I'll preface this thread by saying, I am not complaining at all about the win tonight.  Beating Saskatchewan is the best thing in the world no matter  how it was done.  We rarely win in Regina and this is a happy occasion.

 

Do not get me wrong at all, it was a great game, our offense was fantastic, Drew Willy played exceptional, Paris Cotton is a beast, Nick Moore is back and better than before, Clarence Denmark is a warrior.  And screw the Bellefeuille haters, he outdid Chapdelaine this game.

 

 

 

 

But......

 

Richie Hall's defense was not looking good out there.  Lots of plays where guys were out of position, vanilla playcalling, getting gashed in the run, thank god Adams came up with that pick on that one throw or we might really have gotten in trouble.  A little surprised too that the Riders didn't go for it on 3rd and short when they were on their last possession and punted it there even though I know Messam got a bit whacked there.

 

It was a good game but this defense had better not be getting gashed like that week in and week out.  Hall was hired to fix it and fix the run and so far, he almost looks worse than Etcheverry.  I'm gonna enjoy the win for the time being but we can't afford that in Hamilton next week or late in the season.

man, what we could do with the defence if we had five National hogs.

For those wanting to move Randle what do you do with Johnny Adams?

For those wanting to move Randle what do you do with Johnny Adams?

Hard to say but they have to keep him. Bucknor is the weak link in the secondary imo but his passport keeps him in play. Maybe Adams can play LB better than Randle.

And remember we're starting 8 Canadians now. It's not mandatory to be starting Bucknor. Could have both Adams and Randle in the secondary at the same time.

Not many teams do, only one i think and that's Montreal no? 

 

But regardless

 

3 CDN oline in Greaves,Picard,Chungh

 

2 receivers in Kohlert and JFG

 

Westerman on DE, Hurl at MLB or Waggoner at MLB or WIL or Newman or Briggs really

 

That's 7...

 

Bucknor doesn't need to start really. 

 

For those wanting to move Randle what do you do with Johnny Adams?

 

For those wanting to move Randle what do you do with Johnny Adams?

 

Hard to say but they have to keep him.  Bucknor is the weak link in the secondary imo but his passport keeps him in play.  Maybe Adams can play LB better than Randle.

 

 

I don't think Adams has ever played LB, not even in high school.  This isn't the time to start the experiment. 

I've always thought Demond Washington would look good at SAM, is quick, fast, good tackler, rarely misses his tackle. Think he'd be a good one to try there. Gets him more involved and i like the idea of Demond being more involved and playing closer to the line. 

Why would we pull Bucknor out when he's been our best Canadian on defence thus far?

If anything, I'm taking out Hurl, Westerman, and Anderson and starting Thomas at DT and Americans at MLB and DE.

 

 

For those wanting to move Randle what do you do with Johnny Adams?

For those wanting to move Randle what do you do with Johnny Adams?

Hard to say but they have to keep him. Bucknor is the weak link in the secondary imo but his passport keeps him in play. Maybe Adams can play LB better than Randle.

And remember we're starting 8 Canadians now. It's not mandatory to be starting Bucknor. Could have both Adams and Randle in the secondary at the same time.

 

 

Blame Canada.

 

Why would we pull Bucknor out when he's been our best Canadian on defence thus far?

If anything, I'm taking out Hurl, Westerman, and Anderson and starting Thomas at DT and Americans at MLB and DE.

 

I don't know if you're complimenting Bucknor or criticizing the others, but Bucknor has been pretty bad from what I've seen. Durant and Glenn picked on him over and over in week 1 and he's been making Chris Randle's job a lot harder.

I've always thought Demond Washington would look good at SAM, is quick, fast, good tackler, rarely misses his tackle. Think he'd be a good one to try there. Gets him more involved and i like the idea of Demond being more involved and playing closer to the line. 

Demond has done it before.....

adding to this current discussion, the last thing Westerman needs is LESS reps. Let the dude get into game shape and figure out the intricacies of the 3-Down Game. By mid-season, I'm expecting huge things from JW....

Never saw a D yet, that wasn't somewhat predicated on getting pressure from the defensive line.   Looking at Anderson, Turner and Westerman......if these guys get into gear...this D could get a lot better quickly....

 

Why would we pull Bucknor out when he's been our best Canadian on defence thus far?

If anything, I'm taking out Hurl, Westerman, and Anderson and starting Thomas at DT and Americans at MLB and DE.

 

I don't know if you're complimenting Bucknor or criticizing the others, but Bucknor has been pretty bad from what I've seen. Durant and Glenn picked on him over and over in week 1 and he's been making Chris Randle's job a lot harder.

 

 

Don't understand the hate on for Westerman .. he hasn't been as bad as people are making him out to be .. perhaps it's a case of unrealistic expectations .. expecting a guy to be a ratio breaking Canuck right out of the gates .. but through two weeks he's racked up:

 

* 1 forced fumble, 1 sack (leads the team in this area, tied with Bass) and 5 tackles (leads the defensive line in this area, tied with Peach)

 

These aren't spectacular numbers but I temper that with what I've seen from the defense as a whole and how that unit has played so far under Hall.  I see a guy who is improving through two games played ..  not some colossal bust.

Don't forget, Westerman hasn't seen a snap in a real game in like 2 or 3 years...he's gonna need some time and patience, here...

adding to this current discussion, the last thing Westerman needs is LESS reps. Let the dude get into game shape and figure out the intricacies of the 3-Down Game. By mid-season, I'm expecting huge things from JW....

Good point.  He didn't play football at all last year. 

Jake Thomas starting isn't the answer either. Jake is a rotation player not a starter.

Westerman is causing havoc and is getting close.  It's not as if he's getting stood up at the line or being blown away.

Westerman has looked fine to me, especially for a Canadian on the end.

 

He's getting pressure, he's draw a few holding penalties I think as well. Like mentioned above, he's disrupting the line of scrimmage and creating havoc. It's not his fault if the guys around him can't capitalize on that. If he flushes the QB out of the pocket and pursues him without allowing him to bolt upfield, is it his fault if the coverage behind him breaks down and the QB completes a throw?

Westerman has looked fine to me, especially for a Canadian on the end.

 

He's getting pressure, he's draw a few holding penalties I think as well. Like mentioned above, he's disrupting the line of scrimmage and creating havoc. It's not his fault if the guys around him can't capitalize on that. If he flushes the QB out of the pocket and pursues him without allowing him to bolt upfield, is it his fault if the coverage behind him breaks down and the QB completes a throw?

Yea but mike.. Big NFL name and pedigree.. He should be littering the field with QB and RB corpses will dining on Olineman for dinner,right? Lol. I don't get the ire directed at westerman as well. DE job isn't always about piling up sacks or dancing after a tackle..

Unamba wasn't very good, i don't think he makes a difference at all. I think watching the other teams around the league, the biggest difference I have seen is our guys are playing 5 to 10 yards off the receivers, really not getting any pressure at all from our dline either... like none. But i don't see other teams playing 5 or 10 yards off the receivers so it tells me that it's the scheme that needs to change. Maybe the game has changed a bit and hall hasn't changed with it?

Everyone is playing zone so far this year in their base defense. It's pretty much impossible to play the man/match coverages when you can't run receivers into "checkpoints" downfield and toss them off their routes without it being called a penalty. The Bombers problem is in their front.

Agreed. We are getting almost zero pressure on the QB's. The main reason why Hamilton dominated Willy (after that first drive) and then Brohm was that they dominated in the pass rush and residually controlled the run game with that pressure and the score. Until we get some consistent pressure we could have Roy Bennett, Rod Hill, James Jefferson, and Vince Phason back there and we'd still look silly. So far, on defense, IMO the biggest disappointment has been Westerman. Has he even made a tackle yet? Is he even playing? I don't even see him when the bombers D is on the field.

While Westerman has not made anyone forget Doug Brown, there's lots of blame to go around. If none of his linemates can consistently break through in one-on-ones then the opposition can put two on Westerman and that's the end of that. If memory serves, the biggest pressure last year came when Teague Sherman blitzed from his outside linebacker spot. Maybe we could name this lot "Four on the Floor".

Why would westerman make anyone forget about brown? Ones a tackle and ones an end.. Smh.

He does make me forget starting Richardson as an end or when we had was it.. Riall Johnson? Another NFL journeyman ex Argo that was a canadian end. Westerman will be fine and if he brings even a level of peachness then I'm happy as a canadian Greg peach is pretty solid.

 

 

 

 

Unamba wasn't very good, i don't think he makes a difference at all. I think watching the other teams around the league, the biggest difference I have seen is our guys are playing 5 to 10 yards off the receivers, really not getting any pressure at all from our dline either... like none. But i don't see other teams playing 5 or 10 yards off the receivers so it tells me that it's the scheme that needs to change. Maybe the game has changed a bit and hall hasn't changed with it?

Everyone is playing zone so far this year in their base defense. It's pretty much impossible to play the man/match coverages when you can't run receivers into "checkpoints" downfield and toss them off their routes without it being called a penalty. The Bombers problem is in their front.

Agreed. We are getting almost zero pressure on the QB's. The main reason why Hamilton dominated Willy (after that first drive) and then Brohm was that they dominated in the pass rush and residually controlled the run game with that pressure and the score. Until we get some consistent pressure we could have Roy Bennett, Rod Hill, James Jefferson, and Vince Phason back there and we'd still look silly. So far, on defense, IMO the biggest disappointment has been Westerman. Has he even made a tackle yet? Is he even playing? I don't even see him when the bombers D is on the field.

While Westerman has not made anyone forget Doug Brown, there's lots of blame to go around. If none of his linemates can consistently break through in one-on-ones then the opposition can put two on Westerman and that's the end of that. If memory serves, the biggest pressure last year came when Teague Sherman blitzed from his outside linebacker spot. Maybe we could name this lot "Four on the Floor".

Why would westerman make anyone forget about brown? Ones a tackle and ones an end.. Smh.

He does make me forget starting Richardson as an end or when we had was it.. Riall Johnson? Another NFL journeyman ex Argo that was a canadian end. Westerman will be fine and if he brings even a level of peachness then I'm happy as a canadian Greg peach is pretty solid.

 

I'd take a Canadian Greg Peach, trouble is the other end has American Greg Peach and that's a problem. Need one of the ends to be a terror on qbs. Honestly though I'm far more concerned about the tackles. Turner I am a huge fan of but he ain't done **** so far this year and Anderson I think I've seen only one or two plays of note out of him. 

Westerman is causing havoc and is getting close.  It's not as if he's getting stood up at the line or being blown away.

 

and this is a guy who has never played the canadian game before this year. Give him time.

Sure would be nice to see nate Collins at DT. Think our current guys are too small. Both turner and Zach. Always thought Zach would be better as a DE tho. Not sure why.

I agree the inside DTs seem small by today's standards especially given that most O linemen are plus 300 LBs now. The more effective DE's are speed rushers. The body types like Bowman in a Mtl, Hall in Sask and Willis in Edm.

I'd take replacements for both DTs at this point.

Turner is a beast. He will get it going.,Anderson is probably playing paranoid and nervous to go all out yet.. He too is capable of more and we will see it..

It's also not like the olines we played against were crappy ones.. Saskabush is middle to high and hamiltons is probably one of the best..

Let's all step off the ledge a bit regarding the interior. We DO need a better push from the edge by at least one QB hunting DE..