Tracker

No question that Willy has the grit, the command presence and the talent to be a #1 quarterback in this league, but he simply cannot continue to take the pounding he has so far. He hasn't been gifted with the best set of receivers in the league, either, nor with an offensive coordinator who can take advantage of Willy's skill and offset his liabilities. Willy came damned close to a career-ending injury this year and I am concerned that one more such year-ending injury will do it for him. His wife is not going to be happy thinking that he is going to have a future with creaky knees by age 40 and unable to play with the kids or dance without pain.

You forgot Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

I was just about to mention this. Any defense that is on the field as much as ours was, is going to give up yards & points. We were also saddled with a poor D-line which had little pass rush and a middle linebacker who seemed lost most of the time, particularly against the run when the opposition was running the ball to eat up the clock.

And having to work behind a suspect and ineffective D-line to boot.

This announcement makes it highly likely that O'Shea will be back. Damn.

One down........

And look how successful we were with the quarterbacks we have so carefully groomed for the past couple of seasons.

Well, there were a bunch of them in Toronto last Friday who weren't.

I would disagree. Right tackle was a problem, but so was the center, left guard and even left tackle more than it should have been, given Bryant's resume. Even left guard was unsettled a fair bit.

If WIlly had stayed healthy and Burris had been done for the year before Labour Day would anyone be saying this? Walters has to get better but let's not pretend that Desjardins did anything special. Only team in the East to have their starting qb all season, I think they're the only team to have used the same OL all year... those are huge benefits. Do you think that had we gone through the whole season with the O-line we had coming out of training camp, we would have been all that much better???

No need for any picking of an alleged brain- all we need do is look at the game films for the past two seasons. Whether Bellefeuille is canned now or in 8 weeks, he is going to be paid out his salary regardless. There is a point to be made here, that incompetence has its consequence, and how long it takes to happen or if it happens at all will give us an insight into what the management thinking is. The "what not to do" should of tipped you off, to a wee bit of sarcasm...... People say I'm condescending. That means I talk down to them.

Didn't seem to be the case in BC, Hamilton or Sask this year.

I've seen it happen when a GM leaves and a popular coach remains, but usually that is a token gesture by the new GM to leave the old coach in place for a year, but it is rare for the old coach to hang around longer than that.

FWIW Durant had 12 catches for 170 yards and 3 TDs this year... Richards 1 catch for 12 yards... which is good for another Winnipeg FIRST DOWN (assuming it wasn't first and 15 or something)... and as far as I can tell Jake Harty did literally nothing this year... Ott lists him on their active roster and depth chart but he accumulated no stats... I guess he was a healthy scratch all year? Wouldn't want the little dear to bruise his tender body.

No need for any picking of an alleged brain- all we need do is look at the game films for the past two seasons. Whether Bellefeuille is canned now or in 8 weeks, he is going to be paid out his salary regardless. There is a point to be made here, that incompetence has its consequence, and how long it takes to happen or if it happens at all will give us an insight into what the management thinking is.

The team folded like a cheap tent in the games Willy got hurt. Very few stepped up throughout the season in the face of adversity. I would say that your assessment of the team being mentally weak was spot on. I think that's more a case of simply not having anyone capable of stepping up. Denmark isn't the kind of receiver who steps up when he has more pressure. He's a great supporting player in a receiving corps, but as a guy who can take it upon himself? Not really. Closest we have is Moore and he has his own issues. The run game was never used properly to be that dominant factor, plus with the OL getting blown up as consistently as they did you could never rely on it anyway. Simply put this team needs much more talent so that there are people who CAN step up in the face of adversity. You go back to the early 2000s if we needed a play you could generally rely on Roberts or Stegall to make that play. Who do we turn to now when we absolutely NEED a play? Kyle Walters needs to get his **** together this offseason. I agree with your assessment, but I found that the defense seemed to collapse after Willy was hurt in games. No one stepped up to make a key stop either. One could argue that they were on the field for inordinate lengths of time, but they just seemed to sag emotionally and give up big plays instead of making them. Maybe if we can keep the O on the field longer the D will reach its potential. Walters does have some work to do, regardless. The work begins with Walters but doesn't stop there. This is a wall-to-wall mess.

Maybe he wants to make it clear that he wants to be part of the solution and that he's not part of the problem. No matter what, it is not a good comment on the current regime.

And the 2015 Bombers went through the motions even though they had as much reason to play hard as the Riders and Als. Just sad and a condemnation of the current regime. "Yeah, well, the Riders had their struggles this year and put in a good effort today but y'know, I love the effort level our players put out each and every game. It might look like some of our players weren't playing hard but I can assure you none of our players ever took a night off or didn't give 110% every game of the season. We just didn't get the result we were looking for but we'll look at some film and make the necessary adjustments to turn this thing around. Wade, and Kyle, and I can feel the pain coming from our fans but we need you fans to remain loyal and buy those season tickets and don't forget to get your Grey Cup tickets right away because there are still a few left." Be careful to wipe your feet so that you don't track that all over the place.

Oh no! You agreed to this given the present circumstances? We've had the wager going for 10 years, and I'm sick of losing.

And the 2015 Bombers went through the motions even though they had as much reason to play hard as the Riders and Als. Just sad and a condemnation of the current regime.

And the standing bet with my brother in law in S'toon is that if the Riders finish lower than the Bombers, He has to wear a Bomber shirt all next season, and vice versa, so if the Riders turn it around next year from this debacle, I will be really pissed-off. If O'Shea is retained, I might as well order a new Rider jersey for 2017.

I can't believe it hasn't happened already. Why wait? Have to review the film. (Old joke)

Plus, there were those "personal conduct " rumours about Durant.

Buck Pierce it is then! The best recommendation that Buck has is that he is not Bellefeuille.

Burris may be trying for one last hurrah and giving Father Time the finger, so he may be wanting to go out in a blaze of glory. He looks to be the odds-on favourite for the league MOP at the very least.