What's your opinion of the club

[Blueforlife]

I don't think anyone is disputing that the past 4 years have been good, but at the same time going from first to worst is unacceptable in any league. On top of that, it appears the team itself has 0 answers or direction. Coaches are making questionable calls, roster management has been questionable at times, every hole the team had coming into the season appears to not have been addressed properly.

It's early, but if this trend continues then that 4 years is gonna feel like a lifetime ago soon enough.

Over stated on the negative imo 2 games means nothing, 4 years of success doesn't get evaporated like you suggest.  A few holes yes but getting healthy will right this good ship blue.

I'm not sure what's worse - the offense's start or the 2-3 posters on here doom-n-gloomin' back and forth in the echo chamber

It's how this place operates with any sign if weakness.  Go view the posts from pre dynasty years, same situation.

[kkc60]

Over stated on the negative imo 2 games means nothing, 4 years of success doesn't get evaporated like you suggest.  A few holes yes but getting healthy will right this good ship blue.

didn't say it evaporates, just that losing can also take a toll, especially if the team is uncompetitive.

As for the health thing figuring things out, sure yeah it definitely might if everyone  is healthy and return to form from last season. But that's a biiiiiig if.

[Pete]

You bash the restructure idea but still to this day not a single person has said how we can get more SMS to sign anyone over ELC.

Ok, so you'll say you don't want to sign anyone except TC cuts, as we are doing.  That's a valid opinion.

So you are precluding us from signing any vet, whether retired or not.  Even though we have precedence for this (Denmark).

So I ask, who's smoking the hopium and having magical thinking that the Nth man down the TC cut roster is going to "get better as their game experience grows".

We didn't have a single "best hips I've ever seen", "this kid is the next big CFL WR", guy in TC this year (or last).  That doesn't mean these kids can't be the next all-star after 2-3 years in the league.  But it almost certainly means they won't be the next Alford or Schoen in year 1!!  And we need dire help right now.

It's like you've forgotten how far down the depth chart we're dredging now.  I would 100% agree with what you are saying if the week 3 depth chart was identical to the week 1 chart.  But it's not.  Many positions are now the backups, or 3rd or 4th stringers.  And even the positions that only went from starter to backup went from "weak week 1 starter that probably wasn't starter material to being with" to "even weaker" because they were already next-man-up from last season's personnel losses!!

We will have an incredibly hard time winning any games if our week X starters are the guys that were deemed too poor to even be on the PR in week 1!

And ya, I have nothing against "retirees" like Jeffcoat.  Are you telling me that if KW says he signed Jeffcoat and he starts week 3 that you wouldn't be excited and hopeful?  What, you'd be angry?  Disappointed?  You'd rather we start a nobody that couldn't even make our PR in 2023?  It's like you've forgotten that Haba was injured in week 2!  I can't even name who'll start DE at week 3, can you?

Other teams are starting their runs for the cup and taking every game seriously.  Just like we used to.  And we're sitting here starting TC fodder at many key positions, and probably going to keep start 9, 10, heck why not 14 NATs, because we all know that NATs excel at DL in the CFL...

I don't want a shakeup compared to the week 1 chart.  I want something done about the week 3 chart!  I'm only proposing bringing in 1-3 vets, maybe one at a time week to week, at the most-key positions.  Since I've decided we need to focus on the O and 40 points, I'd start with a vet 5th WR.  I'd like to see a beast IMP OL as 3rd IMP, but I do appreciate how that is much harder to plug'n'play mid-season.  And I'd like to see a vet DE and/or DT.  WR and DL can 100% be plug'n'play (see MTL last season), so no reason not to try.

1, 2, or 3 vet acquisitions is not a "shakeup", and many teams have already made such moves since week 1 to cover their injury/performance woes!!  Why not us?  Why is this controversial?  This year is nothing like past years where it was our superstars injured and the heir apparent was already in-house and quite capable of tiding us over until the vet returned.  So why are we treating it as such?

You bash the restructure idea but still to this day not a single person has said how we can get more SMS to sign anyone over ELC.

Ok, so you'll say you don't want to sign anyone except TC cuts, as we are doing.  That's a valid opinion.

So you are precluding us from signing any vet, whether retired or not.  Even though we have precedence for this (Denmark).

So I ask, who's smoking the hopium and having magical thinking that the Nth man down the TC cut roster is going to "get better as their game experience grows".

We didn't have a single "best hips I've ever seen", "this kid is the next big CFL WR", guy in TC this year (or last).  That doesn't mean these kids can't be the next all-star after 2-3 years in the league.  But it almost certainly means they won't be the next Alford or Schoen in year 1!!  And we need dire help right now.

It's like you've forgotten how far down the depth chart we're dredging now.  I would 100% agree with what you are saying if the week 3 depth chart was identical to the week 1 chart.  But it's not.  Many positions are now the backups, or 3rd or 4th stringers.  And even the positions that only went from starter to backup went from "weak week 1 starter that probably wasn't starter material to being with" to "even weaker" because they were already next-man-up from last season's personnel losses!!

We will have an incredibly hard time winning any games if our week X starters are the guys that were deemed too poor to even be on the PR in week 1!

And ya, I have nothing against "retirees" like Jeffcoat.  Are you telling me that if KW says he signed Jeffcoat and he starts week 3 that you wouldn't be excited and hopeful?  What, you'd be angry?  Disappointed?  You'd rather we start a nobody that couldn't even make our PR in 2023?  It's like you've forgotten that Haba was injured in week 2!  I can't even name who'll start DE at week 3, can you?

Other teams are starting their runs for the cup and taking every game seriously.  Just like we used to.  And we're sitting here starting TC fodder at many key positions, and probably going to keep start 9, 10, heck why not 14 NATs, because we all know that NATs excel at DL in the CFL...

I don't want a shakeup compared to the week 1 chart.  I want something done about the week 3 chart!  I'm only proposing bringing in 1-3 vets, maybe one at a time week to week, at the most-key positions.  Since I've decided we need to focus on the O and 40 points, I'd start with a vet 5th WR.  I'd like to see a beast IMP OL as 3rd IMP, but I do appreciate how that is much harder to plug'n'play mid-season.  And I'd like to see a vet DE and/or DT.  WR and DL can 100% be plug'n'play (see MTL last season), so no reason not to try.

1, 2, or 3 vet acquisitions is not a "shakeup", and many teams have already made such moves since week 1 to cover their injury/performance woes!!  Why not us?  Why is this controversial?  This year is nothing like past years where it was our superstars injured and the heir apparent was already in-house and quite capable of tiding us over until the vet returned.  So why are we treating it as such?

the thing is we cant afford to lose any of the players we might want to restructure and they say no.We sure dont have anyone close to replacing these players I agree some are overpaid right now Jefferson, Collaros for example but how do you justify pay cuts when we just overpaid Olivera and Schoen?
we didn't have to sign both, when we did Walters/O'Shea knew there would be little left over.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

the thing is we cant afford to lose any of the players we might want to restructure and they say no.We sure dont have anyone close to replacing these players I agree some are overpaid right now Jefferson, Collaros for example but how do you justify pay cuts when we just overpaid Olivera and Schoen?
we didn't have to sign both, when we did Walters/O'Shea knew there would be little left over.

Asking players to restructure their contracts 2 weeks into the season is a ridiculous crazy idea that no rational GM would ever consider implementing. No better way to check a fall than to lose a bundle of games early in the season which reveals the cracks in the foundation that have formed over the years.  If they're lucky they'll have a chance to redeem themselves in the second half of the season if they make the appropriate adjustments and are still able to sneak into the playoffs, anything can happen.  Consider what Mtl. achieved just last season.

[TecnoGenius]

the thing is we cant afford to lose any of the players we might want to restructure and they say no.

That's why I said, this isn't something you force or coerce.  It's something you mention to the guys when you get all $225k+ players in 1 room.  Or the media can whisper it.  Or a single player starts the ball rolling.

In no way do you ever say to your top guys "you restructure or it's the highway".  All it takes is one guy, then FIFO takes over.

If they say no, that's that, and we either find other ideas or we continue down the never-sign-any-vet-again path.  That's why from my first post on I've also asked for other ideas.  I also thought this idea was a 100-to-1 shot, and it still is.  But it's an idea.

If there are no other ideas, it'll be just like KW said: ELC only!

[TecnoGenius]

If they're lucky they'll have a chance to redeem themselves in the second half of the season if they make the appropriate adjustments and are still able to sneak into the playoffs, anything can happen.  Consider what Mtl. achieved just last season.

Ya, but MTL is in the E where (often) only 1 team will lose out.  We're in the W, with not only 1 extra team vying for the same number of playoff berths, but also, historically, the much better talent/teams.

CGY snuck into the playoffs with 6 wins in 2023.  Can we pull off 6 wins this season if the week 2 roster is basically what we're stuck with?  My hunch is we can, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

2024 is shaping up to have parity E vs W.  That means the xover is likely out of play (again).  Looks like 6-8 wins will be required for any playoff berth this season.  And now we won't have the "free bingo spots" when we face E teams.  Heck, just look at what OTT did to us...

[LXTSN]

Why?  Buck's O skill players only had 1 roster change compared to all of last year!  Only Bailey was swapped out.  Ya, with Kenny out now it's 2, but look just at half 1 of week 1 for argument's sake:

Why didn't we have the full playbook open for week 1?  Why did we need to slowly ramp up?  Just to make the 1 new guy comfortable?  It doesn't make any sense.  Logic dictates you play your normal book and just ignore the #5 as a decoy all game.

We lost our #5 WR.  MTL lost their #1 WR, and they were using their entire playbook playing 100% full speed just like last season never ended!

So why did we use just 1/10th of our book?  Make it make sense.

I wouldn't necessary say that it was the right decision, but I think it is pretty clear to see that they don't have the full playbook open to the offence for the first 2 games.

Bailey, Hardrick, Gray were big parts of the offence, plus with Olivera and Lawler out for the game it added another backup and a rookie into the lineup. It's just not that easy to interject guys into the lineup in the CFL. Timing on the waggle and sweeps require lots of practice reps.

All I'm saying is that the playcalling from last year is not what we have seen yet this year, so it will improve! I will put my personal 100% (never failing) guarantee on this!