TBURGESS

Smith is the real deal folks. One of the two best arms in the league. Doesn't look like a rookie, in his first start. Can run, but still looks down the field to make a throw. Is reading the defense pretty well for a vet, let alone a rook. The good news is that Smith should take Montreal out of the Collaros sweepstakes.

IMO: Ottawa will spend their NI draft picks on starting or closest to starting: 2 Guards, 1 Center, 2 Receivers, 1 DT/DE, 1 other NI starter, probably a safety. If there are 3 rotational DT/DE's available, they could take all of them to rotate over 2 spots. They took a Guard in last years 1st round of the 2013 draft and a DE in the second round, so their backups should be OK as long as they can sign them. For QB's, it's either Tate cuz they are guaranteed to get him or Colaros even know he is a free agent. Both would make some sense, but would mean one less 'vet' in another spot. They could also take Tate in the draft and make a good offer to Colaros / Glenn / Burris if they are still available in FA. There are a couple FA kickers available, so I don't see Ottawa using any draft picks on a kicker, even know they will get a lot of work in the first couple of years.

Congrats. You have just proven that Jade has slightly more yards per catch than the other players.

Exactly my feelings on every count. Couldn't have said it any better. Of course you would agree. Wouldn't expect anything different from the two of you. You're two are brothers from different mothers. It's tired and archaic thinking. The kid is going to be good. I hope it's with us. What on earth are you basing your opinion of Jade on? What makes you think he will be adequate, let alone good?

It's funny that you blame everyone but Jade. Of course fans blame players production or lack thereof on the player. Every receiver on our team is saddled with awful QB's and a brutal staff. Most if not all of them have done better than Jade. (Kito at least started right away, but he has been almost as bad since then) Lets call it the 'Stoddard Syndrome'. If you like a player then lack of production is everyone else's fault. You can't extrapolate a few decent games into a full season. It simply doesn't work that way. Jade had one great game, 2 average for a first round pick games and the rest of the time he hasn't been worth anything. In the meantime, he has been slurping up 1st round money and taking up an NI spot on the 46 for 3 years. You, 17 and others are pulling for Jade to finally show the potential that Mack said he had and are disagreeing with everyone who doesn't see it your way. You still want to win the 3 year old argument: 'was Jade a good pick at 4th overall?' even know it's pretty clear by now he wasn't. My take on Jade... He was a huge reach when he was picked. There were better choices on the board, especially at receiver, who had more experience and could contribute at least on special teams RFN. Nope, it wasn't his fault, but it does color the way fans see him. If Jade had been a 3rd round receiver, fans would see him as the project he still is and would have lowered their expectations for at least a couple of years. They would probably be calling for a replacement by now anyway. I was stoked when he had a couple of good games early in the season. I thought, probably wrongly, that he had turned the corner and we would finally see some return on our investment. Sadly, that hasn't happened. I'd be surprised if he is protected or taken in the Ottawa draft. I have no problem if the Bombers re-sign him, as long as it's not for 3 year NI starters money, because he hasn't earned that. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in Rider green next year as one of their development players.

I like that we got a young somewhat experienced NI O lineman and I don't care that we had to give up Hall for the rest of the year. I do think that giving up our 2nd round, the 11th overall pick, next year is overpaying for Neufield who the Riders would have probably lost for nothing to Ottawa. We need to upgrade our NI's and the top two rounds of the draft is where our NI future lies. I don't care about any 4th round picks as they truly are a crap shoot.

Play Hall for the rest of the season, then get a new QB. Nothing to be gained from bringing in a has been or never was just because they have some experience.

It looked like Sorenson on TV. No idea what was said but TE had to be held back.

I have no problem with Boltus getting the start in the second half. Hall had a bad first half. I have tons of problems with leaving Boltus in after his first two series. It was obvious by that time, that he just wasn't ready to play. He couldn't even fake a hand off successfully. We should have put Hall back in to get him more game reps. Iso.... your conspiracy theory doesn't make any sense. Burke pulled Hall because of the Int's. Once he made that decision, he wasn't going to go back on it so we got to see Boltus for the second half.

Pressure by the Stamps D caused the Hamilton mistakes, TBurg but that Fg hitting the uprights sure helped. Burris tried a stupid jump pass in FG range. That's all on him. All he had to do was eat the ball and they could have kicked the 3.

Why? It was between Winnipeg and Edmonton. Reilly was already getting the starting job in Edmonton. Winnipeg didn't have anything to offer other than money. Do you really think that Mack would have outbid Edmonton for Reilly? I don't.

Yes Mack should have released our QB's if that got us a better shot at Reilly. He released them anyway a few weeks later. (Bad decision to release Elliott and Brink and keep Buck anyway)

The 4th Quarter was all about Hamilton mistakes. A stupid Int by Burris in FG range followed by a missed short FG. Take those away and add 6 points to Hamilton's score, and they wouldn't need to go for a TD in the end. A long FG would do.

Personally, I couldn't care less what a coach says about the players as long as it's true. Elliott was a turnover machine and Washington did drop the ball too much and Burke didn't have him returning punts for the rest of the year (IIRC). I also don't care what Hervey said. He was just being honest with the press, which I like. This whole 'Throwing the players under the bus' is way overblown IMHO. The players are adults. They know when they have been playing well and they know when they have been playing badly. They should know what their bosses think about them anyways. It's likely not the first time they have heard the comments that they see in print. They chose a public life, so they sometimes get a public dressing down. It comes with the territory. As for Burke's comments on Hervey... Pot meet kettle.

I love that the Bombers will be back in the West. Now all we need to do is go back to those sweet Banjo Bowl jerseys full time. Personally, I'd like to do away with the East/West and have a single division where the top 6 teams make the playoffs.

This is my first chance to see Pencer in action. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do.

And if your team is up by __ points at the half, what then? If the starting QB has under 50 yards passing, I'd still pull him, because he'd be playing badly. The score isn't always a good indicator of how well the QB is playing.

I personally think that Hall has shown more than Goltz, but I'm happy with either getting the start next week. I would like, however, to see the starter pulled if he is under 50 yards passing in the first half.

You're wrong. Stupid mime shows are stupid mime shows and will create complaints among some fans, especially the ones who are over 40.

Montreal has looked better without AC than they did with him. I'd guess we have already seen his last game.

If that were how it went then the Ticats would be in the wrong because the CBA says they have to offer a 1+1 contract as an option, not just a 2+1. I get that, and agree, I'm just trying to figure out that if Williams goal was to get to the NFL ASAP, wouldn't a 1 year + option be explored? The 1 + 1 contract was probably for less money per year. Williams and his agent wouldn't KNOW that he was going to burn up the league so taking the extra dollars for the extra year made sense at the time.

where is this coming from? This was still his first contract right? 2+1 as opposed to 1+1 no? One of us is misunderstanding those docs I linked to (I'm assuming you at least glanced at them) My understanding is the following, somebody please correct me if I'm wrong (because I read that turd from start to finish and would hate to be talking out my ass): 1) Williams signed a 1+1 from the start 2) Hamilton was obligated to confirm in writing that they were exercising his option (the +1 in a 1+1) 3) In the process of doing so, Hamilton referred him to another part of the document asking him to sign for receipt of 'my 2013 option letter', followed by a poorly worded offer to extend his contract by a year. 4) The court agreed that while the language of the contract could be construed as an agreement by Williams to add a third year to his existing 2 year contract, the document was confusing in part and in whole. 5) The court agreed that it made little sense for a skillful player like Williams to knowingly and willingly give up a full year of opportunity to pursue the NFL, citing risk of injury due to his 'small stature', the fact that the average career length of a CFL footballer is only 3 years, and the massive difference in salary. So that's where it comes from. The article is linked, it's all there. I just wanted to get the whole story for my own interest, but the frikken thing is in legalese. My opinion will change if in fact Williams signed a 3 year deal from the very start. But I don't think that's what happened. I read the article and came away with a different understanding. 1. All CFL contracts have a '+1' team option, so Williams 2 year contract would be 2 years + an option year. 2. The club has to send out a document saying they are exercising their '+1' option by a certain date, which they did. 3. The arbitrator thought that document was clear and Williams signed it. 4. The court thought that the document wasn't clear enough so it applied the general contract principle is 'If there is any ambiguity, the reader's version stands', not the writers and overturned the arbitrator. 5. The CFL said they would appeal so Williams is back in limbo. Fall out will be a better document to exercise the '+1' option in CFL contracts and it will be used by all clubs going forward.

The 3rd year of the contract isn't bogus. It's a standard part of the CFL contract and Williams signed it. The Arbitrator said the letter that the Ticats sent was proper notice of picking up the 3rd year. The court disagreed. Hammy will need to start using a better contract in the future to make sure this doesn't happen again. The CFLPA and Williams say he is a free agent now. The CFL and the Ticats disagree and have sent NFL teams notice that they will appeal the decision, which will take some time. Until then, no NFL team will sign Williams. No CFL team till get a shot at Williams until he takes his NFL shot, which probably means around this time next year. At that time, a lot of CFL teams will have interest in him.

Buck hurt = can't cut him = makes vet cutdown day = we pay him for the rest of the season = he isn't going anywhere until the off season at the earliest. Same thing for Morley.

Removing the news from new content is an upgrade for me. I already read the news articles, so I go into the news feed and mark it as read in the morning. Not a big enough deal to complain, but it would be nice if I had a choice of which forums I got in New Content. My saved link is 'View New Content'. I click on the first entry, click on 'first unread', then go through clicking on Next Unread Thread until I get to the end. It works great on my laptop, but the 'next unread thread' doesn't work on my Blackberry (No, I don't want to go to an Android or IPhone). No big deal, but it would be nice if it worked and I'll be happy to test it for you if you don't have a Blackberry to work with.