TBURGESS

Letting folks have another year when they haven't been producing is a bigger problem than firing them and starting over. Assuming we don't make the playoffs, and quite frankly that's a pretty good assumption... Hanging on to O'Shea and the rest of the coaches for another year to see if they improve will end up being like hanging on to Mack for that last year to see if he improved. Same results should be expected.

We'll need 8 or 9 wins to make the playoffs. That means winning 5 or 6 of our last 8 games just to make the last playoff spot. If we lose this week, we will have played the weakest team and will need to win 5 or 6 of the last 7 games. Pretty much next year territory already.

I do it for Testman or Austin too.

I'd absolutely love Huffer back in Winnipeg and I'd be willing to 'overpay' him to get him here and to throw out all of our current coaches and GM if he were to take the position. It would be the same as when BC hired Buono and I'd expect the same results in year 2.

My guess is that MB lasts the rest of the season and the whole coaching staff gets replaced in the offseason.

We've been trying to get rid of Greaves since we signed Bryant and Picard in the offseason. I'm surprised that we got as much for him as we did. The 2nd round pick will come in handy next year to get a top 10 draft pick. Edmonton won't have to start a DT in their O line from now on, which should make them better and they don't need the O lineman they traded now that they've got Greaves.

Good trade for us. Wonder what Edmonton was thinking? I guess Greaves is better than a DT through.

You've got the order all wrong. First, bring in good people who prove that they can do the job, then keep them for continuity. Keeping bad coaches for continuity sake is how we end up with MB as OC for far too long.

Then we get a week of "I told ya so" and "We need to keep this group together" and "We're on the right track" and "O'Shea's a great HC" and so on before we fall back to earth the week after. Honestly, we should win this week. Regina's only won a single game all year, it's very hard to win back to back and we're at home.

The first sign of adversity was the 1-8 second half of last season. O'Shea wouldn't have lasted the whole last season in Montreal or Regina or probably anywhere other than Winnipeg where we stick with what's not working for way too long.

Mike's unfortunately been the smirking not deadly type. If he was winning 2 out of 3 games instead of losing 2 out of 3 games, no one would really complain about it. In fact, he'd be some type of saviour around here even if he didn't win the cup.

Folks who want to keep O'Shea on if he doesn't make the playoffs this year don't seem to understand the lessons that history teaches us. The list of rookie HC's who didn't make the playoffs in their first 2 years who didn't get fired has to be very small. The list of rookie HC's who didn't make the playoffs in their first 2 years and then went on to become good to great HC's is equally short. I'm not going to go through all the HC's in the last 20 years for all the teams, but I can tell you that the first and the second list contain exactly zero members when it comes to Bomber HC's in the last 20 years. Maybe someone who thinks we should keep O'Shea can go through the rest of the league and let me know if either group has ever happened in the CFL in the last 20 or so years.

Our defence was the best part of our game, but come on... 161 yards rushing against, 355 total yards, 37:45 time of possession for the Riders. Those are horrible stats for our defence especially against a team starting their 3rd string QB, who'd never won a CFL game. Got tired? Good defences stop the other team and get off the field. Ours didn't.

We've got a shot next week. It's hard to win back to back especially for a team that's only won one game all year. Regina isn't a very good team. Of course we aren't either. We're playing for our playoff lives. A loss would mean we're pretty much out of the playoffs especially if BC wins next week. Nichols could provide a spark that Brohm can't. He's only going to have a couple of practices so he'll be working with a much reduced playbook. The players by themselves could fix the stupid penalty problem this week which will allow our defence to get off of the field quicker. Lirm could punt perfectly and keep the ball out of the middle of the field. Our OC could call some deep patterns, some outside runs, some screens, some quick hitters and move the pocket around. Of course they could have done all these some other time in the year too. The Riders could continue to take penalties that take TD's off the board and make giant mistakes like snapping the ball 30 yards down field and failing to recover it. The giant green monkey is off of the Riders back. They aren't as likely to fail in the 4th now that they've won a game. I'm expecting them to run at us like they did in the second half all game long. If they establish the run and make smart decisions, they will likely end up 2-9.

It wasn't our defence putting the offence in a good spot. It was a huge error by the Riders offence that gave our offence a very short field.It was an error on SSKs part true .. without the recovery .. it's a punt and change in field position (albeit marginally with the wind) and again, you're relying on an inept offence to move the ball.The defence got pressure early in this game .. they WERE doing their part. The defence simply fell on a ball that Messam tried to fall on and missed. That wasn't a great defensive play. It was a horrible offensive play by the Riders. The defence did it's part in the first half and fell apart in the second half. Much like it's done in many games this year. No... it's not because they get tired. It's because the other teams make adjustments and we don't.

The D is not 'folding' they are getting scorched in second half's because the opposition is making adjustments (when they aren't taking stupid undisciplined penalties). These are deeper rooted problems than just running out of gas.It has to be disheartening to a proud player who is giving his all on defence and who knows the game is winnable if only the fourletterwording offense could play even half-decent. I don't wonder at the frustration penalties.The offense gave them a 10 nothing lead to run with.The defence put the offence in position to score 7 of those points. The offence showed ZERO sign they were capable of sustaining any sort of drive from the second quarter on. It wasn't our defence putting the offence in a good spot. It was a huge error by the Riders offence that gave our offence a very short field.

Walters will fire O'Shea eventually or he'll be gone too.

I don't think Marve plays again for us. I'd bring in Gale for the 3rd QB spot. 3 years in a good system and he did pretty well in his very limited playing time. Would be ahead of Davis and should be able to take Brohm's spot.

Buono's a better HC than Tedford. Wouldn't be surprised if he took over if the Lions don't win tonight. Ray back makes sense considering they cut Gale yesterday. I was kinda expecting to hear that Reilly was being activated in Edmonton too.

Our D's better than our O or special teams, but that's not the same as saying their good. I can't ignore that they allowed 20 second half points last game after the pick 6. I can't ignore that they are 7th in total defence, 5th in passing yards allowed, 8th in rushing yards allowed and 8th in points against. I can't ignore that they fold after adversity or that they allow long drives (Hint: You can't get off of the field if you don't stop the other team from getting 1st downs) I can't ignore that they force Hurl into the MLB spot even though we don't need to start 8 NI's or that I have to watch Bucknor chasing receivers into the endzone all the time. Our defence is below average in most stats and average in a few stats. The aren't going to win games for us, but they aren't the biggest reason we're losing so often.

Does this mean Reilly's ready to go back on the roster in Edmonton? Does Gale getting cut mean Ray's back on the roster in Toronto? Is Gale better than Brohm/Marve?

Gale might be better than Brohm/Marve too. Maybe we should bring him in for a look?

If Marve's injury is more than just 1 game then the Nichols trade makes even more sense for us.

I don't like Nichols, but he's an upgrade over Brohm/Marve and we didn't have to pay much to get him (I suspect he was about to get released by the Esks anyway). Good to see we're not sitting around doing nothing.

First thing we need to see is Davis get some reps. Maybe a 4th quarter or two after the season's officially over. No reason to give him any starts this year unless we lose another QB to injury.