Realistic Changes for Next Year

[SPuDS]

The team needs to be held to a higher standard than better than one of the worst teams in Bomber history.

We gotta crawl before can walk... You cant say it was one of the

Worst teams in history then expect an amazing turnaround overnight.. A high standard in our case would be a .500 season or closr to it.. we were an.absolute mess last year

[NotoriousBIG]

It has to be said to -- Joe Mack and Tim Burke set this organization back probably 5 years. 

 

I don't think OS could've started in a deeper hole. 

 

Even in the Jim Daley-Mike Kelly years we were a bit of a joke, but the organization still had some respect around the league. 

 

After Mack-Burke-Garth Hilites -- NO ONE wanted to be here. Total punch line of a club. 

 

This year has erased that, mostly. Sure, were a lousy team -- but at least were a lousy team thats looking up. 

 

If Walters et al get a few more players and a coordinator or two we could easily be a Grey Cup contender.

[TBURGESS]

 

The team needs to be held to a higher standard than better than one of the worst teams in Bomber history.

 

If you're just trying to measure progress then all you can do is look at where they are starting from and gauge whether or not they are headed in the right direction. 

 

We should be comparing our team against the other teams in the league this year, not against last years historically horrible team.  

 

If we'd gone 1-5 in the first third and 5-1 in the second third, then I'd say we are heading in the right direction and I'd be pretty pumped about our chances of making the playoffs this year.  That's not what's happened.  We pulled out some late comebacks in the 1st third of the season and we've been heading in the wrong direction since then, culminating in a bad loss to the former worst team in the league.  That's way more important than how we look compared to last years losers. 

 

Quite frankly, this team isn't much better than last years team.  Willy's the biggest difference between 3 and 6 wins and neither record is good enough.

[Mr Dee]

 

 

The team needs to be held to a higher standard than better than one of the worst teams in Bomber history.

 

If you're just trying to measure progress then all you can do is look at where they are starting from and gauge whether or not they are headed in the right direction. 

 

We should be comparing our team against the other teams in the league this year, not against last years historically horrible team.  

 

If we'd gone 1-5 in the first third and 5-1 in the second third, then I'd say we are heading in the right direction and I'd be pretty pumped about our chances of making the playoffs this year.  That's not what's happened.  We pulled out some late comebacks in the 1st third of the season and we've been heading in the wrong direction since then, culminating in a bad loss to the former worst team in the league.  That's way more important than how we look compared to last years losers. 

 

Quite frankly, this team isn't much better than last years team.  Willy's the biggest difference between 3 and 6 wins and neither record is good enough.

 

 

What? that's so incredibly wrong.

How many games last year, were we done during, or shortly after the 1st quarter?

 

This year, we could easily be 7-7 or better.

But I guess you haven't been paying attention.

[17to85]

 

 

The team needs to be held to a higher standard than better than one of the worst teams in Bomber history.

 

If you're just trying to measure progress then all you can do is look at where they are starting from and gauge whether or not they are headed in the right direction. 

 

We should be comparing our team against the other teams in the league this year, not against last years historically horrible team.  

 

If we'd gone 1-5 in the first third and 5-1 in the second third, then I'd say we are heading in the right direction and I'd be pretty pumped about our chances of making the playoffs this year.  That's not what's happened.  We pulled out some late comebacks in the 1st third of the season and we've been heading in the wrong direction since then, culminating in a bad loss to the former worst team in the league.  That's way more important than how we look compared to last years losers. 

 

Quite frankly, this team isn't much better than last years team.  Willy's the biggest difference between 3 and 6 wins and neither record is good enough.

 

You are wrong on all counts here. You compare to where you started from not where others are. This is trying to rebuild a historically bad team let us not forget. This team is leaps and bounds better than last year, but as you said, last year was historically bad. Seriously if you don't think this team is much better than last year I would suggest you actually go watch some of the games from last year again and make that comment. This team has played in close games all season, they won some early and lost some lately, but considering the situation the team was in last year, that's a giant step forward and it's not a lot of steps more until they are a good team that is winning more of the close games and winning more games by good margins. 

 

Perspective, you need it. 

[mbrg]

Regarding Mulumba, does he project to be a defensive end up here or tackle or is he more suited to be a linebacker? 

 

Defensive end.

 

We've been hampered by injuries to guys who were expected to play key roles in our NI framework.  We need better depth (bottom of totem) and talent (top).

 

We absolutely need to be able to start 3 NI olinemen every game, regardless of injury.  A fourth would be ideal, but it is essential that we're playing our NI's by choice, not because we are forced to.  Sherman should be on the field in certain packages, but on every play?  He goes from being an asset to a liability.  And this is a choice taken away from us because we only have 2 starting NI Olinemen.  One starter needed, two backups needed.  Can Swiston make an impression at some point, not as a starter, but just to become trustworthy enough as a backup that keeping imports around to play guard isn't even part of the thought process.  It should never be.

 

Jake Thomas deserves credit for his contributions, but he should also be a player rotating in, not a player starting.  I have no idea how awesome Ryan Lucas was supposed to be, he got injured so early that him as starter and Thomas as backup is nothing more than an assumption we've gone with, but even if we can't get our hands on the next Doug Brown, we need to have an interior NI Dlineman who is a notch above Thomas.  Westerman?  I guess he'd do.  This all has a ripple effect, so Richardson isn't seeing as many snaps on D because Thomas isn't needing to be rested now.  Multiple positions improve from the addition of a key NI player.

 

And ya, a bunch of talented imports.

[NotoriousBIG]

 

 

The team needs to be held to a higher standard than better than one of the worst teams in Bomber history.

 

If you're just trying to measure progress then all you can do is look at where they are starting from and gauge whether or not they are headed in the right direction. 

 

We should be comparing our team against the other teams in the league this year, not against last years historically horrible team.  

 

If we'd gone 1-5 in the first third and 5-1 in the second third, then I'd say we are heading in the right direction and I'd be pretty pumped about our chances of making the playoffs this year.  That's not what's happened.  We pulled out some late comebacks in the 1st third of the season and we've been heading in the wrong direction since then, culminating in a bad loss to the former worst team in the league.  That's way more important than how we look compared to last years losers. 

 

Quite frankly, this team isn't much better than last years team.  Willy's the biggest difference between 3 and 6 wins and neither record is good enough.

 

 

No, neither record is good enough. 

 

But to say the team isn't better than last year's garbage is ridiculous.

 

Seriously, thats borderline trolling. 

[blitzmore]

 

 

The team needs to be held to a higher standard than better than one of the worst teams in Bomber history.

 

If you're just trying to measure progress then all you can do is look at where they are starting from and gauge whether or not they are headed in the right direction. 

 

We should be comparing our team against the other teams in the league this year, not against last years historically horrible team.  

 

If we'd gone 1-5 in the first third and 5-1 in the second third, then I'd say we are heading in the right direction and I'd be pretty pumped about our chances of making the playoffs this year.  That's not what's happened.  We pulled out some late comebacks in the 1st third of the season and we've been heading in the wrong direction since then, culminating in a bad loss to the former worst team in the league.  That's way more important than how we look compared to last years losers. 

 

Quite frankly, this team isn't much better than last years team.  Willy's the biggest difference between 3 and 6 wins and neither record is good enough.

 

So I guess that Calgary lost to Montreal makes them a team on the decline.

[TBURGESS]

I get it.  Folks who are looking for positives want to compare this years team to last years, because that's the only positive comparison they can find. 

 

Who cares if we are slightly better than last year?  We're still not good enough to win enough games to make the freaking playoffs let alone be contenders.  

 

We're losing by less points?  Oh boy!  The important word in the sentence is still losing.  

 

It's easier to watch these games because we're close?  I'll give you that one, but that's not enough to say we're headed in the right direction.

 

IMO: We are better at QB, DB, kicker, returner and maybe slightly ahead at receiver when Moore's healthy but he hasn't been for most of the year.  We are worse at D line, LB's and even starting 3 Imps on O our line.  We still have a Canuck talent and depth problems.  Our track record for finding new starting grade talent isn't good, even though we've beefed up our scouting.  (Other CFL teams found our best new guys.)  We aren't doing anything to get better this year.  O'Shea said the new guys we are bringing in now are for next year.

[TrueBlue]

I may be of the small minority, but I support getting rid of Bellefeuille.  I haven't been convinced of his play calling, and he does a poor job of coaching the executional flaws in our game.  The whole late game fiasco that happened against Hamilton was horrible.  I don't blame him soley for that, but as a coordinator in a situation like that, your QB needs to be prepared.  The fact that he prefers to be up in the booth bothers me a bit.  Chances are if he was on the field that wouldn't have happened.    

[blitzmore]

I get it.  Folks who are looking for positives want to compare this years team to last years, because that's the only positive comparison they can find. 

 

Who cares if we are slightly better than last year?  We're still not good enough to win enough games to make the freaking playoffs let alone be contenders.  

 

We're losing by less points?  Oh boy!  The important word in the sentence is still losing.  

 

It's easier to watch these games because we're close?  I'll give you that one, but that's not enough to say we're headed in the right direction.

 

IMO: We are better at QB, DB, kicker, returner and maybe slightly ahead at receiver when Moore's healthy but he hasn't been for most of the year.  We are worse at D line, LB's and even starting 3 Imps on O our line.  We still have a Canuck talent and depth problems.  Our track record for finding new starting grade talent isn't good, even though we've beefed up our scouting.  (Other CFL teams found our best new guys.)  We aren't doing anything to get better this year.  O'Shea said the new guys we are bringing in now are for next year.

No really....you don't get it as has been said about your posts several times

[TBURGESS]

 

So I guess that Calgary lost to Montreal makes them a team on the decline.

 

You guessed wrong.  Losing 5 in a row and 7 out of our last 9 makes us a team in decline.  Losing one game to an inferior team doesn't.

[17to85]

I get it.  Folks who are looking for positives want to compare this years team to last years, because that's the only positive comparison they can find. 

 

Who cares if we are slightly better than last year?  We're still not good enough to win enough games to make the freaking playoffs let alone be contenders.  

 

We're losing by less points?  Oh boy!  The important word in the sentence is still losing.  

 

It's easier to watch these games because we're close?  I'll give you that one, but that's not enough to say we're headed in the right direction.

 

IMO: We are better at QB, DB, kicker, returner and maybe slightly ahead at receiver when Moore's healthy but he hasn't been for most of the year.  We are worse at D line, LB's and even starting 3 Imps on O our line.  We still have a Canuck talent and depth problems.  Our track record for finding new starting grade talent isn't good, even though we've beefed up our scouting.  (Other CFL teams found our best new guys.)  We aren't doing anything to get better this year.  O'Shea said the new guys we are bringing in now are for next year.

Like I said, you need some perspective. The team isn't a little bit better than last year, it's a LOT better than last year, but last year was so bad there was a long way to go and expecting a huge turn around in one season was pie in the sky wishful thinking. It takes time to go from historically bad to good, but you seem to think they should have done it in one offseason? Seriously? They've made a lot of progress this year, if they make a similar amount of progress next year then aren't they close to being the team you want them to be? There was never an instant fix for this team, things were so bad it was going to be a slow process, why start bitching when the process isn't faster than can be reasonably expected? Oh I know! It's because you're head is so far up your ass all you see is ****. 

[Tracker]

 

 

 

The team needs to be held to a higher standard than better than one of the worst teams in Bomber history.

 

If you're just trying to measure progress then all you can do is look at where they are starting from and gauge whether or not they are headed in the right direction. 

 

We should be comparing our team against the other teams in the league this year, not against last years historically horrible team.  

 

If we'd gone 1-5 in the first third and 5-1 in the second third, then I'd say we are heading in the right direction and I'd be pretty pumped about our chances of making the playoffs this year.  That's not what's happened.  We pulled out some late comebacks in the 1st third of the season and we've been heading in the wrong direction since then, culminating in a bad loss to the former worst team in the league.  That's way more important than how we look compared to last years losers. 

 

Quite frankly, this team isn't much better than last years team.  Willy's the biggest difference between 3 and 6 wins and neither record is good enough.

 

 

No, neither record is good enough. 

 

But to say the team isn't better than last year's garbage is ridiculous.

 

Seriously, thats borderline trolling. 

 

The team at this point in the season is not much better than the team was last year at the same point, but overall it is better than last year. The biggest difference is that there is reason to hope that the future is brighter with a decent quarterback, better coaching (arguably) and a better GM in Walters than Sleepy Joe.

[TBURGESS]

Like I said, you need some perspective. The team isn't a little bit better than last year, it's a LOT better than last year, but last year was so bad there was a long way to go and expecting a huge turn around in one season was pie in the sky wishful thinking. It takes time to go from historically bad to good, but you seem to think they should have done it in one offseason? Seriously? They've made a lot of progress this year, if they make a similar amount of progress next year then aren't they close to being the team you want them to be? There was never an instant fix for this team, things were so bad it was going to be a slow process, why start bitching when the process isn't faster than can be reasonably expected? Oh I know! It's because you're head is so far up your ass all you see is ****. 

 

 

You're doing it again.  Making up things that i neither said nor implied then arguing your side of your made up story.  No one, including me, expected the team to become good in one season.  Far from it. We didn't make enough of the right changes in the off season IMHO and we haven't made enough changes during the season.  I didn't expect an instant fix and I'm not bitching that it isn't faster than can be reasonably expected.  None of those things have anything to do with how much or how little better we are than last year anyway.  If you haul your head outta your hiney you might be able to follow along.

 

My perspective is... We're still not good enough.  We're in a downward death spiral.  That's not the right direction.  We're doing nothing about it this year.  We're hoping to get better in the off season from the draft, free agency, and scouting new players.... Just like every other team in the CFL.

[Blueandgold]

I'm not a big fan of Bellfool, but for everyone suggesting we fire him, who do we replace him with? And do we really want Drew Willy in a new system in year two?

[gbill2004]

In watching O'Shea's presser today, I get the sense Etcheverry and Tracy won't be back next season, but Bellefeuille will be back.

[Blueandgold]

In watching O'Shea's presser today, I get the sense Etcheverry and Tracy won't be back next season, but Bellefeuille will be back.

I would be perfectly fine with that. I never want to hear ridiculous things like Ted Laurent and Alex Hall would be useless here because they don't fit the Etcheverry scheme.

[rebusrankin]

This past off-season was pretty similar to 1999 and even then the club had Milt. In 1999, we improved to 6 wins and picked up some pieces. We've done the same this year.

[Mark H.]

This past off-season was pretty similar to 1999 and even then the club had Milt. In 1999, we improved to 6 wins and picked up some pieces. We've done the same this year.

 

As Dave Ritchie put it: 'we won three more games, that's improvement." 

[DR. CFL]

It would be virtually impossible for a team not to be an improvement over last season. But has this team shown continual progress this season?......a serious concern

[Tracker]

It would be virtually impossible for a team not to be an improvement over last season. But has this team shown continual progress this season?......a serious concern

The team was doing just fine until reality intruded.

[Mark H.]

It would be virtually impossible for a team not to be an improvement over last season. But has this team shown continual progress this season?......a serious concern

 

They fielded a better starting 24...that's progress.  When injuries began to happen, it became clear that depth was inadequate...progress still to be made.

[DR. CFL]

The team was doing just fine until the other teams figured out the schemes.....figured out the o line was terrible even with 3 imports.....figured out they could run against the mad genius' defence.........

[bearpants]

In watching O'Shea's presser today, I get the sense Etcheverry and Tracy won't be back next season, but Bellefeuille will be back.

 

Anything in particular he said or just a gut feeling?