B-F-F-C

All this coming from guys who have yet to become fathers.   Sure the timing sucks but these things don't always happen when you want them to.  But if you've gone thru the whole birthing process you'd know it's not like in the old days when women would squat in the field and then go back to work.   
 
Maybe she had a caesarian section which makes it difficult for the mom to be the primary caregiver until she's had a chance to recover.  
 
So get off your high horses and let him deal with this very personal matter in the way he needs to. 

All this coming from guys who have yet to become fathers.   Sure the timing sucks but these things don't always happen when you want them to.  But if you've gone thru the whole birthing process you'd know it's not like in the old days when women would squat in the field and then go back to work.   
 
Maybe she had a caesarian section which makes it difficult for the mom to be the primary caregiver until she's had a chance to recover.  
 
So get off your high horses and let him deal with this very personal matter in the way he needs to. 

The fact is, this team would be better than last year's even if the only upgrade was at QB. Randle, Moore, Cotton and hopefully Hajrullahu are all upgrades as well while Kuale is a downgrade. It all adds up to a net gain. I just think there was a lot more room for upgrades and it didn't work out. Such is life.

Queue the Stoddard love     

You called?

No...I don't think so.   Maher was in tough to win the job and Osh told him that he'd have to perform significantly better than Highralahoo in order to beat out the Cdn kicker.  And I believe it was pretty much a tie between the two.   

IMHO, our biggest improvement over last year is coaching.  Especially the leadership side of that job.   I believe that we will see a greater committment from the players, and a whole lot more fight.
 
I like Burke as a DC, but I never forgot the game where we kneeled down while losing at the end of the game.  I just never regained any confidence that he could lead a winning team.   With M.O.S., I believe we have the passion and the drive, and that it will wear off on the team.  I expect some bumps in the road, and some trouble along the way, but I believe that this team will improve.

lets keep the conversation focused on the defence for now. Quite frankly I'm very happy with the offence and where they're at after 2 pre season games.   What concerned me the most was our run defence in the first half when we were playing starters against starters.  The Stamps run the ball down the gut with ease and we didn't appear to get a hand on the runner until he got thru to the secondary.   I didn't once see the front 4 get any type of pressure on their own.  
 
So I'll wait and I hope I'm wrong, god I hope I'm wrong. But I wasn't happy with the hiring of Etchevery in the first place and so far I've seen nothing to disprove my opinion.  

lets keep the conversation focused on the defence for now. Quite frankly I'm very happy with the offence and where they're at after 2 pre season games.   What concerned me the most was our run defence in the first half when we were playing starters against starters.  The Stamps run the ball down the gut with ease and we didn't appear to get a hand on the runner until he got thru to the secondary.   I didn't once see the front 4 get any type of pressure on their own.  
 
So I'll wait and I hope I'm wrong, god I hope I'm wrong. But I wasn't happy with the hiring of Etchevery in the first place and so far I've seen nothing to disprove my opinion.  

It's interesting when you look back at the last three regimes.  Taman valued draft pics like tooth pics.  Then Kelly comes in and says that the team needs to start retaining their pics to rebuild their NI talent.      Then Mack arrives and says essentially the same thing but misuses his high picks by taking flyers on players.     
 
I think if we looked at our NI talent during the Taman years.  We'd all agree it was stronger than what we have today.   Taman strengthened our NI depth thru FA and trades.  Mack's philosophy was to not overpay for FA's and I'm not sure he could spell trade. 
 
Rebuilding our NI talent is going to take another 2 - 3 years if it's done properly.  Sure Walters could mortgage the future today and probably pick up a couple of NI starters.  But I see Walters as more of a long term vs short term strategist.  
 
But in the end I believe we've wasted our opportunity to build our NI talent over the last few years of drafting.     

It's interesting when you look back at the last three regimes.  Taman valued draft pics like tooth pics.  Then Kelly comes in and says that the team needs to start retaining their pics to rebuild their NI talent.      Then Mack arrives and says essentially the same thing but misuses his high picks by taking flyers on players.     
 
I think if we looked at our NI talent during the Taman years.  We'd all agree it was stronger than what we have today.   Taman strengthened our NI depth thru FA and trades.  Mack's philosophy was to not overpay for FA's and I'm not sure he could spell trade. 
 
Rebuilding our NI talent is going to take another 2 - 3 years if it's done properly.  Sure Walters could mortgage the future today and probably pick up a couple of NI starters.  But I see Walters as more of a long term vs short term strategist.  
 
But in the end I believe we've wasted our opportunity to build our NI talent over the last few years of drafting.     

Well, you can effectively avoid taking the rap for draft busts ....if you simply trade away your top draft picks, every year......

the ratification bribe...er bonus, is what got this done.

Let's hope that these talks are enough to keep all involved happy so that we can watch football on Monday night. I'm giddy already.

Fingers firmly crossed...

I just hope we have a game on Monday. I'm dying to watch some cfl.

I just hope we have a game on Monday. I'm dying to watch some cfl.

Bigshot? No. Just love the taste of gin in a martini glass. Still the boy who grew up I'm the north end of Winnipeg. I think this is the year I return for a game in the new barn.

If it comes down to the upside of Mario Urrutia or "steady as she goes" Aaron Kelly, who would you take? Reality is that it could come downtown this decision.

Martini? Holy bigshot

Thanks for the updates,. Sitting the hotel bar in Vancouver enjoying a martini and reading the updates. Wishing was Winnipeg and could attend training camp. Keep up with the updates!

O'Shea isn't the only coach that doesn't allow his assistants talk to the media.  I know Huff doesn't in Calgary.  
 
His explanation made a lot of sense and quite frankly why shouldn't he be the single source of information.  I have absolutely no issue with it.      

Smith!!!!!!!  Quelle surprise!!!

Disagree with this. Maybe it was only one practice but this guy has all the tools. I'm in love.
 
Brohm was easily the weakest of the QBs and while I like what Hall brings to the table, he is what he is. Marve has zip on his throws and one particular example I have is on one play, he showed great mobility on a roll out to his right while being chased by a lineman and while on the run fired a bullet to Donovan Kemp. Perfect throw and a good example of what he can do. It's early, but I think he easily gets the project 3rd QB job on this squad.
 
Yantz surprised me as well. He has a much better arm than I expected. I liked Willy as well. Good arm and he looked like a leader out there. The talent at QB in camp this year is light years ahead of last year. I finally see what other team's fans see when they have a young QB who comes in and really impresses. I know it's early and I can't get too excited but damn. I'm impressed. Nothing like Clement from last year or other first year camp QBs that we've had in the past.
 
It's really tough to gauge anything other than QBs, DBs and receivers so I'll just go over the DBs and receivers now.
 
The pick 6 was Matt Pierce from Hall, not Unamba from Willy but afterwards Unamba chest bumped with Pierce and I really liked that show of camaraderie. Unamba and Pierce are two of the less heralded DB prospects but from a straight up coverage standpoint, they both stood out the most. Still, the receivers on the whole were making the DBs look bad. It's nice to see since that's how 1-on-1's should be but with so much space. It feels like in years past poor QB play and other factors made the O look bad even in practice. Today wasn't like that at all and I'm glad. Hogan also showed decent coverage skills and no one looked flat out bad. Other than one nuts move from Donovan Kemp on a DB that I don't remember.
 
No receiver stood out all that much to me. Kemp made some nice moves and really nice grabs and showed very good speed but also had a bad drop late in the session. Urrutia and Bell are HUGE. Bell is skinnier in the mold of a Doug Pierce and wasn't all that noticeable but you can tell that Urrutia and Brohm have chemistry from their college days. Urrutia probably had the best hands of the session. Tarver is tiny. It looked like none of his equipment fit him but he looked to have great speed and good hands. I think his age will make him in tough to land a spot on the team and these smaller guys rarely get a shot in the offense but it was a good first day from him. Taylor Renaud also caught a few deep balls in good coverage. I don't have high hopes for him but it was nice to see him play well. Barnes made some very nice catches and also had some drops.
 
#45, who I believe is the FB from the Rifles is absolutely massive. In blocking drills with Buck he was knocking Buck off balance every time. He has hands of stone but I wouldn't mind having this guy blocking for me if I were a RB.
 
It looked like Garvin was missing from the session this evening and there was another player who was not in uniform just hanging on to a ball. If anyone knows who this was, I would appreciate the info.
 
Also ran into Gary Etcheverry in the parking lot and he smiled at me. This turned my impression of him around immediately. He will be the greatest coordinator this team has ever seen.
 
Overall, I like the talent crop this year. Didn't watch a ton of the D-line but even with limited reps Kenny Tate looks like an absolute beast. Makes me salivate at the thought of him starting for this team.