Fatty Liver

In his spare time Rod Black writes poetry and watches figure skating.

Two advantages I can think of for taking Messam when they had the chance. 1. He's playing for the Bombers 2. He's not playing for the Riders. It's like handing a thug a stick to beat you with.

They should give Rod Black his own segment called "Rod Black's Tea Party". The premise is Rod Black can talk with guests at length about anything he likes while completely ignoring the play on the field below. Duane Forde can be his "Ed McMahon" side-kick, stunned into silence but nodding approvingly.

Imo Sask. has the perfect combination of RB's right now with Ford, Allen and Messam this is the direction the Bombers need to move in the future to create versatility in their running game. I can appreciate Grigsby's talents and I'm sure he has secured his position but they need to find a back like Allen to compliment his style. As for Messam, might as well try to catch a leprechaun, Bombers will never find a Natl. back like that again. My tears still fall...

I don't see the same doomsday scenario as you do for next weekend and as much as our deficiencies have been exposed, I think we have done a good job of exposing other team's weaknesses. Didn't we just take that game to the very end against a very good team? Have to wrap our brains around the potential injuries coming out of that game before we can make predictions on the Banjo Bowl. Potentially, No Wild, Moore or Willy. If Neufeld comes back is Jones back on the PR or does he replace Howard...

I don't understand how you can say a receiver gave up on a ball. That would imply that the ball was catchable and the effort wasn't there. I would disagree. Those three long ball throws were ever so close to being game changers, so I don't mind the aggressive play calls. We were playing to win. Coaches get criticized all the time for doing this and not doing that, so I can understand disagreeing with the play calls, but as I said, saying the effort wasn't there, is just wrong. I agree that the receiver didn't give up on the ball...but this is the 2nd time in 2 games where we were 2nd and 3 at important times in the games, and a long pass which does not have a high probability of being completed was called. At this juncture of this game...it should have been all about ball control and first downs and it wasn't! Would you have rather than handed off to Grigsby and got stuffed after a 1 yard gain? There's nothing wrong with taking a shot downfield. Bottom line whatever play you call you have to execute it. you're right because MB continues to run Grigsby between the guard and tackle. yes, that is not working. We have to try and get him the ball and let him use his speed to the outside but of course he needs some blocking too. Or way not try Pontbriand and see if he can fight thru the first tackle. We saw yesterday that he can be the hammer. I'm thinking Pontbriand might be a good fill in for LB, he's 230 lbs. and he seems to like to hit people. Knapp could also be a candidate.

Good summation and for the most part Etch's system works well. The weaknesses of his defence to the run has been well known for years but few teams have invested in the running game as heavily as the RRs so it isn't often exposed. When he was originally hired my hope was that O'Shea would reign him in somewhat and I still think before the end of this season that is going to happen. The Bomber D is making personnel changes on almost every play to adjust to the game but they just don't have the heavy horses to deal with a strong running game like Sask. has. This is something that can be improved and it's hard to believe Mike O'Shea is going to stand pat with the current lineup after witnessing that last drive. Hopefully Walters will be filling the P.R. with "meaty" LB candidates by seasons end. In a way this back to back series with the Riders is a blessing because we will get to see how Etch copes with a repeat performance.

No worries, that certainly isn't a Sask. original, borrowed from the Packers, Raiders, Bengals, etc.

Natural tendency I think. I swear like a mother ***** when I injure myself.

Max Hall must be turning down CFL job offers.

One team said we're going to play the game simple, we're just going to pound the ball right up the middle. In that situation you don't mess around trying to outsmart anyone, you just line up and beat the guy across from you. Etch though doesn't believe in playing D that doesn't try and confuse people. Confusion only works when the other team isn't trying to just play smash mouth football. Etch didn't consider that Sask. could gain 7-8 yards on first down every time and they did this mainly because of undersized Bomber LB's and poor positional play. Kuale spends more time up on the line than he does back were he belongs this is why he ends up with so few tackles. Wonder what's the potential of Sherman gaining 25 lbs. over the off-season like Mike Reilly did?

Based on what? On the field and in interviews, he comes across as a thug and a creep. I hear his brother's a real winner. Banned from Riderfans. No alive and well on Riderfans, goes by the name of Area51 and he's a total ass, especially when discussing the Bombers.

I thought I heard that Hunt was injured and done for the year...no?

He certainly earned my admiration. When he was down I figured the game was over, and thought that at least we'd get to see what the backup QBs can actually do. Very surprised when he came back out and everything he did after that was just a bonus since I'd already conceded defeat. Even if the Bombers lose the Banjo Bowl and finish out the season 9-9 I feel really good about the future with Willy at the helm.

Post game inteview, O'Shea was more upset about his decision to give up the 2 pt. safety in the first half than his decision to kick the F.G. He put the game in the hands of the D. to stop the Riders and they couldn't do it. As Doug Brown said if they would have played a conventional balanced front 7 against the run they would have had a better chance of stopping them but with Etch he never plays it straight even when the D he's running is ineffective.

Based on what?

I didn't hear Fraser's name mentioned once in this game, is he really a better option than Vega? Turner and Anderson played like mad dogs and even Louie Richardson looked impressive on a few plays. Peach was steady and in on a lot of tackles.

I suspect you're probably right. Once Bomber fans stop worrying about making the playoffs they'll get back to appreciating how much better this team is and what a bright future they have.

I'm not sure if people really want Kromah in the lineup or Kuale out. Probably a combination of both, but I'm leaning towards Kuale out. They might both be in as Wild could be out. Doug Brown also said that with the type of inury Willy sustained he doubted that he will be able to practice at all this week and wouldn't be surprised if he was a no go for next Sunday. Apparently his ankle is going to swell up like a balloon in the next few days and only time can determine if he will be recuperated in time for the Banjo Bowl. Similar to Andrew Harris's injury earlier this year which put him out for 2 weeks..

The amount of time Ian Wild was playing MLB was disturbing, he's just too small to be doing what he's attempting to do. Kuale is starting to remind me of Cauchy showing up after the player is already down. Cauchy come-lately=Kuale come-lately.

It looked like he had his hand around Pontbriand's throat when he was pinning him to the ground. Hope they send that to the league for a review.

Now it's not all on him, but to me it seems like Jarvis Jones did a hell of a lot of good things for the line today... how the hell has he been off the roster the entire time? I thought J. Jones played well too, let's hope Wylie finally sees that he can flat out play football..

On the CJOB post game show Doug Brown was pretty adamant in blaming the BBs inability to stop the run on the final drive on Etch's defensive set up and not on the players. He said everybody in the park knew Sask. was going to run the ball and yet the BB's were lining up in an unbalanced D-line formation which made it almost impossible for them to cover off the gaps. The RB sees the holes even before the ball is snapped. In these situation he suggested they have to return to fundamental formations in order to have a chance of stopping the run. A good example he mentioned was the goal line stand were Allen scored. Wild was left on his own while the entire D-line was loaded up on the other side of the line. I think Etch has done a great job building a D from scratch but I still think he needs to be reigned in at times. When the games get down to crunch time football fundamentals should over-ride trickery .

Need a delete function for double posts!

Sadly it's still not as bad as the winless streak in Calgary which stretches all the way back to 2002. The culture of losing has to change. These streaks are ridiculous & embarrassing. Coaches & players have to have a some pride to say Enough is enough. Not good enough to go to Mosaic & McMahon Stadiums, lose by 3 & be satisfied with a close loss... Or especially a 52-0 shellacking like 2 yrs ago this weekend anymore. It's time to start winning. Nothing less. According to O'Shea's philosophy the Bombers are on a one game winning streak, not a 10 year losing streak. There should be no carry over if his players "buy in".