TBURGESS

That's terrible news for him and for Toronto's chances of making the playoffs. They'll have to give up something big if the want Willy now.

Yup, it was a different time for sure. What we used to call a great tackle would be a penalty these days. The big hits we cheered from the stands while yelling 'Bring out the meat wagon and get this game going' are now met with a hush and other worried sounds from the crowd. Being knocked out used to mean smelling salts and getting right back on the field, now it means missing a game or two.

Moving to another city didn't make me a fan of my new home team. If anything, it made me more of a Bomber fan as I felt like I had to stand up for them. I've had season tickets in Winnipeg, Calgary and BC. I've been to 8 GC's and I've seen the Bombers win and lose GC's in person. I totally understand ISO's anger in being called out as a Calgary first fan. I'd be pissed too.

Has it ever been a 6-12 team vs a 9-9?

Toronto doesn't look like a very good team right now, even with Ray's great completion %. Their defense is slowly getting better and may be able to give them a chance in the second half, but it's looking more and more like a cross over year.

Ralph was one of my all time favs. Man he could throw a football. Folks said he could throw the ball through a car wash without getting it wet. We won a lot of games in those years. Couldn't win the big games, but then again, a lot of them were against Edmonton during their dynasty.

The EDM CGY game was a snore fest. Edmonton tried to make a game of it just before the half, but that was the only interesting part of the game. Full marks to CGY. They are the team to beat for the cup this year. The Toronto Hamilton game was a lot of fun to watch. Tons of big plays. Tons of scoring by both teams. The young Argos D looked really good for a while, then faded. Refs were up to their CFL tricks with a long phantom PI call against Jefferson. Ray took a beating but kept on delivering the ball on target until he had his arm hit while throwing, ending up with an Int. Callaros delivered at an 80% pace again. Hamilton ran away with it in the 4th when the Argos ran out of steam.

I said it last week and I'll say it again this week. The Riders are the worst team in the league by far and I'll be pissed if we don't beat them this week. It's time everyone started expecting us to beat the teams who are below us on a regular basis.

Nichols - Did exactly what we needed him to do... throw on time, on target and protect the ball. Leggett - All over the field and his FG miss returns were game changers. Medlock - Most of the points came off of his foot. Happy Honker - Loffler - 6 tackles and a his first sack.

I don't think it was PI at all, so it wasn't cheating, but it was a close call. Most of the time the really close calls don't get called at the end of tight games. I'm sure you would have been pissed if it had gone against us instead of for us.

The PI certainly wasn't the only thing that allowed us to win and the DB doesn't have to let Dressler come back to the ball if he has inside position. I could see the call happening in the beginning of the game, but in the last minute of a tied game? I wouldn't have called it and I don't think the refs should have either. Going for 2 stupid longish 3rd downs resulting in 2 turnovers was horrible coaching. Missing 2 FG's and a point after was horrible execution. They all had serious effects on the outcome.

The ex-DB thinks it was just hand fighting and the defensive player had inside position and the ex-receiver thinks it was PI because the hand fighting went on a little too long and the DB hooked the receivers arm. Personally, I thought it was a bad call because the DB had inside position and the receiver's not allowed to come through the DB to get to the ball any more than the DB's allowed to come through the receiver. As for 'this is what you get if you get rid of challenges'... that's fine with me. I doubt the call would have been overturned even with a challenge because it was an 'Opinion' type of call.

For the first time in a dozen years, I get to sit down and watch the Bombers beat the Riders in the labour day classic. I doubt it will be a blowout, because the Riders save their best games for labour day, but I'm confident that we're a much better team. They've only won a single game, against a 3rd string QB, where they got the benefit of some 'close' (read bad) calls. Honestly, I'd be pretty pissed if we don't beat them back to back this year.

I was surprised we kept Castillo as long as we did. No comment on Scott. Jace Davis started well, but has been passed by others and we are getting some better receivers back from the IR.

Thick Nick can play on my team any time. Great hands. Great blocker. Almost always breaks the first tackle. Still fast enough to get open. Said to be a great locker room guy.

I 100% believe that Dunk believes his numbers are accurate. He wouldn't publish them if he didn't. They are as good as the source that gave them to him in the first place. Leaked by the Bombers to diffuse the $400K backup QB argument? Questions remain tho. Who is the source? How did everyone else who also have sources get it so wrong?

Assuming Dunk's numbers are right, I'd keep Willy around for the rest of the year. I do wonder how he got his numbers and breakdown, why everyone one else has reported different numbers, and why there is so much bonus money considering this contract was supposed to be more base, less bonuses.

Pretty good game last night. Toronto's a way better team with Ricky Ray at QB. 83% completions. Just one INT and that one was when his arm got hit when he threw. BC was off. Arceneux dropped several balls including a 2 point convert in the endzone and a 40 yarder. Jennings wasn't on, but managed to put together the winning drive. Kinda looked like playoff football. Toronto being out of challenges early sped the game up. At the end of the game, there was a question if BC caught a ball. The 'Command Center' looked at it anyway, got the call right and did it quickly. That's the way it should work.

I'd be happy if they just mic'd up the HC. I didn't get much benefit from hearing the plays, but I'm sure the DC's in the league did.

I thought it was pretty sad for the league in general. A penalty by definition, but come on.... never should have been called and the refs on the field knew it. The replay ref kind of had to call it tho after Austin challenged it. Yet another reason to take the flags away from the HC's. (I know, they're on the rules committee and would never vote for that)

Yup. Just one of the reasons I don't like the current challenge system.

Fair assessment. I read about the $70K up front this morning. $170K for half a season still seems like a high price to pay for Willy, however considering how bad Kilgore's looked...

If I'm still in it, I'll continue picking against Sask and go with Harris.

Anyone think that mic'ing the QB's added anything to the broadcast? I liked to hear some of the coaching comments, but the play calls really didn't add anything to the game for me.

I read that, but it didn't have any numbers attached to it.