Mike

Agreed, I've never bought into that logic. Imagine being in the player's shoes. Ottawa thinks enough of you to draft you without a contract and your current team doesn't think enough of you to protect you... which team is making you feel more wanted? Never mind the fact that Ottawa will have exclusive negotiation rights for two months to hash out a contract, and we saw how much that was worth in the Mike Reilly acquisition. The only situation where it would be really risky is when there is NFL interest in the player. If the player is likely to keep playing in the CFL, and Ottawa drafts him, they are almost certainly going to be able to get him under contract. Exactly. I'm not buying this logic either. At all.

I think it's fair to say Trouba's goal was weak but the play he made to create the scoring opportunity was awesome.

I like Boyd, he's a real solid deep threat guy. Fast as hell.

Boy, I wonder who mentioned that as a possibility.

Walters said yesterday (on the radio apparently, I didn't hear it) that we'll be adding 7 new players to the PR this week. 4 of them ... RB Mario Fannin ... cut by Denver in May DE JD Griggs ... cut by Jacksonville in August DE/LB Taylor Reed ... cut by Dallas in August CB Semaj Moody ... cut by Kansas City in August Don't know the other 3 but Walters said a couple DBs, a couple DL, a new OL and a new RB so I'm assuming there's probably one more DL and one more DB?

Are you kidding me?

You want to protect Palardy who is no longer here? He posted that on July 9th lol

Yeah right. What a cop out.

I certainly hope so.

Very true. That is a big problem when a Canadian plays in a position that is usually American. Calgary is a good example. With Jon Cornish their starting tailback they have a backup Canadian tailback in Matt Walter who is able to step in & play as his backup. If Cornish went down & they didn't have Matt, an American would go in Cornish's place & another American would have to come out somewhere else. If Walter wasn't around, the Stamps would have a problem. In Winnipeg, with Muamba starting at MLB, Labbe is the backup. While the drop in play is significant, he is valuable as it means the ratio isn't messed with if Muamba goes down. Calgary is not a good example at all because it proves the point I made, not the one you're trying to make. When Cornish missed a game with a thigh injury, it wasn't Walter that started for him. It was Jonathan Williams and they shuffled the rest of their lineup to accommodate it.

Oh come on. Lapo was just as frustratingly conservative as Burke... our early 2011 season was more based on Lobo's performance as anything else. The team's real problem is - no QB (thanks Buck), no development of the OL, random drafting, no depth (NI or import) I don't know what you're talking about with no development of the OL ... we've had plenty of development. Greaves has developed into a starter, Swiston is right there if he could stay healthy and Pencer is making progress if Burke would ever let him work through the same struggles guys like Boatman and Morley have been allowed to work through. It's not a good OL by any means but we're well into the process of developing a handful of prospects.

Until we get a QB it doesn't matter how talented the rest of the roster is. I don't blame Tim Burke for losing. I blame Tim Burke for losing in the most ridiculous, frustrating to watch, uninspiring, unintelligent and disheartening way possible on a regular basis.

Agreed, except that the drop off in talent when 'you just slot another NI in somewhere else and play an American at MLB' can pretty steep. Not so much when you go from NI OG to NI OG, if you've been drafting and developing NI OGs. I don't necessarily agree. The drop off is usually going to be steep in any situation. If you're capable enough to start as a Canadian in this league, you rarely sit on the bench.

Dude that's a JPEG

Fight to keep him, yes. But again, if he doesn't want to be here well we need to move on. We have to focus on the future. Would I like him to be in our future, yes. If Muamba's agent holds the Bombers up for ranson or as leverage to get more money off another team then let him go. We can easily replace a Canadian MLB with an American without missing a beat. On the OL, losing a Canadian like Labatte hurts a lot more than if we lost Muamba as the OL is considered a Canadian position & MLB an American one. You build your Canadian talent from the OL out... See, this is a theory that will soon get debunked. There is some great Canadian talent out there in every position. It doesn't matter if it's o-line, receiver, linebacker. You build your Canadian talent by finding quality Canadians at any position. Saying the MLB position is an American position is like saying the RB is an Amercian position. It's an old-fashioned way of thinking in my mind. Now If you had said the word "primarily" I could have accepted that. Well yes and no. It's great to have a young NI starter like Muamba at a position typically taken by an import. The problem arises when he gets hurt, or needs to be spelled. There is a SIGNIFICANT dropoff between him and his backup. You have no depth at that position, and the opposition takes great advantage of that. It's much easier to replace a NI OG with another in the hopper - the dropoff in talent is not nearly as bad. Ideally, we should be drafting Offensive linemen, receivers and special teams/safeties/DTs. With some luck you find a couple decent NI OT and start 4 NI on the Oline. Add 2 receivers and you have only one spot to fill. It's not 'old fashioned' it's smart. Except when you do it properly, what you have is flexibility in your ratio so if Henoc gets hurt, you don't necessarily need a backup NI MLB, you just slot another NI in somewhere else and play an American at MLB. For example, if Andrew Harris gets hurt in BC, they don't replace him with a NI RB, they simply adjust their ratio and dress another NI somewhere else. Same with Cornish in Calgary, Matt Walter is the game day backup but I doubt he'd be the weekly starter if Cornish got hurt. Same thing applies with Ted Laurent in Edmonton. Andre Durie in Toronto. etc etc

Good lord.

Based on Burke's attitude to date, I'm pretty sure that's a typo. 99.9% confident he actually said "don't worry about the win"

Typical Sun headline...hardly an exodus!....not so sure it is about the chaotic atmosphere...more like MONEY! The lack of winning and negative atmosphere plays as large a roll in attracting and retaining players as money does .. what incentive does a top tier free agent have to stay in (or come to) Winnipeg when there's little chance of making the playoffs (and making the extra coin associated with a post season birth)? If two contracts are being considered, both offering similar money, what would entice someone to join an organization that's constantly under the microscope and in a state of continual change? There are too many other factors that don't necessarily make these decisions that simple...one example...chance of making the team and being a starter...but in the end it still boils down to money for these guys. If a guy is sitting at home and not working and gets a chance to be on a team in turmoil or not and get a pay cheque...what do you think he would pick? So we can sign the guys sitting on the couch with nothing better to do. But can we sign the guys with other options?

Or more accurately, how stupid Tim Burke is. The depth on this team isn't good, but there are 4 or 5 different ways to work the lineup better than putting in three import OL. What is his plan here? It can't be talent evaluation or MSW would be in to see what we have there and Pencer would continue to get a shot. But we can't actually be trying to win, right? And if we were trying to win, wouldn't we want to play a guy like Ian Wild, who has been a significant bright spot on the team? Sure doesn't seem worth starting an ineffective Will Ford at his expense. The funniest part about this is that the run game will still suck. That's what drives me nuts the most. If we're evaluating, he's doing it wrong. If we're trying to win, he's doing it wrong. The only way he's right is if we're just throwing darts at a dartboard to fill roster spots because hey, nobody can be wrong that way.

Didn't Mike bring it up? There was an ounce of truth to it but I don't think it was ever as close as the guy on Riderfans made it sound and I don't think the other players in the deal (Chiles, as an example) were accurate.

Buck Pierce

Did he actually say that? He knows we can cut anyone we want in the offseason, right? That statement makes no sense. It makes quite a bit of sense actually, so I'm glad Walters/Mack put the team in this situation. Use the leftover $$$ on guys like Etienne, Alex Hall, etc and give them bonus dollars to count against 2013 cap. Free up as much 2014 cash as possible for a guy like Collaros or some OL

Highly doubt it but hey, who knows.

Walters is looking good because Mack was asleep at the wheel... Walters found import tackles and signed some castoffs - but all GMs (except Mack) do that... I would agree that the jury is still out - i.e. Bo Smith, Levi Brown, etc... However, I do think that Walters ends up as our full-time GM - there is such a tiny window to sign Collaros or anyone before the Ottawa draft... if he gets that done, how do you fire/demote him after that? If he doesn't get it done, is there really time to get a new GM in place before free agency? If Higgins or someone is available, they would have to be in here by mid-December at the latest. Chances are Mack would have brought in the same tackles just because it's the scouting that finds players and we have the same scouts, other than that Kelly is the only guy Walters has brought in that has made an actual impact so far. People are freaking out cause the guy said the right things and brought in a couple bodies, but Mack brought in bodies when he needed them too, just tended to be from a different source. The amount of crap that Mack gets thrown at him is too damned high and because he made such a good scape goat Walters has a pretty easy job. Never mind that the biggest mistake is still there (Burke) and the team still has no life and still regularly gets out coached and continually shows no signs of life. Except Mack didn't bring in those guys. He brought in Taormina, Boatman and Simmons... maybe as usual he was going off his 'gut' instead of listening to his scouts ...anyway, whatever. Walters found us a new tackle prospect, Mack didn't. The best player on our OL is a holdover from the Kelly days - that is sad. As for Burke, everyone was pretty excited when he came here and everyone kind of knew he was the next HC after Lapo... the biggest mistake Mack made was not Burke, it was cheaping out on Asst Coaches... ignoring the OL... not signing any substantial free agents... and... and... and... maybe there is no one 'biggest' mistake. Had to isolate this because a) he doesn't pick the assistants and we actually have/had a few of the higher paid assistants in the league. Oh wait, you think Craig Dickenson works for free, right? And I suppose Gary Crowton came up here with a D1 resume as a hobby.

He has said in some interviews that he would like to go back to being a GM and/or HC. He's also applied for a few openings in the past few years as well including here after Kelly and Bauer were gone. Interesting... Sorry TB, but this is pretty common knowledge. The CFL job is a gig until he finds something else coaching wise. If not, it's a nice cushy job to fall back on. But Higgins does want to coach again. I'm not sure why your apologizing here. I questioned your statement because I hadn't heard anything about it. I don't claim to know ALL of what goes on in the CFL, so if there is something I haven't heard, I'll ask about it. That's part of what a message board is about. Besides, if it was "common knowledge" then shouldn't I be the one apologizing?? Sorry, TB.