Blue_Dragoon

I feared as much. I guess the rest of the season will tell whether we attempt to go forward with Streveler next year or have to start from scratch in the off season. Either way I wouldn't bring Nichols back unless at a big discount to be a backup. I love the guy, but I think he's done. Also, thanks for explaining the situation with Santiago. I was not aware.

Unfortunately Lake Winnipeg, at least in the Grand Beach area, has a poisonous algae bloom situation right now. Between that and the Zebra Mussels I wouldn't recommend swimming in it even if the weather was ideal.

They did this last game too though (no backup RB) even with Santiago available. Obviously Harris will be back for our next game so I guess they aren't too worried. I don't know what they do if Augustine gets injured in the first series of the Banjo Bowl though.

A bigger deal needs to be made out of this. This still has steam coming out of my ears.

I can vividly see LaPolice's brain thinking like this: "Everyone will be expecting Streveler to use his legs (via rollouts, option plays, designed QB draws, etc.) since it is his greatest strength. Since I'm the smartest person in the CFL I will limit him to being a pocket QB and throw 9 times for every 1 called rush/rollout. Sure it goes completely against his strengths, but the other team won't expect it at all! I'm a genius!" This was the same logic that saw us completely take Andrew Harris out of the game plan against Hamilton, who at the time had the league worst defense against the run.

You guys realize any QB we bring in is not meant to start for us, unless under the most extreme circumstances, right? I would take just about anyone with CFL experience to fill this role.

What star running back? This guy has been a bigger bust than Duron Carter. A great half of a rookie season, followed by a swollen head only outdone by Antonio Brown, and then has been absolutely irrelevant since.

I'm usually the optimistic type but honestly, if we gave the ball to our offense in either of those situations I would have no confidence in their ability to score.

Funny, but way too accurate. The amount of commercials is absolutely ridiculous.

Better offensive coordinators are what the league needs in my opinion. Watching the entire BC receiving corp running deep routes over and over with not a single option for Reilly to throw to within 20 yards of the LOS (even when it was obvious the BC O-line was getting killed) was painful to watch.

I was thinking the same thing in live time. Even as the play was developing I was bracing for impact from my seat in the stands and then Jones moved out of the way to go for a pick as if he was expecting the ball to be overthrown. I had some doubts about Hecht but a few games in and I really like the way he plays the safety position. The way he plays opposing receivers need to be thinking about where he is at all times before catching a ball over the middle.

I know it was an ugly win but I'm surprised people are this angry. We won on an off night by making big plays when we needed to and getting touchdowns instead of field goals all while keeping a powerful Edmonton offence out of the endzone. I agree that if we play like this every night we probably don't win very often but I'm not ready to hit the panic button yet. I'm thrilled to be 2-0 and first in the West even though it is early.

Instead of trying to call plays in audibly we should also come up with some nifty sideline signals to fight the crowd noise. I got the idea from the same source that supplied your stellar winning tactic:

Lankford in for Thompkins. Is Thompkins hurt or is this just a production thing?

*Edit

I agree. It always feels to me that they are just hedging their bets and giving the command center a potential reprieve for blowing an obvious call, which happens way too often.

Max fine is half of a game cheque right? How does that work with playoff bonuses? Will that be bigger or smaller than half of a regular season cheque or do they just go by the regular season cheque amount in the playoffs as well? Edit: Also, I agree that there should and will not be a suspension. Precedent was set just two weeks ago with Willis, and unlike Willis I don't believe Jeffcoat has any history with this kind of thing.

Lankford is sticking around on the 46. Insurance policy for Medlock, lol? I don't see any big surprises on our side of the roster otherwise.

I hadn't really though about it but you are right about similarities between the offensive plan from then and the one so far today. Even with completely different QBs, upon reflection the play calling seems very similar. I know it is crazy to think that one player could make that big of a difference, but it feels like it is this way every time Dressler is out. Our winning rate without him (sub 10%?) and terrific winning rate with him (something like 75%) is just mind boggling and too large a sample size to be mere coincidence anymore.

Loving Lankford today. First time I can say that in a couple of years. I don't know if it is Streveler or Lapo's play calls, but I would like to see a few more quick slants and timing patterns thrown. I believe I heard that Streveler has only thrown 5 passes so far. So far it has appeared as though on all of his throwing downs he is looking deep and then holding the ball until pressure comes. At that point he runs (which has had some mixed results) or checks down to LaFrance (which hasn't been working). The ball never seems to be our of Streveler's hands quickly in any event.

Well, I admit that whether Nichols was allowed to come back too early from injury is easy to point out now and that it may not have been so obvious at the time. With the luxury of hindsight though I would say it was obviously the wrong choice and Nichols should have been given another week at least to get his feet under him before being thrown back in. Even if that meant O' Shea keeping him out against his wishes. There was absolutely no reason to put him back in to the game against Ottawa earlier this year though. Surely you can't defend that move.

I can see O' Shea having a big hand in that too. As a player's coach I think he wanted to publicly show his support for Nichols even at the expense of Nichols himself. No better example than putting him back into a game that was already lost, where he had played terribly, had just got dinged up AND Streveler was moving the ball. This of course led to the (understandable in my opinion) booing and the Nichols meltdown afterward. Allowing Nichols to come back from his injury as quickly as he did is within that same vein I think and did Nichols no favours.

I've watched nearly every game this year and the Saskatchewan O-line gets away with more holding than any other team by a long shot.

I really wouldn't mind crossing over to the east. I know historically it has never worked out for the Western team, but damn it looks like such an easy path to the Cup.

If we lose to Calgary however then we are in what is essentially a one game playoff with Edmonton in the final game of the season where the winner makes the playoffs and the loser sees their season end, right?