Marshall

**** anyone who says different. I can't believe some of you guys.....only in Winnipeg are we finding ways to complain about being in the playoffs after a drought like we've had. You ***** if we don't make it, you ***** when we have a chance to make it because "we didn't do it well enough"......this ******* town, I swear.......can't we just be happy about the thought of making playoffs??????

Talk about over-reaction. This is talking about a guy's vast potential...in reverse. Geez, can we let the guy fail before everybody's declared an idiot?

Hopefully we wise up and start to lean on, and use Marshall in an effective manner. The guy is a beast and the type of back who with the more work he gets in game, the more he will produce. Powerful runner and he literally pounds the defence and wears them down. Have yo ever seen him go down on first contact? He reminds me a lot of Willard Reaves on his style of play, and come cold weather and late in season when defences are getting nicked and worn down he will be extremely effective. Totally under utilized this year, and especially as a receiving threat.
 
Get him in open space with room to start thundering downhill...Christ silly we haven't done that more. The times we have it's been money.
 
Walker, not a feature back by any means, but if used right, swings, pitchouts, screens, he can be very effective. Guy has speed to burn and could add a dimension out of backfield we don't have right now.
 
Maybe the being cut and the embarrassment will light a fire under him. The first few years in Hamilton when he was used right Walker was pretty good

You know what. They laid a licking on the Lions last night and they deserved a little bit of gloating.  The Ticats are the best team in the league (notice I didn't say class of the league) and they are dominating their opposition.  Austin has every facet of the team playing their best and the coaches are getting the most out of their players.  
 
I still hate Austin's behaviour on the sidelines and some of their players (especially on defence) push the letter of the law and good sportsmanship.  But you can't ignore how well the team is playing.  Right now if the Grey Cup was tomorrow the Cats would be the heavy favourite regardless of which team they played.  
 
But I just cant cheer for them because of Austin. 
 
OK...except when their playing the Riders. 

Picking Marshall...cannot pick Harris because he is on opposing team this week. C'mon should be a rule

I agree, less poles, more Ukrainians!

My feeling is the game will start 0-0.  Over the course of 3 hours both teams will score points.  The team with the most points will be declared the winner.
 
Over the course of the same 3 hours my wife will buy sweet potato fries.  We will smooch more than once.  I will arrive at the game happy and leave the game happy**.  If the Bombers win, I'll be slightly more happy.  And then I won't think about football again for at least 72 hours.
 
**subject to Andre Proulx reffing the game

How come the Bombers haven't released the name of the new running back? They should be telling us. Why are they waiting so long? I want to know now!!

Oddly enough, the name of Paul Randolph has not come up, and he was as good as they get.

Grey Cup preview

Okay. Just got back from training camp and finally back in the office. Today was the first day that coaches from the Winnipeg High School Football League were invited on the field to take in the practice. We were originally told to stick to the sidelines but MOS came over immediately and invited us on the field and to go ahead and focus on whatever position we were interested in. I tried to walk around a bit but was always drawn to the offensive line, running backs and offense as a whole.
 
I'll say this. we have some big boys on the Oline and Dline that can move very quickly. Watched some one on ones in the first sessions and while this is usually slanted towards defensive aggression, Coach Wiley had his boys fighting up a storm. Picard is an animal and while Chung may not be technically skilled yet, you can see him picking up tips from the coaching staff. Coach Wiley even came over to a couple of us coaches and gave us some tips that he uses to teach fundamentals. Awesome. Jace Daniels and Devin Tyler were getting some long looks with the first team Oline. Greaves is still in there but his relaxed nature definitely opens the door for some of the young guys to jump in a get a look. As Coach Wiley suggested, it don't mean s*** until game situations come into play.
 
As for receivers, Nick Moore looked amazing. If he stays healthy, he will easily be a league leader. Just so much speed after he catches the ball. Kris Bastien made a couple of nice grabs on some long balls and looks very quick as well. I only noticed L.Tunei once today as he fought off 2 defenders for a catch in the second half of practice (no shoulder pads for second half). Tunei does look to be a bigger guy but some of those DBs do as well so tough to tell from my vantage point.
Saw some nice catches from Adamas and Clemons as well. As for Jordan Reaves, man, i think he makes the team this year. He made some nice catches today, often adjusting to the DBs to get to the ball. He is a big strong kid. Maybe he is not running his routes 100% but from my sideline view, they sure were giving him every opportunity to figure it out.
 
QBs all looked good today I thought. There was a fairly good breeze going from West to East so that made the "across the field" throw either very easy or very hard. Truthfully, they all looked good. Not sure how Yantz makes this team as the top 4 all made some nice throws today. Running backs all had moments of shine today with Paris Cotton leading the way. Marshall and Scott both broke a couple of long ones too but its sometimes tough to tell if they would have broken free if the defense was given the chance to "light 'em up". Tough call.
 
Sherman filled in for Leggett and didn't look out of place. He is pretty vocal out there. Not as vocal as Coach Miles but close. Dline Coach commands a lot of respect. You can see that he wants them going hard all the time. Loved what Greg Peach does out there. He is fighting hard for his job. Great competition on the line.
 
I'll try to get out there again tomorrow. Let me know if there is anything in particular you want me to look at. Keep in mind, i think the second half of practice tomorrow is all special teams.

Friesen wanders into the Sun office with a latte in each hand (not for sharing), 10 am sharp, feeling awful proud of himself for getting up so early.
 
A first day intern wanders by, awestruck at being that close to a local celebrity, struggles to find something to chat about.  "So Mr. Friesen, what's the story today?".
 
"Hmm, well Bobby (not his name), one thing I've learned in this business is that the stories usually write themselves."
 
"You mean with a little investigative journalism, the truth always comes to light sir?"
 
Friesen spits out his latte in laughter "TRUTH?  INVESTIGATING?  JOURNALISM?  BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  Oh kid, are you ever in the wrong office."
 
Friesen glances out the window to see who's looking.  "Alright Timmy (not his name), I'll give you a quick pointer or two."  Opens his desk drawer, pushes aside a bottle of Potter's Vodka and a Russian mail-order-bride catalogue, pulls out an old spinner wheel from a Twister game with writing scribbled all over it.  "You wanna succeed in this business Kenny (not his name),  I've got one word for you - click-bait headlines!  Come here, give the wheel a spin!"
 
The intern looks at the wheel.  Scribbled over "left hand red" was "Stadium Controversy".  Over right foot green, "Quarterback Controversy".  "Coaching Controversy", "Player Controversy", "Management Controversy".  The intern's head was beginning to spin.  "I don't understand sir, what if that isn't a story that day?"
 
Friesen spits out his other latte in laughter "That's the beauty of it Jerry (somehow actually the interns name because even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut, as Friesen's career has proven), that's the beauty of it!!!  IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!  Just by saying there is a controversy, there becomes one!!!  There is nothing that can be said or done by anyone to prove otherwise!!!  If they argue, well that's pretty much a controversy right there!!!  Don't you see!!!  They're like self-fulfilling prophecies!!!"
 
The intern looks down at his feet, saddened at having his ideals crushed on his first day on the job.  "Is that how Mr. Penton does it sir?"
 
"Penton?  @$#& that guy!!!"

and more importantly, is anyone who played in the CIS listening to Buck Pierce today? Or is everyone still ignoring him?

Just a bad attitude, and if you don't agree your a moran.

watched receivers mostly today:
Richards looks solids and had him running deep a lot. Only dropped one going across the middle. He's already better than bastien.
Tuinei is a big target but didn't impress in the one on ones or scrimmage. Hoping not another Mario urutia.
The only big play of the day was robert marve threw a deep ball to Gordon for 40ish yards, defense was much better than offense today (which seams to be the case in every rookie camp)
Brohm looked alright, Portis looked pretty good-more agile than I thought.
Clemons looked nice during drills but didn't show much during one one ones or scrimmage.
Logan, gettis, millington, veltung all looked good but dropped a pass or two.
Reaves has hands but is still a year away from being a year away (from being a year away?)
Mims is the biggest guy I can remember seeing at camp, but didn't watch the oline practice--too boring.
Morgan got beat a few times but broke up a catch from reaves. Wagoner played well at safety and I think had a pick during scrimmage
Scott had a big run but I don't think it means anything during noncontact drills
Adams is a stud. Lock down during one on ones and scrimmage. No reciever came close to beating him.
Steed looked good too, made some plays.

I went to the first hour of rookie camp today.  A few random observations:
 
Garrett Waggoner was at safety the entire time.  He really stood out...he has lots of energy and is very vocal.  I see him as eventually a defensive leader on the team, a guy other players want to play for and lifts the performance of everyone around him. 
 
Addison Richards and Lavasier Tuinei stood out at the WR spot.  Forget about the Richards/Etienne comparison as Richards is a big solid guy.  And the hair is as impressive in person!
 
Childs dropped an easy pass in the short passing drills.  In the very short time I watched him, he came across as a guy who thinks he's already made the team. 
 
Brendan Morgan was at DB.
 
I watched the RBs for a while, as I was particularly interested in seeing Bradley Randle up close, but none of the RBs really stood out to me.  Buck was coaching QB handoffs when I was watching them. 
 
I noticed there was 6 QBs at practice today.  Not sure who the 6th one is. 
 
Mims is a massive, massive man.  I saw him standing next to Chungh and he made Chungh look small.  Mims was playing left tackle today and Chungh was in at left guard (Greaves spot). 
 
Quinn Everett and Jace Daniels were taking reps at center. 
 
I noticed Buck Pierce was a lot more vocal, compared to last year.  Buck was a lot more involved in explaining the offensive concepts, where last year that was entirely Marcel.  Looks like another step in Buck's development towards becoming an OC. 
 
No sign of Bob Wylie.  Paul Charboneau was coaching the OL. 

ABBTRITP (Anybody But The Riders In The Playoffs)

Winnipeg
Calgary
Edmonton 
BC
Saskatchewan 

Hamilton
Toronto
Ottawa
Montreal
 
I see improvements in Winnipeg to make a cup run (of course i see that every year). Ottawa to win a few more games with new receivers and fight with T.O. for 2nd. 

Welcome aboard, Steve to our fractious membership.

Why oh why couldn't Willis do that in 2011 during the GC......things would be so much different around here

If Marve put on a show again on Sat, I think the Bombers should just slate him to #2, Brohm to #3, cut Hall and bring a young QB prospect for PR. 
 
How can Hall executes the play well if some schemes need him to throw the ball deep and he can't because of his weak arm?

Maybe we should wait and see before freaking out and jumping to conclusions....?

Great post. I know I've been to enough socials where the groom just sits there with a few of his buddies and ignores everyone else, so good on Buck for being a good host. I bet the catering was good too, if Danny and Buck's provided the eats. I always make a point of going to Buck's restaurant when I get into town, especially since it's only five minutes from the airport.
Hope to see him on the sidelines in Blue and Gold this year (coaching attire).

I hope you enjoy being in the minority by a large margin ... cause you're it