GCn20

I'm surprised some start up hasn't moved into that space as an X clone. With Elon as polarizing has he is seems like a missed opportunity. At the very least it would force Elon to buy you out.

Might have been a case of underestimating Montreal as well. That's what I thought as well. I liked his game there.

Schmekel and Bennet being forced out onto the field before they were ready is on the coaching. I can't see the Bombers rolling with a starting Schmekel with Thomas rotating in heavily. They will be rotational players and we will have to adjust ratio.

That's kind of what I meant. A rookie should probably not have been expected to play lights out and he clearly needed more development. That being said he was awful, but I think a lot of people gave up on him and that was the part that wasn't fair. It's not even about replacement level, it's the fact there is no way that Fatboi can play that many reps physically now. At the peak of his career he was often gassed out from minimal reps. The Bombers couldn't possibly be looking for Fatboi to be on the field more than 20% of the reps. That is just obvious.

Barriere throws a really nice ball, but yea he's no physical freak like Adams. He is a very good passer though....however, if he can't figure out our game then all of that is moot.

Me too....because the guy has high skill level and if it ever clicks for him lookout. I would hate to see him go to Calgary with his old coach and get the lights turned on over there. Sadly, I think that is exactly what will happen.

We don't necessarily need starting calibre NATs in a rotation, just guys who are capable backups that won't hurt us for a rep or two while we give breathers.

For sure, he is not seeing the field like a 3 down QB needs to do. He's been here a week, maybe he's just a slow learner, maybe he's a bust. I wouldn't get rid of him yet though.

We just didn't have Kongbo (NAT) or Hansen (GL) since then, We can't run that kind of rotation without NATs or GL guys. There just isn't the roster room. That would be a great lineup if everyone plays up to potential.

I have no problem with that at all. I am wired the same way. Winning is the goal. I just think that a natural reaction to losing sometimes is to throw the baby out with the bath water instead of stepping back and seeing how far away from the goal you are. In the Bombers case, I don't believe wholesale change is needed. Some improvement to be sure, but our problems are not of the earth shattering variety. MOS has his quirks, he needs to reel a couple of them in a little, and we will be in great shape from a coaching perspective...hell we are in great shape already.

From what I saw, he is struggling to adapt to the 3 down game. He has the talent, do we have the patience?

In my perfect world we are rotating guys in and out of the DL on a regular basis keeping them fresh as a daisy into the 4th Q. The only way we are able to run a 7-8 man DL rotation is with some NAT DLs rostered and ready. I like the idea of having 2 IMP DTs as well taking 65% of the snaps, but after that if we are going to stay fresh we need to mix in NATs.

I'm not as harsh on our success rate the last couple years as you are, winning the West division the past 2 years and being in the Grey Cup is still a pretty darn good accomplishment imo. That's not to suggest it was perfect, it wasn't, but we are still a dominant team in this league. The fact we can split hairs on roster management after winning games just tells me how spoiled we are as a fan base right now. This could be far, far worse and is nowhere near bad.

True, we can do that. However, we still need to roster our share of NATs come game day and if Schmekel is doing well he is a candidate to be one of those guys and offer us some depth on the DL while he's at it. If he's balling and can offer us a 7 man DL rotation we are right back to 2021. Do we need to use him? No. Would be a nice luxury to have if he can keep playing at a high level.

I am very encouraged by what I have seen from the new recruits at the key positions so far. Don't forget Tre Thomas either, dude was balling the other day.

I think that last year we were wholly unfair to guys like Schmekel given their rookie status. Rarely does a NAT rookie jump off the page in their first year and the learning curve is much steeper for the guys coming out of the CIS. That being said he was rostered and was thusly fair game. However, I don't believe a NAT out of CIS should written off in their rookie year. These guys come to us more raw and less polished than recruits from down South and require some patience. Schmekel obviously put in the work this offseason, and I am glad he is looking better so far because we really need him to be. I agree. Schmekel had a great game, but I really thought Garbutt and Rivers showed they can play in this league.

Just an awful showing by their almost starting lineups for the first quarter and a half. Embarrassing really given that we were playing our scrubs.

Yea, Woli will never let that happen again tho.

Just a typical bust in assignment during a pre-season game. It sucks but guys aren't all the way back yet.

I agree. There have been a lot of outstanding first year players over the past several years here. Yep coaches are hired to be fired....but it would be a massively huge leap to think that time is now for O'Shea. Flaws and all, he is still the best coach in the CFL right now and even though we have lost the last 2 cups, we are the best in the west for the past 4 seasons. When we start losing then I hope the Bombers take a look at whether he should be kept on but until then it would be a really stupid move. Guys are still running thru walls for him and winning in the process,

I thought his ball placement was really good as well compared to 2019. Granted it was all short game stuff but he was zipping it into some tight windows.

I agree with your assessment in general and I was disappointed in hindsight as well. I would like to see MOS manage the roster better as well. You are right he has to wear that, I am simply pointing out that some of these decisions can be very hard to make and a coin flip as to whether they turn out well or not. They are not as black and white in decision making as they appear to us, the fans. You make a valid point on having contigencies on these tough decisions tho.

Chris Smith, was unspectacular in the KR/PR but he did field nicely and went downhill every time. I believe that is who you were thinking about. The kick coverage is always lousy in the preseason for all teams that go into the game with the number of rookies that we did. I am not concerned by that, and expected that. I don't think anyone grabbed the returner spot or can be considered a favorite at this point.

I don't think too many people will/should tell MOS how to coach. There is far more things to consider when choosing a lineup than who the best player is at X position. That is only part of the equation, and unless you've coached you will never understand that. MOS either went with his gut, or trusted some guys too much, or even went with some vets that were borderline and hoped they could play through the pain based on what he knew about them. He may also have gotten some bad info from his trainers regarding these players. None of us know the reasons for these guys playing, we can speculate, but that's all it amounts to really. At the end of the day, MOS has to not only balance his roster, he has to balance his culture and locker room and sometimes that means making choices that seem odd to those that don't have all the info.

Tre Thomas, Ayers, Garbutt, and Rivers especially impressed me yesterday. Small sample size but they balled when the lights were on.