bluto

Pay raise, plus it's sort of a free-hit, isn't it? Like, if they take a year or two to rebuild, nobody will be looking to fire them so long as there's a process in place that gives the Riders a chance to improve year-on-year. Bigger paycheque and lower expectations is a nice combo to offer a candidate.

imo, only in an environment with a healthy rotation of tackles. He's special in spurts.

Hoping for a "I'd like to stay in TO" contract for Oakman as he has demonstrated that he still has a gear he can shift into where he can take over a game... but if not, then I am comfortable with his big-name being available as a decoy so we can re-sign the guy on our D-Line who gets no hype or press whatsoever but was very quietly one of the 10 best D-Linemen in the league.

If you need a bit more therapy and are near the GTA East...

Fair point.

Unpopular take: Trashing Fajardo is a very bad look right now. He came in as a massive underdog. Rallied his team around him in classic "us against the world and F them anyway because they all hate us" fashion. He went 81%, 290 3&1. With everything on the line, he rushed 13 yards on 2nd and a mile. On 3rd and 5 he went for 31 and followed that with a GC winning score for 19 yards on the next play. Bash him all you want, but you can never say that he didn't execute the epic dream of any kid who ever picks up a football to the letter.

I kept asking my TV that all night, "What was he looking for there?"

Outside looking in: 1) Clarify Walters' situation as the man in charge of the next evolution, ASAP. 2) 2 years remaining on 600k/yr is a spicy meatball. Particularly if being back in the GC next year or more particularly the following year when you host is the goal. I think you have to cut bait. We'll see. 3) Ruthlessness. This roster is overdue for some pruning. Seeing a few familiar names go can hurt. Time to be cruel-to-be-kind (in the right measure). 4) Not a disaster, but worth noting that being out-adjusted at HT in the GC is a bad trend. Evolution happens to coaching staffs too. Tough beat, guys. Sucks to play your worst in the most important game of the season. Ask me how I know.

I wouldn't be concerned about your chances in general, as it is unlikely that one team can be so fortunate as to have two teams utterly meltdown to their benefit in back to back Championship games. But more specifically I wouldn't be bothered over the "not a cold weather QB" stuff. At least not for Sunday where it's basically going to be perfect weather.

Enjoy it. We had 9 turnovers (fully 1 third of our season total in a single game) and an offence that basically ran negative on the day. No way to play a football game that you've any hope of winning.

Comprehensive defeat. Beat in all phases of play. Imagine the Argos historic season culminating in a record home attendance and just utterly laying an egg. This one will suck to look back on for many years to come. I only know a few Alouette fans, but just visualizing how this must be for them actually cheers me up a bit. What a road win against overwhelming odds in a hostile environment... They deserve it. Can they pull this off 2 weeks in a row? It'll be a longshot. But then, so was yesterday. Congrats to the East and West Champions. Hope it's a good show next Sunday.

You owe that man a beer.

The extreme highs and lows that this club has put its supporters through seem unreal alright.

Argonaut Truman Show featuring bluto

Wish I knew where all of these alleged free tickets were. I never seem to get one.

I can relate. I wish I knew the euphoria that most people do when their team wins big. I only ever experience great victories as a relief.

Genuinely enjoying your oft-added post script. It in no way will ever come back to haunt you.

If you're anything at all like me, you're probably waking up this morning and all that you can think about is the game. The matchups. The previous results. The injury report. How your opposition lined up last weekend against a playoff calibre team. Now that it is win-or-go-home, there's nothing held back, so how did they attack their opposition? If you were them, how would you go after the Bomber's D? How would you line up to neutralize Zack and Brady? It's terrible and awesome. My blood pressure at work this morning is elevated and not just because I'm trying to wrap up early so my better half can Uber over here and we can drive down to where we're staying this weekend. I'll try to relax in the hotel pool and spa (and whisky bar!) but experience tells me that it'll do no good. I'll get over to the tailgate tomorrow to sit with dear friends around a fire with a cold Rush Golden Ale and they along with many others will all be asking me what will happen come game-time. I'll answer truthfully with my impressions of what should happen and what is most likely to happen but my stomach will be in knots with no prospect of relief unless and until the Argos are again crowned Eastern Champions and headed down the QEW to defend their Throne. So as for tomorrow, we are the better team. We have as close to full game fitness as you could ever hope for. We have more talent at virtually any starting position than the Alouettes do, and certainly more talent in depth than they have. And we've had what may be an unprecedented 2 months to make ready for the playoffs. And I'm very excited to see what we've been working on in the lab. We have lots of film on how the Als play and unlike the TiCats who were different every time we saw them, to me, the Als were the same team every week and not just against us. However they did do a thing when last we played them. IIRC their WIL had to come off so they put Sankey in and it effectively had them in a 2 Mike setup. It actually worked for them and AJ's yards just dried up. If they tried such a thing again it may make for fewer of the 2nd & shorts that we are accustomed to. They should run blitz us as much as they can, but if this gasses them, look for a big 2nd half on the ground if the Argos are ahead. On offence they should do more of the screens and flats that they always do against us as Cody seems comfortable with that. I'd say that they ought to probe deep on us as we have been guilty of a busted coverage, but I'm not sure that they want to tempt fate deep on us very often with Faj's arm. As for what the Champs should do? Teams haven't had a lot of success blitzing us. So if Chad sees a lot of this I expect to see him climb up in the pocket and throw a dagger (he seems to be inherently incapable of checking down) or since we are now at the point in the season where the safeties are switched off, he runs and slides. I feel like he's wanted to do this all season but has been held back from it. AJ & Harris are obviously plan "A". But we have 5 receivers who can hurt you. Our kicking/punting/returning should have us working with a short field (as per our custom), so 1 big play per drive puts us in the points. Our defence should get after Cody early and try to chase him from the game. Force a few pickable floaters. The crowd will be big and noisy and getting them charged up will be yet another hill for the Birds to climb. We should win this one. We're justifiable 10+ point favorites... But they have a way of hanging in there against us. And as I famously said last Novemeber before a big game with a crazy finish: the team that should win doesn't always win... that's why you actually play the game. Good luck to you all as well. Maybe we'll see you in Hamilsmell.

A 1.6km (as the crow flies) walk. TIL

If he was my pick for QB all-star (he isn't, Collaros had a better year), that's not the argument that I'd have used to justify it. Sure, he's the QB of a historically good team, but it's the "valuable" argument that make him look best. And 1 for 1, I don't think there's a guy in the league I'd feel happy to swap him for.

Having a subconscious that keeps insisting that the glass is half-empty is helpful as it can protect you by preparation. It just works for some of us. Agree. And until then, there's at least one really big game to be concerned about. Let the off-season musical chairs worry about itself.

It isn't as though he's not all-star calibre, but the fans picking Robertson Daniel considering the time he's missed is unfair to others who put in a full year's work at a high level.

https://www.cfl.ca/2023/11/08/stars-of-the-show-2023-cfl-all-stars-fan-favourite-unveiled/ 2023 CFL ALL-STARS (Position | Name | No. of CFL All-Star selections) * Denotes a National player OFFENCE POSITION NAME TEAM NO. OF CFL ALL-STAR SELECTIONS Quarterback Chad Kelly TOR 1st Running Back Brady Oliveira* WPG 1st Receiver Dalton Schoen WPG 2nd (2022) Tim White HAM 2nd (2022) Keon Hatcher BC 1st Austin Mack MTL 1st Reggie Begelton CGY 2nd (2019) Centre Darius Ciraco* TOR 1st Guard Ryan Hunter* TOR 1st Patrick Neufeld* WPG 3rd (2021, 2022) Offensive Tackle Dejon Allen TOR 1st Jermarcus Hardrick WPG 2nd (2021) DEFENCE POSITION NAME TEAM NO. OF CFL ALL-STAR SELECTIONS Defensive End Mathieu Betts* BC 1st Willie Jefferson WPG 5th (2017-2019, 2021) Defensive Tackle Mike Rose CGY 3rd (2021, 2022) Casey Sayles HAM 1st Linebacker Wynton McManis TOR 2nd (2022) Micah Awe CGY 1st Cover Linebacker Adarius Pickett TOR 1st Cornerback Demerio Houston WPG 1st Garry Peters BC 2nd (2022) Halfback Robertson Daniel TOR 1st T.J. Lee BC 2nd (2018) Safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy* MTL 1st SPECIAL TEAMS POSITION NAME TEAM NO. OF CFL ALL-STAR SELECTIONS Kicker Sean Whyte* BC 1st Punter Richie Leone OTT 5th (2015, 2016, 2019, 2021) Special Teams Javon Leake TOR 1st