17to85

Bombers had to settle for field goals early and Hamilton gets the big play kick return and manages to punch their chances into the endzone rather than kicking field goals, that's CFL ball right there. Game looks like it's going one way but a couple plays later it's flipped around.

I don't know who was responsible for calling the last play of the game but that was an insane choice imo. They only needed 3 yards to score, a quick slant in and a bullet to Denmark has better odds than throwing a rainbow across the field to a RB. I was virtually stunned when that play succeeded. The play call was on the brilliant side of basic play calling IMO, as it isolates our RB outside where Drew just has to locate the ball for him. The mistake was Denmark being in the same time zone as Grigby…too many bodies there. However, Denmark did position himself to block out any defender, and Willy absolutely nailed the play of the game by floating the ball over the cover man…perfectly. It's always brilliant when it works. Overall I think that's a low percentage play. Willy knew he had a mismatch with Grigsby's speed there, but it's a very tough throw and one that is going to be broken up at least half the time, I would estimate. Still, we executed it to perfection at least and it paid off. Wouldn't have been my play call and still wouldn't, but it worked as planned. nah it was a good call. Trying to rifle a slant or something in has it's own risks, there's lots of bodies in there to knock the pass down or step in front of a pass or bump the receiver off his route. The play they called really only relied on Grigsby out running the linebacker covering him. The other receiver should have probably be further away but you go up and over the coverage when the target is that open it's a pretty safe play.

No love for Zach Anderson? He's another pure hard work guy. Hell I could list a lot of people I thought had a great game. The fact that they were ever trailing in the game let alone needing a last minute drive to win is kind of puzzling. Aside from that one stretch seemed to me the Bombers were pretty much in control of the whole game.

But I saw a lot of improvement there today as well. Got Grigsby outside more where he is more effective, Cotton was a nice change of pace on a few plays. It's still a work in progress but I think there are some good signs there.

The best part is that even while missing important guys like Moore they don't seem to really notice it, other guys are stepping up. Happening all over the roster and I love it.

yeah hell of a clutch play. Outside the fumble I thought he had a really great game too.

When JFG fumbled the ball late when they were marching I was livid... but not to worry, if you look up clutch in the dictionary they got a picture of Drew Willy

Hell of an athlete but he's a bit of a *****

plenty of people have said exactly that when they try and justify it by saying that if you look at it as Neufeld for a 2nd round pick it's good value.

It was a 2nd round draft pick, and given where the Bombers finished the season it was an early 2nd rounder... Here's the problem I still have with the trade: Walters had all the leverage in that trade. Riders wanted Hall, one of if not the best DE in the league for their playoff push, they were likely to lose Neufeld at least to the expansion draft anyway. Walters jumped the gun and paid too much. Hall and an actual late pick would have been one thing, but Hall and a high 2nd? That's an overpayment for a player the Riders were just trying to get some return on. I felt the same way at the time of the trade, but now I look at it like we got a starting OL for a second round pick... which we probably wouldn't have been able to do if we had kept the pick. We also got a fourth-rounder back in the trade. but you can't ignore Hall in the trade, he was a star player, the fact that he's not in the league now is irrelevant, he helped the Riders to win a Grey Cup, he was a huge part of the trade. Walters seems to me to pay whatever the cost to get his player which can be good or bad. At least he knows what he wants, but you can't always be paying sticker price in trades. Sticker price is sucker price. The thing is, nobody gives up starting OL. It took the first overall pick to pry Jon Gott out of Calgary... he is a good OL but definitely not the best in the league or anything. I believe that you are undervaluing Neufeld at this point. But he wasn't a starter in Saskatchewan and with the expansion draft coming up they were going to lose him anyway. It was them trading a depth player, and yes he was a depth player for them,in order to bolster their defensive line for a playoff run. No way should Walters have been adding a 2nd round pick. 4th round pick now we're talking, but not a 2nd. I'm guessing if the roles were reversed you might not be too happy about giving up a Canadian Olineman for a guy who was headed to the NFL in two months. Both teams had something the other team wanted. Not sure were really had them over any barrels. Not a lot of teams lining up to give us a Canadian Olineman. Maybe they had us over a barrel. If I was on the otherside I'd still be basking in the glow of a championship team. It's disgraceful that people are trying to insinuate that Hall had no value. Walters got antsy to make the move and didn't play hardball and paid more than he could have.

There is no such thing as an easy win in the CFL. Sure there is. We used to be the free spot on the Bingo card. You think Hamilton right now is as bad as we were last year? Pretty close to as bad. The Jim Daley Bombers weren't as bad as last years Bombers, The Redblacks aren't as bad as last years Bombers and the ticats certainly aren't anywhere close to as bad as last years Bombers.

It was a 2nd round draft pick, and given where the Bombers finished the season it was an early 2nd rounder... Here's the problem I still have with the trade: Walters had all the leverage in that trade. Riders wanted Hall, one of if not the best DE in the league for their playoff push, they were likely to lose Neufeld at least to the expansion draft anyway. Walters jumped the gun and paid too much. Hall and an actual late pick would have been one thing, but Hall and a high 2nd? That's an overpayment for a player the Riders were just trying to get some return on. I felt the same way at the time of the trade, but now I look at it like we got a starting OL for a second round pick... which we probably wouldn't have been able to do if we had kept the pick. We also got a fourth-rounder back in the trade. but you can't ignore Hall in the trade, he was a star player, the fact that he's not in the league now is irrelevant, he helped the Riders to win a Grey Cup, he was a huge part of the trade. Walters seems to me to pay whatever the cost to get his player which can be good or bad. At least he knows what he wants, but you can't always be paying sticker price in trades. Sticker price is sucker price. The thing is, nobody gives up starting OL. It took the first overall pick to pry Jon Gott out of Calgary... he is a good OL but definitely not the best in the league or anything. I believe that you are undervaluing Neufeld at this point. But he wasn't a starter in Saskatchewan and with the expansion draft coming up they were going to lose him anyway. It was them trading a depth player, and yes he was a depth player for them,in order to bolster their defensive line for a playoff run. No way should Walters have been adding a 2nd round pick. 4th round pick now we're talking, but not a 2nd.

It was a 2nd round draft pick, and given where the Bombers finished the season it was an early 2nd rounder... Here's the problem I still have with the trade: Walters had all the leverage in that trade. Riders wanted Hall, one of if not the best DE in the league for their playoff push, they were likely to lose Neufeld at least to the expansion draft anyway. Walters jumped the gun and paid too much. Hall and an actual late pick would have been one thing, but Hall and a high 2nd? That's an overpayment for a player the Riders were just trying to get some return on. I felt the same way at the time of the trade, but now I look at it like we got a starting OL for a second round pick... which we probably wouldn't have been able to do if we had kept the pick. We also got a fourth-rounder back in the trade. but you can't ignore Hall in the trade, he was a star player, the fact that he's not in the league now is irrelevant, he helped the Riders to win a Grey Cup, he was a huge part of the trade. Walters seems to me to pay whatever the cost to get his player which can be good or bad. At least he knows what he wants, but you can't always be paying sticker price in trades. Sticker price is sucker price.

It was a 2nd round draft pick, and given where the Bombers finished the season it was an early 2nd rounder... Here's the problem I still have with the trade: Walters had all the leverage in that trade. Riders wanted Hall, one of if not the best DE in the league for their playoff push, they were likely to lose Neufeld at least to the expansion draft anyway. Walters jumped the gun and paid too much. Hall and an actual late pick would have been one thing, but Hall and a high 2nd? That's an overpayment for a player the Riders were just trying to get some return on.

Do you think WIlly would have done OK here last year? Honest question.....

There is no such thing as an easy win in the CFL.

When the head coach doesn't believe in his players you get what we saw last year, a team that had no heart, no desire and an amazing ability to just give up you know why? Because the head coach had given up before the game even started. Look how different it is with O'Shea? He believes in the players, he lets them go out and make plays to win football games, he never uses excuses. Ravaged by injuries and getting really deep into the depth chart.... doesn't matter the coach thinks they should all be able to start so it's just next guy up make some plays. That trickles down through the entire team. Any one who doubts just how bad Burke was as head coach after seeing what O'Shea has managed to do is just flat out not paying attention. There haven't been THAT many changes to the roster you can pin it all on that.

For sure. He played a bit of halfback here in 2010, I think, and he wasn't very good at it... but that's 4 years ago. I'm not sure how he has been doing in Hamilton so far. Stewart was always one of those big athletic guys here who seemed to have trouble grasping the intricacies of the postiion. Not sure putting him in a more difficult position is the way to go.

How can Higgins do his job when he's already got the axe hanging over his head before the season even started? What a clusterfuck of a situation.

Teague Sherman being a good example of this. Guy is coming along quite nicely. I think the biggest thing the CFL needs to look into is better ways for teams to develop NIs without having to keep them on the roster if they're not quite ready to play.

under rating Spezza or over rating Schiefele? I don't like that comparison one bit. Neither. Spezza had three great seasons. IMO Scheifele's top end is what Spezza was over the rest of his career. The rest of Spezzas career was pretty ******* good too though except for injuries...73 in 82, 57 in 60, 57 in 62, 84 in 80, hell even 66 in 75 last year. This is a guy who had a few seasons over PPG and then hovered around or just below PPG the rest of the time. I don't see Scheifele reaching that level for more than a short spurt.

under rating Spezza or over rating Schiefele? I don't like that comparison one bit. But here's some other interesting names for people to consider since Toews and Kane like to get brought up because of the Hawks winning ways... Kopitar was something like 11th overall, Bergeron was a 2nd round pick, Mike Richards was a later first round pick (though that was a freakishly good draft year), Getzlaf was a mid-late first rounder (but again stupidly good draft year) Claude Giroux was a late first round pick. We could go on but I think the point stands. You don't NEED the really high draft picks to get top players... it helps no doubt but if you have good development you can get good players anyway.

Duncan Keith was drafted in the 2nd round.... Outside of Doughty and Peitrangelo how many top defensemen are actually taken in those top spots anyway? A hell of a lot of them come from the middle of the first round.

hey we've all been victims around here... victims of Tim Burke, Mike Kelly, Jim Daley... etc etc etc

Look at it this way, Bryant was on the roster to replace Kelly, Kelly is now back so he takes his WR spot back, but Moore goes out with injury so Bryant replaces him at his slotback position. It's continuity. Quite frankly I don't see Kelly as a slotback type anyway. Use him to be big on deep routes one on one, it's what he's good at, I think Bryant can be more versatile in the middle.