Doublezero

Wow, certainly lots of Canadian content and 3 down football knowledge on this Winnipeg Football Club, probably more Canadian coaches/managers than any other team in the CFL: Wade Miller, Kyle Walters, Ted Goveia, Mike O'Shea, Marcel Bellefeuille, Pat Tracey, Markus Howell, along with Nelson Martin and Cory McDiamid if report above is correct. Obviously Walters/O'Shea have purposely recruited a complement of experienced Canadians who understand the nuances of 12 men, 3 downs, 110 x 65 yards and the 20-second clock, because they've been playing/coaching the game for years. It is a different game from US ball.

I think they might feel like Terrell Parker is their solution in the middle. Parker's been working hard to rehab that torn knee. I liked what I saw from him last year before he went down. He could be great for us.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Glenn back in Calgary. Would we then want Tate?

It wasn't Kyle Walters' best day: he seemed unprepared, impatient and rattled. He should have anticipated the questions about Burris/Collaros and whether Willy was Plan A B or C. Still, you can't let a few ignorant reporters get under your skin, no matter how confrontational and seemingly stupid their questions. For years the Bombers have failed to offer this marketplace a competitive team. The local media will be confrontational and critical until there's solid evidence that the new management regime has begun to turn things around.

Drew Willy was always in the mix for us since he was a pending FA, and, personally, I'd rather have a young guy with some promise, maybe, than Burris or Glenn, even if it means another year of pain. I like ZC because he is more mobile and lets go of the ball quicker than Willy. Its not surprising McManus likes DW - they are pocket passers, both. I thought we had a chance at Collaros but I don't see not getting him as a failure, it seems for whatever reason, he didn't consider Wpg an option. Looking around the league, I expect Troy Smith will tear it up this year, along with BLM if he can stay healthy in Calgary. Honestly Collaros could catch fire or bust in Ham, who knows? Lulay and Reilly, meh. I haven't heard much about Levi Brown who was on our practice roster and who I assume will be invited to Bomber TC to compete. Turns out Brown and Willy are good pals, since both were on the Sask roster for 2012 and part of 2013 before Brown was released: So they will be glad to be together again in Winnipeg. Here's what I wonder: if he shows so much promise - why didn't SK try harder to keep Drew Willy? And what about Levi Brown? He played for Cortez in Buffalo and Regina but also was deemed expendable. What do we know that SK doesn't?

Inclined to agree about Max Hall. His arm strength is fine. In fact, he can really rifle the ball into tight places with some accuracy. His reads got better as the season progressed. He took some hellacious hits and didn't break. Look the circus that was going on around him with a coordinator who knew squat about 3-down ball. He's just not very mobile. My worry about Bombers taking on a QB such as Nichols is that Edm is just looking to free up cap room by dumping Nichols to get into a bidding war for someone like Drew Willy. And I am not convinced Wpg should go after Willy either. We would likely overpay.

I was a huge Joe Mack supporter and remain so. He made a mistake right off the bat by hiring Lapo. And he kept Lapo around as HC longer than he should have. But who was to know? Wouldve taken some unusual backbone to fire Lapo after we accidently backed into a GC appearance in 2011. But that is when Lapo shouldve been turfed, immediately after 2011 not almost 1/2 way thru 2012. Joe Mack made another mistake by not challenging Burke on the decision to allow Lapo's surrogate OC, Gary Crowton, who had no CFL experience, to run the offence coming into this season. That included Crowton's decision to cut both Brink and Elliott which probably wouldn't have occurred if they had dumped Crowton end of last year and gone with an OC with CFL experience. So Burke shouldve been challenged on that decision. Joe Mack also failed to fix the QB problem quickly enough for the mob-pandering BOD. So those are the glaring mistakes. The talent level on Joe Mack's Bombers is hugely better than whqat we had, and much better than the win-loss record shows. I can see why he was fired but I don't agree with it. The team was getting very close to turning things around.

I believe Simpson is fast enough to successfully run outside, though he does seem to trip on his own momentum quite often - but that is simply not being patient enough to let he play develop. If you've always been a power-style runner who is forcing the outsdie this will happen. But IMHO Bombers should be doing exactly what they are doing, that is running sweeps to the outside - even more than they have done - to counter opposing D's who are stacking the box on us. We haven't had success running inside for that very reason. And we haven't had success running outside because we don't use misdirection to freeze LBs and we almost never pitch to the RB. I wonder why there isn't more disguise or creativity. When the field is 65 yards wide you should be able to succeed around the end when you're seal blocking.

Tim Burke also said the club is looking to pick up a NI DL or LB. Wonder who?

Tim Burke warned the D there would be changes if play did not improve. When Hefney couldn't step with with better play, despite some turf toe, Burke shows the player the door. I'm not an expert at judging DB play, but take into consideration too that this is a very young club that needs leadership rather than distractions from veteran players. In fact, team chemistry appears to be of the issues coaches and management seem to be trying to address - because when you look at the depth chart there are precious few vets on this team who could be described as leaders. Buck Pierce I guess would be one. And Terence Edwards. Certainly not Hefney.