Mr Dee

Where's the real white out when you really need it?

Mediocracy...meet thy new participants... Carlos Anderson could not match what Tim Flanders brought to TC this year. And that's a good thing. Dieke, was in tough and just didn't show enough. Jace Daniels - we all wanted him to be the answer at import O-line guy. He wasn't. Bucknor? - really, it was only a matter of time. Veltung - not a surprise to me. He was easily surpassed by a number of receivers, two of whom were cut along with him...Talley and Williams (but I will remember that fine TD catch from Bennett) Green was only a mild surprise. Added to the PR - M. Foketi, T. Mayo, P. Scott, L. Richardson, Cronk, Roberts, Hubbard, Sheppard and Flanders. The Bombers aren't ready to say goodbye to Richardson and Cronk (they still may be needed) Mayo, Hubbard, Sheppard and especially Flanders played their way on to the team. CJ Roberts was intriguing for me. He looked like he was capable or could have been ishful thinking. Don't know enough about Foketi (other than they like him) or Scott, but - welcome to the team one and all.

And here I am reading all this, without nary a pocket to pass in..

"The practice before the practice that leads to a lot of cuts and player movement." It's a weird situation for the Bombers already having played their 2 pre-season games and now the fate of a few players will be determined in a practice atmosphere. Difficult. Practice - June 16 - in no particular order... Personnel with presence at the practice, either through size alone or by animation. E. Dieke, R Butcher, T Bond, are big, real big. Westerman was noticeable, he's a real pro. Hubbard was flying around pretty good..getting involved. He and Coach O'Shea, had a little 'chat'. In that instance, I don't think the Coach was pleased. Too many changes on the O-Line to follow, but they always looked engaged. They were practicing stunts, and the D-line seemed to be ahead in this exercise. It looks to me, based solely on reps, that in the QB situation, it is Willy, Nichols, Davis, and Bennett. - Trent Corney looks like a normal human being. - There seems to be a certain 'good' atmosphere and spirit out there on the practice field. - Macho Harris has a presence, and likely the reason he is an employed vet. He's definitely a practice player... seemingly in the right spot, and saying the right things. Oh, and doing push-ups, here and there. Without the tackling aspect, he doesn't look bad out there. Still, I think we could do better. Must be Hall's boy. D-Line practising moving only on the snap of the ball...by watching it. Those guys are good...Westerman, Shologan, and Cummings - wow. Green and Hubbard were also noticeable. Willy looks faster in practice. Darwin Adams shagging field goals attempts. T Sherman holding for all FGs #14 is fast...and shifty. Knox had his practice jersey on, but of course was just watching. K Fogg was the only one to stop #12. Ryan Smith. Smith was all over the field making catches. How he was made available on FA..I don't know. If we fix the flow of our Offence..he will be dynamic. Mayo was also involved. MOS ran the ST aspect of practice..with great patience. The practice seemed to get more vocal, by the players, towards the end. Randle made an exceptional interception downfield on Nichols. BUT! He didn't outdo Louie Richardson who shocked Drew Willy, on a throwback play, and wouldn't stop running until he reached the end zone...90 yards away. He was congratulated by a number of players, led by...Macho Harris. Can't say much more, but a certain O-Lineman sure can catch. And that's it...

Yeah, that says it all..^

Put me on the side that has the Bombers finding room for a guy like Elsworth. That guy has game and CFL experience. The only problem is we already have a nice 'problem' at the LB position. But he'd be worth it.

How is it our vanilla doesn't taste as good as other teams vanilla? We should actually come out of the locker room ten minutes earlier than the other teams so we'll be closer to they're starting point. What happened to that hurry up, fast-paced tempo of an offence we've been hearing about? We must be saving it. Doesn't it all start with the QB? And if it does, someone needs to slap Drew Willy upside of the helmet because he ain't getting it done. I don't care if it's pre-season or off-season or no-reason season, I'd like to see some urgency. It does seems to me, however, that teams are definitely gaming their game, to attack Willy, because they know how he'll react. Not well. It's not a good feeling to start questioning your starting QB, but c'mon, vanilla or not, where's the fire in his eyes? And the O-line? Does vanilla mean you don't have to communicate to each other? And protect the one guy who can win the game for you? 2 first down attempts, within a yard, and you fail? Big time crap out. Although, to be fair, emptying the backfield kinda telegraphs who's moving the ball doesn't it? Matt Nichols. He shows he knows what to do, to get to get something done. Maybe not in the best way....but, he moved the ball. The letter G will replace the letter C in Kevin Cone's name. Flanders made sure Anderson will hold the door open for Cone, then follow him out. P Scott, K. Adams, Talley, CJ Roberts? will join them. Maybe not right away, but..soon. I like T. Sherman, but he's not a cover guy. Sheppard made some catches. Enough to hang on? Henry Burris is not finished. #3 QB position? Close, but we'll go with the default position..for now. Davis over Bennett. Rush and Renaud made some plays. Ian Wild's position is safe. Yawn..another putrid interview mid-game. I'm not sure who thinks this is good, riveting TV. So, MOS has 'no concern' with the Bomber offence? That's concerning. Finally, it's not the loss that bothers me so much, it's the way we didn't play.

Figures. Its our version of vanilla player cuts....slow to show up.

Pre-season game or not. That 1st half performance by the offence was pathetic...with a capital Bellefeuille.

I'm assured that power outage will not occur in the new stadium the Riders are building. Gophers are being trained even as I write, to power super running cages to keep up with the demand..

Yeah, he can comment all he wants, but what's with using the word we? There is no 'we' for him. Tsk, tsk, Esk fan.

Really. It's a good thing to know that we have receivers will do what they are paid to do..catch the ball, if at all possible. Do we really think QBs can make that perfect pass the majority of the time? Too many factors can interfere with that scenario. We want a QB who can deliver the football in a manner that will result in a Bomber completion. I don't care if it's underhand, overhand or slight-of-hand. Performance..without pressure, or under pressure, is what I like to see from my QB.

I feel I should be compensated after reading that blurb...

I cannot remember a time when we saw our draft picks, plus, get in a game and get noticed, in a good way. Corney on D, nice sacks and stuffing the line. Couture filling in on the O-Line. Loffler, looking like a safety. Butcher, slicing up the D. Intzandt getting some 'real' reps. Even John Rush got some action. Nice to see..

Don't give me none of your guff ?, the man's name is McDuffie..

The knock on McDuffie in Hamilton had a name - Brandon Banks.

Hey, good job. Even your nickname looks thinner..

Live..at the game. Good to be in the stadium once again! 1st team against 1st team - must say Glenn looked pretty sharp and their specific play calling got a few receivers wide open. We ran, at first, a pretty Bellefeuille kind of offense and I thought we went deep too much to start. Drew Willy neither looked here nor there, but he did survive his first hit. 1st quarter belonged to Montreal because they moved the ball better. Once the subs starting coming in, the bombers took over. 13-3 Montreal - with 1st teams - the rest of the game? 33-0 bombers. Simply put, our backups crushed their backups. Led by the 3rd and 4th string QBs, the bombers steadily moved the ball and made watching the game a pleasure. Davis and Bennett got a good feel for playing a CFL game following a game plan that gave them alternate times to go in and show what could do. And show they did. Playing against second stringers was easier, no doubt, but it was good practice in live action. Brian who? Marve who? Major announcement - we now have a running attack. Harris, Anderson and Flanders. When Anderson came in, it seemed to be a perfect complement to Harris. Anderson with his darting and cutting. But make no mistake, for the remaining time in the game, and all of the 4th quarter, it was Flanders field. He made it real tough to ignore giving him a spot somewhere with the bombers. Play of the game - screen play to Harris. It had all the right ingredients for a great play - except for the penalty. Play of the game, part 2 - that lovely loft pass by Bennett to Williams that resulted in a TD. Pass - very good, reception better. We don't always see plays like that. Individually speaking - Castillo - just when you think he's going (missed his 1st attempt) he strikes for 4 non-too-easy FGs Adrian Hubbard - the DE opposite Westerman? Could be.. Trent Corney - not a bad start for a rookie. He's going to be exciting. Tony Burnett - was all over the field Ryan Smith - going to be a good one for us. McDuffie - exciting and quick Addison Richards is real. Ian Wild - what can I say? He flies all over the field and never seems to give up on a play. Vertung? Don't know if he did enough. Hardrick - can't say too much on his actual play, but he's a teamer! Lots of animation and energy! Teague Sherman - was involved, in a good way. Khalil Bass - thank goodness. Westerman - guy doesn't quit. At first glance - Bomber O-line had its moments, specifically staying relevant when Keeping went down, and with the subs playing, including Intzandt. The players who had spot duty, such as Waggoner, Butcher, Loffler and such, represented themselves well. Plug and play never looked so good.

Montreal, as with many of the CFL teams can go in several directions. They still have the brain of A. Cavillo, a couple of very good RBs in Rutley and Sutton. Some damn fine receivers in Stafford, Duron, Green and Cunningham et al .,Some good defence - Woods, Cox, Bowman, Venable, Hiebert, Elsworth, Cash et al. They have some questions on the Oline (for a change) and a huge ? at Head Coach. And oh, the overall framework of Popp horseshoeing everybody he could get into his roster by scrimping 10K off the backs off some hard-working vets. Are they going to care the same way? And the mess at QB? Dressing 7? That's wild.

And barely any actually want to live in Regina.

I want to see players recognizing, and reacting. I want to see new heroes step forward. I want to see excited reactions for good plays made. I want to see FOOTBALL!! again!! We have the benefit of having both our pre-season games being played before the 1st cutdown date. I want angst when the Coaching staff is pouring over the films because there are too many tough decisions to be made. Then of course, I want them to come up with a solution to all this.

You have my gratitude for enduring the CJOB Coach's show and coming out of it with good info. Of course, being a ghost can't hurt your capacity for seeing things through..

If you think retaining Corney's going to be a problem, wait 'til you find out what it takes for next year's guy, three and four years down the road.

You can honour and retire the name...associated with the number, but the number should not be taken out of service. It's the player - the name - not the number. Whose number, and how many, would be a never ending debate.

Funny thing. I've been reading a lot of training camp reports from around the league and every one of them suggests that they have great depth, good competition, and Bob's your uncle. "So-and-so looks dynamic, pleasant surprise is having a good camp and it'll be interesting how it shakes out." After a week of training camp, "the coaches have been really pleased." "Impressed with the defence" "Once they gel, it's going to be a very good group." "We're getting better, guys are stepping up." "This is one of the strongest running back groups I've ever been with." "What a day! We getting better every day" "Some days one side of the ball is better than the other" "I think these guys are hungry. I think they're working well together." "Definitely progress being made" "We're vibrating pretty high right now." "They have a pretty good understanding of the offence" So, obviously a 9 way tie for first place throughout the league?