Tracker

I am having a hard time believing that an athlete who was as good as Smith was in college and as good as he looked last year in his short time could fall so far and so fast that he has become a pariah. I know that we cannot bring him in for a looksee and probably don't need to but surely someone in the CFL ought to be interested enough in his potential to sign him in the off season.

Sneaky devils.

January has been one of few O-linemen who has given stability to the line in the past three-four years. He was a good tackle and a leader by example but every athlete, heck, everyone has a best before date. January has reached his limit and we need to assume we are moving on. A door closes for one player and opens for another- that's life.

Is there really much difference between getting beaten 36-3 or 54-3? Our best hope is that the Stamps will hyperventilate from laughing and pass out from time to time.

Yup. He could collapse from exhaustion.

What is that supposed to mean? I would love to hear an explanation from the Bombers. The master of gooder Inglish.

Grigsby was living off his performances in the first few games of the year. While the lack of production on his part was certainly not all his fault, his attitude is. What we are seeing now is probably the tip of the iceberg and his (former) team mates likely know a lot more. We weren't getting much with him in the lineup and probably won't suffer his absence too much. Next up: Kuale- another boil on the butt of the team.

There is an odd synchronicity between this year's team and Walters' performance- for the first couple of months, everything was going stunningly well, then the team and Walters' recruiting both fell apart completely.

Because the Bombers have had a laughable running game, that has opened up a whole can of worms: the opposing linebackers can drop off into coverage taking away the 5-10 yard passe, the opposing DBs can get into deeper drops and suddenly the deep routes become tougher to complete. This gives the opposing D-linemen those extra three seconds to penetrate an already porous Bomber O-line. And Willy gets hit, again and again. Then he gets blamed for holding onto the ball for too long knowing he's going to be pulped.

As disgusted as I have been this season, I cannot hang it all on Bellefeuille's coaching. He's had crap for an O-line this year, very questionable running backs, a mediocre receiving corps, and a talented but inexperienced quarterback who has been beaten down into the ground. I think he deserves a chance to work with a decent group, and that is out of his hands. Wylie deserves some hard questions about his commitment to the team.

For Sure: Willy and all the QB's Receivers: Nic Moore, Denmark, Kohlert O-linemen: Greaves, Goossen, Morley Running backs: 0 D-linemen: Bryant, Thomas, Booker Linebackers: Wild, D-backs: Leggett, Randle, Johnson, Bucknor, Sears, Washington, Newman Kicker: Hajrullahu Returner: Stoudermire Maybe's: Neufeld, Sherman, Unamba, the Anderson brothers, Feoli-Gidino, Kelly, Pontbriand, Volny, West, Carter, Dunn

Disagree. There's a lot of evidence that Willy has been beaten down physically and mentally and to continue to throw him into the woodchipper makes little sense. We know how good he is when he has the supports and a steady diet of losses combined with being punished serves no useful purpose except as a sop to fans who still have fantasies about making the playoffs

I don't want to even think about how badly we are going to be humiliated in Cowgary. The only way I am going to be able to watch it will be to record it and play it fast forward until the nausea gets to be overwhelming.

If we have been through 14 linemen and still cannot find 5 decent starters, someone's head should be on the block. It seems that every O-lineman we start is worse than the one he replaced. How bad must Hinze and Swystun be if they cannot crack this lineup? Goossen played a bit yesterday and wasn't noticeably bad, so maybe his time is done. The Roman Legions would execute every 10th soldier after a bad loss, so maybe its time to do that here.

As Krunch pointed out, we have been getting worse and worse every week. Posters here were blaming it on the losses of Wild and Moore from the lineup but they were back yesterday, and the team was even worse than the week before. Not only was the offense almost completely toothless, the defence threw in the towel for the second week in a row. I don't see how its going to get any better from here on to the end of the season. Worse yet, I do not think the coaches have any idea how to turn things around.

Willy said publicly last week that 'he couldn't take anymore hits.' I highly doubt Willy said this. What's your source? He said it 1290 before the Ottawa game...I heard him. That's good evidence that Willy's self-preservation instinct is still functioning. Good for him- he wasn't expecting to be the human tackling dummy.

And maybe Doug Berry for assistant HC- then we would have a hat trick of disgraced head coaches. Seriously, Reed set new records for dickishness in his days as Edmonton HC.

Maybe we could trade Tyson Pencer to move up one spot.

Listened to the post-game interview of O'Shea on CJOB. O'Shea was trying very hard to be upbeat but sounded defeated- much like LaPolice and Burke when things were becoming dire and they realized that there was to be no quick fix and they were going to be hanged. I'm sure that it is not coming to that for O'Shea, but it think he has realized that enthusiasm can substitute for talent and effort for only so long. O'Shea is looking at ending the season with another three losses and one win in three months. Not a good thing to carry over the next 8 months.

If O'Shea has a shred of compassion or intelligence, Willy's season is over.

Wild looked like he hasn't lost a beat- one of two in the front seven worth keeping, but Leggett was invisible for the most part and so was Kromah. I can't imagine the O-line being worse for putting Hinse, Swystun and/or Goossen in. Cotton ran with some determination and was certainly no worse than Grigsby, although the run blocking was pretty much as pathetic. Willy needs to sit out- he looks shell-shocked and he must be afraid to wake up in the mornings. It was garbage time, but Brohm looked decent. The D-line was, well, the D-line- same old, same old with Peach, a journeyman player looking the best of the sad lot. Why did we bring Vega back? Anyone? Thought so. The real concern is whether Etcheverry is worth keeping and if Bellefeuille could do better with better talent.

There are a lot of people to hang this mess on- the OC and DC as well as the person who hired them, the import O-linemen, the nonexistent pass rush, and the lack of talent on this team. Walters and his scouts can be forgiven for the razor-thin Canuck talent, but our imports have really let us down overall, and the worst thing of all- most of the team didn't bother to show up today. Grigsby and Kuale have taken to snarky tweets and should be sacked immediately or as soon as possible.

Sunseri seems to have absolutely ZERO spidey-sense as to when to run, duck or toss. Crompton has problems with his game but confidence in his arm ain't one of 'em.

How soon Joseph comes into the game will give a good indication of hoe damaged and desperate the Riders are. I'm betting half-time.

I am expecting a nasty game if the Bombers are going to try to put in a good showing this afternoon. As much as it pains me to admit it, the Esks are a better team and have proven it. The defence is going to have to play one of their best games and the offense is going to have to play even better. We're going to find out which players are keepers and which ones need to be turfed as soon as possible. My respect for O'Shea will go up if he doesn't let Willy get pounded endlessly if the game is out of hand or if Willy is not being effective.