Fatty Liver

I honestly don't think the Bombers problems have much to do with personnel at this point, it's more their attitude. Whether that attitude transcends from Willy, O'Shea or higher up the chain, we really don't know yet. Look at Sask., those players are still desperately fighting for their jobs because they fear Jones and he has made it clear from the start that it doesn't matter who you are, winning is what it's about for each and every player and nobody is beyond being replaced (Lemon). Fear is alive and well in Sask. while Wpg. desperately struggles to build a team based on trust, goodwill and camaraderie. Conversely the Bombers go into training camp and roll into the season with half a roster of talented "untouchables" and a handful of players who "made the club from the tub" knowing that the Coach has their back. This creates an atmosphere of acceptance and comfort level in losing rationalized by "it wasn't my fault" which is then transmitted onto new players brought into the system. This disease has even been absorbed by all-star caliber veterans who are at this point marking time and cashing pay cheques until something major happens. Notable exceptions are Wild, Bass, Leggett and Andrew Harris who are all playing with an inspired level of desperation and doing everything in their power to make big plays and change the tide.

****.

I don't care how Ottawa does it, they just need to win.

Why is Tristan Jackson playing corner for the RB's?

Sask. continues to rush 3, no chance of applying pressure against 5.

Good, throw him in and let's see what he's got. Seems to work okay for other teams.

Unfortunately I think BLM could have scored at will whenever he needed to, the Stamps were just toying with the Bombers and showed some class by not running up the score on them at home.

I noticed Cato playing a different game this year, I wouldn't be surprised if they're talking in his ear quite a bit.

Chamblin was bitching about the same thing last year before he got canned.

Pretty interesting to look at the communication advancement in football over the years. Many moons ago QB's called their own plays. Went through a transition when coaches signaled the plays in from the sidelines. QB's started wearing the wrist chart to help call plays. QB wears a receiver in his helmet, coach sends in play. Coach can now talk to the QB before and during the play. The latest advancements probably won't have much impact on the current crop of pro QB's but if they start using the ear-phones at the High School and College levels the next generation of QB's might become more reliant on the technology and less capable of reading defences themselves. Kind of like spell-check in that way.

Not much division on this question, the poll shows it's roughly 90% vs. 10%.

Oye, bad news for Moore. CFL Headlines @CFL_Headlines Nick Moore tore his ACL celebrating a touchdown, is out for year http://yhoo.it/29WDP7Q #CFL

The options for HC are slim even if they wait till the off-season. Not many worthy HC's candidates currently unemployed that I can think of so it comes down to hiring an experienced coordinator that's never been a HC before (Steinhauer, Thorpe) or stealing away a HC from another CFL team. The first possibility is more likely but a bigger risk as we've seen all too often a good coordinator does not always make a good HC.

Here is Glen Johnson's take on the video review. http://www.torontosun.com/2016/07/19/cfl-coaches-challenges-help-but-need-to-get-made-quicker CFL Blitz: Coaches' challenges help, but need to get made quicker Yes, there are more coaches' challenges this season. More than twice as many, as a matter of fact. No, they are not taking longer to review. Decisions are actually being made much more quickly. Yes, they are taking too long to get to the point of reviewing coaches' challenges, and that's where the CFL admits it needs to speed it up a notch or two. “If we're not able to get them (during the play) but a challenge gets them and this is the right outcome, then I'm satisfied with that,” CFL senior vice-president of football Glen Johnson told the Blitz this week. “But we gotta make sure that we are mindful of how long we're taking getting into them and that we move through them expeditiously. That's a big focus for us with the refs right now.” Coaches were able to challenge defensive pass interference penalties and non-calls in 2014 and 2015, but this year they can do the same with seven other infractions: offensive pass interference, illegal contact, illegal interference on pass plays, no yards, illegal blocks on kick plays, contacting/roughing the kicker or passer, and illegal interference at the point of reception on kickoff attempts. That's why there have been 39 coach's challenges through 16 games, compared to only 18 through four weeks last season. Considering each coach is allowed two challenges per game, they have used 61% of their challenges so far (excluding the third one a coach receives if he gets the first two correct). Johnson said the reason for the extended time it's taking to actually get to a challenge is simply growing pains. Coaches have to be extremely specific about what they're challenging, and both them and the officials are learning to speak a new kind of language. “It's this perception challenge that we've got that we need to address,” Johnson said. “If fans still feel that it's taking a long time and if there's more of them and there's more interruptions, then we still gotta find a way to deal with that.” Be patient, people. It will only get better. DOING ITS JOB There is some good news for the fans in all of this: Coaches and officials should figure out how to communicate better, and the review official is already moving at a faster clip. Last year the average review lasted two minutes and one second. So far this year it's been one minute and 25 seconds, according to Johnson. The other bonus is coaches' challenges are getting plays correct. Last season only 34% of challenged plays were overturned, but this year coaches are winning a whopping 51% of them. Even though that means his officials are missing calls, Johnson is pleased as punch with those numbers. “This is a good thing. The ones that we added were pretty critical ones,” Johnson said, singling out roughing the passer as a key addition to the challenge list. “We're now able to have a coach challenge that and get it right, which is the right thing to do. It's working the way we hoped it would.” SO FAR, SO GOOD The last video review update: The “eye in the sky” is working well, according to Johnson. The “eye in the sky” is a third video review official in the Toronto command centre who ensures the right call is made when flags are thrown for penalties that coaches cannot challenge. He is also able to help with administrative calls, like how much time should be on the clock or where a ball went out of bounds. Johnson said the numbers so far show the “eye in the sky” is fixing seven or eight situations per game without causing a delay. “That just makes the officiating look better and be better,” Johnson said. “We're fixing some spots and application points for fouls. We fixed the clock a couple times. We've picked up a couple of bad flags on line play, on procedures and things like that.”

You'd think so but they didn't put much pressure on BLM in the first meeting and they used subs on their O-line in that game as well.

Joe West has been moved to the 6 game IR, so that's one less deep threat they have to worry about.

Any current Bomber players you would care to dis?

It's going to be hard to shut down BLM with the same DB's they played last week. Who's turn is it to give up a 75 yard TD this week? Adams and Johnson can't return soon enough.

Agreed, I'm Tracker's backer on this one. Willy's long-ball accuracy has been pathetic.

Johnny Adams could be ready for the next game. Now repeat that statement 6 times to bring yourself up to date.

Yep, that East-end tilt with the Transcona Unemployed Rail Workers and Football Team can't come soon enough. Willy gonna lay em low.

In a recent interview George Reed said that he thinks that the league has moved towards throwing the ball over running because it is easier to implement and operate. In olden days the turn-over of players was limited to 5 or 6 new players per season so it was easier to implement a running attack and stick with it for multiple years using the same basic personnel.

I don't follow, they got that one right. Upon challenge they over-turned the officials error.

I'm surprised James is still alive as well, in all my years following the Bombers I can't recall him ever being featured for any honours or attending any reunions. Hopefully he's still in good enough shape to attend the ceremony. On a somewhat off note isn't Graham James somehow related?

I'm reasonably happy with the job Walters has done, he's gone out and brought in some very good players and selected some good players in the draft. As for hiring O'Shea most were happy when that happened but who could foresee he would accumulate such a bad win-loss record?