Doublezero

Manziel's arrival in the CFL might be the cue for some guys who are in the same boat: tired of waiting for the NFL to call and hoping to hit re-start in Canada.

Didn't Bombers get Ryan Rigmaiden from BC as chieef scout of US colleges ~ who knows what part he might have played in getting some of the ex-Lions - Roh, Gaitor, Fenner, Clarke - here. Also, coaching could make us better this year. O'Shea has another year under his belt and we had added some interesting new coaching talent on the defence: James Stanley Glen Young and Jordan Younger.

Who knows if we are better than last year? On D we lost Westerman Hurl Thomas and Heath. I thought Westerman lost a step last year and obviously Hurl was a major liability. They get replaced with INT players. We have gained Bighill Roh Fenner Gaitor and Clarke. Obviously Bighill should be solid, Roh too IMHO. You can't replace Leggett but Fenner helps just in case Leggett can't perform at the level he did before his injury. Jones Fogg Branning Conteh Walker and Alexander should be de facto improved this year with a year under their belt. Same with Kyrie Wilson and Santos-Knox. Maybe someone like Gause will be rotational. Hoping Awoleke or Jeffcoat make noise on the Dline. The Oline is one of the best in the CFL even after the loss of Travis Bond. I am not a huge fan of Demski or Lafrance but will be thrilled to be wrong if Demski makes an impact. Lafrance I know is ratio backup to Harris which may be necessary since my fear with the O is that Lapo relies too much on Harris to carry the mail as a power back and breaks him. We should be using #33 at this stage as a hybrid SB/RB - 600-700 yards rushing and 1000+ receiving. Our receiver group appears slightly better than last year but someone like Wolitarsky, Corey Washington or Myles White needs to make the team and be consistently good to make up for an aging and oft-injured Dressler. I am going to suggest White and Washington both are better than Lankford - but can they return kicks because Lankford wasn't exceptional. That is one area of the game where it felt like we really regressed last year - kick return field position. Unsure about Bowman but hope he rebounds from last year and is great for us. Hopeful Alex Ross is an upgrade over the departed Dom Davis but I liked Davis and thought he just didn't get enough game reps to get in a groove and show us what he can do. Maybe we can grab someone like Jeff Matthews for insurance.

The wider CFL field means rookie INT QBs need to adjust their pass lanes. That means un-learning some habits. That can take a bit of time and Ross's experience from last year gives him the edge there. And then you've got receivers sometimes running wobbly routes. I noticed Streveler tossed a floater or two to the wide side of the field - those would have been picks if it wasn't the first day of camp. All 3 backup QBs have good arm strength though, Streveler was running the reps quickly and he was able to run a couple of plays that look like they could be deeper than just your vanilla Day 1 stuff from the playbook.

Looked like Craig Roh and Jackson Jeffcoat taking first team reps at rush end positions. No pads practice and therefore hard to say who will be ripping the head off Johnny Football later in the season.

Looking at this depth, there are going to be some new faces and also some really good players who won't make the team. Did everyone pass their physical?

Looks like an INT at MLB Santos Knox or Jevaris Jones. What is wrong with that?

This is a joke if I recall. They fooled a few flight attendants on Blue Bombers team flights saying every time that it was Kevin Fogg's birthday. Got them to sing Happy Birthday to him etc. It is a running joke. Fogg's actual birthday is Oct 6 according to team site.

In that scenario maybe Flanders is the 1000 yd rusher and Harris the 1000 yard slotback. This saves Andrew from much of the heavy inside rock hauling. Let him catch the ball in space and flatten a few DBs. Then you've got another NAT ie: Coates or Wolitarsky at wideout.

Bombers must be satisfied that whatever was causing Durant to repeatedly throw balls into the turf, is correctable. Kavis said at the time that it was simply a case that Durant's mechanics were off. How is that possible with a vet of Durant's experience? Hopefully he'll get a couple of quarters of game action in preseason and everyone will get a chance to see if he can throw on target.

How does a prospect get to develop at #3 and no game-play time?

You mean the guy who got yanked and replaced by Drew Willy? http://3downnation.com/2017/09/17/darian-durant-hot-mess-right-now/

You hope you don't see more of Davis because that means Nichols is hurt. But I believe we need to see more of Davis before giving up on him.

Collaros generally gets rid of the ball pretty quickly, as opposed to Willy who never did. Willy did stand in there and take the hits though, which Collaros does not like to do.

Brown was a stopper, absolutely. But since you say passport be damned, John Helton was the best defensive tackle that ever suited up for Winnipeg (in my useless opinion).

They backed in to the playoffs. Pretty much the worst D in the league in terms of yards allowed. Offense collapsed too in the last third of the season and scored something like one TD in the last four games. That is average, maybe even just barely average. And while other teams rallied: Sask - Tor - Ham - Esks ... Bombers gasped and, like I said, stumbled and tripped into the playoffs where they didn't really belong because they don't have good enough coaching or personnel. Early in the season they won a couple of games they could just as easily have lost (and lost a couple they could have won) but they are not among the best teams in the league.

I'd hate to face Sask in the Grey Cup and lose, so losing to the Esks today is the silk purse in the sow's ear. MOS said the team was shocked by the loss. But this is a club that was on a downtrend in the final half of the regular season. The 12-6 records looks better than this team actually was, just as the 39-32 score flatters them. Talk about a team out of touch with itself.

The collapse in the second half mirrored the overall collapse in the second half of the season. So the final score disguises an average team, just as the 12-6 record disguises a very average team.

I thought it was OK too. But why run it to the boundary side? You've got all that room on a 65-yard wide field for Flanders to get around the edge. He ran out of room. Plus, there was some weird mix-up on the play and the formation wasn't executed right. But if you're going to run these plays - run them to the wide side where there is space. That is the coaching error, not the play call.

True. So maybe Esks & Riders play their asses off - to win today. Hope so. Should be a good game if that is the case!

The whole idea is to get to the Big Game. That path is either through Winnipeg-Calgary or through Toronto-Ottawa. Which is easier?

So will Esks and/or Riders play to 'lose' today? Because they want to go East? Or do you want to go into the playoffs on a winning note, come hell or high water?

Who is going to win that game between Riders and Esks today? I was expecting a smash mouth game - almost like a playoff contest - with both teams playing for their lives. But on second thought ... Will they both play hard? To Win? The winner comes to Winnipeg and a cold weather game next weekend. The loser goes East and plays Redblacks or Argos. Which is the easier path the Grey Cup?

Buckley gave up 14 pts (one pick 6 and one failure to read blitz which led to a fumble recovery and TD by T.0) the rest was FGs by Medlock. Calgary also had at least one TD nullified by holding. So as much as I absolutely LOVE watching Bombers smack the Stamps - honestly it was just as much Calgary's poor play as it was Bombers dominating. They did play with more energy than Stamps, for sure. Had more to lose I guess.

I want Esks for the reasons JBR puts forward. Esks rely on their pass and cold weather favours the run. Sask would better assure a full house though, and Bombers could use a sellout to help the budget.