johnzo

How many of those turnover opportunities have come in garbage time? We had a ton of picks in the back end of the Toronto and Hamilton games, when we were on cruise control and Lapo was calling things even more conservatively.

Ok, now I see what you're saying. Damn, our D did a lot of damage in that game.

I'm talking about the Hamilton lightning home game, the one where we went up 28-0 on a CJ Roberts pick-6, a Denmark TD set up by a Fogg return, a Mayo TD set up by a Thomas fumble, and a Harris TD. Nicholls was having zero trouble converting his opportunities in that game. That first game you're talking about, that was a Willy game, and yeah, we didn't convert our opportunities, and that's exactly what the expected points scoring stat is saying -- Willy can't capitalize, but Nichols has been capitalizing at a better rate than the CFL as a whole.

Durant, at his peak, could make plays that other QBs in the CFL simply couldn't. The guy had power escapability, I remember him keeping plays alive by shrugging off defensive ends. And Durant vs. Calvillo was a classic CFL QB duel, those guys always seemed to bring out the best in each other. You want an example, look at the 2010 Canada Day overtime game. It's on Youtube. One of the best CFL games ever, and Durant was every bit as good as Calvillo in it. Durant's a good QB. I don't think he was ever the absolute best QB in the league in his time, but he was always up there. It's too bad he's fading away, a victim of injuries, bad coaching, and (lately) terrible management.

I think this might be a little bit of selective memory -- sure, we took a lot of early threes last week against Montreal, but against Hamilton, we turned every mistake they made into a TD.

The QB talk that wasn't play calling was interesting to hear -- at one point Collaros gave his RB **** because he lined up on the wrong side of the formation, and had to reposition him like a peewee.

This team reminds me of the 1990 Bombers a little more -- Salisbury was an NFL-caliber passer who could really huck the ball, but the 1988 Grey Cup was played in a vicious wind that wasn't going to flatter any quarterback. Burgess (and Nichols) are more lunchpail types, and Moe Leggett is on a total Greg Battle tear right now. The 1990 Grey Cup win looks a lot like our recent victories.

My prediction: Nichols will hit a rough patch in the back half of the season and O'Shea will be very patient about letting him play through it.

I liked hearing the QB make the calls in the huddle but you could tell it was awkward for the TSN folks, they were talking over the onfield sound in a bunch of places. Also, it's unfair that Calgary and Hamilton have to change up now. I think BLM had the right take on it: to be fair, every team should have to play a mic'd game (though with nine teams, that's impossible, unless one game had only one team mic'd)

Hard to know how good Durant is anymore. Who's going to look good behind the Riders' jokey OL? I bet if you put him behind Calgary's OL he'd be solid.

Duron Carter's appeal is rejected: http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Football/CFL/Montreal/2016/08/29/22662675.html (never mind, old news)

Yup, I'm just gonna say I hope it's an entertaining game played without injury and without too many officiating mistakes. Gotta keep my karma pure so we don't see a reincarnation of 2011. We don't have a troll billboard this year, do we?

Don't have to be medicated to know that weird **** goes down during these rivalry games. Remember the 2011 LDC and the 2013 Banjo Bowl?

The TSN miking in the Als stadium is weird. I saw a game there a couple years ago and I was expecting to get blasted out of my seat by that stupid FAITES DU BRUIT sample they play on second down. But it wasn't so bad, I could just hear it above the crowd noise. Stade Molson is such a beautiful place to see a football game. Gotta get back there sometime.

I like Mayo as the first guy off the bench -- I don't think you can start him at the expense of a healthy D. Adams. And echoing DoD -- loved Sheppard and Kohlert's downfield blocking on Harris' dagger touchdown run. They totally erased their men from the play. I think you'd have to go back to Adarius Bowman to see Bomber receivers blocking like that.

Wow, that convert really sliced .. as if god himself was annoyed at the Riders.

OL with only one sack allowed. Suddenly one of the best in the League. Bond an enormous difference maker.

Next week looming as another huge trap game, like the 2011 LDC.

Riders starting to rally ... Esks lacking killer instinct...

Wanna put in a word here for Thomas Mayo. Leading receiver tonight, made clutch catches on the dagger drive, and separated himself from our other depth receivers

People keep saying that Jones is doing a Mike Kelly act...but I think the Roughriders are sinking out of Mike Kelly territory .... and into Tim Burke territory.

Despite that being a scary hit, I thought this was funny:

Want a Saskatchewan win, to put some distance between us and the Eskimos... Ouch, that was a loud hit that Durant took on that 1st down run. Don't drop your head like that, man, you'll lose it.

Great game, really loved the Nichols and Harris game-sealing drive. Thing I wanted to mention in chat but my stream was 2mins behind so I didn't: I noticed that Couture wears #70, I wonder if there might be a play on sometime with him at TE at some point in the future...

Lefors hurt his shoulder in game 3 of 2009 but started game 4 anyway and he stank the joint up bad. Then Michael Bishop parachuted in for game 5 and Lefors was told to renegotiate or be cut. I don't know if Lefors ever spent time on the injured list -- I remember him holding on field goal attempts after Bishop's arrival -- so his injury might not have been "official". Here's a column with the timeline laid out (content warning: Friesen) http://www.winnipegsun.com/sports/columnists/paul_friesen/2009/08/19/10508166-sun.html