comedygeek

We have beautiful new jerseys, and yet someone is still choosing to wear that monstrosity IN PUBLIC???

I haven't heard one person re-annoint Willy as the starter. Just because people are concerned with the offensive output in these games (especially the last 2), doesn't mean they hate Nichols or illogically love Willy all of a sudden. I think almost everyone who's been criticizing the offense has been very fair in noting it could be play-calling (either overall or specifically because of the way the D and ST are playing), penalties, and the missing receivers. I think that, even with the way Willy was playing in the first 5 games, we probably win 3 of the last 4 games strictly based on the way the D and ST have played. ST has been solid all season (although Medlock missed a few FGs early on -- the majority of his 20 in a row have come in this winning streak) and the D was definitely not this dominant during the first few games of the season, even in the Hamilton win. Also, on offense, while we did have more of our starters, we missed Dressler for a couple of those losses, and the O-line has definitely solidified over the last 4 games. I said it before the last game, and I still feel the same way -- I'm not overly enamoured with Nichols as our starting QB, but I sure as hell don't think we should be making any kind of changes there, either. He deserves a long leash based on his lack of turnovers alone, not to mention his ability to put points on the board when it matters. In the Hamilton slaughter, he and the Bombers capitalized on the field position the D and ST put us in; in Montreal, they didn't. Basically, I'm saying almost all of you are right in your own ways. Heh.

I can't remember which drive it was, but there was one where Nichols ended up throwing it to the corner in front of the end zone for an incompletion (potential interception) and on the replay I saw Kohlert WIDE OPEN up the middle just waiting for the pass that surely would've been a TD. We settled for one of our 6 FGs on that drive. Point is, I'm sure there were other situations where Kohlert ran the right routes and got open and just didn't get the ball thrown his way. It seems LaPo doesn't have him in their plans as much as I think he deserves -- but hey, if he's contributing in other ways and the team is happy with him overall, then all's good, because he deserves to be there. Even without the stats of late, I still think he's one of the best National receivers in the league.

Ideally Dressler.

Remember, we're not talking about $400,000 here. We're talking about there (potentially) being an issue from the $100,000 of bonuses Nichols is due to receive. (Also, I would imagine, given Willy's injury history, the Bombers probably also assumed Nichols would hit some of these bonuses anyway and factored that into their SMS management.) But assuming we do absolutely need to cut that $100,000 off the books by flat-out replacing a higher-priced vet with a rookie, I'd much rather have an upstart like Roberts or Mayo in the line-up with Willy as the insurance for an injured Nichols, than Davis as our QB with one of the higher-end players sticking around. (Of course, I honestly don't think they have to worry about cutting anyone for salary reasons.) Willy was 3-3 in games he started last season (3-1 in games he both started and finished). Nichols was 2-6. So we definitely won more with Willy last season, and with less games (and half as many completed games). I'm happy as hell Nichols and the Bombers are playing well now, and want them to continue -- with him in as QB -- but that doesn't change the facts of last season or re-write history.

I've read a lot of this the last 2-3 weeks. This is insane to me, especially coming from someone working on a CFL team. "Part of the reason they're winning is they're getting help from good players on their team forcing the other team to play badly." Isn't that the definition of a good defense???

I'm not sure who is "top tier" in the league this year besides Calgary. B.C. has one more victory than us, Ottawa just got hammered by the Als, and every other team has the same amount of wins or less than us. Yes, Harris will give Ottawa more punch when he returns, and Collaros clearly has Hamilton playing well. But guess what? The Bombers have also been playing well for 3 weeks in a row. I think by season's end, you'll see some very close records for the 6 teams not Calgary, Saskatchewan, and Montreal. It's gonna be a fun rest of the season.

Winnipeg. 2013. The 1-5 Bombers lost to the Ti-Cats (thus going 1-6) in front of nearly 33,000 at Investor's Group Field. That was also after 22 full seasons without a championship. So if you're giving props to Rider fans for their commitment to a losing team, then you have to give HUGE props to Bomber fans!

4 TDs. (Unless you were just referring to the last game.)

With the talk of the CFL website in here, I figured I'd give them a big +1 on one front. When they launched the new website (and the various teams' websites, which design-wise are the same basic skin as the league site), I noticed that on the mobile version, the CFL/team logos that should've displayed in the centre of the header (as is the case for the small-screen versions of many websites), but for some reason was slightly off-centre. As a designer, it frustrated me to see it slightly off. After a couple months of this, I finally went to look at the site's source code, and saw some unnecessary code added that was making it off-centre. I decided I would speak up and contact the CFL about it, and by the next day that code was removed league-wide and I had gotten a very pleasant response from the league's top web guy! Based on his response, it seems like the site was a huge undertaking for a small staff (possibly of one) with a fairly short turnaround. As someone who's been in that position before, single-handedly re-developing a massive website with at least the number of pages/data as the CFL from the ground up, I can relate to missing some things or not being able to get everything done immediately. It explains the rogue code and the missing (at first) statistics and history. In any case, at least the game day stats aren't as ridiculously off-the-wall as those displayed within the TSN mobile app -- where it for some reason shows the Bombers in the Hamilton game as having 620 yards of total offense, 128 passes deflected, and 2 TD/2 INT! (Thankfully its individual player game stats are accurate.)

I think Walby got the extra push being a hometown guy PLUS arguably the best at his position in CFL history.

Yeah, this is a FORUM. It's not the admins' responsibility to create all the content. It's up to the posters. As for traffic, I have specifically avoided this site since the loss on Friday, knowing it would be an annoying sh*tshow instead of an honest discussion of positives and negatives and opportunities for growth. I'm only even here right now because I accidentally (out of habit) clicked on this site in my bookmarks. I didn't use to avoid the site after losses, but with the way the discussions have turned of late, it's just not worth the frustration. Mike's explanation was dead-on for me of why I try to avoid it.

I'm not sure why someone who hates the team so much is on a message board like this. There's skepticism, and then there's whatever this post was. You should find a hobby or interest that you enjoy more, and perhaps your life will have more happiness in it.

Adams was at SB all camp, so it makes sense that he stays there. Obviously they feel good about having him in the slot. From what O'Shea said in his presser, our secondary won't officially have boundary HB and CB. They'll have certain guys on certain guys.

From Harris' own presser today, it sounds like he's good to go. O'Shea said they want Flanders on the 46 (and assumedly the 42) not only as RB insurance but also for his special teams play.

The equivalent would be trying to sue for lotto ticket winnings because you happened to be the reason the person was in the store when they bought their ticket. Like, you dropped them off there, or you asked them to go pick up milk at the store. Congrats to your friend, @TrueBlue4ever! (And on getting a night out and some new Blue & Gold duds.)

The team hasn't played a real game yet, and this forum is already acting like we're going into Week 17 with a 2-14 record. Jesus. I get not wanting to get your hopes up with nothing proven yet, and I even get having some concerns (obviously) based on past efforts, but when the most positive thing you can say about your QB and team is, "they're awful, but I hope I'm proven wrong," I think maybe you need a little bit more optimism in your life. Injuries are a major major concern for Willy, but here are his stat lines for the 4 games he played in full last year: 06-27 1 SSK 22 25 325 3 0 13.0 07-10 3 MTL 20 29 251 0 0 8.7 07-18 4 CGY 22 27 289 2 1 10.7 07-30 6 BC 17 25 269 2 0 10.8 It's a small sample size, obviously, but we won 3 of them and -- yes, with some bad second half play and lack of finish from Willy -- barely lost the 4th. When you can put up those kind of numbers in a Marcel B. offense, that has to mean something. Maybe I'm just a naïve idiot, but I still think Willy's got what it takes, and that he'll learn this system and play well in it. The legit question is his health, and if he misses lots of games again this year, I definitely think that's it for him in Blue and Gold. But when the guy is able to play a whole game, more often than not he's bringing us W's.

I've never heard of anyone buying merch because a team had new management. Interesting position.

I don't often visit that Rider forum unless there's an implosion worth my amusement. But when I went to go read "Rod's Blog" (*vomit*) I read this wonderfully obtuse statement from a poster: They think he's easily capable of playing 5 or 6 positions! How could we let him go?? A guy who picked up football a year ago and hasn't lasted a training camp!!!!!!1! (It tells me what's going on in Riderville, that they think swapping a dozen guys to different sides of the field will lead to success!)

Ripper was talking to Zontar, referring to the Ti-cats and Austin/Tillman running that team.

A 2nd round pick next year plus rights to one of Mulumba or Bilukidi? If they want a player who can play now, then Neufeld and a 3rd rounder? The second option would affect our current plans of playing 3 OL (regardless of how we all think Neufeld will be injured and we won't be starting 3 OL anyway, the team still thinks he'll play) as JSJ is not likely to start at any point this year. But if we do think we have the depth to start 2 Canadian receivers or someone in the secondary, then either of those trade options I think are a steal for us. Of course, it's entirely likely that Stubborn Jones doesn't budge and JSJ sits. What's the deal with that? Is there a time period where he can become a free agent? Or are his rights with Saskatchewan in perpetuity until he either signs and completes a contract, they trade him, or they outright release his rights?

For our generation, royal blue is "tradition", but in 1995, going navy was the traditional colour of the Bombers (dropping the gold was dumb, but it didn't last very long). It's funny that in 1995, going navy was considered "hip" and "modern", where as today royal blue (bright colours in general) is more modern. The styles change each decade. But hopefully we keep the royal blue forever and ever!

The Twitter photo posted by @BlueandGoldWPG was Photoshopped. Didn't know the mock-ups you posted were from the Bomber website, which is incredibly odd given that they're not using blue pants.

The mock-ups are fan-made, as far as I know. And the Twitter photo above is Photoshopped, too. Gold pants are the only pants (at least for now).

Edmonton is a very strange situation this offseason, though, because normally after a Grey Cup win, the entire coaching staff and several players don't bolt for a different team. In most cases, you'll have continuity and the hope that they can repeat, which would absolutely increase season ticket sales.