Fair enough. At this point I would expect us to go .500 the rest of the way. Lose against Calgary. Beat Edmonton. Split with BC and Ottawa.
That would give us a record of 11 - 7. 12 - 6 would be fantastic, 10 - 8 would be "acceptable:. Anything less would be disappointing at this point.
I thought this group was done at 1-4. They've completely changed how I view them.
It's not just that they've won 7 games in a row. That streak will end at some point, maybe even this weekend. What they have shown is that the culture did in fact change here. That there is some resiliency to come back from losses. These are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers that O'Shea has led.
Credit to Walters for how he has constructed the roster, but O'Shea has done a good job with those players. I'm looking around the league and now think we have one of the best young coaches right now who continues to improve.
These guys are all getting re-signed and I'm pumped.
THE INSIDERS SAY (Kirk Penton)
CFL coaches and managers give their anonymous thoughts on what they’re talking about behind closed doors:
-Dave Dickenson looks like a 10 year coaching veteran in his first year. He learned under Huf (John Hufnagel) and Wally (Buono), and it shows ...
-As coaches, it’s frustrating for us trying to teach and improve our men with this new CBA. It’s hard to coach and develop young players in shorts and sweats. Practice wasn’t that way when I played or when I was a younger coach. But, without calling out a team, I see one over there in the East that needs to teach fundamentals and tackling. When you miss tackles, you get beat. Young coaches think it’s all about scheme. It isn’t. Keep it simple, and get your players better by working on fundamentals ...
-Winnipeg won the Drew Willy trade. Dump that big salary, gain two picks, a starting DB (that they really need). It’s a no-brainer if Matty Ice (Matt Nichols) is the man moving forward ...
-It pisses me off to say it since they’re in our division, but Kyle Walters made two great trades last weekend ...
-The best officials in the league right now are Tom Vallesi and Al Bradbury. The worst is Kim Murphy ...
-Rakeem Cato’s performance was about what I thought. He ran around and tried to make plays outside the framework of the offence — sometimes with success, most of the time without. He’s just not a consistent enough passer to win consistently. They have to limit his opportunities to throw down field by leaning on the run game and screens/quicks ...
-Vaughn Martin is telling people he doesn’t plan to play in the CFL again ...
-The Argos seem to see some aspects of Willy’s game that Winnipeg maybe already judged or overlooked. It’s a fresh start for him with Ricky Ray waiting in the wings ...
It was bad for us, because we might need the crossover to get in the playoffs, but that Toronto team impressed me. In football, we teach our guys that to be winners you have to learn how to overcome adversity. They lost Ray, but the Argos went out, smacked the Ticats in the mouth and won a game they had to have ...
-I wouldn’t trade a second-rounder for Duron Carter. He’s not a guy to add in season to a locker-room, especially if you are a playoff contender ...
-I told my brother: Don’t be surprised if Calgary plays Edmonton in the Grey Cup ...
-Hope No. 33 (Shakir Bell) doesn’t play this week. He makes the Eskimos even tougher to defend ...
-T.J. Heath is very good, young, athletic and has great ball skills. He reminds me of a young Jovon Johnson ...
-I’ve never coached (Dan) LeFevour, but he impressed the (bleep) out of me last week. His mobility makes the Argos a different team. He takes a lot of pressure off of their offensive line. When Ray’s out there playing, he’s easy to blitz. You know Ray is going to be in the pocket. With LeFevour they can change his launching points and when he needs to he can escape the pocket and make plays and first downs with his legs ...
-Look at the film. (Matt) O’Donnell holds 30 times a game. But (the officials) let him get away with it ...
-I thought they would get more than a fourth rounder, but Montreal did what they needed to. (Jim) Popp has won a lot more games than you media guys. Trading (Kevin) Glenn and giving the ball to Cato is good for his team. A young quarterback has to play if he’s going to develop. And getting rid of Glenn’s salary helps them with the cap ...
-How many punts has Hamilton gotten blocked this year? ...
Mental errors are why the Ticats are always getting punts blocked. Against Calgary they were incorrect in the count to the kick side and left a man unblocked. The last two were mental errors by the personal protector. They saw the scheme the week before and blocked it ...
-Ricky Ray should be Toronto’s next QB coach, and let the “QB whisperer” develop another young guy. I think Willy will be better under Scott (Milanovich). Willy might lack the charisma to be an upper-echelon quarterback in this league. There’s no question about his skills ...
-Toronto gave up too much. Is there that much of a difference between Kevin Glenn and Drew Willy other than age? Good on (Kyle) Walters ... The Argos got fleeced.
http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Football/CFL/Montreal/2016/09/13/22666454.html
He clearly didn't like talking to the media.
Long way between that and "not being able to handle them".
Penton is just taking a pot shot at the guy as he heads out of town. Kind of losing respect for him.
He clearly didn't like talking to the media.
Long way between that and "not being able to handle them".
Penton is just taking a pot shot at the guy as he heads out of town. Kind of losing respect for him.
And yeah, it's a bummer to think that Ray might be at the end of the line. Him vs. Calvillo in the 2005 Grey Cup was the best CFL game I've ever seen live.