Mike

Former Western Missouri OL Colt Schulte will be reporting to the team some time this week.

Ed Hervey is a moron.

I think if there's one obvious tidbit to take away from the game re: the OL, it's that Swiston needs to play tackle.

Yeah, have to agree.
 
I had high hopes for Ford coming into this season but he's been 100% unimpressive so far.

I honestly think he'd have a lot of interest in coming here.

The thing is people (especially the media) like to mock or critisize these small moves.  But I don't see it that way.  It's about getting better one player at a time.  Its going to be painstaking and lengthy.
 
Kelly is a little better then Anderson.  Peach is a little better then Harris.  So on and so on.  And one day you are a .500 team and then you find better players again bit by bit and one day you are 12-6.  I hope.  So yeah these moves are meh and most of these players have less then stellar resumes.  But they can still be an improvement over the guys who got you to 1-7.

I'm so tired of your schtick by now.
 
You complain about anything and everything. What would make you happy, boss?

Things of note ...
 
-- Goltz and Boltus only QB's practicing today
-- Watson is practicing in full equipment
-- Andre Douglas taking 1st team RT reps
 
Woo.

Why is everyone treating improving the kicking game and improving the receivers and o-line as if they are mutually exclusive?
 
"Improving our kicker makes no sense when our o-line is worse!"
 
Serious question: why? Kyle Walters said it best when he said any time you can get a little better, you take that opportunity. Eventually those incremental improvements add up.

To be fair, I don't assume he's lying. I assume he's just stupid.

To be fair, I don't assume he's lying. I assume he's just stupid.

a veteran CFL receiver?
 
So in Burke terms, a guy who caught a couple passes in training camp.

a veteran CFL receiver?
 
So in Burke terms, a guy who caught a couple passes in training camp.

What's the point in auditioning players when the team is being coached by an absolute moron?
 
It's not like they're going to be able to perform at a high level.

Buck hurt.
 
Color me surprised.

Somebody save this post as evidence if we never hear from Mark again.
 
I can already see the headlines ...
 
"Bomber fan beaten by entire Argonauts fanbase; one man arrested"

Somebody save this post as evidence if we never hear from Mark again.
 
I can already see the headlines ...
 
"Bomber fan beaten by entire Argonauts fanbase; one man arrested"

It really is just logic.
 
I'm not grabbing facts to fit into what I think happened, I'm letting the facts write the story for me and it's the only logical conclusion worth coming to when you stack ALL the information up.
 
FACT - A bidding war for Reilly = more money for Reilly
FACT - Reilly opted to not wait for a bidding war
 
WHY? He wanted to go to Edmonton
 
FACT - Buono let Edmonton talk to Reilly
 
WHY? He knew if they reached a deal with him, the return on his side would be greater
 
FACT - Buono negotiated with Winnipeg
FACT - Buono did not let Winnipeg talk to Reilly
 
WHY? He knew negotiating with more than one team would increase his return. He also knew if Winnipeg spoke to Reilly, they would no longer be interested in negotiating because Reilly appeared to have no interest in coming here.
 
It's not difficult to see that this was just a brilliant move by Buono, awful move by Hervey and an intelligent, yet unfortunate move by Mack.

Just out of curiosity ...
 
In your opinion, how much diligence is due? I mean, to me, it's an obvious red flag when Wally says "Edmonton is allowed to talk to him, but Winnipeg isn't"
 
Why isn't Winnipeg? The obvious answer to me is that Wally knew we wouldn't like what Reilly's agent had to say.

So which is it? Did Mack spend his whole time here playing it safe, or did he spend his whole time here taking chances?
 
Because everyone for the last 3 years has been on him about making "off the board" draft picks and taking chances on guys that weren't the slam dunk (some panned out, some took a while to pan out, and some are average). I think we can also agree that signing Buck Pierce prior to the 2010 season was a massive chance he took, too.
 
Yes, when it came to throwing money at free agents, he didn't take very many risks (or, he made some offers, but didn't risk as much as other teams and thus lost out -- again, many of those decisions turned out to be the right one).
 
At this stage, there's no way I can defend the Joe Mack era. I feel we had (mostly) terrible coaching during his entire tenure here, we've started to revamp and improve the O-line (which while I think sets us up for the long run, did not allow us to be successful over the last 3.5 years), and obvioulsy dropped the ball in the QB department (for a variety of reasons not necessarily all attributable to Mack, but certainly not free of his choices/influence, as well).
 
But his intensions -- to slowly and patiently build depth to this Football Club that could set us up as a winner for years to come -- were on the money. Unfortunately, he didn't start with a team the way the other standard bearers had.
Jim Popp started with a stacked all-American team with the Stallions in 1994, and only had to replace depth with depth moving forward. They continually have enough talent that the depth they bring in has time to grow into a starting role. Oh, and Tracy Hamm followed by Anthony Calvillo.
Wally Buono came into a B.C. Lions team in 2003 great receiving talent (Simon, Clerement, Thelwell) and brought Dave Dickinson back to the CFL. He's kept them in it by finding talent, developing it, not overpaying vets or bringing in high-priced, flashy free agents.
John Hufnagel inherited a team in 2008 with Henry Burris, Joffrey Reynolds, and that insanely good receiving corps. He also had a coach (himself) coming off coaching the likes of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Eli Manning in the NFL. He's built a solid nucleus, and out of the 3 definitely takes the most chances on free agents and draft picks (some that pan out, some that don't), but he started his regime with enough talent already returning in order to win a championship in Year 1.
Joe Mack inherited a mess of missing draft picks, no QB, a faltering O-line with one solid player, and no Canadian depth. Admittedly, he couldn't fix things. He probably shouldn't have had to model this franchise after Montreal and B.C. when we didn't have the talent yet to be so catious and long-term thinking. He should've done everything he could've to bring that big talent in first, and then worried about building stability from there.
 
I still say the calm, rational approach where you only take a few big chances each year and for the most part trust your own eye for talent and that of the team you assemble below you is the most effective approach. It's kept the Als and the Lions in it for almost every year over the last decade (and more for the Als). Too bad it couldn't have possibly worked here.

Who exactly looks foolish?
 
Glenn was 13-18 in that game, much better than Buck's 16-28 with 1 INT.
 
Or I suppose we should blame Glenn for having his ankle rolled on the first play of the second half.

The Lions didn't offer Reilly to anyone.
 
They offered the rights to Reilly with the ability to negotiate prior to a deal to Edmonton.
They offered the rights to Reilly with no ability to negotiate prior to a deal to Winnipeg.
 
There is a HUGE difference.

The Lions didn't offer Reilly to anyone.
 
They offered the rights to Reilly with the ability to negotiate prior to a deal to Edmonton.
They offered the rights to Reilly with no ability to negotiate prior to a deal to Winnipeg.
 
There is a HUGE difference.