BigBlue

I see various amounts of optimism and pessimism on this forum .... woes of our weaknesses expounded and glee about our new bright spots What I am the happiest about is the new structure of leadership, player management and talent search .... salivating really I am .... what ever bumps and bruises we have to endure in the short run I believe our long term prospects have never been better in decades

Now wouldn't this be a good way to jump start the offence? Slip Fitzgerald out of that formation and you'll have the outside flats at a time that you choose. Disrupt the box? Think outside the box. Outside the box ???? YEAH outside the box !!!

It might help if they went out and found a good TE. I'm not sure what skill set Fitzgerald has other than being invisible. CFL doesn't use true tight ends. We use Canadian fullbacks & most of them have hands of stone & aren't great runners at the CFL level. There are no Tony Gabriels or Peter Dalla Rivas out there to play. When Fitzgerald was drafted reports said he had good receiving ands ... I haven't seen a pass thrown his way yet

that sounds like good news ... know if we can give our defensive 7 some stickum and 3 other forms of glue to wrap up Harris Meanwhile Edmonton showed we don't know what to do when they stacked the box against us ... where are the Blue 's deep thinkers?

Stacking the box against the Blue has been very effective .... I am surprised we have not learned to counter it better Whwn they put ¾ of the defence between the tackles, so to speak, why try and run there (or throw there for that matter) ... On TSN this week we saw an effective counter: by "stacking" receivers outside the box and throwing short stuff against a thinned out set of DBs / LBs (because they were moved to the inside stack) .... there were many lanes open because the D was out-numbered beyond the box and the ball moved easily I also have to wonder why on running plays they did not attempt to seal off the end of the stack and get the running backs going out wide .... I know more easily said than done ,,,, but countering their lack of balance has to be something that comes to mind especially with all the flexibility enjoyed by our backfield in pre snap movement .... yes I think a light receiver can seal off an outside LB, at least some of the time Strategy is about hitting the enemy where they have made themselves weak ( in this case to "stack the box") .... its not about trying to overpower the opposition with superior macho! With this team and its tentative OL we don't need to be running up the gut into the face of 8 nearby defenders .... we need to make them pay for concentrating their defenders Good strategy can win out against superior force or numbers .... thats how superior generals gain the victory ... they adjust to the enemies deployment Yes I think we can be superior strategists .... now that execution thing

That's very good news ... when did that happen?

Does anyone know if our Blue has scheduled any TV blackout dates with TSN? Used to be we could still get around those by watching TSN on high def out of Edmonton Anyone hear about Bomber board / management philosophy on this? Last year we were selling out all the time .... this year overpriced endzone seating seems to be catching up to that decision ,,, perhaps

How many times has Marve been stopped? Other than once or twice at the goal line? I know he got stopped on the 30 yard line against Montreal but that was a bad decision to go for it in the first place. With the lack of push of the O-Line I don't think Refrigerator Perry would have gotten a first down on that play. But watching it you can see he hesitates or takes an extra step or something. There's something with him after he takes the snap that isn't right...lol I don't know what it is but I really hope come thursday they've found someone else to do the short yardage. I like him as a QB just not as a short yardage guy. If thats true it can be coached out of him

"Must improve his ability to read defensive coverages and run through his progressions. Needs to do a better job of settling for checkdowns. Overall accuracy and footwork are not adequate." To me the critical keys for a QB are (1) accuracy and (2) the ability to read a defence as it relates to going to 2nd & 3rd receivers when the primary is covered .. don't see that here .. the opposite of a Willy

"Oshea says same lineup for the Esks" I guess this is a team building thing .... personally I would like to see changes at 2 or 3 spots

26 Fitzgerald, Carl FB I remember all the fanfare when we drafted Fitzgerald ....big man good hands & receiver Remembering the Patriots bg tight ends from yesteryear I am wondering if we couldn\t be using Carl a little more often as a regular part of our offensive schemes .... National 6.05 253 1990-01-13 Saint Mary's

So 1 in 8 QBs played injury free ....the fact we play with at least 2 or 3 QBs a lot speaks loudly in this league .... we have to think QBs not QB

I see this quite often on here, and honestly don't understand it in a 9 team format, can you or someone else explain why you think this will be relevant to overall record? 5 West teams play 2 games against each east team (8) and remainder (10) against west 4 East teams play 2 games against each west team (10) and remainder (8) against east So a west team plays 10 against west and 8 against east And a east team has 10 against west and 8 against east But they are not playing against themselves. Hence if Calgary and Toronto are both good teams, and for arguments sake, all 3 other teams in the east are bad and the 4 other teams in the west are good. Then Calgary plays 12 games against good teams and 6 against bad teams Toronto plays 10 games against good teams and 8 against bad teams. yup .... we need one more cfl team... then 2 eaqch against all 9 ... till then more in your own division

When it comes to putting our name to forecasts & predictions many say they want to wait to see how training camp turns out first .... well here we are two games in .... what is your best judgment about how all 9 teams will end up in the combined standings? BTW Why? Who would have thought Winnipeg & Edmonton would be leading the pack at this point? My best Guess: 1. Calgary - the best talent 2. Toronto - they play eastern teams 3. Winnipeg - O'Shea knows how to get everyone playing as a team 4. Regina - still a lot of talent but with significant cracks 5. Edmonton - grit in players and management 6. Montreal - if Smith turns into a Canadian QB 7. Ottawa - Burris has a litle bit of talent with him 8. , Vancouver - talent failure .... too old .... too thin 9. Hamilton - Austin's destructive anger My picks are based on quality of coaching AND QB skill level (inclusive of the o-line protecting him)

When was the last time you saw aCFL starting QB play all 18 games plus playoffs? How many have ever done it 2nd & 3rd string QBs play a big role in this league ... its the definition of depth

Lefevre seemed to make more things happen than Collaros could but not enough when he had a chance .... Looks like Hammy has a trio of yellow label no brand QBsQBwith not much more than hope and wishful thinking Repeating Bomber QB hopefuls since the arrival and departure of Buck Pierce (and Kevin Glenn earlier) After week 2 ADVANTAGE Willy.... by a lot

Drew Willy - Its hard to argue with success ... 300+ passing yards each game ..... 45 & 36 points on the board .... wonderful long bombs ..... points for improvement IMHO: longer passes seemed pinpoint near perfect but shorter throws and flat passes seemed less accurate .... go figure this may have been because he was hurried or perhaps just felt rushed ... seems to me he needed to plant his feet more firmly on these shorter passes and take a quarter second longer to use his full range of motion .... I don't think he was being lazy or over confident about them thoughts?

I love Thursday games in the summer & Saturday nights in the fall ... too much to do Friday nights & daytime on weekends Thursdays mean I can totally focus on the game without worry, obligation or compromise

It might be fun to track at least for a few weeks who made the better QB acquisition, Hamilton or Winnipeg. No don't say Ottawa. Obviously the Blue won hands down this week but will it continue? Would Willy have looked as bad behind Hammy's o-line? Was Collaros totally at fault tonight or should play-calling be blamed for the turkey-shoot? Anyone expecting an exact repeat in Week 2?

O Shea must have liked what h e saw of him in Toronto I am not adverse to renting old pro's

Sorry AUSTIN ... brain fart from alternate universe

Exactly ... I don't believe Banks is at 100% but I do believe we are getting lazy reporting here but what do I know

I fear the worst for Watson; he plays with abandon and unless he learns something about self protection...

Regina has lost some big pieces after they stuffed the Cap last year in a successful drive for the Cup last season. Their leftovers are still pretty good. Clements is going to do something with the Cats but I see no signs of it yet. I am guessing that McManus was right in recommending Willy over Collaros .... replacing Burris is the right long term move but as far as we know Hamilton only acquired a very average QB I will be surprised if Regina doesn't win and not surprised at all if they win by a lot Regina is still in the top half of the teams ... Hamilton is a Wannabe

Didn't Matt Dunigan predict the Red Blacks would NOT finish last in the east this year. He must have previewed the Alouette training camp! What does Montreal have going for it self this year? Feels like disorientation and chaos to me... the tumble continues