JuranBoldenRules

Deeper pockets I guess.. League/Braley before he owned the team funding operations. The league has chosen other markets over Ottawa when there has been crisis (in 96 the whole league was in crisis, in mid-2000s it was Hamilton and Toronto), and it didn't help that Ottawa lacked ownership both times they folded, like anyone to put their name on the franchise, not even good ownership.

I agree. Their coaches should provide a good gameplan on defence. I just don't know if they have the personnel to execute it. Either way, way less room for error for Willy, and they'll have to be more methodical. Safe to assume Ottawa is always going to have 2-3 guys splitting the deep halves/thirds. We'll see if Bellefeuille can draw up as good of a gameplan as they had right out of the chute vs the Argos.

Gonna be a 180 for our offense facing a Campbell/Nelson D rather than a Burke D. Gonna see far less man coverage, tougher throws, tougher catches.

Not even close to being the problem in Toronto. I'd bet substantially that this problem has not even made it into any discussions on Toronto. You really believe that losing Armond Armstead or Chad Rempel was noticed in Toronto by the guy with 2 kids who might buy tickets to 1-2 games a season, and that's keeping the fans away? Here's the problem. 1. They play in a facility that is horrible for football. 2. They play in a facility where they are treated as fourth class tenants, meaning they get the crappiest dates. 3. They play in a facility that is generally far from their casual fanbase in the suburbs. 4. That crappy facility is evicting them. At the moment, this is the biggest problem. There is a public and political lack of appetite to contribute further to sports facilities after the Pan Am Games, so rather than getting an ideal facility in a suburb like Markham off a 400 highway, the Argos have to piggyback on MLSE at BMO Field just to have a place to play. Will BMO go over with the casual fans they need to attract? Probably not. Atmosphere will be better, but the prospect of storms off the lake could interfere with a number of games each season. BMO is a little easier to drive to (still relying on the Gardiner for suburban fans though) than the dome, but worse by transit, basically the same as the dome plus a streetcar ride.

I'm fine with giving a one week pass to Toronto, Hamilton and BC. But there's no way Edmonton should be ranked ahead of the Bombers. IMO two pretty even teams coming into this season, Bombers were much sharper in week 1, Edmonton snuck out 2 points with tons of help from BC. Bombers were dominant for 4 quarters, Eskimos for about 1 and a half. Realistically they shouldn't even bother with power rankings until August.

Why would Montreal trade Chip Cox?

Didn't southeast Saskatchewan get like 150 mm of rain between Friday and Sunday night? We had like 1/10th of that in Winnipeg.

http://2ndand10.blogspot.ca/

I thought I remembered that too, but it wasn't marked down officially. Don't know why the statisticians would've missed that. They might have given it to Washington, Wild tipped it, Washington almost picked it off.

Wild had a pass knockdown too...first play of the second half.

I don't know how you rip an offensive scheme apart when the quarterback showed the ability to miss every type of throw consistently. The only thing I'd rip is the decision to start Smith and keep him in there for 4 quarters.

Willy was under pretty significant pressure from the 2nd quarter on. Burke sent a ton of HB/SAM blitzes and Grigsby wasn't that great in pass protection. Willy handled it very well, got rid of the ball quick or bought himself time. Collaros needs an offence that uses tons of misdirection and moves the pocket to give him a chance to deliver the ball. He's not going to do anything dropping straight back and standing in the pocket.

Yep...no one-sided games in American football.

It's kind of good though too for them to see a Heisman Trophy winner and Ochocinco rendered completely useless. Maybe that stops the "why doesn't Tim Tebow go to the CFL, he'll throw for 10,000 yards a season there" kind of crap and gives the league some respect.

Speed.

My favourite part was when they did the press interview with him and he continually said how he has no concerns heading into the season, even though he looks like he hasn't slept in 4 days.

Yep, the 4 starting Canadians on D sure is sexy on paper. On gameday, not as much.

Brandon Stewart is starting for them, so.... I don't know why they have such trouble finding DB's.

Collaros is an average QB at best on a straight drop in the pocket. They are going to have to move the pocket, both for Collaros and the OL.

Hate Collaros release...but he can make up for it with escapability to some extent.

They have a running back, just not a name Rod Black has had the chance to squeal yet.

Based on the last 2 games, I don't know what an easy pass for Smith is, a shovel pass? Maybe a handoff? He's been missing throws at every length to every part of the field. I'd probably run a crapload of deep routes and hope he hits a handful of them, along with trying to get the run going, but everyone is going to sit on the run and make Smith beat them with his arm. You can't do anything methodical with an arm that inaccurate, it's going to be a boom or bust offence. At best he'll be like Bishop. 1 out of 6 games he'll throw for 400 yards on 15 completions, otherwise just total garbage.

Good work.

I really doubt that is spin, because if anything that makes him less marketable. Doesn't mean someone wouldn't sign him, but hugely diminishes the "bring him in as a veteran leader" idea anyone might have, basically spins him as a malcontent if that's spin. Puts him down to what he can do on the field, and that probably makes it less likely he finds a better opportunity than the one he's running from.

Still, we have Markett and Suber off the roster currently. We won't be in major trouble without Banks even if Sears gets injured, just have to reshuffle.