GCn20

Absolutely agree. Brown has all the tools but having to put a team on your back has killed a ton of great looking prospects and there is absolutely no way of knowing whether it will or not until you give them the reins. Therefore, hedge your bets if you are going with a QB in his first year as the man. Shmekel is what he is. Depth and emergency NAT body. Alston intrigues me as well and I look forward to seeing him.

He is probably the best pass rusher in the league right now but there are some significant flaws to his game too.

The only issue I have with Betts season is that even though he led the league in sacks he was also the player that teams ran straight at for big yardage. Both of our victories over BC were in large part because it was him vs. BO mano y mano and BO won that battle decisively. We ran straight at him and he was garbage vs the run, and every other team clued in on that too and it hurt the Lions down the stretch. However, his sack numbers are impressive and that merits him consideration for MODP and MOC. I just think his weakness vs the run should make BO the winner of MOC.

I think Brady will come out of the West. The selection committee already chose him over Collaros, who is a superior QB candidate than VA. It would defy logic for them to select BO over ZC than turn around and select VA over BO. By that same logic, BO would have to be favored over Kelly whose metrics and performance were also not as good as ZC. It's MOP not MVP. Kelly has not been that outstanding really....or at least not as outstanding as ZC on pretty much every measurable statistic. Also, one should remember the CFL is absolutely craving a NAT winner for MOP. It shouldn't matter...but it will.

I think just the opposite of what Bluto is suggesting. Given the outstanding field position and amount of drives he gets a game, if he were the MOP calibre QB he should be easily miles ahead of all other QBs in TD passing, and red zone efficiency....and he isn't. Yardage is always a red herring stat for QBs and not important but those 2 stats separate the outstanding QBs from the game managers.

I can agree with that. I actually agree with this as well. Meh....Kelly is a game manager.

I love it when the fringe candidates throw their hat in the ring. Burris was a really good player but is completely unproven as a coach on any level in the CFL.

Not me. That ship has sailed imo. Harris should retire. Wouldn't surprise me. They have a tough defence and if Carey can have a game they definitely have a chip and a chair. The Lions are a little more Jeckyll and Hyde imo. They can be fantastic, or awful game in and game out. Not much consistency there so who knows which BC team shows up. They go as VA goes and he's streaky. TO has a good team so that would surprise me, but Hammy has been playing better ball than them down the stretch. I really think TO clinching so early might hurt them more than help them.

Fair enough. I retract my comment. Thanks for clarifying that. I really felt that you were lobbying for a HCing change, I should have asked your opinion before. My bad. I actually completely agree with the roster/PR criticisms, I just don't necessarily think they are affecting us as much as you guys do. I shouldn't have been so harsh on you, just some of your comments had me believing that you felt it was time for MOS to be shown the door and I strongly disagree with that. You and Booch's criticisms of PR and roster usage are bang on, just overstated imo.

For sure Brown has had the benefit of all of that. However, he has showed everything you look for in a QB as well. He has executed a very good offence at a very high level. He has shown poise under pressure, made great reads, and has been spot on in his accuracy after making his reads, and has protected the football. This will translate well for him to a lesser team. The only thing we have not seen, and no one can see until he gets his chance, is how he handles the pressure of being THE guy game after game. If he can stay strong mentally he can be successful in this league and just because he did it in our offence should not diminish his accomplishments thus far. I agree. He's playing well above average on a great offence and running the full play book with success. There has been little drop off in execution with him behind centre. Does our offensive personnel make that easier...you bet. However, he still has to go out and execute no matter how good his team mates are and he has shown an ability to do so. That and he doesn't end the season on the PR so not a FA next year.

They HAVE to move on from Harris at this point I would think. Just no point in bringing back a guy on his absolute last legs of his career. However, as I've said all along I fully expect the Riders to make the wrong decision on this and bring him back only to lose him for the season again because his bones are brittle now. Instead they will watch as Dru Brown or another young QB emerges that they should have targeted in FA instead....probably beating them out for a playoff spot too.

it is baffling for sure...but tire fires rarely make good decisions.

Brady is by far, and it is not even close, the best NAT this year. He should win MOP too. Strictly talking about MODP and it's only because there isn't a lot of MODP worthy performances this year and Betts put up some impressive numbers and he was impactful because of that. One dimensional sure....but they used him to his strength and he was a difference maker for them. However, BO just beat his next biggest rival for MOP imo. Kelly OVERRATED.

All I know about the CFL is that the first 9 games are nice and everything but you find out who your team truly is in the last 9. The Riders found out. If you can't raise the bar or even maintain it then your team is in big trouble. That's two years in a row for them, and that makes me believe there are not many winners in that room.

For sure. He is a one and done in the CFL. He earned it. Brady is a much more deserving pick than VA, and I doubt the voters will see it any other way.

Betts should get it. He had a great season.

Absolutely, but the effect each of those guys has on each other is not the same and that is not a knock on any of them but Schoen and Lawler definitely are game planned against to try neutralize them a lot more thoroughly than the rest.

Very tough to pull off.

That could very well be. The reason why is unimportant, what's important is that he is not a guy looking to jump at his first opportunity to be a HC.

Lawler could get those numbers playing half arsed though. Not suggesting he has been at all, but I think that is what the OP was thinking. I personally think that a ton of what Lawler does on the field ends up in other receivers seeing bigger numbers.

For sure. The best teams are the ones that can re-sign their really good young guys, make good evaluations on veterans as they age, keep their core intact as much as possible, have rock solid NAT starters, OL, and DL and get good coaching along the way and have good QBing. It's a lot tougher to stay on top than to get to the top.

Maybe. Knowing MOS and the Bomber organization this is not something that anyone would ever know outside that room though. However, Buck has already turned down 2 HC interviews in the past 2 years that have been confirmed in the media, so either he is extremely comfortable remaining an OC until the perfect situation comes along, or some kind of succession map has been laid out to him that he is completely comfortable with. Either way, Buck has already demonstrated that he is not really willing to jump into a tire fire for a promotion.

I would like to second your opinion that there is no right way or wrong way to be a fan. I have been on these forums a long time and at various times been every type of fan there is. From Pollyanna to harshest critic of this team. During the Kelly era I don't think there was a more outspoken critic of his work than I was and I was told I was a bad fan by many other posters. Completely untrue. I don't think any fan that is passionate, takes the time to spend hundreds of hours on these forums posting their fandom beliefs is a bad fan and sometimes we all need to remember that. Even TBurg is not a bad fan....a pain in the butt for sure...lol...but I have absolutely no doubt that he is a huge Bomber supporter (even tho I will call him a Lions fan every chance I get). Bottom line, there is no player or coach that is so perfect that flaws cannot be found and so long as there are flaws there will be fans who point them out. Not because they are bad fans, but because much like the Banjo Bowl...when perfection manifests itself in this game it is a marvelous fan experience that most of us feel our team is capable of doing more often. Whether that is realistic or not is another matter...but from what I have seen this year it's just a matter of super high fan expectations manifesting and that is not a bad thing.

I look at ANY CFL roster over the past few years and there is 20% turnover every year or two. Just the nature of the game. Injuries, short career span, SMS and one year contracts almost assure it. Will our roster turnover quite a bit by 2025 GC..more than likely. Probably not as much as most teams though.

Got off to a slow start for sure, but has been solid after that.