17to85

well this is a tough call. Kelly pulls his disappearing act a lot, but man Bryant and Willy have no chemistry at all and every time they've tried to go deep to Bryant the ball has been about 10 yards away from him.

There are lots of individual plays that can sum up the problems people have with Grigsby... one happened in a recent game, he had a hole from the OL and he hit that hole, but a defensive lineman got a hand on him and rather than shaking off an arm tackle like every other RB in the league can do down he goes for 3 yards. He keeps on his feet at minor contact and he probably runs for at least 10 yards maybe more. It's not asking too much to expect a running back to be able to run through arm tackles, but Grigsby goes down on contact way way too easily. I suspect he just has terrible balance.

The reason for trying to make a splash in free agency before you host the Grey Cup is a pretty simple one... Make that big sexy signing and get fans excited about the season and the Grey Cup and sell more tickets to the game. It's nothing new, if fans expect the home team has a chance to play in the game they'll sell more tickets more quickly.

It's not better than last year just because, it's better than last year because it's better than last year. We've used the same qb every game this year, that alone is leaps and bounds better than last year, and he's even performed well! The team doesn't just roll over and die this year. It's better than last year because the bar last year was set so incredibly low. I don't disagree & even agree with you to a large extent 17 but like TBurg said that alone shouldn't be good enough. This team is better in some areas like qb but on the OL other than Morley it's the same or even worse than last season. We can't consistently stop the run & I think at times this season last year's defense under Casey Creehan has played better than this year's version under Etch. And for me to say that The Crazy Man had a better defense well, that's an indictment on the work Etch has been doing & the kind of schemes he runs along with the kind of personnel he likes. I really do think that there are much better DC's out there that would do a better job than what we have now. I can live with MB as an OC but not Etcheverry as DC. You are letting your bias against Etch cloud your judgement here. I don't like it either and ideally we'd have someone else there, but the D with all it's warts has been a lot better than we got last year. There has been a lot of progress made this year, enough that there shouldn't be criticism of it. Now if they don't improve the depth and their recruiting in the offseason then we will talk about whether or not there has been enough, but for one year considering the mess that was going on here it's plenty. You have to keep in mind how unappealing a destination Winnipeg was. It was always going to take time to get away from that.

that is taman MO. backups are a great place to save money I didn't mention that in my post, but there is very likely some truth in your statement. Durant is very durable, probably there were some costs savings in mind also considering how little the Riders ever play a backup. Durants age also a factor, by the time DD was done Willy would have been past his prime. There is no question about it, saw it all the time when he was in Winnipeg. Guy pays his starters great, but saves money on the depth. Goes for more than QB too. I don't think it was an entirely bad move on his part with Saskatchewan either. They were already breaking the cap and guys would need raises and I am sure he had an inkling that Dressler might make his way back from the NFL. With Durant being as durable as he has been no one would consider it likely he'd see his season end permanently. They took a gamble and lost but it wasn't really a terrible gamble. They had to save money somewhere (if they wanted to even make an attempt at looking like they were being cap compliant)

he inherited Durant that's the only one. His usual MO if he needs to find his own qb is look around the league at backups and get one of them in hopes they can start. Worked out pretty well for him with Khari Jones and Kevin Glenn. Now my timing is fuzzy, but was Taman the Riders GM when they brought in Drew Willy?

Throw in a few obligatory curse words and this is basically a post I would make.

that is taman MO. backups are a great place to save money

and it's that stupid notion that is the reason you don't see the progress. I'm not over stating anything,you are simply choosing to believe that wins are the only thing that demonstrates progress and that is a ******* stupid mentality. It's not a stupid notion. W's are how teams are judged, unless there aren't enough W's for a positive spin, then folks like you are forced to look for something else point towards progress. It's not black and white either. I see some progress, just not enough to say we're moving in the right direction or that we're that much better than last year. it is a stupid notion. It completely disregards how bad the team was last year. They are absolutely moving in the right direction and we are THAT much better than last year. Give up the idea that wins and losses are the only way to judge progress and you'll see it. We have a qb we know we can win with, we have what appears to be a good head coach who has the team believing in him. When healthy this team was winning a lot of close games, when injuries started piling up they're losing mostly close games. That tells me this team came a long way from being blown out before half time and that with some improved depth and the upgrades that come as a result of that this team is not far off winning more often. It's a process and steps forward are steps forward even if they haven't translated into a 12 win season.

how do they calculate PI penalty yardage? Say a DB takes a PI penalty 40 yards down field, is that 40 yards in penalties? If so then I'd suspect DBs will always be at a disadvantage in terms of penalty yardage.

You're doing it again. Making up things that i neither said nor implied then arguing your side of your made up story. No one, including me, expected the team to become good in one season. Far from it. We didn't make enough of the right changes in the off season IMHO and we haven't made enough changes during the season. I didn't expect an instant fix and I'm not bitching that it isn't faster than can be reasonably expected. None of those things have anything to do with how much or how little better we are than last year anyway. If you haul your head outta your hiney you might be able to follow along. My perspective is... We're still not good enough. We're in a downward death spiral. That's not the right direction. We're doing nothing about it this year. We're hoping to get better in the off season from the draft, free agency, and scouting new players.... Just like every other team in the CFL. No you're basically disregarding the progress the team has made and insisting that wins and losses are the only thing that really matters. What I said is exactly what you are saying. You need to expand your focus and look at the big picture. I'm not disregarding the progress. I'm just not overstating it like you are. The big picture is we still aren't good enough and that we still have a long ways to go. W's are the only thing that matters. and it's that stupid notion that is the reason you don't see the progress. I'm not over stating anything,you are simply choosing to believe that wins are the only thing that demonstrates progress and that is a ******* stupid mentality.

I know where my money is based on the calibre of sports reporters in this city. Why watch practise when you tell the GM to just sign Heenan?

You're doing it again. Making up things that i neither said nor implied then arguing your side of your made up story. No one, including me, expected the team to become good in one season. Far from it. We didn't make enough of the right changes in the off season IMHO and we haven't made enough changes during the season. I didn't expect an instant fix and I'm not bitching that it isn't faster than can be reasonably expected. None of those things have anything to do with how much or how little better we are than last year anyway. If you haul your head outta your hiney you might be able to follow along. My perspective is... We're still not good enough. We're in a downward death spiral. That's not the right direction. We're doing nothing about it this year. We're hoping to get better in the off season from the draft, free agency, and scouting new players.... Just like every other team in the CFL. No you're basically disregarding the progress the team has made and insisting that wins and losses are the only thing that really matters. What I said is exactly what you are saying. You need to expand your focus and look at the big picture.

They've already pulled Tino though. How confident are they really? I think the performance last game was convincing enough. Who knows, he could crap the bed again. But I think he has been a lot more confident since the Calgary game. replace last game with against Ottawa and how is that any different? You'll forgive me if I dismiss your opinion as uninformed, you were afterall on here just a week ago talking about how Doege was the man and better than Sunseri.

Like I said, you need some perspective. The team isn't a little bit better than last year, it's a LOT better than last year, but last year was so bad there was a long way to go and expecting a huge turn around in one season was pie in the sky wishful thinking. It takes time to go from historically bad to good, but you seem to think they should have done it in one offseason? Seriously? They've made a lot of progress this year, if they make a similar amount of progress next year then aren't they close to being the team you want them to be? There was never an instant fix for this team, things were so bad it was going to be a slow process, why start bitching when the process isn't faster than can be reasonably expected? Oh I know! It's because you're head is so far up your ass all you see is ****.

If you're just trying to measure progress then all you can do is look at where they are starting from and gauge whether or not they are headed in the right direction. We should be comparing our team against the other teams in the league this year, not against last years historically horrible team. If we'd gone 1-5 in the first third and 5-1 in the second third, then I'd say we are heading in the right direction and I'd be pretty pumped about our chances of making the playoffs this year. That's not what's happened. We pulled out some late comebacks in the 1st third of the season and we've been heading in the wrong direction since then, culminating in a bad loss to the former worst team in the league. That's way more important than how we look compared to last years losers. Quite frankly, this team isn't much better than last years team. Willy's the biggest difference between 3 and 6 wins and neither record is good enough. You are wrong on all counts here. You compare to where you started from not where others are. This is trying to rebuild a historically bad team let us not forget. This team is leaps and bounds better than last year, but as you said, last year was historically bad. Seriously if you don't think this team is much better than last year I would suggest you actually go watch some of the games from last year again and make that comment. This team has played in close games all season, they won some early and lost some lately, but considering the situation the team was in last year, that's a giant step forward and it's not a lot of steps more until they are a good team that is winning more of the close games and winning more games by good margins. Perspective, you need it.

That's great and all but where's the running backs? Picked up some DL, some OL, some receivers, that's good but we need to be looking at runningbacks as well.

If you're just trying to measure progress then all you can do is look at where they are starting from and gauge whether or not they are headed in the right direction.

It's not better than last year just because, it's better than last year because it's better than last year. We've used the same qb every game this year, that alone is leaps and bounds better than last year, and he's even performed well! The team doesn't just roll over and die this year. It's better than last year because the bar last year was set so incredibly low.

he's not THE problem but he is A problem

The only thing I would add to this is that I would like to see a better back than Grigsby starting for us. Someone who can run through arm tackles.

Did anyone listen to the piece on Kuale they did on the CJOB pregame show before I think it was the Banjo Bowl? Really hammered home my belief that the guy is just way too dumb to know when he's actually ****** up.

I actually think the OL now is better than the one Khari had for most of his time here and that never stopped the offense from being one of the most dangerous in the league. Having a RB who can break tackles and receivers who can make plays does a hell of a lot.that line had the one of the best tackles in the league on it Dave Mudge but he's just one guy. Remember who was at the other tackle?

Not even a thought worth this response, but I am bored. Tanking the CFL doesn't happen, with a single elimination playoffs all you need to do is make the playoffs and then go on a 3 game win streak and you're champions. For a draft that is as much of a crap shoot as the CFL draft is tanking is just worthless.