GCn20

Does Bear Woods even play anymore. Lost track of him.

For sure. Just saying if a player shakes loose in May that can be a difference maker a good GM will carve out the cash to get him. No doubt it is not ideal. Woody Baron would be a nice add, but he commands pretty hefty dollars....or at least he did on his last contract. I can't remember what he was making but I remember being shocked at the amount. Edit: 150k for this season. Pretty expensive for his output. If he wanted to come in here at 120-125k I would hope we would consider it.

I never once stated that coaches don't make mistakes. Every single coach ever has made mistakes. You are being obtuse suggesting that. BOLO may or may not turn out to be an excellent receiver and I hope he does. I, also stated that not playing BOLO was a mistake in hindsight. Hindsight makes it extremely easy to point out mistakes and that is my point entirely. I don't think playing BOLO would have any significant impact on that game, you do, neither of us can prove each other wrong as it is opinion. I am simply pointing out that many coaches play banged up players in hopes that they can fight through their injuries in a big game. You guys are trying to make it sound like this is some kind of flaw fatale of MOS when in reality it is coaching SOP. In game, our coaching was atrocious. Our coordinators were thoroughly taken behind the woodshed all game long. That was my biggest gripe with our coaching that far exceeded any roster mistakes made. We game planned poorly, we adapted poorly, and yes we clung to some injured starters too long in game. All coaching mistakes, no doubt about it. I just think you guys pinning it all on MOS is a massive red herring that lets some piss poor coordinating and individual player performances off the hook for that loss. Does someone disagreeing with your OPINION after careful consideration of it make them obtuse? You are talking like your opinion is fact but have no way of demonstrating it as such because it is strictly opinion. Disagreeing with someone else's unprovable theory is not being obtuse.

True. If a player is worth picking up a GM will figure it out. I think when we first signed Bighill it was in April or May of the offseason.

There is months to go before TC. Not that late in the offseason as well. Teams have not committed all their money at this point of the season unless they are fools.

In all probability it will have to come from within. You are correct. However, there is still some good value DEs on the market. Players never really plan on necessarily getting that money. It's not what the offseason bonus is designed to do. It is simply a way to force teams to commit to a player or cut him loose with enough time to catch on somewhere else. If a player does not get his offseason bonus he has not lost anything that he can't make up for with his signing bonus on a new team. Players who are cut before offseason bonuses do not lose anything. It is a far better outcome than coming to TC and being cut because you weren't in the plans in the first place.

Agreed. He's earned more reps.

Gimme a break. best kept secret in the league. lol. Yea...he was so good that we dared not play him nearly all season for fear that the secret of his dominance would be revealed. He was developing nicely but show me what production makes you feel he was the best kept secret in the league. That is straight hyperbole. Let's not make him into a superstar that we held out of the lineup because he isn't. He is a guy that arguably may have offered a slight upgrade over an injured player in hindsight. Is the argument du jour that playing BOLO more over Bailey would have won us the Grey Cup?

Who would that receiver have been? Only name that comes to mind is that dude that did just awful in the one game we rostered him. I guess we could have activated Ambles but he was only in town for a couple weeks and the playbook would have had to be reduced or the QB just doesn't look his way, which kinda defeats the purpose.

Yes, it was most unfortunate timing.

At the speed positions I really am more concerned with the losing of a step than in the trenches for sure. BA looks to be slower, we know that he was hobbled most of the year last year. I would hope that the Bombers will be paying very close attention to that position in camp and will make adjustments to the plan if it becomes apparent they need to do so. I have no issues with the Bombers signing him and giving him a chance to come back though. I just hope that he earns the job.

It's a guessing game really. Is Schoen at 70% better than BOLO at 100%....I guess we'll never know now, but hindsight would suggest he couldn't have been worse. Thing is at the time, if I were coach, I probably go with Schoen too just because if adrenaline can take that 70% up to 80% then there is no contest. It just didn't work out well in the end, no denying that, but the decision itself could go either way really.

I want more too. Way more....much much more. I am a greedy pig when it comes to winning.

In the end it's all just our opinion one way or another and how much benefit of the doubt one feels comfortable with. I just have thoroughly enjoyed watching Bomber ball the past 5-6 years, so I am willing to cut some slack. Booch knows his shyte, I'm not going to pretend otherwise. He knows that I do to but am just coming from a different angle. Therefore, mutual respect just takes over. Nothing he has said I feel is inherently wrong, it's just not my interpretation. Doesn't make my interpretation correct, or his, just a difference in opinion. At the end of the day all I need to know about Booch, and most of the guys on this forum is that we all live and breathe Bomber football, and hate the Riders. Any disagreement other than that is just how a forum generates conversation and how people learn more about the game. I've learned more about football from people who have a different outlook from me than I ever did from people who are aligned with my thinking. I think that stands to reason. When you are talking in an echo chamber you only learn what you already knew.

I don't really care how old a player is until I see signs of regression. I agree with your assessment. I see no issues with bringing JJ back as long as we understand and prepare for the eventuality that he will likely miss games. Bring in a viable 3rd DE that can be an effective starter when JJ is down and resign JJ and I'm good with that.

I have not spoken to any of the players or professional coaches that I know that were at the game. So I will consider what you are saying there. It very well may have looked different live and you are right I have never played professional ball. NCAA was as far as I went in my playing career and CIS as far as I went coaching before I retired from football entirely. Not professional, but still good football.

You can't KNOW unless you are in their bodies. You go by what the trainers tell you and what the players tell you. All you can do is make the call based on that. Problem with GC week is that neither team gets a real honest practice to judge them as it's a circus and practices are little more than walk throughs.

Did you watch the game live in stadium? Neither did I? Can't criticize my viewpoint when it was the exact same as yours. We are both passing judgement on the same film.

I don't need to defend Osh. His record speaks for itself. Just not going to run with this narrative that inserting these guys into the lineup was a big mistake. Could we have managed in-game better, I have already stated we could. Was the roster managed right. Already voiced my displeasure with not giving BOLO reps, and not dressing Rose was a massive mistake as well when Parker was clearly out to lunch and then injuries hit. However, I will never ever succumb to the narrative that you leave Biggie and Schoen out of the lineup if you think they can go. It just needed to be handled better in game.

Don't know what you were watching quite frankly. Seems you have succumbed to the groupthink. I have watched the game several times and I watch between the whistles to make my judgement. I stand by my assessment of his play. At NO time during that game did I see him laboring or unable to make plays. Cite me ONE example on video that backs up your assessment.

BA says he played most of the 2nd half with the injury. Are you calling him a liar? Also my comparisons are meaningful as there is a very clear precedent of player playing through injury with great success that MOS would have considered when making his decisions on these guys. One can argue that in game adjustments should have been made for Schoen particularly, but it is nonsense to suggest that Biggie played poorly. He didn't make any highlight package plays but that's more due to lack of opportunity than anything. Every uneducated football guy points to the TD where he couldn't get back into coverage as proof he should not have been playing. Wasn't his coverage assignment. Other than that play explain where Biggie hurt us?

Please tell me where Schoen ever stated he was not prepared to play. Shocked maybe,,,,unprepared? I highly doubt it. And so what if Strev was still producing and effective? What difference does that make. It only re-inforces my initial argument that a player can be injured and effective. Zac Collaros the year before, Strev in 2019, and laid a blueprint that if you dress a banged up guy he can still overcome that injury and be effective. Will he be a 100%...probably not...but these guys are warriors and suggesting that MOS made some kind of massive mistake not giving an absolute warrior like Bighill a chance to be one is nonsense. Did Biggie or Schoen shine in the big game. NOPE. Did anyone on the Bombers who were healthy? NOPE. It was a let down straight across the board and not because of injuries. The team didn't bring their A game simple as that. Schoen, Demski, Jeffcoat, Biggie, and all the guys that were banged up played through it and weren't liabilities in any way. Zac Collaros was healthy but he shat the bed, the OL was healthy but they shat the bed in pass pro, our secondary was healthy but they were terrible.

Injuries are something that all teams deal with, and I guarantee that there were players on the other sidelines playing banged up as well. Would it have been nice to walk into that game completely healthy, you bet, but it was not a likelihood. Didn't hear anyone crying about Brandon Alexander or Chris Streveler playing with broken bones in our Cup wins and the only difference was we won those games. I guess it's only a coaching mistake if we lose.

I am of the same opinion. If we sign JJ, there is a very high probability that he misses significant time, but we have to sign him based on the hope we get the full 18 out of him or don't sign him at all. If what we know about JJ's injury history is taken into account in contract bargaining so that we aren't holding the bag on him if he's injured, he could be a guy that we want back and use his trim to sign a strong rotational DE that can take on his reps if he goes down again. The counter argument that we should just move on is also valid, providing we get an impact DE to replace him. I'm good either way we play it, as long as it is played right and we don't push all our chips in on JJ to stay healthy.

Yea, if he's willing to put up half his contract based on games played...I'd be good.