BigBlue

So says Dave Naylor on 1290 today .... its a great way to start the season he says Personally, I don't think Saturday's game this week is going to be any cake walk: Regina has a game under their belt and has already started to make adjustments .... we are still getting organized Neither do we have psychology on our side in this stadium opener ... Regina's strength (receiving) is going up against our biggest weakness from last year as borne out by the stats (passing yardage yielded) Jones is going to focus on exposing Hurl ... trapping him until he won't even realize whats going on What we do have going for us is the game in the trenches and that should show up by the fourth Quarter We also have the Kevin Glenn choke factor where a seemingly competent QB gives one up at this worst possible moment I think we manage to eke out a strange squeaker by the tiniest of margins and I would rather be lucky than good (even as we make our own luck) I don't believe the Blue are ready to blow anybody away just yet; but by labor day who knows...

Remember this isn't a "knowing" thread, its a forecast thread .... the ability to make a best guess prediction with some judgment and acumen

Now that we have all seen one real game, let's take a moment and revise our predictions for this season, just in case any of us need to save face or develop our ego: Mine Winnipeg 13 - 5 Calgary 11-6-1 Edmonton 11-7 Vancouver 10-8 Ottawa 8-9-1 Toronto 8-10 Montreal 6-12 Regina 5-13 Hamilton 3-15 The wild card to all this is which QBs will be injured for how long: Winnipeg & Edmonton followed by Ottawa have the best depth but that could be debated Winnipeg IMHO will be amongst the most improved teams in the league ... the games we will lose will be about Sam Hurl and defensive coaching decisions ... we will do well this year because we have improved an already decent team showing up with better depth and maturity Calgary doesn't have quite as much talent as last year but they still have a lot ... and Messam is better .... Bo Levi Mitchell will have to face his ego .... Calgary has been on a roll for a long time and every once in a while your luck runs out Edmonton carries over a lot of talent and has new stuff .... still a few holes and the loss of Sherritt is massive .... a top 3 contender I would rank Vancouver and Ottawa as the next most talented .... with QBing not as good as expected: maturity woes but definitely not awful Toronto is going to be the most improved team in the league because of talent assembly and coaching ... no depth at QB is what will keep them mediocre ... if anyone can over achieve this year its Trestman Montreal has improved its QBing but its central core seems to be past its prime date ... the transition to new talent will be a process In Regina Jones's scissors and duct tape will get them some wins against over confident rivals .... somehow Jones provides enough hope to keep his job another year Hamilton has not done enough to improve its talent base .... management could lose faith in Austin and fire him after Collaros disappoints Another charming season ahead for all of us gurus

I often feel alone in my opinion of our CFL Refereeing .... I just wonder hpw many of you share my feelings about the zebras and the review panel in Toronto

As much as we seem to have blossoming new forwards and a half decent defensive core I just don't see us going anywhere in the playoffs until we have an elite goaltender or at least a reasonable facsimile .... By what method can we solve this dilemma?

The big deal is that we have depth and that will be the difference maker this season ... the reason we are going to finish first this season BTW why are you comparing us to the Riders? Lets compare ourselves to Calgary and the other top teams

Does anybody know how Lapo is running 2nd & 3rd QQB duties? I assume Davis is getting 2nd team reps and Lefevour is more involved running the mock opposition reps but I really don't have a clue....

"Hamilton - Weaker than the Grey Cup caliber team of 3-4 years ago, but still the best of a soft division, and if Caollaros can shake off his injury demons, he and Austin should lead the Ticats to a comfortable 1st place division finish. Just curious, without looking can anyone actually name the back-up QB in Steeltown if (when?) Zach goes down? (looked it up - I guess Masoli is still there, with Logan Kilgore as #3). 11-7. (9 of those wins against the East)" I know on paper Hamilton should be it this year in the east but Austin just hasn't been able to put it all together since his arrival .... has it really been just an incredibly bad unlucky streak or is it him? Austin's GC year in Regina was he the builder or the inheritor of that club?

I think we have finally got it together: QBing is more than adequate and we have double bench strength ... no QB plays 21 games injury free .... most are good doing 16 games healthy Running Backs - as good as we have had since superstar Charles Roberts Receivers - good enough if not slightly better than average ... steady not brilliant Blocking back /tight end / Canadian receiver - unnoticeable but ok O-Line - the best I can remember ands THAT IS EVERYTHING Defensive backs - upgraded from last year ... ball hawks Linebackers - outside fits in with our DBs real nice but we don't scare anyone with our RUN defense .... its our first major problem to solve DLine - I am expecting a genuine pass rush & real pressure compared to last year ... I don't have a clue about their skill as run stoppers Special teams - Medlock says it all on the kicking side; returning is a notch down from last year but still OK .... our nemesis is undue penalties away from the play Coaching - MOS has everyone's respect and that counts for huge ... still has stubborn streak blind spots that will cost us but hopefully not at the worst possible times .... losing Wylie hurts but lets hope his legacy will carry the day Coordinators - Conservative by choice ... we may finally have the talent to fit that .... we are the turnover ratio experts and that should be better not worse this year

Talk about disrespect for Winnipeg ... the most they could say about us is that we start the season with a bye ... I guess that puts us behind all year ... just wait until we have our second bye

Training camp is over .... adjustments have been made and its time for the opening kickoff Anybody change their minds on how preseason changed their expectations for this year .... Montreal thrashing Ottawa changed mine .... cutting Willy raise my hopes for the Argos .... Edmonton looks stronger than I first thought and Regina even worse For the first time in years I am forecasting Winnipeg finishes first in the league .. just an optimistic hunch .... I forecast these final standings: Winnipeg Calgary Vancouver Edmonton Ottawa Montreal Toronto Hamilton Regina

Doesn't sound like much understanding there

After all these years I have never figured out why a punt returner (Fogg) can't do just as well returning kickoffs ....

i like that we are starting 8 Nationals ... much flexibilty subbing in a yank on both side of the ball

Ed Tait: "The inability to finish will drive the coaching staff bonkers. The Bombers gave up a last-second field goal in the tie to Saskatchewan last week and held a 38-23 lead into the final minute before giving up a TD, an onside kick, another TD with nine seconds left and then a two-point convert. Winnipeg was nailed for five defensive penalties in the final 1:48 of the game – three pass interference infractions, a roughing the passer and an offside. Those five gaffes totalled 64 yards and breathed life into the Edmonton rally."

I have been totally unable to find last nights game stats listed any where let alone details on same ... not on cfl.ca tsn or BB site who keeps/posts these things Stumbled across this site: In scoring we were just above average but 3rd in the league in lowest points against per game ... just under 26 http://www.oddsshark.com/cfl/defensive-stats

I have no answers at all .... I just don't understand even a little bit

cap or no cap its been a decade .... a blind monkey typing could find better mlb's than we have brought in

yes please create the hole

I don't believe that for a second ... MLB is the general of the D and a key place to spend $%$$$ .... other teams find the dough to get the job done

I find it remarkable that with our head coach having been one of the great mlb's that has ever played in this league he can not produce a clone of himself .... We have been recruiting for this position forever and our only success has been Muamba ... and we couldn't keep him We could have had a certain all star out of Montreal this spring but stuck our nose up in the air ... don't say salary cap, say something about management's attitude towards cap management, adjustments and tradeoffs ..... schemes fit the personnel not vice versa .... you fit plans to personnel Hurl is a STer and nothing more ... never will be When in the last decade have we brought in a stud MLB? What is the real problem here? SIGH !!!

Where is a good site to find the statistical breakdown?

I don't know quite what to make of all the penalties tonight ... For a moment I thought someone had hired the zebras to help with a Vegas bet on beating the odds of both preseason games ending in a tie; that would be quite a payout but then I slapped myself in the face: "Nah that coudn't be it" So I am not sure what was behind all those pass interference and roughing the passer calls .... I don't think the zebras could have called that many in the huddle.... was it just new Yankee DBs not knowing our rules ... or do we have a coaching problem? Or maybe the DB's were tickling the receivers with a feather? BTW when was the last time we have seen an offensive pass interference call .. they seem to occur much more below the border but I can't think of why that would be fair ... It must be that I am just blind and can't see without the benefit of the TSN broadcast crew Tomorrow I will be interested in seeing the statistics .... I want to check to see if Edmonton's penalty yardage gained exceeded their total offensive output

Thankyou extremely much for these .... yipee!!!

I had always wished we could of got him here to run Bomberville