Doublezero

When I read the title of this thread I thought it referred to the Blue Bombers pathetic run game, which averages 77.9 yards per game and ranks 8th, just ahead of Redblacks in futility. Problem is Grigsby who is too slow hitting the gaps and who is always stopped dead on first contact. Of course we also sit 8th (just ahead of Redblacks) in stopping the run as other teams run for least 125 yards against us, each game. But as O'Shea and others have pointed out our D hasn't given up that many points against. The real problem is our pathetic offensive production. No one is afraid of our run game which leaves us one-dimensional and too easy to solve, especially with a rook QB.

They were signed because O'Shea knew them from Toronto and I too fear he is too stubborn and proud to cut them this season. And as long as both are playing they will continue to be liabilities to the Blue Bombers. So that is on the head coach. Bryant floats around out there but never comes back for the football, or fights for possession. I know that interceptions are counted against QBs as a statistic. But it would be interesting to know how high Romby Bryant ranks as a receiver intercepted upon. So soft and lazy, he's got to have had the most I/Cs of any receiver in the league in the course of his career.

You are right JBR. I stand corrected. I must've been thinking of his pre-season appearance for Argos against us in 2013. We lost that game 24-6 and Portis played 4th Q for Toronto, completing 4 of 5 for 67 yds. I think he ran for big yards also.

NFL cuts coming. How long can we keep 4 QBs? Will Portis just stay on the IR? Will we release Brohm or Marve? Portis looks like a stud and played really well against us in pre-season. Does Nick Moore's return to the active roster mean Romby Bryant is soon released? With other International receivers on the PR - do we need Bryant? Will we keep Mike Renaud when he gets healthy? And what about some of the PR players - Daivon Dumas, Sam McGuffie, Jarvis Jones? Will they be kept as insurance or bumped by NFL cuts? And in the case of Jarvis Jones, can we keep both him and Chad Anderson? Will Aaron Woods replace Troy Stoudemire on the active roster when Woods heals up? Is Woods really injured? What about Sears, Markett and Suber - will we see them active again? When are the clubs allowed to expand their roster size - after Labour Day? Lot of questions. Hoping folks here have some ideas.

Should be a good game. Toronto has had time to prepare against Etcheverry's D and Ricky Ray will find a way to exploit us. Will we react appropriately, or panic? Will Watson ignite our O after several games where it seemed Bellefuielle's play calling was spotty, the run game was clearly non-existent and our ability to finish in the red zone compromised. Without better pass protection Argo's D line will pound our QB, hopefully Drew Willy doesn't get hurt. If the offence doesn't step up tonight, it may be that our offence isn't very good and that we've regressed at RB and improved at QB but everything else a status quo hangover from 2013. So far this season we've had to rely on D and ST for scoring too often. Looking forward to Cotton and Stoudemire on returns although I am a huge fan of Aaron Woods. Would be nice to see Cotton get some touches on O. I predict we win by 6 on the strength of a big play by our D or Special Teams.

Ran a bit of this....in garbage time....don't know what MB was waiting for. Kind of late on the draw, you might say.

Esks suffering from overconfidence. Home crowd will inspire our team. Reilly will be running for his life. Bombers 4-0.

I feel sorry for Zack Collaros, hurt on a foul hit. Saw him on the sidelines on TV getting chewed out by Kent Austin that same game. I don't feel sorry for Austin and his QB dilemma though. Austin seems like a jerk. Hamilton set for a nose-dive this year.

My pop took me to see Kenny Ploen and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1966. Played football when I was younger & attended a CFL training camp as a player but did not make the club. Covered football and hockey as a reporter but that doesn't mean I know much. I do like to get out and play run and catch still. And now that I am able to be just a Blue Bomber football fan - this is the most fun of all. Go Blue!!

I doubt Brohm or Marve are looking elsewhere. Guy is really athletic. Maybe he lines up at receiver?

Is it possible that he changed his mind because he expected a whistle calling the play dead, but it never came? And so failing to prompt a quick whistle, he decided he might as well try to advance the ball. O'Shea said he would have an answer on the 'knee-down' ruling today - hopefully some scribe asks about it and tells the rest of the world. AluCsRed - that's an interesting observation and question about BB waiting to touch Whitaker. But we've all seen many calls where officials whistle a dead ball even though the downed ball-carrier hasn't been touched.

Below average 38.9 yd average kick distance for Mike Renaud vs Redblacks. Over the past six years his average is 42.4 yds per kick, inflated slightly by last season's average of 43.9 YPK (due to lots of 2-outs by our putrid offence in 2013). Of course there's lots more to evaluating a kicker's effectiveness than how far your average kick travels. There's also hang time, how quickly you connect with the ball and how well you can position the ball once kicked. Thoughts?

Its early in Drew Willy's CFL career, really. But he seems confident, yet pretty humble too. If he couldn't handle adversity, he wouldn't have made it this far.

Very confident Bombers will get another W at IGF tomorrow night because we will bring effort. Like I said before last week's game, we finally have a coach in Mike O'Shea and a QB in Drew Willy.

Don't understand why Tommy Condell doesn't bring in a couple of extra blockers for his QB. Ham has made no adjustments.

I really doubt that is spin, because if anything that makes him less marketable. Doesn't mean someone wouldn't sign him, but hugely diminishes the "bring him in as a veteran leader" idea anyone might have, basically spins him as a malcontent if that's spin. Puts him down to what he can do on the field, and that probably makes it less likely he finds a better opportunity than the one he's running from. Misunderstood what transpired today. I thought his request for release had been granted by the club. But after watching O'Shea news conference, Banks has obviously not been released - yet. Guess they want to see if they can get a bag of footballs or something for him. Yes, JBR you are correct, Banks's demands makes him look selfish and therefore less attractive to another club. He's as good as gone from here, but as others have said, wouldn't be surprised when we do cut him loose that another team adds him.

Banks had very limited reps in the 2 pre-season games and, frankly, looked like he had lost a step or two during training camp. You knew O'Shea was not happy when Banks took a day off during TC. I was expecting Bombers to release him at final TC cuts. Guess they decided to see if they could get something for their investment while keeping him on ice on the IR, but then word leaked out that they were shopping him and so now he is gone. It's good that it is being spun that Banks asked for his release, it makes him still somewhat marketable. Won't be surprised if Ottawa signs him tomorrow, so they can get a grip on Etch's invisible playbook. Does this mean the person who won the signed #24 Banks jersey at a recent fundraiser I attended now has a collectors item?

Romby should have some inside info on the Argos playbook. Nice timing for this considering we play the Argos tomorrow. The TJ Harris stunt! OK, so just like Harris in Hammy - will will mine Romby for the Toronto playbook. And then shortly thereafter we will release him.

Well, I might boo him if he dresses for our club. Because Bryant clearly quit on his team-mates last time he was here and in my opinion he doesn't deserve to ever again wear a Blue Bombers jersey. It also bugs me that current management shows such obvious disregard for recent history - and disrespect for fans and former players. They may not be mindful of that - new slate etc. but to bring in a player like Bryant, who demonstrated an utter lack of professionalism while here, borders on arrogance more than desperation. Such arrogance is not a good sign and will inevitably boomerang on Walters, O'Shea and Bellefeuille down the road. You guys have no idea of what a total schmuck Mike Kelly was. I can't blame anyone for not wanting to play for him. You can try and spin it any way you like and no doubt current brain trust will try to do exactly that. But you know what? We've all worked for idiots from time to time. That's no excuse. You still do your job, unless, as demonstrated, you are me-first selfish. Bryant had 20 catches for 232 yards and no touchdowns through 11 games the year Kelly punted him to Stamps. We can do better than Romby Bryant, and bringing him in now is an insult to Bomber supporters and his former team-mates in Winnipeg.

Well, I might boo him if he dresses for our club. Because Bryant clearly quit on his team-mates last time he was here and in my opinion he doesn't deserve to ever again wear a Blue Bombers jersey. It also bugs me that current management shows such obvious disregard for recent history - and disrespect for fans and former players. They may not be mindful of that - new slate etc. but to bring in a player like Bryant, who demonstrated an utter lack of professionalism while here, borders on arrogance more than desperation. Such arrogance is not a good sign and will inevitably boomerang on Walters, O'Shea and Bellefeuille down the road.

My confidence in the current Blue Bombers brain trust just went down several notches.

Yep just noticed that too. First I've heard of him being injured. I know O'Shea wasn't impressed with him taking a "veteran day" off earlier in camp. Maybe something is up there... Maybe he isn't 100%. Didn't get many reps or show much at tc or pre-season games. In fact, even during skellys at practice he looked to have lost a step. Or two. I wonder if he is having trouble 'buying in' to the Etch world view.

Banks nicked? First I've heard of that. Explains a few things.

I was disgusted by the way me-first Romby Bryant gave up on the our team while he was here and was glad we traded him to Stamps. Maybe he can now finally fade into obscurity where he belongs.

Thanks for posting these numbers. I'm feeling optimistic that after a long dry spell of pretender pivots, Bombers have finally found a real QB in Drew Willy. Personally, I prefer him to Collaros.