Root

McManus, Miller, Walters and O'Shea really had a hard-on for Willy. Now, not so much!

Mickey O'Shea doesn't appear to be in his right mind. Not a hi-calibre coach to be sure - not even average!

Poor preparation prevents proper performance@! This kind of performance doesn't sell seats! More folks will be putting their money into Jets tickets (stub hub or kijiji) even though Jets not really a contender. Average goal-tending and a couple weaks on defense!

Switching to chat....

Milt not impressed by Andrew Harris. Says he's not seeing any explosiveness. That said, Harris has been very steady. Dropped a couple easy balls last game. Probably thought they were Liberaces!!???

That said he was still 10x better than Rod Black! "GET OUTTA HERE!"

Troy Westwood said he'd sing the anthem or eat his shorts. Happy belt-buckle westy!

Ypremian is a bad example. The fried skunk in his gut weighed more than his entire muscle structure. The guy was barely a soccer player. On an NFL field he was basically a terrified rabbit. Bernie "Toker the Joker" Ruoff was another guy who veered off on returns. Little 5'5" Trevor Kennard actually tried to make a few tackles during his tenure with the blue. Gene Lakusiak was a Canadian DB who also kicked field goals for the bombers in the late 60s, early 70s - only problem with Mean Gene is he was a 32% accurate FG kicker. (in those days CFL teams didn't have the flexibility to bring in American kickers)

Maher and Ty Crapigna aren't exactly the 2nd comings of Mickey Doyle. I remember Troy Westwood engaging TD returners by running parallel to them; basically trying to gauge how close to returner speed he was.

I think Goosen and Keeper would be sharing rotation on the bomber o-line - even though better o-lines usually consist of the same 5 man unit (barring injury). Goosen, and to a lesser extent Chungh require a bit of tutelage - and Keeper was the guy tabbed for that role.

That's very true but Harris was very good with a patchwork o-line in Toronto (when he replaced an injured Ray). Overall, I like Harris's tool-kit more than Willy's . . . . but that doesn't mean Willy won't start the rest of the season for the bombers. He will - unless he's molested again.

Win some and you lose some. See: Kito Pooblah, Wagonner, Addison Richards, Matty Goosen. Tyson Pencer. are I'd say 2 have washed out of the league (Pooblah, Pencer); Wagonner appears to be a solid special teamer but not worth giving up a #2 overall, Richards is a very iffy project and while Goosen is now a starter he's only starting cuz Walters doesn't have anyone better. Lavertu was rated a can't miss by most. But the concussion issues have set him back big-time.

Desjardins blows away Brendan Taman, Kyle Walters & Joe Mack in terms of being a professional GM. His team right now is the class of the league - and while #1 QB Henry Burris is down with a legit hand injury there's no way Walters should have blind-folded himself and stepped away from pursuing Trevor Harris. There's no question now that Harris is far more accurate than D. Willy, slightly more elusive, gets the ball away faster and is more a winner than Willy. What was Walters thinking (or drinking?)

Never seen a pair of broadcasters where one guy is way too over-enthusiastic and the other dude is way under-enthusiastic.

Tonite might just be one of the very worst broadcasts ever to lace Canadian TV screens. I imagine Rod Black and/or Dewey Forde are involved in at least 18 of the worst 20 - - - - - - John Wells still has a couple rancorous outings when he was heavily on the bottle! Other than the half-time panel being somewhat professional and Mattieu Scanetti on the sidelines the entire broadcast is crappable. And not just Black - the officiating is spot-awful and the direction is poor.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) being re-named Rod Black's Disease (RBD, D as in ****)

Give Rapid Rodney a break - he wasn't paying attention. Nobody told him he had to pay attention!

Blackie (as Forde is now calling him) calls an exciting 2 yd run for a TO TD - but forgets there was a penalty called on the field! Pretty routine error for Blackie.

One side looks reasonably full (70%) but other grandstand is barebones. If capacity is 24,000_ then its obvious only around 11 to 12000 attended this sweaty affair. As usual game is being soiled by Mr. Don't Know Nothing on the microphone. Rod knows were his bread is buttered - he won't mention nary a thing about the tiny little crowd.

Dressler would only be an emergency replacement returning kicks. Yes, he's done it before and he did it rather well (in Sask'n) but with his early season concussion and some other nicks its pointless to have him face those flying suicide squads head-diving at most returners. In fact, the only time I'd consider using Weston is during a late season game that has playoff implications - or the playoffs themselves. The bomber blocking package on returns isn't all that great so I don't expect Fogg or whomever takes over from McDuffie to have more than modest return yardage. I'd take any guy who hangs onto the ball after getting knocked up vs. the extra 5 to 10 yds (and the odd breakaway) a really fine returner brings. Safety first!

If he's on the gameday roster, even STs - he's gonna be first (or perhaps 2nd) man up when injuries hit. So he better be ready!

How long is McDuffie out for? In vague bomber coach terms? Leggat might be the best return option even though he's in the secondary. Holds onto the ball and he's tough. Not super fast so I don't look forward to bombers flipping the field via returns. Tightening up the secondary is one thing - but once Reilly's pocket collapses (and it will) he's very willing to run for 1st downs when he sees his receivers are blanketed. In theory, we should rarely be exposed to a Reilly romp longer than 5 yds because Hall's defense leaves men open on purpose. (bend but don't break philosophy)

Shane vs. Hunter is the natural rivalry in terms of running shows - especially because the shows tend to cross over more than ever. I'm sure that's been on their story-board but the big question is whether it leaves a space for Stephanie. As you stated Steph is tremendous at burying 75% of her roster (the low and middle guys tend to escape her wrath cuz they're not worth her TV promos) so they need to find her a TV role - if Shane & HHH go to war. Even though Vince is now 75 or so, he's still the best guy they've got but you can't run a company featuring a 75 yr old icon. Or can you? I think VInce is happy doing 2 or 3 drop-ins a year until he just can't go anymore!

love to see that - ie. someone like Bryan Daniels working for Steph. Steph & HHH tend to show up a lot when the product is in turmoil and thru sheer force of personality they try to upgrade the product. Sometimes by trying too hard they turn off the regular smart marks. Steph has come a long way in terms of acting and personality, inflections and facial expressions (not quite in Vince country but who is?) - her main problem with the women's division is she dwarfs almost all the performers (I think Steph is about 5'10" and she's not thin) so only girls like Flair's daughter can stand up to her - and Flair's daughter isn't over and putting her with Steph shrinks her down even more. Hunter - this guy's always got something up his sleeve and fans are frustrated cuz they figure a guy with that kind of look and in very good condition should be getting his comeuppance in the ring vs. whatever faces are being pushed hard.

Agreed to about 95%. Randy is one of those eternal performers where losing doesn't really effect his standing. Kinda same as The Rock - who always jokes he's lost most of his big matches (to put lesser guys over) Brock lays down for Orton and it does effect him somewhat - largely in the WWE (where he's a temporary worker) and very lightly in MMA (where he may have 1 or 2 more shots left)