Nash00

Dave Donaldon sure knew how to take a vicious no yards penalty.

Was it that long ago? I remember how excited I was when he came back after his NFL stint. Same with Maurice Kelly, I loved that guy.

In the attempt to lighten things up a bit, I have lifted this idea from Deadspin but I always found those posts interesting. Let's remember some also-rans from years gone by. Here is my starter: Rahpaol Ball Wane McGarity Inoke Breckterfield Sefa O'Reilly Geoff Drover Ladaris Vann Deonce Whitaker Orlando Bobo Tee Martin Russ Michna Ron Ockimey Vinnie Sutherland Kwame Cavil Quentin McCord Mike Quinn Ron Warner Andrae Thurman O’Neil Wilson Jerome Haywood Cam Hall Robert Bean Chijoke Onyenegecha Greg Bearman Stanford Samuels Willie Amos Yvenson Bernard Otis Amey Dudley Guice Jr. Dorian Smith Lenny Walls Keyuo Craver Jerry-Ralph Jules JT Gilmore

That's the big issue facing the club right now. Fairweather fans will come and go, but once you start losing the diehards it's awfully tough to rebound from. With a brand new stadium built this was a glorious opportunity to usher in a new era of Bomber football and create the next generation of diehard Bomber fans (like my sons) but it has fallen flat on it's face out of the gate. We as fans have put up with an awful lot of mismanagement and poor product over the recent years and it's unfair to expect my boys to put up with the same garbage. My son left the game yesterday with his fandom intact but I fear that the perpetual losing of this club will wane his interest with all the options kids have these days to spend their time. I wax nostalgic to him of all the fun I had as a kid driving in from an hour south of the city, listening to Knuckles with my family on the pre and post game show. Watching Blink, Khari, Milt, Mike Sellers etc. put up points at ease and Doug Brown plugging the middle up preventing these backbreaking 20 yard runs we have seen far too often lately. What does his generation have to boast about so far?

Not just the screens, but the slants as well. That challenged PI slant on 2nd down was so obvious that he had one guy in mind and it was Dressler the whole way. There was another pass to Harris out of the backfield in the 2nd half on 2nd down and medium that he didn't even try to push the ball downfield at all, he just gave it to Harris a yard off the LOS and expected him to get the rest. Nichols if nothing else showed that he would try to throw the ball past the sticks.

I think it was Tyron Brackenridge that tweeted during the game about the D just playing like they were just showing up to get paid. Pretty apt observation based on what we have seen thus far. Jones, Loffler, Morgan etc. all had the energy and desire to make plays as opposed to letting the play come to them.

Cone, Talley, Kris Adams the list of also ran WR's goes on. Explosive import WR's enter the league every year and the last one to make an impact in Winnipeg was Chris Matthews. Like you said Mike, how much of this is talent evaluation at the scouting level and how much of it lies at the feet of O'Shea and the team persona he wants to develop? I am a St.Louis Rams (now LA) fan as well and when Steve Spagnuolo was the HC his philosophy was a "4 pillars" approach that valued choir boys above good football players and we all know how that turned out. I'm not saying you need a team full of Greg Hardy and Ray Rice types, far from it, but that doesn't mean that if he doesn't hold the door open for your mom he isn't worth a spot on the roster.

Isn't it depressing that the "starters" got carved and the raw CDN rookies were the ones flying to the ball making plays?

I'm torn on this. Firing MOS would end the season, no doubt. It's still really early and teams that change coaches in season have a hideous track record of turning it around. However, there is no evidence to support the theory that MOS can turn it around and he isn't going to start experimenting with rookies like Davis and Bennett because he knows his job is on the line each week so we basically put off the rebuild until next year when the new regime comes in and when we start 0-5 says they need time to evaluate. Rinse/repeat. So if i had to pick, if the product for the rest of the season at all resembles what we have seen so far? Blow it up now and have an extended TC for the next 14 weeks because it can't be any worse than what we are watching now.

I couldn't agree more with this. I am in the same age range as you and have grown up watching this team mired in mediocrity (save for a few one-off seasons). The worst thing to happen to this team is not the anger or rage from the fanbase, it's apathy and that's about where I'm at. My summers used to be planned around the Bomber schedule but now unless I am afforded free tickets through work or otherwise, I'll watch it at home so I can curse at the TV and go do something else. Growing up as a fan of a punchline of a franchise is taxing and stressful and I completely understand when fans decide to pull the chute. The biggest concern of Wade Miller and the BOD going forward has to be the disenfranchising of the fans. I was an ardent supporter of MOS when he was hired and even up until kickoff yesterday I was of the mindset that he could fix this and be a great coach for us going forward but that support has been tempered and practically extinguished. Kicking a meaningless FG in the red zone when you need 2 majors and the offense has been stagnant all game reeks of a coach who would rather make the score look respectable than take the chances necessary to win. I'm basically at a loss for words on how this season has turned out so far based on the supposedly productive offseason, except for the prevailing fact that as a Bomber fan who grew up watching this team underachieve year after year I am resigned to the fact that this outcome isn't surprising at all, and should be expected.

Awesome, a mulligan on my first shot! Jerome Messam

I think ultimately this game is going to come down to both teams secondary. Whoever steps up there will win, so many new faces on both sides. Willy and Reilly both go over 300 today, but I'm predicting a big game from Andrew Harris and a Bomber win 33-27.

Me too. Wish we had this version of the Als in town on opening day.

Ugh, I can just envision the Rod Black game call "And a sweep to Edwards - IT'S A TOUCHDOWN!!!!!1!!1!!1! The Armanti Exchange with Durant is successful!* * Repeats multiple times throughout game, often on incomplete passes/plays he isn't involved in.

It's been a pleasant surprise on the lack of holding/blocking in the back calls on the return teams thus far. With how explosive McDuffie has been it's only a matter of time until he breaks one. I hope Fogg has some experience in the return game, we can't have any unforced errors on ST costing us field position and turnovers.

Whether he goes this week or not, it's a positive sign that they have activated Adams. I would be surprised to see him play, especially with him not practicing yet this week. Slowly getting back to normalcy in the secondary. For all of the concerns about the unit (and they are legit), having an all-star back in the lineup is no small addition. Somewhat surprising it's Sheppard coming on the roster and not Flanders to return kicks.

It`s tough to gauge the true ability of the unit until Johnny Adams is back and Bruce Johnson is healthy. Johnson had a rough first two weeks so we need to see if he can bounce back or if he continues to be the weak link in the secondary. I don`t mind having a Randle-Johnson-Harris-Posey-Adams secondary to see what we really have there. Like you and others have said, the typical cushion/bend don`t break Richie Hall defense also can factor into the perception of how our secondary is playing. However, if BJ continues to struggle and Adams takes a few weeks to get caught up we could be in real trouble. (Unless CJ Roberts is a diamond in the rough)

Darvin Adams.

In a perfect world, Knuckles will go on a Vin Scully-esque run. But as many others have pointed out once CJOB's current contract runs out it seems like a no brainer to move over to TSN, especially given the TV contract I would imagine they can use that as leverage in radio rights negotiations. I don't envy whoever fills the PBP chair there though, there will be a lot of vitriol for the first few years.

We need to contain Reilly or it's going to be a long night. I would imagine Edmonton running a lot of zone-reads to keep our DE's honest. Willy needs that medium to deep accuracy so we can test the new unproven DB's. We have the horses to go vertical, time for Willy to start hitting them (in stride hopefully!)

Can't disagree at all with what DoD has outlined. A few of my own observations: - What did we as a fanbase do to be stuck with Rod Black for virtually every game? His determination to pen nicknames for players and/or regurgitate the same nickname over and over is infuriating. As a broadcaster he is often out to lunch on his calls ("No one's gonna catch him....or will they? Yes!") and assumptions. - Proulx et al were awful tonight. Both teams had calls go the wrong way but man the pace really slowed down in the second half with the flags. - That bullrush from Hubbard at the end was fun to watch. The book on him was he takes certain plays off, but seeing as Green is a ghost out there what's the harm in giving him an extended look? - Fogg and Hawkins seemed to be trailing often. We could use an upgrade at HB, even when Johnson was in we were lacking there and I am a Bruce Johnson fan. - I hated Lapo's offense when he was HC/OC last time, thought he checked down way too much. After Bellefueille, it's a refreshing change. Let's hope that Willy can find some intermediate/deep accuracy to go along with the short stuff. - We did a great job of keeping Simoni Lawrence from being a factor. Didn't see much of him last night, good scheming/blocking by the offense. - Mobile QB's always seem to give us trouble, let's hope we have a game plan for Reilly next week!

I'm not so much against the quick slants that use inside leverage as an advantage but lateral across the LOS with that many defenders in the vicinity just seems destined to fail. Misdirection near the goal line is great and all, i just don't think it's being utilized properly here.

Wasn't Coorsman the one who would torrent all the games as well back in the day?

My thoughts were when we signed Harris that it was a given anything inside the 10 on first down would be given to him. Maybe Lapo is overthinking it and assuming they are keying in on Harris on 1st and goal and hence the sweeps to Smith? I just don't think his skill set (speed in space) is best suited for a stacked box on the goal line as opposed to Harris.

Agreed. The defense in particular was noticeably more energetic and were rallying to the ball carrier better than the last two weeks. Offensively, we were moving the sticks with more regularity also. Tackling was also miles better in my opinion. Does Willy need to be more accurate? Yes. Does he need to push the ball downfield more? Yes. Do we need to have that killer instinct when we have a team on the ropes early in the 3rd quarter? Absolutely, At the end of the day, had the roles been reversed there would be cries that "the score absolutely flattered the Bombers and we should have been blown out" etc. We have issues in our game that need to be addressed for sure, but in a game we needed to win we found a way to do it.