Hamilton @ Winnipeg Season Opener.

[Blue In BC]

Not worried about week 1.  Week 1 is rust week.  Our team is basically the same as last year.  Great communications, and knowing your team mate.  HAM is a complete revamp with very little the same, on either side.  Worse still (for them) is a big upset change at QB.  Add in the fact there's a 50/50 chance BLM has completely lost his mojo and goes all hair-brained and noodle-arm like he's done many times since mid-2019.

Consistency wins week 1.  Very few teams have that.

Usually defence is ahead of the game before offence early in the season. Especially if an offence has massive changes like Hamilton.

We won't see the vanilla defence we saw in pre season. What we will see, I'm not quite sure.

[TecnoGenius]

Usually defence is ahead of the game before offence early in the season. Especially if an offence has massive changes like Hamilton.

We won't see the vanilla defence we saw in pre season. What we will see, I'm not quite sure.

And the fact HAM is building what some see as the best D in the league means that HAM itself knows that its O is on shaky ground.  They need to account for (a potential) BLM sucking rocks.  They need to account for their lack of receivers.

As long as we protect Zach, we should be able to pick apart any D.  Then watch HAM go 2&out on most drives... Maybe Castillo will get a ton of FG attempts if their D keeps us out of the EZ.  As long as we move the ball a bit, I don't see how we don't win.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

And the fact HAM is building what some see as the best D in the league means that HAM itself knows that its O is on shaky ground.  They need to account for (a potential) BLM sucking rocks.  They need to account for their lack of receivers.

As long as we protect Zach, we should be able to pick apart any D.  Then watch HAM go 2&out on most drives... Maybe Castillo will get a ton of FG attempts if their D keeps us out of the EZ.  As long as we move the ball a bit, I don't see how we don't win.

I expect BLM to shine like a diamond, he's got the extra motivation to prove his worth and his arm issues (if they even exist) won't slow him down this early in the season.  Expecting a very good game which either team could win.

[Pete]

Hamilton is spending money all over the place ..on offence and defence
they added figuaro at 200k, butler at 130k and williams at 180k on top of Bo Levi
Now along with signing Boeteng Sayles and Jagrd Davis they've added Kongbo
Cap doesn't mean anything when hosting the grey cup I guess... and Im not talking 65k its got to be well over 100K

Also first injury report out for the season.. rose.parker,eli.miller and lawson
Was surprised to see lawson listed with a knee injury, might mean Caleb Thomas comes in as DI

[Jesse]

Not worried about week 1.  Week 1 is rust week.  Our team is basically the same as last year.  Great communications, and knowing your team mate.  HAM is a complete revamp with very little the same, on either side.  Worse still (for them) is a big upset change at QB.  Add in the fact there's a 50/50 chance BLM has completely lost his mojo and goes all hair-brained and noodle-arm like he's done many times since mid-2019.

Consistency wins week 1.  Very few teams have that.

Explain how Ottawa nearly took us out last year, lol

[Pigskin]

Hamilton is spending money all over the place ..on offence and defence
they added figuaro at 200k, butler at 130k and williams at 180k on top of Bo Levi
Now along with signing Boeteng Sayles and Jagrd Davis they've added Kongbo
Cap doesn't mean anything when hosting the grey cup I guess... and Im not talking 65k its got to be well over 100K

Also first injury report out for the season.. rose.parker,eli.miller and lawson
Was surprised to see lawson listed with a knee injury, might mean Caleb Thomas comes in as DI

Might have to call Adamson back. But, this time to backup the DL

Rose is a mystery.

[TecnoGenius]

I expect BLM to shine like a diamond, he's got the extra motivation to prove his worth and his arm issues (if they even exist) won't slow him down this early in the season.  Expecting a very good game which either team could win.

Who's he going to throw to??  The only guy I see on AR that is worth beans is White.  They might have the worst receiving corps in the whole CFL.

Their OL acquisitions are looking good, though.  Getting pressure will be a miracle.  But again, even if BLM has all day, he can't chuck it to nobody.  Let's rush 3 all night and do a mixed man/zone and blanket the coverage.  Put a double-team on White.

[TecnoGenius]

Explain how Ottawa nearly took us out last year, lol

A Masoli-led OTT can be extremely good, as we'll soon see this season.  I rewatched that game and our only trouble was Masoli; he can be very elusive.

I think a lot of our week 1 performance will depend on coaching and preparation.  If we're just riding our own coattails, then we might get in trouble.  If our coordinators are pumping up the motivation and banishing the complacency, then, yes, our consistency will put us over the top.

[DM83]

Winnipeg's defence does not seem ready.  Two games played and not many "big" plays.

Bo can still dink and dump.  Bomber corners can not tackle.  the usual back out of the backfield covered by who?

Hamilton has had two games to see the poor front seven line play.

I don't know....

[Jesse]

Winnipeg's defence does not seem ready.  Two games played and not many "big" plays.

Bo can still dink and dump.  Bomber corners can not tackle.  the usual back out of the backfield covered by who?

Hamilton has had two games to see the poor front seven line play.

I don't know....

Zero games played.

[Lincoln Locomotive]

My gut feeling is our D will be on the field a lot and we shouldn't underestimate BLM as he has something to prove.    Our D has taken a step backwards from last year and we need Lawler to outperform other teams defences.....he's now unavailable for 3-4 games or more?    BO hasn't had any reps and JA didn't seem ready either....
I think the Cats because the Cup is in their backyard again are really gearing up for a fast start this year and we have more or less stayed with the status quo...which imho is a dangerous tendency.    I don't see any new blood on D to help out our front 7 who are getting old and more prone to injury.
I hope i'm dead wrong and we throttle them.....just going with my gut whilst many of you more knowledgeable posters analyze the situation

[Jesse]

I'm not a fan of how much rest we give our starters. I think reps are important and it's going to take everyone a bit to settle in.

That said, Hamilton's in the same boat (no pun intended). 2019 is the first Grey Cup of my lifetime, so I still have the what-if jitters of a 2000s era Bomber fan ingrained in me, but I still fully expect to dominate the league again this season.

[LXTSN]

Winnipeg's defence does not seem ready.  Two games played and not many "big" plays.

Bo can still dink and dump.  Bomber corners can not tackle.  the usual back out of the backfield covered by who?

Hamilton has had two games to see the poor front seven line play.

I don't know....

They aren't ready yet, but once they have a couple games under them they will be back in game form!

Having Bighill, Jefferson, Jeffcoat, Darby, Rose, Jake Thomas, Alexander, Nichols and Lawrence will make a big difference from this last preseason game.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I'm not a fan of how much rest we give our starters. I think reps are important and it's going to take everyone a bit to settle in.

That said, Hamilton's in the same boat (no pun intended). 2019 is the first Grey Cup of my lifetime, so I still have the what-if jitters of a 2000s era Bomber fan ingrained in me, but I still fully expect to dominate the league again this season.

I think the offence will find it's groove and put up points but more than a few questions on D right now, combine that with poor pass coverage and poorer tackling exhibited in pre-season.  That could all change with every rookie extracted from the lineup, but still going to take the D a few games to jell.  I could see a fairly high scoring game in the home-opener.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Winnipeg's defence does not seem ready.  Two games played and not many "big" plays.

Bo can still dink and dump.  Bomber corners can not tackle.  the usual back out of the backfield covered by who?

Hamilton has had two games to see the poor front seven line play.

I don't know....

Bo moved to Hamilton to avoid the dink and dunk the Stamps were implementing, he still wants to be a gunslinger and Condell has agreed to accommodate his wishes.