I’ve never started one or a GTD, fresh karma. 
Not a lot of hot takes but here we go..
 

West 

Bombers 12-6

BC 11-7

Sask 10-8

Edmonton 8-10

Calgary 4-14

East

Hamilton 12-6

Montreal 11-7

Toronto 9-9

Ottawa 4-14

Bombers still top dogs. I expect the games to look pretty similar to last year. 

We all hate Sask but they’re unfortunately never as bad as we think.
They and BC could be interchangeable at 2/3.
 

Edmonton improves but Jones will do enough dumb things to keep them out of the playoffs again.

Calgary will be close to folding after the season. They’re screwed big time imo. They’ll be lucky to win 4 games. 

Hamilton starts slow but finishes strong and wins the east. 

Toronto plays good D but not enough for a playoff victory.

Montreal more of the same, without the luck of teams shitting themselves against them. 

Ottawa ruins Dru Brown and they play musical QBs all year again. 
 

WSF BC over Sask 

WF Bombers over BC again

ESF Montreal over Toronto

EF Hamilton over Montreal 

GC- I’m not jinxing that
 

 

Edited May 27, 20241 yr by JohnnyAbonny

21 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

But that's just it.  Outside of Winnipeg, who has a decent offense?

The league is filled with so-so offensive lines and average at best QB play

Fair point. The more I think about it, Bombers offence at full heath is going to be soooo much better than anyone else’s. 

Unless Powell or another QB takes a huge leap, I might have to change my prediction to 

Bombers- Pork everyone 

Middle teams- .500ish

Ottawa/Calgary- Bad 

Blue ,20-0 ,the rest ? Who cares?

56 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

MOS will find a way. Da Bombers.

As long as he's regular size, not a mini-o'shea

Three crucial  factors are

1. Management

2. Quarterbacking

3. Coaching

as for talent & scouting I am out of my depth; new talent is often a matter of good luck; recognizing the quality of that new talent is everything
 

West (# of wins)

14 Bombers good management, solid coaching

13 BC good coaching, decent management

10 Edmonton finally got a quarterback, Jones' determination

5 Sask poor management, chaos in the coaching ranks

5 Calgary absentee management, indifferent coaching

East  (# of wins)

13 Montreal  enlightened management, team spirit

11 Toronto chaos to start, enough talent to carry them

8 Hamilton  average & average

4 Ottawa  delusional management, inadequate coaching

 

Ranking Talent

Winnipeg

Montréal

Toronto

BC

Hamilton

Regina

Edmonton

Calgary

Ottawa

 

QBing

Winnipeg

BC

Montréal

Edmonton

Hamilton (& a Wildcard for Toronto)

Calgary

Regina

Ottawa

Cheers!

 

Edited May 28, 20241 yr by BigBlue

11 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Bombers 18-0

Everyone else 0-18

Love the optimism,

8 hours ago, BigBlue said:

West (# of wins)

14 Bombers good management, solid coaching

13 BC good coaching, decent management

10 Edmonton finally got a quarterback, Jones' determination

5 Sask poor management, chaos in the coaching ranks

5 Calgary absentee management, indifferent coaching

 

 

Are you forgetting they fired Dickenson and hired Mace?.... while it's yet to be seen if Mace will be a good, or even competent, coach... I wouldn't call it chaos at this point...

Just took a quick peek around the league at whose rosters rival ours. I'm not seeing any. A couple that are not too far off, but we are looking real good again.

Much of Calgary's success hinges on Jake Maier, who I am still not sold on. The league seems to pump his tires, but yeesh.

10 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Just took a quick peek around the league at whose rosters rival ours. I'm not seeing any. A couple that are not too far off, but we are looking real good again.

Every level of our Defense has me a bit concerned honestly. Mostly due to injury. Not at all worried about the O.

2 minutes ago, greenrider55 said:

Much of Calgary's success hinges on Jake Maier, who I am still not sold on. The league seems to pump his tires, but yeesh.

Cgy had bad luck with injury last year. Didn't they start literally dozens of DBs last year? Lol. Didn't help they had no real threats at Wr outside of Begelton either. It happens, but I expect them to be better. 

My annual rankings

West

Winnipeg 18-0

Edmonton 0-2-16

Calgary 0-2-16

BC 0-3-15

Saskatchewan 0-3-15

East

Montreal 0-2-16

Hamilton 0-2-16

Ottawa 0-2-16

Toronto 0-2-16

 

7 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

Every level of our Defense has me a bit concerned honestly. Mostly due to injury. Not at all worried about the O.

Cgy had bad luck with injury last year. Didn't they start literally dozens of DBs last year? Lol. Didn't help they had no real threats at Wr outside of Begelton either. It happens, but I expect them to be better. 

Yea they also lost Malik Henry in week 3 last year and he was doing great for them. 

3 hours ago, greenrider55 said:

Yea they also lost Malik Henry in week 3 last year and he was doing great for them. 

And looks like they have lost him this season too. Went down with what looks to be a serious non contact injury.

Earlier this year I would've put us at 10 wins plus or minus 1. More likely to be plus one than minus, but we had a lot of question marks the biggest being would we fill the roster properly or old boys it up. 

 At this point, I'd say it's at 11 wins with a range of plus 2 or minus 1. 11/12 wins while winning the west is likely imo. If we really hit on some of these next guys up could be 13 wins. And at that could very well be a better team than last years. If injuries persist could be a tough stretch. 

In the west I think BC again finishes 2nd. The rest are pretty close. But I think Calgary gets it done with Schlitz at the helm, while the green guys both battle it out for the bottom.

In the east, Montreal really has been gift wrapped this year. I feel like they are likely to suffer a grey cup hang over, but still win the east with one of those records that 2-3 teams in the west would better. I think a late season push by the argos brings them back to the play offs, with or with out kelly. I think hamilton slides into last place in the east and the league, while the RBs continue to bumble along with a 4-5 win season. 

 

I think the bombers have 4 wrs over 1k yards this year. With lawler and schoen going back and forth for the league lead. I think Nichols/willy gets our DPOTY nod, I think our ROTY will win the league award, Grant wins Sts in the east on the strength of another partial season with a few td returns, Demski gets MOC, Bryant wins it as our OL has a turn around year while riding off into the sunset. MOP? I think the national media will give it to VAJ if given any sort of opportunity.  

3 hours ago, greenrider55 said:

Much of Calgary's success hinges on Jake Maier, who I am still not sold on. The league seems to pump his tires, but yeesh.

I think the only one plumping up Maier McCheese is... MacDonalds

19 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Earlier this year I would've put us at 10 wins plus or minus 1. More likely to be plus one than minus, but we had a lot of question marks the biggest being would we fill the roster properly or old boys it up. 

 At this point, I'd say it's at 11 wins with a range of plus 2 or minus 1. 11/12 wins while winning the west is likely imo. If we really hit on some of these next guys up could be 13 wins. And at that could very well be a better team than last years. If injuries persist could be a tough stretch. 

In the west I think BC again finishes 2nd. The rest are pretty close. But I think Calgary gets it done with Schlitz at the helm, while the green guys both battle it out for the bottom.

In the east, Montreal really has been gift wrapped this year. I feel like they are likely to suffer a grey cup hang over, but still win the east with one of those records that 2-3 teams in the west would better. I think a late season push by the argos brings them back to the play offs, with or with out kelly. I think hamilton slides into last place in the east and the league, while the RBs continue to bumble along with a 4-5 win season. 

 

I think the bombers have 4 wrs over 1k yards this year. With lawler and schoen going back and forth for the league lead. I think Nichols/willy gets our DPOTY nod, I think our ROTY will win the league award, Grant wins Sts in the east on the strength of another partial season with a few td returns, Demski gets MOC, Bryant wins it as our OL has a turn around year while riding off into the sunset. MOP? I think the national media will give it to VAJ if given any sort of opportunity.  

I agree with everything here except switch Calgary and Hamilton.
Stamps .500 at best with Schiltz, 4-5 wins with Maier. Hamilton .500ish with BLM and 1st in the east if they start Powell before midseason.
That game against the Bombers last year showed me Taylor Powell can be a winner in the CFL, if not a superstar. 

Just now, JohnnyAbonny said:

I agree with everything here except switch Calgary and Hamilton.
Stamps .500 at best with Schiltz, 4-5 wins with Maier. Hamilton .500ish with BLM and 1st in the east if they start Powell before midseason.
That game against the Bombers last year showed me Taylor Powell can be a winner in the CFL, if not a superstar. 

Agree that the stamps will be around .500. The cats, I think BLM is done powell by LD for sure, but I don't see a lot of pieces there in general. 

 Sadly, a LOT of back up qbs kill and have killed us. I always want to see it sustained vs different types of teams. Powell is as good as any of the young upstart qbs, but I think he's a year away from making an impact on a team that's that good. 

59 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

And looks like they have lost him this season too. Went down with what looks to be a serious non contact injury.

That's a big loss for them.  Coming back from an Achilles tear to have it (assumingly) happen again does not bode well for him.  The league needs all the star players it can get and he was seemingly on that path after his rookie year.

20 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

MOS will find a way. Da Bombers.

The way we should end every post on here. lol.

Da Bombers.

14 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

That's a big loss for them.  Coming back from an Achilles tear to have it (assumingly) happen again does not bode well for him.  The league needs all the star players it can get and he was seemingly on that path after his rookie year.

Yeesh I can't believe he went down again today. Poor guy.

Injuries and when they occur determine which teams do well. Just look at what happened to the Bombers roster going into the Grey Cup. You can't predict that.

6 minutes ago, Blue In BC said:

Injuries and when they occur determine which teams do well. Just look at what happened to the Bombers roster going into the Grey Cup. You can't predict that.

And when injuries do occur how good their depth is, how many plug in and play guys they have helps determine how well they can do moving forward. With our Bombers last year, the debate was not playing depth and its level of impact on the games outcome.

I think Calgary’s going to see another long year of the short game. 
I checked out their roaster and they really don’t have a lot of weapons. Their defence, meh, ok I guess…They have a 6”5 CB on the roster 

All teams need to do well but not all teams can win so hopefully the losers fans will still support them in tough times. As for Calgary. Move them to Halifax for all i really care. 

Edited May 28, 20241 yr by Goalie

10 hours ago, bearpants said:

Are you forgetting they fired Dickenson and hired Mace?.... while it's yet to be seen if Mace will be a good, or even competent, coach... I wouldn't call it chaos at this point...

bad management is clueless about good coaching (check out their hiring history) ... this forecasts more gong show ... no great coach would want to be part of that

17 minutes ago, BigBlue said:

bad management is clueless about good coaching (check out their hiring history) ... this forecasts more gong show ... no great coach would want to be part of that

They did settle again...as Buck removed himself out of the equation