Dragon37

It is hard not to be when it has been rebuilding for a better part of 25 years and every other team in this league can do it better and faster. Two years is more than enough time to improve a team and this team hasn't even come close.
Blow it up? No but it is really not a matter of a few tweaks. They have not been coached well in some time, both sides of the ball they need several players, and in two years our GM and scouts have not proven they can provide quality talent on a regular basis.
I think people are a bit nuts if you think that just dumping MB is going to be the answer. Our defence was better than the O but they still surrendered an awful lot of points. They have to be near the bottom in pass yardage given up. They were absolutely brutal covering crossing plays, slants, outs and bombs. For cripes sake they gave up a TD with :38 seconds remaining in the first half of the last game.
This teams needs as much work as it did when Mack was tossed out. Two years no significant improvement most of the same top pieces likely to return how am I supposed to draw any encouragement of a brighter future when there is little to prove that it can happen? I bet Saskatchewan, BC, and Montreal all improve faster than Winnipeg.

Well, what if's really don't mean much. Other teams had to deal with injuries to their qbs & other positions & they were able to maintain their momentum. All it took was one key injury & our season was absolutely lost. So, you can say with Willy we'd win but we didn't. Others did. That's on management not bringing in good enough players &/or coaching. Injuries are excuses. Teams adapt or they lose.

It is hard not to be when it has been rebuilding for a better part of 25 years and every other team in this league can do it better and faster. Two years is more than enough time to improve a team and this team hasn't even come close.
Blow it up? No but it is really not a matter of a few tweaks. They have not been coached well in some time, both sides of the ball they need several players, and in two years our GM and scouts have not proven they can provide quality talent on a regular basis.
I think people are a bit nuts if you think that just dumping MB is going to be the answer. Our defence was better than the O but they still surrendered an awful lot of points. They have to be near the bottom in pass yardage given up. They were absolutely brutal covering crossing plays, slants, outs and bombs. For cripes sake they gave up a TD with :38 seconds remaining in the first half of the last game.
This teams needs as much work as it did when Mack was tossed out. Two years no significant improvement most of the same top pieces likely to return how am I supposed to draw any encouragement of a brighter future when there is little to prove that it can happen? I bet Saskatchewan, BC, and Montreal all improve faster than Winnipeg.

The teams with mediocre backups are responsible not the rules. IMHO I truly believe there enough rules protecting the QBs. The majority if not all injuries came on perfectly legal hits and a few on no hits at all. The only way to truly protect the QB from getting hurt is to make all contact on them illegal and just how fun would that be? Even if they did this QBs would STILL get hurt.
Teams now, especially Winnipeg, should know they cannot expect their starter to last every single offensive play. As such they need to have a competent back-ups and give them reps in real games to get more experience.

Honestly I doubt that Willy would have made much of a difference. His numbers were dropping off before he was hurt. The only games he MAY have made a difference in is in the Edmonton and Calgary games a few weeks ago. Even then who knows? Our receiving was sub-par this year, lots of drops. We had no running game. The offense was run the same way with Willy gone so that leads me to believe that there would have been likely no difference in our record. When you do the same thing over and over on offense it make the job of the defense super easy.
 
Regardless, asking what if Willy was healthy really is moot. He wasn't and we did not have the talent to replace him. That is on MOS, Walters and the rest of the recruiting team.
 
I have said it many times good teams find a way to win despite adversity. Teams like Hamilton and Calgary had some significant injuries or shear volumes were overwhelming and they came out on top. "What if Willy had been healthy." is nothing but an excuse.

Honestly I doubt that Willy would have made much of a difference. His numbers were dropping off before he was hurt. The only games he MAY have made a difference in is in the Edmonton and Calgary games a few weeks ago. Even then who knows? Our receiving was sub-par this year, lots of drops. We had no running game. The offense was run the same way with Willy gone so that leads me to believe that there would have been likely no difference in our record. When you do the same thing over and over on offense it make the job of the defense super easy.
 
Regardless, asking what if Willy was healthy really is moot. He wasn't and we did not have the talent to replace him. That is on MOS, Walters and the rest of the recruiting team.
 
I have said it many times good teams find a way to win despite adversity. Teams like Hamilton and Calgary had some significant injuries or shear volumes were overwhelming and they came out on top. "What if Willy had been healthy." is nothing but an excuse.

Edmonton/Ottawa wouldn't be completely out of the question... Hamilton has a huge question mark at QB and Tor just isn't good enough... BC will lose badly to Cgy and Edm seems to finally have Cgy's number... this huge layoff could hurt them though...
 
2013 Season: Edmonton is 4-14, Ottawa doesn't exist and Winnipeg is 3-15...
2015 Season: Edmonton is 14-4, Ottawa is potentially 12-6, and Winnipeg is still pathetic....

This a great chance for Davis to show something to warrant more attention going forward. He won't be under the "normal" pressure associated with having to win, other than for winning's sake.
Well, other than thousands of pairs of eyes from long-suffering-QB-envious-praying-for-the-next-guy Bomber fans that is.
This will also, hopefully, help to answer how hard we pursue Nichols in the off season. Of course, we still should give Nichols an offer...for backup, but this could help determine a more defined offer.
So to our own DD, just go out there...have fun...and impress the hell out of us will ya? That's not too much to ask, is it?

I think the rules already encourage form tackling and the officials can certainly apply rough play and unnecessary roughness penalties to both high (above the shoulders) and low (knees) hits.
 
It's a change in approach for the officials that needs to happen.  The rules are there.  The game is derived from rugby and if you don't form tackle in that sport it's an automatic foul.
 
A good example was that hit on Banks yesterday where he literally was clubbed in the head.  They made the right call on review, but any clubbing of the head whether or not grasping facemask should see the flags flying from any official with a view of the ballcarrier.

The teams with mediocre backups are responsible not the rules. IMHO I truly believe there enough rules protecting the QBs. The majority if not all injuries came on perfectly legal hits and a few on no hits at all. The only way to truly protect the QB from getting hurt is to make all contact on them illegal and just how fun would that be? Even if they did this QBs would STILL get hurt.
Teams now, especially Winnipeg, should know they cannot expect their starter to last every single offensive play. As such they need to have a competent back-ups and give them reps in real games to get more experience.

I so agree JBR.

The teams with mediocre backups are responsible not the rules. IMHO I truly believe there enough rules protecting the QBs. The majority if not all injuries came on perfectly legal hits and a few on no hits at all. The only way to truly protect the QB from getting hurt is to make all contact on them illegal and just how fun would that be? Even if they did this QBs would STILL get hurt.
Teams now, especially Winnipeg, should know they cannot expect their starter to last every single offensive play. As such they need to have a competent back-ups and give them reps in real games to get more experience.

The teams with mediocre backups are responsible not the rules. IMHO I truly believe there enough rules protecting the QBs. The majority if not all injuries came on perfectly legal hits and a few on no hits at all. The only way to truly protect the QB from getting hurt is to make all contact on them illegal and just how fun would that be? Even if they did this QBs would STILL get hurt.
Teams now, especially Winnipeg, should know they cannot expect their starter to last every single offensive play. As such they need to have a competent back-ups and give them reps in real games to get more experience.

My concern is in a game that is already riddled with excessive penalty calls we are now going to introduce the potential for 8-10 more. The only penalties that may have proven as a real deterrent have been the one's for players mimicking throwing a flag for PI or the unsportsmanlike calls for removing your helmet.

Making the playoffs is great but what concerns me the most with Higgins is you tend do not get above a certain point. When he went to Calgary he had a decent team to work with and, as you mention, a declining record and early exits from the playoffs. Based on what I have seen of Higgins does he give me confidence that he would be able to make this team any more than middling. He reminded me a lot of how MB was as HC in Hammy.
I want a coach that can continually improves or maintains team and can even get the best out of a mediocre talent base. Higgins has made some very odd decisions in his time including sitting Bowman when he has really not lost a step.

So did Collaros. I completely agree there really is not much more the league can do. They already watch the QB so much that miss plenty of calls on the line/ in the backfield.
There hasn't been a QB injured this year that the rules could have prevented. You can have all the rules you want and it wouldn't prevent injuries.
Well I guess they could place the QB in one of those bubble soccer balls. That might hinder the passing game though.

Couple of points:
1) concerning Lawrence, it was a legal hit, so that means, by definition, it wasn't dirty.  
2) he's running in the open field and clearly sees the defender coming.  That's hardly vulnerable.
3) if Burris has concerns about his career (which is already long by any standard) then either throw the ball away or hook slide.  You don't attempt to make a play and then whine afterwards that the big meannie had the audacity to do what he's being payed to do.  That has less to do with courage than it has to do with "star" entitlement.  He wants to try and make the big play and then gets mad because someone on the other side doesn't let him.  
 
Boo hoo Hank, boo hoo.

If its not the Bombers, then I root for it not to be Saskatchewan. After that? Don't care who wins.

Now that the Bombers are out, Go Stamps Go!

I don't like how whiny Ottawa is.
Toronto seems like they have a bunch of undisciplined idiots on their roster.
I don't like Kent Austin.
I don't like Chris Jones.
 
By process of elimination I'll be cheering for either BC or Calgary.

Austin complains about even minor or non-issues. He probably gave the league an earful when Collaros injured himself.
What I find interesting is that you have nothing to say about Ottawa trying to take Nichols head off in the last game. He was in the grasp and going down and a second Ottawa player came in and hit Nichols high and was celebrating like crazy while Nichols was flat on his back and eventually had to take a knee. All I hear is how nasty Westerman is.
I most certainly do not approve of his hit but he was fined and penalized and Burris was more than able to play on. Frankly, I was more disgusted with Hank gesturing towards the Bomber bench and then the defence. Not to mention the open season on Nichols in that game.

Seriously. The next thing Orridge should do to improve the CFL image in a big way is to hire some knowledgable people to set up a PROFESSIONAL CFL website.
I don't know who hired somebody's son to set up this basic website, but surely we can have better, up to date information, that we don't have to go looking elsewhere to get league information.
It's amateur land.
If he wants to come across as a Professional and a true CFL fan....start there.

To be honest, I think some of these QB's are so used to the protective wrap they are in that it's counter productive.  Literally from the time they are 10 years old they never get hit or learn how to.  You watch a guy like Burris running outside the pocket and he doesn't brace for contact.  Then he's mad if he gets touched.
 
The biggest problem is the crappy OL and the advantage DL's have on them with the expanded rosters.  
 
The rule on low hits already exists in the pocket.

So a would be defender would be penalized for using his arms/hands to trip up a QB trying to escape the pocket?  

It takes a bit of time for someone new to adapt to the role and make it his own. I wouldn't be so concerned yet.  
 
He did this interview with Tim & Sid a couple of months ago, not sure if you saw it:
 
http://www.sportsnet.ca/shows/tim-and-sid-show/cfl-commissioner-jeffrey-orridge-in-studio/