BigBlue

I believe Bennett has high potential and real stuff (but not as talented as Streveler) ... I Brian can be a good starter one day ... he is one play away from being the only QB that knows our play book

https://www.bluebombers.com/2018/06/18/mitchell-gale-june-18/ Mitchell Gale Interview Gale played five seasons in the CFL, throwing for 1,050 yards and four touchdowns on 158 passing attempts. Gale spent his four-year college career with the Abilene Christian Wildcats, throwing for 97 touchdowns and over 12,000 passing yards. Gale has spent time with the Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Calgary Stampeders and BC Lions.

Condescending Negatron

Willley wasn't that bad against BC...on the other hand he was not that good either. His confidence has definitely gone up but he has the same blind spot he has always had since being shell-shocked in Winnipeg, many years ago... He cannot see the intermediate routes - - the 15 to 25 yard passes. Go back and look at the game he played on the weekend: he throws the occasional long bomb, sometimes accurately sometimes not, but his bread-and-butter are the dink and dunk hitches and flat passes for 3 to 5 yards or less, which the receiver then runs for whatever he can get after that. You will see almost no 10 to 20 yard passes into the teeth of coverage. So our DBs should be able to creep up and shot Willey down. If you want further proof of his incapability just go back and think about the last drive. He threw everything underneath coverage for less than 10 yards eating up the clock and undermining any chance of a 2 score come back.. I am expecting we will have a field day with him although it would not surprise me if he's able to huck a long one behind our secondary when we are half-asleep. It looks like Montréal has a decent defence but if there is plenty of 2 and outs they will wear down. Look for us to take over big time in the 4th quarter if we have not already assumed command in the early part of the game.

The point is the defensive schemes on the last two drives were both not working and predictable:blitz two and blitz two and blitz two when the blitzes weren't working I don't know who was calling the defenses but at games end it was awful: go into normal coverage with the occasional (surprise) blitz ... we just let Reilly pick us apart .... a little football IQ to let the defense make plays and we win Was this on Ritchie?

When the game was over I first thought, that was very good, quite entertaining and tracked what I discussed at the beginning of the game day thread ... but then: I started to think. We just gave up 500 yards of offence in a monsoon. At character time at games end, we stuck to a script of blitzing two almost every down. Reilly knew it and he just sat back and picked us apart throwing to the blitzers' vacated turf ... two of the easiest drives of the game and all the games work vaporizes in smoke Sheesh!

I expect the green machine will be sending a variety of blitzes early and often, say 5 of the first 8 defensive plays to test Streveler's metal ... we will see how Lapo has him prepped for that... Spy vs Spy scheming if you will The real game I suspect (if Streveler is still standing) will be revealed in the second quarter when the two teams get down to business... I am anticipating Streveler will turn the ball over twice, costing us two scores. But I believe he is determined enough to get those two back with his own athleticism, by arm, by foot, by eye, or by brain. I am hoping by the third quarter the rookie comes into his own and the Bombers get the lead Optimist that I am, I sadly expect the Mike Reilly show to take over in the 4th Q to grab the W I think we have a chance because we will win the war of the trenches .... the O-Line is what makes a quarterback look good or bad ... gives them a chance to execute Based on my observation of MOS, he will stick with his starting QB unless he goes into shell shock The difference in the game will be between Reilly's long passes and Streveler's bombs ... Edmonton's receivers may win that battle but we will see Our short game to Harris and Bowman may not be enough to defeat the gunslingers

The choices at FB are: 1. Miller, a pure blocker for run or passing plays 2. Augustine, for a choice of 3 runners to Keep the D guessing where we are running to and to keep them from keying on Harris.... QB option is in play a well as multiple choices for screens and hitches 3. A Canadian WR for a 5 receiver set on any long yardage down I don't know how well Miller blocks compared to Augutine

You must be a Regina troll living n a land of incredible make-believe here just to be a stink disturber ... I would be so happy if you would go away from our site

I have changed my mind about the east .... I was going on Hamilton's momentum at year end ... I pick based on management & coaching : June Jones was/is getting it done ... Trestman and his sidekick GM are ob the second year of retooling and so Now I have ti pick Toronto for first in the east ... my west stays the same baser oncoaching and management Toronto Hanilton Ottawa Montreal Ednonton Calgary Winnipeg Vancouver Regina

So do we start Corney to get to one over the National requirement and sub freely as needed?

WEST CALGARY EDMONTON WINNIPEG BC SASK EAST HAMILTON TORONTO OTTAWA MONTREAL

SPY versus SPY: League Opener The Bomber brain trust is putting together a very specific strategy to outsmart Edmonton's tacticians who no doubt will try to create as much havoc and confusion as possible for Bomber rookie Quarterback Chris Streveler. We will see an abnormal number of blitzes, camouflaged or not. They will disguise their formations and schemes trying to throw off Streveler's reads. LaPolice and Pierce will be over preparing to counter such tactics. And they will have a backup plan in case they have to switch to Ross or Bennett. The Bombers collective coaching staff picked Streveler for 4 reasons outlined on Bob Irving's Coaches Show Monday night. Michael O'Shea said 1] he had the highest combined completion percentage of the 3 backups in camp. 2] he was the best at making the right reads of the defence 3] he is also very good at protecting the football and 4] at not making critical errors. Those were the 4 factors along with his athleticism that swung the starting role into Streveler's selection as Thursday night's starter. So get ready for plans and counter plans. The entire team is still burning from the playoff loss last November to this Edmonton Eskimo football club. You want to see confidence mixed with desire? The Bombers are fielding a team of savvy veterans who will have their own bag of tricks; but more than that, they are dripping with talent and with it they more than anything just want to protect the baby on the team: their starting quarterback ... They will be doing some devising of their own... heh heh

I am not sure exactly how the rules work but unless you are starting more the than the limit of national players, you have to declare the number of nationals on offense and the number on defense .... how that gets changed I don't know For example perhaps our defense is overwhelming but our offense is having trouble getting out of a wet paper bag ... so we want to get Flanders on the field at the expense of one of our four import D-Linemen (Thomas and Corney platooning will take over to increase our nationals on defense by one) ... can this be done anytime or at all?

Andrew Harris

The request was made today to have a thread for the upcoming game on Thursday. I replied I didn't want to get yelled at for doing so. It is always the same 4 or 5 guys that want to get on my case ... they are abrasive and ornery just because they can be ... they think it is funny to be mean... I have a thick skin so I don't care about their opinion but I do treasure this site and its overall goals Some just want two or three threads so they can just follow a couple of narratives without having to go to the effort of clicking other threads Others like to create very specific discussions about what they like to examine in detail. "Is Streveler our next James Franklin" is an example ... Some threads bomb getting a disinterested response and others takeoff like wildfire picking up half a dozen pages in no time: cutdown day and game day threads are examples. So what do you want, what are your personal preferences? 1] Just two or three threads or a tad more if there is something extraordinary or 2] Do you want to see the freedom and creativity in a lot of threads. 3] Or maybe you want a modest approach of somewhere in between. Don't be shy - say what you love. Speak up for the silent majority that read but don't post.. Do you want a pre-game thread (as one asked) for? Do you want a stand alone game day thread ro go with the chat room? And for the two of you who asked for a thread about a thread, you have what you want!!!

Please start one so I don't get yelled at by the small minds around here.

Bond is out of luck for this year - - teams have filled their salary cap - - they can't pay big bucks to Bond - - he is also damaged by Jones firing based on merit ... Bond is only going to fetch a journeyman's wage on a one year contract ... he is of greater value to the Bombers than any other team because they know both his upside and downside ... do you think Bond really wants to play in Montreal ... he might have to sit until week 2 is over when the next ouch report comes out

we can manage that

I hope the Blue Brassd are talking to Bond instead of continuing " to go in a different direction" ... I bet after the Saskatchewan trauma Bond might reduce his salary expectations

"the PR doesnt help you in game. You may have noticed we cut branning and conteh. We will likely have 4 starters + the sam + loffler, +1 DI on the game roster. + morgan/jones." I am not sure about Morgan but Jones is pretty good ... could be a starter on another team either at safety or CB ... and that is what the cfl is all about Cdns backing up internationals

Have you noticed how many DBs we have on the PR ... most of them will end up playing if we keep paying above the league minimum

Thanks ! What is your source for this Jacquie? No report of Swayzee Waters' release from Toronto ... I guess June Jones wants to keep Vernon Adams until some cellar dweller wants to make a better deal ... some educating to do there, I think.

That all changed when the players association went to 1 and 2 year contracts ... no longer are the FA's generally over the hill aging veterans, has-beens who are just after the best possible paycheck ... now there is freedom of movement and players go where they want ... there is also deliberate decisions made like with Travis Bond where a player can demand a huge paycheck based on an accomplishment (here a recognised allstar performance two years ago) and that player would just upset the team's salary structure. Such players better live up to expectations immediately or they end up cut quickly within a couple games or at the season's end: just ask Enoch Muamba. Because of this factor good players are taking more modest salaries and enjoying the CFL with a club they want to be on. That's why teams like Winnipeg and Calgary's management are becoming so attractive.

Sometimes, maybe most of the time, veterans from other teams deliver more value than raw rookies who have such a huge learning curve ahead of them ... isn't Bighill a better acquisition than training Gause? I think Walters has finally figured it out what Cal Murphy knew for years: veterans are better than rookies. We were able to pick a bunch of BC guys when there was a rush for the door and we got the pick of the litter in at least 3 cases. Now if we can just convince Bond to be reasonable and remember there is no place like home or should I say the system and playbook you have personally mastered ... Bond obviously had trouble with Regina's playbook and the playmates beside him ... he will have to adjust wherever in the league he goes .... I guess a more modest paycheque from home may be more in the long rum than the allure of big but sometimes temporary money being dangled before a youngster's eyes.