half his contract based on games played...I'd be good.

Sure...however at what point they are is also very highly debateable. I will go with the coach's call on that because everyone outside of that dressing room is only talking out their ass. He saw how they were moving in practice. None of us did.

Pretty sure that Hardrick was on the limp, probably a few more. It's playoff time, if you are going to field only a team where a player is at full health you will be sitting most of your starters. As a coach, if a player says he can go and is medically cleared you play him because fully healthy does not really exist that time of year.

It's possible if he is willing to take a haircut.

I mean it could work if they unearth 5-6 quality starters through recruitment to balance the spending. I just don't see it happening tho. As it should. For every 200k guy you better turn up a decent player on an ELC or you are in big trouble as a team.

Buying wins in FA has never ever been a fruitful strategy. You gotta have solid recruitment to go with it or you are doomed. Riders recruitment has not been good. For every big ticket guy you gotta have someone on the roster playing at a high level on an ELC or else your depth with be dog poo.

Yea....I'm thinking he didn't have an agent.

Rider cast offs seem to do better everywhere else in recent years. What does that have to do with anything I said? You are comparing apples and baseball bats. He also dressed an injured Schoen and half his lineup was banged up. Should we move on from all of them? Too late...we re-signed Schoen. A coach puts injured/banged up players in the lineup all the time in the playoffs because you hope they can play through the pain and the drop off is steep behind them. You new to the concept or something?

Also, winning is way more fun than losing. Just ask all the Rider players.

I guess we will see on Jones, but I doubt we circle back to him now unless he comes at a good price. Houston did have some real timely picks for us, and that is worth something as well. His overall game is definitely over rated for sure but I can definitely see the logic of dressing him over Rose against a historically inaccurate passer like Fajardo. Anytime we play Fajardo it is nice to have a ballhawk in the lineup because if anyone is subject to tossing errant balls it's him. Just so happens he was dialled in a bit more than usual, and his receivers really saved his butt on his real bad throws, but I would think that won't be a regular occurrence with him.

If he doesn't get an offer I believe he is under contract.

I don't hate BA being back. He is no longer the league's best S, but he is far from the worst. I don't see a problem at all with bringing him to TC and seeing what he's got left in the tank. MOS has shown that if a player isn't making the cut, even a veteran, and we have other options that he will make the change. Winston Rose found that out last year.