Colin Unger

I'm not quite seeing the reason to think this team has no chance going forward. Despite all the complaints somehow all opponents outside of Montreal failed to dominate this team on the scoreboard. We've played 4 games in a row that came done to who was going to make one play and we lost 3 of them. The team has a lot of problems but somehow there must be something they're doing better than their opponents to remain competitive week after week despite the obvious flaws.

I edited my post probably after you were already working on your reply to make it clear that I was only focusing my opinion on what I think Wade would do. Not on what I think Wade "should" do. If Wade and Walters are convinced that the roster management is killing the team they'd probably deal with it with O'Shea rather then just firing him and replacing him with no coaches cap until his contract expires. They would want to salvage to good things about Oshe without risking life after O'Shea. I think our best bet to win is to use both Zach and Chris at QB and find a way to keep them both healthy. I don't think that Zach is finished and with good protection he'd still be doing well. This week will be interesting. He's going to have to play well or else the boo birds will be out to get him. He should be playing with a chip on his shoulder this week knowing his job is on the line.

I have to disagree with you on O'Shea being fired. (Note: this is my opinion on what the organization would realistically do its not my opinion on what they should do.) It would take a monumental non-football event for him to get fired anytime soon. He lead us out of the wilderness and into the promised land. If anything he'll get more leash than a normal head coach to have 2 Grey Cup wins and 4 appearances in 4 years... not less leash. He'd have to miss the playoffs this year and next to get fired. There's also the coaches cap to consider. They'd have to find someone internally who's essentially willing to coach the team for no extra pay. The only person I could see being willing to do that at their current pay is Walters. He was an elite selection.

I don't think our scouting has been that bad this year. Its more a roster management issue. A lot of it has how they tightly manage the salary cap. I don't doubt there's some decent players we could bring in that our scouting staff has scouted but for this or that other reason the team is choosing to wait. I actually think Ontaria Wilson is starting to come along a bit. Hard to judge when you're not giving guys many targets these days. But I think we scouted well enough with Chris Smith, Woods, Bonds, Ayers, Johnson, and Adams. And we have an excellent draft class. Clercius, Hubert, and Wallace come to mind first.

Fayad must have been dating O'Shea's daughter or something. What the heck is the rationale of cutting him for an obviously inferior global this week. Not saying Fayad should be here long term but jeeze how did it make sense if you weren't going to pull Garbutt off the 6 game early?

How is what i said untrue. I'm suggesting that 4 could be easily upgraded by a replacement level american.. I never said all 11. Im counting the 3 offensive lineman and thomas as easily upgraded by an american.

Oshea has gone drunk with Canadians. The only type of player he loves almost as much as Canadians are globals.

So Garbutt even at a minimum salary will have to wait for his 6 games to expire while we go essentially a man short on the defensive line again. Yes im disrespecting Ogbevoen. I'm counting 11 Canadian starters at least 4 of which would be easily upgraded by a replacement level american.

Can't believe Cottoy gets that kind of money. He must of really cashed in on a decent season last year. I wouldn't be happy with that kind of dead cap. Outside of offensive linemen I'd reserve that kind of money only for Canadians who would remain in the league if somehow their qualification as a Canadian was revoked. Even Gittens Jr is a bit questionable. Demski is a bargain. If Philpot continues this all season I could see him certainly being offered north of 250k. You could argue making him the highest paid receiver in the league even without his passport.

We end up playing extra Canadians because we have our Canadian positions where we have dedicated to drafting depth behind the starters and then we have several Canadians at other positions who are our best player or close enough to our best player at those positions. I don't favor this strategy but i do believe this is the rationale for what we're seeing. The thinking is that if you're going to start an extra american on the offensive line right now then you're not developing a Canadian at a position that we have committed to being Canadian and you risk a situation where injuries can dictate during a game that you actually have to bench an American starter mid game if your non-canadian position Canadian starters get injured. Again i believe this is the thinking but personally when you have some Canadians that are so weak as Thomas and all of our Canadians on the offensive line this strategy doesn't pass a cost to benefit analysis.

Id rather have Brady at what we are paying him then Ouellette at what he's getting paid. For our style of offence Brady is the exact kind of back we need. Its no surprise that the first time we really got him going this season was the first game we won. Beyond his abilities, his passport, and marketing benefits he's also a leader on the field and helps to establish a certain attitude and way of playing that helps us to win games. There are some other runningbacks in the league that are decent but nobody quite like BO IMO and there's no guarantee we're going to be able recruit anybody on his level when you look at the whole package he brings to the table. Right now I view him as the one player next to maybe Zack who's play can single handedly turn this season around. And Zach probably needs Brady Ball to be firing on all cylinders in order to be successful under these conditions.

Based on the body of work i wouldn't disagree. I would rate Streveler has the better overall runner. Basically he can do everything Crum can as a runner but with a much stronger body. Crum to this point has demonstrated superior passing.

I agree with this one in part. Dru Brown was far from a sure bet as a starter. It can't be argued that his play in Ottawa this year has been a step down from his play in Winnipeg last season. He looks to me like a Kevin Glenn in a best case scenario and Dru Tate in a worst case scenario. However to the point about how he would look just as bad as Zach in this offence. Well we would probably have surrounded him with better players. The point of it was to save money and get good value for Zach. Potentially, we could have traded him for a top notch younger Canadain offensive lineman, re-signed Hardrick and Bailey.

Some bomber related updates from PFF from our win vs Ottawa Tyrell Ford – DB | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 75.6 defensive grade Tyrell Ford is the second highest ranked defensive back in the CFL after five weeks, showcasing his top-end ability to play the position. He was once again a pivotal piece for the Blue Bombers defence in Week 5, allowing only one first down in passes thrown in his direction. Pivots have started avoiding Ford as of lately, the highest compliment a defensive back can get. Brady Oliveira – RB | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 83.6 offensive grade Winnipeg finally found a way to get into the win column and a lot of it has to do with their star running back. Oliveira had the highest receiving grade (90.7), third highest offensive grade (83.6) on his way to 129 rushing yards over 23 carries.

Minus Fayad as an option.

So if Garbutt tweaks something this week coming off a long injury what is the plan exactly at defensive end?

What happens with the guaranteed portion of Zach's contract if we trade him? Only a team re-signing a player can offer guaranteed money and only on a 3 year deal if I'm correct. Does his new team inherit the guaranteed portion of the contract or does Winnipeg still have to pay that portion?

I was hoping once Garbutt was healthy we would have him and Fayad so we could focus Adams at DT where i think he is more effective.

So you’re saying on the plays where Streveler is qb Zach’s not really going to be doing much? That would present some issues

Why would I do that? When did I say go a man short?

Id like to see a scheme also when we have Zach back where essentially there's a 3 back set. Streveler, BO, and Zach. At the last moment on of Zach and Streveler motions to receiver and the other slides over and accepts the shotgun snap. This would prevent defensenses from doing too much to shut down the RPO stuff with Streveler because until 2 second before the snap they have no idea who's going to be in a qb.

And granted he was mostly playing against sub CFL talent in the 2nd half and largely 4th quarters of games. I'm not suggesting making him a drop back passer. But if we are to ever rely on him as our guy we're going to have to device something that allows him to be successful and stay healthy.

My sentiment is that he practiced in the NFL all those years and was basically used as a real quarterback and not a gadget guy. His second last year in the NFL he had such an amazing pre-season as a passer that they decided to find a way to keep him around. And he did show some things versus Calgary that tell me there's some potential there. But the way things are going it seems unlikely to materialize. I think there would certainly be growing pains and at least at the moment we aren't in a position to suffer while he makes mistakes and learns from them. The best bet for him to learn is when he's playing and teams find a way to deal with the RPO stuff. Gray getting a chance at tackle was likely something that might have happened had he become a dominant guard.

In terms of Collaros being back next week so they wouldn't consider the idea of needing Streveler the last the season. Yeah that was the entire point I was making. If all Streveler can be is a run first QB then we never should have gone into the season with just him and Wilson as backups.

Hence what happened to him in Hamilton. Even when Lawler is back i think we are better off with Clercius starting over a rookie american and start another american offensive lineman. I agree with that. But they should be proactive in fixing the offensive line which doesn't seem to be a priority.