TBURGESS

It would be in the best interest of all parties if O'Shea would pro-actively address this **** storm and clarify Marve's status in his pressers instead of letting rumours rule the day. I'm afraid it's way to late for O'Shea to proactively address it.

I don't understand the Marve hate around here. Some folks want him to fail just to shut up the folks who want him to succeed. We're not talking Marve vs Willy here. We're talking Marve vs Brohm! Think about that for a second. Let it sink in. Marve vs Brohm. Marve, a 50% passer with an 85.4 rating vs Brohm a 64% passer with a 53.8 rating because he's thrown 5 Ints and no TDs. If we had Tate or Harris then no Marve for sure, but we don't have them. We have Brohm.

Brohm's yet to throw a TD, has thrown several INT's, hasn't moved the offence, and the whole team goes flat when he comes in. How much more rope do you think he needs to hang himself?

Typical. Make up a story from your imagination. Say it's happened before in other places with other players and other GM's. Then try to change the conversation from 'Nice Story but you got no facts' to 'Why did it happen before then'. It's your story, so it's up to you to prove it happened, not up to others to prove it didn't happen. BTW: Franklin emailing teams trying to get a shot makes it very unlikely that your story is true.

I think Willy's overrated and he's above criticism on these forums but... He's definitely our best QB by a country mile right now. Brohm shouldn't even have a job with us. Marve, who I like, hasn't got enough experience to even be in the conversation to be compared to Willy. Change out OC's (Been saying that since we kept MB during the coaching purge) and we'd probably see a better Willy than we do now.

How about Wally Gabler or Wably Gaylor as we called him. Horrible QB. Just freakin horrible.

They may not have had a choice. He may have pulled a Jeff Fuller and told the Bombers he had no intentions of signing here, in which case they are required to drop him from the neg list. That's also how Cato ended up in Montreal. Nice story but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Franklin was trying to find work in the CFL as a raw rookie. Edmonton with Reilly doesn't sound like a better place to get a chance than Winnipeg with Willy. More likely that we were 'happy' with Willy, Brohm, Marve, Portis so we didn't need another QB.

Harris

There are fans who love to win and hate to lose? Yup, pretty much everywhere in sports. Some fans get too high after a win because we're starved for wins and we don't get enough practice in reacting to them. Some fans get too low after losses because we've seen way too many losses around these parts and there is a sinking feeling that we're going to see more. These things aren't unique to Bomber fans. The same thing can be said about any group of fans, especially fans of teams who haven't done well for a while.

20 pages of glee that the Riders are losing more than we are. The longest active thread around here. I guess this is what happens when we've got very little to cheer for Bomber wise.

I remember Mike posting that Franklin was on our Neg list before when I suggest we pluck him off of Edmonton's PR back in week 1. Considering our current backup QB's, letting Franklin go from the Neg List is a bit of a facepalm moment.

Bomber fans are fickle? Are you freaking kidding me? Fans have supported the Bombers through thick and thin and theirs been tons of thin over the last quarter century. 2014 - 7-11 2013 - 3-15 2012 - 6-12 2011 - 10-8 2010 - 4-14 2009 - 7-11 2008 - 8-10 That's 1 winning season in the last 7 and we're losing this season too. The fact that we still have 20,000+ fans going to home games shows very supportive fans indeed, not fickle ones.

If the Bombers wanted them to stop blitzing then they should have done something about it. Screens, Draws, quick hitters, you know the stuff every team except us does. It wasn't the Eskimos running up the score. It was the Bombers not providing any fight, which is scary the first time you see it in a year and really scary when you see it again.

Positives.... Westerman. That is all. Just Westerman.

Fire O'Shea? Now? Wow! Good HC's have jobs right now. Wait until the end of the year and if we don't make the playoffs, then sure get rid of O'Shea, but doing it now is as premature as a guy's first time.

For me it's: 1) BLM - 25 with the most experience of the bunch. I'd build a team around him for sure 2) Collaros - 26. Mobile and accurate can't ask for much more in a young QB. 3) Willy - 28. Pocket passer. Accurate but older than the other two and not as easy to protect. 4) Cato 23. Could be the best of the bunch, but he's got so few games under his belt that it's really hard to say. 5) Harris 29. Very limited reps, but if he keeps this up, Toronto will have a serious QB controversy.

Two great games last night. Calgary made the mistakes we did last week and got the loss because of it. Shows what they look like when they can't just run Cornish in the second half. Still Ottawa tried to lose it by missing a convert then a 32 yard FG in the last couple of minutes. Should we be worried that Ottawa beat Calgary when we couldn't? BC rolled out to an easy 21 point lead, thought they had the game in the bag and took their foot off the gas. What was Tedford thinking going for 3rd and 3+? Kick the ball and pin them deep. Turned the game around for Toronto. Why did BC stop going to Harris? He had a hat trick of TD's before a minute was gone in the 2nd quarter. If/When Lulay gets his deep ball range right, BC will be a force to be reckoned with.

Cornish.... Jon Cornish

Edmonton's like Montreal in that their defense can win games by themselves so the QB just has to manage the offense to get wins. With Reilly, they are a top contender, maybe better than Calgary. As long as Nichols doesn't throw 3 ints a game, they should be able to get a bunch of wins. Heck... they won against Ottawa even with the 3 ints. BC will go as far as Lulay can take them and he's healthy right now. Will be interesting to see how they play this week against better competition than the Riders and the Redblacks.

CBC's Take: 1. Calgary Stampeders (Unchanged) Record: 3-1 Streak: Won 2 Next: @ Ottawa White Stallions looked lousy in the first quarter, falling down two touchdowns, but talent will win out in the end and Calgary chipped away. RB Jon Cornish ate up yards and time (15 carries for 120) and that made up for Bo Mitchell's ordinary 12-for-21, 165-yard effort. The offensive line is patchwork and lost another body in this game, making Mitchell's reads more difficult because he has less time. Did enough to win, and that's the idea 2. Toronto Argonauts (Unchanged -- BYE) Record: 2-1 Streak: Lost 1 Next: @ B.C. Injury news out of the bye week included the status of QB Ricky Ray, who coach Scott Milanovich said is a few weeks or so away. So, the Double Blue continues in the hands of backup Trevor Harris, who has done pretty well so far with the highest QB efficiency rating in the league (121.5). They are relying too much on big plays and have to find some balance as other teams adjust. Defence has been average, but is learning to play together. 3. B.C. Lions (Up from 4) Record: 2-1 Streak: Won 2 Next: Toronto A great opening drive against the Riders that featured a Travis Lulay palpitation-inducing scamper set the Lions off on the right paw for about 47 minutes when the defence went to sleep, allowing 13 points andalmost giving this one up. But, the Leos didn't. And that last TD was really late, anyway. So let's concentrate on the good stuff for a team that has won two in a row. How about 200 yards rushing? How about everybody covers their eyes every time the oft-injured Lulay takes off, as he did for 105 yards. 4. Edmonton Eskimos (Up from 6) Record: 2-1 Streak: Won 2 Next: Winnipeg When it's raining cats and urban wildlife, you need a ground game to keep things under control, and out steps Shakir Bell who surfs (no shark)18 times for 144 clock killing yards in a win at Ottawa. Here's why this column likes QB Matt Nichols: having a so-so game and tossing a couple of bad picks, he needs points and finds them by laying a letter-perfect ball in the downpour up for Kendial Lawrence, who runs it in to seal the game. Nice. Good defensive effort. 5. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Down from 3) Record: 1-2 Streak: Lost 1 Next: @ Saskatchewan Kent Austin's Kitties were dog awful this week. QB Zach Collaros was 23 of 34, 234 yards, a TD (not bad), but three huge picks. The first was right into Chip Cox's hands – the Larks' defender didn't even have to move. Late in the game, Collaros didn't see a Montreal linebacker in his line of site for another key pick. Didn't help that every time the Hamilton offence looked up it had 90 yards to go. Even then, they had a shot until Terrence Toliver fumbled. Cats haven't won in Montreal since 2002. 6. Montreal Alouettes (Up from 7) Record: 2-2 Streak: Won 1 Next: BYE When rookie QB Rakeem Cato first arrived at camp and saw receiver SJ Green his reaction was probably "Oooh … he's good." Now Cato's the starter, through injury, and he remembered. Green has been the No. 1 target, and this week you could see why when he made a spectacular grab in the third that put the Larks up to stay in what was a poor game for both offences. Defence was terrific, however, holding Cats to just 13 points. Now, another Fred Stamps moment -- seven catches, 119 yards for his new team. 7. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Down from 5) Record: 2-2 Streak: Lost 1 Next: @ Edmonton There are two ways to approach this. One, the Bombers built up an early 16-point lead then only found another nine points the rest of the way. Or, Big Blue gave the defending champs a run for their money on the road, just falling short at the end. Late in the season, a loss is a loss, but this early it could be a big confidence boost. Drew Willy was strong (22-of-27, 289 yards) with two TDs and a pick. Four turnovers killed them, plus a blocked punt that went the other way for a TD. 8. Ottawa Redblacks (Unchanged) Record: 2-2 Streak: Lost 2 Next: Calgary Look, nobody picked this club to win the Grey Cup in its second year, so let's take this a game at a time. Some good offence in the air (272 yards) wasn't going to take the RBs anywhere in a downpour unless they could also run. They couldn't (only 46 yards, 21 of them by QB Henry Burris). Good drives came up short time and again. The defence was strong against the pass (three interceptions) but Sponge Bob porous on the ground. Caution: This receiving corps is turning out to be worth the money, and will be trouble all season for opposing defences. 9. Saskatchewan Roughriders (Unchanged) Record: 0-4 Streak: Lost 4 Next: Hamilton Rider fans must be scratching their noggins at this start. How can a club that leads in 13 of the main 15 offensive categories be 0-4? Start with the idea they're last or second last in 17 of 25 defensive listings, and you get it. This column's pre-season pick to represent the west in the Grey Cup is on that brink between pulling it back and disarray. Here's hope: the D tightened considerably against B.C. this week, shutting down Travis Lulay in the air. Of course, it also allowed 200 yards combined on the ground, but we're grasping at straws here, so play along for a while.

I didn't agree with firing Doug Berry (Made the playoffs every year). I didn't agree with firing PLAP when we did (Should have kept him until the offseason to see if he could turn it around). If we went 2-7 in the first half of the season then 6-3 in the second half, then sure, keep O'Shea as he'd be trending in the right direction and we'd hopefully make the playoffs as a cross over anyway. If we can't win 8 or more games, then O'Shea would be trending downward in his second year and wouldn't have the rookie HC excuse. Who's available in the offseason as a HC also comes into the discussion. Not sure I'd replace O'Shea with another rookie HC if he wins 7 or more.

Saying Neufeld is taking reps at center isn't the same as saying Neufeld is taking all the reps at center. He's probably taking the starting reps and Goosen's taking the backup reps. Might be as simple as Neufeld needs the reps at center to be useful as the 6th O lineman. Goosen seems to be moving forward slower than we'd like for a 1st rounder.

Has a 9-9 team ever missed the playoffs? If we go 9-9 I expect we'd make the playoffs, but no playoffs = no O'Shea to me.

I'm not as patient as a lot of folks around here apparently. If O'Shea doesn't produce a playoff team this year, I wouldn't give him another year. I'm more patient than anyone who wants to can O'Shea during the year. Never works out well as the best coaches all have jobs during the season.

Even if they were calling exactly the same number of penalties as they were last year for the things that were penalties last year, they'd still be throwing more flags this year. Every one of the new penalties that are called are over and above the ones that used to be called. They are now calling unsportsmanlike conduct for miming throwing a flag or tapping your facemask which are also in addition to the flags that used to be called.