BigBlue

What a delightful game ... amazing defense and lights out offense in the first quarter (again with a similar offensive output to last week's Q1). So we got it done. Now maybe defenses "adjust" and eventually take away our initial game plan. My question, however, is whether Ds really do shut us down later, OR. OR, OR ... do we quit adjusting and go with what is "prudent" (read that as conservative/safe) instead of shifting to take advantage of how the adjusting D is cheating up, leaving us different types of opportunities. In other words do we voluntarily shut ourselves down? I really don't know, but ... When we lost our starting tackle, why do we start trying to establish a running game, especially when that had not been working earlier in the game? That's not "adjusting" to what the D gives. That, as it turns out, is "two and out" territory. Matt Dunigan was pleading with the Blue to go for the throat, to put the game away. Instead we turtled and had little O in the 2nd half. As good as our D was, we ended up giving up another 300+ yards passing. Match our play calling to our strengths and the defense's cheats... that's what I want to see. Now back to celebrating and doing cartwheels....

Many a QB prospect has been ruined by being thrown to the wolves too soon. The best of prospects need a real team around them to develop properly , and here in Winnipeg, boy oh boy, have we ruined a lot of promising QBs. Its not that we have never in the last decade found real prospect; we just permanently ruined their confidence. At least a couple of them would have developed into real QBs with a leading team ... Or do you think that Jim Barker and Wally Buono have a monopoly on unearthing starting CFL QBs? Nichols and Willy are journeyman... the chances of either becoming CFL All-stars are low (but not impossible). I for one believe that Dom Davis and Brian Bennett are legit QB prospects capable of becoming franchise players one day. But at the moment Bennett is on the 6 game IR and Davis is likely relegated to the number 3 spot for the forseeable future. How do we finally get The Real Thing, our franchise QB of the future? Do we have to outbid everybody for a Collaros, Harris or Reilly? And could we ever do that here in Wholesale City?

The future of our franchise lies with Dom Davis and Bryan Bennett .... our top two aren't good enough.

Nichols is a journeyman back up and is not capable of much more than we have seen in the past ... our future lies with Dominique Davis or Bryan Bennet ( & Bryan is on the 6 game DL) and I don't know whether to say Yikes A top head coach would know whether there is something in those two to build on ... none of us do. I hope Davis gets a shot when Nichols falters ... Willy is done for now but may come into his own later in his career after serving some time as a journeyman back up. I wish we had the people who would have gone after Toronto's Harris instead of letting him sign on as a "backup" in Ottawa. Who knew? We should have.

Wou;d this BpD spend a million $ to hire Marc Trestman? When have they stepped up up and paid up to get the best QB in the CFL ... when in recent times have they done anything to get the job done, get that championship ring? Hiring Lyle Bauer may have saved this franchise in the late 90's and he was good at the business of football, but not so great at on field football operations. With the current governace we are only ever going to make mediocre "safe" decisions. The Bombers need real leadership. Perhaps its time to look at private ownership. As it is we are heading towards average attendance of 19,000. And then we will be needing another Lyle Bauer type rescue and if we can't find such a savior we will end up wiith either a private owner, or worse, shutting down like Ottawa did for how many years. There is just too much competition for the entertainment $. We are in a long term down trend. We need to actually acknowledge that fact. If we don't recognize the real problem, we will not ever be able to fix it. We are in an actual down trend, momentarily interrupted by a new stadium. At some point in the not too distant future, hope disappears and then we will be dealing with a disaster and possibly a receiver. Nobody stays with a loser for ever. We are not going to see a turn around by a tepid don't-panic maintain-the-status-quo attitude. Some random event will not save us, nor will it produce a savior. The world and the CFL realm is more competitive than ever. Proactive commitment is required by someone with the authority to actually change what is going on. Can you say "The Halifax Blue Bombers, Grey Cup Champions"?

I, Chicken Little, have decided that indeed the sky is falling. Others in Bomber Land are simply choosing to pick out individual falling stars disintegrating into dust. The INDIVIDUAL EMPHASIS: It's the GM. No, it's the quarterback. No, it's the coaching. Others are focusing on the offensive line, while we rant and rave about the draft and free agent picks. Some are picking the city itself is the reason the Blue Bombers cannot succeed. This argument has gone on and on for a quarter-century, literally... really. Our last championship was 26 years ago. What is the common thread, the repeated over and over cause of our failure? Or are we just randomly unlucky as our personality and character trait? Can we even say that there is a single cause? Isn't it easier to say there is no pattern, no analysable source for the failure? We used to say that the New York Mets would be a joke forever, until one day they weren't anymore. They were actually championship calibre. So what changed with them? We love to dump on the Saskatchewan Rough Riders but they went all out to win a Grey Cup and they did it. Then when they realized that the team had developed into stardust, in the aftermath, they went out and did something. They hired the Grey Cup winner's coach, a hated man called Jones. He has talent, he finds talent and he is demanding for the very best a player can put out. We can see how critical football is to the Regina community. Businessmen get involved with their own money; people make sacrifices for the team. The Rough Riders is like the province's National sport and obsession. By contrast, in Winnipeg, our board of directors is like an old boys club. It's very prestigious to be on the board, a status symbol, not an act of self-sacrifice. And we're a very stingy lot, nicknamed Wholesale City for our cheapness. It was almost like a national emergency when we paid big bucks for Matt Dunigan back in the mid-90s (and we still had a little bit of sense left from the not too far removed Grey Cup days). I for one don't really believe at all that our current Board of Directors cares enough to do what it takes to win it all. There are exceptional individuals on the Board from time to time but for the most part they are a lackadaisical lot were sitting on their personal laurels while a couple of others are accountability types was only ambition is to protect the investment of the City and the Province. No one is ever going to light a fire under that group... never in a million years. We don't have anything resembling true leadership there. Wade Miller was a perfect hire to represent that board. The fate of the Bombers is not going to change because we are perpetuating the root of the problem. As one sage once said "they heal the wound of my people slightly". They just appease us with the hope that "we are doing the best we can": hoping that we believe our former glory days will somehow return. Those that control our fate have no motivation. The sky has fallen; we just haven't accepted it yet.

I think the whole problem is QB .... yes we had a poor o-line for a while but our QBs have made it look awful and still do Right now it is Willy and Nichols is another retread ... we might have a growth chance with Davis or Bennet Willy might come back to normal if the pressure comes off WE JUST HAVE NOT gone after the best QBs with all our might when we have had the chance That needs to change Is there a thinking problem up high... At Wade Miller or higher?

This was my concern when we first announced Lapo was returning to the Blue ... I remember the way he was in the good ole' days: emphasis on the short game. On the positive side, to me, he taught Glenn how to play QB: many short passes, quick release, play within your skill set. Glenn has been building on that ever since. Lapo will start working with what we got. The problem is not with the Defense unless its being on the field for 40 minutes a game. There is nothing Lapo can do though unless the OL can knock their DL on their butts. OUR ENDURING PROBLEM is a mediocre to awful set of hogs. Make changes, whether in scheme or in personnel.

We have the talent ... I don't know when the confidence comes

You are misstating what I said ... why speak foolishly? If you are playing poorly find the bench for a series or two .... wake up and find some resolve ... If its two bad games in a row give a promising player a chance for at least part of a game.... if its an unproven newbie with a glaring weakness, try someone else who is close. There are plenty of NFL & CFL head coaches who make constant non-injury "adjustments" all season long

I am not advocating a revolving door but MOS unwillingness to try to improve as the season progresses has held us back in my opinion. Early in the season there should be a couple of moves on most teams. A certain amount of common sense is always called for.

Johnson's play was egrigious ... if he's hurt change him out ... if not play him but have a DI ready to sub in if bad play continues the next game Green has proven nothing and there is a huge hole in his skill set

Disagree ... the top performers play ... if you have been playing top end yes you can get one bad game but not two ... there is something wrong ... put two bad gamers on the 1 game IR .... if not proven, one bad game means "next!" The whole reason we have endured certain LBs for half a season or more is the "consistency" / "gel" thing. Athletes play best when there is real competition going on and everyone knows it. Keep improving the team all year until we are "consistently" winning

Green played like garbage ... so did Johnson .... If you have a promising player on the bench to replace them, don't you make the move? When will MOS learn to play players based on merit & performance? This idea that never changing unless forced to is very demotivating for not only the second tier players but even more so for the starters Not having a merit based system doesn't build consistency but instead brings fatalistic thinking

Based on the past two years, none. For other clubs, perhaps for better aptitude or skill set against another club's style. And yes, to give a promising player a chance to show his stuff and perhaps go beyond mediocrity at that particular position.

Based on the initial results of this poll, we opined our finish in the regular season: Top 3 club: 20% Middle 3: 38% Bottom 3: 42% So most of us are not thinking any where near championship this year. What has to change for us to finally dominate again and perhaps win a Grey Cup?

It was nice to see a couple of roster additions this week. There is plenty of latent talent that didn't quite make the grade in other tryout camps around the CFL. See QB Dominic Davis last year. What I am wondering is whether we have a merit based decision making process. It seems in the past once you made the starting lineup on week one, you were there to stay unless [1] you got injured or [2] you repeatedly embarrassed yourself over several games Many of the starting choices were very close choices, when the number 2 contender was behind by only a whisker or two. We need to make changes at DE and at DB based on performance. Will we start alternates at those two spots Friday? Will we use judgment and merit to make changes or will we stick to loyalty/consistency/stubborness/pride to resist needed change?

Based on what we showed last year, and the personnel improvements we have made this year, we should have a reasonable chance to make the playoffs this year, or better.... The problem is we have hitched our wagon to one star: "Willy or bust" Thats pressure, period. Remember Kenny Ploen and Hal Ledyard (or **** Thorton) or one of a dozen brilliant QB tandems we have seen over the years. Look how so many teams today will play 2 QBs from choice, not injury. Montreal was an extreme example last year, too much. But they were at least trying and are better for it this year. We need to throw a 2nd QB in for a drive or few when the starter struggles. Then put him back in... its like changing goalies...

I am surprised at the low level of activity on this forum compared to earlier years. Normally we have a steady stream of comments during the season from 6 am to 1 am. I am not seeing that right now; in fact its real easy to catch up with all the new posts. I remember I used to check in every 2 or 3 hours. Now, not so much... Is thus resignation and bitter disappointment, the loss of real hope.... or is something else?

I believe Ricky Ray will play only half the games this year, he is too old and slow to recover from the bumps and nicks. Kevin Glenn will be better than Ray and do well enough to gain the payoff spot. Letting Harris go was a major mistake. Perhaps the Bombers can get ahead of the ALS to cross over but we will have to have a real QB to do it and that means we have to do something with our O Line regardless of who is hucking it.

Does the east have the better teams this year? What changes the balance of power in this league?

Every year I hear we need more data before we can predict how the upcoming CFL season will turn out. Well the rosters are set, we have seen the preseason and Week 1 of the CFL schedule. Now is the time to exercise our judgment in how our nine teams are going to perform this year. What do you really think?

This 8 defenders in the box/all out blitz has not been well handled in half a decade ... we need to practice against it during the week until we learn how to beat it without thought ... or we will continue to lose the same way over nd over

I have not seen a poll topic in a while. Have they been discontinued on this site ? Or, are they just hated that much?

WE have already seen what Drew can do in the last two years ..... both good & bad ... he has been way better than what we have had in the last few years but he consistently holds on to the ball too long. That's why he gets killed. It has to change. He needs to get the ball off on the first read or buy enough time for a second or third .... that is what needs to change. Too much dink and dunk just brings the D in closer and gives us even less room to move. As it is we need to move our QB around so he has time for the 2nd or 3rd reads if he neeeds them. Most of all he needs to get the ball off on the initial call even if the receiver isn't wide open. Its all about timing and confidence and thats not there right now. As to the long layoff excuse .... that doesn't cut it .... the layoff has been just as great or greater for the other QBs Lapo is a good teacher who can build a QBs confidence and he uses dink and dunk a lot .... but unless that ball regularly goes downfield too, the good Ds are going to have our number.