After week 14
Bye Montreal

Rod Pedersen.com
The fourth quarter touchdown by "rookie" Rider Armanti Edwards was his first professional touchdown despite all his years in the National Football League (including four as a receiver in Carolina).  That nugget comes courtesy of the Watauga Democrat newspaper, which I happened to be reading early Monday morning. 
?‍?Geez - for Pedersen and this gem
A lot of things are going on that aren't apparent to the naked eye. Jones will likely be proven to be a genius yet.

CFL Headlines
Edwards: (Drew - not Armanti) Awkward question: are we sure the Ticats are actually good? @scratchingpost #CFL

Collaros has been statistically spectacular since returning from his knee injury six games ago, throwing for an average of 350 yards while posting 16 touchdown passes against six interceptions. But he hasn’t passed the eye test the last two weeks, making questionable decisions and struggling at times with his accuracy.
The team is just 3-3 since he’s been back, the same record they had under backup QB Jeremiah Masoli.
?‍?He brings up blocked punts...4 games in a row, and a questionable secondary. Or a secondary secondary, if you will.
And a question mark on the O-Line. And more injuries. Courtney Stephen and Chad Owens.
Shaky ground for the East's top team. http://3downnation.com/2016/09/19/awkward-question-sure-ticats-actually-good/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

?‍?True words from riderprophet.com Simply put, a team with Reilly, Bowman and Walker should not lose to a team who does not play offense until the 4th quarter.

?‍?What's with the yo-yoing of QB BJ Daniels between Sask to Ham. and back to Saskatchewan?

Mike Beamish
Newest #BCLions defensive back Jeremy Harris was a seventh-round pick by Jacksonville Jaguars out of New Mexico State (2013).

Arash Madani
Let's hope those who came hard after @JDunk12, refuting his report that Jim Popp is done as coach, will apologize with the same vigour. #CFL

Adam Scefter 
Seahawks fined $400,000 for excessive off-season workouts and Pete Carroll fined $200,00 for it.
?‍?Wallace Miles is a free agent..thanks to NFL-induced expanded PR rosters.
Courtney Taylor (BC)..replaced by Sinkfield.

?‍?#4 Bowman sure can make plays out there, and fail on others....

-For the first time all season Trevor Harris was held under 70 and even 60 percent completion percentage in a game. 

Randy Turner
The #Bombers just added receiver named Lonnie Outlaw to practice roster. But I'm not sure how he'll work with an OC named Paul LaPolice.

Blue Bomber History
Jack Jacobs joined the Bombers in 1950 for $6,000 salary and promise that he could play QB. He was a top punter with GB Packers of NFL.

?‍?Adarius bowman picked a bad time to revert with his play last weekend. The guy who can be so good, ended up looking really bad with his attitude and his drops."'nbvf

?‍?Why Edmonton kept Kenzel Doe as a kick returner for so long is beyond me..

?‍?Everybody's talking about the possible extensions of O'Shea and Walters, but not enough attention is being given to Chris Jones extending Darian Durant.

OLB Andy Mulumba and CB Corey Tindal worked out for the #Colts. - Penton

CFL History
In 1915, the #CFL experimented using the latest technology to keep fans in Hamilton aware of the score in the Grey Cup - The Carrier Pigeon
--The experiment failed, when people in Hamilton kept shooting at the pigeons thinking they were German Biplanes invading Ontario #CFL

CFL Communications
The average penalties for the four games in Week 13 was 14.5 per game – the lowest average in a single week this year and the lowest since 2013.

The Hamilton and Montreal game was the second-fastest game of the season, taking two hours and 37 minutes. The fastest game, at two hours and 30 minutes, occurred in Week 11 between Toronto and BC.
Coaches’ challenges were also at a season low with only five plays challenged and two overturned.
Between the four games a total of 232 points were scored, with an average of 58 points per game. That is the second-highest average for a week of games this season, trailing only Week 9 where the average points per game was 59.3.
Week 13 also featured the most rushing yards this season with an average of 219 yards per game.
Toronto and Winnipeg game had six lead changes – tied for the most this season in a single game.
First-time all-year that all four home teams won in a week. In the last 10 games, road teams are 1-9, however they still own the advantage overall this season going 28-24-1 (.528) winning percentage.

This is Calgary’s ninth consecutive season finishing with a record above .500.

Calgary will be finishing their West Division schedule this week and play their final five games against East Division teams.

Ed Tait
“It’s incredible,” said Nichols. “All these guys here want to play for Coach O’Shea. He’s a guy that will go to bat for any of his players at any time. He does a great job and any one of these players would do anything for him and vice versa. I love playing for him and, for me, to have that stability would be great. I’ve bounced around with a lot of coordinators and head coaches in my career and I feel like we have a good one here.”

?‍?Perhaps, one of the biggest reason we might have lost out on acquiring Terrell Sinkfield was at the QB position. He could choose between Collaros and Jennings, and in the end, BC had more money to throw at him..
Mike Beamish - The Province

?‍?Absolute worst play of the week, the losing of the game ball award, goes to Adarius Bowman for that weak-kneed fight for the ball after a first down catch. Bowman, literally lost the game ball by allowing the DB, Gainey, to rip it out of his arms, and score a TD. Bowman, spun, and went to the bench. Shoddy effort in a close game. Cost? 7 points
Ding ding ding, this just in - we have a close contender. Johnny Adams trying to half swat a moving ball and giving up a sure turnover.. Cost? 3 points.

Rod Pedersen
A tip I got on Wednesday morning is that two other teams are preparing contract offers for Darian Durant for this off-season.  The Riders are expected to offer Durant a contract with a lower base salary, and laden with incentives (primarily based on starts) while at least one other team will try to entice Durant with a much higher base salary.  Then it's going to be up to him to decide.

?‍?Huh? The Argos are 5-2 in their seven matchups against the REDBLACKS since Ottawa’s return to the league in 2014. Yet since then, Harris has played for both teams at quarterback and has never lost to either Toronto or Ottawa. - CFL Staff

The potential of this team has definitely not been reached yet. - Weston Dressler

The Stamps have started just four different quarterbacks in games against the Bombers dating back to 2008: Henry Burris (7 GP), Drew Tate (1 GP), Kevin Glenn (3 GP) and Mitchell (8 GP) who have combined to go 16-3 over that stretch.

Over that same span the Bombers have started 14 different QBs: Drew Willy (4 GP), Joey Elliott (3 GP), Ryan Dinwiddie, Kevin Glenn, Stefan LeFors, Michael Bishop, Steven Jyles, Buck Pierce, Alex Brink, Justin Goltz, Max Hall, Brian Brohm, Robert Marve and Matt Nichols (1 GP). Tait

Argonauts.ca
The Argos defence allowed just one touchdown on the night, holding the opposition to just 15 points prior to Trevor Harris’ one-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Redblacks converted just one of four red zone opportunities on the night.
The Argos offensive line held the Redblacks without a sack in Friday’s game, marking the first time this season they’ve prevented their opponents from registering a single sack.

No update on OL SirVincent Rogers from Rick Campbell other than "it looks like a real injury". Not good. #RNation #CFL

CFL.ca
Running the ball was an issue for the Lions, who entered the night as the CFL’s number one rushing team, as BC managed only 69 yards on the ground, including 41 for Johnson on only eight attempts.
?‍?With the victory, Edmonton sets up a big, big game next Friday in Winnipeg. The game will be huge for both teams.

CFL.ca
Over the past 3 weeks, CFL games have taken less time to play, primarily due to many fewer penalties and coaches’ challenges. They have taken just 2:48 to play and penalties and challenges have averaged 20.15 penalties (all calls) and 2.00 challenges (an 18% drop in challenges).
-After an extraordinarily high start with accepted penalties coming at 20.7 per game through Week #4, they have averaged only 18.1 per game since then, a drop of 13% across the season. Through Week #13 accepted penalties have declined to a season cumulative low of 18.9 per game, the lowest since the final week of 2014. Week #13 was a season-low 14.5 per game.

?‍?BLM - <<< he said this "They're finding out who they are and we're going to continue to show that to them." at halftime in the Bomber game.?
?‍?To which Matt Nichols answered “I don’t really care what they have to say,” Nichols said. “We’re a good football team and I look forward to playing these guys again.”

Jeff Hamilton
Asked if the Bombers proved anything in that second half, Mike O'Shea said nothing they didn't already know. No quitters in the room.
-Lots felt they sent a message to the Stamps. Many believe they expect to see them again this year. #playoffs
-Jamaal Westerman called the first half a shitshow from the top down. Said if they played bad they would have won. They played horrible.

(Jamaal Westerman was the man BLM was aiming his wrath towards at halftime)
"Specifically, it was a very certain player who was hitting people after the whistle, chirping, holding guys down, trying to do stuff and playing dirty like he always does." BLM
Daniel Austin -Calgary Herald
+1: The Bombers turnover ratio in the game, pushing their season total to +26. The club record is +27, set in 1987.

Sept. 25 CFL.ca Staff
“What we’ve got to do is put it all together.”
"I'm a believer. I think we're going to come back and get hot" - Scott Milanovich.

“I felt good,” said Willy. “Any time you get to play it’s fun to be out there. I wish we could’ve gotten the win .  I thought we did some good things in the second half but obviously it wasn’t enough.
“I haven’t thrown to a single one of those guys in practice. They’re very, very talented, so I just need to learn their body language and I think we’ll do some good things.”

Rob Vanstone re-tweeted:
Old habits... John Chick started running towards home tunnel at half time. #Riders #Ticats #CFLGameDay

?‍?This point cannot be hammered in enough..
Bomber Buzz
Stamps’ returner Roy Finch averaged 34.2 yards-per-return on kickoffs and 11.5 yards-per-return on punt returns, as the Stamps only ever had to drive half the field for the entire first half.
The Bombers don’t need to score 27 points in the second half if their special-teams aren’t a garbage fire for the opening 40 minutes.
-Coach Hall is going to have to re-evaluate his approach to stopping the Stamps in future games.

BC Lions re-tweeted Baron Von Awesome
Seems #CFL fans have digressed. We no longer give credit to winning teams. 
We either beat ourselves, or blame referees for our team losses.

?‍?Drew Edwards tweets
Edwards: Depleted Ticats lose to Riders on last-second field goal bit.ly/2cWtn6R @scratchingpost #CFL
?‍?But Drew, weren't the Riders depleted also?

?‍? Have to ask. What's up with Johnny Adams this year? Head not into it yet?

?‍?"It’s been a while since we lost and so it’s a bad feeling right now. It’s a bad taste I want to get out of my mouth right now. I’m ready to play Edmonton." - Jermarcus Hardrick
?‍? By the way, now I can say it. 
Back in Feb. 2016 the Bombers announced the signing of Jermarcus Hardrick. A 6'6" 320 Nebraska product. 
He started with BC in 2014 - 12 games, then in 2015, went to Saskatchewan, 10 starts in 12 games.
I had to wonder...what was wrong with this guy, and why did we sign him. 3 teams in 3 years.
I'm not wondering anymore. Great team guy, and seems to be the answer at R. tackle. Whoever is responsible for this scouting..thank you.

Blue Bombers.com
"We’ve got to find a way to start faster,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “I’ve got to do a better job of making sure that practice week is conducted in a manner that allows us to start faster."

Ed Tait's Numbers Game

8.6: Yards per carry by Bombers RB Timothy Flanders, who finished the afternoon with 95 yards on 11 carries, including a 50-yard touchdown run.

+1: The Bombers turnover ratio in the game, pushing their season total to +26. The club record is +27, set in 1987.

1-14: Winnipeg’s record at McMahon in their last 15 starts. The Bombers are now 3-23 in Calgary dating back to 1992.

6-95: Ryan Smith’s receiving totals, his best as a Bomber.

?‍? I might add 60. As Mike O'Shea said: "Play 60 minutes and have a smile on your face."

Marquay McDaniel
Just saw the replay. If the tip of the ball hit the ground then you would've seen black pebbles pop up. Dez caught it and I caught it.

Derek Taylor
It's not much, but there has to be zero tolerance for hitting an official. Zero.  #Ticats #CFL
?‍? Did It deserve an ejection? How many actually saw it?

CFL Headlines
@CFLHistory  Do you have a website or blog page?
@CFL_Headlines We do not, this way we can recycle tweets from years ago, without anyone knowing.

Josh Smith -3downnation
Brett Maher did not have a punt blocked against Saskatchewan. So the ignominious streak ends at four games. That’s worth at least a Bronx cheer.

?‍? Another reminder to Chris Jones:
Chick, who is now tied for the league lead in sacks with Shawn Lemon, Alex Bazzie and Charleston Hughes with 10, has been a force on defense for the Ticats in almost every game. - Josh Smith

Ed Tait
-lost in the Bombers’ recent run was an accomplishment by Denmark we need to point out here. Denmark has quietly moved into the club’s Top 10 receiving-yardage list, passing Bomber hall of famers Ken ‘Doc’ Nielsen, who played from 1965-70, and Gerald Wilcox, who starred from 1992-97, to move into ninth place.

Next bye - Week 15
Saskatchewan

Edited September 30, 20169 yr by Mr Dee

31 minutes ago, Atomic said:

I hope we look at starting an All-American receiving corps if possible, because our Canadian receivers are... not good.

There's only one football, if we had an all american cast someone would be left over and we'd be sitting here complaining that he's no good we should just use a canadian if we're never going to throw to them anyway. I got no problems with Kohlert and JFG, they can do the job that's asked of them. 

5 hours ago, bearpants said:

I bet both Dressler and Smith wish they were 5'10...  

LOL! I just picked a random number for discussion purposes & 5'10 seemed appropriate.

56 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

There's only one football, if we had an all american cast someone would be left over and we'd be sitting here complaining that he's no good we should just use a canadian if we're never going to throw to them anyway. I got no problems with Kohlert and JFG, they can do the job that's asked of them. 

I had no problem with them until Kohlert started dropping the ball every time they throw to him.  His best quality was his hands and it seems like he's lost that, so what exactly is he in the lineup for?  Certainly not speed or blocking.  And JFG simply isn't good enough to be an every-week starter, we all know that.

Our Canadian receivers are not good.  The fact that we don't use them much does not excuse that... it highlights it.  We need to improve there.

1 hour ago, Mark F said:

JFG made several clutch catches, two that were late drive game winners. so he's.......good.

What?  We're going back 2 years now to make a point?  Stoddard was good too.

There's no doubt that having a guy like Lemar Durant in town would be really nice right about now.

1 minute ago, Atomic said:

What?  We're going back 2 years now to make a point?  Stoddard was good too.

I think he made two clutch in last weeks Calgary game.

4 minutes ago, Atomic said:

What?  We're going back 2 years now to make a point?  Stoddard was good too.

??? Did you not see his play last game? Or his catch agaisnt the riders? He's made several clutch plays THIS year.

I'm not trying to say he's a game breaking. But you don't have to go back 2 years to see that he can get the job done when needed.

Edited September 30, 20169 yr by Bigblue204

1 minute ago, HardCoreBlue said:

I think he made two clutch in last weeks Calgary game.

Amazing that he can make a game-winning catch in a game we lost??  Sorry, maybe you misread Mark F's post.

2 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

??? Did you not see his play last game? Or his catch agaisnt the riders? He's made several clutch plays THIS year.

The catch against the Riders was nice, for sure.  Can he do it again?  There's a reason he's been stapled to the bench most of his career.

2 minutes ago, Atomic said:

The catch against the Riders was nice, for sure.  Can he do it again?  There's a reason he's been stapled to the bench most of his career.

I think it's mostly due to the position he plays. Hard to beat out Americans as a slot receiver. And can he do it again? You mean Again...again? Cause those types of catches is all he's done while being in WPG. Remember the game winner against MTL where he took a huge hit? OR the game winner against the riders where he ran across the field, broke a few (shitty) tackles for the TD. Last week against CGY...when it comes to clutch Rec on our team, I'd rank only Dressler and Denmark ahead of him at this point. Maybe Smith too.

12 minutes ago, Atomic said:

Amazing that he can make a game-winning catch in a game we lost??  Sorry, maybe you misread Mark F's post.

Yeesh. I'm just alluding to the fact he made two clutch catches. Yes we lost that game but he wasn't on the field with 27 seconds to go that lost us the game.. 

2 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

I think it's mostly due to the position he plays. Hard to beat out Americans as a slot receiver. And can he do it again? You mean Again...again? Cause those types of catches is all he's done while being in WPG. Remember the game winner against MTL where he took a huge hit? OR the game winner against the riders where he ran across the field, broke a few (shitty) tackles for the TD. Last week against CGY...when it comes to clutch Rec on our team, I'd rank only Dressler and Denmark ahead of him at this point. Maybe Smith too.

I do remember all that!  I also remember the other 80% of the time when he totally disappears.  I don't mean to disrespect JFG, I like the guy.... but if he's our best... I'll take Gore, Coehoorn, Durant, Bagg, Sinopoli, or Fantuz over him which represents the majority of the league having at least one better Canadian receiver than we do.  That's not a good thing guys.

Just now, HardCoreBlue said:

Yeesh. I'm just alluding to the fact he made two clutch catches. Yes we lost that game but he wasn't on the field with 27 seconds to go that lost us the game.. 

I never said he doesn't make clutch catches, I was responding to a post that referenced game-winners and the only ones I could recall by JFG were 2 years ago.

Biggest role our NI Rec's play is blocking. If they do that well, that's most of the job... 

5 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Biggest role our NI Rec's play is blocking. If they do that well, that's most of the job... 

They don't

30 minutes ago, Atomic said:

I do remember all that!  I also remember the other 80% of the time when he totally disappears.  I don't mean to disrespect JFG, I like the guy.... but if he's our best... I'll take Gore, Coehoorn, Durant, Bagg, Sinopoli, or Fantuz over him which represents the majority of the league having at least one better Canadian receiver than we do.  That's not a good thing guys.

I'm not saying it's good enough. I'm just saying he's made plays as long as he's been here and been put in the position to do so. You don't need to look back 2 years to see that. You don't even need to look back 2 weeks.

20 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Biggest role our NI Rec's play is blocking. If they do that well, that's most of the job... 

Well, when you don't have the football you're expected to block.

2 hours ago, Atomic said:

I hope we look at starting an All-American receiving corps if possible, because our Canadian receivers are... not good.

would be nice, but not really viable. Not while starting 2 imps on the OL. We just have to do a better job finding NI wrs and fitting them into our system. 

 Jfg has shown hes better then his last year and a bit, he just doesnt fit into what we do. same with kohlert.

23 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

would be nice, but not really viable. Not while starting 2 imps on the OL. We just have to do a better job finding NI wrs and fitting them into our system. 

 Jfg has shown hes better then his last year and a bit, he just doesnt fit into what we do. same with kohlert.

It would be viable if we signed Henoc Muamba

JFG is what he is a depth guy who you don't mind having him start a couple games a year but don't want to have to start for 18 games. Valuable guy to have a around.

16 minutes ago, Atomic said:

It would be viable if we signed Henoc Muamba

Considering our system isnt set up to funnel to a guy like him, taking him out of the line up for wild or bass and paying him a fortune to be here one year at a time is a waste. That money could be much better spent other places. Even then we dont have the ni depth at lber for that. And thats one spot. Even at that point we'd need an extra DI free'd up to have the back up. we have zero qbs under contract for next year, suhk chung is a fa and we have a bunch of money tied up in other vets. 

We be taking wild/bass out and paying a ton of money for a year to year guy whose hardly played since he was here to what? move kohlert for mcduffie starting or sheppard? 

Edited September 30, 20169 yr by wbbfan

14 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

JFG is what he is a depth guy who you don't mind having him start a couple games a year but don't want to have to start for 18 games. Valuable guy to have a around.

I'd argue that JFG is a better player than Kohlert right now. Kohlert has regressed significantly from his break out 2014 season.

4 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Considering our system isnt set up to funnel to a guy like him, taking him out of the line up for wild or bass and paying him a fortune to be here one year at a time is a waste. That money could be much better spent other places. Even then we dont have the ni depth at lber for that. And thats one spot. Even at that point we'd need an extra DI free'd up to have the back up. we have zero qbs under contract for next year, suhk chung is a fa and we have a bunch of money tied up in other vets. 

We be taking wild/bass out and paying a ton of money for a year to year guy whose hardly played since he was here to what? move kohlert for mcduffie starting or sheppard? 

I'm just saying, there are options.  If we can't draft or sign a competent Canadian receiver.  Tough to win games when you have guys that are just spot-fillers.

3 hours ago, Atomic said:

I'm just saying, there are options.  If we can't draft or sign a competent Canadian receiver.  Tough to win games when you have guys that are just spot-fillers.

Ralph Brock was a spot filler. Kohlert and JFG are not at that level. Room for improvement? Yes. One way to compensate with our current roster is to get Harris more involved in the pass game. Hopefully he gets back soon.

I have to wonder, since everybody wants him, would Lamar Durant play a bigger role in our offence, or just present that possibility?