I want section 202 to be officially #RandleIsland would be great to have sections of the stadium connected with a player. Want signage up and everything.
First, Richards (though barely) Thomas, Sherman, Waggoner are not rookies. And Hurl and Bucknor were both playing for the 2 wins against ssk last year.
That's right! I forgot that it was duck and not chicken. Shame on me for forgetting that as I actually raise ducks! For some reason I believe it is also done with chicken fetus, perhaps in a different culture, though maybe I am wrong about that too.
This wont be popular but just want to say one thing. Those people who have had the opportunity to spend time with Marcel will attest that he was always a gentleman and a really great guy to be around. Very humble and kind. I had met him in passing a couple of times and then quite some time later met him again at a house party and he walked right up to me and said "we've met before" but couldnt remember the details. He and his wife are good people. Wish them the best.
Rock and roll will never die so long as there are weekend warrior musicians playing for beer money in a seedy bar doing cover versions of classic rock out of a crappy PA.....and absolutely ROCKING the place. The heart of rock and roll is still alive at the grass roots....it just hasn't survived at the top levels.
This is likely going to be a long post but I've been thinking about doing this for a long time. I will preface this by saying I have never been a fan of Walter's work. I think because public sentiment had soured on Mack to the degree that anyone would have been seen as a massive improvement. I will also admit that I have always had a soft spot for Joe Mack and thought while he failed in getting us a QB, his team did bring us to a Grey Cup with Buck freaking Pierce at the helm. I will divide this into three sections; import recruiting, free agency and drafting. I recognize that some of the failures of Walters are also failures of McManus and Goveia so consider the import recruiting section to be a criticism of all three.
Import Recruiting:
Walters was hired in August of 2013 as the interim GM to replace the fired Joe Mack. That offseason, the search was on for a permanent GM that included Walters, Duane Forde for some reason and Tom Higgins. I am confident that none of those three headliners would have been good options but that's a story for another time. So if we take into account that Walters has been in charge for more than two calendar years, the following are the players he has brought in with no previous CFL experience that are currently making an impact on the team: Justin Veltung, Jace Daniels, Khalil Bass, Johnny Adams, Bruce Johnson, Moe Leggett & Cam Marshall. I will admit there are some good players on that list but considering that he has had two full training camps and offseasons to build the talent on the roster and to only have 7 of your own recruits become regular CFL players? Joe Mack, fired over two years ago, still has Washington, Turner, Anderson and Denmark on the roster of CFL rookies he brought in himself. Considering the lifecycle of professional football players to have only a 7-4 advantage in import recruits at this stage is pretty terrible. Let's also not forget, arguably our best defender last year was Ian Wild, another Mack guy.
To move onto the QBs for a moment, this was something I will agree that Mack had limited to no success with. However, while I will get to Willy in a moment, Walters has failed equally if not more in bringing in his own QB prospects. Say what you will about Brink, Elliott and Goltz but are any of them worse than Brohm, Marve or Portis? Having a marquee starting QB doesn't mean you can fail at finding a developmental or adequate backup QB. We are fully aware at this point what that failure leads to. Franklin, Cato, Collaros even Brett Smith are first year CFL quarterbacks who have at the very least shown they can move the ball. The bomber are stuck with Brohm, a 30 year old journeyman who has yet to show he can even make a 5 yard completion consistently and Robert Marve, a scrambler with no accuracy to speak of.
Running back has been a position that in the past has been a boon for the Bombers. Even going back 15 years, Roberts to Reid to Garrett to Simpson. I'm not saying Marshall and Cotton aren't good players as they are fine and injuries have certainly hampered our ability to fully evaluate Cotton but here's another issue. Walters didn't even find Cotton! He was originally cut in Hamilton's TC and then brought here. Not to say you can't find good players that way as Vega was brought in by Mack in a similar manner but it just continues to contribute to the idea that Walters struggles to bring in his own recruited talent. RB isn't even a sore spot for this team without decimating injuries but bringing in Chevon Walker tells me all I need to know about Walters' confidence in his ability.
One of the two biggest sore spots for me when it comes to Walters is Receiver. Yes, Veltung looks like a solid enough prospect but to have only one Import recruit to speak of after two years of trying is a complete and utter embarrassment. Toronto brought in three contributing rookies this year. Hamilton has brought in Underwood and Tolliver. Calgary brought in Rogers last year. The list goes on and on and on. Denmark, Moore and Adams are fine players but none are the best at their position to the point where competition should not be pushing them. Jhomo Gordon was the best of what we brought in in the offseason according to the coaching staff this year and he's been a mess in three games played. The fact that last year we not only brought in Romby Bryant (a complete joke and truthfully the biggest red flag last year of Walters' incompetence) but also started him for over half the year is something that would not go over on any other team in the league save for Taman's Riders. Also keep in mind that no one could displace Aaron Kelly from Walters' recruits either. Joe Mack brought in Matthews, Denmark, Wallace Miles, Greg Carr and TJH. All players that made an impact at the CFL level and shames the talent that Walters has brought in.
I'll lastly look at the defensive line. Up until this year, Turner and Anderson were guys that we really had no reason to replace but that's also another check by Joe Mack's name as they were his recruits. Meanwhile, while Nate Collins looks like a player, the rest of the linemen he has brought in have been a who's who of nobodies. The fact that no one has displaced Greg Peach in two years and the guy who has shown the most of the other imports, Thad Gibson, was not even a Walters find! Fraser, Willie Mosely, Marvin Booker, Tre Harlan and so on have all failed to make an impact while guys like Alex Bazzie, Gabe Knapton, Willie Jefferson, Tristan Okpalaugo, and Bryan Hall have all come into the league over the past couple seasons and have been great for their teams.
Free Agency:
Over two offseasons and seasons, the Bombers have brought in the following players; Graig Newman, Nick Moore, Darvin Adams, Stanley Bryant, Ivan Brown, Sam Hurl, Romby Bryant, EJ Kuale, Greg Peach, Aaron Kelly and Dom Picard. I will be generous by saying 5 of those players are hits (including Hurl) while admitting that Ivan Brown is who he is and his was hardly a make or break signing. That being said, Moore and Bryant are the best of the Import lot there are Bryant has not had a great season by any stretch and Moore has been solid, if unspectacular and frequently injured. I'll admit I was never a Moore fan and thought we paid too much for him, but that's the price of not bringing in Import receiver talent I guess. On the other hand, Mack was universally panned for standing pat during free agency and preferring to build with his own guys. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't but looking at that list of players brought in via free agency by Walters, would any of you say that had they all not been signed we would be missing out? Truthfully, I didn't have a category to put Westerman and Hajrullahu in they were of course likely Walters' two shining moments as GM of this team but again, this was a case of signing a kicker off the street and giving him a chance when pretty much every other team was set at kicker and throwing money and a starting spot at Westerman. He deserves credit for landing them both but it doesn't change much. Let's also remember that Walters traded for a 35 year old Korey Banks as an attempt to solidfy the linebacking corps. I will also put the trade for Randle down here and again, another solid move by Walters that I really can't criticize in any manner. Randle, Westerman and Hajrullahu are three difference makers on the roster and all three are Walters' moves. Good for him.
This brings us to the situation of Drew Willy. Last offseason, the QBs available were Willy, Collaros and Burris as everyone remembers. Ottawa had the freshly drafted Glenn as their QB but badly wanted Burris for some insane reason once he became available. Collaros was always seen as the best QB on the market followed by Willy. Despite Collaros' success in Hamilton, I am still happy and content with Willy as our man. The problem is, there was almost no way that the Bombers were going to end up without one of the two. Burris was going to Ottawa and the scary part was, the Bombers were making a push for him! Can't imagine Joe Mack ever doing that. In the end, Walters made the trade with the Riders for Willy's rights that Mack didn't make with BC for Mike Reilly's. I'd argue that the price Taman wanted for Willy (Etienne) was pittance compared to Wally's price for Reilly (A first rounder without the right to speak to Reilly beforehand iirc). I obviously can't prove this but put Mack in the GM chair last offseason and you likely get the same result. Collaros to Hamilton, Burris to Ottawa and Willy to Winnipeg. Other than Montreal, who was more than happy to enter the season with Troy Smith, no other team needed a QB. Collaros and Willy were both going to hit the market no matter what and Ottawa wanted a veteran QB to lead them through their first season. I guess Walters should get credit for getting the job done, but I find it difficult to give him a ton of credit. Especially considering Collaros at this point is clearly the superior QB anyway.
The Draft:
This is where I think Walters actually deserves the most criticism. Mostly because he was never touted as a great American scout with a ton of connections down south, but rather a cerebral CIS guy who could be trusted at draft time. Before we get to Walters' drafts as GM, I want to go back to the 2013 draft, Mack's last as GM of the Bombers. The story was that when Mack was going to pick Mulumba, Walters was convinced Edem was the better pick. After Mulumba stuck in the NFL and Edem had a decent to good rookie year with the Als, everyone was lauding Walters' genius. In the years since, Edem has lost his job to Marco Brouillette and has failed to come close to his rookie season's productivity. Mulumba is still in the NFL but this has been touched on before, I still would rather have a guy like him in the pipeline that Edem who at this point it's known what he brings and it's special teams work for the last few years.
The 2014 draft was a weak one and I love the Derek Jones pick while Briggs looks solid enough. Goossen was picking based on need which I hate, but we can't close the door on him yet and save for Pruneau, no one selected after pick two is anyone I feel we really missed out on. I have no negative things to say about this draft so good job Walters.
2015 is where things went off the rails. I love the Chungh pick but people loved the Muamba pick too. It was a need and we picked the best player available. That's what a GM should do. The next rounds were colossal let downs and as bad as anything Mack ever did (Robertson in the 2nd round was just as bad). Richards and Morgan may turn out to be good players but passing on Durant, SML, Waud, Shortill or even Brett Boyko will be mistakes that we will feel for years to come.
Conclusion:
Since he was hired in August 2013, the Bombers are 12-27. This is not all on Kyle Walters but despite some great moves (Westerman, Randle, Chungh, Hajrullahu) the bad ones and the REALLY bad ones greatly outweigh those positives. I know most of you probably know or remember all this stuff but now with Taman out of the picture in Regina, Walters is the clear bottom of the CFL GM barrel.
What I remember of Berry was him hating Serna and causing Serna to lose confidence. Far from what is being suggested. Plus, O'Shea did fire Etch. I don't think firing him during the season would have salvaged much anyhow. I'm not sure the cronyism still exists. It's to early to tell with this management. I don't think O'Shea should be fired anytime soon, but I did wonder in a curious way if Walters would be able to pull the trigger if need be
People can talk about his work with Calvillo all they want. It was worth considering his work with Calvillo when we hired him, obviously, by looking at his prior work and seeing his successes and failures.
He's been here long enough that we can judge whether he is the right OC for us based on what he is showing as Bomber coach. I see an offense that's been able to attack downfield often yet still manage to maintain a high completion rate from their (starting) QB.
I think almost every fan in the CFL feels their OC is too predictable. Its always easy to look back on it. Part of me feels that fans want some ridiculous trick plays consistently, but that's not part of the discussion here, just a tangent on my part. I think if you study the offense week in and week out you can see the wrinkles he keeps adding. The formations and movement prior to the snap for instance have shown a clear desire to show the current opponent one thing, and present further options in later weeks. Little things, like having Moore head towards the QB with the potential of taking a hand off.
All this isn't to say MB is perfect. He deserves his share of the blame as the guy who's in charge of the offense. Still, MB gets little of the praise when the offense works and seemingly the most blame when the offense doesn't. Meanwhile, Willy struggled against blitzes early in the season, there are still several OL struggling to maintain blocks consistently, and Brian Brohm flat out can't hit an open receiver. Anytime Willy gets hit we're reminded that MB's offenses have had QBs take a lot of hits. This is a valid criticism if applied correctly, but often I think here it isn't. For example, Tyler got blown backwards and beaten immediately on the play Willy got hit on. Other times Willy has failed to identify the direction of the blitz, resulting in a hit. None of this is on MB. Now, there have been times when we've reduced the protection in favour of spreading out the offense, and in some of these cases I think the criticism of getting his QB hit is warranted.
The thing I'm most hoping for is Willy to stay healthy, because I think he can be outstanding in this offense. And if he isn't, then at least we have more film to work off of when fans are evaluating both Willy and MB. Having Brohm play is complicating the evaluation and probably providing a more negative outlook on this offense, in my opinion.
Silence would be better than bragging about doing nothing.
But since you asked ... what would I like to see?
Any emphasis on a particular area compared to other days or weeks? They're there every day, they must notice trends (if they were actually watching of course)
Kohlert is back from injury after a long layoff - how does he look? Any brace or wrap? Does he look like he's struggling with anything or is he a full go?
Paul Friesen just wrote a huge column blasting the Bombers for letting Willy play so soon after a concussion but I've never heard any comments on how he looks - which in this case, I will assume means he looks great because if he didn't, no doubt Friesen would be jumping at the opportunity to say we're mishandling things.
Da'rel Scott and Patrick Neufeld just started practicing again this week - what units are they lining up with? Are they seeing any work with the first or second units.
Injury updates on Nate Collins or Troy Stoudermire - Stoudermire especially is in that zone where he could be back soon and yet, we haven't heard anything.
There was apparently a new guy working with the RB / REC crews last week occasionally - any update on if he's still there or who he is?
Is JFG still running with the 1s or are Richards/Bastien stealing any reps after JFG's rough Thursday?
I was really a fan of Renaud when he first joined the team. I had never seen a punter pursue his kicks like Renaud and he made a couple of game-changing plays as a result of recovering his own punts or causing chaos getting downfield fast... Wish I still had some video footage of it. Unfortunately, if I recall, his downfield pursuit caused an injury and he never resumed that part of his game. Seemed like a great team player and character guy though.
After months of pretty intense treatments......am now facing a pretty long rehab, after being knocked out of the lineup, for the last quarter of this season.
But yesterday the game films were reviewed and my med team have given the verdict........
Final score:
Do or Die........................1
Head and Neck Cancer...0
However it will be a while before I can raise a Bombay, in salute.
Might even change my user name....to Do.
Now looking forward to subjecting folks to my ole school ways, on this board for a long time to come.
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