Tracker

In an interview a couple of weeks ago, Hall said that because of the improved personnel on defence, the Bombers would be a lot more creative in coverage and line play this season. Still waiting.

I guess it comes down to whether you think Dickinson and company can rebound better than O'Shea and company. Logically, it seems way too early to start designating a game as a "must win", but here we are, and it sure feels like it.

Willy's market value at the moment is near zero. As a matter of fact, given his contract, it might actually be less than zero. I have doubts about Willy being able to fulfill the promise he showed when he arrived, but he deserves a chance to prove himself worthwhile or play himself off the roster. Nichols might be good enough to step in, but that smacks of desperation. As Willy goes, so goes the team, and we just might be scrooged.

And here I thought this was McCallum's front yard a few years ago.

Historically, the Bombers have done very poorly, but maybe they are due. Realistically (he said while wiping a tear from his eye), Huffer will detonate on the sidelines if the Horsemen do not start vigorously, and Dickinson ought to have his charges ready, so the Bombers had better have their jockstraps on tight. If the Bombers do their Keystone Kops routine again in the first half, I'm not sure that the mushroom cloud over Cowgary won't be O'Shea.

Of course!!!! Why didn't any of us see that Louie was the problem all along! How could we have been so blind?

Actually, Gordie played with two of his sons, although only one had a career of any note.

Harris wasn't the worst defensive player, but he was often late and ought to have been penalized for an out of bounds hit on a Montreal receiver.

Great. Another brittle quarterback at the end of his career. Just what we need.

But logic didn't keep him from being dead.

From the little I know about O-lines and blocking assignments, it does take some live-fire time for the group to jell, and they did get better as the game wore on, so lets wait a couple more games before we start warming up the bitumen and plucking chickens.

Not that Willy is a bad guy, but his personality may not lend itself to a fluid sport like football. There are two types of intelligence- static and dynamic. Those with static intelligence are very good at doing things if the situation remains unchanging and the person is undisturbed, but flounder if unsettled. Those with dynamic intelligence thrive in changing situations and can adapt on the fly- they love chaos and are very competitive. Guess which one Willy probably is.

Mr. Bellefeuille deserved every bit of criticism he got. And Denmark was good while he was here, but his time is done.

To be fair to willy, he had to be given a chance to play himself into stardom or off the team, and as poorly as he played last game (and the others before that), his salary if nothing else says he needs to be given the ball. I do not know if pulling him next game if he repeats will give him a chance to gain a better perspective or if that would further erode his mojo. That's what O'Shea and LaPolice get paid for, and repeating the same process over and over is pointless. O'Shea has not given any indication that he knows what to do.

And Willy did a mea culpa after the game saying that he had played a terrible game. What will make or break the season for us is if Willy can shake this off. The available evidence says no, but people have a way of defying the odds every now and again. The larger question is whether O'Shea will drive Willy into the ground or look at a plan B.

New standards for ugly.

Q.E.D. Ottawa can field a competitive team from year one and with all the storied history of the Bombers, we're still as far from the Cup as we were three years ago.

I rather think if the team record is no worse than .500 at Labour Day, heads will roll. You have to concede two playoff spots in the west to Calgary and Edmonton, with BC very much a dark horse. Of all the GM/coach combos among the Lions, Riders and Bombers, Wally has the most experience and record to push his team into the third playoff spot. This leaves the Riders and Bombers outside looking in, and not being in a position to compete for a playoffs spot yet again will doom O'Shea. He's a good guy who came in with a lot of goodwill, but he (and Willy) just have not done the job.

It seems to me that Willy and probably O'Shea have until Labour Day- the CFL collective agreement states that if veterans are kept on after then and released afterwards, they get paid to the end of the season. Thus, if Willy cannot improve a lot and loses the confidence of the coaches, he ought to be canned before we have to shell out some $200,000 for a player who cannot benefit the team. It seems to me that O'Shea has put all his eggs in one basket.

I do not think it is just rust- he has been the same for now the third season in blue and gold except for a brief period in his first season. Hesitant and nervous.

In case anyone wants to go through the bother and look, the Free Press downgraded its coverage in the Saturday edition to a one-page blurb that could have been written by someone who watched only the TSN highlights. No real depth at all- sort of adding "meh" to injury.

We need to have Willy pee-tested as soon as possible.

The offence has been plenty broken down, thank you.

Ahem.."we played hard, the execution was off a bit, we have to get better and we will, the game is over now and we have to look ahead to the next one, we have to look at the tapes to really see what happened, we haven't quite jelled as a team" Did I miss any cliches?