Here's Wylie's history from the Bomber website:

"Under Wylie’s watch, Oakland’s offensive line improved the Raiders from one of the worst in sacks given up, to the top five in the NFL. In 2010, Wylie coached the offensive line for the Denver Broncos, improving the Bronco’s rushing average to 4.7 yards per carry during the second half of the season. As an NFL assistant with Arizona, Tampa Bay and Chicago, he paved the way for seven offensive linemen to earn Pro Bowl berths. He also coached tight ends with the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals.

Before returning to the NFL in 2010, Wylie spent the 2009 season coaching the offensive line of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, helping lead them to a division title and a Grey Cup appearance. In his two year with Winnipeg (2007-08), the Bombers’ offensive line allowed the fewest QB sacks (27) in 2007 and the second-fewest (29) in 2008, and saw him coach in the 2007 Grey Cup. During those three seasons, Wylie had CFL all-stars at every position on the offensive line."

How would you grade his performance so far this year?

Wylie would work with Bellefeuille on the blocking schemes. Going over the plays he'd have input into what works & what doesn't. However, I think Marcel already has a pretty good handle on how the blocking schemes should go. Logan, it comes down to one thing & one thing only. Talent. If you have an OL that sucks at the pro level, chances are it's the players who suck. We've done a terrible job drafting along the line the last 3-5 years. Calgary has done a phenomenal job. We let our 2 beat OL go to Saskatchewan. We haven't recovered from that blow. Like a dagger in the heart.

Technically Toronto then Saskatchewan for Picard.

Technically Toronto then Saskatchewan for Picard.

Technicalities. He was a Bomber & he was allowed to leave a free agent.

Just a question, as I don't know the intricacies of all the coaches.  I know some of you are saying you're underwhelmed by Wylie this year, but don't Bellefeuille's offensive schemes have something to do with how well they play as well?  I mean, to me, you can have the best coached O-linemen in the world, but if the offensive schemes suck and they're told to go right instead of left, is that really something Wylie can be faulted for?  Yes, I agree, the linemen aren't blocking so great, and they need to read the defense, but at the same time, if your plays leave a hold open up the middle or the right side or whatever, how can you blame Wylie and the offensive line?

 

Just trying to piece things together in my head.

 

The o-line coach usually only works with the players on their footwork, aiming point and punch, all technique things. If you want to know how well the players are being coached just watch for these things.

 

Pretty hard to grade Wylie in half a season. If a guy like Goosen ended up being a starter by the end of the year, then you could pretty much give Wylie an A+ for honing his technique.

Howard seems to have gotten better, not sure why some don't see that January hasn't had the greatest year out there either but he's been beat as much if not more than howard has been and Howard is the whooping boy it seems. Iso is right, it's lack of talent... Gotta ask yourselves an honest question, would any of these guys be starters on any other teams in the league? I'd wager to guess, maybe Morley because he seems to be a good centre and that's probably it. January is not the best Import Tackle in the league, Howard isn't either but has shown signs of improvement, if you don't have the best or 2nd best Import Tackle in the league, bring someone else in cuz the current guys aren't good enough. I'm not fooling myself here though, I know building the oline takes time, it's going to take more than one season, hell probably take more than 2 or 3 to get where we truly need to be in terms of offensive line depth but.... The tackle Positions, January should be very replaceable. Howard is still young enough that he can get better and he has gotten better as time has gone on, anyone refusing to admit that is just not being honest. 

 

As for grading Wylie, I give it an incomplete, i think he is here to evaluate and to let the team know who he feels is worth keeping and not worth keeping. I feel we will find this out in the off season, if we come back next season with the same group, we are in trouble but gotta trust wylie as he knows more about the oline than any of us on here combined.. Grade Wylie? Incomplete. But if forced in to grading him, I'd give him a B, because the oline has not got the quarterback hurt this year, willy hurt himself last game, that is a step up from the previous seasons. B with a little note saying, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken crap. 

The Bomber O-Line is a work in progress but honestly when healthy it performed quite well.  This has to be somewhat attributed to Wylie he seemed to get a lot of some less then veteran guys.

 

Lack of continuity on the line Morely and January are the only ones to play all 12 games.

Not a good enough excuse. Look at the lack of continuity in Calgary's line. They keep shuffling guys in & out of their line up every game on their OL because of injury problems too yet they don't miss a beat offensively. The guys that back up the starters in Calgary & have been pressed into action could start all here & play well. We'd have a very good OL. 

 

Agreed. Even with our starters in the lineup our line has been nothing impressive. 

The only reason Willy hasn't been hurt more often is because he is tough and we have been lucky. We have the most sacks in the league! 

Honestly I think the OL has been OK this year. There have been ups and downs, but it's been better than people want to admit. Teams were blitzing the Bombers a lot and it led to hits and sacks on the qb. Coupled with an inconsistent runningback and it happens. 

The only reason Willy hasn't been hurt more often is because he is tough and we have been lucky. We have the most sacks in the league! 

 

Willy is still a relatively inexperienced starter despite how well he's done.  Willy will get even better at avoiding pressure and getting rid of the ball thus cutting down on sacks.

 

The only reason Willy hasn't been hurt more often is because he is tough and we have been lucky. We have the most sacks in the league! 

 

Willy is still a relatively inexperienced starter despite how well he's done.  Willy will get even better at avoiding pressure and getting rid of the ball thus cutting down on sacks.

 

And just how many sacks do you think he can avoid with more experience if he still has the same O line?

 

 

The only reason Willy hasn't been hurt more often is because he is tough and we have been lucky. We have the most sacks in the league! 

 

Willy is still a relatively inexperienced starter despite how well he's done.  Willy will get even better at avoiding pressure and getting rid of the ball thus cutting down on sacks.

 

And just how many sacks do you think he can avoid with more experience if he still has the same O line?

 

That o-line will improve, get healthier and some new personnel.  Willy has done an impressive job but all quarterbacks are guilty of contributing to sack counts at times.  Bottom line?  Wylie only makes the Bomber O-Line better.

Agreed with Mfranc I have seen a noticeable improvement in the line over the games

 

 

 

The only reason Willy hasn't been hurt more often is because he is tough and we have been lucky. We have the most sacks in the league! 

 

Willy is still a relatively inexperienced starter despite how well he's done.  Willy will get even better at avoiding pressure and getting rid of the ball thus cutting down on sacks.

 

And just how many sacks do you think he can avoid with more experience if he still has the same O line?

 

That o-line will improve, get healthier and some new personnel.  Willy has done an impressive job but all quarterbacks are guilty of contributing to sack counts at times.  Bottom line?  Wylie only makes the Bomber O-Line better.

 

You didn't answer my question. read it carefully.

 

 

 

 

The only reason Willy hasn't been hurt more often is because he is tough and we have been lucky. We have the most sacks in the league! 

 

Willy is still a relatively inexperienced starter despite how well he's done.  Willy will get even better at avoiding pressure and getting rid of the ball thus cutting down on sacks.

 

And just how many sacks do you think he can avoid with more experience if he still has the same O line?

 

That o-line will improve, get healthier and some new personnel.  Willy has done an impressive job but all quarterbacks are guilty of contributing to sack counts at times.  Bottom line?  Wylie only makes the Bomber O-Line better.

 

You didn't answer my question. read it carefully.

 

Haha.  You want an actual number?  Ok.  Uhm, anywhere from 7-10 a season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only reason Willy hasn't been hurt more often is because he is tough and we have been lucky. We have the most sacks in the league! 

 

Willy is still a relatively inexperienced starter despite how well he's done.  Willy will get even better at avoiding pressure and getting rid of the ball thus cutting down on sacks.

 

And just how many sacks do you think he can avoid with more experience if he still has the same O line?

 

That o-line will improve, get healthier and some new personnel.  Willy has done an impressive job but all quarterbacks are guilty of contributing to sack counts at times.  Bottom line?  Wylie only makes the Bomber O-Line better.

 

You didn't answer my question. read it carefully.

 

Haha.  You want an actual number?  Ok.  Uhm, anywhere from 7-10 a season.

 

 

Now that is stupidly funny.

OL problems are scheme as much as anything... our double TE formations are very conservative - sometimes Pontbriand or Fitz can bust out but other teams don't seem to respect our max protect.  Took a long time for MB to start moving the pocket... and even now its just here and there.

 

Grigsby - again, he has problems with blocking... I missed the last game but I haven't seen much improvement over the season, sometimes he blocks but at critical points in the game, he will actually back away at the last second and leave Willy hanging... Willy hanging!!

 

Personnel - definitely that's an issue...  at the end of last season, it seemed like our tackle position was settled, now its more than halfway through the season and we're still trying to find the right mix.  Neufeld trade starting to look like a mistake, Goossen is unfortunately nicked up but has huge potential...

 

Settle on January-Greaves-Morley-Knapp-Jones and things instantly improve.  Improve enough to compete?  Not sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only reason Willy hasn't been hurt more often is because he is tough and we have been lucky. We have the most sacks in the league! 

 

Willy is still a relatively inexperienced starter despite how well he's done.  Willy will get even better at avoiding pressure and getting rid of the ball thus cutting down on sacks.

 

And just how many sacks do you think he can avoid with more experience if he still has the same O line?

 

That o-line will improve, get healthier and some new personnel.  Willy has done an impressive job but all quarterbacks are guilty of contributing to sack counts at times.  Bottom line?  Wylie only makes the Bomber O-Line better.

 

You didn't answer my question. read it carefully.

 

Haha.  You want an actual number?  Ok.  Uhm, anywhere from 7-10 a season.

 

 

Now that is stupidly funny.

 

Not really.  Willy was always more prone to sacks then Durant (or most veteran quarterbacks) because of a lack of mobility and not getting rid of the ball.  He has a quick release but holds on to the ball too much.  He is a lot better this season but has a long ways to go.  Now if you don't believe that some of the sacks have been caused by Willy that is "stupidly funny."   

There are a lot of times when WIlly was sacked because he didn't trust his blocking. Blitz was coming and it got picked up but he tucked the ball and tried to buy time when he didn't need to. 

What qb would trust that line, though?? It's not very good & the Bombers didn't do a lot to improve it over the last off season. What's wrong with Goosen & when is he coming back? 

It wasn't even the line, it was Grigsby he didn't trust. Like I said, it was on a blitz and if he trusted the back to pick up the blitzer he had time to make a throw, but he didn't and he scrambled around and things broke down. Seen it enough that it's a trend. Guy got happy feet when he saw the blitz. That'll get better as he gets more experienced though. 

It wasn't even the line, it was Grigsby he didn't trust. Like I said, it was on a blitz and if he trusted the back to pick up the blitzer he had time to make a throw, but he didn't and he scrambled around and things broke down. Seen it enough that it's a trend. Guy got happy feet when he saw the blitz. That'll get better as he gets more experienced though. 

 

A bit concerned with Willy's game management/decision making at times too, hope that comes around with experience as well. But having said that, like all QB's you have to give him time to throw the ball.

Remember Calvillo in 2007? It looked he was done...improved protection the following season added a few more years to his career. The Bombers need to get serious about protection. If we're starting 2 - 3 Americans, we should have a good line in spite of our shoddy CIS draft record.

Agreed Mark H and what most people fail to realize about Tretsmans offense was that he always had 7 men blocking, that Montreal oline got all the credit but had help too.