mbrg

I want to win Noeller. We won't ever with him as DC. I think that's more important than keeping him around for anyone's amusement. and yet we could have easily had a winning season with him as DC if not for bad turnovers on offense, some break downs on special teams... That's why people keep arguing with you about this, the defense was actually pretty solid for the most part this season. The offense doesn't go MIA late in the year and a winning season and playoffs quite likely happen. So second last in sacks and last in run stopping constitutes a solid defence for the most part of the season? That's laughable actually. It also fails to talk about the effect on the offence, especially in fourth quarters many times so the offence could not get back on the field. In general football theory, sure, that's a problem. In real-life Bomber games? The first Rider game where many fans were losing their minds over Messam running for 10 yards on every carry. Total points generated by Saskatchewan's offence that game? 6. And us not being able to mount a comeback because we didn't have the ball? The defence got the offence the ball twice inside the 3 minute warning that game. And the offence gave us 2 turnovers. It's a flawed defence, no doubt. By design it gives up the run to take away the pass. I'm not in love with it. But the whipping it takes from people I'd consider knowledgeable football fans on here (some obvious exceptions), well it makes me wonder whether breaking down all 18 games after the fact is an exercise I should make time for. Because the games I watched, more often than not the defence was giving us a chance to win, not costing us the game.

Congrats to Denmark for another season of quietly being fantastic once again. Most of these votes come from reporters. They don't give it much thought, they look at the stats, put the donut down long enough to make an X by the guys whose names are at the top. If there isn't an easy stat column to go by, the vote on reputation or where the team finished in the standings. It's a useless system, so getting upset by useless selections is pointless - it's the most likely outcome when the system is useless. Could be worse, they could let Rider fans vote.

Pretty big ruckus over making someone stand on the sidelines in a uniform instead of his civies. That clipboard will have to be really heavy to further damage his shoulder. Maybe the equipment manager will take off the "ulay" and add "ast Resort" to his jersey.

Why is anyone pretending Ottawa was so hard done by this year? They almost beat us in week 2, lost to Edmonton and BC by 2 points, Sask by 3, were within 10 of Montreal and Hamilton twice each. They pull off those and they're over .500. How many times this year did they get their butts handed to them - lost by more than 2 TDs? Six. Six times too many? Totally unfair? This travesty should never happen? How many times did BC lose by more than 2 TDs? Five.

Even the idea underlying this thread - how do we know which players were left available for the expansion draft? Even the teams in the league didn't have access to other team's lists. So what is the league supposed to do? Appoint a panel of GM's from other teams to make Desjardins' picks for him? To protect him from his own incompetence? He could have had Drew Tate and Trevor Harris. He took Glenn. He traded Glenn. He unloaded insane money at Burris' doorstep. Jake Thomas, Teague Sherman - he probably could have taken one of them. He basically looked at our roster and made a fart sound. What rule should the league have come up with to make Desjardins less stupid? What combination of events guarantees the outcome you want (goodness knows I won't even ask why you want this outcome)? Should we just have given them a 5 win head start? Why do you think their first ever game was scheduled against Bombers? To give Bomber fans a chance to witness history? Yeah right - to give them the best chance at winning their first game. And Iso is right, there has never been an expansion draft with terms as favourable to the expansion team as this one.

Good people lose their jobs all the time in pro sports, and douchenozzles like Chris Jones get to keep theirs. Trestman's reputation might be better served in a better situation, rather than hanging on to the head cheese title in a lousy one.

It's not "on him", but he's not excluded either. It's not like they're losing in a shootout, part of the reason they're getting slaughtered is the offence is doing nothing. As a Packers fan, the Bears problems are all thumbs up over here. I'd be kind of disappointed if the Bears move on from Cutler. Partly because it's easier to beat them if they stay status quo, but also because Cutler is like a cartoon character brought to life. Watching him slouch expressionless on the bench in his toque and parka, that's good stuff right there. If I'm the Bears, maybe I'm looking at moving Cutler for a first round pick to some other disaster team like the Jets if I can. But I'm not. Don't change a thing.

Not sure why he keeps using this word. Every player they got from another team is a gift. He must be a real treat at Christmas - "You got me the regular box set instead of the deluxe! Why am I being punished?"

the reception was to our quarterback no less. The thing I found most amusing was when Yantz moved out from under center to yell blocking schemes in the ears of the right guard and tackle - the premise being that crowd noise was a factor at a CIS game! He moves out to the right, direct snap to LaFrance, fleaflicker to Demski who was coming from the left side on a sweep, who throws a 20 yard pass (that looked like it went 30 yards vertical) to Yantz in the back corner (curve) of the end zone. And makes a pretty decent jump ball catch under decent coverage. Exactly as they drew it up.

One could only dream. I tend to agree that where there's smoke, there's fire, but the idea that a first-time head coach will quit his job because of a lousy practise facility and things like that, in a league where there are only 9 teams? It just seems really unlikely. I guess he might feel confident that he'd land the next HC opening wherever it pops up in 2016.

I completely agree. A big part of the reason teams ran the ball against us is because their QBs were having a very difficult time reading the defence and did not feel comfortable against the disguised coverages. The other part, of course, was that it was successful.

Guess the only question i have is we released him i guess, is he still our property? Technically no, but there seems to be an agreement to not poach other teams players who return to play a 5th season of university ball. Considering there is no minor league or development system for the CFL I think this should be an actual rule, not an unwritten one. Toronto picked up Peter Quinney (2009, 4th? round) after we sent him back to university, so there's nothing set in stone. And really, if they're willing to offer him a job and we're not, I'm not going to wag my finger at them. And Peter Quinney was no great loss. Kelly's draft choices were on par or even worse than his PR skills. oh man were they ever... I can't remember his name, but he basically picked an O-line because he had massive arms... I was pretty disappointed about that Well Morris was the guy they picked because they "liked his character". And then Morris said he was surprised Winnipeg picked him because they were the one team that didn't interview him at Ecamp. Have to try and suppress Kelly rage. Not easy. Passing of time not helping. And causing poor grammar. Dangling participles. English teachers mad.

Last 6 games Al's D has allowed an average of 12.3 points against per. Any suggestion that their turnaround is related to their offence is a bit silly. Their offence is finally not torpedoing the efforts of their defence.

I completely disagree. The CJFL has a very strong working relationship with the CFL, especially in the PFC. (Prairie Football Conference) This agreement allows CFL teams to have junior players in their camps without counting against the numbers. It also allows for players to practice with the CFL club while continuing to play for their junior club. CFL teams are allowed 4 players in this window. It is part of their commitment to help develop football players in Canada. The CFL teams (especially in the West) financially support the junior clubs. Their reward is that they can protect the players that they have invested in, but only if that player doesn't play CIS. Once that player plays in the CFL or CIS, he becomes just like any other player, and the special status is removed. Without the agreements, it would likely be the death of Junior football in Canada, as most teams would not survive financially without the support of the CFL. Running a team on the Prairies is about a quarter million dollar per year program. It is true that there are more teams in BC, but historically, they haven't been as talented. The PFC teams have won 4 of the last 5 championships, and 15 of the last 20. The Riders have been the most successful in having players move from Junior directly to the CFL. The majority of former Junior players who go onto the CFL, spend their first couple of years in Junior and then progress to the CIS and are exposed to the draft. The CJFL is actually the best choice for most players coming out of high school, as they can play at a high level for 2 years without burning any CIS eligibility. Top players in the league get the best college scholarship offers, usually much better than players coming fresh from high school. The CJFL is an "age group" league, so unlike the CIS there is no incentives to "red shirt" a player. The other role that the CJFL has taken on, is it provides a high level of football for players who may not be well suited to university, or who's school of choice doesn't have a football program. Many Rifles are students at RRCC or UofW, in addition to those who are at UofM or have jobs. As for Goodrich, he is an outstanding young talent, who puts more time in the gym and training than most pro players do. 2 years ago, when Goodrich and Carter were both on the Rifles, they were both outstanding. Carter was more the Joe Poplawski type of receiver, great hands, good routes, very reliable. Goodrich was more of a big play guy (the Milt of the CJFL). Faster than anyone else in the CJFL, and once he got into open field it was a touchdown. That has continued even though he normally gets double coverage and teams try to bracket him. I certainly hope the Bombers sign him and bring him to camp. The flashlight of knowledge helps illuminate the darkness of ignorance. This post is awesome times a thousand. Thanks Jaxon.

Nothing illegal happened but this is all very strange. Some kind of loophole should probably be closed. The Bombers are placed in a position no other team is in simply because of the schedule. All roster moves like this should be in shutdown mode until after the Grey Cup. Norris himself gets to earn another 750 dollars this week, more if they put him on the roster, so good for him. He's got at least one mouth to feed, maybe more, and I've never noticed him pissing in my cornflakes. Best of luck to him. And any hullabaloo? While it's nice to have guys like this available on our roster, if losing Norris in early November of 2014 impacts our onfield performance in 2015, our season was already screwed. Can't replace a PR linebacker with 7 months notice? Yeah, right. Some people need to take a deep breath.

No Jon Cornish for half the year, Bo Levi misses a handful of games, Mo Price missed significant time, team still wins 14 games...John Hufnagel says hello. Years of continued excellence doesn't capture attention the way turning a team around does, but it should. Being among the best year after year isn't easy, but people write it off like all that happens is a team gets good and they can put the cruise control on. For close to a decade.

They count as territorial exemption, only the Bombers can first sign them. If they sign with the Bombers and then cut eventually, they will count as free agents. And this is because they are not university players but local players in a junior league? As I understand it, yes. It's a strange rule that shouldn't exist in modern times, but if we can finally have something that works to our advantage it will be my new favourite rule.

Very nice to hear. I wasn't sure if he was playing DL or OL this year. Chris Greaves 2.0 I like to see he's excelling in his limited time as a guard.. Can't remember if Greaves played a season in university as an o-liner or not... Regardless, getting those extra snaps means he's that much ahead of the curve when he lands here full time.. Does anyone know where he lined up this season? (Everett, not Greaves)

Guess the only question i have is we released him i guess, is he still our property? Technically no, but there seems to be an agreement to not poach other teams players who return to play a 5th season of university ball. Considering there is no minor league or development system for the CFL I think this should be an actual rule, not an unwritten one. Toronto picked up Peter Quinney (2009, 4th? round) after we sent him back to university, so there's nothing set in stone. And really, if they're willing to offer him a job and we're not, I'm not going to wag my finger at them. And Peter Quinney was no great loss. Kelly's draft choices were on par or even worse than his PR skills.

I don't know if I'd say it was underrating Wild - 150,000 is what I'd expect to be the near top end of the pay scale for an import linebacker. Elimimian money (he's possibly going to establish a new top end on his next contract). I'd think Wild can't command a salary like that just yet. Another great season under his belt, then he's on his way up to the top end of the scale.

I haven't listed a preference for anything, have I? Simply thinking with an open mind about one of several possible options. Good night.

Like instead of "Is OShea's job safe?", which is dumb because the answer is predictably obvious (you're either getting yes, or the modern day PC version of yes - everyone's performance will be under evaluation), ask for his assessment of his coach's performance in his rookie season, things he did particularly well and areas he needs to build on. Something open-ended that doesn't have an easy scripted answer, and might lead to more interesting questions. Was the progression of Goossen what you expected and does he appear ready to be a full time starter next year? And if so, would you be tempted to leave him at guard or move him to the position he was drafted as? Is there an advantage to waiting one more season before moving him so he doesn't have to handle the blocking calls in what might be his first full year as a starter? You might still get cliches and non-committal answers to these, but even those non-answers will provide more information in how they're phrased and delivered than the closed-ended questions Weicek asks. This isn't Weicek hates the Bombers, this is Weicek just isn't particularly good at his job.

Careful now... Oh. That's a good thing.

Key point. Goodrich is as good of a prospect as Demski in terms of talent. He could be a very good CFL player. I like JFG and Kohlert, I don't think Watson has enough good plays left in him to be a main target. Probably the best territorial exemption we've had a chance at since I can remember. Equivalent of an additional first rounder in the CFL Draft, in my opinion. The fellows whose knowledge I defer to because they are infinitely more familiar with amateur football in this province said he was the second best receiving talent to come out of Manitoba behind Demski. How much of that is hyperbole? Couldn't say, but I certainly would not be in a position to argue with them. So it certainly sounds like we'd potentially be landing the equivalent of a free first round pick if we pulled something like that off. But he's not on our roster yet.

Cornish just missed too many games. Foley might seem like a toad, but it's been a pretty good year for him. Hajrullahu wasn't a unanimous choice for the Canadian award. I wonder who else got considered. Kohlert?