Blue Bombers - 2024 Regular Season - Discussion Thread

[rebusrankin]

Case had one kickoff return in the 1st game for 24 yards. He must be dynamite in practice for them to make this move.

[BBlink]

Case was IMO the second best returner in TC but also one of those guys I could see being a very good CFL receiver. Maybe they intend to platoon him with Josh Johnson a few times.

I'm very excited to see what Case can do... But I dunno, I think I'd rather have Chris Smith as our primary returner.

Tony Jones in the lineup tells me they want a bit more depth in the front 7 with Patterson running around back there.

Edited July 16 by BBlink

[Goalie]

It annoys me in all sports when the struggling veteran can’t accept it’s time, it’s damn near a crime tho for the coach to not accept it. Coaches only job is to put out the best roster possible. I’m not sure why O’Shea is so hell bent on handicapping us so much. Last year was just captain DJ. 
 

this year it’s 3 guys on D getting embarrassed every game.  Plus rostering a guy like Global Lucky. Play the German lb, he’s probably the best global we got. 

Edited July 16 by Goalie

[Goalie]

I wonder is Case is a Case of just also being a receiver. So then your kick returner can also contribute on O. I get ppl will say but smith is a RB, sure but Brady is our MOP. Smith ain’t gonna be getting reps. 
 

I liked case as a receiver.  If he’s used as one also on game days then I’ll be happy.  But at this point with O’Sheas love for veterans, I’m shocked lucky isn’t on yet. USA lucky. 

Edited July 16 by Goalie

[GCn20]

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Is that including injuries or the projected starters? 
The guys I listed that we added are all above that age as well. 
 All other position groups? So we are younger at qb and rb? Cus we for sure aren’t. Year older Augustine and Brady, year old zach and brown vs strevy. 
 Making a switch from a guy in his 30s to a guy in his 30s like rt isn’t going younger.  Gray was our youngest full time starting ol last year. 
kramdi is older than Parker at Sam. Ford and bonds are older than guys we ran out last year. 
 If jj could stay healthy he’d still be here. No way has age been a primary motivating factor in our roster changes. 

Current starters. Obviously QB as well but that particular starting group is one guy.

Reliability has been a bigger factor than age for sure. Age plays a part in that.

Edited July 16 by GCn20

[blue85gold]

17 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I wonder is Case is a Case of just also being a receiver. So then your kick returner can also contribute on O. I get ppl will say but smith is a RB, sure but Brady is our MOP. Smith ain’t gonna be getting reps. 
 

I liked case as a receiver.  If he’s used as one also on game days then I’ll be happy.  But at this point with O’Sheas love for veterans, I’m shocked lucky isn’t on yet. USA lucky. 

Makes sense. They need a back up receiver on the roster.  
 

Would still have liked to see Smith get a few reps on O. 

[GCn20]

4 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

Are we really building towards 2025 when we're starting Jake, Bighill, Alexander etc?

Yes

[rebusrankin]

13 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Yes

I strongly disagree. If we had a young MLB platooning with Bighill, if we had made a switch at safety, if we had replaced Jake, if we had a young lb in Wilson's place, then I'd agree. Much like 2023, we've kept the same old vets and the results are worse than last season. 4 of our offensive linemen are 31 or older. Name a promising young player on our practice roster. 

[Gail]

5 hours ago, Booch said:

If one player we should have walked away from due to injury concerns it's Hallet...

It’s always amazed me how he could still be on the team.  Must be part of a package deal with his brother.  Hire one, you have to hire both.

5 hours ago, Booch said:

Edited July 16 by Gail
Double post

[Fatty Liver]

6 minutes ago, Gail said:

It’s always amazed me how he could still be on the team.  Must be part of a package deal with his brother.  Hire one, you have to hire both.

It’s always amazed me how he could still be on the team.  Must be part of a package deal with his brother.  Hire one, you have to hire both.

Cauchy Muamaba agrees with the sentiment behind the policy!

[Mark H.]

36 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

. 4 of our offensive linemen are 31 or older. Name a promising young player on our practice roster. 

That's not the problem, per se. Bryant, Hardrick, etc. Those guys were kicking butts & taking names...at 31.

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, Mark H. said:

That's not the problem, per se. Bryant, Hardrick, etc. Those guys were kicking butts & taking names...at 31.

I agree, the issue is that some players degrade from injuries and physically just cant come back.  Bighill and BA indent believe can physically return to form. I wouldn't care if they brought in 30 year olds with experience if those guys had fresh legs and could give one or two good quality seasons.

Thomas isn't as bad as people are making him out to  be. I think his issue isn't health related and more so talent related... he's a depth guy and  not a full time player.

[SpeedFlex27]

Why did we never try to sign Shawn Oakman???

[GCn20]

10 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

I strongly disagree. If we had a young MLB platooning with Bighill, if we had made a switch at safety, if we had replaced Jake, if we had a young lb in Wilson's place, then I'd agree. Much like 2023, we've kept the same old vets and the results are worse than last season. 4 of our offensive linemen are 31 or older. Name a promising young player on our practice roster. 

Disagree if you want, but we have seen a bunch of roster turnover already and will see more next year as well. It can't all be done in one year. Not to the scale that it needs to be done. Vet leadership was kept on this year to transition the first phase of youth through, and then will likely be replaced towards the end of this year and next year almost definitely. One can argue whether this approach is the right one, but it definitely is the plan put in place by the mafia, ALL of them. 

10 hours ago, Mark H. said:

That's not the problem, per se. Bryant, Hardrick, etc. Those guys were kicking butts & taking names...at 31.

Agreed. Show me an OL around pro football in general that doesn't average out over 30. It's kind of when they hit their stride really. 

[BBlink]

9 hours ago, Brandon said:

I agree, the issue is that some players degrade from injuries and physically just cant come back.  Bighill and BA indent believe can physically return to form. I wouldn't care if they brought in 30 year olds with experience if those guys had fresh legs and could give one or two good quality seasons.

Thomas isn't as bad as people are making him out to  be. I think his issue isn't health related and more so talent related... he's a depth guy and  not a full time player.

And Lawson was expected to be "the guy" this year. Not Thomas.

[bigg jay]

6 minutes ago, BBlink said:

And Lawson was expected to be "the guy" this year. Not Thomas.

Was he though?  Prior to Lawson getting hurt, most reports still had Thomas listed as the starter.  I imagine it would have been a 1a/1b scenario where they were splitting reps  fairly evenly but I don't recall seeing anything that said Lawson was taking over this year.

[3rdand1.5]

To play devil's advocate just a little here, Biggie, BA, and Thomas are well seasoned vets. They have leadership abilities and experience. Sure they are not as fast/strong/agile as they were at least Biggie and BA. Taking one two or all out takes some of that away, and we already have a lot of inexperience on defence already. Those guys have been there seen that and have the shirt....

 

Let's see how it goes, but......

Along the d-line some young guys are getting great reps and experience.....hopefully at some point as guys get healthier and a bit more seasoned, Jake takes a few less reps and the new guys take a few steps forward...this would be best to get guys some seasoning and get them up to game speed and ready to transition into bigger roles

 

In the backend BA hasn't seem to get back to full form from injuries, but we seem to have some really good young guys.... as guys get healthy perhaps a young guy can share some reps at safety, we seem to have enough talent

 

Biggie is the toughest for me, however we did bring on Jones for this week, maybe just maybe we will start to see a bit or rotation with Biggie...I am just not sure if we let MLB slip a bit too long already to be doing this

 

Definitely some assumptions above but if you step back and look at it like this perhaps they do have a plan, it's just playing the long game.....

[Pete]

Jones might only be in cause Cole is ill. Hope he gets reps as mlb. Calgary punished us thru the middle 

[HardCoreBlue]

1 hour ago, 3rdand1.5 said:

To play devil's advocate just a little here, Biggie, BA, and Thomas are well seasoned vets. They have leadership abilities and experience. Sure they are not as fast/strong/agile as they were at least Biggie and BA. Taking one two or all out takes some of that away, and we already have a lot of inexperience on defence already. Those guys have been there seen that and have the shirt....

 

Let's see how it goes, but......

Along the d-line some young guys are getting great reps and experience.....hopefully at some point as guys get healthier and a bit more seasoned, Jake takes a few less reps and the new guys take a few steps forward...this would be best to get guys some seasoning and get them up to game speed and ready to transition into bigger roles

 

In the backend BA hasn't seem to get back to full form from injuries, but we seem to have some really good young guys.... as guys get healthy perhaps a young guy can share some reps at safety, we seem to have enough talent

 

Biggie is the toughest for me, however we did bring on Jones for this week, maybe just maybe we will start to see a bit or rotation with Biggie...I am just not sure if we let MLB slip a bit too long already to be doing this

 

Definitely some assumptions above but if you step back and look at it like this perhaps they do have a plan, it's just playing the long game.....

The thing is, especially in professional sport, they need to lead by example on the field and unfortunately where they are at in their careers they are unable to match a lot of their words with their actions and players see that and are influenced by that.

It's an unfortunate part of Professional Sport. They now need to take that leadership skill and apply it elsewhere other than playing (if they want of course).

[GCn20]

2 hours ago, bigg jay said:

Was he though?  Prior to Lawson getting hurt, most reports still had Thomas listed as the starter.  I imagine it would have been a 1a/1b scenario where they were splitting reps  fairly evenly but I don't recall seeing anything that said Lawson was taking over this year.

Lawson was re-signed and widely believed to be our starting NAT DT. That was widely reported.

[Colin Unger]

14 hours ago, BBlink said:

Case was IMO the second best returner in TC but also one of those guys I could see being a very good CFL receiver. Maybe they intend to platoon him with Josh Johnson a few times.

I'm very excited to see what Case can do... But I dunno, I think I'd rather have Chris Smith as our primary returner.

Tony Jones in the lineup tells me they want a bit more depth in the front 7 with Patterson running around back there.

Im also looking forward to see him make his Case!

[GCn20]

38 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

The thing is, especially in professional sport, they need to lead by example on the field and unfortunately where they are at in their careers they are unable to match a lot of their words with their actions and players see that and are influenced by that.

It's an unfortunate part of Professional Sport. They now need to take that leadership skill and apply it elsewhere other than playing (if they want of course).

Biggie, BA, and Thomas can all still play and contribute on the field. What needs to change is how often they are on the field. Their leadership is very much needed as we go for a reload into 2025. Walters and OShea gambled they could get another decent season as starters out of BA and Biggie while keeping their leadership as they rebuilt other aspects of the team and locker room. It appears they lost that gamble somewhat. Time to pivot and put these guys in roles where the MUCH needed leadership can still be used, while limiting their exposure on the field.

[Colin Unger]

9 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Why did we never try to sign Shawn Oakman???

Im looking forward to seeing what Garbutt can do. 

[BBlink]

7 minutes ago, Colin Unger said:

Im looking forward to seeing what Garbutt can do. 

Are you looking forward to seeing his ass making plays?

[bigg jay]

13 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Biggie, BA, and Thomas can all still play and contribute on the field. What needs to change is how often they are on the field. Their leadership is very much needed as we go for a reload into 2025. Walters and OShea gambled they could get another decent season as starters out of BA and Biggie while keeping their leadership as they rebuilt other aspects of the team and locker room. It appears they lost that gamble somewhat. Time to pivot and put these guys in roles where the MUCH needed leadership can still be used, while limiting their exposure on the field.

And it's not like there aren't other vets around to help the new guys on the field or that the new guys (assumingly) are raw rookies either.

Wilson & Kramdi are 7 & 5 year vets respectively and Tony Jones (if he is tabbed as Biggie's replacement) is now in his 3rd year and has a few starts under his belt with Edmonton so there's lots of experience overall there.  Same with BA if they slid Holm over to safety & put Griffin in at HB - Griffin has a bit of experience with Calgary (4 starts & 13 games played) so he's not brand new either.