GCn20

All I know about the CFL is that the first 9 games are nice and everything but you find out who your team truly is in the last 9. The Riders found out. If you can't raise the bar or even maintain it then your team is in big trouble. That's two years in a row for them, and that makes me believe there are not many winners in that room.

For sure. He is a one and done in the CFL. He earned it. Brady is a much more deserving pick than VA, and I doubt the voters will see it any other way.

Betts should get it. He had a great season.

Absolutely, but the effect each of those guys has on each other is not the same and that is not a knock on any of them but Schoen and Lawler definitely are game planned against to try neutralize them a lot more thoroughly than the rest.

Very tough to pull off.

That could very well be. The reason why is unimportant, what's important is that he is not a guy looking to jump at his first opportunity to be a HC.

Lawler could get those numbers playing half arsed though. Not suggesting he has been at all, but I think that is what the OP was thinking. I personally think that a ton of what Lawler does on the field ends up in other receivers seeing bigger numbers.

For sure. The best teams are the ones that can re-sign their really good young guys, make good evaluations on veterans as they age, keep their core intact as much as possible, have rock solid NAT starters, OL, and DL and get good coaching along the way and have good QBing. It's a lot tougher to stay on top than to get to the top.

Maybe. Knowing MOS and the Bomber organization this is not something that anyone would ever know outside that room though. However, Buck has already turned down 2 HC interviews in the past 2 years that have been confirmed in the media, so either he is extremely comfortable remaining an OC until the perfect situation comes along, or some kind of succession map has been laid out to him that he is completely comfortable with. Either way, Buck has already demonstrated that he is not really willing to jump into a tire fire for a promotion.

I would like to second your opinion that there is no right way or wrong way to be a fan. I have been on these forums a long time and at various times been every type of fan there is. From Pollyanna to harshest critic of this team. During the Kelly era I don't think there was a more outspoken critic of his work than I was and I was told I was a bad fan by many other posters. Completely untrue. I don't think any fan that is passionate, takes the time to spend hundreds of hours on these forums posting their fandom beliefs is a bad fan and sometimes we all need to remember that. Even TBurg is not a bad fan....a pain in the butt for sure...lol...but I have absolutely no doubt that he is a huge Bomber supporter (even tho I will call him a Lions fan every chance I get). Bottom line, there is no player or coach that is so perfect that flaws cannot be found and so long as there are flaws there will be fans who point them out. Not because they are bad fans, but because much like the Banjo Bowl...when perfection manifests itself in this game it is a marvelous fan experience that most of us feel our team is capable of doing more often. Whether that is realistic or not is another matter...but from what I have seen this year it's just a matter of super high fan expectations manifesting and that is not a bad thing.

I look at ANY CFL roster over the past few years and there is 20% turnover every year or two. Just the nature of the game. Injuries, short career span, SMS and one year contracts almost assure it. Will our roster turnover quite a bit by 2025 GC..more than likely. Probably not as much as most teams though.

Got off to a slow start for sure, but has been solid after that.

Worst defences or just misunderstood?

Love it. Was really hoping they would activate Alston.

Any internal promotion at this point would be a complete disaster. Therefore, he has to be a leading contender.

DL was no prize either. Yeah....I would expect Bennett to get a lot of reps this week in a make it or break it type of looksie for next year.

Nope neither playing him or not playing him is drastic.

If he shows up in a bra for the first game. Would be priceless.

Sometimes you retire because you want to, sometimes you retire because you are forced to, You can only develop so many guys on the active roster and PR players are FA's at the end of the year and may sign elsewhere. We do have a few guys ripening on the vine already maybe not as many as we possibly could, but we are built to contend this year so a couple trade offs have to be made. Look, I get what you guys are saying but it is very difficult to keep a fluid contending roster with game ready depth AND build for the future all at the same time. I would say we have some players ripening on the vine but realistically we are not looking to rebuild any time soon....more like reload at least until after 2025 GC...and let's be honest...FA is our best shot at reloading. After 2025 I am thinking a full rebuild will be coming and that's when roster/PR management will be of paramount importance compared to now.

I am hoping that O'Day keeps on O'Daisying and keeps Kelly Jeffries meteoric and undeserved rise up the coaching ranks going. There you have it...my dark horse, and something I could see the tire fire doing, pick for SSK HC. How frikken awesome would it be if they tried to lure Burris, and then last minute Hufnagel calls him and he puts his pen down and leaves them for the Stumps AGAIN.

I agree and am not worried about that in the least. We will go young or cheaper at some positions for sure in order to keep our young stars here. Walters has a multitude of options in FA and hopefully scouting brings in some good kids as well. as they usually do. I suspect that the DL will see the departure of Thomas and lower contracts for Willie and JJ, the OL may see one or two of Bryant/Yoshi/Neufeld retire, our receiving corps will remain in tact unless Schoen chases the dollars, LBer will see Biggie retire, and we may move on from Rose and/or Alexander. Of course we will have to see who chooses to chase FA dollars as well. I think MOS has built a room that most would like to stay in though.

Sucession plan? Gimme a break. This is the age of one year contracts. Succession plans aren't even realistic anymore nor are they particularly necessary....and I think you are selling MOS contribution way short but hey you've chosen to grind that axe this year so have at it. I will agree to disagree.

I don't think Bomber fans have much to complain about in our secondary tbh, and the stats back that up. Best in the league. I'm a very results oriented big picture guy tho so I tend not to be too critical of the odd mistakes people make. Players..coaches..they are not infallible and all screw up. I like to look at the entire body of work and the end results. Just me tho.

No doubt. Straight line speed is not football speed Rose has been mostly good imo.

All of them. A very coherent argument can be made that they never did hire one. Jefferies has the role. but he was in way over his head.