mbrg

barf freaking ridiculous.

Sometimes you just have to live with your mistake.

Alright, we get to watch Dean Valli play this week. I love watching Dean Valli. Snap ball, shuffle feet around, get a hand on the guy Norman already had, shuffle feet, look around confused, look behind at QB laying on ground. Given the choice of putting him in there to fill the ratio requirements or a bottle of maple syrup - BC must have gone back and forth on that for hours in training camp.

Ouch... with Thaddeus Gibson still not in town, it looks like it might be Booker in there for Vega. Kuale at DE ? crickets... Okay, I'll say it. I don't hate the idea. He might be better suited there. Or at least open up a spot in the middle for someone who is better suited. And it's not like we've gotten any pressure from the outside line lately, so even if he does nothing, it's not a downgrade. I'll go hide under my desk now.

Ouch... with Thaddeus Gibson still not in town, it looks like it might be Booker in there for Vega. When it rains it pours. And there seems to be a fire at the umbrella factory. Which the rain was unable to put out.

And the cup engraving can officially begin...

There are not a lot of teams in this league that have the Oline to eviscerate our defensive scheme. Saskatchewan is one of them. We have a defence that matches up pretty well against 75% of the teams we will face. I could even argue that our defence matched up pretty well against Saskatchewan. Their offence scored 6 points the first time we faced them; 13 points last Sunday. 19 points in 2 games in the CFL. If our offence put up something that putrid we'd be losing our minds over it. Taking a step back and looking at our defence in the big picture, I see no reason at all to blow anything up. We've made our share of mistakes and can be better. We will need to be better. But I understand what OShea is saying when he says this is not a problem. Specifically to Kromah and Kuale, I didn't see Kromah do anything on Sunday that screamed this is the man for the job. He was adequate, not much more. Kuale, well considering this defence is based on speed, I don't see what his qualifications are for the job. He's not particularly fast, not in CFL terms. He's a kill shot artist more than anything, and that's not what we need right now. In a traditional 4-3, having RBs get funneled into his lane and blown up might be fun to watch. That's just not what we are this year.

The outsiders here are of a pretty high quality from what I've seen on other message boards. Getting their takes on what's happening in their neck of the CFL can be pretty valuable. Getting their takes on what's happening over here? That they can shove straight up their bungholes.

Temporarily? Both were already a long shot at 29 years old... NFL dream is dead - Dressler should just sign a nice 3 year contract at 190k and be happy. Starting to wonder about Hall - no room in Sask anymore, pretty much Ottawa or Winnipeg... maybe not Winnipeg anymore with these last three signings He reportedly signed a one year deal here. He's probably done with the NFL forever at this point, but contractually he has left the door open to try again in a few months. He's a great receiver but he doesn't have a realistic shot of landing a job down there. That one year deal was Taman buying time so he can think of ways to hide money... Dressler will be a roughrider til the cows come home. Most likely. I don't think he should play anywhere else. I wouldn't have wanted to see Stegall in an Argos uni. Hall won't struggle with loyalty issues if he comes back to the CFL. He played 1-1/2 seasons here and got traded. He'll go where the money is. Ottawa. If he wanted back in the CFL he would have already played in their BC game.

Oh yes, I will also be praying and holding vigil for him. Does anyone know if there's some sort of fund I can donate to to support him in this time of great difficulty? It must be really tough being the first CFLer in history to suffer a (sort of) serious injury. Stay classy Max. Oh come on, that's pure gold right there.

I suppose, But i would think that they wouldn't trade burris until they are sure they have someone that can take over from them. Qb is one of the hardest positions to find (see bombers pre 2014) so trading away a proven starter and future HOF QB for a starting Cdn o-linemen is insane to me. Oline is very important but if you have Troy Smith (or clone) it won't matter who is around him. If your QB lacks accuracy or the ability to read a defence he is worthless. Burris is an inconsistent QB, but he's not the reason the Redblacks are losing. That team could scrap out some hard fought wins if it cleans up some of the rest of that garbage, like that sequence with Chevon Walker last week. They will not be able to do that without Burris. Are they willing to completely write off 2014 to get an Olineman? And if they can't find a QB, 2015? I doubt it. The message that would send to season ticket holders in Ottawa would be awful. They are already supporting their stumblebum team through incompetence because at least they are trying. Now you tell them you aren't even trying anymore? Awful. Not going to happen. /checks google, sees Eric Tillman does not work in Ottawa... Not going to happen.

Yayyy!!! Boooooo!!! Indifferent Shruuuug!!!

Temporarily? Both were already a long shot at 29 years old... NFL dream is dead - Dressler should just sign a nice 3 year contract at 190k and be happy. Starting to wonder about Hall - no room in Sask anymore, pretty much Ottawa or Winnipeg... maybe not Winnipeg anymore with these last three signings He reportedly signed a one year deal here. He's probably done with the NFL forever at this point, but contractually he has left the door open to try again in a few months. He's a great receiver but he doesn't have a realistic shot of landing a job down there.

Dressler is back in the CFL because he temporarily gave up on his NFL dream. There are no other ex-CFLers who are yet willing to do that. If they sign a contract here, they cannot get a job there. Alex Hall would have been in some kind of CFL uniform 2 weeks ago if he wanted to be back in the CFL. He'll have no problem getting a job here. He wants a job there.

? I don't want to accuse you of huffing paint fumes moab, but....have you been huffing paint? (when phrased in the form of a question it's not an accusation)

Good press, bad press isn't the concern. The quality of the writing is what bothers me. They can talk crap about the Bombers if they want, just construct a logical argument and demonstrate an understanding of football (Wiecek).

The Bombers (and every team) is always looking for players who can make them better. The PR expansion typically does nothing to help a team's short term prospects. A player coming onto the PR in October and making some kind of big impact in that same season? There probably is an example or two, but nothing immediately comes to mind. Over the long haul? There have been some great players who started their careers buried on the practise roster. Stevie Baggs was stuck behind Tom Canada and Gavin Walls for most of his Bomber career. Occasionally an injury will give one of these guys an opportunity before the following June, but for the most part they are auditioning for 2015 training camp invites. People familiar with the CFL understand that. Wiecek does not. Which is why he should probably head back to the track. There are 100 people on this site more qualified to write about football. Maybe more.

That is far more likely to happen than a cut. Still won't happen until Wild is healthy. The suggestion of a cut is just spite based. His salary is guaranteed. Until we need the roster space there is no benefit and actually a bit of down side. Things can be worse at that spot. If we can't make them better, don't do something dumb and make them worse. With 3 games against the Riders and a tired game against the Argos in our last 5 contests, the weaknesses of the defence have been under a magnifying glass, but that doesn't mean every team will be able to exploit us there. Most don't have the horses, or in Toronto's case, the good fortune of playing us in a sauna on 4 days rest. Calgary probably can. That's 2 of our next 7 games. If our defence is good enough to win 5 of our next 7 games I would be pretty hesitant in the changes made. The decisions made won't alter the past. Make the best decision you can to enhance the future. Now if there is a former Etch MLB sitting around somewhere waiting for a phone call, please do make that call.

Actually most are okay with Sunseri. There is no replacing Durant but the Riders are a veteran team with a tonne of talent. Tino doesn't have to force anything.Is it really the case that "most are okay with Sunseri" or is it, You don't really have a choice other than to go with Sunseri.Well, we have no choice but most are confident that Tino will do "okay." He's not Darian but he'll do fine.His completion percentage this year is 52% (Sunseri) that's less than Alex Brink, only 5% better than Troy Smith.... your first problem is trying to use numbers with a rider fan. You mean like 3-0? I'd use more meaningful numbers. Like 103-4. The near mathematical impossibility of only winning 4 championships in 103 tries. In a 9 team league. Or more personal numbers. Like 10-4. Counting rings.

Wiecek not realizing how incredibly asinine this question is is the main reason they should have left him at the racetrack covering the ponies. He'd be happier. We'd be happier. Guaranteed the Sept 23 edition of the FP will re-visit the need to airlift in help. SOS, this is an SOS!

There is a big debate going on. Personally I am in favour of rolling with Sunseri. Not too many decent vets around anyway. MICHAEL BISHOP REUNION TOUR!!!

How? Well Wild is injured, so if we cut Kuale then there is at least one defensive formation we can't run. Unlikely Kuale goes anywhere this year. You're better off hoping he gets less snaps once Wild is healthy, or that we go Wild-Kromah for the rest of the year. Given the apparent complexity of the defence, replacing a MLB would not be as simple as it would be in a Greg Marshall 4-3. That's almost plug and play. This requires familiarity.

? Was there a whistle on the play? If so I never heard it. There was.. I heard one right after the snap (procedure due to Messam on the line I believe.. Moved) but I'm assuming on the field, nobody was hearing a thing.. There was a UR penalty to Leggett last month on a special teams play (he threw his guy to the ground in the legal sense) that only could have been called because it was after the whistle, but there was no way Leggett could have heard the whistle on the play. Refs have to realize that noise is a legitimate factor at IGF. The years of tweeting their whistle and waddling over are done. They need to start whistling every play dead like a bench brawl has erupted. Run in with your arms waving, blow that whistle like an angry french traffic cop. If players are supposed to play to the whistle the refs better make sure they can hear that whistle.

? Was there a whistle on the play? If so I never heard it.

At this point Chad Johnson is little more than a pad-wearing publicity stunt. Burleson probably lands a job somewhere this year after there are some injuries. He is on the tail-end of his career though, and the chances of him getting a camp invite next season are somewhat slim. A grocery bagger gets paid to bag groceries. That doesn't mean his heart is in it. A six month long downward spiral would affect any person. That is normal. You can't pretend that football players aren't humans. Looking at what happens on the field and extrapolating what is in a player's heart is something most fans should avoid.