TBURGESS

Calgary's injuries are forcing me to change my pick.

Just because a draft is deep in OL, doesn't mean we should wait to pick one. I'd rather go with the best available OL than one in the 2nd round or later. We only have 3 starting level OL right now. 1 injury means we have to use 3rd Imp on the OL . Hopefully Goosen will be starting level by the end of the year, but if we ever want to get to 4 or even 5 starting NI's, we need to keep drafting OL as high as possible.

Goosen was consensus #2 center and that's why we drafted him when we did.

17's right about Calgary Transit. Try going NE<-->NW. It's usually quicker to go downtown and back than it is to go from point A to B.

It's the weekly Messam is a one dimensional player who's worse than Volny thread. Yawn.

Volny is cheaper, a great st player and effective in his limited.reps.. Messem is expensive, doesnt play ST and would probably not agree with the lack of touches... We would probably end up witha canadian banks scenario... Cant really explain it any better.. Your explanation is wrong on many fronts. Statistically, Messam is the better special teams player. Volny had 2 special teams tackles last year which is the same number as Messam had. Messam also had a kick return and Volny had none. Neither is a special teams ace. Volny had 3 carries for 5 yards last year. His career total is 39 yards. He's also got 48 yards in receiving and he's got fumble problems. So no, he hasn't been effective in his limited reps. Messam had 121 carries for 565 yards last year. His career total is 1882 yards. He's also got 698 yards in receiving. The difference is hugely in Messam's favour. Messam is more expensive because he's worth more than Volny. Sask/Cgy/Mtl all thought Messam was worth a look. Wpg didn't. That's the reason he's not here.

Allen

I don't agree that "QB's should get special treatment". I don't like the only hit them above the knees and below the shoulders. I don't like the "In the grasp still allows the QB to throw". You can't take the violence out of football and all players should be treated the same IMHO. All to head to head hits aren't the same. If player "A" aims at Player "B's" head then it should be a penalty and a fine. If Player "B" ducks or changes direction at the last second, what is Player "A" supposed to do? Not take the hit? Never going to happen. Willis didn't go after the QB's head. He tucked his head and aimed with the shoulder. Sure, he was trying to make Collaros pay. That's part of his job and it's part of playing football. The hit on Willy late and low should have been flagged. That was a cheap shot IMHO.

What a FusterCluck. I guess they didn't learn anything from the Winnipeg stadium situation. You know the saying: 'Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it'.

The weekly media bash. Yawn.

This game comes down to our O line vs their D line. If we can protect Willy and open some holes for Grigsby, we'll be fine. Montreal will show our inexperienced O line every type of blitz in the book and they can also get pressure the old fashioned way from the front 4. Pressures + Hits + Sacks = Mistakes | Turnovers. Greaves has been our best NI O lineman this year. Now that he's hurt, I'm pretty worried that Montreal's D line will win the battle and win it big. Montreal's O isn't great. Smith, for all the hate he gets around here, is better than any of our QB's last year and probably better than everyone except Willy this year. Smith could probably hurt us with his legs more than his arm and Whitaker can do some damage too. They also have some big play receivers who could hurt us deep.

Sucks for Durie and the Argos. I've always liked the guy.

Any idea what the conditions are and which draft picks may be involved? Very interesting move on both sides of the deal. Did Regina get tired of Anderson's antics? (What ever happened to the assault charges?) Who's spot does Anderson take in Toronto?

Rankings this week should be (imho) Calgary - I can't move them down just because they didn't play Winnipeg - Done nothing but win and looked good doing it Edmonton - 2-0 should put them above the 1-1 teams Toronto - Horrible loss followed by spectacular win over the Riders Saskatchewan - Looked great in the rain and horrible in Toronto Montreal - Great defence, below average offence. Ottawa - 0-1 is better than 0-2 BC - Bad O line. Too many turnovers. Would be on the bottom except Hamilton looks even worse Hamilton - Thought they'd fall a bit this year when they got rid of Burris. Didn't think it would look this bad though. I know this isn't the way it will look when the rankings come out. It's my take on what they should be.

WOW. WTF's going on with Toronto and Regina?

I keep reading about the adjustments that Etch made, but no one is talking about which adjustments he made. Honest question here... what adjustments did you see?

Bye Bye Banks. We hardly knew you.

I think your trying to downplay the significance. It may have happened, but I can't remember any team taking 20+ penalties for 150+ yards and winning the game in the entire time I've been watching football. Lets say the odds of that happening are slim to none. If the Bombers took that many penalties for that many yards we would have lost the game and everyone would be rightly pointing to the penalties as a big reason. The same should hold true for the Argos. The penalties may not have been directly responsible for the first 17 points, but they are greatly responsible for the Argos not being able to get back into the game. There is no way for any team to come back when they are getting a penalty every other down and giving up chunks of real estate for free.

I've got no idea of how well either Ottawa or Winnipeg will play tonight. I think of the first 2 games as the last 2 pre-season games. It should be interesting though. For Winnipeg: Was last week a blip, the new normal, or somewhere in between? Will we be able to beat a team that doesn't spot us 24 points and doesn't take 23 penalties? Will Etch's D look great again or will it have a down day? Will our receivers be able to get open vs zone. Will Willy be able to read as quickly when he isn't getting (bad) man coverage all game long? Will our running game look as good? Will the loss of Turner and Anderson's injury mean lack of pressure or weaker against the run? Have we tightened up our special teams coverage? For Ottawa: Will the fact that they are playing their first game mean anything? Will Burris get time to throw? Will their receivers get open? Will Walker run all over us? WIll they send tons of pressure to see if they can throw Willy off his game? Will the be able to stop the run and force Willy to win it with his arm? Will our ex kicker come back to haunt us? Will JJ? Gotta say.... I'm really looking forward to finding out the answers tonight.

We had a too many men penalty on a punt.

When you say ONLY, your saying that Willy's career night is not only the new normal, which it isn't, but the new lowest expectation we should have. From here on out, Willy could get better, worse, or be the same. That's the reality The 'Debbie Downer' view would be he's already played his best game and he will ONLY get worse. (Read it in a Eeyore voice to get the full effect.)

I picked the Bombers but it's been the best bet in CFL for years to pick the Bombers to lose after a win. Ottawa has an extra week to prepare for us and has seen what we did to Toronto. We don't know what Ottawa will do in a regular season game. It's also the first game for the new Ottawa team so they should be sky high. We need to get to Burris early and often. They need to run on us. We need to protect Willy. They need to pressure him. We need to win 2 in a row for the first time since the first half of 2011.

It's not about life without Calvillo. Montreal found out what life without Calvillo was like last year. It's the perfect storm in Montreal. They took forever to sign their HC. They fired the OC in the middle of TC after the offence had been designed and partly implemented. The gave the OC job to an unqualified Dinwiddie who doesn't look like he has any understanding of how to run it. Smith got injured and couldn't practice or play in the first pre-season game. They start on the road against one of the top 2 teams in the league. It amazes me how many folks complain about young QB's being inconsistent. Smith will be inconsistent just like almost all first time starting QB's are, especially those with only 1 TC under their belt (Ray is the only one I can think of who wasn't inconsistent in his first year). If he doesn't improve his accuracy he won't become a good starting CFL QB. If he does, then Montreal will be fighting for 1st in the east.

Allen

How is berry going to teach him touch on the ball and not to overthrow his receivers by 10 yards? He'd use the running game. He'd give Smith easier passes to get his confidence back. He'd tell Smith to use his legs more. If he could keep Smith on the field more by getting a few first downs, Smith would calm down IMHO. Smith looked better last year than he has this year. A bunch of the problems are the loss of the OC during TC, a TC injury and moving Dinwiddie into the OC spot. None of that should downplay the fact that Smith needs to be more accurate, but it could limit the damage.