iso_55

Simmons had one day of reps with the defense. I don't think we'd activate him just to play on ST. He wasn't deemed good enough to play ST in Calgary. You have to ask yourself why?

Arbour was a great coach. He took an expansion team with no talent other than Denis Potvin that first year (1972-73) to 4 consecutive Stanley Cup championships (1980-83). I don't think any other NHL coach ever did that. In my opinion, he was as good a coach as Scotty Bowman & right up there with the best.

I loved when Hamilton lost. Especially with all the hype from TSN. They had crowned them GC champions. Trouble is, the GC is played at the end of November & not the end of August. Teams like Toronto, Edmonton & Calgary will only get better & they will stand in Hamilton's way. I'm thinking the Cats may have peaked.

Sean Whyte. I don't get this move... I don't think it's good when an International is used as a kicker.

I honestly can't tell if you're being serious here. The runs I saw had him tackled by his foot a few times, and stopped while trying to push for more yards. Also don't forget about his last carry where he tried to go outside (when nothing was there) and ended losing yards that took them out of field goal range. I was being facetious. You couldn't tell? Grigsby sucks.

Aren't there some National kickers available with CFL experience we could have brought in?

Yes. As another poster said, Mtl is in turmoil. Ottawa has the same problem as us, unproven coaching. If Ottawa has an edge on us I believe it is Henry Burris and his experience. We don't have a veteran leader like that, someone that can teach the players how to win. We have to rely on Mike O'Shea for that and thusfar the results have been sporadic at best. Marcel Bellefeuille could have been that guy but I don't think he is up to the challenge either. We sorely lack the coaching and/or veteran leadership required. I wish we had a Buono type here to serve as an adviser to O'Shea. We also have a multiple time Grey Cup champion defensive coordinator with a couple decades of CFL experience. True. It's ST that really baffles me. With O'Shea's experience as ST coach and him bringing in his pal, Pat Tracey, I can't understand why ST play has been so poor this year. Calgary will feast on our STs if that doesn't change fast. Interesting scenario next year in Calgary with Dave Dickenson taking over as HC with the Stamps. Will he bring back his brother Craig as ST Coordinator & let Mark Killam go? Killam is a pretty good young coach & has had a lot of success with the Stamps as ST Coordinator. He may be available. Or Dave just may decide to leave the present Stamps coaching staff in place.

Nice to see Angie Mosca getting the recognition he deserves before he dies. Can anyone tell me why it took the Ti Cats 43 years to retire his number?? If they haven't been then the Ti Cats need to retire #9 qb Joe Zuger, #75 flanker Tommy Joe Coffey #61 defensive tackle John Barrow & #26 safety & wide receiver Garney Henley. I think they've retired #10 qb Bernie Faloney's number.

Exactly, it's just time to see what he can do. THAT'S ALL. No.. Its not nor does it have to be.. Frankly I don't see a ton of people clamoring for him to get reps..not sure why people here are attempting to imply we NEED to.. We need to rebuild the OL thru FA & the draft so if we can get our 2014 #1 pick on the starting roster it makes us a better team.

Grigsby looked like a world beater tonite. Running hard up the middle & to the outside breaking tackles. A real threat catching the football tonite out of the backfield. Pass me that second bottle of rum ,I completely finished the first one. #thingsalwayslookdifferentinthemorning

I know the saying but I don't know how it can be relevant to this discussion. In the past 25 years, the Stamps have never had an OL as bad as the Bombers. Since 1990, the team's OL has always been a strength year in & year out. they always had a veteran group playing up front. So, they could bring in young players & groom them to start for 2 1/2 decades with the veterans playing ahead of them. The Stamps the past two years have lost impact players on their offensive line like Dmitri Tsoumpas, Brent Jones, Jon Gott & Stanley Bryant & had backup players ready to replace them. Winnipeg has never had that luxury. They never had the talent or the depth teams like Calgary have had. The Bombers have to find players who can play now. Having a player developing is nice but it's hard for the Bombers to do that. Hence the signing of Stanley Bryant & paying a premium to get him. So again, you can't compare Winnipeg's OL to Calgary & how the Stamps built theirs. It's completely different. The point is that to have the depth, you have to build the depth. And that takes time, both for the whole unit to come together and for individual players to develop. The only irrelevant point here is the one about Bryant, because imports aren't given time to develop. There's no premium on them, there's literally 5000 offensive linemen coming out of NCAA each year. They can play or they aren't pros. I know the saying but I don't know how it can be relevant to this discussion. In the past 25 years, the Stamps have never had an OL as bad as the Bombers. Since 1990, the team's OL has always been a strength year in & year out. they always had a veteran group playing up front. So, they could bring in young players & groom them to start for 2 1/2 decades with the veterans playing ahead of them. The Stamps the past two years have lost impact players on their offensive line like Dmitri Tsoumpas, Brent Jones, Jon Gott & Stanley Bryant & had backup players ready to replace them. Winnipeg has never had that luxury. They never had the talent or the depth teams like Calgary have had. The Bombers have to find players who can play now. Having a player developing is nice but it's hard for the Bombers to do that. Hence the signing of Stanley Bryant & paying a premium to get him. So again, you can't compare Winnipeg's OL to Calgary & how the Stamps built theirs. It's completely different. The point is that to have the depth, you have to build the depth. And that takes time, both for the whole unit to come together and for individual players to develop. The only irrelevant point here is the one about Bryant, because imports aren't given time to develop. There's no premium on them, there's literally 5000 offensive linemen coming out of NCAA each year. They can play or they aren't pros. When you sign a high impact FA player during free agency team's pay a premium because they're competing against other teams for that player.

Exactly, it's just time to see what he can do. THAT'S ALL.

Excellent synopsis. And I snorted and laughed when you said the last sentence, as you sound like every Albertan I met this summer. Yeah, it was time to turf those @$$... Tories. The Liberals are a joke in this province. They had no leader going into the election so they brought back a retread interim leader who quit years ago. The only party that was a viable alternative to a lot of people were the NDP. The Wildrose Party is still new & trying to reinvent itself from a socially conservative party with a lot of religious zealots to a more a more inclusive centrist right wing party if that makes sense. Just that people remembered that "lake of fire" comment from the 2012 election & want nothing to with Wild Rose. And their leader was elected a day or so before the spring election was called & virtually no one knew him. So, people turned to the NDP. I expect the WRP to be a lot stronger, their leader will be familiar with everyone & absolutely ready to win the next Alberta provincial election in 2019 or whenever the NDP call an election. It'll be a 2 party race with the Tories absolutely crushed like they should be.

I asked a simple question - what are the other two guys doing that is better than this Harper guy - and all I got was another barf-back of the same tired propaganda that I've seen on a dozen other sites. I don't care about all the bad stuff Harper has supposedly done, I want to know that the other two guys aren't going to be even worse. So it may be counter to what I believe to just continue to post the same nonsense over and over again rather than post positive stuff about the other two guys when asked for positive stuff about the other two guys, but so what. That's my opinion, take it or leave it. You don't have to justify anything to anyone here, kbf. You're doing fine. Please continue to carry on.

that's a deal breaker for me. You shouldn't take that at face value. The Conservatives are still increasing health care spending each year, they just cut the amount of increase each year. It's still increasing funding. If health care is such an important issue I suggest taking more of an interest in provincial politics since it is a provincial responsibility. I dunno man, polls show Quebec is still fully on board with the NDP and now BC seems to be joining their party. Damned granola eating hippy tree huggers and french losers. Hey man, we've rejected those Dipper-doughbrains in four provincial elections in a row now. You should be the one talking, with all of that ugly orange crap currently sitting in Edmonton as your government. Hey don't blame me, my riding elected a conservatives and the wild rose candidate came in second. It's the nutjobs in Edmonton and inner city Calgary largely responsible for that clusterfuck. Nah, I'd say AB PC corruption & entitlement, Prentice calling an election a year early despite a fixed election date with opposition parties in a flux leadership wise & not expecting an election for another year, Prentice telling Albertans to look in a mirror & blaming everybody for the financial mess in the province but himself & his gawd awful party, freezing funding to education & health care & 44 years in power thinking they will never lose was the true clusterfuck that brought the PC's down. Prentice campaigning on bringing in a budget of tax hikes & budget cuts that nobody liked. The NDP was in the right place at the right time as voters said No Way & brought down the mighty PC party.. But don't blame me as I voted Wild Rose.

Kristian Matte was a first round pick in 2010 and didn't start until this year for Montreal. Bad pick??So, your point? We need to see what Goosen can do. What's Matte have to do with it.My point is that whether he is a bad pick or not cannot be determined this early in his career. I was using Matte as an example to illustrate that it can take time for a young Canadian OL to develop... Sometimes in the order of several years.Teams like Calgary & Montreal who used to have a strong OL can afford to wait 5 years for a draft pick to develop. Please don't compare Winnipeg's OL to the Stamps or Als. We desperately need our draft picks (especially the OL) to contribute & start quickly. We can't afford to develop a player for 5 years. So, while your point may be valid, it's difficult to apply it to the Bombers. So your argument is that to develop a great line like Calgary or Montreal, we should employ the total opposite draft strategy and only aim for picks ready to start right now? Seems counter intuitive to me. I don't know why we're even discussing this. The Bombers can't afford to wait on a draft pick for 5 years. It's a ridiculous premise. We don't have a 90 man roster where you can put project player after project player on some list getting them ready to play someday. We have a 5 million dollar salary cap & a limited roster. At some point a player has to show he belongs or he's cut because teams don't have the financial resources to spend on long, long term developmental players. And it's long before five years. The player you named in Montreal was lucky the Als gave him the time to develop as he's an exception. Most players don't get that luxury with Winnipeg or other teams. I think you're missing the point - Calgary and Montreal don't have that model because of where they are. They are where they are because of that model. You're putting the cart before the horse or however that old person saying goes. I know the saying but I don't know how it can be relevant to this discussion. In the past 25 years, the Stamps have never had an OL as bad as the Bombers. Since 1990, the team's OL has always been a strength year in & year out. they always had a veteran group playing up front. So, they could bring in young players & groom them to start for 2 1/2 decades with the veterans playing ahead of them. The Stamps the past two years have lost impact players on their offensive line like Dmitri Tsoumpas, Brent Jones, Jon Gott & Stanley Bryant & had backup players ready to replace them. Winnipeg has never had that luxury. They never had the talent or the depth teams like Calgary have had. The Bombers have to find players who can play now. Having a player developing is nice but it's hard for the Bombers to do that. Hence the signing of Stanley Bryant & paying a premium to get him. So again, you can't compare Winnipeg's OL to Calgary & how the Stamps built theirs. It's completely different.

This is kind of an argument for ranking calgary low The Stamps OL shouldn't be ranked 9th. BLM would be sacked incessantly & beaten to a pulp but he's not. The team wouldn't be 6-2 if the line wasn't doing a good job. Thing of it is, only Stanley Bryant the right tackle won't be coming back this season but the rest of the injured starters will be back come playoff time. So, they'll be good to go again. And... those backups who played & are playing well will have a whole bunch of experience & will be ready to be called on again if needed. Sad part is, some of our starters would have a hard time making the Stamps playing roster. The Stamps OL was decimated the past 2 years with the departure of Jon Gott, Stanley Bryant & Brent Jones. Now the injuries this season to Edwin Harrison, Dan Federkeil, Shane Bergman & Brander Craighead who were all starters. Guys like Brad Erdos, John Estes, Gary Williams & even Paul Swiston have stepped in & played well. Considering this was not even close to the OL the Stamps had starting the season they've done a very good job. Depth & talent has got the Stamps by. Why the hell don't we have that? The Stamps basically rebuilt their O Line since the start of this season. Why is it taking half a decade & counting to rebuild ours?? I can tell you why. The Stamps have the best personnel guy in the CFL who we fired in John Murphy. He knows the CIS cold as well as every free agent out there. He has contacts everywhere & he uses them. That's why. It's amazing the talent he brings in. We had him & now he's in Calgary helping to make them a championship team. John Murphy has been rumoured to become a GM in the CFL for a few years now. I wonder which team gives him that opportunity and when? I'd love the guy here but I know it won't happen. In my second post quoted, I said the Stamps lost Stanley Bryant for the year. My mistake as I meant Edwin Harrison. Bryant is of course, a Blue Bomber.

Kristian Matte was a first round pick in 2010 and didn't start until this year for Montreal. Bad pick??So, your point? We need to see what Goosen can do. What's Matte have to do with it.My point is that whether he is a bad pick or not cannot be determined this early in his career. I was using Matte as an example to illustrate that it can take time for a young Canadian OL to develop... Sometimes in the order of several years.Teams like Calgary & Montreal who used to have a strong OL can afford to wait 5 years for a draft pick to develop. Please don't compare Winnipeg's OL to the Stamps or Als. We desperately need our draft picks (especially the OL) to contribute & start quickly. We can't afford to develop a player for 5 years. So, while your point may be valid, it's difficult to apply it to the Bombers. So your argument is that to develop a great line like Calgary or Montreal, we should employ the total opposite draft strategy and only aim for picks ready to start right now? Seems counter intuitive to me. I don't know why we're even discussing this. The Bombers can't afford to wait on a draft pick for 5 years. It's a ridiculous premise. We don't have a 90 man roster where you can put project player after project player on some list getting them ready to play someday. We have a 5 million dollar salary cap & a limited roster. At some point a player has to show he belongs or he's cut because teams don't have the financial resources to spend on long, long term developmental players. And it's long before five years. The player you named in Montreal was lucky the Als gave him the time to develop as he's an exception. Most players don't get that luxury with Winnipeg or other teams.

Kristian Matte was a first round pick in 2010 and didn't start until this year for Montreal. Bad pick??So, your point? We need to see what Goosen can do. What's Matte have to do with it. My point is that whether he is a bad pick or not cannot be determined this early in his career. I was using Matte as an example to illustrate that it can take time for a young Canadian OL to develop... Sometimes in the order of several years. Teams like Calgary & Montreal who used to have a strong OL can afford to wait 5 years for a draft pick to develop. Please don't compare Winnipeg's OL to the Stamps or Als. We desperately need our draft picks (especially the OL) to contribute & start quickly. We can't afford to develop a player for 5 years. So, while your point may be valid, it's difficult to apply it to the Bombers.

Kristian Matte was a first round pick in 2010 and didn't start until this year for Montreal. Bad pick?? So, your point? We need to see what Goosen can do. What's Matte have to do with it. How don't you understand the point he's making? He's claiming people here are saying this is a make or break career moment for Goosen. No one said that. He's a first round pick who has barely played. We just want to know if he can. If he can't it doesn't mean his career is over. If I don't get it, maybe you can clear things up for me, sweep the leg.

Kristian Matte was a first round pick in 2010 and didn't start until this year for Montreal. Bad pick?? So, your point? We need to see what Goosen can do. What's Matte have to do with it.

It's not make or break. It's time to see if Goosen was worth being a first round choice.

Dawkins was a great player. He certainly could make the spectacular dunk. My friend was an all star basketball player at Churchill High in 1974 & went on to play with the Wesman at the U of W. He always used to talk about Dawkins. Sorry to hear of his passing.

No way Higgins ends up in Wpg in any role under O'Shea. Why would O'Shea hire his potential replacement? Does Mike O'Shea strike you as the kind of person who wouldn't hire someone because he's afraid they might take his job? His coordinators are both former head coaches. And neither Hall nor Bellefeuille have had success as head coaches, but Higgins' resume is much better- maybe good enough to be considered. If by some bizarre twist the Bombers get swept by the Riders, I cannot see O'Shea surviving. I can't see a scenario where O shea is fired before the end of the year. I think Miller and Walters know what the issue is with this team, and O'shea is not on the top of that list. What is the issue?

This is kind of an argument for ranking calgary low The Stamps OL shouldn't be ranked 9th. BLM would be sacked incessantly & beaten to a pulp but he's not. The team wouldn't be 6-2 if the line wasn't doing a good job. Thing of it is, only Stanley Bryant the right tackle won't be coming back this season but the rest of the injured starters will be back come playoff time. So, they'll be good to go again. And... those backups who played & are playing well will have a whole bunch of experience & will be ready to be called on again if needed. Sad part is, some of our starters would have a hard time making the Stamps playing roster. The Stamps OL was decimated the past 2 years with the departure of Jon Gott, Stanley Bryant & Brent Jones. Now the injuries this season to Edwin Harrison, Dan Federkeil, Shane Bergman & Brander Craighead who were all starters. Guys like Brad Erdos, John Estes, Gary Williams & even Paul Swiston have stepped in & played well. Considering this was not even close to the OL the Stamps had starting the season they've done a very good job. Depth & talent has got the Stamps by. Why the hell don't we have that? The Stamps basically rebuilt their O Line since the start of this season. Why is it taking half a decade & counting to rebuild ours?? I can tell you why. The Stamps have the best personnel guy in the CFL who we fired in John Murphy. He knows the CIS cold as well as every free agent out there. He has contacts everywhere & he uses them. That's why. It's amazing the talent he brings in. We had him & now he's in Calgary helping to make them a championship team. Don't remind me about letting John Murphy walk... All I'm saying is that I can see how Calgary ranks low based on stats with their injuries. Pretty sure 9th will change pretty soon... like after this week. Pretty sad seeing his continuing body of work in Calgary when he could have been here doing the same thing. Everybody says Huff drafts great. He doesn't. It's all Murphy. He plans the CIS draft, he brings in free agents, he plans the free agent camps in the off season & he negotiates contracts. He's a GM in waiting.