Dascow

I just got home from the game. I took the park and ride. yesh.... Buck Pierce was missing wide open WRs all game. And by missing I mean not seeing them and then throwing it to a covered guy. It was frustrating to watch at times. I loved the stare down that Simpson did to Hebert during the coin toss. I wish they would have given him the ball on the first play... I enjoyed watching Etienne make a big play. I spent 8 hours at the stadium today. That's too much.

That LBing corps scares me a little. More specifically, the nickel position.

Turnovers! That was the name of the game last night. Dropped passes. A ridiculous play call on 3rd and 1. 2 pick 6's. A kick return for a touchdown. When your playing that sloppy, the points can add up pretty quick. I don't think we can read too much into the 2 preseason games. The problem now is that they have a built in excuse for the next game. That excuse is that they have had very little playing time in the preseason and need time to shake of the rust and gel. The other problem is that perception wise only scoring 6 points in 2 preseason games is really bad even if it was just the preseason. People can not see past their emotion when it looks that bad. How is that going to affect the team going forward? In reality though, we haven't seen anything even close to the team that is going to start next week. In the first preseason game we pulled buck after what, 3 series? At this point, even though it's hard to do, we need to temper our emotions and wait to see what our "real" team looks like. We play the TiCats again in week 3 and by the end of that game we will have a good idea where this franchise is at.

We need to flood the other sites with this info so they do it too.

They will definitely need all 4. That is why I am glad they left Buck at home. It may leave him a little rusty for the first game, but the others need as much time as humanly possible because you know that, at least Goltz, (Or whoever they make #2), will be seeing the field at some point this season. People make too much of the pre-season, really.

That's very true. A lot of evaluation can be done by watching how they practice. That reminds me of a story that Jeff Garcia told about his first training camp with the Stamps. Apparently he is not the greatest "practice" QB and because of that he almost got cut. They didn't cut him though, and he ended up getting into one of the pre-season games where he played really well...and the rest is history. One good thing for Goltz and the rest of the QBs is that the TiCat secondary isn't exactly the CFL's elite.

I agree with your second point. The first team guys have barely played and it could be especially noticeable on offence, where timing is key. As far as evaluating is concerned, sometimes a good player can get sucked into trying to do too much. If certain players on the defence are getting torched, one or more players might start to feel like they need to do more than their own job to compensate. That's just human nature and it's a trap that even veteran players fall into. It's almost like a house of cards. You take one card out and the whole thing collapses. And that's just on defence. On offence, having a player that may never see a CFL field again playing at WR, (Along with some 2nd and 3rd stringers.), and o-linemen that are 2nd and 3rd stringers, really hamstrings your QB. It's difficult to evaluate a QB if they only have 1 or 2 seconds to get rid of the ball. (And how do you evaluate a WR if the QBs never have enough time to get them the ball?) Giving Goltz 2nd and 3rd string WRs behind 2nd and 3rd string offencive linemen while playing against the TiCats first team defence just feels like they are putting him in an untenable situation. If he is successful in that situation, then que the QB controversy, because he would deserve to start.

Burke is a rookie coach and he there will be growing pains. This will be a learning lesson for him. Not only do I fear the starters will come in behind a step or rusty for the first game, but I also fear a blow out in the pre-season game. It's very difficult to evaluate when the game is a blow out. But like I said, this is Burke's first training camp and pre-season ever as head coach. There will be a learning curve.

I am worried about this strategy, to be honest. The problem with sending all rookies to play against their vets is that all the TiCats will have to do is find one weakness to exploit. If there is just one guy in the secondary that is not CFL ready, he will get torched and the defence will suffer for it. With the secondary being all first year players, that weakness may not be hard to find. (And there may be more than one.) It will be very difficult to evaluate individuals, if it's 1 or 2 players constantly getting beat. That goes the same for the offence. If there is one o-lineman who can't stand up to the pressure, the whole offence and it's game plan will be out the window. How do you properly evaluate if the o-line is constantly breaking down and giving the QB no time to do anything? The Bombers are staking the deck against Goltz. He will be playing with back-ups, 3rd stringers and future cuts, at WR and O-line, against Hamilton's #1s. That is my fear. My worst case scenario. As far as leaving Buck at home though, I completely agree. It's time to evaluate the new guys. Sure, Buck will be rusty for the first game, but playing him in this pre-season game is a short term solution to a long term problem. We need to get Goltz as much playing time as possible, because we know he will be called upon sooner or later.

I think the problem with Markham is that it is a gravel road. I don't know if it could take that amount of bus traffic. They need to make the curb lane, heading towards the stadium on University Crescent, the designated bus lane. There is a bus loop on Pembina that loops the buses into that curb lane. So buses would take the loop like they always do and merge into the curb lane. Cars would also enter the same way they always do, but at the point were the buses merge onto University Crescent, they could put cones up and funnel the curb lane cars to the left lane and the left lane cars onto the outgoing lane on the other side. That would leave one outgoing lane for any residents that would want to leave. That way the buses would never have to stop. And they would be able to drop people off in front of the stadium without making people walk across the street. I would also make Chancellor Matheson one way, (All lanes going in.), 60 minutes prior to the start of the game. If Students and Profs need to get out they can use the outgoing lane on University Crescent or Kings Dr. At the end of the game, they should make all lanes going out on Chancellor Matheson. (They could start that at the beginning of the 4th quarter and end it when everyone is out.) If your heading north, use the 2 right lanes and if your heading south use the 2 left lanes. They would need to employ some traffic cops at the mouth of Chancellor Matheson as they did in the first game.

If they fix the way the buses work it won't have to take that long. I took the bus at 820 Taylor. (Park and Ride.) I was there at around 5:20, (The first bus was supposed to arrive at 5:37.), and by that point there already around 200 people lined up. That was for the first bus and the line was growing. I had to wait for a second bus, because the first one filled up so fast. However, once I got on the bus it took very little time to get from 820 Taylor to University Crescent. It took 40 minutes to get from the beginning of University Crescent to the stadium. All they need to do is designate a lane for the buses and that will cut the time from 40 minutes to about 5. If University Crescent was flowing properly, I think I could have got there at around 6. If they can make taking the bus more palatable, then more people will use them, which means less people will be driving in. Less people driving in means less congestion which means getting to the stadium will be faster. That will reduce the time it takes to the stadium considerably. I truly think that they can hit the 60 minute threshold. Lucky for the Winnipeg Football Club there are some simple solutions to the problem here.

My thoughts exactly. There's only 6000 parking stalls, and yet they still estimated only 5000 would use the bus... I also don't understand why there was no designated bus lane. Every single person that I talked to, who took the bus, said the same thing. Take one of the out going lanes and make it a bus lane. And yet no one had the forethought...

A sell out in the old barn...

Thanks mate. You pointed me in the right direction.

Hey voodoochylde, where did you get that depth chart? For some reason the image isn't showing for me. I checked the Bomber's site to see if they have it up yet, but they do not.

But I wonder how many of them will actually get a chance to punt in the game. With 4 punters, that's not a lot of turns each.

I can just imagine the mental gymnastics guys like Lawless will have to do if Etienne has a breakout season. It would be glorious!

That seems like the logical choice, as long as he can hold on to the ball. (Last year he had a few troubles with that.) I was able to catch the first day of rookie camp and on that day Trever Kenedy had a pretty good practice. He has some serious wheels on him. So, for the people who have been able to watch some practices and see him perform, does he have a shot? (As a return guy.)

I was able to see him on the first day of rookie camp. He made a very nice diving catch. I have not been able to make it to any more practices since then. What is the story with him, how is he performing against the vets. What kind of shot does he have to crack the roster? If he did, that would be some kind of story!

Brett Carter? Is he wearing #72?

I kind of understand where Williams is coming from. There are lots of things that could go wrong for him in an 18 game season. Is it worth the risk of ruining his dream of playing in the NFL for the salary he is getting?

X2

A fight between an offencive player and a defencive player I can understand, but a fight between 2 WRs? That's not good.

Where is Steven Jyles these days? I was hoping the league would just take care of it. It's the Bombers turn to win a Grey Cup. In all seriousness though, I'd be pretty upset if the Bombers just cut Hefney. Like others have said, Hefney would start on any defence in the CFL. He may have an attitude problem but on game day, he is usually flying around the field. He is the type of player that brings the energy up for the other players on the defence. Is he lackadaisical during practice? I am not sure, but come game day, he is all over the place. I heard an interview where Burke said that during the practice he does not watch the first team defence. (He is concentrated on other things.) Burke stated that it is Creehan who is focusing on the first team unit and in my opinion it is Creehan who is relaying this information, (That the first team DBs need to compete harder.), to Burke. It’s all about motivation. Don’t let anyone get too comfortable. This way Creehan, the DC, can light a fire under their butts and still be the good guy.

Let's trade Hefney to Toronto for Ricky Ray. Have they hired Tilllman yet, or is the league just paying him directily?