Nasty Nate

I won't criticize Chevy. He's not a horse-trader by nature and nature hasn't called He loves playing his cards close to the vest but checks out when raised. Even with one or two good pickups Jets are still 78 to 86 point mopers next year. (ie. NOT A PLAYOFF SQUAD) No real superstars, indifferent goal-tending, sub-average 3rd and 4th line forward depth. Another year of floating in near-playoff space buys Chevy time to get some of his younger troops ready for real game action in 2016. So he's not giving up any of his draft picks. Not trading Kane, Buff or Toby Enstrom. Basically leaving things as is. They'll say they'll be trying to make playoffs but every team says that. The reality is they're still not good enough.

Revised trade proposal. Banks, Watson and our 3rd rd. pick in 2015 to Montreal for Chip Cox and Als 4th round pick.

Not a bad idea. The problem is Watson could last one play or several but he'd rarely be able to finish a game. But as a bench depth guy to insert in key situations - either late in games as a blocker or decoy. He seems to be injured stretching out for balls or making tackles on special teams. Take him off special teams, cut his salary to the bone and let him work a light rotation. Might be the only answer.

I wonder if a desperate eastern team (ie. Montreal) might be interested in Watson via trade. Perhaps they have some form of advanced training methods that could rehab Watson's persistent injuries. If so, I'd have no problem shipping Cory and a high draft pick next year (2nd or 3rd round) for Chip Cox. Cox would really complete our defense and is perfect for an Etcheverrian assault. . . . of course, Cox is pretty much the Als best overall player so I don't think a lame national wide receiver and a 2015 pick would even get Popp sniffing. What would?

It appears chronic. Not good. Hard to get into the rhythm of a season from the ice tub. Playing 6 or 7 out of 18 games doesn't help much - causes too many roster flips. I don't think many bomber fans are counting on this guy for the future.

Until we get better players overall I think you go with Maher to do both jobs and let Mike Renaud take a job in the front office and be on-call if injuries occur. Crapigna would be a good hire, too! Young kid (Cdn.) with long term potential....

Around 1969 I remember my 40 yd line tix cost about $6. Can't remember my first ticket prices around '65 but must have been around $4, maybe even $3.75. Can't even buy a jar of water for $3.75 these days. ha Kracklin Karpets (where the Red Lobster currently stands) used to give away bomber tickets for free just for comin' on down (and exposing yourself to a hard closer)

If they didn't grab Etch from the bottom of the barrel we probably have to look at a barrel of ex-NFL or AFL hobo-coaches like Barf Andrus.

I would trade Ford to Regina for a quality developmental OL or Taman's 2nd rd pick next year. Its a hard one to pull off cuz running back is the easiest position to find ex-NFL hobos or other CFL cuts.

Wow. The 55, you really were a fan monster Al..... I'm impressed!

I think RB is the only area we can help Sask'n at. Whoever we release amongst Cotton, Grigsby and Ford is probably headed to Regina. And it won't be Cotton. 100%....

The only way they cut Max Hall and his buggy whip arm is if they've identified Jacory Harris or Calvin Klein (Als cut) as better.

Toronto and Sask'n both might have to let go a canuck or 2 who could easily be part of our roster. Certainly better than some of our National Hobos.

A unique aspect of coaching is when you get a defensive specialist (ie. Tim Burke) to be your head coach you relax about defense cuz after all, we got the best DC in the league as our head man - he'll make sure the D is responsible. A myth. Look back in time. When Bud Grant became HC in 1957 he was a split end (WR) who played a bit of DB. Yet, for years, the Bomber D was feared (we had a guy named Johnny Michaels as DC) while Bud's offense often sputtered and barfed under immortals like Ken Ploen, Leo Lewis and Frank Rigney. Of course, Grant had one of the weakest football minds in CFL history as his offensive assistant, Joe Zaleski. Now we have a special teams assistant who played defense as our head coach and a wild mind as DC. It probably won't work. O'Shea and Walters might have to make a mid-season move if they sense things are unraveling.

I counted 7 drops in that game that should have been caught, very bad. Did not notice any throws to Woods or Tarver in game two so I guess that experiment may be over. I'm confident the Bombers will have a dynamic passing attack this year once they get their first team receivers on the field and won't be surprised if Moore is the only new name in that group. Both Carter and Feoli-Gudino should make decent subs for Watson when he inevitably goes down. Is it possible for the Bombers to keep both on the roster? Tarver seems to be the only consensus lock-down cut for the bombers. Woods isn't far off. Tate and one of those inert o-linemen will also get zapped. No surprises - they won't touch any of their QBs yet. The only minor shocker is if they part ways with Alex Suber. The only major shocker on the table is if they drive Korey Banks or Glen January to the edge of town. (no panic folks, I think January is quite safe despite his mediocrity)

I, too was hoping for Collaros to be our major acquire. However, in retrospect Willy is a far better team guy, seems to have bonded with coaching and management. Just doesn't have an o-line willing to bleed blue for him. Or unable. Willy is 4 or 5 inches taller than the slightly shortish Collaros. They appear to have about equal arms. Perhaps Collaros has a tiny advantage in arm strength. Collaros biggest advantage is he's the best broken play specialist in the league amongst QBs. Reilly and Lulay are close but Reilly is cutting back on running according to reports and Lulay will have to limit his breakaways cuz if he doesn't his career will be limited. Marve might actually be a nice broken play guy but we've seen too little of him.

Playing it coy. I suspect they're terrified of losing a couple hobos to other teams! lol

Hall prolly sticks around for the same reason Mike Renaud does. Politics. Bomber management love Renaud (for some reason) and the same appears to go for Hall (unless his game completely comes apart)

I think Cotton has made the team. My best combo would be Cotton and Ford rotating with one on the reserve roster to back up the other. Grigsby tries to do too much with too little. I suspect Sask. might be interested in whichever of the 3 we release!

Probably not much for the Bombers in the first round of cuts but it might be worth taking a look at Shea Pierre as our non-import talent is weak.

Suber is probably on the bubble but I'm sure Etcheverry likes "his size". Seriously, the guy is a vet even though he's 5'6" and not really a burner.

Re #7 - I don't think they make that decision today with the first round of cuts (mostly slugs & hobos) but Slappy Maxxy is definitely not in a good position. Re #8 - Huge loss in Newman but really bad for ratio Re #5 - Maher is so much better than the other two guys. He definitely should be on the roster. But I agree the Bomber form chart is to avoid import kickers even if the guy(s) they select have less accuracy, distance, etc. Also Maher seems to be able to hoist kickoffs to the 5. Cutting Renaud frees up some big salary cap space. But Mike is a favourite of this management group so he should be safe!

If Hall is smart he should start learning about offensive systems and being a QB coach. Sorta doing a Dinwiddie. He doesn't have the talent, arm or overall talent to be an effective starter. But I like his spirit and personality.

Things I liked: 1. Drew Willy overall 2. Paris 100% Cotton 3. Brent Maher 4. O'Shea's cool on the sideline 5. Bomber solidarity when Newman went down 6. Lack of turnovers Things I disliked: 1. Sloppy special teams tackling and positioning 2. O-line getting consistently over-powered 3. Receiver drops on routine catches 4. Soft zone pass coverage 5. An erratic def. coordinator supplied with inferior personnel

The fact Brohm looked better than Hall with a C-team o-;line in front of him speaks volumes. Hall can take a hit and doesn't BUCK-LE as much as a guy like Pierce but that doesn't mean much. Bombers putrid o-line will eventually result in casualties to promising young QBs like Willy and Marve. Wylie sure seems to have made a difference, huh?