TBURGESS

The Grigsby giveaway was the only points that Edmonton needed to win and that's a big problem. No way to sugarcoat it.

One of my complaints about TSN coverage is that you don't get many wide angles so you can't tell if the receivers are getting open or not. You can see Willy set, look and then get happy feet. First read certainly wasn't open. Could be on the receiver or the QB or both. Receivers didn't give Willy as much help as they have in the past 3 games.

After watching the replay, Mike's right about the ball being knocked down, not past Stamps. Still think that it would be called a penalty 90+% of the time and that it wouldn't be called a penalty a few years ago.

I don't like the hitting the QB below the knees penalty, but it's in the books so it should be called. The Washington penalty was the right call. The ball had already gone past Stamps and Washington took an extra step to deliver the blow. I expect he will get a monetary penalty too.

As soon as I saw the opening kickoff I wanted to change my pick from Wpg to Edm. Then the pick 6 happened and I really wanted to change it. Willy missed wide open receivers and he wasn't seeing what he expected from the Edmonton D. His worst performance of the year by a long shot and the O line didn't give him much time help. I'm no OC, but I'd have added some screens, draws, quick slants and moved the pocket to try and slow down the rush and try to keep him upright.

haha... perhaps you meant precedent?? Why yes.... I did. Sometimes spellcheck doesn't help.

Toronto at Ottawa... Durie, Owens, Barnes out, where will Toronto get it's offense from? Ottawa wins their home opener. Hamilton at Calgary... Anyone choosing Hamilton? Should be over early. Montreal at BC... Montreal's D's front 7 will eat BC's O line up. Can Smith create enough offense to win? I think so. Edmonton at Winnipeg.. . Should be the game of the week. I'll choose Winnipeg based on home field and special teams.

Bombers have a top offense. Esks have a top defense. Bombers have an average O line. Esks have an elite front 7. Bomber offense doesn't turn the ball over much. Esks defense creates turnovers. Esks have an average offense with big play capability. Bombers have an above average defense with big play capability. Esks run game is based on Reilly running. Bombers run stopping has been way better than expected. Esks have a poor O line. Bombers haven't been creating a lot of pressure with their front 7. Bombers FG kicking has been lights out. Esks, not so much. Bombers have home field advantage. Neither team has played as good a team as the other this year. I'm expecting a hard hitting, close game, with the Bombers coming out on top.

Concussions are a real problem. Putting players back in who still have concussion symptoms is also a problem, but... often the players themselves hide the symptoms so they can play. IIRC, In the NFL suit some players admitted to 'gassing' the pre-season initial test, on the advice of their agents, so they wouldn't look impaired if the got a concussion. ISO brought up the helmet issue. In short, some if not most of the responsibility needs to lie with the players. I'm not sure how much merit this particular suit has and I don't understand why they would sue every team and the CFL in general when it's one or two teams who caused the perceived problem. Maybe the are hoping that other players get on board and it will it become a class action suit. The biggest question is will this become 'The' president setting suit?

Yes, but they aren't using 3 IMP's.

If PI was only 10 yards, there would be no reason for DB's who were beat to let the receiver catch the ball after 10 yards. Just pull him down, take the penalty and go back to the game. I hate reviewing judgement calls. Even the review process doesn't seem to work as both of the PI reviews were PI and only one was actually called PI. I agree with Brown. You can find PI if you look at most plays. Down in the 4th? Throw deep until you get a challengeable PI then throw the flag.

I'll go with Bowman.

I said Randle was a great pickup when we got him and I stand by that assessment. He's the shutdown corner everyone talks about and he's playing great on special teams. Nothing more you can ask for really. If he stays healthy, he'll be an all star this year.

The things folks find to complain about.

I don't think anyone's particularly surprised. I don't think he resurfaces quickly if at all.

I like the sacks per drop back stat. Too bad hits and hurries aren't tracked. That would give an even better idea of how well the O lines are pass blocking.

Edmonton gets lots of pressure but the don't do it the same way that Montreal does. That gives them the ability to get turnovers. If we keep the turnovers down, and we have all year, we will limit their effectiveness. If we start turning the ball over, it could snowball. Reilly hasn't had any great games this year, but he can hurt you with both his arm and his running ability. Stamps and Bowman give them some serious receiving threats, but they don't run the ball very well and that's one place our D is weak. All in all Edmonton is the best team we've faced so far. It should be a great game.

Last year our O line was way below average (2nd worst in the league IMHO). As others have said sacks isn't the only indicator. For example, we gave up 4 sacks in the Montreal game, yet Willy was taking a beating and having to throw very quickly to get the ball off. The O line didn't have a good game at all, but the sack number wasn't all that bad. Replace Willy with Hall, and the number of sacks would go up dramatically, yet the O line work would be the same. I'd say our O line's in the middle of the pack this year now that Greaves is hurt.

The Riders are playing really badly right now, but that doesn't take away the fact the the Lions, who've been playing badly too, beat them last night. If the Lions can fix that O line, they can be a very dangerous team IMHO.

Actually we got 12 off them. Convert blocked and 2 point convert failed.

Talk of BC's demise was a as premature as talk that the Riders would be fine without Sheets and Dressler. I'm amazed how good Calgary looks even without Cornish, Lewis and Price. Top team in the league IMHO.

I think you might be writing Dinwiddie off a bit early, I thought he called a pretty good game for Smith in the game against BC. Played to his strengths and got just enough out of him to get the win along with the defense stepping up. Not much more a guy can do when you're handicapped by a passer that inaccurate. I think he called a terrible game for Smith against BC even though Montreal won. Smith's not AC and they shouldn't treat him like he is. Smith's strengths aren't short accurate passes or reading the defence and taking what they give you. It's run around and find a deep receiver. As I've said before, if you're going to be a 50% completion QB, you better be attacking the middle to deep zones so every catch is a first down. That's how you get by with an inaccurate passer. Montreal knew this last year so Marsh and Smith both kept throwing bombs and hoping for good results. When they completed the deep balls they won. When they didn't, they lost. and I think it was good because the guy can actually make those shorter passes more often, it's when he tries to throw deep you never know what you're going to get. Keep it simple for him, give him the easy throws and let the receivers do most of the work. That's what you do with a qb like that. You don't just ask him to pitch it deep and hope there's a receiver within the area code. Smith was pretty effective throwing the deep ball last night. His pick was a short one to the flats.

I think you might be writing Dinwiddie off a bit early, I thought he called a pretty good game for Smith in the game against BC. Played to his strengths and got just enough out of him to get the win along with the defense stepping up. Not much more a guy can do when you're handicapped by a passer that inaccurate. I think he called a terrible game for Smith against BC even though Montreal won. Smith's not AC and they shouldn't treat him like he is. Smith's strengths aren't short accurate passes or reading the defence and taking what they give you. It's run around and find a deep receiver. As I've said before, if you're going to be a 50% completion QB, you better be attacking the middle to deep zones so every catch is a first down. That's how you get by with an inaccurate passer. Montreal knew this last year so Marsh and Smith both kept throwing bombs and hoping for good results. When they completed the deep balls they won. When they didn't, they lost.

In that case I'd like to change to Grigsby!

Looking at the depth chart I see a very good defense that can get after the QB and a pretty good offence that still needs a QB and an OC to run it. This will be our biggest test of the year so far. Toronto took us for granted and weren't ready to play. Ottawa was an expansion club playing in their first game ever. Montreal isn't what they used to be, but they still have game and they won't take us for granted. I'm looking forward to a hard hitting game that's won and lost in the trenches. Not sure Montreal can beat us with their offence, but I'm pretty sure they can with their defence. Just a few more hours till I warm up the TV, put on the Jersey, and pour the wobbly pops. For the first time in years, I'm optimistic.