Brandon Blue&Gold

I'm going with Edmonton vs Montreal in the final. The Eskies look really good right now and Montreal is the best in the East. Edmonton 31 Montreal 27

I have never heard of the RB coach making gameday personnel decisions in any league, and I doubt Buck had the final say over who our starting RB was. I never said that, but it would be silly to think that a RB positional coach won't have his own opinions and recommendations about the players he coaches specifically on a daily basis that he would then pass on to his OC and/or HC. Otherwise Pierce is a glorified personal trainer for the RBs, just there to work them out until it's time to run plays with the rest of the offense. You don't think Wiley or Dahlquist have any say or recommendations when it comes to their Olinemen and QBs?

Soooooo that's a no then for knowing his status? Be nice to see him play in the final game to at least see what he can bring to the table.

As the RB coach Pierce has to take some responsibility for the cluster@#$% that was Grigsby and not seeing that Cotton should have been put in sooner. Unless of course he saw it early on and the HC and OC ignored his advice. Who can say for sure?

I've seen other posters asking where this guy is since we traded for him. Does anyone know what his status is? I see him listed on the 1 game injured list. Is he going to play before the season ends? Did we trade Suber for nothing?

I certainly agree that it's not all on Etch's D. I too take issue with Marcel's offense. He seems to insist on keeping the QB in the pocket at all times despite having an Oline that can't maintain that pocket long enough for the play to develop. And when it's Willy in there it doesn't seem like his release is quick enough to compensate for it at times. Brohm seems to handle it a little better only because he has a quicker release. And Marve doesn't seem to care for the pocket at all and did a lot of improvising. I think a previous poster mentioned that when Marcel ran the O in Montreal, it coincided with Calvillo taking some brutal punishment over that period of time. If this is accurate I think we're seeing the same thing happen to Willy this year. So yeah, change the damn scheme this offseason or find the best oline money can buy (within the salary cap of course ). I believe Willy is our QB now and for the foreseeable future. He deserves better than this.

Lining up 8 guys at the LOS on obvious run plays should be enough to show that Etch has no ideas for stopping the run. I could understand preaching patience if we were having issues with the run after Week 6 (which we were), but we're 16 games in and the only response I've seen to address our run D issues was to get Unamba and Sears in at LB. And that was only done yesterday, not earlier in the season. Don't get me wrong, Unamba and Sears played well but you need more than that going up against the likes of Cornish. What goes through Etch's head? It's one thing in the summertime and early fall to focus more on pass D and let the run D slide (not acceptable to me btw) when teams are throwing more, but when October hits and the weather gets colder it becomes prime time to run the ball. If we had playoff aspirations an effective run D is crucial and necessary come November. Odds are we won't have to worry about that sadly. I'm firmly in the "Etch has to go" camp.

If Heenan and/or Holmes make it to FA of course we should try for them. Haven't a hope in hell of landing them (especially Heenan) but still have to try.

I'm in K.C trying to catch the Bomber/TiCat game. Where do I go online to watch it? ESPN 3 requires an account with a cable provider. Anybody got a different link? Thanks.

You beat me to it. The block to the back was bad enough, but the roughing the kicker non call defies belief. If the Riders win this game close I hope they have the decency to not pound their chests too much. Don't worry. They're not going to win.  Don't worry, they are going to pound their chests.... Sadly, you're probably right. Kudos to the Riders for clawing back and to Sunseri for playing mistake free football (Damn that was painful to type). But that game shouldn't have gone to OT in the first place if Ottawa's secondary could defend at all along with the missed penalties on the Dressler TD. Oh well. Poor Redblacks.

Tino's had a decent 2nd half (very surprised I will admit) but this Ottawa D has been pathetic. Little to no coverage on the Riders key receivers. And the Ottawa receivers have let down Burris how many times now? You had them RedBlacks! And ya blew it! (Overtime pending )

You beat me to it. The block to the back was bad enough, but the roughing the kicker non call defies belief. If the Riders win this game close I hope they have the decency to not pound their chests too much. Don't worry. They're not going to win. That's showing a lot of faith in a team that has crapped their pants a lot this season. If the Riders have to depend on Tino's arm I'd say you're right Mike. But the lead isn't insurmountable and there's plenty of time for Frank Burris to show up.

You beat me to it. The block to the back was bad enough, but the roughing the kicker non call defies belief. If the Riders win this game close I hope they have the decency to not pound their chests too much.

Not that the Bombers had any interest in him and it was unlikely he would come back up to the CFL this season anyways, but Alex Hall has a wrist/hand injury that will keep him out of football until the end of 2014. Per Kirk Penton's weekly CFL article... "For those fans hoping your team goes after defensive end Alex Hall, you can forget it for this season. The former Bombers and Riders rush end has a hand or wrist injury that is expected to sideline him until at least the end of 2014, according to a source ..." Not sure if this is old news but it's the first I've heard about it.

The only issue with Sears is that he always seems to get injured after a couple games. If it wasn't for that there really isn't any reason that he should be sitting.

Who backs up Dunn? Would Sears be a better option at SAM than Dunn? Dunn has seemed decent this season but leaving a guy like Sears on the bench seems very very wrong.

I missed the game last night. How did Henoc do? I didn't any stats for him. Was he mainly on special teams?

why puts quotes around big uncaring city? There is a very clear divide between the priorities that Winnipeg has and what rural Manitoba has. Their voting patterns illustrate that quite nicely. Winnipeg having over half the population of the province basically runs roughshod over the rest of the province and there is rightly some resentment about it. Just separating how I feel about Winnipeg from others here in Westman. I like Winnipeg since I lived there for many years so I tend to land in the middle whenever the city/country debate starts up.

Never bothered me at all that the Bombers and Jets are named from Winnipeg. I prefer it that a professional team located in a good sized city take that city's name. It's your home base and where the majority of your support, both financiaI and personnel, are located. However teams like the RIders that are in a smaller city and draw from a larger area I have no problem with naming themselves after the province or region they represent. A couple of other examples like the New England Patriots or Carolina Panthers is cool too since they seem to encompass their respective regions. I'm not a fan of the B.C Lions name since they only really seem to draw from the greater Vancouver area, but it's tradition so whatever. Maybe a B.C poster could correct me on my assumption here? I would venture the theory that the rural folk in Manitoba bothered by it are the same ones that already dislike Winnipeg to begin with and use it as one more reason to slag the "big uncaring city". The whole "Country/small town vs Big City" debate is neverending out here.

As a proud Brandonite and diehard Bomber fan, I'm sure you'll understand why I take issue with the above statement. Just because it's the "Winnipeg Blue Bombers" doesn't mean there aren't Bomber fans outside the Perimeter Hwy in Manitoba. You wanna slag the Riders and Saskatchewan, have at it. Leave my city out of it.As a former brandonite, i will gladly say brandon was.. By far... Some of the most boring time ive spent outside of winnipeg... houstons was unbarable, every other bar was a dive or a hole in the wall, restaurants minus humptys and bp were closed at 9 or maaaaaaaaaybe 11. Other then a so so whl team and some decent university sports, what else is there? Sorry man, i tried to love brandon, i really did..No need to apologize to me. I can't change what your experience was like living in Brandon, but if your only criteria for judging your time here is Houstons, how late restaurants are open and the BU Bobcats I would say you missed out a little while you were here. But to each their own.I lived in Winnipeg for 12 years and enjoyed my time there for the most part, mainly because of the friends I made and the experiences I had there, not because of the Forks or the Goldeyes or the dance bars or the Ballet. Hell if I have the urge for RWB or the WSO I'm only 2 hours away. Simple fact is Brandon is around 50,000 people, Winnipeg is 700,000. The main difference is variety or more of the same things. Winnipeg may have 50 chinese restaurants, Brandon might have 5. All that means is I have a few less takeout menus to sort through, still get a damn good meal. And I will put Little Italy pizza up against any pizza joint in Winnipeg! People from Toronto or Vancouver say the same things about Winnipeg that you say about Brandon or Regina. You happen to be in a bigger city than me. Is there more to do in Winnipeg than Brandon? For the most part yes. That doesn't make Winnipeg better, just bigger. My rambling aside, I think the main reason I took issue with your post is that being a Bomber fan in Brandon isn't easy. There are more Rider fans here than Bombers fans, and it's not like they're all ex-pats from the Rectangle. A lot of them choose green because they hate Winnipeg and its perceived arrogance to the rest of the province. Cheering for the Riders becomes easy for them. It's a normal reaction I know, hating the big guy on the block (much like most of Ontario hating Toronto). But there is a lot of Blue and Gold here too, and we don't need Winnipeggers bashing us. We get enough of that from our Rider neighbours. You used to live here so I figure you would appreciate that point of view. And a so so whl team? Brandon's only missed the playoffs twice in the past 20 odd years. The Bombers and Jets wish they were as so so. Different strokes for different folks... All family and friends lived in wpg... met some cool people but in the end I simply couldnt wait to leave... Its weird tho how many rider fans live there... especially considering crocus has a freakin football team... You would think next to nfl dreams, being a bomber and not a rider is what kids should aspire to..There's actually three high school football teams here. And yes there is a lot of passion for football in Brandon. But the amount of Rider fans here goes back to the points I made in my last response. Some expats living here combined with proximity to Sask and disdain for Winnipeg means a lot of Green here. Also doesn't help that for the past ten years the Riders have been much better than the Bombers so the casual and younger fans gravitate to the more successful team. When I was a kid my Mom, who wasn't much of a football fan, cheered for the Riders. When I would ask her why she would say she liked how the Riders included the entire province, unlike the Bombers who mainly focused on Winnipeg itself. That is also a factor with some fans who I have spoken with over the years. Now I don't necessarily fault the Bombers for this. After all they are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers not the Manitoba Blue Bombers. And to their credit the Bombers do attempt to reach out to the rest of province every now and then (Players visiting schools in the Province, the stop in Brandon on the way to Labour Day, selling merch and tickets through Co-op, training camp in Brandon years ago, etc). But when we all see what the Riders do to include their province in the team and how they merch everything and everyone, it does sway people even here in Westman. Although I have yet to see Weston Dressler and Chris Getzlaf visiting Brandon schools. Thank god . So many Winnipeggers trash talk Brandon that isn't even funny. You'll never hear that crap coming out of my mouth. I've heard Brandon get trash talked by Sask folk plenty of times too. Mainly due to the constant whuppings the Wheat Kings hand out to your WHL teams.

The Moose weren't promoted outside of Winnipeg. Plus Westman has the Wheat Kings and WHL hockey, which many find to be a better brand of hockey than the AHL.

Long time lurker, infrequent poster. Born and raised Westman, spent over a decade in Winnipeg until my career returned me to Westman. Located in Brandon's southend shaking my fist at my Rider fan neighbour.

As a proud Brandonite and diehard Bomber fan, I'm sure you'll understand why I take issue with the above statement. Just because it's the "Winnipeg Blue Bombers" doesn't mean there aren't Bomber fans outside the Perimeter Hwy in Manitoba. You wanna slag the Riders and Saskatchewan, have at it. Leave my city out of it.As a former brandonite, i will gladly say brandon was.. By far... Some of the most boring time ive spent outside of winnipeg... houstons was unbarable, every other bar was a dive or a hole in the wall, restaurants minus humptys and bp were closed at 9 or maaaaaaaaaybe 11. Other then a so so whl team and some decent university sports, what else is there? Sorry man, i tried to love brandon, i really did..No need to apologize to me. I can't change what your experience was like living in Brandon, but if your only criteria for judging your time here is Houstons, how late restaurants are open and the BU Bobcats I would say you missed out a little while you were here. But to each their own.I lived in Winnipeg for 12 years and enjoyed my time there for the most part, mainly because of the friends I made and the experiences I had there, not because of the Forks or the Goldeyes or the dance bars or the Ballet. Hell if I have the urge for RWB or the WSO I'm only 2 hours away. Simple fact is Brandon is around 50,000 people, Winnipeg is 700,000. The main difference is variety or more of the same things. Winnipeg may have 50 chinese restaurants, Brandon might have 5. All that means is I have a few less takeout menus to sort through, still get a damn good meal. And I will put Little Italy pizza up against any pizza joint in Winnipeg! People from Toronto or Vancouver say the same things about Winnipeg that you say about Brandon or Regina. You happen to be in a bigger city than me. Is there more to do in Winnipeg than Brandon? For the most part yes. That doesn't make Winnipeg better, just bigger. My rambling aside, I think the main reason I took issue with your post is that being a Bomber fan in Brandon isn't easy. There are more Rider fans here than Bombers fans, and it's not like they're all ex-pats from the Rectangle. A lot of them choose green because they hate Winnipeg and its perceived arrogance to the rest of the province. Cheering for the Riders becomes easy for them. It's a normal reaction I know, hating the big guy on the block (much like most of Ontario hating Toronto). But there is a lot of Blue and Gold here too, and we don't need Winnipeggers bashing us. We get enough of that from our Rider neighbours. You used to live here so I figure you would appreciate that point of view. And a so so whl team? Brandon's only missed the playoffs twice in the past 20 odd years. The Bombers and Jets wish they were as so so. Different strokes for different folks... All family and friends lived in wpg... met some cool people but in the end I simply couldnt wait to leave... Its weird tho how many rider fans live there... especially considering crocus has a freakin football team... You would think next to nfl dreams, being a bomber and not a rider is what kids should aspire to.. There's actually three high school football teams here. And yes there is a lot of passion for football in Brandon. But the amount of Rider fans here goes back to the points I made in my last response. Some expats living here combined with proximity to Sask and disdain for Winnipeg means a lot of Green here. Also doesn't help that for the past ten years the Riders have been much better than the Bombers so the casual and younger fans gravitate to the more successful team. When I was a kid my Mom, who wasn't much of a football fan, cheered for the Riders. When I would ask her why she would say she liked how the Riders included the entire province, unlike the Bombers who mainly focused on Winnipeg itself. That is also a factor with some fans who I have spoken with over the years. Now I don't necessarily fault the Bombers for this. After all they are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers not the Manitoba Blue Bombers. And to their credit the Bombers do attempt to reach out to the rest of province every now and then (Players visiting schools in the Province, the stop in Brandon on the way to Labour Day, selling merch and tickets through Co-op, training camp in Brandon years ago, etc). But when we all see what the Riders do to include their province in the team and how they merch everything and everyone, it does sway people even here in Westman. Although I have yet to see Weston Dressler and Chris Getzlaf visiting Brandon schools. Thank god .

As a proud Brandonite and diehard Bomber fan, I'm sure you'll understand why I take issue with the above statement. Just because it's the "Winnipeg Blue Bombers" doesn't mean there aren't Bomber fans outside the Perimeter Hwy in Manitoba. You wanna slag the Riders and Saskatchewan, have at it. Leave my city out of it. As a former brandonite, i will gladly say brandon was.. By far... Some of the most boring time ive spent outside of winnipeg... houstons was unbarable, every other bar was a dive or a hole in the wall, restaurants minus humptys and bp were closed at 9 or maaaaaaaaaybe 11. Other then a so so whl team and some decent university sports, what else is there? Sorry man, i tried to love brandon, i really did.. No need to apologize to me. I can't change what your experience was like living in Brandon, but if your only criteria for judging your time here is Houstons, how late restaurants are open and the BU Bobcats I would say you missed out a little while you were here. But to each their own. I lived in Winnipeg for 12 years and enjoyed my time there for the most part, mainly because of the friends I made and the experiences I had there, not because of the Forks or the Goldeyes or the dance bars or the Ballet. Hell if I have the urge for RWB or the WSO I'm only 2 hours away. Simple fact is Brandon is around 50,000 people, Winnipeg is 700,000. The main difference is variety or more of the same things. Winnipeg may have 50 chinese restaurants, Brandon might have 5. All that means is I have a few less takeout menus to sort through, still get a damn good meal. And I will put Little Italy pizza up against any pizza joint in Winnipeg! People from Toronto or Vancouver say the same things about Winnipeg that you say about Brandon or Regina. You happen to be in a bigger city than me. Is there more to do in Winnipeg than Brandon? For the most part yes. That doesn't make Winnipeg better, just bigger. My rambling aside, I think the main reason I took issue with your post is that being a Bomber fan in Brandon isn't easy. There are more Rider fans here than Bombers fans, and it's not like they're all ex-pats from the Rectangle. A lot of them choose green because they hate Winnipeg and its perceived arrogance to the rest of the province. Cheering for the Riders becomes easy for them. It's a normal reaction I know, hating the big guy on the block (much like most of Ontario hating Toronto). But there is a lot of Blue and Gold here too, and we don't need Winnipeggers bashing us. We get enough of that from our Rider neighbours. You used to live here so I figure you would appreciate that point of view. And a so so whl team? Brandon's only missed the playoffs twice in the past 20 odd years. The Bombers and Jets wish they were as so so.

or Maybe Kuale isn't as big of a problem as some are making him out to be, Kuale got hurt last night, missed the entire second half really... see what happened when he wasn't in the game? the lions ran the ball down our throats, Kuale is just one player. It's not just one player. I will agree having Kuale out in the second didn't make much of a difference and Kromah could have been more effective. Our defense is a "bend but don't break" D which is what it did up until around mid 4th quarter. Then what happened is what happens every time you have the Bend don't Break D paired with an ineffective offense, the D is exhausted, beaten up and finally breaks. The Etch D needs a good offense to be effective, without it we get what happened last night. Very frustrating, especially when you watch Bighill, Elimimian and that B.C D do their thing. Made me jealous.