blueandgoldguy

Last year he was a good investment, this year he is a bad investment. Other teams have better production from their field goal kickers this season at nearly half the salary.

Yes, pretty much. He is not worth what they are paying him and has been suspect most of the year.

Matt actually went to Birmingham. Even if Matt had won a Grey Cup with the Bombers in 93 or 94 I don't think Cal signs him as the owner of the Barracudas - Mr. "Vincent Lecavalier is the Michael Jordan of hockey" - offered Matt a huge contract. I believe it was over $500,000 US per year for at least 2 years, maybe 3... and then he proceeded to pay Matt a percentage of the amount owed in year 1 after which the team folded. I seem to remember Matt taking Art to court over this. I'm not sure how it was resolved in the end.

Not writing him off. He is not earning $185,000 per season though. He probably is making nearly twice as much as the next highest paid kicker. While he does punt - average at best in that department - he is probably only worth 2/3s of what he makes at this point. $185,000 kickers make 38 - 45 yard field goals, they don't miss two in a game.

Hall should go but boy does this team need some additional talent on defense. MLB is the most obvious but they probably need to get Loffler out of the safety position. He just too slow back there. Maybe one of the OLB positions? Need more depth for the d-line as well. I feel pretty confident Medlock will be taking a significant paycut in the off season or he will be gone. Nearly $200,000 for an American field goal kicker who has had two terrible games and another few questionable ones on top of that is simply not good enough for that salary. Below 80% for the season. I'm also questioning the depth Walters and the scouts have provided the Bombers with this season. Toronto came into this game with more injuries then the Bombers yet the offense had their way with a defense that was only missing a few personal. On offense this team loses Adams last week and is life or death to move the ball against the Lions. On a related note, I heard on the 1290 pre-game show that the Bombers had only lost 65 man-games to injuries whereas the league average is over 200. Winnipeg has been extremely fortunate up to this point.

That's the spirit guys.

Yep, recruitment needs to be better.

Well that's where recruitment comes in. Calgary lost one of their very best players at the start of the season. They lost a few others to injury, some of their best O-linemen to other teams in free agency (Denis, Bryant) and the NFL the past few years, yet they still appear to have the best talent and depth in the league. Our depth has improved, but our recruitment needs to be better if we want to compete with a multitude of injuries. As it stands, I think Edmonton has more injuries to key starters than the Bombers this year so if they meet in the playoffs there is no reason the Bombers can't win a semi-final game. Finals are another matter obviously.

Why do you think both are done for the year? Seems a little premature.

The defense was great for the most part, but the final few minutes of the game were a let down. Giving up two TDs in less than two minutes is pretty weak even if it is "garbage time." For the poster who keeps chiming in with the garbage time rhetoric, need I remind you that there have been at least two games this year (that come to mind) where the defense gave up two quick scores late in the fourth quarter forcing the game into overtime - one against Glen and the riders and another against Durant of all quarterbacks and the Als. I can't help but feel if the Bombers were up by two scores instead of 3 in this one that they still might have given up those 2 TDs late anyways. I also can't help but feel it's not entirely Hall...probably a good portion of it is his fault, but a good portion of the blame lays at the feet of the defenders.

Well the reality is the Riders backup is far better than ours (both came into the league the same year)based on the results, despite Bridge appearing very raw at times. He is also Canadian and who wouldn't want to see a Canadian QB have success in this league. It has been too long since the last one.

Bombers miss the playoffs this season?! I don't think so. Bombers could lose out the rest of the way but it is highly unlikely that Sask and Edmonton will win 4 of their last 5 and BC win 3 of their last 5 (2 wins against the Bombers) to place the Bombers in 5th by season's end.

With Nichols in for all 4 games, 2-2 sound about right especially with all the injuries. Bombers have been extremely fortunate this season having the fewest injuries in the league, so now we will see how good his recruitment really is as the depth will be tested. Without Nichols the rest of the way, 0-4 is extremely likely. Davis looks awful despite being in the league as long as Bridge and our defense is among the worst.

I still feel if the Bombers win their semi-final game, Hall will be safe for next season.

The Bombers could win the semi-final and lose the division final and I bet Hall would be back. They would look at it as progress by the team even if the D gives up a tonne of yards.

Nobody talks about the talent or lack thereof on the defense. That is on the scouts and GM. Hurl is the worst MLB in the league. Davis looked pretty bad at QB against the prevent. Barely moved the ball and only got 3 points in the half. If he starts next week the Bombers are dead barring a tonne of turnovers by the d. Probably the worst backup or one of the worst backups at this point. Bridge in Sask looked much better and that is with a team that supposedly has inferior talent.

This is true. I was thinking back to the 2011 season and how many users on the old forum thought the Bombers had the best import and QB depth in the league with Pierce, Elliott and Brink. I even remember Bluto had that signature of the person who claimed it and how it was seconded by a bunch of other posters. As it turned out, the 2011 season was a mirage and Joe Mack turned out to be a giant fraud as they are now finding out in Montreal with the lack of import talent there. With that said, there is some good work being done here and Davis looks to have some tools. The fever is a good third down option and is probably a better backup than the above-mentioned duds of yesteryear, not to mention Goltz, Boltus and Marve. But as he has shown in the past, he is a turnover machine and not someone who can be relied on long term as a starter. Assuming full health across the league, the Bombers backups would be ranked in the bottom half of the league based on the fever mediocre results of the past and Davis' unknown quality...sorry a handful of passes doesn't make him standout in any way. Backups 1. BC - Lulay 2. Edmonton - Franklin 3. Hamilton - Massoli 4. Ottawa - Tate 5 - 9 . Winnipeg - Davis, The fever, Saskatchewan - Bridge, Toronto - Fajardo, Montreal - Willy, Calgary - Buckley

Another great addition to IGF. Bob Irving already has the the pressbox named after him but I wonder if a statue would be appropriate. Only play-by-play announcer that I know of with a statue is Harry Carey.

Just goes to show these funding schemes for most arenas and stadiums tend to fall flat on their faces. I've seen this from governments of all types...left-leaning, centrist and right leaning. Inherently ridiculous and built on unreasonable expectations and forecasts. A similar thing is happening just to the south of us with the government funding of the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The state's share of the stadium funding was supposed to be covered by the lottery, but of course there have been massive shortfalls in the first few years...all based on unrealistic projections. It's pretty telling that the new Save-On Foods chose to open a store in the former Future Shop location right across from Polo Park rather than build on the old stadium site or within the old Target store. The site is not nearly as desirable as the city or province hoped given there is no way to properly connect Polo Park to it thanks to the other commercial buildings between the two.

What's the over-under on Bridge interceptions? 2.5?

Maybe at the end of the year they will fire Hall. Not now though. I like the idea of Loffler moving up to linebacker. Maybe that is something they can look at for the stretch run. Even that may be asking too much of the coaching staff though.

Lulay has to start next week, doesn't he? Jennings has looked awful since returning from his injury. What a disappointing season. I actually pegged him as a contender for the league MOP at the beginning of the season lol. Yeah, I thought he would turn over the ball a decent amount this year. But I thought with that receiving core and his mobility that he would throw for nearly 40 TDs and around 6000 yards.

Gawd Drew Willy sucks. Smart move Kavis - moving Vernon Adams, a unknown commodity, who still has a chance to develop into something resembling a decent qb and keep a proven, washed-up, indecisive and immobile Drew Willy.

He is a decent quarterback, average to slightly above average. He really leaves you wanting more with all the stalled drives. Given good field position by special teams and the defense all night and it took forever for him to drive the offense into the red zone and finally score a td. An elite QB like Reilly (with a healthy esks team, not 20 million injured starters) or Mitchell (see game 2 weeks ago) would have put the game away by the end of the 2nd quarter or early 3rd quarter. I am quite confident that Jennings, Ray, Franklin, Collaros, maybe even Harris and Durant would perform better then Nichols if given the same Bomber team he was gifted. It is worth noting that a Nichols-lead offense went nearly 6 quarters without generating a TD (running or passing) against the Ticats and the Redblacks. This is a cause for concern. I am not saying the Bombers can't win the Grey Cup with Nichols, they certainly can. However, with the team being behind the 8-ball at the most important position necessitates they be ahead at virtually all others in order to come out ahead. This Bomber team has noticeable weaknesses at linebacker, and receiver positions and questionable coaching so unless these areas are shored up it is unlikely the team will progress to the point of Grey Cup Champion That is the difference between this team and the 1990 team led by an average QB in Burgess. That team was great at almost every other position and that is why they won the Grey Cup.

Edmonton has like 16 players out with injuries. If they had few injuries like the Bombers they would probably win by 15 - 20 points.