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[handful of these older hits would be major penalties today]

A handful of these older hits would be major penalties today. Looked like Jason Clarmont took a helmet to his face mask at full speed. A few others were no worse than Chung's block on the last play of the Western Final last year.

That's what I was thinking!  Yikes.  I was fine with most of the hits, and miss that type of play, but I must admit I'm glad they added the blindside block rules.  Those are nasty (as in "ouch") hits, when you have no way to see the guy coming.

[been around just not posting much]

I have been around just not posting much, it is nice to participate again. Took some time off from posting here for a while.

Ha, sound like me over on the Riderfans forum    Perennial lurker.  But you are one-up on me, as I haven't even made an account there! 

Now, I wonder whatever happened to Catfan.

[Briggs missed 6 games]

Briggs missed 6 games and only had 3 DT's. Gauthier had 28 DT's and Maruo had 14.  I know Gauthier started several games at WIL but Briggs didn't start any.

Didn't Briggs get his bell rung, and that's why he was out?  Hazy memory.  I didn't realize Briggs was used so little in '22 on D compared to '21.  Does Gauthier have the "football IQ" to be the D-controlling MIKE in place of Biggie?

I must admit that Biggie kind of let me down in the GC.  Both Oullette TD runs, and the game-winning 19 yard Kelly run were things that Biggie should have been sniffing out.  Even if he wasn't going to be the tackler, he should have been directing others to those areas.  I think the 2nd Oullette run Biggie had a chance to make the stop but whiffed.  Granted, not many are making that all-alone open-field tackle, but it's disappointing nonetheless.  We had great difficulty on the outside runs (our achilles heel?).  Hall takes some of the blame, too.  We'll never know exactly how much to blame Hall vs Biggie.

Still, no one I'd rather have than Biggie, but heeds to control things a bit better.  And we don't have a succession plan in place at MIKE.  If Biggie gets injured or retires, we're in FA hell and might be looking at a Hurl-esque scenario.  Luckily, I bet Biggie will give plenty of notice before retiring so as to not leave us in the lurch.

[great hands and rarely drops anything]

I think Schoen is legit and a bargain even at 150,000. He has great hands and rarely drops anything. He has underrated speed and is a legitimate deep threat. He is very smart, learned the playbook quickly, and gained ZC?s trust.  He did a lot of his damage while Ellingson was out, a situation where he was likely getting a lot of attention from defences. Also a good blocker. And the most under rated ability is availability. He does not seem to get injured. Many other elite CFL receivers were out for extended periods of time.

All great points.  All totally true.  He provides a unique skillset that isn't necessarily a traditional one.  Other WR/SB aspects I think are still up in the air, and I'm not surprised you left them out.  It's not bashing the kid to look at what he clearly excels at vs what he may be working on (or even bad at).

I would love to see the NFL report brief on what they think of Schoen... I bet that would confirm a lot of what I'm/we're saying.  I guarantee you there's enough "bad" on that report to tell us why 10 NFL teams haven't made him a $1M offer yet.

[I'd keep Schoen on the ELC unless he wants to sign for two more years beyond this upcoming season]

I'd keep Schoen on the ELC unless he wants to sign for two more years beyond this upcoming season -even then, not 100% sure I would. We've got lots of big contracts. They need to be offset with cheaper deals that overperform and that's what Schoen's deal does. We would also be paying Schoen at peak value. This time next year he may not be quite so on top of the world, and if he is, then you just back up the truck like you'd have to this year.

Yes, that's what I was saying.  If he's on 2yr ELC (and no one said he isn't), and if NFL doesn't care about him, then why bump him at all.  And why massive-bump him to top-10% pay in the league?  Ya, feelz, yada yada.  I like the idea of a small bump and/or bonuses.  I like the idea of promising him more in the future.  If he stays on his trajectory he probably will earn $180 in his year 3.  Why not $120 (all in) in year 2, and $180 year 3, and probably over $200 in year 4?

Look at Bailey... I bet he was on the ELC for his first 2 years.  I bet Lawler was close to it too (even though he didn't rookie with us).  Ya, Schoen>Bailey, but $150 for Schoen in year 2 is going to make a lot of present and future IMP ELCs a bit miffed.  Can anyone think of another year 2 ELC guy on any team that has been offered big money in year 2??  Excluding Rourke, as a QB is a different situation.

At the end of the day, I don't think Schoen will ever be Lawler, nor she he earn as much.  Lawler has level-upped to crazy level and makes catches I've never once seen Schoen make.  They are completely different receivers, completely different styles, that can't even be compared.  It doesn't mean Schoen can't be a long-term great for us.  He can certainly be a league-wide top-5 receiver for many years.  But to bump him up to crazy money in year 2 when even Lawler and other greats didn't get treated like that??

Lastly, I'm trying to think of a CFL player in the last decade to compare Schoen to... I'm drawing blanks.  Who had this kid's style?  Surely there must be someone.  I was thinking Cahoon, but Cahoon would often make Lawler/Dressler circus catches.  Schoen is unique.

[You guys]

You guys looked good no matter who played SLB.  Good to see Kramdi get a start.  Was great to see rookie SLBs like Dalke and Makonzo get starts for their teams.

You guys?  Are you another team's fan?  If so, welcome!  Always good to hear opinions from across Canada.  If you're a true bluer, then my apologies: welcome nonetheless 

Yes, Kramdi looked pretty good.  Almost never see NAT at SAM.  We have very good NAT LBer depth.

I really like Taylor but he turns 35 in March. If his injury was an achilles he may not even be ready to participate by TC. I would rule him out but both those issues suggest he isn't re-signed. Lawrence, Parker and Holm are all expected back.

And Houston?  I'd think (and hope) Houston was placed above the other 3.  I sure hope Taylor is ready by TC if we are giving him another shot.  But you're right: his injury was mid/late season.  Darn, that sucks.  But we usually don't "can" players who are still mid-injury...

Matthews out for three weeks with a knee injury.

Sorry, I meant to say on downs when Bighill isn't on the field.

That was my point. I wouldn't expect Bighill to be off the field on throwing downs. I'd expect an interior DL to come off and an extra DB  come on. On running downs we might see Gauthier added and a DL possibly coming off in order to show more of a 34 defence at times.

Briggs missed 6 games and only had 3 DT's. Gauthier had 28 DT's and Maruo had 14.  I know Gauthier started several games at WIL but Briggs didn't start any.

I would like us to be proactive and sign him even if we have to renegotiate current year. Over the past few years we've tried to sign top recievers with limited s uccess. The price is only going to get higher. We'd likely wait to see what this year's free agency brings to recievers position as there are a number of decent ones

On throwing downs we'd use an extra DB or Bighill would stay on the field. Bighill is very good in coverage and at time even drops into a near spot at safety.

While it's true that Briggs might be better in coverage than Gauthier, how often would we use him in that role?

Sorry, I meant to say on downs when Bighill isn't on the field.