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I do agree we need that nasty guy like desjarlais. Ever since he left we haven’t had that. He set the tone and every one else tried to match it. Wallace could be that guy, don’t know for sure though. We need that back for sure. I don’t think we actually had that on the dl though. We could sure use it though. “Back home” is an excuse. Half our team is American and play away from home the whole season. Who is our last true home grown ol? Sheridan? We weren’t competitive in the pricing of any of those guys. Just like we weren’t in many free agent departures. Kongbo, sayles, other sayles, jsk, lawler the first time etc. I think we felt as though the next man up would always be a couture, desjarlais, stove, Alford etc. and we got to a point where the cupboards ran dry, and our ability to keep/attract top guys suffered because we wouldn’t give up on vets that will play for cheap. Case in point, Tui Eli has dressed for 52 games as a bomber. This is the 6th year since he turned pro. He started 5 games including the west final in 21, and I think one game since then. Kola has played 62 games in his career. We are soo married to maintaining the status quo and the value of the 6th ol, that we’ve made double switches on the ol to keep him as the 6th guy and play rookies inside. I fully believe in what he can do from what I’ve seen. If the bombers don’t, they should’ve moved on a while ago. If they think continuity with the 6th ol in a sub pack for a hand full of snaps is worth as much as an every snap ol, then we are pooched. Has familiarity bred contempt in the bomber brass? Sure looks like it. Has it been addressed now? Think we will know a week or two into free agency, if not camp through pre season for sure.

Neither do I. And honestly I thought your quote was Riderfans.com slogan. I don’t read. - rider fans.

I actually think we have the core, if healthy. Wallace, and randolph could be impact players for us this year on the OL. On the DL I really like woods, Adams, fox, lawson and what garbutt rounded into late. I think we need to make some tough moves to get away from some old guys, and prioritize spending on the lines in free agency. 2 players, 1 end and C or tackle, away from having the best line play in the league again. And, the continued development of our young guys. Perfect world, we make a splash move at C, and DE. Garbutt rotates as a di, WJ rotates in the 30 to 40 swap, jake is either cut or the last NI on the roster, and we heavily rotate fox/lawson/woods and adams inside out. Randolph steps up and becomes the RT, and a new C stabilizes the interior. Wallace steps up and takes a G job. Maybe thats dobson, maybe its paddy rotating and playing the 6th ol.

IIRC, Chungh was the highest paid guard in the CFL, when BC signed him. I think some tackles were higher, but highest paid guard for sure. But Mike Reilly still took an insane pounding.

He didn't do amazing, that is for sure. but he also got single digit reps. Dobson was much worse for much longer. He was much better in 21 than kola has ever been. But I mean, it's poop or get off the pot time with a lot of these guys. Well past it even. I'm not saying we are wrong to be out of the market on every single guy. But if we were in the market, I think only Chungh and goosen were gone. I don't think BC made him the highest paid ol, but it was an over pay. Especially for what we had in stock. If we retain a fraction of that list, this is a whole different team. Couture, and Desjarlais are the biggest misses. I fully believe both are back with reasonably competitive offers. 25 year old elite NI ol with an incredible knack for setting the aggressive physical tone, that is gonna get the big pay day every time in the cfl. We ended up paying lawler nearly the same money he had in edm, we haven't saved a bunch of money from losing these guys. I agree from Elis perspective. I would too. Desjarlais was gutting to see go to ott. Gray never settled properly at guard. (he shouldve been a RT, and shouldve replaced hardrick.) Couture leaving was awful too. Lawler I get letting walk. Grant going for like 10k? Hansen who took a cut with toronto any way cus we over paid him the previous time, lots of meat on the bone imo. Fact is, in the cfl, you just can not let that amount of OL especially candians walk for that many years with out gutting your franchise. Goosen, suhk, couture, bonds, hardrick, desjarlais, we lost a better ol than we had half of last year. How do you pay a guy like kramdi and lawson (and I love lawson) top notch money but cheap out on guys who brought you to grey cup wins?

Cue Suitor talking about the insightful coaching of Harris whenever the Riders rush for a first down.

it would be silly to ignore that the talent that has left us from the OL wasn’t at least partially by design. at least part of this was that the Bombers didn’t feel the need to be competitive with the open market because the players in house were available as replacements For all the OL talent that has walked out the door, we’ve never really had a hole on the OL

I hope you're half right.

I'm a guy that doesn't take himself seriously but I take what I do for a profession seriously. This is a serious issue and the guy who threw the nacho's on the ice has to be dealt with and used as an example to help deter future behaviour like this, i.e., lifetime ban from the arena. This could give other low critical thinkers ideas where it aint nachos but something more dangerous. In this particular case making it funny and not serious comes with a risk which behind the scenes I'm hoping they aren't.

thing is...the way Osh coaches his fav's...they can be significantly inferior and will still be handed the spot with no real competition....we've seen it every yr If one his guys don't get hurt and can literally not stand up...they get the reps....even last yr...rushing Wilson back and then he gets a new injury so severe he couldnt play....in a walk thru basically...he just wasnt ready and I have heard that from guys inside the room....and to make matters worse in his wise roster creating he never brought a guy "just in case" and we ended up playing a player short....totally inexcusable and not an issue a 10 yr coach who gets incessantly praised about he does nothing wrong and ya but's galore should make... WE all know right now Jake can...and will look like the worst of the lot for DT's this camp...but who will be lined up for first snap on defence...and taking up a roster spot of a younger...better Canadian with upside? Jake

Yes we need our annual one win....

Maybe even before that. For all the success we've had keeping guys around, we've basically hemorrhaged interior canadian OL since Brendon Labatte. Matthias Goossen - elite C, played 4 seasons, went home to be a firefighter. Sukh Chungh - elite nasty G, played 3 seasons, went home to BC. Michael Couture - solid C, played 4 seasons, went back home to BC. Geoff Gray - played parts of 5 seasons, fizzled out and retired to non-football work. Drew Desjarlais - played 2 seasons, went to the NFL, signed back in Ottawa after returning. Liam Dobson - possibly leaving? hasn't re-signed yet. All of these guys are younger interior OL than Kolo and Neufeld, and all of them would be improvements if they still played for us (except maybe Gray who we moved on from). It would be nice if a couple of these elite interior guys that we developed stuck around for long careers like Bryant.

he was here for over a onth...a CFL vet....I sure he knew the basic route tree in the CFL and where the holes in a zone were.....he could have played with 1 week here really.....the fact he could just play anywhere...and run posts...fades ,..out and up roayres or deep crossers somebody would hae had to cover him or else we would have been gouging them for gaping amounts of yards....he wasn't some raw rookie And that playbook isnt that complicated, and if it was...it obviously caused issues all yr as for most part ZC passing game was crap......or....is it ZC being the issue...again...excuses are for......... and the the 2022 yr...ZC couldnt move...run...or properly plant to throw effectively....yet he took every bloody rep....we dont learn...well somebody on the staff doesnt...1 yr...i will gave a guy a pass....2 yrs...hmmm...maybe it was a flukey anomoly...3 yrs....hell no.....and from looks of some early signings...lack of rounding out a coaching staff....i see yr 4 of.....who knows but a lot of the same maybe if we had a full healthy roster on offence....it wouldnt have even been close by that point...maybe 5 game ready recievers would have made 5..6..7 extra first downs.....opened stuff up for the run game?....u fail to look at the whole picture......hamstringing the offence...and playing a useless Bighill wrere major factors in the game when u add up all the cumulative plays...also dumping a proven vet and playoff performer db who had seen that pattern we got beat on probably 1000's times for a gut with flashy INT stats.....but penchant for getting beat bad gane in and game out didnt help either or dress one...BOLO....and not give him a single rep....while 3 guys limped around....and nary got a look by a defender because they could let them catch a short underneath pass and then just close on them for minimal to no gain....

To relive som Chuck Bob memories

Fleury and Stanley healthy scratches I assume? Arniel busy with his blender I see.

They left the keys in it what was i supposed to do excuse is the sign that you have bad lawyer.

I’m not sure I understand…. You say Eli is at best the 6 OL, but then say you’d love him at C? I want to see him get a real shot at C too. Like a legitimate chance to work through any growing pains. And I agree that he had some struggles at guard.

Yes and no. They were going home...but also getting significant raises that just didn't make sense (for the most part). Would you have been happy to make Chungh the highest paid Oline like BC did? Maybe I'm not remembering properly, but if he wasn't the highest paid he was damn close to it. Couture may have been the only guy on that list they could have realistically gotten. All the others were getting huge raises from (imo) being on a good team that raised their ability. Drew would have been a nice get, but again...I don't think anyone would have been good with making a Guard the highest paid OL even if they weren't already bogged down with other big salaries. I agree that they haven't done a good job of filling the cupboards/giving legit chances to others. But I don't think any of the guys we lost were worth the money they were being offered else. If I'm Tui, and I don't win the job out of TC..I might be looking at asking for my release. Players only have so much time and he can start in this league.

And got the bag of cash from Ottawa.

Other than Dobson, us losing those players isn't our fault. 2 guys went home to BC, two chose work outside of football and one went to the NFL and then went closer to home and closer to his girlfriend's work.

Lmao accurate. Height in a rb is the most over rated attribute in football. Shorter the better imo. I cringe watching 6’+ RBs run through the trenches. gre hee heeasy. lol. I quit competing in kickboxing because I’d rather get punched in the face than run too. The dedication of guys who love playing football soo much that they do the required SnC work year after year is incredible. Most sports you don’t need that. Football demands it. Unless you’re blink lol. I played and worked with guys who were crazy talented but wouldn’t even do the ice bath to safe their life. That’s why to me it’s the best sport and the best athletes. You can’t be slow, you can’t be weak, you can’t be lazy, and you can’t be soft. Many sports you can be most or all of those.

If I'm being honest .. I'd say, no ... we don't. We may have a few pieces but, overall, we lack physicality and presence on both sides of the ball.

Offensive issues have been useage as well. Kola, rostering augustine and countless DI's only to never use them, etc. But more so the O has been in game management. I can list lots of guys who have had their useage bemoaned on here. Guys like Agudosi, our KRs, kola, eli, gray, dobson, the early season walking corpse version of neuf, the last year of hardrick, Lofton, using randolph and vanterpool in the wrong spots at times, plus the punter, our 3rd imp wr for much of last year as well. Id also add that the D last year after the first few was very good. Much better than the previous years D. The 23 D under performed a lot imo.

it was like they forgot to skate for the first two and half periods and they were in Salt Lake so can't even blame a late night booze fest...what a joke.

Stats: 31-14-3 @ 28-19-1 Streaks: L2 @ L1 Last Ten: 4-4-2 @ 5-4-1

He isn’t an excellent tackler. But he is extremely smart. He does continue to get better. But his steps are a fraction of what ford showed from his first tc to his first start and then from his early starts this year to mid season. Kramdi isn’t covering other teams best guys man up, only when they cross his zone. The down side in his game is while he has an excellent anticipatory skill, his ability to convert those jumps into big plays is sub par. He just misses a ton of big plays. That, and his tackling is inconsistent at best. Hes basically hidden in our run fits unless he’s blitzed off an edge. Athletically he’s pretty solid for the passport. Though our secondary is filled with outlier athletes. Makes him look slower than he is. His decision making in not great. When he gets out of the instinctual play and has to make snap decisions despite having great football iq he’s too hesitant. Kellys improvement also hardly out paces Kramdi, as do guys like mci and clercius. Kramdi is solid. If he keeps grinding and stays healthy he could possibly have a Demski esq improvement in his 30s, but it isn’t likely. Hes basically a 2 year starter going into his 5th training camp. Hard to expect much more. Hes also 1 injury away from being a hallett. Hes a solid mid roster Canadian starter. Hes worth about half of what ford is.

I think people are selling Kramdi short. He only continues to get better over time. He’s an excellent tackler, and while not outstanding in coverage I’ve seen him hold his own, I’ve seen specific plays of him covering other teams best players in the red zone and making plays on the ball, not to mention he has extremely high football IQ he seems to always be in the right place at the right time. The only downside I see in his game is that he’s maybe a little slow in coverage. I have seen a few plays where he’s just a split second behind but with the right passport and what I believe he brings to the team I think he’s a very valuable piece of the D

You know Pickett was the highest paid db of any position in the whole league last year at 165k right? Nichols hard money was 140k. How much you gonna pay ford this year, and nichols next year then? I’d say he’s an average starting Canadian db in the cfl. How most teams have deployed ni safety’s, we use Kramdi. Put him in a small box and ask him to come down/over to make tackles on pass catchers. Honestly I like that with an imp S better than vice versa. Except for the fact I think Kelly can cover S like an imp with development, and we don’t need the ratio help. Conceptually though I hate the small box mid deep Canadian S who mostly watches and takes what comes to him. It’s like an upright on the field goal vs Fajardo. I do like that he has a nose for opportunity and has good in the box potential. I think he needs polishing though. Tackling by our D has been a big piss off for me the last bit. We have had terrible tackling at every level. Couple guys like Nichols and jones tend to wrap welll with guys who they can get hands on, but we must’ve missed more tackles than any team last year.

I'm sorry, who's this Harris you talk of?

Sorry, did I say yoga? I meant yogurt, GSP gave up weight lifting for yogurt.

Mack Herron was just a bad dude all around. He was a gangbanger in Chicago from the time he was a teenager to his death. He lived the life right to the very end even though he became very wealthy & rich enough to walk away from it all but he chose not to. Herron spent the majority of his adult life behind bars. Blink was a quirky player but nothing at all like Herron.

I did see Harris talking about yoga and movement stuff late in his time here. Gsp worked with ido portal, who is the greatest movement coach in history. And his head trainer, firas zahabi, is among the very best at running camps and managing fighters training needs. (Up there with winklejohn) every camp and fight cycle, firas basically tore down gsps game plan and style to rebuild and evolve it. At times completely changing it. He micro managed gsps to training regiment to an extraordinary degree. Every one saw movement coaches become popular from ido/firas and then condits crazy guy. But what a lot of people didn’t see is gsp doing some thing different every training day. In camp or out of it. A lot of people have tried to replicate what tristar and Jackson-winklejohn do/did. Almost none have been successful. Plus, gsp didn’t need a heavy active SnC routine (which if it brings any/enough value to fighting has been widely debated for decades) he basically never stopped training camp during his run. He was training 4 plus days a week multiple times per day in multiple disciplines year round. And his athletic potential was already maximized. The guy had no off button. Probably a half baked plan by Harris to try to shed the responsibility, time and work of football SnC. Which again, is awful for most people who aren’t gymbred. I’ve also seen people who get too deep into yoga, who end up doing more harm than good. (It’s more a mental failure forcing things rather than a yoga issue). In order to cheat flexibility they end up messing up joints and soft tissues rather than gaining musculoskeletal flexibility. I could see Harris having messed him self up stretching too hard/forcing it rather than stretching smarter. Billboard material, or maybe banner material on this site lol

Andrew Harris basically said the same in his recent interview, gave up strength and conditioning later in his career and focused more on yoga, movement and flexibility, same thing with George St. Pierre, gymnastics and water workouts replaced weight lifting.

Being that everyone's a starter, I'm struggling to know why we play people that are clearly not anywhere near 100%

Low center of gravity, and amazing body control and leg strength. He wasn't super-fast, but was super-quick with the reflexes of a ferret on meth.

It's also reasonable to assume they were looking past Utah and focusing on Colorado. At any rate, the team needs a wake up call. This is not acceptable. Calgary loss was due to a hot goalie. This loss, was just putrid effort.

O-line has been getting progressively worse since 2021, maybe time to switch up the ratio and play another import beside Stan like they did with Travis Bond back in 2016. That move got the ball rolling in the right direction.

I think having Kola in the middle of the line is a usage problem, but I agree with you on the rest.

Cup run in our digs in 25', I hope we throw some cash at McManis and have a real good look at some other fa talent ..We may have to bite it a bit regarding the sms..Meanwhile ..back at the ranch...where the hell is our replacement for Buck..I hope we're not waiting till a few days before fa

Zach rarely plays great in big games when the score is close, I suspect he doesn't handle stress all that well, he may be too hotwired and competitive to be able to relax and think clearly. In games like LDC and BB were the results don't usually matter one way or the other, he has fun soaking it all up and plays relaxed, but in playoffs when the pressure is turned up he tightens up like a steel drum and is unable to create any flow.

A pro QB should be able to throw to anyone who is running the designed routes....saying they don't have chemistry and thats why they failed is just an excuse....chemistry is nice and can make for the ordinary play become extraordinary....but running the offence as schemed a pro QB who is good...will fit it in even if a fat oline guy has to throw on a pinny and play receiver...if he where he supposed to be...the QB will find him....excuses are for losers...always have been...always will be

If that were totally true qbs wouldn't get paid so damned much in comparison to the rest of the league. Teams with bad qbs never amount to much regardless of how good the rest of the roster is.

Most of the kvetching that goes on around here relates to usage of players on D... and yet they D had been good... it's the offense that let's this team down the past few years... just an interesting observation to me.

Blink reminded me a lot of Mack Herron, but without the personal conduct issues. Herron could have been another perennial all-star but........

No Ragrets, am I right?

Every thing Jones forward is varying degrees of dumpster fire. Dickie was red hot peak trash though. Atleast jones lead them to some wins.

Funny that those same guys who fought Harris are long gone out of the league, and Harris is now their coach. The O'Day/Dickie years were a gong show.

Me either. They were all over social media as well though, and even in the games with giant needles made out of cardboard n junk. All the vitriol over the brawl where the rider players jumped Harris when he scored a td.

Blink gave 100 percent efffort on every snap and his fast twitch muscle was insane....like mentioned could stop/cut/change direction on a dime and be top speed in 3 strides...wasn't overly fast, but his acceleration allowed him to create distance immediately Also for a small fry who avoided the gym like the plague he was insanely strong and didnt matter...bigger guy...small agile guy he could juke em....run em over....or jusy power thru a mass of bodies....never went down on first contact definately a generational talent and if he came along in the mid to late 2000's...with training and expertise available now...and took advantage of it....man what could have been

Suitor I think truly thinks Harris implemented that all on his own and is tutoring others on it.....fricken tool