A seminal moment…

Throw Long Bannatyne · October 20, 2025, 04:52:42 PM

Quote from: Waffler on October 20, 2025, 03:43:56 PMEvery year there are guys that would look good here that never make it to Feb and free agency. Trade and sign maybe is the way. That's how Calgary got Adams. That is a reasonable contract too.

A rumour has the RedBlacks offering Dinwiddie the GM/HC position, which may be a good enough salary bump to convince him to move. If true, Dru Brown probably would want to stay put unless Dinwiddie brings Kelly or Arbuckle along with him.

dd · October 20, 2025, 05:28:21 PM

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on October 20, 2025, 04:52:42 PMA rumour has the RedBlacks offering Dinwiddie the GM/HC position, which may be a good enough salary bump to convince him to move. If true, Dru Brown probably would want to stay put unless Dinwiddie brings Kelly or Arbuckle along with him.

I can see that happening, and that would turn their team around.

theaardvark · October 20, 2025, 05:31:29 PM

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on October 20, 2025, 04:52:42 PMA rumour has the RedBlacks offering Dinwiddie the GM/HC position, which may be a good enough salary bump to convince him to move. If true, Dru Brown probably would want to stay put unless Dinwiddie brings Kelly or Arbuckle along with him.

And then MOS and Walters to TO? Closer to home and a new challenge?

The Zipp · October 20, 2025, 05:54:38 PM

Quote from: theaardvark on October 20, 2025, 05:31:29 PMAnd then MOS and Walters to TO? Closer to home and a new challenge?

could see that..nothing lasts forever. I don't think DD would move from Cal given he is already the HC/GM...I would take him in a heartbeat. Maas is going nowhere. Giant no thanks to Dyce.

Jarious?
Tommy Condell?

hoping we can sign Elgersma for next season to start that process.

Throw Long Bannatyne · October 20, 2025, 06:27:31 PM

Quote from: The Zipp on October 20, 2025, 05:54:38 PMcould see that..nothing lasts forever. I don't think DD would move from Cal given he is already the HC/GM...I would take him in a heartbeat. Maas is going nowhere. Giant no thanks to Dyce.

Jarious?
Tommy Condell?

hoping we can sign Elgersma for next season to start that process.

Scary thought, they lost Rigmaiden, lost Goveia, Danny Mac is the only Asst. GM left and he would probably decline the GM job if he had to move away from Florida. The team could survive the loss of MOS easier than Walters right now, but who wants to start over? Both have been in Wpg. for over a decade, can't see them calling Ontario home at this point.

blue_or_die · October 20, 2025, 06:28:16 PM

I'll preface this with me not giving up until it's over...glass half full thought is that we are about the go out on the road and try to win 2 games against opponents who are objectively better than us this year. I think the biggest thing going for us is that I'm just not sold on the others being that much better than us, for as bad as we are. Playoffs are any given Sunday (see: the last three Grey Cup games where we lost to opponents who were better than us only on that day). Anyway, if you're going to ask me my actual reasons for why I think we can still win it all this year, I don't really have anything for that.

Going back to the topic though and putting aside the fact we're about to go into the post-season, yeah, this feels like the end of an era. This is obviously upsetting, but not because it's ending - that was going to happen sometime no matter what. The upsetting part is that we are squeaking into the playoffs with no home date for the semi or final and playing bad ball in the year we are HOSTING the Grey Cup, which happens once a decade. We last hosted in 2015 when we finished 3-15 in O'Shea's second season. Since then, we've made the playoffs 9 consecutive years, hosted 1 semi and 3 west finals, appeared in 5 Grey Cup games and won 2. Really? The next time we HOST the game is the year we decide to suck??

And I do mean "decide". Some questionable to baffling decisions in a year where we needed to go all in, from our backup QB selections, OL non-moves, all in on an injury-prone Schoen, a weaker DL by the year, to a green OC (when we also got Jarious Jackson on staff??). It feels like we had the opportunity to shore ourselves up on the heels of appearing in - but losing - three consecutive championship games and make sure this year was the only one that counted and mattered most. Really? This is what we did to close out this golden era we finally got to after a season where we last hosted the grey cup after having missed the playoffs 5 of the 6 previous seasons?

Since we found out we're hosting in 2025, I've always told myself this was the year. Not just to win it all at home in front of the loyal fans, but because it coincided very well with what should be the end of some very deserving vets' careers. Collaros, Neufeld, Stan, and I even thought Bighill and BA had enough in the tank to get to retire here after a home win (turned out to be alright enough decisions to move on, though). I was hoping we would go out with a bang and salute this core of characters we got to cheer on to victories the last near-decade. The way this is happening feels wrong and worse, preventable. I was (and am) totally fine with blowing it up going into 2026, regardless of how glorious or disappointing this era ends. Hoping for the former still, obviously.

Anyway, I'll save those thoughts for what will no doubt be an.....interesting off-season. Right now we are technically still in it. Any given Sunday...

Cool Spot · October 20, 2025, 07:57:59 PM

Quote from: blue_or_die on October 20, 2025, 06:28:16 PMWe last hosted in 2015 when we finished 3-15 in O'Shea's second season.

Nit: the Bombers were 5-13 in 2015.

dd · October 20, 2025, 09:01:15 PM

Remember when Calgary lead by Marcus Crandall of all QBs had a losing record and then beat us in the grey cup, and then last year backup Qb beat us when we 'should' have won ya, that could happen again except we upset the teams that 'should' win

Ground n pound a couple of turnovers and it can happen

bomb squad · October 20, 2025, 09:23:45 PM

You can turn a season around on a dime in the CFL. 1988. We backed into a playoff spot, losing our last 3 games. We got somehow got a home game. The situation looked hopeless and fans were really down on the team.Only 12,000 tickets were sold.
We know how that story ended. Until it's over, it's not over.

bwiser · October 20, 2025, 09:50:28 PM

Quote from: bomb squad on October 20, 2025, 09:23:45 PMYou can turn a season around on a dime in the CFL. 1988. We backed into a playoff spot, losing our last 3 games. We got somehow got a home game. The situation looked hopeless and fans were really down on the team.Only 12,000 tickets were sold.
We know how that story ended. Until it's over, it's not over.

I was one of the 12,000 and the thing I remember most about that team was the offense struggled and the defense and special teams were elite. Does that sound familiar to the 2025 team?

dd · October 20, 2025, 11:38:11 PM

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on October 20, 2025, 06:27:31 PMScary thought, they lost Rigmaiden, lost Goveia, Danny Mac is the only Asst. GM left and he would probably decline the GM job if he had to move away from Florida. The team could survive the loss of MOS easier than Walters right now, but who wants to start over? Both have been in Wpg. for over a decade, can't see them calling Ontario home at this point.

Lots of ifs here, but if Dinwiddie goes to Ottawa, I can see MOS and KW going back to southern Ontario, and I can still see them calling that home as although they've been here for 10 years, their families - Mom/Dad, aunts/uncles etc still live there. Scary thought is if this does happen, who replaces them, as I'd be beating Ottawa to Dinwiddie and I d have Dinwiddie long before I'd ever consider hiring Dickenson out in Calgary, can't stand that whiner.

Horseman · October 21, 2025, 12:02:25 AM

Quote from: dd on October 20, 2025, 09:01:15 PMRemember when Calgary lead by Marcus Crandall of all QBs had a losing record and then beat us in the grey cup, and then last year backup Qb beat us when we 'should' have won ya, that could happen again except we upset the teams that 'should' win

Ground n pound a couple of turnovers and it can happen

Yes, I believe Calgary had a record of 8 and 10, but beat us in the GC, we were 14 and 4 that year.

Jesse · October 21, 2025, 01:56:01 AM

Quote from: peg_city on October 20, 2025, 02:57:28 PMDru Brown's contract is done with Ottawa....

He didn't have a very good year with them, so I'm wondering if we can pull both Brown and Collaros next year (assuming Collaros takes a pay cut).

Dru is signed through next year.

RebusRankin · October 21, 2025, 03:34:36 AM

Zach is signed next year with us No terms available

Tecno · October 21, 2025, 04:23:36 AM

Quote from: dd on October 19, 2025, 05:50:22 PMWe have a quarterback coach right?? If he's doing as you describe, what is jackson doing about it??

Well, they did fix Zach's chronic underthrow (throwing late) problem. It was horrifically bad up until maybe 2-3 games ago. It all finally clicked vs HAM. Even with the crap O in the last 2 games it wasn't due to underthrows. Now he's hitting it just right, or overthrowing.

But that means they id'd the problem and came up with a solution, and I think that solution was to throw a fraction of a second earlier.

Just need to dial it in perfectly, and deep RECs need to stop getting out-run / out-bodied by the DBs! What's up with that?!