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Imo, this rumor of a rift is just a creation of the Bomber front office that allows MOS to fire Etch without looking like he abandoned his friend. I would be surprised if the entire organization isn't in complete agreement that Etch needs to go. MOS gets an exit strategy for Etch that allows him to move on without crippling the friendship. This is done all the time in the business world. Managers hire family or friends thinking they will do well. They crap the bed and need to be fired. The manager goes to the owner with his problem of how to get rid of him and the owner says "tell him/her that it's me that's firing him/her and that you are really upset about it but your hands are tied...wink wink". I've done it dozens of times for my management teams over the years, It allows your manager to maintain balance in their personal life and still get the necessary result. It is very good for morale amongst management when an owner will be the bad guy for them when personal or family relationships come into play. Not saying 100% this is the case here.....just that it's a possibility,

There were rumblings to that effect.

Migs is over at BB.com these days getting the gears over there too. lol. He is actually pretty good at distracting our resident homer over there. Two ultimate positrons going head to head. Popcorn and a beer and let the good times roll.

I doubt it. He left the dual role on the advice of his doctors. However, Wally may have fired Benny VD but I think Washington is a strong contender for HC in BC.

I would think that Thorpe would be a longshot.

I get it that people like Khari around these parts. So do I. However, I find it awfully ironic that the people clamoring for us to get rid of Bellefeuille want to replace him with a guy that runs an offensive system taught to him by Bellefeuille. I like Khari...but why replace an offensive system with a near perfect carbon copy of itself.

I was an infrequent poster at OB because I left when Nate was running amok, and just preferred BB.com for user-friendliness. It took me a while to find this site after the split. Didn't know about it until Mike made reference to it at BB.com. I am glad we have 2 sites for Bomber talk.

I am sort of new over here - what split are you referring to? I am still over on Our Bombers and sort of found this site by accident. Our Bombers appears to be on the downside at the moment just not sure why. I still post over on the Blue Bomber Forum but find this one a little more balanced. Hey BBRT. Yes, I agree. I'm going to give this site a try, been lurking for a bit. Seem like a good bunch of folks and it's also 100% free of a certain poster who shall remain nameless! I gave the mods over there an earful about him yesterday...lol. I post at both sites, as I have old friends at both, but I know who you mean and it is aggravating. For whoever was asking about "the Paw" he is a frequent poster at BB.com.

I am shocked that there is not even one thread about this on Riderfans. I get it that they are a bunch of homers but this is pretty jaw dropping stuff. Your star QB insists that he was not physically able to play, the team says he was but his brain said no. Nothing to talk about there. No one discussing at all. Hard to believe really. They are just going on their blissfully ignorant way whistling a happy tune like Nero as Rome burnt around him. I guess the great Darian Durant is a taboo topic....and we already knew that Taman's desk fort is strong.

How much is Picard earning right now? I believe some of their big earners are pending FAs too ... like Foley. The Riders actually apparently got Foley on a very reasonable deal. He'll be do for a raise if they bring him back. They'll have a lot of tough decisions to make this off season,it'll be very interesting to see what happens in Riderville. Foley will not be a FA this year. He signed an extension about a month ago, it just hasn't been officially announced yet. I am not sure why because everyone knows about it already....except Lawless, I guess.

I think being dead is a better place than being in Regina. lol

I am hopeful that in FA, we can improve enough to take some pressure off the draft.

No reason we cannot both make a big spash for optics while improving our team. Along the OL we can make a big splash or two without running the risk that it will not provide us with better than what we have. At other positions though, I agree with your sentiment....do not sign just for the sake of signing. There will be some unheralded FAs out there like Sam Hurl etc. that may not be household names but can improve our depth greatly.

I think Walters will go heavy in FA, at OL in particular. There is going to be a deep FA class this year meaning that the big dollars will be more spread around instead of all the teams driving up the value of 2 or 3 players. I agree with Mike, this should be an offseason that is set up to make hay. Couple that with a couple teams (Riders/Leos) probably parting ways with some veterans and coaches and it could be an exciting offseason for a team that NEEDS to make a splash. Let's not forget that this is an offseason that could potentially see us grab a couple of top notch NIs in Bilikudi and Mulumba. If the football gods are willing our team could be vastly improved going into TC. I don't know if there will be a team with as much urgency to become a contender this offseason as we will be.

Sure sounds like it. Normally a FA wouldn't tweet something like that until the ink is dry.

Yeah he went on about how it was Durant that put the Riders in a bad position. I rolled my eyes pretty hard, my assessment of the situation based on what I read was that Durant pushed himself hard this week and found out that he wasn't ready to play, nothing out of the ordinary there, guy tried and wasn't ready. The Riders should have known that was a possibility. Just a complete assclown Lawless is trying to create controversy out of nothing. Durant is the Riders MVP and this last half of the season by them proves it. Without him they're nothing. IMO, the Riders were very much like us this year. A team that wasn't as good as it's first half record would suggest. Personally, I believe that Durant or no Durant the Riders would have gone into a skid in the 2nd half of the season and ended up third in the West. Durant is valuable to them, but the Riders really had a lot more areas of their team looking awful in the 2nd half than their QB. A very strong argument could be made that they were the worst team in the CFL over the final 7 games. They were barely competitive over that stretch. Injured starting QB or not, they looked worse than any team should that lost it's starting QB. I believe that they will be undergoing a rebuild process this offseason...or at least should do so. Knowing Taman he will wait for the team to really bottom out. I predict a 5 win season for the Riders next year if they choose not to rebuild and 5-7 if they do.

I love it. The Taman effect has once again been proven and more importantly Rider fans will be forced to eat crow en masse. A good day for CFL fans today....a good day.

I don't mind the idea of us ignoring a chronic positional need in the draft IF Walters goes ball to the wall in FA for OL. Don't care what avenue we use to improve our OL. It must be done though. Demski would be a very nice pick but I think once it all shakes out he will end up going number one.

Unfortunately for us we are simply not in a position to pass up on an OL. Unless, Walters/Goveia etc. really don't like the quality or attitude of either of the top 2 OL, or feel that no good ones won't bolt for the NFL then there is not a very high probability of us taking Demski. He's good....we have different needs that are near desperation levels.

I think that dominoes would definitely start to fall if Trestman were available. Likely Montreal, but BC, Sask, Ottawa, and Toronto are also possibilities.

Next season the Bombers win those games. I'm confident Bombers win at least 9-10 games next season. Could've won them this year too. We were outplayed at the QB position - rest of the team played well enough to win those games. Willy had his struggles towards the end of the season, however, in the games against the RIders at home and against Hamilton he outplayed the opposing QB. You are just making crap up. He was pretty brutal in the first game against the Riders. I thought that was one of his worst games actually. Those three picks he threw were absolute killers. They hurt, However, I blame 2 out of 3 of those on the play calling and on a receiver making no effort to go to the ball. Fact of the matter is that we scored more points on offence than they did. If we could stop turning the ball over for TDs, or stop Dressler on KRs this series looks a lot different. Who gets a FG blocked for a TD? The luck was running the Riders way. Willy played well. He was not the cause of any of our defeats to the Riders.

Next season the Bombers win those games. I'm confident Bombers win at least 9-10 games next season. Could've won them this year too. We were outplayed at the QB position - rest of the team played well enough to win those games. Durant in 3 games vs WPG 13 for 21 for 115 yards 14 for 26 for204 yards 8 for 9 77 yards Hardly sounds like stats from somebody that outplayed anybody Um, 8 for 9 is pretty good, but he got hurt remember? Sunseri came in - check his stats out. I won't argue - I really don't care. It's an opinion forum and it's my opinion, right or wrong. We'll see more next year and hopefully Willy will be better but I still like Marve. yeah, 8 for 9 is good...for 77 yards!!!!! Again, hardly sounds like he outplayed anybody...If you're too lazy to find stats to back up your own argument, I'll do it for you. Sunseri was 2 for 5 for 30 yards... so combined stats were 10 of 14 for 107 yards.....in 4 quarters of play. If you didn't care, you wouldn't have posted it. Yes this is a forum with opinions, but If you're going to run and hide like that, you lose credibility I'm wondering if he even watched the games he's commenting about. The Riders beat us by running the ball. Their passing game was anemic or non existent in all 3 games against us. It wasn't a QB duel that's for sure. Willy went for over 300 yards in 2 out of the 3 games. We got beat because of a non existent pass defence, turnovers, and some suspect ST play in all 3 games. There was not a single game that our offence did not out score their offence.

Yes they were....but Durant wasn't the one doing it. Unless, you want to compare who hands off the ball better between Durant and Willy in that game.

Next season the Bombers win those games. I'm confident Bombers win at least 9-10 games next season. Could've won them this year too. We were outplayed at the QB position - rest of the team played well enough to win those games. Willy had his struggles towards the end of the season, however, in the games against the RIders at home and against Hamilton he outplayed the opposing QB. You are just making crap up.

If Willy had Montreal's OL and receivers he would be the MOP this season. Heck several QBs could be behind that group. Crompton is serviceable at best. He would not start on any other team in the CFL.