CFL 2021 season?

[esquire]

Yeah, wow... Stamps 0-2 at home to start the season... I didn't see that coming. The BLM swagger is fading fast.

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

Rod Pederson is absolutely full of it. All the Stamps reporters have said they've seen zero evidence that CSEG are looking to sell.

I called him out on Twitter over it because Danny Austin, a Stamps reporter, said there was no truth to the rumor. And I was roasted by all of Rod's butt-kissers. Rod's nothing but a mouthpiece.

Nice to see Calgary at 0-2

[esquire]

Originally Posted by TimB09

I called him out on Twitter over it because Danny Austin, a Stamps reporter, said there was no truth to the rumor. And I was roasted by all of Rod's butt-kissers. Rod's nothing but a mouthpiece.

Nice to see Calgary at 0-2

I say this as someone who admittedly enjoys Rod Pedersen. But who do you trust more when it comes to things like this, the official mouthpieces paid to tow the party line, or the independents like RP who are free to say what they want?

I will not soon forget maybe a week before Stephen Brunt broke the story about True North buying the Thrashers back in 2011, "NHL Insider" Darren Dreger was on TSN 1290 saying that it wasn't going to happen, that there wasn't going to be a NHL team coming to Winnipeg. Either he knew better and was lying, or he was genuinely clued out. Neither was a good look IMO.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by thurmas

HUGE WIN by BC over Calgary last night. Bo Levi 4 interceptions something is definitely wrong with him not sure if his injury issues are permanent now?nice to see the non Alberta teams in the west sitting atop the standings in the west.

Ya man with Reilly the surprise starter.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by thurmas

HUGE WIN by BC over Calgary last night. Bo Levi 4 interceptions something is definitely wrong with him not sure if his injury issues are permanent now?nice to see the non Alberta teams in the west sitting atop the standings in the west.

BC Defense looked pretty good all game, but yeah 2 of those throws were not going to the receiver at all.

[thurmas]

Another win by Bombers. They are built very similar to the great Bombers teams of the 80s with dominant defense a great savy game manager quarterback and dominant o line.

[Coldrsx]

They sure look like an early favourite and are a complete team.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by thurmas

Another win by Bombers. They are built very similar to the great Bombers teams of the 80s with dominant defense a great savy game manager quarterback and dominant o line.

I guess you are talking about the 88 Bombers under Sean Salisbury or the Tom Burgess Bombers (from 1990 actually)? Both of them could be considered game managers...but don't tell Sean Salisbury that!

Tom Clements is considered one of the best Qbs in the history of the CFL (top 10 - 15 all-time) and he certainly was not a game manager type of QB. Same with Dieter Brock too. He led the CFL in yards passing 5 times and passing TDs 4-5 times.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

I guess you are talking about the 88 Bombers under Sean Salisbury or the Tom Burgess Bombers (from 1990 actually)? Both of them could be considered game managers...but don't tell Sean Salisbury that!

Tom Clements is considered one of the best Qbs in the history of the CFL (top 10 - 15 all-time) and he certainly was not a game manager type of QB. Same with Dieter Brock too. He led the CFL in yards passing 5 times and passing TDs 4-5 times.

I would put Collaros as better than Tom Burgess and the 1990 Bombers but not as talented as Tom Clements and the 84 Bombers. If Collaros can stay healthy long term that may change though.

[Coldrsx]

That
Was
Brutal

Our O and D were horrific.

[craner]

Originally Posted by thurmas

HUGE WIN by BC over Calgary last night. Bo Levi 4 interceptions something is definitely wrong with him not sure if his injury issues are permanent now?nice to see the non Alberta teams in the west sitting atop the standings in the west.

Well, if we have to be at the bottom at least it’s nice to see our company is Edmonton. Something tells me the standings wll have changed by the end of the season. Bombers look good though - the West is theirs to lose.

[megadude]

Why is it that to this day there is an insistence on hiring American coaches? Well I think that's what's happening. I don't follow the CFL closely like I did as a youngster. I'm not passionate about this subject and doesn't actually bother me, but I am curious as to why so many teams think that they need to do this?

If you understand the game of football and have leadership qualities, then you can be a head coach in the CFL. Surely there are many Canadians who have these qualities that have been been passed over in favour of some American they think is better? Some of those American guys probably do "present" better as a hardnose football coach or whatever, but that often leads to them creating resentment from players or whatever other issues, which then becomes counter productive. A lof of these guys let their egos get in the way.

The Bombers went how long without winning? The vast majority of those coaches between cups were American. Pretty sure they couldn't have done any worse if the majority of the coaches were Canadian. I would even go so far as saying that in hindsight, surely they would have been better off. It's pretty hard to go that long without winning the big one in a mostly 8 team league. I mean, Wally Buono is known all around the league.

England are 2-9 on PKs. They put serious thought into those and kept losing. Surely, if they just picked 5 random guys from the pitch to take the PKs they couldn't have done any worse in the lottery that is PKs? Just like the coaching situation, too much thought being put into something that IS A GAME. It's professional game, but it's not brain surgery. You don't need a search firm to scour the continent for the best available candidate. Think of five knowledgeable guys who are leader types and go from there. Doesn't matter if they are Canadian or American, but please stop emphasizing the American part. It's unnecessary.

The same goes for tournament soccer. A tournament does not require a CEO type manager that is ideal for club football. There are many, many examples of successful tournament coaches who are relatively unknown and many examples of lesser pedigreed guys doing way better than their highly renowned predecessors. This is the case for England. Basically, stop restricting your way of thinking.

As for club football, you do want the CEO type. The type with charisma and presence. I do think there is a dearth of that in England (can also say that for other individual countries), but there are some who fit the bill but are not given the chance by big clubs because they favour the sexier foreign manager and there are lots of those available because there are lots of other countries and many want to coach in the biggest league of them all. But there are lots of examples of those guys failing at the big clubs. Not just not winning, but huge fails as in falling way below expectations. Again, in many cases, a homegrown manager surely would have done better. Foreign and homegrown can both succeed or fail. Same with the CFL, but in the CFL you really don't need the CEO type. It's ideal when you have someone running your organization at field level, but like I said above, that can also backfire due to their personality traits. As a matter of fact, there's plenty of GC winning coaches who do not fit the mould.

Like our discussions elsewhere about how people should stop thinking that just because a guy doesn't play in the top league he can't be as good as those guys that do. Or just because a team doesn't have big stars, it's shocking when they beat a team that does have a few stars. Just because a guy has a decade of coaching experience in the US doesn't mean he's going to succeed in Canada.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Weird. Pretty much every other play is a penalty and the Riders win. 20 penalties for 187 yards and a 30-8 score. Defense played for the whole game though and Masoli didn't handle the pressure very well.

Winnipeg looks like the best team right now, although Montreal dominated in their game as well.

[khabibulin]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Weird. Pretty much every other play is a penalty and the Riders win. 20 penalties for 187 yards and a 30-8 score. Defense played for the whole game though and Masoli didn't handle the pressure very well.

Winnipeg looks like the best team right now, although Montreal dominated in their game as well.

Those 3 rider defensive offsides during the attempted goal line stand, just before the Masoli touchdown, were unbelievably comical. When the ball is on your 1 yard line, the defence cannot put their hand past the goal line! How difficult is that to understand?

[thurmas]

Edmonton is horrible and the ticats still seem shell shocked since the grey cup loss their lineup they are too small in my opinion and get beat up easily by larger teams. Als look very good. If West playoffs are Bombers Riders and Lions those will be some very exciting match ups and Als and Argos in the east should help tv numbers come playoffs time.

[Coldrsx]

Elks/Als

The announced attendance was 25,116.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by megadude

Why is it that to this day there is an insistence on hiring American coaches? Well I think that's what's happening. I don't follow the CFL closely like I did as a youngster. I'm not passionate about this subject and doesn't actually bother me, but I am curious as to why so many teams think that they need to do this?

If you understand the game of football and have leadership qualities, then you can be a head coach in the CFL. Surely there are many Canadians who have these qualities that have been been passed over in favour of some American they think is better? Some of those American guys probably do "present" better as a hardnose football coach or whatever, but that often leads to them creating resentment from players or whatever other issues, which then becomes counter productive. A lof of these guys let their egos get in the way.

I think the reality is that the pool of coaching candidates is much deeper in the US. But that said there have certainly been some big name Canadian coaches in the CFL over the years. Cal Murphy is a legend in Winnipeg and he was Canadian, just as current coach Mike O'Shea is. Wally Buono is another legendary Canadian coach, and then there are other guys who maybe don't have the same lofty status but are also Canadian like Mike Benevides and Marcel Bellefeuille. And that's without getting into the assistants. So there are more than a few.

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Elks/Als

The announced attendance was 25,116.

I was there. I'd say it was close to that. I wonder if the smoke kept some people away?

[thurmas]

Bombers attendance was only 22000 against the Argos. The fires and lack of a normal off-season season tickets campaign as no one knew if the season would actually get off the ground and how many fans would be allowed have hurt

[25grapes]

Attendance is going to be a tricky issue for a while. It's already ingrained in most people's psyche's just to stay at home even if they're not worried about COVID. I think this is going to be a long road ahead and any notion of numbers being what they were pre-pandemic should be tossed out the window.