I am seeing today's game as a chance to put it all together, to start to build some momentum

Durant is a better QB than Nichols but they can both get the job done

I am expecting a lot of blitzing from Montreal but I think Lapo will have us ready to pick such apart

We might win the battle of the trenches today .... it's a matter of pride and time to step up .... and Ritchie Hall needs pressure on the QB to keep the cracks from showing up in the secondary ... it seems inevitable we are going to get beat deep a couple of times but we have to limit it to just that

How average  are our Canadians that we have starting today?

Loffler, Walker & Hurl

Chung, Goosen, JFG, Harris & Normand

I am not sure how much of an edge that is but I think it's a little bit. Our backups might be a bigger edge. How the injury bug goes may determine more than we realize.

I expect we will win because we want it more and our confidence is going to come to the forefront, finally.

1 minute ago, Atomic said:

Also worth noting that the Montreal OL is seemingly giving Durant more time than anyone in the league... he has only been sacked 3 times in 5 games, incredibly.

I think this game, if we don't sack Durant, we will pressure him, and that will lead to good results..

**Ryan Lankford leads the CFL in kickoff returns with 550 yards in just 4 games, on pace for a season total of 2,475 which would easily surpass the CFL record set by Ian Smart of BC in 2008 of 1,805 yards. The Blue Bombers record is 1,695 by Eric Blount set in 1998. Lankford is #2 in combined yards at 778, a pace that would take him over 3,500 yards. 

 

So much for the narrative of Lankford being a terrible returner..

4 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

**Ryan Lankford leads the CFL in kickoff returns with 550 yards in just 4 games, on pace for a season total of 2,475 which would easily surpass the CFL record set by Ian Smart of BC in 2008 of 1,805 yards. The Blue Bombers record is 1,695 by Eric Blount set in 1998. Lankford is #2 in combined yards at 778, a pace that would take him over 3,500 yards. 

 

So much for the narrative of Lankford being a terrible returner..

The 105 yard return TD, and the fact that Lankford has returned every kickoff this season for Winnipeg really throw this stat off. He still leads in yards without the big one, but his average falls to middle of the pack. Most other teams have a 1A & 1B returner on the stat sheet.

Plus projected stats after 4 weeks rarely pan out. I definitely thought he was doing worse though. 

I really hope Denmark shows up on the stat sheet a little more tonight.

I wasn't a huge Denmark fan before last year because of his tendency to disappear for stretches. Last year he was fantastic, but I feel like he's disappeared again to start this season.

8 minutes ago, yogi said:

The 105 yard return TD, and the fact that Lankford has returned every kickoff this season for Winnipeg really throw this stat off. He still leads in yards without the big one, but his average falls to middle of the pack. Most other teams have a 1A & 1B returner on the stat sheet.

Plus projected stats after 4 weeks rarely pan out. I definitely thought he was doing worse though. 

Well absolutely. The stats suggest he's by far the best kick returner in CFL history and we know that's simply just not true. How ever he's definitely done more then a decent job out there, and the numbers back that up. 

Lankford has done well returning kickoffs but isn't a good punt returner.

Lol I absolutely love the attempt to disregard Lankford's accomplishments by saying "Well, his numbers are only good because he's been healthy and scored a TD".......

Oooooookayyyyyyyyy.......right on.

3 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Lol I absolutely love the attempt to disregard Lankford's accomplishments by saying "Well, his numbers are only good because he's been healthy and scored a TD".......

Oooooookayyyyyyyyy.......right on.

1 play accounts for almost 20% of his output. It's a significant statistical outlier that needs to be mentioned if we're talking stats. Who's trying to disregard it? It was a great play.

His numbers are good primarily because he's been healthy, taking all the kickoff return attempts, and because he scored a TD. That's 100% true. His kickoff returns are middle of the pack average when you eliminate the outlier. 

WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM HIM THAN TO STAY HEALTHY AND SCORE TOUCHDOWNS??????

5 minutes ago, yogi said:

1 play accounts for almost 20% of his output. It's a significant statistical outlier that needs to be mentioned if we're talking stats. Who's trying to disregard it? It was a great play.

His numbers are good primarily because he's been healthy, taking all the kickoff return attempts, and because he scored a TD. That's 100% true. His kickoff returns are middle of the pack average when you eliminate the outlier. 

Are they?  Are you eliminating all the outliers from the "pack" too?  I know you must be because that would be only fair, right?

8 minutes ago, yogi said:

His numbers are good primarily because he's been healthy, taking all the kickoff return attempts, and because he scored a TD. That's 100% true. His kickoff returns are middle of the pack average when you eliminate the outlier. 

But thats the thing that doesnt make sense. You dont get to just pick and choose which plays/stats go into the entire picture. Hes not middle of the pack, because....hes made the plays...not inspite of them. Every leading returner every single year shares that common stat. They make more plays than the other guys. End of story. 

 

Edited July 27, 20178 yr by Bigblue204

Its the same reasoning as "if team A didnt score so many points, they wouldnt have won" great...but that means nothing in reality.

Edited July 27, 20178 yr by Bigblue204

6 minutes ago, Noeller said:

WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM HIM THAN TO STAY HEALTHY AND SCORE TOUCHDOWNS??????

Acknowledging me personally after every return would be nice.  Like I said I thought he was doing much worse on kickoff returns, so he's cool in my books for a while. 

10 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

But thats the thing that doesnt make sense. You dont get to just pick and choose which plays/stats go into the entire picture. Hes not middle of the pack, because....hes made the plays...not inspite of them. Every leading returner every single year shares that common stat. They make more plays than the other guys. End of story. 

 

If Lankford finishes the season with 4+ KO return TDs I'll be shocked. But that's what he'd need to keep his current pace. At this point in the season, 4 games in, it's a statiscal outlier that distorts his statistics significantly.

Get me all his return data in excel format and I'll do a proper statistical analysis. But all it will show is that the sample size is too small after 4 games to make any real conclusions. Also stats are for losers.

21 minutes ago, yogi said:

1 play accounts for almost 20% of his output. It's a significant statistical outlier that needs to be mentioned if we're talking stats. Who's trying to disregard it? It was a great play.

His numbers are good primarily because he's been healthy, taking all the kickoff return attempts, and because he scored a TD. That's 100% true. His kickoff returns are middle of the pack average when you eliminate the outlier. 

He also returned a kick-off for a TD in the pre-season although that one may have been cancelled by a penalty.  That's two long ones in 6 games and I bet he gets a few more this season if he stays healthy.

you're talking about the TD return like it didn't, or shouldn't have actually happened..... it did.  so move on. it's a moot point.

he's been decent.... there's times where I've wished he would go the other direction and try and beat the coverage to the outside with his speed, because I think he can.... but perhaps having not tried that yet, he doesn't have a true feel for how much wider the CFL field actually is at game speed.

I've been happy with his production so far!  as far as punt returns, I think Fogg will probably be taking those on

5 minutes ago, trueBlue83 said:

you're talking about the TD return like it didn't, or shouldn't have actually happened..... it did.  so move on. it's a moot point.

No I'm not. I'm pointing out that trumpeting Lankford's statistics after 4 games is misleading for numerous reasons. But, as I keep pointing out, he's doing better than most of the board, myself included, give him credit for.

Edited July 27, 20178 yr by yogi

3 minutes ago, yogi said:

No I'm not. I'm pointing out that trumpeting Lankford's statistics after 4 games is misleading for numerous reasons. But, as I keep pointing out, he's doing better than most of the board, myself included, seem to think.

I think I'm just not sure why you need to try and spin it negatively, rather than celebrating it for what it is, which is largely positive. Why go out of your way to look for the negative?

I do agree though, that talking about his pace and that he's projecting to set the CFL record, is much too early.... talk like that shouldn't hold any weight until after labour day.... you wouldn't see TSN post those numbers after 4 games on 'what could be'.... we had a returner a couple of years ago that had flashes of brilliance and looked like a game breaker.... and now I can't even remember his name!!

 

Edit: looked it up... Troy Stoudermire

Edited July 27, 20178 yr by trueBlue83

5 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I think I'm just not sure why you need to try and spin it negatively, rather than celebrating it for what it is, which is largely positive. Why go out of your way to look for the negative?

You're looking for the negative in my posts. Pointing out how a stat is misleading, while continually giving Lankford credit for performing better than I'd perceived is like the opposite of spinning something negatively.

Also, declaring something a statistical outlier doesn't equate to declaring something statistically insignificant. Get some book learning people.

And in light of TBURGESS liking multiple posts of mine in this thread, I retract all my statements.

Edited July 27, 20178 yr by yogi

1 hour ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

**Ryan Lankford leads the CFL in kickoff returns with 550 yards in just 4 games, on pace for a season total of 2,475 which would easily surpass the CFL record set by Ian Smart of BC in 2008 of 1,805 yards. The Blue Bombers record is 1,695 by Eric Blount set in 1998. Lankford is #2 in combined yards at 778, a pace that would take him over 3,500 yards. 

 

So much for the narrative of Lankford being a terrible returner..

*punt

3 minutes ago, yogi said:

Also, declaring something a statistical outlier doesn't equate to declaring something statistically insignificant. Get some book learning people.

And in light of TBURGESS liking multiple posts of mine in this thread, I retract all my statements.

that's how you KNOW you're riding the negative train...

8 minutes ago, yogi said:

Also, declaring something a statistical outlier doesn't equate to declaring something statistically insignificant. Get some book learning people.

And in light of TBURGESS liking multiple posts of mine in this thread, I retract all my statements.

That's how you know you're right. 

8 minutes ago, yogi said:

Also, declaring something a statistical outlier doesn't equate to declaring something statistically insignificant. Get some book learning people.

I think it would be a fair point if you did it for everyone.... eliminated the best and worst return for each.

For example if you take away Lankford's TD return, his average goes down to 23.4.  Now Martese Jackson's average of 26.1 looks much better.  But if you take away Jackson's best return, his average goes down to 21.3.  So Lankford is still better than Jackson.  The issue arises when you massage the stats for one player but not for the others, IMO.