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I'll be shocked if Bighill plays. If he's truly this iffy just rest him for another week man. Why risk it against the Argos in week 5??

I'm sorry to hear about your pending divorce.

ha ha Kindly Cal coached some of the toughest hombres that ever served in the Bomber trenches. He'd be super-stoked I am sure about Hardrick's hit, but would still make him pay $.25 for his cup of Gatorade.

What a great picture of 17 to 85!

I honestly don't know how I'd get through a day at work if not for MBB....

Please do not take this chat off topic about bomber team news... We are focused on Flags and fun with flags.

Bi-polar much? I may not post here much but read most everything posted. I used to respect much of what you posted and considered it carefully. Your attitude to America / Americans in this issue is over the top ridiculous. Get a grip / beer or whatever you need to get back to reality. Canada as a whole needs the USA without them our economy would not support a league at all. Be glad they are interested in our league and just accept the $$ they way the teams do the players.

I mean are we really that thin skinned that we get fussed over our game being called quirky? Face it, it is. Last week a team won a game missing a field goal!!! WTF are our Southern neighbours going to think? Better to just welcome them to town and take their money.

What I like best about that chart is that 32 members of this forum have a better record picking games than these "experts".

I'm singling out this post. Why would anyone gives a **** if it's considered quirky? Why do any fans worry about something like that? If fans from Grand Forks want to adopt the Bombers & come up here to spend money on the team then all the better. Maybe they'll grow to like the CFL & all of it's quirkiness.

👁‍🗨S p r e a d I n g the ball around. This is how I like an offence. Use all your receivers along with the strong running game. So far, veteran wide receiver Darvin Adams has been targeted 13 times and has eight catches. Meanwhile, newcomer Lucky Whitehead has been targeted 13 times for nine, Nic Demski 14 for nine, Drew Wolitarsky 12 for 9 and the combination of Chris Matthews, Kenny Lawler and Charles Nelson 11 for eight. The team leader in both categories is actually running back Andrew Harris, who has been targeted 15 times for 13 catches. - Ted Wyman

Depth Charts...

Can't I just bet that all the players will have a fun time?

Can we please get back to trashing the Riders?

😂 I'm certainly not/never ever been a fan of who we elected

"If movies and TV have taught me anything...." -- Homer Simpson

The Bombers should do everything possible to get fans from ND, as should the city and Province

I do. You don't?

there had been two late hits on Nichols prior to that play. I agree the timing of it wasn't exactly perfection, but it did achieve the purpose it was designed to do. Given none of us were in the trenches that night, we don't and never will know what was really going on, but I am willing to give Jemarcus the benefit of the doubt.

let's not forget Diamond Ferri........**** I spit just thinking of his name.. *spits*

If only it was that easy....I'd buy 10 flags. lol

FIFY

Bold Prediction - Week 5 will be one of the best weeks that the Sackstenchewan RoughRiders will play in 2019.

Here is my issue with it - he is using a subjective "eye test" to decide personally what "looks like" a good pass to him, and giving it a grade. Now, he may have no skin in the game and will rank QBs evenly based on the throw and not the thrower, but if he doesn't prefer a certain style of pass, it will hinder the scoring for that QB. Using an efficiency rating (where Nichols is at 120.7 and #1 in the league for QBs with more than 50 pass attempts, and only behind Arbuckle for QBs with more than 6 attempts) incorporates raw data like completion percentage, TD/interception ratio, yards per pass and yards per attempt to determine a more objective number that more properly ranks QBs equally for the metric it tries to define. Streveler rates higher, and Nichols should rate highly because they use a short passing game with lots of short passes to the running backs, and those should be easier to throw than than crossing route into a seam between multiple defenders. But looking at some of the examples of what Ferguson grades his passes on, he seems to like the deeper downfield throws. As an example, Mike Reilly likes to throw up the jump ball passes and let his tall receivers out-duel the shorter defensive backs on what we call "50/50 balls". But it's easy to say that the pass is accurate, because it is not behind there receiver or low, which he likes to pick on. And how many times do we see a receiver change their running pace to "slow down" or adjust to the ball in the air, to be able to speed up and the last moment to gain separation form the defender or catch the ball in stride. That may translate into an accurate pass, but how much of that is on the QB hitting the target perfectly and how much is on the receiver adjusting to the ball in flight to "move the target" and meet the ball? YAC yards seems to be a big thing based on Ferguson's "eye test" metric (because to him the perfect pass is hitting the receiver in stride so they don't have to change their route). I think of 3 passes in particular Nichols threw in the last game, two I believe came on the drive where Hardrick took the roughing penalty, that would be subject to a low grade but in my mind were put exactly where Nichols wanted them to be. The first pass was a sideline throw to Darvin Adams for about a 25 yard gain on 2nd and 10, where Adams made a great leaping catch. That would rank low on the rating scale because Adams had to adjust to the high wide ball and made no YAC yards, might score a 1 or 2. But Nichols put the ball where no other player was going to be able to make a play on it, so if Adams doesn't make the catch it falls incomplete out of bounds, and maybe Nichols trusts that Adams can make the high catch, so puts it up there for him rather than risking hitting him in stride down the sideline where a defender might step in front of it for an INT. Much safer than a Mike Reilly rainbow toss 40 yards down the middle of the field into double coverage where Duke Williams out jumps the corner and the safety, but the throw could be more "accurate" since it hits the target zone, but could be picked off more easily if not for the athleticism of his receiver. That to me is a flaw in the judgment system Ferguson employs. The second pass was to Drew Wolitarsky. Nichols threw a dart over the middle that Wolitarsky went down to the turf to catch. Will score maybe at best a 2 because the receiver got zero YAC yards and had to go low to scoop the ball off the turf. But looked at another way, Nichols again puts the ball where only his receiver can make a play on it, threading a needle with defenders close by. And it went for 9 yards when the Bombers needed 8 for a first down. To me that is a perfectly placed ball, but according to Ferguson's video examples, that would be a bad pass. Wolitarsky makes a very nice catch, but was it a bad throw he had to go down for, or was it meant to be a low pass designed for Drew to go low and secure the first down with zero risk of interception if he can't squeeze it? The last throw was the called back TD to Adams. Could score high because Nichols led the receiver and hit him in stride, or could score low because it was "too far in front" of Adams, and only the brilliant one-handed catch saves the off-target throw. Who, other than Ferguson, can say? Or does it even count because the penalty wiped out the pass altogether? So it might be a nice idea, but unless Ferguson wants to justify his scoring on every pass publicly, all he is doing is assigning his own subjective ranking system of what in his mind makes a good pass, with no real consistent real raw data to validate his opinions.

He mentions those two, and Dressler, all sports fan favourites in North Dakota. Couldn't have paid for a better promotion. Remember when the American Women's soccer team played in Wpg. Holy crap the Americans turned out in force. And were great fans.

ha ha I was told to prepare to be treated with hostility when I was in Quebec in 2017 for a holiday, but found everyone to be really friendly. Can't say a bad word about my experience, everything was pretty awesome. Other than they were speaking some weird language I'd never heard before... True story - I struck up a conversation with an American lady in Quebec City while waiting for a bus. Half-way through she asked me what part of the US I was from, and I told her I was actually from Canada. She couldn't believe it! "Your English, you speak it so well!" That's the extent of the knowledge most Americans have of us. We are all poutine-eating Pepe Lepeau speaking lumberjacks.

Bighill returns and Lawler in for Matthews....

I dislike my fair share of what makes them American, but most people I've come across in my life have been great. I also think the US has a whole giant set of headaches nationally and especially internationally that we can never relate to.

I can see that.... People misunderstand my attitude......I'm far more Pro-Canada than I am Anti-America. Tho I'm plenty Anti-America, too....no question. As Dave said, between their politics, their love of religion and guns......oi vey.

Considering the connection to that part of the USA the Bombers could benefit from the exposure. North Dakota people might feel an affinity for Oliviera (injured) and Santiago. Minnesota might feel for Wolitarsky. Heck, I think it’s kind of neat that Carson Wentz is from my neighbouring state, which I have spent a lot of time in. It’s kind of neat that teams, the Jets, have Wheeler and Buff from Minnesota and attract interest from that area. Edmondson from Brandon. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that, hey that guys from Manitoba...he played against Joe Schmoes son.... Based upon how I feel about familiarity with a home grown kid, I’d think they feel the same.

where the **** is the depth chart for this week? That should be this morning, right?

I mean, compared to the US (4 down football), our rules do seem quirky. But, it's what makes our game more entertaining.

We're in first place. That's all I care. Tom Burgess & Sean Salisbury were no all stars either & Nichols is better than both. Both won Grey Cups.

Yeah- that took a much more serious turn than what I was looking for. Put it this way- its like pooping at work. You are getting paid for pooping.

😂

Bob Irving (@BobIrvingCJOB) Tweeted: I think the CFL should fine players for dangerous, cheap hits. But Wpg’s Jermarkus Hardrick got fined for giving a guy an extra, aggressive shove in the Ottawa game. Hardly a fineable offence in my eyes. The 15-yard penalty Hardrick got was punishment enough.

I wouldn’t worry about it. Marshall Ferguson has a writer’s accuracy rate in the low 60s..

I would like one but no way in hell am I admitting that the area I live in is technically part of Transcona...

TiCats get Stanbacked last weekend and yet somehow 5/6 of the cfl.ca writers picked them to beat the Stamps? I don't get it.

I think this would be stating the obvious, but he is clearly just washing his hands of IGF, as for the Jets... they seem to be incapable of wrongdoing in this city, hence the free pass.

Superman never made any money Saving the world from Solomon Grundy. And sometimes I despair The world will never see another man like him Superman Song. The Crash Test Dummies.

Just off the top of my head, he and EPC scraped the requirement for 10% of the units being built at True North Square to be affordable housing (generally a requirement for the tax incentives and grants they got), tax grants from the city for True North Square totally over 23 million, street party costs. I think its hypocritical to want to divest yourselves from the Bombers but to have no problem support True North, you know the group headed by one of the richest men in Canada.

Ah I remember the good ol Days when Wade would take the off sides. I think it was the only reason Coach Cal kept him around! He (Wade) was very good at getting off sides - made a career out of it!

The other team wants to take liberties sometimes you gotta remind em that you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. This team isn't a bunch of doormats and I am OK with the occasional penalty to let the other team know they ain't gonna take **** from them.

I agree with @Noeller that the title is condescending ... but if this guy wants to be a bomber fan, he's all good in my books... there's plenty of room on the bandwagon for the Dakotas...

preach, brother Bob....

Ordered one......now to convince the fiancee that we need to hang it at our wedding reception August Long......