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Bucknor was a very pleasant surprise. I thought the halfback on his side and safety would have to cheat over to his zone to cover for him, but even though his tackling leaves something to be desired, he was good for a rookie and seemed to improve over the season. How many Canadian corners are there around, anyways? Definitely a ratio-changer.

Well, now we have reason to hope for better next year as per an article in today's Freep: It was the first year with O'Shea as head coach, however, and he was asked Sunday what lessons he took away from his rookie season as a head coach. "We've got a lot of work to do. And there's lots to learn still. That's an easy answer," O'Shea said. Asked where his team needs to get better, O'Shea didn't mince words. "Every phase. We want to win championships, so saying we're going to fix one thing here, one thing there -- it doesn't work that way. "We have to get better across the board. We can't afford to take penalties, we can't give up so many turnovers, we can't give up that number of sacks, we can't give up those rushing yards, we need to be more effective in the red zone. "It's everything. We're trying to improve every facet of the game. What I've said to the coaches so far, is we're going to spend this off-season inspecting everything." Asked to assess the performances of offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille and defensive co-ordinator Gary Etcheverry, O'Shea was upbeat. "They've worked extremely hard. They've put their players in positions to be successful. They've done a pretty good job." But O'Shea hedged when asked if the two men would be back for 2015, noting he hasn't yet had his own performance review from GM Kyle Walters. "When I have that meeting with Kyle, then I'll be able to go down the line and go from there."

Alexander's career is over, but Teague Sherman looks to have the raw athleticism that, with coaching could make him very useful as a weak-side linebacker. Could be a diamond in the rough and a home-town boy to boot.

Wild would be a tremendous loss if it comes to that. His hit on the final play against Calgary made up for a lot of the misery of watching the defence fold in the last few games. If we can get the D-line shielding him better and maybe move him to an outside position, he would be an all-star.

Its gonna be a dogfight between Edmonton and Hamilton in a low scoring game dominated by scrambling quarterbacks and carnivorous D-lines. If it comes down to talent, the Esks have an edge but the difference could well be the coaching, and Austin gives the 'Cats a big edge there. 20-17 either way.

Mike Kelly also finished the 2009 season with 7-11 record. Just sayin' No comparison here apart from the raw numbers. I have never seen a coach burn off so much goodwill from the media and fans in such a short time as Kelly did. The board of directors should take a blood-oath to never, ever appoint a rookie to be both GM and coach at the same time. Rheinbold and Kelly were unqualified disasters and should be held up as glaring examples of what not to do.

Portis? What did he do on the sidelines? Portis was in complete command of masterful restraint.

Now you've got me all excited and tingly.

Nice to both ending the season on a winning note and not having that foul taste in the mouth afterwards. One win after all this time is cause for celebration but it does not gloss over the problems that still have to be addressed on the team. Now the real hard work begins.

The problem with concussions is that the damage is cumulative until a threshold is reached and then you are Eric Lindros or Matt Dunigan. Thankfully, the protocols are a lot more stringent than they used to be.

Good on you and the team.

I don't think it would take a rocket surgeon to answer the question intelligently. The answer would be something along the lines of," Yes, we've struggled in the areas of quarterback protection, and offensive and defensive line play. It's been a concern for some time and we haven't yet been able to improve these as quickly as we would liked. We are going to focus on the next game although its pretty meaningless except for the jobs involved, but the team is going to have to undergo an overhaul in the off-season. I will be working closely with Walters on this and everything will have to be on the table"

Upgrade, get bigger, meaner, tougher & more physical. Not only make for a better pass rush but a better run stopping D. It'll never happen under Etch so he has to go. Sunday. You're twisting everything to fit your narrative of firing Etch. Bigger, smaller, tougher, meaner I don't give a **** about any of that, I just want better players. Vega was terrible this year for whatever reason, Peach was himself, which is a plugger, Anderson was good but got hurt, Turner was pretty decent... we need better ends at the very least and that will make the D better. Etch or no Etch this defensive line wasn't good enough to have a good defense. So, thinking a bigger & more physical DL isn't part of improvement? Why do you think we can't stop the run or don't get a pass rush? We're too small. We get pushed back 5 yards when teams run so the second level makes more tackles then our DL does. We get stood straight up when we pass rush as we have no push. We rely on our undersized linebackers to make our plays on the run & the pass & we got killed doing that all season. Don't you think coaching philosophy just as much as personnel has something to do with this? We all knew this would happen going into this season. While size and strength are not absolute determinants of line play effectiveness, they're pretty close to it. I, for one, am sick and tired of watching the Bombers unable to stop a short-yardage plunge with any consistency. Too man times have opposing O-linemen come completely free to bury our linebackers and let the RB behind them scamper for first downs and more.

That's not Etcheverry?

Even worse was one of the ******* on CJAY, one of those "rah rah local sports team!" types who doesn't know a thing about sports was talking about the stamps before the last game against the Bombers and how the stamps were on the bye but they have the Bombers next week so it's basically 2 weeks off. Too many egos in that city. They act like the Flames aren't a joke of a team too. Unfortunately for Bomber fans, that was a pretty accurate assessment of how the team has played for the last half of the season. The only way the Bombers will regain any respect is to play Calgary tough right down to the wire today. I'm not really expecting the Big Blue to win, but it would be cause for great rejoicing if they somehow did.

There is a line between keeping in-house stuff in-house and treating fans and sports reporters as annoying idiots, even though some of them are. Before O'Shea snarls at media, he ought to take a hard look at both the team's abysmal record and the quality of under-coaches he chose. Honesty usually works well, and admitting that the team has problems and needs to to improve dramatically in certain areas does not automatically mean throwing people under the bus- they have done that to themselves. I do wonder if bringing in a rookie head coach for a team in this bad a condition as it was at the end of last season was a good choice.

CUTE!!!

You are assuming that Willy will benefit from being harassed and hammered. Mojos are hard to find when you are running for your life (which Willy is loathe to do) or horizontal with a 300 lb lineman on top of you.

There's a scenario for organizations of all sorts that are failing- first you claim that all is well and will sort itself out if everyone follows "the plan". Then, when things do not improve, you say that things will be reviewed at the appropriate date- later. Then you state that the past is done and over with so there's no point in rehashing it. Then you say that you are moving on and everyone ought to look forward rather than backwards. During this cycle, you first humour critics, then brush them off, then proceed to criticize them and finally accuse them of incompetence and/or disloyalty. At no point do you admit that there are systemic problems that need urgent addressing.

This is really a false debate in that there is no good reason to assume that with an off-season to recover from this season, Willy will not be as good or better than he was at the start of this season. We know what he brings to the table and one game isn't going to change that, but whether the backups are legitimate future starters is still open to debate. Calgary is going to maul anyone behind the Bomber center and Marve is our best hope to salvage a bit of respectability in this last gasp.

From today's Freep: WINNIPEG Blue Bombers head coach Mike O'Shea volunteered Thursday his 6-11 football team "needs to get better, from me on down." But when O'Shea was asked by reporters if he was admitting he'd personally made mistakes in his rookie season as the Bombers' field boss, O'Shea bristled. "I'll have to go back and go through everything and take some notes on that," O'Shea replied. So, no mistakes leap immediately to mind? O'Shea was asked. "Nothing leaps to mind? No, because I'm solely focused on beating Calgary," he said. "But I'm sure you'll tell me." It was a rare testy exchange between O'Shea and local reporters and it came on the same day the Bombers held their last full practice of the 2014 season at Investors Group Field. The club will travel to Calgary today in advance of their final game of the season on Saturday at McMahon Field against the Stampeders. It seems that O'Shea's stubbornness is going to continue and that does not bode well for our rookie head coach.

It is to be hoped that they do a mind-wipe on Willy so that he forgets the merciless pounding he has taken this year (and will probably get another helping of from Calgary). That sort of 10-sack pounding has to wear on his confidence and ability to focus. In the Calgary Herald today the Stamp D-linemen were described as smacking their lips in anticipation of fattening their sack totals. They appear to look to the game as a full-contact practice.

O'Shea is a rookie head coach and is expected to make mistakes, but the pattern of his choices is becoming worrisome. Its not too late for him to review the year, learn from his mistakes and correct them. I hope that Walters is wise enough to have a chat with O'Shea and that O'Shea is wise enough to listen. O'Shea will not get another chance to be a head coach if he gasses this one.

Funny this is that in the first few games this year, it seemed that we were able to do the half-time adjustments to the other teams' offenses and defenses, but not at all since. Worse yet, this has been a hallmark of the team's futility for years. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Sadly, it is starting to sound like there is a sizable and growing discontent with the coaching currently used by the club. However, given O'Shea's demonstrated determination to keep on with the same old, I am not optimistic about significant change to come. I just hope that he is not as rigid as he has shown himself to be thus far.