mbrg

Since for the first time in...forever Floyd isn't calling for the Bombers to draft a linebacker from Laval, there must be something special about this kid. Campbell at number 2 it is!

Let's save time - we'd rather have all the receivers better than Bryant than Bryant.

I'd rather have Stamps than Price or Bryant - though make no mistake, Stamps is no where near the receiver he was a couple years back. He won't be any different than Bryant is. You'd rather have Stamps over Bryant....but he's no different then Bryant. ...I...what? giggles Yeah, Stamps is washed up. We should much rather try and get the guy who led the league in receiving yards last year. What was his name? Schlamps? Schtramps? Smfafmps?

They still owe Noel $130 million.

I don't view it from that angle but I would agree that the Jets are just as hard-pressed to make the playoffs this year as last, mostly because I don't think they will win 50% of the games against elite teams. Pissing away chances for 2 points against the weakerthans of the league looks to be a thing of the past, but the balance of power is so concentrated in the West this year I have trouble imagining they can make up enough points to get in. But the game-in game-out effort put forward on the ice, that I think will be consistently better this year than any year previous. My guess is they finish 9th, 2 points out of a playoff spot. That will be frustrating, but what they do on the ice this season won't be nearly as frustrating.

To be fair, I've heard Kroeker pronounced both ways. And Goossen. He had a really solid playoff run from what I saw, but having his name show up on Montreal's neg list might not even amount to a training camp invitation. Names go on and off those things all the time, from what I understand. I'm no scout but that Nigerian dude on the Bison interior Dline, if we could develop what he showed on some plays, well he had some impressive snaps out there.

Not going to do the whole thing, just a few points of interest: Everyone wanted to say "this is the real Jets" when they were winning. I would not have said that, what I would have said is this is the best version of the Jets we will see this year (give or take a functional power play). Some games they will play their best, some games they will play badly, most games will be somewhere in between. This is true for all teams. No one plays their best 82 times per season, even the elite teams. What I hope for as a fan is that a majority of the games played this year are on the positive half of the spectrum of possible performances. B's or better. So far I consider that the case. I don't consider it realistic for any team to put out A++ performances every night. My point is, losing one or two means nothing but this stretch of losing 4 out of 5 and the way they've done it shows me the team has "regressed" back to where they were. A win is a win and a loss is a loss. That is what the standings are for. Regression and progression are not snapshots in time, they are measures over a period. If you want to limit that period to such a short time, you can. I won't. Here's what I would have expected the 2013 Jets to do over those same 5 games if played last season. They would have been inconsistent in their performances over that stretch, finding a way to beat one of the good teams, lose by 2 or 3 to the other good teams, and stink out the barn against the one team they should have beat because why do something as logical as beat a team you're better than? Instead they played 4 superior teams close and handily beat the inferior team, the score not really reflecting the level of control they had over the opposition. That alone is different than what the Jets have served up for us in the first 3 seasons. If the work ethic is there the results will come. If it is not there the results will not. If they were playing without effort I'd be annoyed with them, but the effort was there in all 4 of those losses. The opposition also gets paid to play. The output is not always an accurate measurement of the input. As a team they need to learn how to close out games like that out, but of those 4 the only one I thought they had a realistic chance of bringing home a W was the Detroit game.

Wow, that one seems pretty out there. I'm not his biographer but I don't think he's ever coached before in his career. Even this year he was just brought in as a "consultant". "Gaining steam" - ie, someone came up with the idea and now people are talking about it. Once Buono starts talking about it then it might mean something. Is SJ Green a Rider yet?

Hmm. I'm not trying to pick on Stapleton. He was what he was, a guy who despite having some skill level and some speed, didn't have enough of either to make up for his lack of size. He landed a job in the NHL. Good on him for that. When I watched him play I didn't think he was particularly better than some of the guys I played against in my old rec hockey league. I'm not being an ass, some of the guys in my old rec hockey league played in the WHL and AHL for a while. Stapleton is good enough to carve out a 10-15 year career in the Swiss league. That's actually pretty darn good. But this is the NHL. When people claim that the Jets haven't gotten any better I think back to guys on the roster in the first 2 years. Stapleton, Wellwood, guys like that immediately come to mind. Guys that we were lining up with Kane. I repeat, we lined these guys up with Kane! Laughing off those claims is pretty easy if you just look at those first rosters we put out.

Drama to discuss the team? No, drama to say "Can we now accept the jets have regressed?" when they are very clearly better. Or that Pavelec "has regressed" when he's playing at a level he has never come close to before in his NHL career. You want the context? They have lost 4 of their last 5, that is the occurrence. The context? All by one goal. One against the team with the fewest goals against in the NHL. One against the team tied with the second fewest goals against in the NHL. One in overtime in back-to-back games with an early start time against the other team tied with the second fewest goals in the NHL. And one against a team with the 8th fewest goals against in the NHL. The combined goals for and against of the 4 teams they lost to? + 46. The Jets have played hard and lost close 1 goal games in 4 of their last 5, against some of the best competition in the NHL. Apparently all you will read in that sentence is "The Jets....lost". They lost 4 of their last 5. They did not serve up a stinker or anything close to one in any of those. They are not on the same level as those teams but are playing them close and fighting hard. Is losing to them "regression"? Only if you were deluded enough to think the Jets were going to be an elite team this year. They will win some against the best teams but lose more, because they are not among the best. And some nights it will be by much more than 1 goal. And some nights a bottom-feeder team will play them just as hard as they played the Penguins. And some nights the Jets will lay the boots to a lesser team, like they did to the Coyotes. Not one of those games on it's own will be the entirety of what the Jets are. 5 games is not the entirety of what the Jets are. (and Tim Stapleton did not play on the 4th line, but if you think he was on par with Scheiffle, Frolik or Lowry, have at er I guess. Go ahead and try to make a compelling argument for that. That should be pretty amusing. I'll just grin and shake my head.)

Just modify your Thaine Carter jersey. You have a Thaine Carter jersey, right? Everyone should.

Reasons not to read too much into 144 characters or less - because it's 144 characters or less.

This is a pretty over-the-top level of drama for a team that lost 2 one-goal games in a row against 2 of the better teams in the league. Some deep breaths should be taken. Pavelec has the 11th best gaa in the league among starters, so if by regressed you mean gotten much better, then yes. The team needs to score more goals. It has the 3rd fewest in the league. Despite that they sit 16th overall in the league. If this team simply maintains everything about it's current level of play and improves the powerplay from second-worst in the league to average, it is probably good enough to make the playoffs. Tim Stapleton once played an entire season here. You seriously think this is just more of the same? It's okay to be disappointed by a loss, but we should still keep our wits about us.

Now that's just against the law. You do an interview on 1290 and don't give us the heads up? Your Christmas card will be rescinded. I didn't get to see the entire game unfortunately. The handoffs where he carried the ball it was very noticeable some of his skills were well beyond CIS level. The ability to make hard sharp cuts and the velocity he made them at, that was NCAA caliber. Agreed. I was not impressed with Demski. Bombers might be able to get him with the 2nd rounder. That one play where he avoided making a catch on second and ten because he didn't want to get hit was just awful. Receiver was going up, ball got thrown in. They were not on the same page. Demski spotted the ball as it was going past him. If he was taking the route in, he would have cut underneath the safety.

The only time I've ever cared about players skating around in a circle after a game was late April of 1996. ...don't know when this became a thing or why anyone would care or talk about it today and if the leaves fall into a muddy bog and are discovered as fossilized remains in 10,000 years I'd be fine with it but could not begin to care whether or not they "saluted" the fans they can all go huff fecal matter as far as I'm concerned... The NHL has expanded multiple times and the watering down of talent concern comes up every time. For the most part it hasn't amounted to much of anything. The expansion teams suck to start, just like all expansion teams suck at first. Established teams getting weaker from it? For the most part, expansion teams end up with the Scott Mellanby's of the league. A little long in the tooth, but add "leadership".

Wally is in total control of that team. If Braley ever attempted to change that, Buono would walk away.

And a guy struggling to succeed on the field doesn't automatically = big jerk, needs to be constantly slandered and insulted. Amen.

A little bit, but I'd also say it's about what he did with the team he inherited. Over here Burke inherited a turd (looked at it and said keep on keeping on). Benevides inherited a team that had contended every year for quite a while and had been getting groomed for the transition, basically a turnkey operation when he took over. I've wondered before what would have happened if those two had flipped places. Does Burke become a smarter coach and Benevides the guy who gets mocked? I know Burke wasn't put into a great situation, but the way he handled his coaching gig here leads me to believe he isn't head coaching material. It is when things go bad that you show your real colors because something is always going to go wrong, just different degrees. Just the things he would say to the media, deflecting blame, etc ... it doesn't instill a lot of confidence in your "leader". What he should have done and did not do was go clean slate on the organization. Instead he kept almost everything as it was, which was the same people who got the last coach fired. And when that led to failure, as was totally inevitable, he had no clue what to do with a situation that he had not created but had a chance to change and chose not to. And the time to use them all as scapegoats for failure had passed because he brought them all back and said these are my guys. Which led to all the mumblebum nonsense that came out of his mouth in the second half of the season, when he couldn't for the life of him figure out the right thing to say. Would he change it all if given a do-over? He'd be a moron not to (and that's what I think he was trying to say when he talked about it not being the way he wanted his first head coaching job to be, which is still nonsense because he had 4 more months to prepare for his first season as a head coach than a normal first-time coach gets and this is a really long parenthesis). Would that change the outcome? Maybe not. He reacted poorly to situations he might never have found himself in if he'd done it differently from the start, but hardships of some sort come with the job. Which is why I'm strongly opposed to mid-season head coaching changes. All that needs to happen is for the interim guy to do an average job, below average even. Slightly under .500 is considered good enough to get that interim tag removed because that's probably slightly better than the guy he replaced. And then a guy who hasn't demonstrated anything gets around a hiring process that should have happened and wastes a second season that could be spent rebuilding with the real new head coach. See Burke, Tim and Daley, Jim.

A little bit, but I'd also say it's about what he did with the team he inherited. Over here Burke inherited a turd (looked at it and said keep on keeping on). Benevides inherited a team that had contended every year for quite a while and had been getting groomed for the transition, basically a turnkey operation when he took over. I've wondered before what would have happened if those two had flipped places. Does Burke become a smarter coach and Benevides the guy who gets mocked?

If he can shift to the right side it would sure simplify the re-tune. (if he ever reaches free agency and comes here) NI tackles are expensive, next year probably as or more expensive than Willy was this year, which seems crazy. From a cap standpoint, there are probably easier fits. Based on the way the pay scale has moved in recent years, we could probably get an import of equal talent for less than half of what we'd have to pay an elite NI tackle. And after watching the pounding Willy took this season, I wouldn't want to settle for anything less than a top talent. I'm not opposed to trying to land a Heenan at all, it would be great if we do it, but if it doesn't happen I don't think it hurts us. Might even be a blessing in disguise cap-wise. Out of what we currently have on our roster, Neufeld is the only one qualified to be there. Morley 5 years ago perhaps.

I gotta say, as far as signing a Canadian fullback off the streets, already in his mid-twenties... Pontbriand was a pretty nice find by Mack... I agree, but saying something positive about Mack derails any thread. Best to not bother.

Name redacted. Paris Cotton thread. No more threads overtaken by that stupid topic.

It's a big question for sure, but they also need to have a better response to injuries than what happened.

Hefney was the cause of damage to Stamps' man-area. I believe 2 of the last 3 times Stamps has played in Winnipeg he spent the night in a hospital. I have far too much respect for him to say he's done after one down year. After just a single season at guard I can't imagine Everett would show well against the Tevarius George's of the league. He's almost certainly a multi-year project player. So what do we really need on Oline? Replacing all 5 players for 5 better players would be great - much in the same way it would be great for every position on the field - but what do we need? And do we need to get it in free agency? While there are better players at left guard in the CFL than Greaves, he's good enough that he's around last on my list of spots to upgrade on the Oline. Daniels seems like he can handle his spot. He should see lots of competition in training camp, and if we find someone better, great. Morley/Goossen is a big question. For the first time in a few years Morley looked not like the odd man out on the line. Switch him out of that spot after his first truly solid season in a long time to get Goossen in? Or leave Goossen at the right guard spot for another season, draft a right guard this year and give him 6 months of quality practise time, and move him in and Goossen over next season. (next next season) And what of January and Neufeld? Both had their contributions effected by injury this year. It seems like a lifetime ago at this point, but early on in the season many of us had good things to say about the play of the Oline. Another import tackle? We shouldn't have to spend big bucks on an import anything really. Rewarding the Clarence Denmark's on our roster for the quality of their play is great, but it shouldn't be necessary to spend a large amount of money to get another team's import tackle. My expectation is that Walters and crew should be able to get 5 pretty good ones here for training camp without having to resort to that. So, what, a right guard? Is that all we're possibly shopping for on the Oline? Can Tyler Holmes shift over to play right guard? Could Greaves move over to that side? The Oline certainly had moments of complete disarray this year. What are the tangible moves that fixes it? From free agency, paying big bucks for a stud NI Olineman has value to the Bombers. Outside of that, if it's a buyer's market (which free agency rarely is), an import tackle in the very low 6 figures. So maybe one guard in free agency is all that's needed to right the ship. Sorry for the lack of flow, mostly thinking out loud via typing.

Messam is used primarily as a running back. Fitzgerald is used sparingly as a tight end. Comparing them statistically because they are both incorrectly listed as fullbacks on depth charts is comparing apples to lugnuts. Did Fitzgerald run the ball a single time this year? (curious, I go check) No, not once in any year. Without watching all 18 games I have no way of knowing, but I suspect he never even lined up in the backfield this year. Pontbriand is used as a fullback.