TheSource

Have not had much time to comment on here since last week but here are a few observations: 1) Carmichael looks much better on the corner rather than playing halfback. I thought he had a solid game both in coverage and in tackling, and that was one of the differences in the game. Good adjustment by the coaching staff to put him there. 2) The speed that Lankford has is a key missing ingredient to the offence. I thought Lankford played well. I like him better as a receiver than a punt returner in particular. Verdict is still out on Lamkford as a kickoff returner. 3) Good to get Fogg back. He is a better punt returner than Lankford. 4) Lapo is not as bad an OC as some make him out to be. I thought he played a good game stretching the defense vertically this time. I still think the reason we don't see that more often is that they do not have the right personnel to go downfield more often. 5) The defense played better, but still needs improvement. They do have some good young talent that is going to get better this year as the season continues. Walker is very solid, as well as both Cory Johnson and Jeffcoat. It will be interesting to see how they progress. I'd rather see a defense peak in October rather than July. What has always been true, and always will be true is that you need a very strong defense to advance in the playoffs. Offence may get you there, but defense always wins those games. 6) The Winnipeg Blue Bomber football team has come a long way in the last 5 years, but they still have a few holes to fill. Back in the day, Cal Murphy always recognized that a team could never stand pat, and would continually look to bring in players throughout the season to challenge in a key position he thought needed improvement. This is always possible to do at certain positions such as middle linebacker due to the number of good American players available throughout United States at both the College and NFL levels. Sometimes this can be the difference between a playoff run and a Grey Cup or an early exit.

I think your opinion is valid in some respects, but you have to give credit to the turn around that the team made last year, and also to the fact that they have been competitive in all the games this year and have also shown a better record this year for this point in the season. That said, I think the progress of the team has been too slow in getting to the current level of competitiveness over the last 4 years. This is unfortunate, because there is a time limit until the current core group of players start to move to other teams both through free agency. The team has amassed some reasonably good Canadian talent with the high draft picks in the many years that they were not competitive, but I'd worry about the ability to hold on to those players if we project that it may take 3 or 4 years to become good enough for a "legitimate" run at the Grey Cup (where the team would be considered a favorite and not an underdog/dark horse). The quality of import talent is still not quite good enough, and I feel that this is holding back the team, possibly along with some issues with the coaching strategies. MOS is far from the worst coach they have had, although I do not see him ever being in the same elite category of a Cal Murphy, Wally Buono, Don Matthews, etc. I don't think he deserves the disrespect he has received by some of the media, but between MOS and Walters, I'm just not convinced you will ever have what it takes to make a perennial Grey Cup contender like Calgary, Edmonton, BC, etc. The verdict is still out on this team, and I think this year they are at a crossroads. They could just as easily regress to under .500 as they could achieve an equal finish to last season. However, with the West being as competitive as it is, I don't think it is likely they will finish better than the record last year, and I doubt they have what it takes to make it past the first game of the playoffs unless they start to bring more players in to improve the talent level at a few key positions. So far, they have not been willing to do this, so likely what you see now is what you get until next year - probably good enough to be a little over .500. As others have mentioned, you can always get hot at the right time, and anything is possible, but realistically, this team is still not good enough to be considered a favorite to win the Cup. You can't be competitive every year in the CFL without a defense that can consistently hold the opposition to under 350 yards and/or 30 points a game on most evenings. As the old saying goes, defense wins championships. We are not there yet, and similar to you, I think it is a bit more than just getting our guys "coached up" / practiced to execute the current plan. I think both the plan and the personnel still need some continuous improvement.

It's a nice win, and we should all enjoy that because wins like this when the defense gives up 40 points are usually pretty rare. Especially when running a Lapo offence that has trouble stretching the field and putting up a lot of points. Some of the trends in this game are worrisome. The D better lock it down (at least better than 500+ yards offence against). Hopefully they will when they get some starters back.

Yes, Lankford has had a few nice returns, and he has some true break away speed, which is something the Bombers do not seem to have on many of their rosters over the years. The down side is the following: 1) He always tends to move laterally to try and gain space and seldom goes north to south unless he has already gained the edge. It makes him easy to scheme against. 2) He has fumbled more than a few times, and when you watch most of his carries he does not exhibit good ball security habits. 3) He makes some questionable calls with things like coming out of the end zone instead of giving up a single, and reversing his field and losing yardage too many times when he is trying to make something out of nothing. I perceive him as the type of player that will give you one good play and then cost you (sometimes dearly) on the following three or four. He has some great speed which is an ability you can't coach, but he makes too many errors casually for me to want him on a team that "should be" challenging for a cup. Perhaps he can be coached up somewhat, but that one stat mentioned earlier in this thread is not enough and we should look for something more consistent IMHO. Gawdy stats aside, I like McDuffie's game much better last year. Wish he would become available.

How many of those 15 years did BC make the playoffs? How many GC appearances? GC wins? I'd take Buono as the coach and GM any day over OShea and Walters, It's not that OShea and Walters are terrible, but Buono has a track record of making winners.

We'll see shortly where all the so-called "new age" thinking is taking us. BTW, Wally Buono, the coach who just stole this team's lunch money is an old school kinda guy too. Seems his style is still far from "deprecated".

Where is this notion that any given level of an organization should be completely "hands off" in a very literal sense coming from? There has to be accountability in an organization from top to bottom. If not, then its broken. Giving overall direction and providing feedback on data such as if the product is appealing to the fans is well within the mandate of the president. It would only be micromanaging if you go into details. Nowhere have I stated that Miller should tell Walters or his staff how to fix the problems. He should however be passing along feedback from the fan base and doing long range planning to improve the organization. And I'm old school. If I'm the manager at McDonalds and the fry guy does not want to attend my weekly meetings to discuss the monthly marketing strategies and how the team is going to meet them, then he should stay home in his basement permanently. I guess that explains why customer service in retail is so terrible now.

Based on his comments recently, he seems happy with the offence the way it is on paper. So far we are getting the usual "we just need to execute better" spiel. This does not sound like a man who recognizes the problems, or at least not someone who is ready to admit them.

Nowhere in there does it mention anything about particular personnel or plays. We agree that Miller needs to provide direction, and you should certainly be able to agree that direction should be provided now. Either that, or are you saying that you really like the 3 yard pass offence on 2nd down and the "tight" coverage that Carmichael has provided so far? We have yet to see evidence of a change in the patterns from last year to this. If Miller is doing his job, going forward we should see changes to those patterns. We'll get to see where things go soon enough. Hopefully it is in the right direction.

That not what I said. Miller's job is to provide feedback, particularly with respect to marketing decisions. Doing 2 yard passes repeatedly on 2nd and 10 in every game is not a good marketing decision. If I were Miller, I'd let my employees know this and tell them to fix the problem. How they fix it id their mandate, but upper management should not tolerate complacency or actions that drive the team in the wrong direction

Yes, firing everyone every year is a bad idea, and we've see where that goes, but providing no mandate to improve is also a sure way to the bottom of the league. As an alternative, I'd settle for Miller perhaps enforcing a little more accountability. For example: - So far a number of the recruits have not been stellar when forced into service. Why not continue to bring in players for a look? Yes, when some starters are due back, but why keep players who are terrible for backups or PR? Why not continue to try and improve? Seems like the team is always too willing to "stand pat". - No one is very happy with the type of offence style we have seen this year when the game is close. Why can't Miller call in OShea, LaPo, Walters and at least let them know that what they are doing is not entertaining and not what the average fan wants? Its not interfering to tell someone that their product is inferior and that adjustments need to be made. - Someone should be providing some balance in the organization to change these trends (poor coaching decisions, lazy scouting habits, passive football tendencies). You don't need to fire anyone, but at some point, there should be some guidance imposed, particularly since OShea does not have the experience of a Wally Buono, and Walters does not have the talent of a John Huffnagel.

There is another factor that people here are overlooking. You are now into year 4 of the OShea / Walters era and all the organization has managed to do is produce a mediocre team in terms of where it counts most: win/loss record and playoff opportunities. You don't get a 10 year rebuild process in any pro sports league anymore. We'll see what this team looks like next year and the year after that, once free agency has taken its ravages on the import and national talent base. History has not been kind to this franchise, which has looked like more like a farm team than an organization building greatness. Bombers look to have collected some good players in the last few years, but its hard to keep those players when other teams offer the same of better money, and the players get to live in a more modern and "happening" city. Bombers have not competed well with other CFL franchises primarily for this reason over the last 30 years. This team more than most needs to adopt a "now or never" philosophy. I'm not confident in the ability of Walters and the scouting staff to replace the good players that are inevitably going to jump ship at a rate that will see the team improve rather than regress. This years recruits are a good example. There are a few good ones (Jeffcoat and Poop) but there have been more really atrocious ones that are clearly downgrades (Walker, CaraMichael, Washington, Lankford). This team needs to be better at replacing talent than that if it is going to take a 6 or 7 year cycle to get to the same level as the top 3 (Calgary, Edmonton, BC), or for that matter even remain ahead of the other contenders or teams in rebuild mode such as Sask.

I do agree with what you're saying. If you are going to go 2 and out anyways, you might was well do so taking shots down the field. Also that INT by Nichols at the end would have been less damaging if it was thrown 30 yards down the field. I don't like the uber-conservative offence either. It is chickensh*t, and also not very entertaining. After all, at the end of the day, this whole thing should be about entertainment, particularly on a team that does not have the horses to ever win it all.

Yes, And I look at this differently, I think the conservative play calling is a result of the coaches not having confidence in the players on the field, not the other way around. They did try to go deep a few times in the 4th but the receivers had no separation from the DBs and Nichols was forced to overthrow each of the 3 attempts. Bombers have one of the worst receiving corps in the League right now in my opinion, based on performance, not on what people here think they have on paper. That has to factor into the coaching decisions. Some people identify with players on the team and are loyal to the players which leads to overestimating the value of their players relative to the rest of the league. I'm not loyal to players, but to the team. The team needs to make some tough decisions to get better, IMHO.

There once was a coach name LaPo Whos 2 and out offence was Crappo When the games on the line He goes 3 yards for 9 And puts you to sleep for a night Cap-O

The right team won, and hats off to BC, Edmonton, Calgary, and Even Ottawa and Toronto. Those teams play to win, and if they are short the right personnel they bring people in until they are competitive. They don't stick with putting inferior players on the field and trying to run schemes to cover up their inadequacies. In my opinion Bombers are short some players and that's why they run these goofy conservative schemes. They are trying to hide inadequacies. In my opinion, the are short the following players to be competitive: 2 Big play receivers that can both stretch a defense and get some YAC yards (Only Dressler is consistent enough - the others are not go-to guys) 2 Linebackers (HURL is not cutting it, and Wild is not as good as he used to be) 2 DBs that can play man and not get burned 1 Kickoff / Punt returner - the Langford experiment is over for me Unfortunately, it does not seem in the cards that the team will do anything about these shortcomings this year. Not sure if this is a team that will make the playoffs. Last year, I actually think the team was better and they look to be regressing this year. Very disappointing.

Put this in another thread, but also thought it worth mentioning here: This is going to be a very tough game for the Bombers, but I wish them well, and am hoping they can keep it close. It is hard for the Bombers in this one for 2 reasons: First, BC has a mobile QB as well as excellent receivers. For decades, Bombers have never had the answer for a QB who can use his legs to open up the pass. Organizationally Bombers have some kind of a mental block to obtaining personnel and strategies to counter this. In the West Semi last year BC started to beat Wpg easily as soon as Jennings started to run on them. And the QB running really opens up that Khari offence because he understands very well the value of throwing down the field and stretching things out. Second, the Bomber O does not have much confidence in their receiving corps and BC is very aggressive at shutting down the pass. Hopefully not, but if Bombers retract into that shell of not throwing more than 3 yards downfield all game, then it will be very difficult to beat the Lions, even if the defense holds the receivers and QB scrambling in check. Bombers have apparently not yet learned the value of throwing down the field and configured their team better to do so. Could be a long night if both of those issues surface simultaneously, although this team is also more than capable personnel wise of not letting that happen. I'm very interested to see how well the DLine keeps the scrambling in check and if the Bombers can get any separation from the DBs down the field in this one...

This is going to be a very tough game for the Bombers, but I wish them well, and am hoping they can keep it close. It is hard for the Bombers in this one for 2 reasons: First, BC has a mobile QB as well as excellent receivers. For decades, Bombers have never had the answer for a QB who can use his legs to open up the pass. Organizationally Bombers have some kind of a mental block to obtaining personnel and strategies to counter this. In the West Semi last year BC started to beat Wpg easily as soon as Jennings started to run on them. And the QB running really opens up that Khari offence because he understands very well the value of throwing down the field and stretching things out. Second, the Bomber O does not have much confidence in their receiving corps and BC is very aggressive at shutting down the pass. Hopefully not, but if Bombers retract into that shell of not throwing more than 3 yards downfield all game, then it will be very difficult to beat the Lions, even if the defense holds the receivers and QB scrambling in check. Bombers have apparently not yet learned the value of throwing down the field and configured their team better to do so. Could be a long night if both of those issues surface simultaneously, although this team is also more than capable personnel wise of not letting that happen. I'm very interested to see how well the DLine keeps the scrambling in check and if the Bombers can get any separation from the DBs down the field in this one...

This. But I think it is all three Miller - Walters - and OShea who covet the "Pluggers" over the talent-based players. It really shows at positions such as Reciever, DB, and LB. I think the organization is a bit fixated on winning with "Guys of good character" who are "Steady, consistent, lunch-pail workers". Talent is not a big focus obviously for either the recruiting or retention of personnel in the skill positions. It remains to be seen whether we'll ever win a GC with the "Allstar Plugger" roster... We'll see...

Well, call it wishful thinking... Really want them to wipe the smug look off those Stamp fans faces Now that the oil sands burned down, Alberta sux Stamps suck Esks suck Note to Osh, Hall, and Lapo: Please beat them both this year.

BC Sucks. Need them to lose this one. Lets have a long drive from Durant for a TD to tie this thing up. Anything can happen in OT.

I hope they come out, control the clock and put at least two long TD drives down in the first half. They can't come out and have the first three drives be two and out, otherwise they will be down 14 or 21 points before they get in gear. This is the biggest key to success. The other one is that they need to get pressure on BLM without blitzing. If they can do that, I think they can control him more. I really want to see them match Calgary play for play, and hopefully jump out to a lead and then keep playing aggressively. They need to win this one and they are more than due.

My vote is for Burke, with Daley being a close second. Mike was not as bad a guy as people make him out here. He really wanted to win badly for the Bombers and their fans, but the whole organization was still a mess at that time and he really didn't have a chance to succeed. Remember that Mike Kelley was the offensive coordinator during the Dunigan years, particularly that memorable 713 yard passing game. If the fans could have waited a little longer Mike and the players that John Murphy brought in would have turned the corner. Many of those players from 2009 are still stars in the league. Yes, he didn't handle the situation in Winnipeg well, but everyone makes mistakes, and no one on this board really has any idea what it would be like in his shoes at that time. Mike still cares about the Bombers. In fact, if you check his twitter account you'll see he still talks about the team all the time. Like many of the fans here, he bleeds Blue and Gold, and always will!