17to85

Well the Bombers defense looked OK without him when he was hurt at the end of last year, so yes he is a loss, but not an insurmountable one. Bighill was the straw stirring the drink for the Bomber linebackers, Egauvoen was the guy doing it for the Riders. Had we lost Bighill it would be comparable.

I am going to guess quite a bit, especially Eguavoen. That guy was a damned good linebacker.

but remember, if you wear green glasses it's always someone offering obscene money otherwise everyone would obviously choose Regina.

Soon as the gap in the score widened the Bombers started passing the ball downfield and had some success, not a coincidence. Lapo's MO has been on display for years in the CFL. He's the epitome of a coach not to lose guy and when he was head coach of the bombers they were coached perfectly to barely lose. Hell that's why Nichols had good numbers in the playoffs the 2 years before. Defense was trash so he had to open things up. Guy is too conservative, really wanted him to go be a head coach somewhere else, but sadly we are not so lucky.

All of them? Honestly I'd be shocked if Matthews got much of a chance considering he's been there done that already and had to come back to the CFL once.

For Demski? Always a premium for NIs and he does produce at a reasonable pace so while it might be higher than ideal it's not crazy town numbers.

Good thing Walters has that $200000+ he was offering Ellingson and others in his pocket.

HISHE is a bit hit or miss for me, but honest trailers I find is usually spot on.

Lapo is the best offensive mind in the league when he's down by more than 2 touchdowns. As long as it's close or he's in the lead he's the most risk averse boring conservative coordinator going. The fact that the D was playing so well against Calgary is why they didn't even try and win the game offensively. Tried to play the don't **** up and win with D strategy they did in the semi final, but that works against Saskatchewan, now Bo Levi Mitchell. Guy is going to make a play at some point if you keep giving him chances.

yeah I mis-typed. obviously meant the final, given the talk about the Stamps

He was a guy who was ignored in the offense too until the backup qb threw the ball to a guy he was familiar with. I don't put the blame on Nichols, I put the blame on an offensive coordinator who wanted to feature essentially running backs like Harris, Demski and Dressler. Demski and Dressler being of course receivers, but adept at playing like running backs do. Hell only reason he needed Adams was he needed someone to throw deep too. Like how often does Adams get a pass thrown his way that isn't a deep shot? Not nearly often enough for a guy who is supposed to be one of the teams best if not the best receiver.

How often did they even try running Thompkins deep though? I'd bet that Andrew Harris had more down field attempts his way. Lapo is not the most creative offensive coordinator out there. He thinks speed is what makes a deep threat.

but who else is it about? You're arguing that he's using the SMS wrong essentially. His entire MO his time here has been more about having depth than blowing the wad on a handful of stars. There are guys on this team getting paid top dollar no doubt, but we also have better depth than a lot of teams, and that is where the SMS gets eaten up considering that this team isn't the best at having the dirt cheap depth via scouting.

Yeah the lack of running in the west semi final wasn't on Harris. That was on a bullshit game plan that played right into the what the Stamps D expected the Bombers to do.

because obviously whatever Walters is doing is wrong.

Has Ottawa found much anyway? They got a pile of their receivers through free agency...

So the feds have you by the balls and your plan is to keep trying to bullshit your way out of it? Not a great plan.

Lapo likes to focus on a couple guys and ignore some. Honestly he probably would have continued to ignore Wolitarsky if Streveler hadn't had that connection with him. Dressler, Harris, Demski and Adams, these were the guys Lapo was always going to give the ball to heavily. Harris, Dressler and Demski cause they can take those short passes and gain yards after catching it and Adams cause he was Lapo's deep guy. The other receivers on the field? By and large distractions seeing only the occasional ball their way. Lapo is good at showcasing a few guys but he's not great at using everyone to their full potential.

I'd bring back Nevis for sure, think he could really do well with the Jeffs on the outside.

And if Nichols does falter we have Streveler who showed a hell of a lot of potential to spell him off. Honestly our qb situation is pretty good. Yeah we don't have a guy like Reilly who can do it all himself, but our team isn't built to need one.

We signed more of our own free agents than anyone else. You know who else didn't make many big splashes other than re-signing their own players? Calgary. You know why that is? The teams that have had success prioritize keeping their own pieces rather than raiding other teams. The BCs and Edmontons of the world who weren't as successful made big changes to try and catch up. Always happens. The crappier teams generally make more moves.

Invest in Saskatchewan hospitals. Man between Collaros and Lulay would they even get 18 healthy games?

It's the CFL, every team has big changes every year.

and I think you are wrong. Nichols put up big numbers 2 playoffs in a row and was let down by his defense and this past season it was less Nichols problem and more the game plans problem. Had a good D and Lapo wanted to let them win it and didn't try and challenge the opposing defense. It was a tactical error.

Demski needs to be more like Harris and run through people more often instead of trying to run around them all the time. He does that he'll be a great player in this league. He keeps trying to outrun everyone all the time he will always leave you wanting a bit more. Good player, but needs to toughen up to be a great player.