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I ain't saying Coates didn't do well, I'm saying it is irresponsible to rely on that guy when you have Harris and Flanders in the backfield and an OL that has been damned good all season. How can people watch the Bombers and not see the problems that Lapo has had all the along and continues to have? He waits until he is in a hole to open things up, can you imagine if he tried that before they get behind the 8 ball? That is my frustration with the guy and it is a huge problem. How many times has this team won without the D coming up with turn overs for the offense? This team has some ratio problems on D and is happy to throw out too many rookies in the backfield, that puts Ritchie Hall in a tough spot. Now I don't care if they fire him or not, but I trust him to make smart decisions and adjust more than I trust lapolice. Honestly I'd replace em both, but acting like Lapo is fine and Hall is the only problem is bullshit. They're both cut from the same cloth, difference is Hall is more willing to change things.

you can hide weaknesses on O a lot easier than you can on D. For example, OL and RB strength of the team and weakness for the esks is run D, let's use that to our advantage rather than trying to make Matt Coates a focal point of the offense. But what do you do on D when you have 2 rookies on the same side of your backfield and a safety that doesn't provide help over the top and a plugger at middle linebacker? how do you scheme around that?

The fact that I don't just blindly look at the box scores and see 500 yards and think the offense was fine is all the proof I need to know that I am more objective than most here. Everyone is looking only at the D, but that's bullshit and always has been. You would think that if the O was doing so great they woulda got more than 10 points in the first half. They got 16 points in the 4th quarter, the teams mental collapse happened in the 3rd quarter, all those yards and points they got in the 4th were lipstick on the pig, which is a Lapo speciality. The guy is a loser, it's because he's too passive and constantly is his own worst enemy. Mark my words we will never win a championship with him as OC. He couldn't do it with swaggerville what chance does he have now?

I would argue that leading the league in turnovers is the defense doing it's job....

If they make it on that fake though it's a gut punch to the other team. It's football, you can't sit back and hope for the best all the time, sometimes you gotta take your chances. Make the play and gain momentum. In a hard fought evenly matched game (which it was for the most part) it comes down to who makes the big plays and who doesn't.

Did you watch it? Rookies making mistakes in coverage is hard to blame on the defensive coordinator. Missed tackles are hard to blame on the defensive coordinator. He's not calling a game to make those mistakes. That's on players. I also doubt that Ritchie Hall is driving the strange deployment of the depth chart on game days. That one I put on O'Shea. But the problems on offense.... not committing to running the ball, bullshit redzone play calling, throwing short of first downs all the damned time until we have no choice but to try and make up a deficit... That's on Lapo because it's been a Lapo trademark his entire career as a coach which spans almost 2 bloody decades.

They scored 10 points in the first half did they not? How about they try running on the first series rather than a 2 and out? How about scoreing a touchdown instead of a field goal because your OC took away your best weapon? I mean christ they coulda taken a lead early on, how does that change things? Momentum is huge in sport and Lapo doesn't do anything until he's behind. Same **** on Sunday. We got down on the scoreboard and I said to Noeller "OK here comes good Lapo now" and look at all the meaningless yards they got at the end of the game after the team had already collapsed. It matters when when you gain yards and points than the total.

highest scoring team when taking into account points that the D scored....

It's the same as when he was head coach here, good enough to barely lose. This team needed turnovers by the D to win all the time the last few years, that's because Lapo has a loser mentality and plays not to lose rather than playing to win. You were happy to see them complete 2 balls and then punt on the first frive? pound it down the esks throat and build momentum rather than giving it to them right away. How about the drive where Harris carried the team into the redzone and then they went away from him and kicked a field goal? Why try and hit the endzone when we can kick 3s? Lapo is a bigger problem than Hall. Problems on the D are more related to players and their usage than the coach, but the problems on O are coaching problems. Top rb and top OL and we don't commit to a run game, WTF is that? Especially when your top receiver is hurt and you killed the other team running all year. **** Lapo he is as much to blame as Hall.

You keep winning double digit games sooner or later you will get to the big show and win that one. Stability is key and right now the team is pretty stable. OL is solid with some depth around, got a qb that the team has unquestioned faith in, got the base of a good DL in place, the foundation is there. There will be changes as there always are, right now it's just finding the right mix in other areas. I think we need some more impact Canadian players truthfully. Especially when Westerman went down the ratio situation on this team got a bit dicey... There's a lot of depth in this teams Canadians, but they really are lacking some of the real high end Canadians throughout the lineup. Could use Ekakitie stepping up and being a legit full time guy on the DL and maybe we need to have someone step up and allow 3 on the OL, maybe even find another receiver options and go 2 there so we can stop having to shoe horn the muckers in all over the D.

I am all on board for changing it up on D, as long as Lapo goes too. Both coordinators are too into the "don't **** up, try not to lose" mentality for my liking and if we're changing one better change em both and get some guys who are willing to go for it to try and win and dictate games.

Lapo held the offense back full stop by over thinking things and doing the DCs job for them by stopping what's working. There was no reason to not pound Harris and Flanders all first half cause it worked all season vs. Edmonton and it worked when they did it against them this game too, they were just too quick to not do it. Lapolice is just good enough to make you think he's great but we will never win a cup with him as offensive coordinator because he is a loser.

but after this long is there any hope of that for Lapo? I don't believe people can change their personalities.

So I know that Hall is the whipping boy, but it's interesting to me that so many people are pegging it on being not aggressive enough... I saw a too aggressive game plan vs. Edmonton to be honest. They blitzed and they blitzed a ton and Reilly just made plays down field. Likely woulda done better actually playing that passive game. Also I am pretty sure I saw Bowman catch 2 touchdowns because the rookie side of our backfield made the wrong call and left him uncovered. Is that on the coordinator or rookie mistakes? Maybe we need to stop and ask ourselves why we are always playing a bunch of rookies in the secondary and how many busts that causes... Once again people aren't being critical of the offense but come on, if Lapo stuck with Harris there was a chance to get a lead in that game, but no we come out throwing and have 2 completions and still punt the ball, then we pound Harris down their throats and stop using him in the redzone and kick a field goal rather than giving ourselves a shot at the touchdown. It's **** like that holds this team back more than anything. Lapo outsmarts himself and does the defensive coordinators job for him by stopping what's working before the D actually stops it.

would also help to have an offensive coordinator who doesn't stop using his runningbacks when they get into the red zone.

The arrogance from Carter and the Riders is astounding, as is the arrogance from the Esks, man I do love to see those arrogant types get what's coming to them.

yeah I agree, I think if you make him be a pocket passer he'll get impatient and force something he shouldn't. Guy is always the most dangerous when he's scrambling.

Booooo Saskatchewan! I ain't cheering for Ottawa to win, I'm cheering for the Riders to find new and interesting ways to make fools of themselves.

Remember what Vince Lombardi said, if you lose, you're out of the family!

plus maas lost his shine when they took away all the coaches challenges as well.

OMG PANIC!!!!!!

yeah but you probably only get it because of family guy or something. Just watch the damned movies already, you won't regret it.

1722 yards from scrimmage for Harris this year and 7 touchdowns vs. 1775 yards from scrimmage for Roberts in 02 and 11 touchdowns... And Roberts wasn't the unquestioned key to the offense like Harris is for this team so I dunno that I can agree with this notion that Harris 2017 is better than 2002 Blink.

On the other hand Reilly was there for every game for the Esks and it's no secret that guy is the key to Edmontons success.

MOS after saying that: