Blue Bombers - 2025 Regular Season - Discussion Thread

[Booch]

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Wade has to make a decision in a short period of time on what to do (if he hasn't already), hesitation is one of those decisions and maybe the worst one. I think Toronto will move fast, and I think the Cats will as well once their season is over. 

We can't drag our feet...that's part of the reason we had to settle with Hogan...also why we ended up missing on some FA's

2 hours ago, Slimy Sculpin said:

I'm assuming that Miller is responsible to the volunteer Board of Directors. Would he have to get their permission on major matters like this?

I think when Wade took over things shifted a bit in regards to the BOD

He essentially has say over the football ops. He may run things by to get a feel or let em know..but football related stuff is his domain...the way it was before was why we were in the state we were

59 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

In terms of football ops I would expect him to have full control to the point he would likely update them on his intentions not have to ask for permission. 
An act as president that was veto’d by the bog would be like failing a none confidence vote. 

Agree with the first bit. 

I didn’t read the article i’ll have to check it out. I’ll say though that it’s on pinball to make the primary changes. 

Mos would be involved, but i’m not sure he would face much more change there than we need. Hed keep his buddies on the staff like eiben, try to poach a couple of our guys and others, and re tool via free agency. 

It’s soo wild to me that his idea of accountability for our offences systematic failures is that he should have stepped in and micro managed them to ensure they performed better. If i head that as Jackson, i’d quit instantly. 

Yeah..he has too much say...and no real feel on the pulse...and things coming out and rumblings I hear is his way on going about things in some instances doesn't sit as well as before...and interestingly enough more so with some vets

[M.O.A.B.]

A combination of Khari Jones and Jarius Jackson will be a lot better than O'Shea and Hogan. 

 

[rebusrankin]

I wish the club was proactive and we knew who would be running the show next year.

[Booch]

52 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I wish the club was proactive and we knew who would be running the show next year.

we really should have made a statement the week following the playoff exit...id we dont make it the week following the Cup....We can expect more the same.....missing out on some quality coaching prospects....some for sure player exodus...the ones we dont wanna see exit...and a sad vet laden lineup with aged out guys...Osh fav's and loyalists and a team with minimal depth, and no desire to integrst new blood in...unless forced to with injury...hate to be a debbie downer but you can almost book it

I will gladly eat crow....pile of used sweatsocks...whatever....but until proven otherwise....Can't see it...and havnt been far off the mark on the prediction i started drumming after the 2023 joke of a Grey Cup and season end

[Mike]

14 hours ago, M.O.A.B. said:

A combination of Khari Jones and Jarius Jackson will be a lot better than O'Shea and Hogan. 

 

I don’t necessarily think that’s entirely fair to say. It’s going to be a long road back personnel wise before any coach (O’Shea included) has success here.

Despite what O’Shea thinks, we need a total overhaul. The roster is ancient and being held together with duct tape and chewed gum. 

[JohnnyAbonny]

6 minutes ago, Mike said:

I don’t necessarily think that’s entirely fair to say. It’s going to be a long road back personnel wise before any coach (O’Shea included) has success here.

Despite what O’Shea thinks, we need a total overhaul. The roster is ancient and being held together with duct tape and chewed gum. 

That’s just it. When the team was at its best, they had 2 very good co-ordinators and no less than 3 all star/HOF level players on each side of the ball, all around their prime.  (Biggie, WJ, BA, Jeffcoat on D. Andrew, Yoshi, Bryant, Lawler on O)

The team was primarily built through FA, with a lot of Ringmaiden-era holdovers making up the bulk of rest of the roster. 

MOS has a lot of faults right now but really, unless the personnel department hits a bunch of home runs, it’s going to be a couple rough years no matter who’s coaching. 

16 hours ago, Booch said:

We can't drag our feet...that's part of the reason we had to settle with Hogan...also why we ended up missing on some FA's

 

This is key as well, they screwed around soo much last offseason. 

[rebusrankin]

56 minutes ago, Mike said:

I don’t necessarily think that’s entirely fair to say. It’s going to be a long road back personnel wise before any coach (O’Shea included) has success here.

Despite what O’Shea thinks, we need a total overhaul. The roster is ancient and being held together with duct tape and chewed gum. 

What's wrong with duct tape? Its the handyman's secret weapon.

[17to85]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

I don’t necessarily think that’s entirely fair to say. It’s going to be a long road back personnel wise before any coach (O’Shea included) has success here.

Despite what O’Shea thinks, we need a total overhaul. The roster is ancient and being held together with duct tape and chewed gum. 

I don't necessarily think it's as bad as all that. Needs some significant tweaks but they're not like they were when oshea started.

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

I don’t necessarily think that’s entirely fair to say. It’s going to be a long road back personnel wise before any coach (O’Shea included) has success here.

Despite what O’Shea thinks, we need a total overhaul. The roster is ancient and being held together with duct tape and chewed gum. 

The same wilful blindness and stubbornness that O'Shea used to create this current mess will not allow him to acknowledge it or change his M.O. Sad to say, the longer it takes for a definitive statement about the GM and HC positions, the more probable that there will be no change. That would be a huge mistake and will be reflected in the efforts and successes of the players in 2026.

Edited 9 hours ago by Tracker

[Arnold_Palmer]

I was looking at the 2021 CFL all stars. The Bombers dominated the west with 15 (4 this year for comparison) and the thing that is really crazy is we had 6 out of the 9 available spots on the O-Line and D-Line, and not a single player this year in either of those positions btw, it all starts with the complete overhaul in the trenches, to me there’s not a single starter that should feel 100 percent safe on both sides of the line except in my opinion Cam Lawson. 

[johnzo]

47 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I don't necessarily think it's as bad as all that. Needs some significant tweaks but they're not like they were when oshea started.

The trouble is that we're old at positions that are difficult to recruit for.   Our best OL is ancient.  Our best Canadian receiver -- our best receiver period -- is on the wrong side of 30 and has had significant injuries two out of the past three years.  Our best Canadian OL, Neuf, will be 37 next season.

worst of all, Zach is 37 and he is probably our best option at QB next year.  Who else is out there?  Taylor Powell might be a good FA signing, but he's been moldering on the bench for two years now.  Maybe Brown could come home in a trade? 

I'm not in a position to judge our pipeline but it seems like our pipeline will need to do some good work or we're going to drop from the middle tier of the CFL to the bottom tier next year.

Edited 9 hours ago by johnzo

[JuranBoldenRules]

50 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I don't necessarily think it's as bad as all that. Needs some significant tweaks but they're not like they were when oshea started.

It's pretty bad.  We don't have a single OL I'd rate as "good."  Canadian depth on O is basically a 29 year old tailback and a 32 year old receiver.

We're winning right now by 1 of 3 ways or a combination: elite special teams/D turning ball over or scoring points and basically shutting teams out, Collaros playing unconscious.  We don't have anything consistent on O going on almost 3 full seasons.  Our D is also crazy inconsistent.

Edited 9 hours ago by JuranBoldenRules

[JohnnyAbonny]

1 hour ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

I was looking at the 2021 CFL all stars. The Bombers dominated the west with 15 (4 this year for comparison) and the thing that is really crazy is we had 6 out of the 9 available spots on the O-Line and D-Line, and not a single player this year in either of those positions btw, it all starts with the complete overhaul in the trenches, to me there’s not a single starter that should feel 100 percent safe on both sides of the line except in my opinion Cam Lawson. 

I’d add Randolph too

[Stickem]

Looking at the overall picture, let's be honest, we're not an attractive place to land anymore ...When you're a winner it's easy to pick up quality players in fa, players also want to remain with a winner....Quality draft pics want to be welcomed by a team like we were....'were' being the operative word...We have a tough road ahead in just keeping our talent, as other clubs are looking a heckuva lot better in a lot of respects....I don't envy Walters this off season.....with the changes that need to be made and to present a club worthy of the fans in the Peg, it's all uphill......With that in mind I hope the club is going to be in rebuild mode 'early' and settle the coaching staff question marks pronto so nobody is left 'hanging'.....fans included

[bearpants]

On 2025-11-06 at 12:56 PM, Booch said:

Mickey Donovan is also a guy who would be a good candidate for new blood somewhere....No Nonsense kinda guy...players love and respect...and will get best outta everyone....If there was an outlier off the radar kinda guy to give a shot to...in an already established culture like here...He's be a real good pick and I would be more than happy with him

I think he's dead... if I recall correctly, Bridget shot him and Ray took the fall.... could be misremembering...

[Booch]

36 minutes ago, bearpants said:

I think he's dead... if I recall correctly, Bridget shot him and Ray took the fall.... could be misremembering...

Dammit.....hahaha 

All jokes aside...if we want to give new blood a chance...like we did with Osh...he'd be a good choice

Also has a better resume than Osh did..was a HC in university in Canada...as well as varied pro coaching positions...and respected and liked by players...and is known

[bearpants]

6 minutes ago, Booch said:

Dammit.....hahaha 

All jokes aside...if we want to give new blood a chance...like we did with Osh...he'd be a good choice

Also has a better resume than Osh did..was a HC in university in Canada...as well as varied pro coaching positions...and respected and liked by players...and is known

Yeah I read up on him a bit and seems like an interesting guy... there's a lot of interesting candidates but my biggest concern would be if any are a significant upgrade... the one guy I would've wanted is off the table now

[Pete]

20 hours ago, M.O.A.B. said:

A combination of Khari Jones and Jarius Jackson will be a lot better than O'Shea and Hogan. 

 

What did Jackson contribute this year to make him desirable as OC? There wasn't a single group on offence that didn't look disjointed. Nor has any player that I|ve seen commented that hes a good coach. an interesting combo Justin Dunk might be  Kyle Carson as GM and Mark Meuller as hc

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Pete

[Atomic]

Change is probably needed but let's not kid ourselves that things can't get worse. All it takes is one bad hire to send us back to 4-14 land for half a decade.

[wbbfan]

18 minutes ago, Pete said:

What did Jackson contribute this year to make him desirable as OC? There wasn't a single group on offence that didn't look disjointed. Nor has any player that I|ve seen commented that hes a good coach. an interesting combo Justin Dunk might be  Kyle Carson as GM and Mark Meuller as hc

 

By that logic, Maas should never have gotten the job in montreal after his so so offences in ssk. Mos’ teams in toronto were maybe slightly better than average as well. 

 That’s also not how position coaching works. We saw him have a league best offence in edm before ford was pressured in to play. Hes more of a known and highly respected commodity than any position coach here save for Costello, and is the the most proven offensive Co on our team. 

Also, Hogan was the rb coach on the best running team and heavily refereed by brady. And we know how that turned out. 

 Jackson is exceptionally proficient at running balanced offenses that get the ball out quick. He also took a league worst team and free spot on the bingo card and nearly made the play offs as a hc. 

 

Interesting? I mean maybe… Good? lol no. Mueller is in his 2nd ever season as an oc. Of those two years he’s had one very good offence. Hes never been a hc or assistant hc at any level. Hes not as ready to be a hc as jy is, and jy isn’t ready for that. 
The riders have built through free agency and rookie imps. I would not go off rushing to poach their canadian draft guy. 

29 minutes ago, Atomic said:

Change is probably needed but let's not kid ourselves that things can't get worse. All it takes is one bad hire to send us back to 4-14 land for half a decade.

I don’t think we could back slide that far and stay down that long. In the pre wade era of this team and league sure. Today? I don’t think so. 

 I actually think the worst case for us is setting into mediocrity. 8-10 win perennially fighting for a cross over, lucky to win a round. 

[Booch]

2 hours ago, bearpants said:

Yeah I read up on him a bit and seems like an interesting guy... there's a lot of interesting candidates but my biggest concern would be if any are a significant upgrade... the one guy I would've wanted is off the table now

 

2 hours ago, Pete said:

What did Jackson contribute this year to make him desirable as OC? There wasn't a single group on offence that didn't look disjointed. Nor has any player that I|ve seen commented that hes a good coach. an interesting combo Justin Dunk might be  Kyle Carson as GM and Mark Meuller as hc

 

 

1 hour ago, Atomic said:

Change is probably needed but let's not kid ourselves that things can't get worse. All it takes is one bad hire to send us back to 4-14 land for half a decade.

 

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

By that logic, Maas should never have gotten the job in montreal after his so so offences in ssk. Mos’ teams in toronto were maybe slightly better than average as well. 

 That’s also not how position coaching works. We saw him have a league best offence in edm before ford was pressured in to play. Hes more of a known and highly respected commodity than any position coach here save for Costello, and is the the most proven offensive Co on our team. 

Also, Hogan was the rb coach on the best running team and heavily refereed by brady. And we know how that turned out. 

 Jackson is exceptionally proficient at running balanced offenses that get the ball out quick. He also took a league worst team and free spot on the bingo card and nearly made the play offs as a hc. 

 

Interesting? I mean maybe… Good? lol no. Mueller is in his 2nd ever season as an oc. Of those two years he’s had one very good offence. Hes never been a hc or assistant hc at any level. Hes not as ready to be a hc as jy is, and jy isn’t ready for that. 
The riders have built through free agency and rookie imps. I would not go off rushing to poach their canadian draft guy. 

I don’t think we could back slide that far and stay down that long. In the pre wade era of this team and league sure. Today? I don’t think so. 

 I actually think the worst case for us is setting into mediocrity. 8-10 win perennially fighting for a cross over, lucky to win a round. 

The history of bad hire's was a rsult of how we were structured before...With Miller and Walter's (if retained) we not in a spot to worry thee

Osh too much of a loyallist and can't find it in himself with ego to admit failure....so I am sure Jackson prob didnt have much say...that being said good thing he was here or it likely woud have been wayyyyyyyy worse...if thats even possible

Some guys need seasoning and time....Maas as example....Younger...Buck....Some guys just dont have it...OC Guy...and he is smug and arrogant already which is a bad sign considering he has zero reason to be...Too much time under Osh rubberd off?...who knows

There are some good options out there....but also time is of the essence or we will be shut out...again...No reason we couldnt have made a move...Gave Dinwiddie a HC/Ass G.M role here

 

[Pete]

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

By that logic, Maas should never have gotten the job in montreal after his so so offences in ssk. Mos’ teams in toronto were maybe slightly better than average as well. 

 That’s also not how position coaching works. We saw him have a league best offence in edm before ford was pressured in to play. Hes more of a known and highly respected commodity than any position coach here save for Costello, and is the the most proven offensive Co on our team. 

Also, Hogan was the rb coach on the best running team and heavily refereed by brady. And we know how that turned out. 

 Jackson is exceptionally proficient at running balanced offenses that get the ball out quick. He also took a league worst team and free spot on the bingo card and nearly made the play offs as a hc. 

 

I

That doesnt explain why the no other team picked him up last year if as you say hes the most respected coach . Younger is more likely to get a hc than Jackson in the near future. Edmonton was a gong show in regards to their qb situation regardless of the pressure.

He may be a good coach its just we have zero evidence during his time with this organization. I would much rather see us go outside our organization for once to replace Hogan, We need some new perspective 

Edited 2 hours ago by Pete

[wbbfan]

47 minutes ago, Pete said:

That doesnt explain why the no other team picked him up last year if as you say hes the most respected coach . Younger is more likely to get a hc than Jackson in the near future. Edmonton was a gong show in regards to their qb situation regardless of the pressure.

He may be a good coach its just we have zero evidence during his time with this organization. I would much rather see us go outside our organization for once to replace Hogan, We need some new perspective 

Doesn’t mean any thing, but few good oc jobs were open last year. This was easily the best place for him. 

And he had them running as the best offence till they wanted to move to ford. 

You don’t, if you haven’t watched him run offence elsewhere, or coach qbs. 

Jackson is from out side our org, and coaching lineages. 

Unless we fire mos and hire an oc/hc, we won’t see better than jackson at oc. Even if we did, we probably still don’t. 

It’ll very likely be Mike miller especially with dinwiddie gone, Jackson, or the likes of hogan/lapo.