James

so you believe that makes pierce more effective... Can you honestly say that you think when watching the games that Pierce is actually giving the team a better chance to win? The stats MIke brings up are very telling. No one is acting like Goltz is some phenom here, we're just pointing out that despite his struggles at times, PIerce has been worse. The number of 2 and outs is the most alarming thing. Too many times Pierce has had the offense stuck in a huge rut that loses the field position battle badly and wears the defense down. The other big thing to me is how one dimensional pierce is and easy for opposing teams to defend. At least with the added mobility of Goltz it gives defenses something else to worry about rather than simply being able to blitz Pierce and render him useless. Pierce may be very very slightly better at passing the ball right now... but Goltz is better at too many other things for that to matter. The difference in mobility is far greater and more beneficial than any difference in passing ability. 

Contrast Kevin Glenn the consumate professional who never ******* in public to Drew Tate the complainer & whiner who blames others for all of his problems. And Glenn gets no respect which is unbelievable. As soon as Tate is healthy, they'll annoint him the starter again in Calgary which is so unfair. I have no idea what they see in the guy other than a player with a huge chip on his shoulder.

I'd rather have Glenn to be honest. Solid and dependable. In a weak eastern division we might be able to win the east with him, and have Goltz learn and package some plays for him, then in a year or two hopefully Goltz is ready. But who knows they said that about Glenn in Hamilton with Porter, and with Tate in Calgary. Glenn's remained the constant. Goes to show how under rated this guy really is.

You realize it was Friesen who tweeted this right?  So it's got the credibility of a Zimbabwean banker.

Trade Muamba brothers to Montreal for Edem and a first round pick next draft. The Bombers are in a position where they cannot replace Cauchy without pissing off Henoc.

My guess is that the board is still divided on Joe Mack, and the member who leaked this news wants him gone.  It's going to be pretty hard to vote to keep Mack after this.

It sucks having such a poor team but it sucks even more that everyone knows how to fix it but it's just not happening.
 
We've all been saying it for years now.  A QB, a couple good OL, and an experienced OC.  Over the last few years, we've seen Ray, Burris, and Glenn change teams.  We've seen Saskatchewan, Calgary, and Toronto completely rebuild their offensive lines.  We've seen Saskatchewan pick up George Cortez to fix their offence, and Toronto get Scott Milanovich for theirs.
 
How come the Bombers have not made a single big move to fix their glaring weaknesses when everyone and their dog recognizes what those weaknesses are?  Why such a lack of action?  In 2010 we started building with a mandate to build through the draft and establish continuity.  Well we've certainly done that, and all it has given us is losses.
 
I'll never stop being a fan (unless they hire Tillman), but it's just so disheartening.

Good offenses keep defenses off balance.  You need to have strong run formations, you need to run from them and show you can pass from them too.  You need strong pass formations, you need to show you can run from them too.  Our offence right now is very predictable, any playaction or read plays we use are slow developing at 5 yards depth in our backfield, really just bogging down our offence and not fooling anyone.  Do the basics well and mix it up.

Just read an article in the sun about "easing" Sears back in the line up. Let me go on record saying if Johnny Sears is ready, he should be starting period. I don't care who he takes off the field.

Perhaps there was some confusion. Noeller was saying Hall is everything odell wasn't, as in disciplined and contains well, plays the run well... And I responded in agreement, but also said he still manages to generate pressure and pick up elite sack numbers on top of that.

Guys.... We just beat Montreal, in montreal, with 5? turnovers!!! thats awesome. looks like the defence of 2011 is back. suck it ticat fans who thought we would suck on D with Creehan!!!

Pffft.....just this one?? Add it to the list...

If Dunn Continues to impress, which I think is likely, givin what he was able to do against arguably the top offence in the league, I can definitely see us Starting Sears in place of Johnson, and Johnson coming down with a mysterious 9 game injury...
 
Insert Sears in Johnsons place and our secondary will be dominant again, and our defence will be complete.

If Dunn Continues to impress, which I think is likely, givin what he was able to do against arguably the top offence in the league, I can definitely see us Starting Sears in place of Johnson, and Johnson coming down with a mysterious 9 game injury...
 
Insert Sears in Johnsons place and our secondary will be dominant again, and our defence will be complete.

So with Sears likely not ready by game day, and Hefney cut, who starts the year off at SAM on the 27th? I sure hope we have a better answer than Desia Dunn or Jeremy McGee!
 
How bad is Washington's injury, and if he cant go who does? David James? oh boy...
 
Who do we keep on the 42 out of Woodson or Volny?
 
With Edwards not likely ready to go and Anderson injured, who fills in there? I bet it will be Denmark, with Pierce starting at WR opposite Matthews.
 
 

vindication is one of the best feelings

are you including the entire year or just looking at how things went towards the end of the season? Because to the start of the year it was horrendous, but it did get better as the year went on, and the sooner Swiston pushes Morley to the sidelines the better it will be.Saw a much improved running game as the season wore on as well. Looking at where they started the year and where they finished only a fool would dismiss the dramatic improvement.

I am absolutely stoked to see Simpson this season. He was fantastic last year with a bad foot all year, if he's healthy man that could be something special.

Here are my biased observations from the afternoon session:
 
QBs: I am not a Buck Pierce fan so take of this what you will but he did not look very good today. He was overthrowing quite a bit and didn't look quite right. He's usually better than this in TC though so I wouldn't read too far into it anyway. I really like Max Hall. He looks far more polished than any QB I can remember bringing in at their first TC. He's accurate, looks poised under pressure and has a good enough arm to get by. He had a pick in the last throw I saw him make but other than that, he looked real good. I really, really want Goltz to succeed because he seems like he has all the tools but he looks very middle of the road to me so far. He hit Simpson with a beautiful long bomb in a drill but then he throws behind a guy on the very next play. He's still rather raw it seems so I'll give him more time but it does feel like he's already lagging behind Hall, even if he is still getting backup reps. I'm not sure any better way of saying this but Clement looks downright awful. His arm is pretty weak, he doesn't hit receivers in stride and he made some atrocious reads in scrimmage today. I will concede that he looks comfortable at the line of scrimmage and seems to be a leadership type but I am really not impressed.
 
RBs: Garrett was not in pads for this session, don't know why. Simpson really does look tremendous. In one-on-ones he was up against Henoc twice and completely burnt him on both occasions. I really don't take a ton of stock into rushing drills in practice because the D can only do so much so even if he looked good in the first day of TC, I tempered my expectations because the defenders weren't going to hit him but today he looked elusive, was catching the ball well and I was just very impressed. Will Ford had a massive run through a huge hole that went for a TD in scrimmage that would have been an easy TD even in a game where there was hitting. He is a real blur. I'm not sure where to discuss Fitzgerald so I'll put him here. In one-on-ones, he absolutely broke Wendell Brown's ankles (not the hardest guy to beat but it was still pretty sick). The whole O went pretty nuts after that one. 
 
Receivers: I absolutely love both Doug Pierce and Isaac Anderson. Anderson runs crisp routes, has great speed and insane hands. I know Edwards isn't going to lose his job due to injury but I wouldn't really be opposed to it. This guy is THAT good in my eyes right now. Pierce uses his size incredibly well and though he is slight, looks like a real good fit at the WR position. I know they both can't start and at most only one will make the active roster to start the season but they will both do good things for us if given the chance. I think Kurt Adams has almost finished his stay with us. For a guy who has been with the team for parts of three seasons, you would think he would get better than 3rd team reps but I guess our receiving core is deep and I personally haven't seen anything that separates him from the pack. Matthews is exactly who we expect him to be and Watson also looks great. I'm not too enthused by Poblah since to me he has always been a sensational practice player and that hasn't translated to any in-season success and this TC he hasn't really stood out at all but it's still early I suppose. In one-on-ones, the DBs were definitely getting the better of the WRs but to me it was mostly poor throws by each of the quarterbacks. Anderson was the best one out there though and made some real slick catches. The Rifles guy Carter doesn't look out of place at all which is nice. I've never had much to say about Etienne good or bad but it's pretty obvious that he is lightyears ahead of where he has been in seasons past. He has sure hands and good speed and is not noticeably small out there. As for the other new guys, I am aware it sounds like a broken record but Massey won't make this team as a receiver as he seems to have trouble catching the ball clean. I figure he has to impress greatly returning to have a shot. McCree and Kennedy sort of blend in to me. They really don't stand out in any way other than Kennedy's speed.
 
OL: Not much to say about them other than Swiston was earning the praise of DelMonaco during OL drills. Sorenson was steady on shotgun snaps aside from one horrendous one to Goltz. I'm a little higher on our OL than most and I figure they will build on the success they were having at the end of last season but in drills, the DL was generally getting the better of the OL. Not sure if that's a statement about the DL or the OL or both but it's just my observation. The pressure was generally coming from the left side fwiw. I do like the looks of this giant new guy Simmons but it's hard to get excited about a new import OL when so many like him have gone and gone.
 
DL: It's hard to tell who is doing well because from my angle, it was tough to see numbers but the best pressure from the new guys seemed to be from Dexter Davis. Gilmore and Turner will be more than solid this year and the push up the middle was impressive from both of these guys. No one else was particularly noticeable. 
 
LB: I absolutely love Terrell Parker for the WILL position. This guy can flat out cover. RBs, receivers, whatever. He has great speed and he absolutely deserves the spot if he wins it. I'm not nearly as worried about the WILL position as I was a few weeks earlier. Even then, Ian Wild also looks real good. He was getting good pressure on the QBs and although he is a lot smaller than I thought he would be, he's fast and I'm high on him as well. Henoc was getting burnt bad by Simpson but he's a tough cover for anyone. I'm not concerned. McGee was at SAM but I highly doubt that lasts. Wendell Brown is as good as gone. He's not impressing in the least.
 
DBs: The DBs were all fairly good. In one-on-ones, they were all playing far more physically than I've ever seen in drills like this. I don't want to say that Coach Burke's words fired them up but it's a possibility. Hefney in particular was playing real tight on everyone. In scrimmage a Kennedy was sorta being mauled by Hefney and called it PI and they were jawing back and forth afterwards. It's that kind of stuff I really like to see. Pendleton and Markett both had picks (I think one was Hall and one was Buck) and those are the two new DBs that have shown the most. I really hope that at least one of them makes the active roster. I know people have been saying that Jovon looks stronger and better than last TC but I just don't see it. If he were a new guy on the roster this year, he wouldn't stand out one bit. Cauchy looks good. Far better than Logan ever did at least and I figure that with his better cover skills, it will have a ripple effect on the rest of the secondary. 
 
P: There was a 20 minute drill on punting and punt coverage and only Pavlopolous and Hutchison were punting. I have no clue why Cameron or Renaud didn't do anything but it was probably just to judge which one of those other two would get cut first. Pavlopolous was frankly awful. His first punt was a beauty but he essentially shanked the rest. I like Hutchison a lot more but to me it seems like he always gives a half punt and doesn't extend his leg all the way. I figure it comes down to not being used to playing this style of football but I can't deny that his leg is huge and in terms of pure leg strength, his is probably the best.
 
This was a lot longer than anticipated but meh, I like to hear myself type.

While I completely agree with the need to balance youth with veteran influence, this right here demonstrates why the approach our organization is the right one.  It's sustainable and will allow the club to be competitive long term. 

I don't think it will be difficult to use a DI spot on an import RB at all.
 
Especially because I'm starting to think there's a strong possibility we have four DI spots this year. I can definitely see us starting eight Canadians.