wbbfan

As it is, hardly anyone cares about the CFL outside of the prairies. BC can't get people to stay and watch a lions game free after a big time concert.

Halls' play-off adjustments to the DL were a massive game-changer, ba coming in at S was massive once the secondary settled as well. We had played soo soft before that people were losing their minds. 100%, the game was won in the trenches, and with physicality. Drake Nevis has become maybe the most slept on guy from that 19 win. Early, when he and Stove played together, it was a mauling. Then we switched to more and more cheetah with WJ, JJ, Hansen, and Kongbo and the cats couldn't keep up. Even the 30 cheetah we ran with wj on the nose, flanked by JJ and kongbo was vicious. It's a shame Craig Roh didn't get to dress for that game. He is another slept-on guy who is likely responsible for more of our DL success in that era than most would ever know. He was one of the best minds when it came to DL technique, pass rushing moves, and front play we've seen up here. His camps and books were extraordinary in their quality, he would've been one of the best DL coaches in the era. F%%^ cancer.

Oh easy. If you took off jake, and kornys snaps and put in the worst imp DTs we've had the last 2 years you would have significantly better front play, pressure, sacks, hits disruption etc. In the CFL, you don't need to have the highest sack total. But you NEED to cause disruption at least. You don't even need pressures and hits. If you can push the inside of the pocket back onto the lap of the QB within 3-4 seconds consistently, you force the qb to go from about to toss it to having to look down, avoid the disruption, find another spot, reset, look back down field, and try to find a target. OR, they have to try and throw over a mass of humanity (when cfl qbs are pretty short in general) and risk their arm on the follow through. Which still messes with mechanics a lot. In the past, teams that ran 30 fronts understood this. They focused their down linemen on guys who could win a bull rush 1-on-1, or could shoot a gap with a swim move and loop into the pocket. People here would always be stunned when the bend but don't break argos managed to sack our qbs repeatedly in a game. And while it is not the fastest way to rush/pressure/sack, it is one of the hardest to defend and prevent disruption from in the CFL. Because every team is rolling 2-3 NI interior OL (most always 3, you usually see 2 on bad teams), the Canadian OL are much less adept at dealing with nose tackles, pass rushing 3ts, and 4ts. Those guys, often imports, are generally in the 275-300 lbs range but insanely powerful and surprisingly athletic. With diverse rush ability, and the ability to run tite fronts, twist etc that makes the assignment harder to plan for. Sure, if you get the double on the 4t with the tackle, it should be pretty easy. But the other side of that you have a 1on1, or you have a 1on1 with the nose. And the C, is most often filled by guys undersized and who aren't higher end picks. How many Cs in the cfl today could lock up a prime stove 1on1 for most of the game? None imo. For the level of pressure/disruption we get from our OL, we would be as well off taking thomas out and playing 1 less dl in general.

They were favorites; the bombers had a whole lot going for them, but Zach wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire yet. The cat's D was better most of the year, their teams were better, and their offence was better virtually the entire year. We all knew when zach made the crazy legs play to adams we had a shot, but at no point in time where the bombers the favorite to win vs hamilton.

If you need an extra day after a bye week to stay healthy, you aren't going to stay healthy anyway. his main issue isn't fighting off injuries; it's how much he's degraded in terms of level of play when injuries have and may have been involved that he played through. Rest day isn't going to change that. And this, as I mentioned as well. Practice these days is soft AF. He could've shown up in slippers and a housecoat without an issue. It's not any big issue of it self, but it is a big old red flag indicating the over all problem. At this point, they should be kicking it into high gear. Instead, we are trialing guys for next year's camp, handing out vet days, and doing the minimum. Edmonton is going to play hungry. They need to win to stay alive in the playoffs. They just surprised the riders and are a better team than their record indicates. If we don't match or exceed their energy/physicality/execution early in this game, it's going to be tough to win.

the week after a bye, in the end of the season with us in the cross over spot. No one should be getting vet card days. It’s not like practice is insanely physically demanding in this era either.

Not every one that’s for sure. It’s important to have enough competitive balance that any team can turn it around and not be perpetually bad as hopeless, like several nba franchises. But what’s best is variety mixed with great stories. You want to have turn arounds and upstarts like the blue jays, but you also want to have them come up against the likes of the evil empire nyy. That, is compelling and entertaining to every one, even when it’s one sided. In 19 the cats were run away favorites, but we shocked them and the cfl to end a huge drought ushering forth an extraordinary stretch of success. Even the staunchest bomber haters say that was great viewing. You don’t get that with total parity. You need balance, but being too middle of the road is not good.

I mean, we list Ayers as a DE... He listed as light as 221 in high school lol. Fun fact, he also returned a squib kick for a TD twice in high school. He listed 260, and that might be a bit generous given his short height. He reminds me of Habba. Stocky, one move rusher with solid athleticism, and a low below pads rush type. He does show much better hand usage than Habba, and he is an extremely versatile guy. He played DE, some 3-tech, 3-4 OLB (Jack), Mac, Wil, and Sam. He also played a bunch of teams.

Imo, the OL is beyond just needing to gel. It needs more fresh blood. Vanterpool would go a long way, but we have too many liabilities 1on1 on the line today. The wr core isn't fringe anymore, imo. They need to continue what they've been doing, and if they can step up furthe,r that would be great. We either need to give up on DL pressure, or relegate Thomas to the end roster Canadian he is. I think we all know which of those is more likely. We don't need much from the Lbers, it would be great if they stay healthy, and if Jones could do a better job of getting back, but it isn't make or break. The DBs, yeah, and from what they've shown, I think they will continue in the right direction. We need to pray that the offence can do exactly what it did vs Hamilton, in every single remaining game this year. By hook or by crook, not much less will do. If the O can do what it did to hamilton in every game remaining, and the secondary continues to do what it's been doing, and we don't get blitz happy, we have a much better chance than we deserve based on this year. IF we had a big addition by subtraction type injury, (thomas, kola etc) and made the right replacement, that would be a tremendous boost. 90% of our shot lies in Zachs hands. If he can do what he did to hamilton, straight beating their rush with decision making and getting the ball out, in 2 step drops, we could beat any one in any game.

Burke was never cut out to be a hc, he clearly learned that fast. Excellent defensive coach though. Packed it in when he realized he wasn’t gonna rise up. Football has the shortest shelf life for coaches. You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain. The last guys we had that the fan base would’ve preferred keep imo, are coach cal and riley. The stretch of coaches we had after ritchie and before mos was horrid. As was the pre ritchie era. Perpetually the worst coached team. The reality is football evolves faster than other sports, and the talent/athleticism scales like crazy. You can also rebuild a team in a single year. In order to stay on top of coaching at the pro level you need to do an otherworldly job of evolving not just to match the game but also to out pace others. That also makes it harder to have a high enough peak of performance to win ships. Hcing and Ocing are the hardest jobs in coaching. It’s not fair, and many of the very best coaches in all of football are uprooting their life and family every couple years. And for no reason other than the timing didn’t line up well enough for them. We all know the roster management knock. The problem now is much more pervasive. Finer points of execution like tackling and stupid play discipline which where always strengths in the past are weaknesses now. We seldom adjust well any more or have great starts, and we aren the finishers we used to be. our 3rd quarters are handily the worst in the league. We aren’t good with a lead, and don’t play well from behind. We have maxed out how long you can go with out evolving. but don’t seem to recognize that fact. mtl is a way better team than their record shows. But with out a running game or consistency at qb they are aren’t the biggest play off threat. We match up really poorly with calgary, and not a lot better vs ssk. Hard to be in and out and that young then perform well in the play offs too

Yep, that’s been the legacy of the cfl leadership for a long time. the only modern time they made a big swing was the awful expansion era and that was just greed. This one, is very similar to that but more save some teams oriented. No easy solutions, and no desire from the troubled franchises to do any of what’s needed

Gotta beat edm, and it should be a good game. The old trope of the east division being a free pass to the gc every year hasn’t worked out for west teams. That said, I feel like that path would be the best case for us. Hosting a play off game is always a big deal, but the next best outcome imo, is the east.

Imo, they would work it like mlb used to with the al and nl. You have an inter league stretch and play home stadium rules, then maybe you have a championship tourney mid season out of that like the nba does. If they did a big merge, the ratio 3 downs etc probably all go. It would probably be the death of every thing we hold dear. Time will tell, but i have no faith in this bog/commish as far as protecting/being stewards of our game.

I would not be surprised at all if they’ve been going on for a while. maybe even agreed to a deal in principal.

but why be honest when you can stick your head in the sand and hide behind hyperbolic appeal to authority based on 4 year old success. Same issues that had a great team needing to hit on a hof qb in 19 and prior are bad with a vengeance. We’ve all seen the warts, we all know the reality of how we limit our own success. Now, ever one does any way. Though some still try to hide from it. thomas/kola. Thomas could be serviceable as the least played dl. But he’s the least capable of being effective in heavy reps. And our Ds biggest need is disruption on the line.

ufl announces it’s shutting down 3 teams, memphis, michigan, and san antonio. but that it’s also looking to expand in the next few years and focus on smaller more intimate stadium/markets.

early try outs for next years tc

Mm i they are very close in terms of quality at dc. I think halls big advantage is being a worlds better leader and great at adjustments.I think burke was way better at Xs n Os on the front 6.

That’s a real good recipe for victory

likewise, if we had maas/dinwiddie and their staff coaching us, we very likely would’ve won 4 gcs in a row and be leading the cfl standings again. I don’t see this team losing in 21 with burke or the stretch run 19 either.

I don’t think mos gives consideration to talent evaluation. I think he looks at intangibles, and singular factors he likes at positions. Oh he’s got the best hips i’ve ever seen, oh he’s the smartest guy on the field, even the lauded anthem of he’s real nasty. From all these years of seeing our roster building, I really think mos believes talent equals out in the end no matter what. Or that they are all just as talented. As though being crafty as a wr counter balances having the size of a gnat and athleticism of matt sheridan. Like if he collects the right pile of intangibles no matter the attributes, we will succeed. I doubt he’d look at our ship years and say we had a massive talent advantage.

Course, that’ll all be on zach and the secondary really. Brady will ball out no matter what. If zach can sustain the level of play he did against hamilton, I don’t think any D in the league can stop him. His blitz pick up and speed at getting the ball out into safe productive spots was extraordinary. That’s his two best game manager performances stuck between the injury. Maybe he’s caught that lightning in a bottle. Dare to dream. It would be awesome for him to carry us to a cup after some pretty terrible play off performances. Edmonton has been much improved but we should still handle them if we show up like we did vs hamilton. Ssk likely has the west division wrapped up by the game we play. Montreal in the last game could go either way. But it’s hard to see any of those teams bringing there best against us.

Was he over rated by toronto when he lead them in sacks while rotating with the 2 best lbers in the league? Lbers have the lowest impact of any position player in the cfl, but tjones has been awful in coverage. Woodbey isn’t playing lber. No one said they wanted more lbers on the roster. Just the right ones. I mean things can get whacky when you just make up strawman arguments. tackles are not a success indicator for a lber or db. Awe stacks up tons of tackles and very few stop. very much so, but slow joe was better early on.

he didn’t lose his job during a season, he was injured. Pickett and mcmannis was there when he was playing in 2023. His contract ended and they didn’t bring him back. That wasn’t the question though was it? So let’s put the goal post back, would kyrie or jones take reps from mcmannis or picket like Jones did, on any other team in the league? The answers no, they wouldn’t.

I don’t even think that’s wheatfall is streaky, he’s off way too frequently for that. he’s a guy who the lights come on for occasionally and the rest of the time is bleh at best. The guy had one big game last year, largely on one big catch, another good game on one big catch, and this year one big game and one good game based on one big catch. That’s 4 good +/- games based largely on 3 catches, in 21 starts. If you take away his 3 biggest catch and runs, dude has no career. Hes a poor mans chris brazzell