Dascow

That's fair. I guess the way that I see it is that with all of the other positions I know who will be starting and therefore it's something I can quantify. Who's great, who's good, who's average and who's below average. In the secondary however, I don't know who will be starting and therefor I can't quantify it. Every time I try to put together what the secondary will look like my best case scenario only has 5 of the 6 possible positions filled, (2CBs, 2HBs, 1 safety, 1 strong side LB.), with players that are quantifiable because I know them and have seen them play. When I need to rely on something but can't quantify it's value, that scares me a little.

Shologan will be the unsung hero in the group. He had 8 sacks last year, but that's not what he does best. He will eat up blocks which will give the others more space. He's a good solid player. I agree that the other DE spot could use improvement, but we know based on last year who the most likely candidates to start there are. Peach or Johnson. Peach...meh. Johnson...might have something there.

That's what I don't understand. With the other positions you are worried about depth, but in the secondary we don't even know who will start.

It definitely depends on how they decide to move things around. It also very much depends on Randle coming back at %100. By the end of the season Bucknor was starting to get picked on a little so that might be the reason the Bombers are thinking about moving Randle there. I would love for Waggoner to be ready to start back there. But at this point we just have no idea whether that is the case or not. I think it was Posey and I think you are right if I am remembering things correctly, (which is always sketchy.), he looked pretty good. Posey starting at HB would still be a question mark though because of his small sample size. The biggest questions on the team right now are clearly in the secondary.

First of all let me just say that I hope you are right, because if you are, the Bombers are going to have a good team this year. Here is how I see it or how I break it down: We are solid at QB with Willy as the starter and Nichols as the back up. We are solid at RB with Harris as the starter. If he can get close to 1000 yards and aprox. a 5.0 yard per carry avg. that will go a long way to solidify the offence. As you know, a good run game helps the passing game. We are solid at WR with Adams, Smith, Dressler, Denmark and Kohlhert. In terms of production all of those receivers with the exception of Kohlert were very close to getting 1000 yards last year. Even Adams, who was seen by many here to be lazy last year, could have done it. The o-line is a little more of a question. I think we are solid at the tackle position with Bryant and Daniels holding down those spots. Chung at RG is very solid. Goossen at center will be an improvement over Picard, but is that a high bar? I think the combination of Goossen, Neufeld and Keeping will be at least average. It depends on how much Goossen has developed. With the right scheme and a little bit of luck in the injury department, I think they will be ok there. They could use some improvement at the other guard position, but I think Neufeld and Keeping should be serviceable. The D-line is very solid with the additions of Shologan and Cummings. As it stands right now, their d-line will be very good and if they add one more pass rusher, or if they find a new recruit that can play at a higher lever than one of our current guys, then that D-line will be scary good. The LB corps is also solid, with the likes of Bass as WILL, Wild as MACK and Leggett on the strong side. If they decide to go with Hurl because he is a non-import then that corps get significantly weaker. According to Kirk Penton, the Bombers are hinting that they are going to move Randle back to the corner which would bump out Bucknor. The secondary is the question for me. Here is why: The Bombers have only 3 of 5 spots filled back there. Adams at one corner, who is very good. Randle at the other corner, if you believe Penton. Randle should be very good there, but he is coming off of reconstructive knee surgery. Johnson will start at one of the HB spots. The other HB spot and the safety position are both open. Who will fill those 2 spots? It's possible that a new recruit could come in and fill that spot and play well. However, it's also very possible that a new recruit could come in and not play very well. The Bombers would be putting a lot of faith in their scouting to produce 2 new players for the secondary. That would be banking a lot on something that is unknown. That's why it's the biggest concern to me. I know what we have at the other positions. I have no idea what we have to fill in at HB and safety. Who will fill those spots?

As it stands right now, the Bombers biggest hole on their roster is in the secondary. They need to do something in the coming months to fix that or their pass defence is going to be their achilles heel. If they can shore that up, then on paper the Bombers would have a really solid team.

I would trade Montreal Hurl and my left arm, (Very cap friendly.), for a chance to bring back Henoc Muamba! 10!

Huh...that's interesting. I personally don't remember seeing that, but maybe that's because by the end I was so apathetic about the Bombers that I missed it. Now that you say that though, I will be paying more attention to it this season. Adams has all of the tools to be great so hopefully this year he will be "encouraged" by a leader like Dressler to be more motivated because when motivated he can be a great weapon.

I've noticed that a few people around here are wanting to replace Darvin Adams. I would love to know the reasoning behind that thought. Adams did pretty well last year. In 15 games he had 839 yards and 5 touchdowns. If he plays 18 games that's over 1000 yards. What's wrong with that? I would personally like to see another DE to complete the D-line, but my real concern is with the secondary. Who will fill the open defensive halfback spot? That concerns me.

It doesn't work for me here at work. Thanks to those who are posting the tweets and other info.

I have a request. Can people please post twitter information, or any information on this thread? I can't get the twitter feed at work and I don't know where else to get up to the minute information.

Maybe they plan on drafting a kicker. (Along with signing Medlock in free agency.)

I have to laugh at the idea of signing “training camp fodder” in the first days of February, one week before free agency starts. I also have to laugh at the idea that signing someone for the sole purpose of being “training camp fodder” is acceptable. The Roughriders had the worst defence in the league last year and Harris had a role to play in achieving that distinction. Needless to say, I am not a fan of this signing.

By the time February 9th hits, what will realistically be left, in terms of starting o-linemen? My guess is nothing. There should be some interesting d-linemen available though. At this point I would take a pass rush specialist over a receiver. (If that's the choice that has to be made.)

Now that the Bombers have signed Dressler, I think they need to focus on acquiring D-line talent. I would personally rather sign 1 big name receiver and 2 big name D-linemen rather than 2 big name receivers and 1 big name D-lineman. Signing free agent receivers might be flashy, but I don't think it's the best way of building a team. The best way to build a team is from the trenches out. I would like to add 1 dominant DT and 1 dominant DE. An average secondary can look real good with a dominant d-line.

Knowing the salaries would mean that the GMs and the players would both win and lose. Let’s take Nick Moore and his stats from last year as an example. Last year Moore played in only 15 games, but still had 900 yards receiving and 4 touchdowns. If it is known that Nick Moore is making 200k, then most fans would be upset with his production and expect a change. Someone making that kind of money needs to produce more. That’s bad for Moore. At the same time, Walters, the GM would get criticized for signing a guy who did not live up to the expectations of his salary. However, if it is known that Nick Moore is making the league average, (Which I think is 90 – 100k?), then most fans would be very happy to get that kind of production from a guy making the league average. Fans would be happy to have him back another year and Walters would be praised for a great signing. In the end I think the fans and media would "win", because they would be given more information in which to form a fair opinion.

I don’t think it’s that obvious Noeller. 1. This kind of thing should never ever happen. Ever. 2. The Bombers have been part of a 50/50 scandal in the past. I think someone went to jail for it. 3. Earlier this year there was another 50/50 draw that was not claimed. The winnings went to the next games 50/50 and because of the pot being so much bigger, 50/50 sales were way up. In light of recent events, that 50/50 draw has to be in question now too. Edit: As Voodochylde and Bigblue204 have pointed out, this 50/50 draw was carried over because the winner was determined to be ineligible. That makes this point somewhat irrelevant. 4. After Mr.Ritchot checks the web site and phones in to verify and is told his is not the correct number, the Bombers realize their mistake and change it on the web site, but they fail to inform anyone of their mistake. They knew someone phoned in with the correct numbers and still failed to inform anyone when they realized their mistake? Making the mistake in the first place is incompetent, but not informing anyone that a mistake was made is corrupt. 5. The Bombers front office has a well earned image problem. This kind thing exacerbates that negative image. In my opinion this is a very serious incident and it needs to be dealt with in a serious manner. The Bombers have been so bad for so long when it comes to their front office that I can no longer make excuses for them or give them the benefit of the doubt.

If I recall, LaPolice was still running the offence when he was head coach. The OC was that in name only until some point where LaPolice was forced to give up some of his control. Am I remembering that right? I agree with you Mike about coaches continually learning and then being able to reinvent themselves. But when it comes to play calling, isn’t that a skill that you either “have” or “don’t have”? I am not sure…maybe that can be learnt too. I am on the Willy bandwagon and that’s where my hope for LaPolice lay. I think that Willy can be an elite QB in this league, (Top 3), and so all LaPolice has to do is harness his skills and keep him protected. Heck, if Willy can work with Marcel Bellefeuille’s offence he can surely excel in LaPolice’s. That’s my hope anyways.

That’s fair. If I were in his shoes I would demand the same.

I don’t think it’s fair to just hand wave away the people who have concerns about the hire as people who would be complaining no matter what. There are legitimate reasons why some people are concerned with this hire. We have had a chance to see LaPolice and what he brings to the table. Twice. There’s a reason the Bombers fired him…twice. So to act like people are just complaining for the sake of complaining is not really fair. I am hoping for the best. I am hoping that with Willy at the helm, LaPolice can get the offence into the top half of the league. If the offence is good enough to be in the top half of the league in most of the statistical categories, then that will increase the Bombers odds of making the play-offs significantly. Coach O’Shea has one more year to prove himself. This will be his 3rd year as HC and if the Bombers don’t make the play-offs, he will more than likely be fired. So Coach O’Shea is betting heavily on LaPolice. At the same time though, LaPolice is tethered to O’Shea, because if O’Shea gets fired, the new HC is going to want to choose his own staff. Which is why signing LoPolice to a 2 year deal is a somewhat curious.

I'll be there, in section 130. I'll also be tailgating with some people at the parking lot on the west side of the stadium. (White zone parking) If anyone wants to join us, they are welcome. We are going to start tailgating around 2:30ish.

Westerman clearly should have won. The voters are morons. Maybe some one can help me out here: I am looking at Sinopoli's stats on CFL.ca and nothing makes sense. On the stats page that shows the 2015 receiving yards it has Sinopoli at 69 catches for 1035 yards. However, if you click on his season stats for 2015 it shows 19 games. (I'm assuming the first one was a preseason game.) If you minus the first game Sinopoli only has 65 catches for 1005 yards. Which would put him 12th in the CFL and 4th on his own team.

I liked the comercial. It was really well done. I liked all of the Royal Blue that I saw too. I not so sure about the logo though. Maybe it'll grow on me.

What is elite in a 9 team league? Top 3? Top 5? He is neither of those... I disagree. Collaros was the hottest QB in the league before he got hurt and in my mind is #1, and Burris had a great season this year so that puts him at #2. (Of course Burris is just as likely to crash and burn next year like he did last year.) That leaves Mitchell, Harris, Reilly and Durant in the 2nd tier of QBs. (And possibly Jennings from BC? I did not see enough of him to say.) Willy is easily in their league. If you put any of those guys on the Bombers offence this year what do you think would’ve happened? Statistically speaking, if you extrapolate Willy’s numbers for an 18 game season he is right up there in the top 5 QBs. He would have had approx. 4100 yards, 24 TDs, 9 int., With a QBR of approx. 100. And that's with Bellfool as OC. You missed Ray. And I don't play the "if he had stayed healthy, he would have had..." game. That’s okay that you don’t play that game, but if you want to compare QBs and rank them, you kind of have to. I understand that every QB could add numbers to their totals in this way, but there is really no other way to compare. Ricky Ray in his prime was elite and I would have wanted him over anyone out there. He is no longer in his prime though. Going into next season he will be 37 years old and on the down side of his career. At this point in their careers, I would stick with Willy. It is my opinion that with a competent oline and a competent OC, Willy has the tools to be a top 3 QB.

What is elite in a 9 team league? Top 3? Top 5? He is neither of those... I disagree. Collaros was the hottest QB in the league before he got hurt and in my mind is #1, and Burris had a great season this year so that puts him at #2. (Of course Burris is just as likely to crash and burn next year like he did last year.) That leaves Mitchell, Harris, Reilly and Durant in the 2nd tier of QBs. (And possibly Jennings from BC? I did not see enough of him to say.) Willy is easily in their league. If you put any of those guys on the Bombers offence this year what do you think would’ve happened? Statistically speaking, if you extrapolate Willy’s numbers for an 18 game season he is right up there in the top 5 QBs. He would have had approx. 4100 yards, 24 TDs, 9 int., With a QBR of approx. 100. And that's with Bellfool as OC.