Tracker

Be it Heenan or another game-breaker, we sure as spit look like we need a game-changer addition to the team because the current lineup just ain't good enuff.

I think people here think the bombers are a playoff team - two years ago we were the league's doormat. Wasn't even close. We have improved greatly to a team that can compete on most nights. However, when we play a team that is better than us (and IMO that's just about every team in the league I'm afraid - even SK as though they are losing they are not getting pounded) and they play to their potential - that's what we get - pounded. I PVR'd the game as I was at a family bbq - watched it last night and laughed all through the 1st half - but the second half - I was impressed with our fight. I was really impressed with how Willy played. That, IMO, was a good character building game. We were beaten very badly in the first half but came out swinging in the 2nd half - almost made a game of it. Good on them! That is a step in the right direction believe it or not. We are a possible playoff team if Willy is healthy and it is increasingly in doubt as to whether the current O-line can do that. We weren't the worst team in the league last year because Ottawa started up and if Willy is off-line for more than a game or three this year, the only thing that will stop us from being bottom feeders will be the Roughies. True, the team defence tightened up in the second half against the Tabbies, but considering how impotent the Bomber offence was all game, do you think we had a hope in Hades of winning?

And to rub salt into the wound- our offence was neutered by.....wait for it......Jeff Renbold. Ugh.

Neufeld did not look good yesterday, but was okay against BC, so he gets a temporary pass. The biggest issue for the O-line seems to be that they don't seem to know who to block on a given play, and that sounds like coaching problems. Bucknor was decent last year but looks slow and confused this year. Leggett doesn't seem to be the force this season as last. Until yesterday, I would have been happy to toss Hurl overboard, but he looked better on Sunday, so he gets reprieved. I'm OK with our receivers and RBs but Cotton has been clipped and Taylor looks to be an interesting player.

Willy is a find, but we do have to keep him healthy. Willy's stats are skewed because of a horrid O-line last season and which has shown up on occasion this one. Also- last year our receiving corps was barely average when healthy and as soon as Moore was out, it became one of the worst in the league. We really won't know know how good Willy can be until we can consistently keep the sacks down to 2 per game or less and keep the pressures down as well.

The scores where Hamilton got the ball on turnovers were so easy that the defence should have been embarassed. If the defence was on its game, we could have gotten away with giving up field goals. The defence finally got its act together in the second half but it was too little, too late.

Coaches are supposed to prepare a game plan & get their players ready to play. They didn't do that.How so. Tip ball pick 6. Blocked punt. TD seconds later. Kick off flunked. TD seconds later. Pick 6 TD. It's not so much coaching as it is just making mistakes. Really. The kick off gaffe is tge only one I could say might be on the coaches but even then our guys on the field should be aware. 28 points off turnovers. Coaches coach players play. It's that simple. Yeah, our OL looked so prepared for the different blitzes Hamilton threw at them. Stoudemire looked prepared today. Special teams were awesome. You forgot to use the sarcasm font.

Buck was pretty beat-up before he got here and apparently brittle to boot. Willy. on the other hand, had all his parts in good order when he signed on, but that situation is being rapidly remedied.

Maybe as a Bomber, but Hall has been both a head coach and defensive coach for awhile now, has he not? And O'Shea has been an assistant coach before.

As someone else posted- how exactly are the Hamilton players, position for position than the current Bombers? The difference is slight until you get to the coaching and it is becoming increasingly clear (at least to me) that is the difference. If that is true, then we are in for a long and sad season.

Ted Laurent was beating a double-team, Picard was poor once more, and Neufeld looked like the Riders made a good decision to let him go. And we still cannot handle or counter blitzes- the book is out on the Bombers.

As bad as our O-line looked today (and they were BAD) they looked adequate last game, with the possible exception of Picard. How can they deteriorate so fast? It has to be laid at the feet of the relevant coaches.

In retrospect, giving a struggling team to a rookie head coach whose experience was mainly defence and special teams was probably a mistake. An experienced and formerly successful head coach like Tom Higgins would likely have given confidence to the team and also resulted in better choices in assistant coaches. We're paying for O'Shea's learning curve and unfortunately it looks like it is going to be a long one. perhaps too long for the team. If the team does not do better than .500 and make the playoffs, O'Shea's future has to be questioned. His decision to leave Willy in after a disasterous first half resulting in an almost absolute certainty of a bad loss was boneheaded. We still got handled and now Willy is sidelined again, perhaps for an extended period which will probably mean a 6 or 8 win season at best and no playoff appearance. Even Ottawa with their GM whom we mocked got a whole lot better since last year and the Riders put up more of a fight in their last game than we did.

Looking to see Littlejohn and Waggoner strut their stuff today.

I wonder---is there any chance we could pry Messam out of Sask? He would be awesome behind our O-line.

The Rider talent is better than their record, even with losing their #1 and #2 quarterbacks, so the chances of Chamblin surviving the next two weeks are very slim. He may or may not be a good coach but I think the team has lost confidence and its time for a radical coachectomy.

Rod Black. Fecal matter.

The unsettling thing for me re:Brohm vs Marve is that I have this sesne that if Willy goes down, O'Shea would keep throwing Brohm out there as long as Brohm could stand upright and would put Marve out only if O'Shea could not find a pulse in Brohm.

A sad state of affairs in the Queen's City- almost makes me feel bad for them. Scary to think that one hit on Willy and we're in almost as bad a position. And yes, I have zero confidence in Brohm.

THAT ought to do it for the Riders' pride.

Horribly disjointed game with sloppy play by both teams. Neither Sask nor Toronto seem to want to win badly.

Nothing but upside for Waggoner. He appears to have the smarts, the right passport, and the physical tools. All he needs is adaptation to the CFL nd experience and we just might have another Muamba but one who doesn't flee the to USofA.

Cut Nic(ked) Moore and use the money to land Heenan. Winnipeg is only 5 1/2 hrs by car from Regina.

I have a feeling that Sunday's game is going to be a lot like this and a toss-up to boot.

Aaaand.....Montreal is scrooged.