BigBlue

VOTE of NON-CONFIDENCE: Miller the bombers CEO saved this franchise once… And he needs to do it again by and large you let the head coach do his thing… We all know that and the reasons However, now it's different. There's a reason why coaches don't stay with their team forever… Great leaders are always trying to repeat their great successes but so many consequential and ongoing decisions show that they are not thinking straight. Success was found by applying the right principles to the situation and utilizing the people willing to take those critical steps. What proves to be true afterwards is that each situation requires new and unique solutions. Trying to apply past solutions to a very different present situation just doesn't work. It takes a unique individual to apply new solutions to new challenges. It takes a humility to do this. WARNING SHOT ACROSS THE BOW if Walters can use a little influence and "order" MOS to make certain changes, maybe the season can be saved. If Miller looks in and has a heart-to-heart with O'Shea maybe he will realize he's being put on notice. It would be stupid to not tell O'Shea that his job is on the line right now. Otherwise we will just continue to spiral and he will be fired in the off-season. PLANNED Rebuilding next winter simply is too late. Doing nothing is a vote of nonconfidence. Taking corrective action now is a vote of confidence, if things have not already gone too far. We just need our whole team to lead from wherever they are standing. This is executives, coaches, and players. It's not a matter of authority; it's a matter of pulling together to lift each other up as we face the hard realities.

I have been a blue bomber fan for over 60 years starting when I was eight… I've always been passionate about them especially around family. But now I have lost my mojo… The worst part about all has been the bickering between posters and the quick run to negativity that I am not used to seeing. I think this is a great fan board but I just now I feel disgusted. It's not that the bombers are having a tough year; I've been through many more tough years than good ones. What's bugging me is the Blue company PR; it's the appearance of complacency and we will be "okay"… That's what's the heartbreak is for me... It's too quiet. I do miss too the lack of optimism that I usually find somewhere amidst the posters. I see the potential and I see the impatience. But the mood of doom and gloom multiplied by complaining is enough to make me want to walk away from the game after all these years. It's not fun right now. No, I do not think we are spoiled. It wasn't very long ago that we all thought we had the best management in the country. Does everybody seem helpless because one or two individuals have too much control, too much self-centredness? Okay, so for now I give up. I am going to jump on the doom and gloom bandwagon. Every time we win again I'm going to buy a cigar and throw it over the balcony. The rest of the time I'm going to play sad old rock music. Meanwhile, I am going to content myself with trying to figure out when Michael O'Shea first developed Alzheimer's. It's my new challenge. I think I will start next week, maybe.

streveler

Bottom line for the Rough Rider's game: Regina is not as good as its record the bombers are not as bad as our record the blue will have a trick or two up our sleeve the riders will not be able to keep playing above their skill level I think it's called reversion to the mean somebody's going to be letting some air out of the tires A few of the frustrated are going to finally get it together at least for a little while

I still don't know the basis for our decision-making. We are paying top-end dollar for our stars and yet too many of them are on the IR/// I don't think that's just luck.... The CFL draft has turned up okay for us this year and that's helping… However, we are not lining up emerging American talent especially at the line positions. Eventually that's going to bite us or else we will become very good at making patchwork quilts… It takes a little courage to let import linemen develop, right?

streveler

Yes the D's will adjust, finally. Now our other receivers will have a little more room and so will Brady Oliveira. Pokey is the new key ingredient even if he can't duplicate tonight every night. The ingredients to success are starting to show up.

they used to say Ricky Ray was washed up ... look at his last few years ... // ZC ?

I hope we have a good double tight end scheme for some of the plays tonite

At times we have had over $1 million on the IR, short-term and long-term: Collaros, Schoen, Lawler, Olivera, Lawson, Parker, Wheatfall, at times also Fox, Garbutt, Haba, Hallett, Kelly, Sampson thats a lot & a big reason we can look like bums

I am only guessing why we didn't step up and re-sign Brown when we let our All-Star right tackle go... Good Canadian lineman are worth their premium.

What is the real NUB of the problem this year? Does it go back to January? I am a student of leadership and I just wanted to say what I am feeling. Great leaders are best because they call upon the talents of the people around them. They are not impressed with their own skills. In fact, the moment you start reading your own press clippings you are in trouble. We have run into a one-man rule situation with our top dog, Michael O'Shea. When he starts to think his judgement is better than everyone around him, we start to see major mistakes made. One-man rule is dominated by ego and all its foibles. It also takes away the power of the best people on the team. I am sure our coordinators and our positional coaches are suffering from a high-level of frustration. Back at the start of this calendar year we decided that we didn't need Grant, Bailey & Hanson. Grant has been a difference maker as long as he has been here. Somebody decided he was injury prone because we used him to run him up the gut on too many running plays. Watching the game between the Als & Argos, we saw Grant to be their key in the victory. Grant supplies constantly better field position; plus his big plays completely turn games around as it did Thursday. But we decided we didn't want him at his premium price (perhaps $135 K). Bailey has been our best blocking receiver for years, greatly contributing to our running game and protection schemes. Hiss absence is one of the biggest reasons our blocking looks so questionable. He is Toronto's leading receiver this year. We refused to even make an offer to him. What if he was on our club this year? Last year we signed him as an afterthought. Who was the mastermind on this decision? Hanson looked fantastic on special teams as he always does. To what lengths did we go to re-sign him. Did we think promoting Miller to special teams coordinator would be enough without the appropriate personnel? So Grant Bailey and Hanson were our gift to Toronto. One-man rule apparently Dictates on the Bombers. I get a little nauseated as I think about it. Cal Murphy hated rookies too but at least he managed to pick up a lot of good veterans from other teams, as I recall. Press clippings are an enemy. Lowliness brings everyone's talent into play. It also overwrites judgement so that newcomers have a chance to outshine the veterans. I was very impressed with the people we brought in to Camp. Now I'm wondering where they all went. I am glad we brought Lucky back but it smacks of desperation. Good thing our defence seems to be clicking but it could be dominant, IF, our personnel judgement was a little better.

streveler

I think i have the solution... move Jake Thomas to offensive right tackle .... he is so good at plugging up the line by just standing there ... make MOS happy too Perfect! & brilliant !!! LOL

What I am about to say is deeply symbolic. It is a single "for instance" that represents so very much of what is going on. We gave up an All-Star right tackle for Salary cap reasons and attempted to replace him with a player that was going to be cut. There was no real competition for that right tackle spot although there are hundreds of American candidates that could have been pursued rigorously. Did they really think they could coach a below average player into a good player? Would it not be better to bring in a good player and coach and into a great player? Please tell me what the short-circuit is in this instance and throughout the roster? Is it structural? Is it Biden like? Is it too much hierarchy? Have we gone from great to good? Or are we outright awful just because it's a mystery?

streveler

who is 68 Vanterpool, Micah I know he's on our practice roster as our backup right tackle… I know there is a couple of tackles I really liked in the preseason but I lost track of it all in the final cut down swapping tackles with Regina was a definite downgrade… Lawton was the appointed one from his arrival… As they say on the Old Spice commercial, do you really think no one would notice? That looks like one of the weakest spots on our line and even I can see that's where too many of our plays break down. If we we are developing a rookie yank with some upside I might not mind as much… The offensive line is not just a modular plug-and-play… One isn't just like another; maybe we needed to move Grey there unless he just under no circumstances wanted to play for the Blue anymore at any price maybe we are thinking our line coaching will override any lack of talent on Lawton (the riders didn't think so) if Vanterpool is the only import offensive lineman we have on hand, is there any developmental plan for him? The spring league is over; there might be a few highly qualified individuals for right tackle ready now for up here I miss you-know-who's contribution on running plays to the right side

streveler

streveler

streveler

Every bomber fan knows that the offence of any team in the CFL takes longer to develop than the defence. The linemen and the blockers behind them need to know what's happening immediately beside them, how to adapt to their fellow teammates. The running backs need to know where the holes are going to emerge. The blocking schemes on passing plays have similar challenges. You can't learn this in practices... The Bomber Brain Trust decided player evaluation for the few positions that were open was far more important than getting the veterans in harmony with each other. So we have major rust to deal with, more so than usual this season. There has been such a major talent improvement on our defence that just maybe we can shut down what was a very hot offence in Montréal at the end of last season. On offence Brady Olivera is going to need a lot of determination as he tries to guess where the holes will be as his O line feel each other out. He's pretty good at seeing what is developing. If he gets 50 yards of rushing that would be pretty good. I'm not sure how open he will be on checkoff plays and other swing passes. Collaros is going to get sacked a lot on many missed assignments. But he can scramble and is very good at it. He loves the long bomb and we can only guess how many touchdowns he will throw. That's how the offence is going to score, I suspect. What I think will make or break the game tomorrow is how many touchdowns the defence can supply on turnovers. Maybe one pick six and one or two forced fumbles. There is a real chance pressures on the quarterback will be up significantly this year. How else can we win this game?

Quarterback questions for 2024: BLM returns to Calgary: is he washed up or is he finally injury free? Has he had to change his throwing motion? Can he still scramble? Does he have all the CFL savvy he used to have or is his confidence shaken? Do the Stampeders have a competent quarterback this year? Will Cam Dukes in Toronto become the real thing? Will Kelly ever played another game in the CFL? Was Bethel Thompson now in Edmonton ever the real thing? Can Vernon Adams carry the Lions? How many more new quarterbacks will be brought in this year by the Saskatchewan Roughriders? Can Brown in Ottawa adapt to a whole new culture and completely different blocking schemes? Or do we see yet another quarterback controversy? Does y Michael Fajardo still have a hot hand to go with his offence? How many downs per game can we expect out of Chris Sreveler this year here in Winnipeg?

ONE OF THE MONITORS changed the title of the original title to the ABOVE

The only people who discuss inferiority complexes are those who have one

The big question in Saskatchewan is what to do when Trevor Harris, THE glass quarterback, goes down to injury again. Will Shea Patterson be the solution? Patterson has been with the Kansas City Chiefs, B.C. Lions, Montreal Alouettes, Michigan Panthers, and New Orleans Breakers... Is he more than just a journeyman? He does seem to have some scrambling ability and that's big. But once the defences have had the chance to study him, will he be able to show starters skills? Personally, I don't think he has the jam. Our star quarterbacks don't go this route in our league. You get two maybe three years and if you don't emerge impressively, it usually does not happen – – at best you become a career backup. Now if Regina puts a superior team on the field then maybe he can get the job done. However, that's a big IF.