Color me shocked, happy but still not sold....yet

First off was nice to see Ears lose his **** multiple times again on the sidelines like Maas of old...we definitely made him pop...and his team sure takes on his personality, as a collective group they truly are a bunch of whiny yappy babies when things don't go well for them...If anything with our team when we are getting our butts handed to us, we never act like that

Bringing the nasty back...Shades of 2019 to 2023 oline work and it made a difference. Again, we went into what Our identity should be with smash mouth play and how it opens up things for our receivers...Now don't keep going away from it in games unless it's taken away. It also allows our hogs to get in the zone immediately and dictate the tone...That's big...the last 2 weeks my observation is that Stan seems to be rounding into form. As mentioned in game thread I think his injury was hindering him and why he was consciously kicking out a bit early and looked old and slow on plays quick off the snap where he had to make a fast step....He was still good in the run but he did look compromised in certain blocking assignments

But last night he was active and all over in the run game...the whole line was and we need to keep using all that oline movement...It worked well in Edm too until we went away from it. If he plays like this again next week then maybe the slagging he was getting here wasn't 100 percent justified...that being said I hope we have talked to him about this being his farewell season

Kudos to Condell as well for that game plan...almost like he stole Mtl's to be honest, but that what we need to do game in and game out. Receivers actually played tough...made some tough grabs, and actually fought for YAC. Pokey needs to be used **** we used him ..lotsa horizontal routes and getting ball to him while he moving, as he is slippery and greasy and can slither his way through the slightest opening with speed. He's not the consistent vertical threat we can lean on...That I guess is a Demski role currently as we don't have a guy...and is what we really need. I think the 3rd Canadian WR experiment needs to end as Cobb offers absolutely nothing in that spot. If anything, use Clercius there and have him and Neild both show looks from inside and outside....If we refuse to add an import....That would still make us better, and Clercius is a guy teams will have to take note of. All he does is make catches, and actually will do something with the ball after the catch...and he was key in downfield blocking on several runs

Encouraging to say the least tho....next week is the true litmus test. In that environment and hype if we do what we have done in the half of game in Edm and last night again...with a convincing win...look out...That's the make of a trend and a BB repeat we could be sending ourselves into a real run of wins as the confidence grows

Vaval has to have earned that starting DB spot...it's almost changed how we play a bit back there...for the better and you can see he is legit good. Texada as well in his limited reps showed some real promise...Only time he was really noticed was when making a play...pretty good debut for a raw rookie vs the offensive juggernaut the Al's are reported to be. Let Nichols rest another week...let the youngsters (Williams/Vaval/Texada) run with it and make a decision for BB if Nichols is ready to go. But safety and Kelly needs to end...yesterday already...cant cover...poor tackling...soft. If kramdi is back is he better...Maybe a bit but he also isn't great. He's perfect for the role Kelly had before he went in at safety and would be a shame to sit one of the 3 aforementioned from the starting lineup...and you cant pull Smith off for him, and as much as Wilson and Jones get grief on here, Kramdi at WIL would be the worst possible decision. When ready yank Novack off for Kramdi and use him all over in the rotation...He does do well mucking it up in the box when we go 3 dlineman

Speaking of yanking...Hazen needs to be..whats he offer?...whats he done to justify being on roster?...especially when Kramdi back...Nothing....and if we keep Vaval at Corner then Singer for Hazen makes a ton of sense, or if we just swap out Cobb for clercius and say no to another skilled player...Nichols as depth isn't a bad thing

Dline has the talent to dominate games...tho a true Nose would be nice, but they are frustrating as they go in spurts...is it scheme and what we asking them to do...or is it just growing pains as we have essentially 3 rookies taking big time reps...none the less I really have no issues with that group for the most part...Some fine tuning scheme wise tho I think could really put em over the top!

None the less like what I saw...actually not dreading the Labour Day game now...and curious to see if this was a turning the corner....or just a mirage of a game...we shall see shortly...The only bad part of the win is it will basically ensure zero changes...even tho a few could really set us off

I don't think this week tells us much about anything unless it's a blow out. It's the LDC we rarely win, and it is almost always a very close game. Anyone looking for a sense as to the rest of our season will probably not get it this week.

I recall last season beating the Ticats 40-3 and being thrilled about finally having a good week, but in the end nothing really changed

6 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Forget the rest of the season, let's just focus on making the green team look like chumps

Bigger chumps.

Are their "best fans in the CFL" going to even sell out the LDC? Or are they too busy starting their combines?

5 hours ago, Ckr said:

Good but not great.

oh yeah, I don't think bolo is the second coming of Dave Sapunjis or anything like that.... but if you're lining him up as your Canuck WR4/WR5 then you're probably in good shape generally.

22 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

So, what's the consensus?

dude have you met MBB?

2 hours ago, johnzo said:

oh yeah, I don't think bolo is the second coming of Dave Sapunjis or anything like that.... but if you're lining him up as your Canuck WR4/WR5 then you're probably in good shape generally.

So somewhere between a Brock Ralph and a Jamie Stoddard then....got it.

16 hours ago, Booch said:

yup...true litmus is this weekend...was that just a one off and a game where some struggling teams just pull one outta their backside?...Or was there some kind of shift/change done internally on how we prepare, or did the coaches start some productive coaching...cause for a vet laden team to take 11 games with basically no changes to finally get it just doesn't make sense...the math doesn't math

But you are correct...if this is the new norm we still need 2...maybe 3 lil roster tweaks and it could really have that 2019 late season vibe to it

the next 2 games will be the answer...Trepid optimism but was just one game....and as they say..."The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day"

Was that just a nice sunny day...soon to find out but we still need some changes none the less

think so if we dont change anything....not even sure we changed anything last game and counting that game...and maaaaaybe 2 others...3 outta of 11 as successful and indicative of what you truly are isnt gonna cut it

I remember seeing some bad, bad Bomber teams rise up & win games they had no business winning. For me, the most memorable happened during the 1969 season. A real David vs Goliath game. The 1-2 Bombers played the 4-0 Roughriders.

The Bombers had no business even being on the same field with the Riders that evening as we went 3-12-1 in 1969. They went 13-3 & played in the Grey Cup. They were a team of stars led by Lancaster & Reed & we were a team of nobodies whose names have since passed into history with no one even caring. We won 16-14. probably the biggest upset in the CFL that season. I think we went 1-11 after we beat the Riders. I'll never forget that game. It was the first Bomber game I ever saw live on August 27, 1969. I was 14 & hooked for life.

Edited September 3Sep 3 by SpeedFlex27

22 hours ago, bigg jay said:

I'd be more inclined to believe that maybe they've turned a corner, if they hadn't s**t the bed so bad in the 2nd half against Montreal. 6 of the last 8 quarters they've played have been great but those other two were absolutely terrible. The lack of consistency (game to game, half to half and even quarter to quarter) makes it really hard to predict how the rest of the season goes.

I think you meant Edmonton... but yeah, if we were coming off back to back, complete game wins against the #1 team in the west and the #1 team in the east... there certainly would be more hopeful feelings around here

46 minutes ago, bearpants said:

I think you meant Edmonton... but yeah, if we were coming off back to back, complete game wins against the #1 team in the west and the #1 team in the east... there certainly would be more hopeful feelings around here

I am feeling really good about our odds vs Saskatchewan. LDC is going to be a tough win because it always is, but I like our chances of the split a lot.

39 minutes ago, bearpants said:

I think you meant Edmonton... but yeah, if we were coming off back to back, complete game wins against the #1 team in the west and the #1 team in the east... there certainly would be more hopeful feelings around here

Yep, definitely meant Edmonton. That first half gave me more hope for this team in a while and then the 2nd half did the exact opposite. It wasn't even so much about the win/loss, it was the ineptitude we showed in the 2nd half of the game. We're very Jekyll and Hyde - we've shown the ability to compete and win with the best teams in the league but we've also shown the ability to not even show up in the slightest bit. You can even see this in the game against BC - leading in the 4th quarter with about 6 minutes to go and then we implode & let them do whatever they want to us.

51 minutes ago, bearpants said:

I think you meant Edmonton... but yeah, if we were coming off back to back, complete game wins against the #1 team in the west and the #1 team in the east... there certainly would be more hopeful feelings around here

It's not a terrible trend if you compare the last three games to the rest of the season. Zach returns from injury and we beat Ottawa, we play the best half of the season against Edmonton but obviously fall apart and take the lose, then the best complete game of the season and beat Montreal.

You never know what's going to happen in the LDC, but Sask hasn't been at their best recently and the last few weeks have been looking up for us a bit.

It's an up and down season... They're not always going to look like gems. You have to breathe... Ride the rollercoaster and hope for the best. Hope they're trending in the right direction when it really matters.

Don't ever get too high or too low... It's a long season.

23 hours ago, Noeller said:

I really like the "nobody Believes in us" vibe I'm seeing in quotes from the players. That can go a long way. Riders 5.5 favourites this week helps that....

2023 Als rode that vibe to a GC victory.

23 hours ago, Noeller said:

I really like the "nobody Believes in us" vibe I'm seeing in quotes from the players. That can go a long way. Riders 5.5 favourites this week helps that....

There’s pros to that vibe for sure but creating, maintaining and enhancing the vibe that opposing teams know that with the WBB they are going to get a full 60 minutes of elite aggressive take no prisoners type football has its benefits as well.

1 hour ago, Jesse said:

It's not a terrible trend if you compare the last three games to the rest of the season. Zach returns from injury and we beat Ottawa, we play the best half of the season against Edmonton but obviously fall apart and take the lose, then the best complete game of the season and beat Montreal.

You never know what's going to happen in the LDC, but Sask hasn't been at their best recently and the last few weeks have been looking up for us a bit.

Yea I think a lot of people have forgotten that we played a significant amount of our games with Dru Brown under centre....and he did well enough but our offence is clearly better with Zac Collaros. Some will point to the 2nd half in Edmonton or the mediocre Ottawa showing, but really our offence was out of sync after a long absence from the starter and seems to be rounding into form again. I think we match up favorably with the Riders. I like our chances. We need the same kind of performance from our trenches as last week and we should be just fine. I am not predicting a LD win though, as I have been to too many LDCs where something ridiculous happens and the Riders win.

13 hours ago, GCn20 said:

I am feeling really good about our odds vs Saskatchewan. LDC is going to be a tough win because it always is, but I like our chances of the split a lot.

Generally that's what we do. We lose on Labour Day. If you look at the record of both teams in the LDC it isn't even close in facvour of the Riders. The Banjo Bowl OTOH is in our favour when it comes to wins. Even when we had a dominant team, we found it hard to win in Regina on the LD weekend.

15 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Generally that's what we do. We lose on Labour Day. If you look at the record of both teams in the LDC it isn't even close in facvour of the Riders. The Banjo Bowl OTOH is in our favour when it comes to wins. Even when we had a dominant team, we found it hard to win in Regina on the LD weekend.

So true. I remember seeing this billboard and thinking- Aww man, way to jinx it.

and sure enough- we lose.

16 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Generally that's what we do. We lose on Labour Day. If you look at the record of both teams in the LDC it isn't even close in facvour of the Riders. The Banjo Bowl OTOH is in our favour when it comes to wins. Even when we had a dominant team, we found it hard to win in Regina on the LD weekend.

a lot of those losses going back in the day could have been attributed to a little too much partying the night before...ahem....

1 hour ago, Wanna-B-Fanboy said:

So true. I remember seeing this billboard and thinking- Aww man, way to jinx it.

and sure enough- we lose.

Ugh, that game sucked.

19 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Generally that's what we do. We lose on Labour Day. If you look at the record of both teams in the LDC it isn't even close in facvour of the Riders. The Banjo Bowl OTOH is in our favour when it comes to wins. Even when we had a dominant team, we found it hard to win in Regina on the LD weekend.

If the Bombers get their butts kicked up and down the field on Labour Day, it will be hard for them to rebound next weekend.

1 hour ago, Ckr said:

If the Bombers get their butts kicked up and down the field on Labour Day, it will be hard for them to rebound next weekend.

In a regular year, you hope for a close loss in the LDC followed by a win in the BB.

I do feel like we need to keep the momentum up this year though. A win in Riderville would be huge.

1 hour ago, Ckr said:

If the Bombers get their butts kicked up and down the field on Labour Day, it will be hard for them to rebound next weekend.

That happened in 2012. We lost 50-0 in Regina. I think we won the following weekend in Banjo Bowl. Never say never.

Edited September 5Sep 5 by SpeedFlex27

17 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

That happened in 2012. We lost 50-0 in Regina. I think we won the following weekend in Banjo Bowl. Never say never.

Gotta go with the odds.

3 hours ago, Ckr said:

Gotta go with the odds.

Sure but my point is that is why you play the game unless you're the RedBlacks.

On 2026-09-04 at 8:38 PM, SpeedFlex27 said:

That happened in 2012. We lost 50-0 in Regina. I think we won the following weekend in Banjo Bowl. Never say never.

That was the banjo bowl where Tim Burke elected to punt for a single in longish FG range to go up 2 and we lost on a last second FG.

51 minutes ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

That was the banjo bowl where Tim Burke elected to punt for a single in longish FG range to go up 2 and we lost on a last second FG.