First week of fall GDT: non-Bomber bye week games

[JCon]

They should go pull players from the GGs. 

[rebusrankin]

Matt Sacacen for Ottawa QB.

[Bubba Zanetti]

1 hour ago, bigg jay said:

https://3downnation.com/2021/02/05/sucks-for-nick-arbuckle-to-think-redblacks-were-stalling-for-matt-nichols/amp/

Sure smells like Lapo wanted "his" guy in Nichols. What a colossal error that was.

[wbbfan]

23 minutes ago, JCon said:

They should go pull players from the GGs. 

Those poor kids got more going for them then that cmon lol. 

5 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Matt Sacacen for Ottawa QB.

Their qbing this year looks like the guy who started the season in FNL but after the injury. 

Id bring in jamel lyles to the RBs too. Dedmon, rj harris and coombs as primaries. DJ foster rotate with lyles and use some 2 back set, move coombs around like we do with demski. Even try petey in that role. With jana they'd have great depth at NI wr and ability to rotate guys or start extra NIs. It'd be a versatile and dynamic balanced offense. Christion could run some streveler type option stuff. Roll extra bodies to protect him and hodges. Slowly develop plays for each of them. Run it like pre season give em 10-15 plays that they've practiced and are tailored to their strengths. If things start to get ugly toss davis to the wolves. 

[17to85]

36 minutes ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Sure smells like Lapo wanted "his" guy in Nichols. What a colossal error that was.

Either way it looks terrible on Desjardin and if lapo was involved in that then he needs to own the shitty situation too.

[Bubba Zanetti]

7 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Either way it looks terrible on Desjardin and if lapo was involved in that then he needs to own the shitty situation too.

I could see a situation where Lapo went to Desjardin and maybe said Nichols would be a better fit for his system, blah, blah, blah. But ultimately being GM, the players brought in are your responsibility.

[wbbfan]

1 minute ago, 17to85 said:

Either way it looks terrible on Desjardin and if lapo was involved in that then he needs to own the shitty situation too.

Long time ago I heard a variation of a business joke told about football.

A new coach is hired to try and right the ship of an under performing team. Before the old coach leaves he gives the new coach 3 envelopes and tells him; "when things get bad, open one read it and follow the instructions."

The new coach mostly forgets about the envelopes. The season starts out ok but a losing streak ensues and the team is maligned by the media. Remembering the letters he goes and opens the first, it says; "Blame the media." 

The next day the coach holds a press conference and blames the medias harsh criticism for his teams under performing. The media backs off a bit and the players are able to relax a bit more. At first they do better but before long they are back to their losing ways. 

After a couple months the media is back on him and the team harder than ever. So he goes and opens the 2nd envelope. It says; "blame the fans."

The next day at a press conference he blames the lack of fan support. "It feels like every game is an away game, we have no home field advantage!"

After that the fans come out in droves, but are quick to turn on the team and its coach with every slight miss step. 

Now feeling more pressure than ever and hearing rumors of the team replacing him with his assistant mid season, he goes and opens the last envelope. It says; "Prepare 3 envelopes." 

Desjardin should prepare 3 envelopes. Plop Isnt far behind Desjardin.  He should go to the president with an envelope that says, I blame Desjardin.

[TrueBlue4ever]

4 hours ago, Mark F said:

davis benched for a receiver. think he might be fired today. scene of davis, on the sidelines  firing up the offence was humorous. they are all..." yeah, whatever"

I admit to being one of the  people who thought  he didnt get a fair chance here.🤡

 

for a moment ... nichols appeared to have  suffered a fatal injury to his wrist.

Davis pulled his hamstring trying to run down the pick six. When Nichols went down (broken wrist?) he was injured, not benched. Not that it would have made a difference. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

3 hours ago, Dr Zaius said:

LaPo going to be the first coach in CFL history to win game 1 as HC then subsequently go .000 until getting fired?

Just a reminder that LaPo did win his first ever HC game, and rather than go oh-fer the rest of the way, he did win a few more games and got to the Grey Cup. 
 

But if we limit it to Ottawa, I have a hunch they will sneak a win in somewhere this year. Their defence is still playing strong, they get Edmonton again, and Montreal and Hamilton have their moments looking weak. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. And they have a new hotshot QB signed according to the broadcast last night. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

2 hours ago, bigg jay said:

https://3downnation.com/2021/02/05/sucks-for-nick-arbuckle-to-think-redblacks-were-stalling-for-matt-nichols/amp/

And for what it’s worth here is Desjardin’s side of the story according to Marshall Ferguson. Apparently per the story when they re-negotiated, Ottawa wanted a two-year deal and Arbuckle would only agree to one. When Nichols was released by Toronto so they could avoid his bonus owing, Ottawa saw a chance to bring in a more veteran QB who had a successful relationship with the coach. So they signed Nichols instead. I’m sure people will make up their own minds as to who to believe. 

[Wideleft]

Esks and BC get Ottawa twice.  I would have settled for one road game against them.

[Jesse]

43 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

And for what it’s worth here is Desjardin’s side of the story according to Marshall Ferguson. Apparently per the story when they re-negotiated, Ottawa wanted a two-year deal and Arbuckle would only agree to one. When Nichols was released by Toronto so they could avoid his bonus owing, Ottawa saw a chance to bring in a more veteran QB who had a successful relationship with the coach. So they signed Nichols instead. I’m sure people will make up their own minds as to who to believe. 

It doesn't matter who - it was a mistake. The length of a contract is a ridiculous reason.

They would still be horrible - this roster is a failure top to bottom. 

[bearpants]

18 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

On to happier news. Was just looking it up and Edmonton and Calgary are both out of the playoffs right now. Since they both joined the CFL in 1948, Alberta has never been outside the playoffs. Dare to dream!

Thanks for answering the question that I was thinking but never actually asked... are you a mind reader??

Also, this thread, in general, was depressing... I didn't have the misfortune of watching this game but it sounds painful...

 

[17to85]

Considering there are no guaranteed contracts in the cfl the one year vs. 2 argument is about as lame as "I couldn't pee"

[wbbfan]

30 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Considering there are no guaranteed contracts in the cfl the one year vs. 2 argument is about as lame as "I couldn't pee"

100%. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

Considering there are no guaranteed contracts in the cfl the one year vs. 2 argument is about as lame as "I couldn't pee"

Not that I believe Desjardins, but it was the club who wanted the two years and the player one according to him, so the early termination ability would not apply here. Players cannot walk away from contracts, only the team. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

1 hour ago, bearpants said:

Thanks for answering the question that I was thinking but never actually asked... are you a mind reader??

I knew you were going to say that. 😏

[JohnnyAbonny]

Arbuckle on the 1 game  https://3downnation.com/2021/09/23/qb-mcleod-bethel-thompson-to-start-for-injured-nick-arbuckle-vs-montreal/

[wbbfan]

19 minutes ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

Arbuckle on the 1 game  https://3downnation.com/2021/09/23/qb-mcleod-bethel-thompson-to-start-for-injured-nick-arbuckle-vs-montreal/

The two teams with the best QB depth became teams with the worst QBing, out side of ott. I wonder if Kevin Glenn is gonna make an appearance this year. 

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

Arbuckle on the 1 game  https://3downnation.com/2021/09/23/qb-mcleod-bethel-thompson-to-start-for-injured-nick-arbuckle-vs-montreal/

Not that he could be much worse, but its not like they has any real choice in the matter.

[SpeedFlex27]

16 hours ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

Why the hell did the ALLCAPS trade Arbuckle away? Makes NO sense.

He must be very, very happy about that.

[SpeedFlex27]

14 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Those poor kids got more going for them then that cmon lol. 

Their qbing this year looks like the guy who started the season in FNL but after the injury. 

Id bring in jamel lyles to the RBs too. Dedmon, rj harris and coombs as primaries. DJ foster rotate with lyles and use some 2 back set, move coombs around like we do with demski. Even try petey in that role. With jana they'd have great depth at NI wr and ability to rotate guys or start extra NIs. It'd be a versatile and dynamic balanced offense. Christion could run some streveler type option stuff. Roll extra bodies to protect him and hodges. Slowly develop plays for each of them. Run it like pre season give em 10-15 plays that they've practiced and are tailored to their strengths. If things start to get ugly toss davis to the wolves. 

LaPo will play his offense. He won't go to a 2 back set. He'll go down with his ship throwing underneath & check downs. What a cluster.... negotiating in such bad faith. I hope Walters doesn't do this kinda **** to our players at contract time that Desjardins does. 

[johnzo]

46 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

LaPo will play his offense. He won't go to a 2 back set. He'll go down with his ship throwing underneath & check downs.

The TSN people mentioned at some point that Lapo couldn't get into the mad scientist part of his playbook because his offence simply wasn't on the field long enough.  I think the guy needs a long slow grinding offence like his Winnipeg one so he can do all the little setups that unlock the kill shots.  When it works, it's great, but too many things have to go perfectly right in order for it to work its best, so it is fragile, and its failure mode looks terrible. 

We have seen Lapo completely change up his offence ... that snow game against Calgary in 2017, the game where the Fever was the surprise starter.  It looked like high school, lots of wishbone and I-formation and option stuff, extremely vanilla.  I think Fever threw the ball like ten times that day, and we won (tho largely because Calgary had already locked up their playoff spot and started their canadian backup, who was terrible.)  So Lapoisn't completely inflexible.

Parachuting a new hope rookie QB in midseason -- totally a Rough Rider move.  I hope there's more than a dozen fans in the stands at the end of this season, this is looking like 1988 in Ottawa.

Edited September 24, 2021 by johnzo

[wbbfan]

4 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

LaPo will play his offense. He won't go to a 2 back set. He'll go down with his ship throwing underneath & check downs. What a cluster.... negotiating in such bad faith. I hope Walters doesn't do this kinda **** to our players at contract time that Desjardins does. 

Of course. Adaptability is plops greatest weakness. If I was desjardin or above Id go to plop and if he didnt want to pivot to a developmental game plan Id can him. Have dyce or wylie take over as HC, and steve walsh (No relation to bill walsh) take over as OC. 

 

[Nolby]

BC by 14 tonight,I really think they're gonna smoke those hillbillies