bluto

Yes - throw me in!!

Roll Up The Rim To Wynne.

hoping for an open roof and another big crowd tonight... even if tomorrow you'll see Riderfans claiming that the crowd was mostly Rider supporters...
 
Argos have plenty to prove tonight after the letdown on the left coast last week. Riders also could serve notice to the league with a decisive win.
 
have fun hating, y'all. i'll be there mocking Saskies on levels that they can't even comprehend.

Make sure they can count to 13 before you get to more advanced subjects, or it'll just go right over their heads.

hoping for an open roof and another big crowd tonight... even if tomorrow you'll see Riderfans claiming that the crowd was mostly Rider supporters...
 
Argos have plenty to prove tonight after the letdown on the left coast last week. Riders also could serve notice to the league with a decisive win.
 
have fun hating, y'all. i'll be there mocking Saskies on levels that they can't even comprehend.

Congratulations to the Ticats D, who are now 2 for 2 for Offensive Player of the Week awards.

Kyries Hebert probably feels there's a "Winnipeg rule" after this past weekend.

Devine intervention?

for me, the underlying thrust of the article was that the Bombers face a tough road ahead. i don't see a problem with someone suggesting that if the Bombers lose in Montreal that they will be putting themselves in a very tough spot... since they will be.
 
all points to the contrary (ie: the season is still young, the CFL is erratic and arbitrary) are also valid... but the writer was saying that if the Bombers (for some reason) weren't feeling pressure this weekend... they ought to be. 
 
hell, if i was a Bomber i'd be telling everyone that it was a must-win... i'd tell them that every frickin week.

for me, the underlying thrust of the article was that the Bombers face a tough road ahead. i don't see a problem with someone suggesting that if the Bombers lose in Montreal that they will be putting themselves in a very tough spot... since they will be.
 
all points to the contrary (ie: the season is still young, the CFL is erratic and arbitrary) are also valid... but the writer was saying that if the Bombers (for some reason) weren't feeling pressure this weekend... they ought to be. 
 
hell, if i was a Bomber i'd be telling everyone that it was a must-win... i'd tell them that every frickin week.

I didn't mind it.  Silly article but it mainly just highlights that there is a tough road ahead, which is true.  Best way to silence this type of article is to win some games.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the chat room during the game last night. Lotta laughs...lotta good convo.

I'm surprised that someone who lists their location as the homeworld of the Klingons would have no friends. I mean how much cooler could you be?

nah... it's just a series of tubes...
 

 
that Al Gore created...
 

For a coach to overcome a speech impediment like that & be successful more power to him. He must be able to get his point across to his kids extremely well. When I first saw the video, the first reaction I had was "Huh"??? Then later I thought that he must be a pretty solid coach. So, I think he deserves a lot of respect. Plus for him to to put any videos on the internet takes courage. 

cute that Cohon thinks he (or the Bombers) get an opinion in the matter.
#thisisBraley'sleague

Well, tomorrow is sink or swim for Buck. No more pats on the head. No more protecting from harm. No more molly coddling. Now, It's all for real. I just hope he's up to it. 

Alright, moving on to Toronto.
 
I know everyone is talking about how good these guys are and all that and I recognize they are the defending champs so they've earned the benefit of the doubt to some degree. That being said, I can't think of a team with more question marks on defence than these guys. I will get to that later though.
 
On offense, Ray is obviously a top-tier QB so there is no qualm there. Again, as Mike mentioned earlier, that main thing that separates the Bombers from every other tea, in the league is obviously quarterbacking. I do agree that at every other position, they at the very least stack up to most other teams but Pierce is at the very best an average QB, if even that. But this is supposed to be about the Argos and I have digressed. I should also mention, that Harris and Collaros are both impressive at backup QB and I actually like their QBs 1-3 more than anyone else's in the league by far. Your third string QB can of course only get you so far but it's worth mentioning. Kackert is a dynamic and effective RB so again they have no real question mark here and although their receivers aren't as good as Montreal's are, it isn't a real position of concern. I still don't think Owens is that great of a receiver and Durie is a good receiver buoyed by his NI status but they are a serviceable 1-2. The real key here is Inman who in my mind is a tremendous talent who should only get better in his second season. Barnes and what's left of Romby Bryant are average enough 4th and 5th options. At OL, they are good but not great. I will be honest in saying that I don't really know who is going to start in this group, perhaps bluto can enlighten us, but Eppele and Reinders are good prospects at the very least. I imagine Tony Washington will start who is certainly not dominant for an import OT but at least decent. Van Zeyl, Keeping, Parenteau and Wayne Smith are also in the picture in some capacity and all are average to good NI starters. This is a good group nonetheless. 
 
I didn't discuss special teams much with the Als because Sean Whyte is solid but I would like to discuss the kicking game of the Argos. To me, this is a question mark. As of now, their kicker and punter is Swayze Waters, an import. I am not a huge fan of this guy personally as he has a strong leg but his accuracy is very questionable. They also recently signed Noel Prefontaine, which isn't a ringing endorsement of Waters as well in my eyes.
 
The defence is a huge question mark outside the outside linebackers. I know some will say that they were in a similar situation last year and brought in guys like Pacino Horne, Pat Watkins, Ahmad Carroll (who himself wasn't all that good but that's another story), Marcus Ball, among others and will lightning strike twice? Perhaps. Chris Jones does know what he is doing, there's no doubt but no matter what his track record is, doesn't take away the fact that there will be many new faces and CFL rookies on the Toronto D this year.
 
Their D-line is all new faces and should end up being 75% rookies. We all know Khalif Mitchell is a great talent and frankly, I don't care one bit that he's a nutjob since his play hasn't really declined in his three years in the league. He should be a standout on the line. The other tackle position will be filled in part my Jermaine Reid or newcomer Kiante Tripp. Reid has been a serviceable NI spot stater in the league and Tripp is completely green. There should be some growing pains there. At end, Flemons and Foley are gone (not that they were world beaters anyway but they were veterans who could play). In their place should be a combination of newcomer imports Johnathan Williams and Nekos Brown and NIs Cleyon Laing and David Lee. The two NIs are talent players, no doubt but they are in their first and second seasons respectively and have little to no in game experience. At LB, Marcus Ball is already one of the best WIL LBers in the CFL, if not THE best and Brandon Isaac parlayed a reasonably successful career as a HB into a very good season at SAM. Both are very solid. The MLB position however, should be an adventure. As of right now, I assume the 35 year old Robert McCune will start the year there, but I could be mistaken. Don't get me wrong, he's a serviceable and respectable player but even at a younger age, he wasn't among the top LBers in the league and at 35 one can only imagine that he doesn't have a ton left in the tank. NI Jason Pottinger has played the position in the past as well but his best days are behind him. 
 
The secondary, outside of Watkins will be entirely new as well. Watkins had a sensational year last year and for my money is a top 3 CB in the league if not better. I have an immense amount of respect for him as a player. On the other hand, the Argos will really miss Horne and especially Evan McCollough, a player I really thought the Bombers should have signed. He is probably the most underrated DB in the entire league and is not even remotely easily replaced. Of course there are some promising new faces that are going to try to fill the void but they are just that, promising. Who's to say that their new faces at crucial positions are any better prepared than the Bombers'? The names Jalil Carter, Jermaine Gabriel, Joshua Gatlin, Shane Herbert and Jamie Robinson don't mean much at the moment and any one or few of these guys may end up being as good as McCollough but as of now, they are question marks. Very similarly to the Als, the safety position is the one of most concern. Jordan Younger was not a spectacular athlete in his older age but he did do a very nice job of quarterbacking the defence. As of now, NI Matt Black is the new safety and how he does is very up in the air. I'm not going to write the guy off, but he always seemed like a career special teamer to me thrust into a starting job because the Younger retirement took the team by surprise. 
 
The Argos have many excellent players and that pains me to the bone to say but there are holes in the lineup. Could they find more Marcus Balls and Pacino Hornes? I'm sure some newcomers have what it takes but the fact remains that there will be at least 8 new starters on this defence and that could certainly lead to some problems.
 
Hamilton next.

exactly. i learned this last year: winning is fun, but winning in spite of the haters is even better.

This will make winning all the more satisfying.
 
I love being the bad guy.  **** the old boys CFL fraternity, they need to have it shoved in their face for once.

So basically the general thoughts that I have been hearing around this and other Bomber boards as well as from fans of the other teams in the league is that the Bombers are basically the consensus last place team for this season. I realize that most of the time these pre-season predictions are pure garbage and that on paper, the Bombers do have their work cut out for them but looking over the other teams in the league, there are pressing questions for every team based on personnel and why the positions in question for the Bombers are thrust into the limelight while other team's concerns are largely ignored, I'm not entirely sure. It's probably mostly due to the fact that our QB situation is by far the most questionable in the league and that is obviously very important but I'd like to take a moment or two to go through the questionable areas of the other teams in the CFL.
 
Montreal:
 
First of all, I'm not going to say that Calvillo one year older is primed for a decline because we say it all the time and it never happens. It's going to happen one day, but to say it will be this year is very premature. There is no doubt that on offense, these guys are set. At OL, QB, WR/SB and RB there is no real issue. Whitaker had an injury plagued season which could be considered a question mark because of his style of play and Messam isn't an everyday tailback at this point in his career but for now, let's say the RB position is solid. You could make an argument that they need to replace Brian Bratton at WR but Bratton was the epitome of painfully average so I can't imagine even a downgrade of their 4th option is that big a deal.
 
The real questions are at HC and Defense. As far as Dan Hawkins goes, Marc Trestman's success in this league was a large exception to the rule. Popp has proven to be prudent when hiring Head Coaches, but history shows us that rookie Head Coaches rarely step in to immediate success, especially those with no previous CFL experience. I feel like this is something frequently overlooked.
 
On Defence, there are even more questions than the Bombers have had. Let's remember that this was a below average Defense a year ago and they have lost their most steady DB from a year ago in Seth Williams. Other than John Bowman, their D-line is incredibly unproven with A-M Cash, Scooter Berry and Ejiro Kuale by all accounts going from LB to DE. I'm not saying that these guys do not have the potential to be good but with the three of them plus John Bowman coming off a down year, why do these guys get the benefit of the doubt when the Bombers' D-lIne with two proven players in Turner and Hall plus Mainor who has had success in the league has everyone fearing for their lives? Even Gilmore has about as much experience as both of the Montreal DTs for this season.
 
At LB, SAM and MLB are obviously not a concern but with Kyries Hebert moving to WILL, is this really an upgrade over Rod Davis? We all remember how painfully average Hebert was at LB when he was here, and now he's 33 years old and no doubt slower. The secondary probably has the most questions of all. Anderson and Williams are gone, replaced by Geoff Tisdale (who had a terrible year last year) and Byron Parker (who has clearly lost a step and is in the downstroke of his career). Neither of these guys put any fear in my mind. Billy Parker and Jerald Brown have been good but not great players for the Als in the past but they are now 32 and 33 respectively this season and are above the age when DBs begin to decline. It's not like these guys were consistant All-Stars at the position anyway. I am under the impression that at S they are using either M-O Brouilette or Mike Edem. Edem is a raw rookie who has talent, but is still completely green and Brouilette is a special teams guy who I relate to Labbe playing MLB. This should be an exploitable area.
 
My goal for these posts is not to say that these teams are terrible, because they aren't. I just want to point out that every other team in the league has question marks, some have pretty significant ones. I will move on to the Argonauts in my next post.

you figure Buck will be available to play against us in week 4? interesting...

I set one up on www.officepooljunkie.com
 
Name is: 2013 Morning Big Blue Pick'em Pool
Pool Id: W6VXDEUK7SS36NCO
Password is: bluebombers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-_HUJdRXhc
 
Good afternoon Bomber fans! Good luck this week!
 
Em