TBURGESS
-
Posts
5,031 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Articles
Posts posted by TBURGESS
-
-
If we are looking for a GM/HC, then Higgins is the only choice, but if it's just HC, no thanks.
I'm going with Cortez, the same guy I championed when we hired PLAP. I was leaning towards Berry, and he would still be my second choice, but Cortez's offenses have been superior to Berry's and Cortez doesn't have that ex-bomber stigma.
-
IMHO Collaros is the best available QB this year (I expect Burris to resign with Hamilton), but I hate the idea of giving up a 1st rounder, 2nd overall, for a Free Agent, especially since we already gave up our 2nd rounder. It sounds like a desperate move to me. I'd rather take my chances in free agency and keep the 2nd overall pick.
-
Didnt the team announce just last week that thet werent allowed to make any moves until after the Cup? Obviously they were wrong, but that was their own statement. Didnt Miller just say like two days ago it would be 3-5 weeks to find a GM and *then* the GM would make the coaching decision?
After that, the CFL said that the 'lock down on announcements' starts tomorrow (Nov 14).
-
Bye Bye Burke. I'm not the least bit sorry to see him go as HC. I am a bit surprised to hear he would be in the running for DC next year from the CEO. That's the HC's call IMHO.
-
Khari as HC? Really horrible idea folks. I'm begging... please bring in an HC with some experience.
-
proven or not is less concerning to me than whether or not they can actually do the job. Every great coach was unproven at one point, just hire someone with the right qualities.
You mean guys like: Burke, PLAP, Kelly, Hawkins, Reed, Hall, Marshall, Cortez, Bellefeuille and Taffe? All guys who were unproven, said to have the right qualities and failed at least in their first season.
Sorry but your argument is terribly flawed. For every failure there is as an unproven head coach, there are success stories like Huffer, Chamblin, Benevides, Trestman, Milanovich, Austin. You're going to have to do better than that. You can also scratch Taffe from that list as his first HC job was in Montreal and he did very good things there. His time in Hamilton was marred by a clueless GM in Marcel Desjardins, and free agent busts like Josh Ranek and Casey Printers, and the failed Jason Maas trade. Also, since you mentioned "first season" in your post, if you're expecting this team to do a complete 180 in a single year, you will be terribly disappointed. It is going to take at least 2 years to make this team good, 3 years to make it elite, assuming the correction decisions are made by all involved.
...Did I just win the internet?
You've got it wrong. For every success there are 3 or more failures and most of the successes have a good to great vet support system around them, which we don't have.
I do expect a turnaround next year. The 2 or 3 year plan is just an excuse to be bad for a couple of years. Drafting to become a winner doesn't work in the CFL where your best players can leave for the NFL or go to FA and play where they want to. Didn't you learn anything from the Mack years? Vet management, coaches and players speed up the rebuilding process.
An all rookie team of Miller, Walters, newbie HC, and newbie starting QB would pretty much guarantee a bad year filled with potential. Fans would talk all day about how much better it will be when they have played together for a while. Rookie HC mistakes will cost us some games, but 'He's just learning his job'. Rookie QB mistakes will cost us other games, but 'He's just learning his job'. It will get better soon. After winning a couple of meaningless games at the end of the season folks will search for stats to show how we are 'on the cusp' of a good season next year. We're just a couple of good players away from a competitive team they will say. If all the newbies turn out to be good, they will be right. If one or more of them don't have the right stuff, then blow it up and start over yet again.
Wow...a clairvoyant!
Nope. Just a guy who has seen this movie over and over.
BTW: The last Bomber rookie HC that did well was Doug Berry in '06. Before that it was Mike Riley in '87. A case could be made for Bowman in '92 but that was Murphy's team and Bowman gave it back to him when he came back.
-
proven or not is less concerning to me than whether or not they can actually do the job. Every great coach was unproven at one point, just hire someone with the right qualities.
You mean guys like: Burke, PLAP, Kelly, Hawkins, Reed, Hall, Marshall, Cortez, Bellefeuille and Taffe? All guys who were unproven, said to have the right qualities and failed at least in their first season.
Sorry but your argument is terribly flawed. For every failure there is as an unproven head coach, there are success stories like Huffer, Chamblin, Benevides, Trestman, Milanovich, Austin. You're going to have to do better than that. You can also scratch Taffe from that list as his first HC job was in Montreal and he did very good things there. His time in Hamilton was marred by a clueless GM in Marcel Desjardins, and free agent busts like Josh Ranek and Casey Printers, and the failed Jason Maas trade. Also, since you mentioned "first season" in your post, if you're expecting this team to do a complete 180 in a single year, you will be terribly disappointed. It is going to take at least 2 years to make this team good, 3 years to make it elite, assuming the correction decisions are made by all involved.
...Did I just win the internet?
You've got it wrong. For every success there are 3 or more failures and most of the successes have a good to great vet support system around them, which we don't have.
I do expect a turnaround next year. The 2 or 3 year plan is just an excuse to be bad for a couple of years. Drafting to become a winner doesn't work in the CFL where your best players can leave for the NFL or go to FA and play where they want to. Didn't you learn anything from the Mack years? Vet management, coaches and players speed up the rebuilding process.
An all rookie team of Miller, Walters, newbie HC, and newbie starting QB would pretty much guarantee a bad year filled with potential. Fans would talk all day about how much better it will be when they have played together for a while. Rookie HC mistakes will cost us some games, but 'He's just learning his job'. Rookie QB mistakes will cost us other games, but 'He's just learning his job'. It will get better soon. After winning a couple of meaningless games at the end of the season folks will search for stats to show how we are 'on the cusp' of a good season next year. We're just a couple of good players away from a competitive team they will say. If all the newbies turn out to be good, they will be right. If one or more of them don't have the right stuff, then blow it up and start over yet again.
-
proven or not is less concerning to me than whether or not they can actually do the job. Every great coach was unproven at one point, just hire someone with the right qualities.
You mean guys like: Burke, PLAP, Kelly, Hawkins, Reed, Hall, Marshall, Cortez, Bellefeuille and Taffe? All guys who were unproven, said to have the right qualities and failed at least in their first season.
Being said to have the right qualities and actually having them are entirely different things you know.
Of course I understand that. The point is that we don't know if they have the right stuff until we give them a chance and if we are wrong, we are back to square one and we have to spin the rebuild wheel yet again. Another point is that all the successful newbie HC's have vet staffs all around them. We simply don't have the vet staff in place to support a newbie HC to give them the best chance to be successful.
-
proven or not is less concerning to me than whether or not they can actually do the job. Every great coach was unproven at one point, just hire someone with the right qualities.
You mean guys like: Burke, PLAP, Kelly, Hawkins, Reed, Hall, Marshall, Cortez, Bellefeuille and Taffe? All guys who were unproven, said to have the right qualities and failed at least in their first season.
-
I don't think Cortez was a huge failure in Hamilton and I don't have any idea if he lost the room. He fixed the offence in his first season. I expected him to fix the defense in his second season, had he been given a chance to. Sure, he made some rookie HC mistakes. Simply throwing the challenge flag at the right times would have probably netted two more wins.
I know a lot of folks don't like Cortez because he is a 'my way or the highway' kind of guy. I am too, so it doesn't bother me. It's very important for a Head Coach to be a leader, but that's way more than just being a motivator. The HC has to form the dream then get buy in from all the players or get rid of those who don't buy in. They also have to provide a plan and put the players in the best position to be successful.
Benevides had been in BC for a while, had a vet team, had Wally and a seasoned management team behind him.
Chamblin was surrounded by vet coordinators in Hall and Cortez. He had an experienced GM and Director of Player personnel above him and a vet team.
Milanovich learned from Trestman and had a vet management team above him. He is the best example of a guy who was ready to take the next step to HC in the CFL, but getting Ricky Ray certainly made things a lot easier.
-
I was thinking about it this morning and I'd like to add Cortez to the HC list. He is one of the best offensive minds in the league and his rookie mistake filled HC gig is already behind him. He's probably a better choice than Jones because we need to fix the offense first and foremost. (FTR: Cortez is who I wanted when we chose PLAP)
It surprises me how many people want to bring in rookie HC's like Dickenson, Chapdelaine or O'Shea. It's almost like they haven't been watching the Bombers or Hamilton or Edmonton for the last 5 years. IMO we will have a rookie CEO in Miller and a rookie GM in Walters. They need some experienced people around them and that starts at the HC spot.
Mike... I like Parker and would like him to stay with the Bombers, but I doubt Ottawa will pick him due to his injury situation so I didn't see any need to protect him. I too had a hard time coming up with enough imports to protect on talent alone.
-
Off the top of my head... I'd get rid of the entire coaching staff day one, then knowing i'm not qualified to be GM, I call Higgins and offer him the job. He's the only guy I can think of who is available and has experience building / rebuilding a team. Plan B, John Murphy who hasn't been a GM but has 9 years AGM experience.
I'd like to see:
AGM/Director Of Player Personnel: Here is where I'd really like John Murphy, but I doubt he'd consider it as he is already the AGM/DirPP in Calgary so we probably have to split this into 2 jobs, so... AGM : Walters to give him the experience he needs. DirPP: Rick Worman, basically because he is Millers choice and you have to give the big boss something. I'd talk to Roy Shivers as a plan B. Yah, he's old, but he has a great eye for talent.
I don't have the stomach to go through the growing pains of yet another newbie HC, so that lets Dickenson out for me. I'd call Doug Berry as plan A. He got us to the playoffs every year and doesn't use the rebuilding excuse. I'd call Chris Jones as plan B, but I'd be happy with either. The HC picks his own staff.
Next thing on the list is to try and sign some of our 22 or is it 24 FA's. We've got to have some SMS money left so it's time to use it or lose it. Signing Muamba is job 1 and I'm happy to use a good sized chunk of our SMS room as a bonus, which I won't be able to do after midnight on Dec 31. I'll also try to get Kohlert, Parenteau, Sorensen, Stewart, Matthews, and Suber to sign in that order. Signing bonuses get smaller as each guy signs until all this years SMS bonus money is gone.
I'd prepare totally differently than most around here for the Ottawa draft. I think they will try to fill their starting spots in the first NI round, so they will go with 1 center, 2 guards, 2 receivers, and at least 1 D lineman. It totally depends on who is available as to what else they can get, but they are only going to get 3 players from us, two of which which will be NI's so the damage won't be too bad.
I'm protecting our starters over our backups, actual players over potential. I'm not protecting any player who's a Free Agent as I'll have to bid against Ottawa and every other team to re-sign them anyway. Assuming I can sign Muamba he is our best NI and #1 to be protected. Watson is our best NI receiver he's #2. Neufeld and Greaves are signed and expected to start, so they are #3 and #4. If I can sign Kohlert, he's #5. If I can sign Sorenson, he's #6 (Yup, I know lots of you hate Sorenson, but he is leaps and bounds better than any other center we have). Swiston and Pencer are pure futures players. I doubt Ottawa takes either. Jade is a future and unsigned. I can see them taking Labbe, Kito or Cauchy in round one. (I'd protect Labbe, then Cauchy, then Kito if Muamba|Kohlert|Sorenson won't sign). I have no idea who they will take in round two as we will have protected almost all the guys we want. (Add in Pencer, Swiston, Labbe/Kito, Thomas, C Muamba, Volny, Parenteau)
Imports: January, Jones, Turner, Sears, Wild, Dunn, Washington, Denmark, Stewart and Matthews (If I can sign them)
I'm expecting Ottawa to take one of Calgary's QB's, Hammy to sign and protect Burris, and Montreal to protect Smith. I do think that Collaros is the best available QB and that we should sign him, but we will have the only uncontested starting QB spot available, which puts us in the drivers seat. Therefore, I'd give up our 3rd rounder to get his rights before the draft as a plan B, but I wouldn't give up our 2nd overall pick because I don't think we need to. I'd offer Collaros a Reilly-esc contract or a bit more, because he has more game experience. I'd look at Willy and Neiswander (I think he'll be available in the off season for very little) to solidify our backup QB spot.
I am definitely looking for upgrades across the board, even for the guys we protect. I want to see a TC where every position has viable competition and no one gets a free ride.
-
No surprise that Kavis as let go. No surprise that Edmonton did it before we get rid of Burke. They always seem to be one step ahead of us.
Burke is the best guy to do the exit interviews, the player analysis and to create a baseline for the new HC. Getting Burke's input on who we protect and who we should go after in Free Agency is a good idea too. We don't have to go with his choices, but the more good football opinions the better IMHO.
You totally contradicted yourself with those two sentences. First you say that Edmonton is one step ahead of us by firing Reed, then you say it's good that we are keeping Burke around for a few weeks. ?????
I see your reading comprehension hasn't gotten any better. I'm not contradicting myself.
First sentence talks about Edmonton always being one step ahead of us.
Second sentence doesn't say anything about a few weeks. Exit interviews, probably happened on the weekend and the rest can be completed this week.
Just for the record... I think Burke should be gone the minute he is no longer any use to us, and not a second before.
-
No surprise that Kavis as let go. No surprise that Edmonton did it before we get rid of Burke. They always seem to be one step ahead of us.
Burke is the best guy to do the exit interviews, the player analysis and to create a baseline for the new HC. Getting Burke's input on who we protect and who we should go after in Free Agency is a good idea too. We don't have to go with his choices, but the more good football opinions the better IMHO.
-
Garrett produced because Regina's O line gave him a chance.
-
In a nutshell....
Some players and probably coaches have given up and aren't working hard enough anymore. The staff sees it and will get rid of them in the off season. Burke won't, and shouldn't IMHO, name them.
Burke would be throwing them under the bus if he said something like "Jade, that jerk! Gave up in the middle of the season so we stopped playing him and will get rid of him in the off season.". (Note this is an example of the type of thing that could be called 'throwing someone under the bus', not a statement of fact)
Lots of changes coming up this off season. Some of them will be because the players didn't work hard enough and gave up. It's just a fact in Bomberland.
-
I'll bet the Bombers are the only pro team of any kind, where a guy can go from a bad special teams coach to AGM to GM in less than a year.
- blueandgoldguy and iso_55
-
2
-
-
The two things aren't connected. You might as well ask would you like a beautiful wife or orange juice for breakfast.
BTW: The massive debt is a fact of life for the next 40 years.
-
Miles certainly earned an invite to next years TC.
-
I'd take Harris in a heartbeat. He is a good starting NI and we NEED better starting NI's. The fact that he is from Winnipeg would probably sell tickets and we need to sell tickets, especially after this season. The fact that he's had an off year, would help in contract negotiations, so he might not even be a huge cap hit. Even if he is, he'd be worth it IMHO.
-
-
As soon as I read that article I thought.. What a bunch of bad choices followed by a bunch of bad reasons.
Then I thought... The folks on the forums know more than Penton.
Finally I thought... I should get a bowl of popcorn and see what the folks on the forums are saying. Turns out it wasn't as much as I thought it would be. Now I have half a bowl of popcorn left.
-
I expect AC has already played his last game. Montreal isn't going to protect AC. Ottawa won't take him anyway. Unless AC's brain is completely befuddled, he wouldn't go to Ottawa even if they drafted him because having an old, immobile, expensive QB behind what will be a patchwork O line is a recipe for disaster.
Kyle Walters GM Poll
in Blue Bomber Discussion
Posted
Nope. I wanted someone with experience, and no 6 months as assistant GM + 3 months as Interim GM isn't enough.
Good luck to Walters though. He is going to need it with a full rebuild coming and no one to mentor him.