Fred C Dobbs

O'Shea I think is going to be a hell of a coach... it's the coordinators I am sceptical of. 

Nate do your stories happen to come from your brother's friend's uncle's next door neighbor's sister's cousin's ass by any chance?

I don't think we want that Pat Tracey as our DC (there's a Wiki bug).
The CIS Pat Tracey might do OK:

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/bombers-add-big-name-hire-pat-tracey-st-195607410.html

What I'm starting to get bothered by is that the Bombers are slowly veering from "we're always looking to upgrade" territory into "we have no clue what our plan is" territory. Releasing a guy before you let him try out for you in camp because you think you found someone better is one thing, doing it to like a dozen of them is another.

I'm not completely averse to trading Janvier, but the return would have to be something really necessary...don't trade him "just because". He's done too much good for us during some really trying times to just get rid of him because we have a few imports kicking around that *may* be able to fill his spot.
 
All this said, it really seems like silly talk...unlikely to happen.

January has been, by far, our best lineman over the past three or so years. You can't trade a guy like that unless the guys coming in to replace him are proven impactful players.

I gotta say that just because you were ranked highly throughout the evaluation process doesn't make you a 'sure thing' by any means. Just look at Scott Mitchell who played in all of a dozen games over 3 seasons after being ranked the consensus top pick in 2011; he was ranked the #2 player in Fall and Winter rankings, and the #1 player when final rankings came out. Meanwhile players like Shawn Gore, Marco Ianuzzi, and Jabar Westerman, who have all contributed about as much as you can hope for from a first rounder, only made it into the top 15 following ecamp.
 
The draft is always a gamble, no matter who you draft and where they were ranked. Luc Brodeur-Jourdain is a CFL all star, and he was the very last player drafted in 2008; Justin Sorensen was the 5th overall pick in the very same draft.

And we'll just have to hope that Alex Suber can pick up his nose tackle responsibilities pretty darn quick.

Here is a great article from San Fransisco Gate from 2011 when Wylie was in Oakland http://www.sfgate.com/raiders/tafur/article/Raiders-coach-Bob-Wylie-boosts-offensive-line-2328642.php#page-2
 

Bryan is both a rookie coach and a Canadian so he would fit right in

As a child I used to wait for the Tribune and Jack Matheson's column to arrive after school … then waiting for dad to come home from work so I could tell him the Bomber's latest news ….

Very different.  First off, the QB-centre exchange is the most important skill in football.  You can't do anything without it.  You can't just plug anyone in at centre and expect them to be able to get the ball to the QB at a CFL level, which is the problem with guys like Kowalczuk and Parenteau etc.  That is a huge skill in and of itself.  The centre makes some calls to protections, but this is way overrated in Canadian football, most plays have the protections built in and basically what both the centre and QB both do is count how many guys are inside the tackles and which gap the defence is centered on, basically what they are playing as the strong side, which 99% of the time mirrors the offence or the width of the field anyways.  This is different than American football, mostly the strong side of the field down south depends on the strong hand of the QB since the field is not nearly as wide.   This is most of what the calls are, and the protection adjusts based on it, but every guy can see that when they look up, and if you're playing somewhere noisy, there's not a lot you can change at the line.   Everyone is watching for potential blitzers, that mostly falls on the QB to make a call to react to that. adjust a route.  OL have to block from their inside gaps out and do their best to take whoever comes...that's why you'll often see guys coming off the edge free when a defence sends more than 5.  When you see guys come free through the 4 middle gaps, that means someone really screwed up, either took the wrong block or got completely dominated physically.
 
Zone run blocking, it doesn't matter where the defence lines up or how many, they are blocking gaps and chipping upfield.  Zone plays head to a side of the field, not a specific gap, you're basically creating a 3 on 2 situation for your blockers all along the LOS on the play side, allowing at least one of those guys to chip and get to the next level to take a LB or HB.  The RB reacts and finds the opening.  So really a centre doesn't call anything there, every OL needs to read their initial block and come out of their stance properly to get that done.  The first 3 steps are key, can't waste any if you need to get upfield, or get a bit wider.
 
I guess it depends what you think a sub-par lineman is.  IMO, most of the centres in the league lately have all been subpar, meaning they'd really suck if you moved them to another spot where they actually ended up blocking someone 1 on 1 on the majority of snaps.  But that's where the snapping part comes in, a guy who can snap very well and consistently can make a career, even if he struggles to make a block.  Just look at a guy like Dominic Picard.  If I had a dime for everytime he's literally been carried through the pocket by a DT, I could pay for my season tickets this year.  Mostly you're just hoping they can be a good speed bump.  Guards need to be more mobile, presumably you want them to be able to get to the 2nd level (LB's, HB's) in run blocking, although there are enough guys around the league lately that don't really have that ability (Kabongo for one).  They both need to be smart enough to know where their block is and guards need to be patient enough in pass protection to not give up their inside gaps.  Patience in OL is a sign of intelligence and football smarts IMO.  This is really what the blitz is all about, challenging the OL to give up their inside gaps and a more direct route to the QB, the QB can read the outside rush, when it's coming right at him there's not much he can do.

...why it's a harder/more demanding position to play. Gotta be able to read the D and call the formation, then snap the ball, then get your head up fast, then beat at least two guys across from you, if not more. It's a tough position. Matt Sheridan was the perfect Guard, 'cause all he had to do was fight. Obby was a pretty good C, 'cause he's a smart dude.

Like the optimism:
Paul Wiecek‏@PaulWiecek·2 mins
"Our big concern is it's going to be a long layoff when we finish first."
-Kyle Walters on his team having a bye in the final week #bn

That's what I said.
 
This whole A,B, C concept was driven by whom exactly?
Will we find that blueprint in the GM's office?
 
No. The whole thing played out the way it did, exactly in that order, because of one thing - Jim Barker releasing Collaros early.
Think about it. If he had not done that, Free Agency would have dictated where QBs ended up --unless a trade was made.
 
However, the frenzy (and it was frenzy) started and virtually guaranteed who would be sought first before Free Agency.
 
The chain of events was Collaros was released, causing Burris's release making Burris target #2 as then the frenzy swirled around him.
 
I'm far from convinced the order would have played out in the same way otherwise.

Cal Murphy's philosophy was don't discard a player until you are convinced you have adequately replaced him. I would suggest Cvetie might fit into that situation.

I really hope they haven't given up on Jade Etienne.  We were just starting to see something from him last year.

If Walters had spent the money necessary to get Burris here, I'd have lost my ****. People on here were freaking out about Walters being taken advantage of by veteran GMs out there, well here's proof that he's not gonna get pushed around. That's a flat-out ******** amount of money to put on a 39 year old QB who Austin just dumped for a nobody. Very VERY glad we said no to that, and I have no doubts there's contingency plans out the wazoo...

Didn't Desjardins sign Casey Printers in Hamilton for something like 500k ? And now over 400k for Burris. I'm glad he's not our GM.

I hope Henry sends a Christmas card to Zach Collaros this year.   He owes him BIG time.  

The coordinators are the least inspiring group I've ever seen, they made a lot of noise about getting a FA qb and struck out on the 2 that hit the market... Walters seems to give up a lot when he trades for pieces... it's just a lot of things starting to form a picture here. 

Not surprised. I know we're not used to paying quarterbacks properly but that's what a legitimate starting QB costs in the CFL and as much as it'd be nice to lowball him, we need him just as much as he needs our money.
 
$350,000 isn't going to cripple us as far as the cap goes.

Neiswander is not in Willy's league by a long shot. He's still very raw and very flawed in his game. Don't want him here whatsoever.

The last time we picked up a proven leader from BC (Barrin Simpson) it played a large part in making our defence, which had been the worst in the league the previous year, respectable. Let's hope history repeats itself.

The last time we picked up a proven leader from BC (Barrin Simpson) it played a large part in making our defence, which had been the worst in the league the previous year, respectable. Let's hope history repeats itself.