Tracker

Realistically, if/when the Bombers get past the Esks, it ought to get a lot easier. I will be happy if they get to the Cup game. I would be a lot more confident if we had Leggett and Adams in the lineup.

Agreed. No matter how good you are as a player or even a coach, you don't get too many chances to win The Big Game.

Great news, if Nichols is close to 100%. We need him to be at his best to win.

BIG height difference there. Fogg is going have to play exceptionally well.

That sounds pretty vague.

If McManus et al cannot do better than Durant and apparently Davis and LeFevour, we are in trouble next year.

With the Bombers' vulnerability to runs up the middle, I would usually be worried, but the Eskimo O-line is average on a good day, and their run game is very suspect. With Hurl in the middle, that means the 5-10 yard passes over the middle are probable targets. Loffler will have to cheat up and that could the home run passes down the middle will be open. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

If you are not here to expand your vocabulary, why are you here?

If I am Maas and Co., my game plan is simple: take away Harris and Dressler and you have the Bombers by the gonads. The Bombers have to blitz Reilly damned near every play with differing people- if Reilly has any time at all back there, he will vivisect the Bomber defence. Reilly is one of the two or three best passers in the league and his receivers are probably the best overall group in the league. If Nichols plays and is significantly less that his best, it could get ugly. For the Bombers to win as damaged as they are, every player will have to be at his best, and that includes the new receivers.

That LeFevour has been getting the amount of reps this week means that the coaching staff has little confidence in Davis and he will probably be released as soon as the season is over (like his career). This has to be Lankford's last kick at the cat. He has to show in this game why he has been kept around or be likewise gone. He's a likeable guy with smarts and great speed, but he has to show that he is better than a lot of other receiver options out there.

We have to hope a better outcome for Nichols compared to how Pierce's scrambling screwed him up.

On the 1290 Round Table today O'Shea was quoted as saying that Nichols would be in the game "in some capacity". Again, who knows what games are being played?

As much as we had reason to criticize Lankford, neither Washington nor Givens have shown that they are better. I would not be averse to Lankford being put back into the starting lineup.

As Mitchell goes, so go the Stamps- pretty much the same as the Bombers and Nichols, and the whole Stampeder team, defence and all have been off all year and trending downwards since mid-season. We are probably looking at two dinged QBs playing on Sunday and we will see which can win.

But but but...we all speek gooder Inglish... "All your base are belong to us"

I know, I know, and he was being the best speedbump he could be.

If the calf injury is still plaguing Nichols, but he is going to start, he will be pretty much rooted to the ground- no rollouts or QB draws. The O-line is going to have to protect him as well as they have this season. No Nichols, no trip to Calgary next week.

For Givens, this could be classified as a dangerous opportunity. If he's a keeper, then he will rise to the occasion and have a great game. If he's another also-ran, he will not distinguish himself and become the subject of a trivia question. Some athletes never get a chance to show their stuff even when they have potential, so Givens has what others would love to have.

I would put the Esks at the top, but after that it looks about right.

I seem to recall that Wally Buono has long-time Montreal connections. If he becomes available, the Wettenhalls would do well to hire him in some management position.

That's a sexist term. It is "letter carrier"- a non sexist term like "snowperson".

"gasp"

The Glieberguys set new standards for utterly incompetent ownership. I remember being embarrassed for the Ottawa fans and the whole league.

The rest of the line he was part of was no heck, either. That could have affected his play.

In the fruitcake of life, it's the nuts that give it character.