USABomberfan

Man, the CFL and TSN/ESPN's clocks are messed up. Says game starts at 8 PM eastern when it's evidently at 9 PM eastern. I'm on the east coast btw.

Who's Bond's backup? Al's defensive coordinator may want to take notes.

I think it's technique that has to change my with pass rushers and linebackers.

The problem is you don't know that. Sure, I'd like to think players like Mike Reilly or Chris Streveler would have, but if they don't, then what? What we see up here from the TV angle and how it actually happened down there can be two different things.

The X-factor might be Trevor Harris if what we saw from last year holds to be true. One of those guys who would pick apart defenses right and left in one game and then stink up the joint the next. If the bad or mediocre Harris shows up, MTL has a chance. But if the elite one shows, this game could be a blowout for EDM.

This is perhaps the gray area that atm there is no clear answer to. Back to the point you made about Pierce, I wanted us to move on from him as well by his last year, and the person who should have done so was Joe Mack. I put the fault on him for continuing on when he should have known better.

I hope this game is at least less injury filled and has some good stuff to watch. I picked Edmonton to win this because I think Khari's going to be captain of a ship with leaky holes in it and is being hampered by an abysmal failure of a GM to boot. But at the same time, who knows. Pipkin does have some raw athletic talent that can make games interesting when given the chance. If I'm wrong on this pick, I don't mind.

I don't recall any of us seeming to think the league should prevent Lulay or Pierce from seeing the field. Usually what we've suggested is that if a QB becomes injury prone, the team should consider moving on from him especially if his performance is affected as a result. That's what happened with Pierce and later Drew Willy. Arguably that's happened to Collaros now too. But the league's not going to just kick players out just because they've had a few concussions along the way, or force QBs like Ricky Ray to retire just because they consider it. Blaming a QB's past injuries on another player's dirty cheap shot is no different than blaming a running risk taking QB like Mike Reilly for the same thing if he's running and deciding not to slide but the opposing player cheap shot him. You can get injured getting hit cleanly on plays like that, but it doesn't make it your fault for another player's cheap shot.

He has some decent touch, but I definitely knew he was no Streveler

I might have given it to STE, but that's just me. Neither team impressed and Hamilton's run game and defense certainly aren't going to be able to bail him out all the time, especially not against better teams like us, BC or CGY. But ... At the same time there's a reason you play 18 games, and we got our own work to do to dethrone the stamps.

Well, that's the first pickem I got right. Aside from the bush league Lawrence play, good game to open things. As I said, our game is saving the best for last.

I actually was calling Dickenson to try a FG fake there

Man, maybe they should run STE on every play now. Jeremiah Masoli has the worst form I've seen in a while. How many times has he tried backfooting it? Goltzish

Meantime though, Hammy back in front, game could be going down to the wire tonight

That hit reminds me too much of 2015. Don't remember if Lawrence was involved in any of those hits on our then QB Drew Willy, but that too happened under Steinhauer's watch. Now don't get me wrong, it's definitely Simoni L who needs to be held accountable as the perpetrator and responsible for his actions. But seems to be something going on leading me to think Mr Steinhauer may foster an atmosphere allowing some of these.

And unfortunately only one looks like a rookie atm

It isn't just Masoli, Steinhauer seems to have no discipline in his camp.

Wonder if Steinhauer should have challenged that incompletion

It was bad in Montreal last year, so I'd say it will be the deciding factor this year and must improve. Let me just say further that I am high on Pipkin. Unlike some know-it-all fans here who I will not name, I have said all along that he has some tremendous skills that have gone unnoticed, and if he actually did have a half decent OL last year and wasn't passed over in several games for losers like Jeff Matthews, he would have done a hell of a lot more than he did which was actually win several games for them. That Manziel trade was just utter lunacy too. Problem is, as much as we all love Khari as a player, I haven't been impressed with him while he was OC, and unfortunately I fear he's in over his head as HC, especially on short notice. I just can't see MTL going anywhere until they get smart ownership and then completely purge the front office and its arsonist ringleader Reed.

Hamilton 33 SSK 24 Edmonton 19 Montreal 13 Calgary 40 Ottawa 3 Winnipeg 31 BC 30 Obviously we got a big test here opening the season which is a tossup, but I like our chances mostly

If they kick Kavis Reed's butt out, the Als will be instantly approved. I have come to the point where I believe he is literally a Nutjob, a total Nutjob. Just when you think he can't do any worse, he one ups his last bit of stupid. And now, I mean not only does he fire Sherman right at the 11th hour right after training camp is all done and the season is at the door, he lies his ass off about it. How bad of a Dbag can you be to not even admit you fired your HC and be such a scared chickenshit about it? Disgraceful on all counts!! I don't care what anyone thinks about Sherman, I just got zero respect now for Reed, and I mean ZERO. I'm not going to change my mind about that ever and I'd call on the CFL to blackball him right outta here.

But how good do they have to be? I mean, Ottawa might be lucky to win four games this year with the big mess they have there. I would have given some hope for Montreal until Mr Nutjob Kavis Reed struck again just when you thought he couldn't do anything stupider. And that pretty much just leaves Toronto, and on paper at least they aren't much better. Hamilton may only need to win 8 games this year to win that division because thus far, I've seen nothing to indicate the balance of power isn't still heavily shifted in the West.

This, and it's why I'm not so sold on the idea of Dinwiddie being a good offensive coordinator simply because someone might think he's a Dave Dickenson protege.

I haven't seen anyone give them the benefit of the doubt including me. I just said I think they're going to be quite a different team than what we seen because Dickenson is likely a very different HC than Jones. Notice I do not equate being different to being better. They very well could be quite a bit worse this year ... Or god forbid maybe they are better. We just don't know and are curious to find out what they got.

Well, while we still got 4 days to go till we kick our game off, we save the best for last. Meantime, Thursday night should be a good one to kickoff the 2019 season. The subplots: The TiCats for obvious reasons are the favorites to win the east, and with the return of Steinhauer, the high hopes they got on Masoli and what looks to be a rock solid roster, there's many reasons the optimism is high. For the Riders, the questions will be whether or not Craig Dickenson will prove to be their O'Shea, and whether or not they can protect Collaros. A lot of changes have come to the roster with several former BC Lions including Arceneaux and Elimimian now there as well as former Colts WR Moncrief. All that to say, while Steinhauer built his reputation on running an aggressive defense for Kent Austin, I seen some experts on the CFL site expressing concerns about June Jones no longer being there to be the guider for Masoli. So will the TiCats offense get a high level of play under a defensive HC? And the Riders will be a very different team than what we saw under Chris Jones, a guy who could win but had a toxic attitude at times and brought in cancers like Duron Carter. Question is will this change be for the better or the worse for them? Can't wait to see what this year of change is going to be.