BigBlue

eerily quiet out of the gate unlike other years ... are we observing a mandatory hour of silence so there will be no accusations of tampering or pre-deadline monkey business?

I am not so sure the Blue rejected Bennett .... The Riders plucked him off our practice roster unexpectedly ... Personally I liked what I saw of him in preseason gaame

If the Blue were to make a big signing, like say Venerable at MLB, who could we release to make room (assuming we are tight cap wise)? Ryan Smith, Weston Dressler, Stanley Bryant, a DB, a non sign of a vet QB .... I don't see where the $$$ would come from

You think Walters has no cash to spend?

If there is anything that deserves a thread of its own its this Tuesdays looming bidding wars. Lets start with 3Down Nation's top 5 negotiations for our Blue: http://3downnation.com/2017/02/12/top-five-free-agent-targets-bombers/ 1. DL Jabar Westerman, B.C. Lions 2. LB Winston Venable, Montreal Alouettes 3. RB Kienan Lafrance, Ottawa Redblacks 4. DL Drake Nevis, Hamilton Tiger-Cats 5. DB Jovon Johnson, Montreal Alouettes I like the idea of what a 2nd Westerman would do for our D_line for years to come. Getting Venerable could mean a road to the Grey Cup so I would break the bank with whatever we have left and spend it on those two.

Wish Bryan Bennett was here fighting for no 2 QB spot ... would not surprise me to see him beat out Kevin Glenn in Fantasyland

Glad we are not fighting hard to keep Hurl (or Kolhert) ... just not good enough to start and not worth the money they think they are worth .... Hurl got his chance and could not rise to what they thought was his potential .... Jeff Keeping looks like a washed up mercenary

So you are saying that your first overall pick isincapable of deciding what he really wants to do?

More than a decade ago after another Bomber pounding, my son looked me in the eye and said "Dad, you got to get a new team" (he saw how depressed I was getting over the Bombers performance). So I picked the Patriots and I have been rewarded ever since. They have a most unusual way of aquiring new players ( they go after talent and raw potential not nationally rated scouting reports), they avoid big salaries even for the best of players, and they have all-for-one and one-for-all sense of team. I don't see pride, smugness or arrogance there at all (relatively speaking). Brady who wasn't even a starting QB in college has proved himself to be the best QB of all time. Belichick has proven himself the best strategist and coach perhaps of all time. Thats proof not claim or brag. When the commissioner of football decided to go after Brady and the team (maybe he thought they were smug) they handled the affair with dignity and humility, "like a man". So I could not have been more delighted with their victory in the Super Bowl. They have built a dynasty by doing so many of the right things. Aside from Brady they have no individual stars. They just work at geting better and keep replacing fallen players like Gronk. They are a team like I have never seen before.

Would you sign our first-round pick before drafting him? If we sign him first we won't lose him to the NFL and we won't have the problems that the Riders had with their first pick last year. Such a signing would require in all likelihood a six-figure salary escalating each year over 3 years, and of course, a lucrative signing bonus. On the other hand I am sure Walters is entertaining a trade for the first overall pick… Perhaps he will go all out for the Grey cup this year. By the way who would you see as our top 3 candidates for that first overall pick? Are you thinking of anyone else for our second first rounder or is that the place to make a trade? And who or what would you want in a trade?

AS much as I would like to see Milanovich running our Blue office, I bet the contract we gave Lapo probably makes him untouchable as OC .... who might Toronto let loose in terms of a defensive coach?

So how close is Milanovich relaltive to Popp and to MOS?

Toronto Sun sports journalist Simmons earlier wrote: “Scott Milanovich has quietly told some people he wouldn’t mind being fired as coach of the Argos. Three reasons for that. One, he doesn’t love the setup with the Argos. Two, he has two years guaranteed left on his contract. Three, if he gets another job, he’ll be able to double dip with the Argos deal” Have I been living in a cave or is Milanovich a hot new commodity now? http://tipofthetower.com/2016/11/27/toronto-argonauts-scott-milanovich-ready-to-move-on/

Any of Barker's staff worth grabbing as coaches?

I very much enjoy the game day thread .... I find myself not using the chat during the game itself so its pretty ueseless to me

I don't think we will get the requisite MLB we need through free agency ... I hope we go all out recruiting for one down south .... my fear is we go status quo with Wilde & Bass .... our run stop is poor and maybe a new DT could be the difference maker but somehow I doubt that ... or is stopping the run a problem with who is our DC? Personally I think any DC will have run stop headaches with our current personnel ...

Personally i would like to see us use 1 or 2 of our late picks on us bound Canadians that may work out down the line ... if we get lucky, they might work out or get us a decent neg lister

what I don't like // NFL is kickoff though the endzone .... this should be a rouge not a touchback in order to be consistent with all our other kicking rules ... that change sticks out like a sore tongue to me in general, I like the changes the NFL keeps making because it improves the quality of the game or reduces injuries

Now that Nichols is signed, we can all relax some .... at the same time Walters is going to have to decide where to put the free cash he has left Personally I would like to see it go for a veteran QB ... its a rarity for any QB to play all 18 games plus extras ... next he can spend on DLine and MLB ... if anything is still in the bank then a little on WR would be ok by me

We need to implement offensive pass interference ... its on the books but rarely called ... watching the NFL you see it called frequently, as often as warranted ... up here its always the DBs fault almost never the receivers fault

You may not like it Rich but it is what the NFL does .... and is "manuacturing parity" a bad thing ? Especially if your club is at the low end any particuliar year .... and does it not put a few more bums in the stands when you have a chance at the beginning of the season instead of facing a crushing set of foes? Why you don;t like it I have no idea but perhaps you hate manufacturing .... and how could you create a premier league in the cfl ... you want to integrate college and junior clubs

Brian Bennet leads the Riders to the promised land ... worst QB neglect since the Blue let Danny MacManus get away

9 vs 32 is irrelevant ... match lower against lower & higher/higher

I would like to see a change in scheduling philosophy ... there is a game or two discretion in who plays who ... I would like to see the weaker teams play that extra game against another weaker team ... likewise stronger against stronger record from previous year ... NFL has a policy like this I believe In terms of scheduling I would also like to see the final month of the schedule be as exclusively as possible teams against other teams in their own division Finally, I would like to see the first three or four games of the season against teams of very similar record, first cross division then same division ... this balances the league and gives the weaker teams some semblance of hope There are many idiosyncracies in the scheduling but lets let the computer generate multiple alternatives ... whoever has been doing the scheduling so far appears either insane or partisan