Eternal optimist

To me, in our offense this year, this was arguably one of the most important attributes of our receivers. Hey CFL.ca, I know it's not as exciting as Burnham's circus catches, but start tracking blocks by players! (I realize this is practically an impossible task lol)

Man I always loves Booch's analysis of stuff, half of it goes right over my head but it's always a good read! As for Jefferson and others trying out for NFL teams this time of year... it's really all upside for them, no? I mean, short of getting injured, they get to continue playing/developing/learning, likely play somewhere warmer (like Miami) and at the end of the day, hopefully, get paid to play the game they love. Not only that, if any of them do get cut, most of them know they can come back to the CFL, especially big name guys like Jefferson, which adds a bit of stability and predictability to their employment prospects. Which, to my understanding is a rare (and valued) commodity in professional sports

Y'know, they mentioned this to the guy that does the engraving, and he said that's happened a couple of years before, most recently in 2016 with the Redblacks. Never seems to be enough room to add that asterisk though... Oh, also this year they're omitting "Consolation prize - Hamilton Ti-Cats, best record in franchise history" as well. Guess they'll be traditionalists and just put 2019 - WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS. Maybe Banks can get his MOP trophy modified?

Very true, not to mention the one blemish this year was a 34-37 loss. Wasn't very long ago McMahon Stadium was where Bomber playoff hopes and seasons went to die.

True! However, they also tried to get Bennett to mimic Streveler as a backup QB in short yardage AND they somewhat successfully executed that punt return (thanks again Gauthier for that touchdown-saving tackle) that we had burnt them on a few years ago with Leggett (2017 Banjo Bowl). 'Riders say they hate us and we're scum etc. etc. .... but not only did they lose that game, they lost it by trying to BE US. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Which, somehow makes it even more embarrassing for them. How unfortunate!

Technically, we were the home team for the Grey Cup, but I digress.

Veteran move by Bombers to 'wait until Friday to announce this, let's us celebrate with drinks! I know in the CFL you can turn things around quickly, but considering where this organization was when O'Shea signed in December of 2013 - wow what a job these guys have done. They've turned Winnipeg into a place players want to play, which means cheaper free agent signings, and is just all-around good for business. I've been good this year, I only harped on Riderville like, 102% of the time... so Santa please bring back: - Jefferson - Rose - Streveler - Hardrick - Bryant - Adams - Couture

Yikes. That's lose-lose for everyone involved. Nichols will get eaten alive behind that porous O-line, Collaros if he can stay healthy might do alright here, but that's a biiig if...

Playing in SSK made him want to hang 'em up, playing here made him want to keep playing LOL. That's the Saskatchewan factor alright...

Remember when everyone here thought Davis was going to be our lord and savoir? Good times...

Even when Neufeld was injured, the word from the Bombers was he was still contributing off the field, helping guys out in meetings and in practice etc. etc.. Considering Hall played 3 (maybe 4?) regular season games + 2013 playoffs before bolting to the NFL, Bombers ended up on top in that trade for sure. Though Neufeld has had injury problems, he's played 69 games of a possible 108 (18 games * 6 years) in the regular season. Not bad considering at the time of the trade it was considered quite a gamble since he had injury problems in the past before the trade. Definitely never though he'd still have gas in the tank now. Interestingly enough the draft picks swapped in the trade are still kicking around the league .... Ainsworth (the 2nd round pick we gave up) is currently with BC, and the 5th round pick we received in exchange ended up being Christophe Normand (currently with MTL).

2011 was my first year as a season ticket holder so it'll always hold a special place in my heart. That said... I much prefer the blue collar, grind it out, shut-up-and-play style of D we fielded for the 2019 playoffs. It was ruthless and majestic at the same time. What I find interesting between the two teams is the difference down the stretch... 2011 got off to a torrid start (7-1), but never could rekindle that magic. They won the East, so getting into the Grey Cup wasn't particularly difficult (first round bye, had to win 1 game against a 0.500 Tabbies team). 2019 also got off to a great start (5-0), faced even more adversity (lost our starting QB) but pulled it together down the stretch instead of fading away. The 2019 squad certainly took the road less traveled... and did so in glorious underdog fashion.

It's kind of a balancing act really. Football is definitely a "what have you done for me lately" industry, but at the same time, you can't look at how good a player was to dictate how good they are now. - Bombers signed Adarius Bowman and Chris Matthews... one could argue they did this because they were looking at what those players were, in reality they were shells of their former selves. Both were here for very short stints. - Similarly, they took a gamble on Weston Dressler, who showed he had lots of gas left in the tank and was a reliable receiver for quite a few years. Pity he couldn't have won the Grey Cup with 'em this year, that would've really stuck it to the 'Rider faithful.

Flip the script - have Streveler as the starter in a Wishbone offense with Harris and Augustine in the backfield, then sub in Collaros as needed for passing plays LOL.

Yep. As awful as that team was, I'll always remember him throwing Demond Washington under the bus for missing what would've been a game-winning interception. If he hadn't lost the room before then, anything he said thereafter definitely fell on deaf ears.

End of the day, it's entertainment. As my wife always said during that horrendous 2013 season: "At least it's an outing." Which, as I age, I am realizing is very wise advice. Whether you fret over the the ebbs and flows of the regular season get to your or let it slide, it really doesn't matter. Everyone here wants to see them win including myself, I'll always attend games and will always cheer for them, will I lose sleep over it? Probably not. To each his own.

Nobody wins in war.

It's easy to look back on this with hindsight and see things that way, fact of the matter was that Hitler was hellbent on causing as much destruction as possible, even in retreat. Their K2 missiles were still within range of many allied civilian cities, and Britain as a whole. I agree a parachute jump seems the wrong approach now, air superiority by the Allies at that point made such parachute deployments possible. Hitler always seemed crazy but at that point in the war had completely lost his mind, sacking the few generals he had left, and implementing a blanket "no retreat" policy for all German defensive positions made it very tough going advancing troops along the ground.

Guy was also a war hero, and the trophy for MVP for the Western Conference is named after him (Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy): https://www.bluebombers.com/2016/11/11/lest-we-forget-the-jeff-nicklin-story/ It's a shame Fajardo won it this year - would've been a nice tribute if a Blue Bomber (Harris?) would've won it to go along with the Grey Cup.

Agree on Masoli. I think Nichols will re-sign here, loves Winnipeg and the team, whether that is a good omen remains to be seen though. Can't see ZC re-signing with us as it sounds like TO wants him back, we'd have to overpay for him which isn't something I would be doing on a whim.

I agree he's a bit over-hyped, but man, dude played a month on a broken foot and absolutely laid it all on the line for this organization. You can't tell me he wasn't an instrumental part of our O this year. Even when his game was off, defenses had to plan and play around him, he completely changed the dynamic when he subbed in for our starter - whether it was Nichols or Collaros. If nothing else, he's the best QB sneaker in the league and that alone is worth something.

Absolutely, I agree the team should mitigate risks. The problem is Collaros has suffered 3 concussions (Week 2 2018 season, Week 20 2018 season, Week 1 2019 season) in a 2-year span. He played great for us as a rental when we needed a quick fix, but I just don't think he's a long-term solution at QB. I'd argue re-signing Collaros is increasing our risk, more injury-prone, smaller sample size working within our O, ZC also likely fetches a higher $ than Nichols (due to his Zach's playoff run this year), so the extra $$$ spent re-signing him means less to go around to the rest of the team, we also forfeit a draft pick. If anything, this increases ZC risk of injury. Idiots like Lawrence look at that injury and realize they can impact the opposing teams' offensive game plan by taking a guy out, all for the bargain price of a 15 yard penalty (and a suspension). Pity it boils down to that.

Aw crap he's trying out for the Dolphins he might actually make their team lol.

Short-term, Collaros was the right fit for the Grey Cup run... but I just can't see this organization kicking Nichols to the curb for a guy that filled Nichols shoes adequately.

We're talking about the same Zach Collaros that suffered his most recent concussion whilst hook sliding, right?