The Good Bad and the Ugly

[Jesse]

I just don't list any teams as inferior to others right now.

This whole season has been one of upsets. There hasn't been anyone who has shown themselves to be untouchable this whole year. So I can't discredit 8 wins in a row because of the opponents, especially when we've got the season series against every team in the West.

[theaardvark]

well, EDM was 5 of 6 when we faced them and handed them back to back losses.

Ham was on a 4 game win streak when we crushed them.

They keep tossing the hottest teams at us, no problem.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

There is some truth to the fact that we've played weaker teams over the 8 game win streak. We've beat:

BC, BC, Hamilton, Sask, Sask, Edmonton, Edmonton, Hamilton.

And yea, that's half the league. But It's four games against non-playoff teams and four games against teams with ~.500 records. They might have been hot coming in, but it's hard to conclude they were very good either.

On the other hand, who is good? BC and the Riders are number 2 and 3 in the west so four straight against them is an accomplishment. It's true we didn't play Montreal but Ottawa is only 2 games above .500 themselves so are they the team we avoided that would have been a lot of trouble? Doubt it. It's a weird, close, log jam of a season.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Flawed logic. The Bombers were not at their best in week 1 and they lost in OT to the Argos back in July. That was ages ago.

No other team over the last two months has been as solid as the Bombers have been. The Als only have a single victory in the last calendar month, and the Argos only have two.

Maybe it's just recency bias on my part, but in terms of "what you have done lately?" I don't think there's currently a better (or hotter) team than the Bombers right now.

For me it comes down to fear of the unknown and fresh memories of a couple of playoff upsets.  Understanding "how that could happen" has to be explored before the game is played.

[Jesse]

There is some truth to the fact that we've played weaker teams over the 8 game win streak.

There's a bit of a willful ignorance in that truth though. If you're making the case that we've only beat weak teams (because apparently most of the league is weak), then there are no strong teams, because they've also only beat the weak teams.

[blue_gold_84]

For me it comes down to fear of the unknown and fresh memories of a couple of playoff upsets.  Understanding "how that could happen" has to be explored before the game is played.

I bet the players feel similarly considering those two losses were Grey Cup games.

I'm hopeful the leaders on this team have learned from those and will be mindful of that going into the playoffs.

[theaardvark]

There is some truth to the fact that we've played weaker teams over the 8 game win streak. We've beat:

BC, BC, Hamilton, Sask, Sask, Edmonton, Edmonton, Hamilton.

And yea, that's half the league. But It's four games against non-playoff teams and four games against teams with ~.500 records. They might have been hot coming in, but it's hard to conclude they were very good either.

On the other hand, who is good? BC and the Riders are number 2 and 3 in the west so four straight against them is an accomplishment. It's true we didn't play Montreal but Ottawa is only 2 games above .500 themselves so are they the team we avoided that would have been a lot of trouble? Doubt it. It's a weird, close, log jam of a season.

You realize that when we started the 8-0 run, we were "a weaker team".  2-6, under .500 and not a playoff team, right?

Look at the records of those teams WHEN we beat them, not now, after those "L's" are in their stats.

BC 5-2 (we shut them out), BC 5-3, Hamilton (2-8), Sask (5-5-1), Sask (5-6-1), Edmonton(5-8, but on a 5-1 run), Edmonton (5-9, on a 5-2 run), Hamilton (6-8, but on a 4 game win streak).

[Sir Blue and Gold]

You realize that when we started the 8-0 run, we were "a weaker team".  2-6, under .500 and not a playoff team, right?

Look at the records of those teams WHEN we beat them, not now, after those "L's" are in their stats.

BC 5-2 (we shut them out), BC 5-3, Hamilton (2-8), Sask (5-5-1), Sask (5-6-1), Edmonton(5-8, but on a 5-1 run), Edmonton (5-9, on a 5-2 run), Hamilton (6-8, but on a 4 game win streak).

Yep. Agree with all of that. I think you can reasonably make the case either way which is unusual and fun at the same time.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

There's a bit of a willful ignorance in that truth though. If you're making the case that we've only beat weak teams (because apparently most of the league is weak), then there are no strong teams, because they've also only beat the weak teams.

Ballad of the last 5 years, while the Bombers have been cake-walking through the regular season.

-The Stamps used to be good but have gotten progressively worse each year.
-The Riders try to be good, but usually fail.
-The Lions are usually good, but always come up short when the chips are down.
-The Elks are unfamiliar with the word good.
-The Ti-Cats should be good, but never deliver.
-The RB's are just now learning to be good.

[TecnoGenius]

That would be the Als and the Argos, the two teams they have not beaten this season

Everyone's talking like all teams we face are of equal importance.  They are not.  The East means virtually nothing.  To focus at all in comparing us with East teams is mostly pointless.  As every year, what matters is how we stack up in our division, and how many season series we can win.  Did The Mafia try extra hard in the divisional games?  Maybe.  The result sure appears that way.  Smart!

I don't give 2 poops whether MTL, TOR, OTT are better than us.  I don't give 2 poops whether we beat them in the regular season.  My measuring stick is BC, SSK, EDM, CGY.  That's it.

We're in the position we're in now because we basically cleaned up in our division.  We are virtually untouchable in 1st because of that.  Any win against the E is just gravy to pad our final count, and we only have to win roughly as many vs the E as the other W teams do.

The only moment I will care about how we stack up to an East team is when we find out who we are facing in the GC this year.

[TecnoGenius]

BC, BC, Hamilton, Sask, Sask, Edmonton, Edmonton, Hamilton.

And yea, that's half the league. But It's four games against non-playoff teams and four games against teams with ~.500 records. They might have been hot coming in, but it's hard to conclude they were very good either.

But most every team in the W is .500 or lower.

And if those teams you list above had beaten us in that stretch, then most of those teams would be above .500 and we'd be the weak team.

In this year, the Year Of The East, the measuring stick for whether a W team is good or not is not .500 -- it's .333!

Anyone who is saying we had an "easy schedule" in those 8 games is conveniently forgetting we didn't get to face weak-butt CGY for the freebie bingo spot.

It's all relative and in no way should anyone minimize our success.  Every team we faced was decent at the time and had a good chance to win.  As Zach always says after a game "X is a good team".  It's true.

[TecnoGenius]

For me it comes down to fear of the unknown and fresh memories of a couple of playoff upsets.  Understanding "how that could happen" has to be explored before the game is played.

You better believe it.  The braintrust better have been working on solving the MTL and TOR puzzles all year so that we can actually take home the cup this time.  Everything from FA till now must have been in support of this goal.

I think we don't have to worry about the players' focus -- everyone who was here last year will be fully dialed in.  We won't have the same drops and sacks and low-yardage runs and D confusion as last time.

[TBURGESS]

You can't call a below .500 team good. That's Calgary, Hamilton and Edmonton. 

BC's a 500 team that will likely be below .500 at the end of the week. One of our wins against them they started Rourke with one practice's reps. 

The Riders are the best team we've beaten in our streak & they're a game and a half over .500. That's mostly based on their quick start of the season not on how they are playing right now. 

[Pete]

Your logic is a bit flawed,since labour day (often referred to as the start of the real season)
The only teams with a winning record are
Hamilton  4 and 1
Bc        3 and 2
And you guessed it
Wpg 5 and 0
The only team thats really been consistant is mtrl (and Calgary in a bad way.)
Parity is the cfl this year

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Everyone's talking like all teams we face are of equal importance.  They are not.  The East means virtually nothing.  To focus at all in comparing us with East teams is mostly pointless.  As every year, what matters is how we stack up in our division, and how many season series we can win.  Did The Mafia try extra hard in the divisional games?  Maybe.  The result sure appears that way.  Smart!

I don't give 2 poops whether MTL, TOR, OTT are better than us.  I don't give 2 poops whether we beat them in the regular season.  My measuring stick is BC, SSK, EDM, CGY.  That's it.

We're in the position we're in now because we basically cleaned up in our division.  We are virtually untouchable in 1st because of that.  Any win against the E is just gravy to pad our final count, and we only have to win roughly as many vs the E as the other W teams do.

The only moment I will care about how we stack up to an East team is when we find out who we are facing in the GC this year.

You kind of contradict your own statement 2 posts below, the only opponents I worry about now that they're likely to clinch first place lie in the East, and they'll only have to deal with one if they reach the GC game.  Of course accidents can happen in the Western playoffs, but if they lose the WF at home it'll be an unexpected upset  to a team with inferior personnel.

We can no longer say the Bomber personnel is vastly superior in every category than the Als and the Argos, especially in the trenches. The big reveal will happen tonight as the Argos are still playing with urgency to secure a playoff spot. Is the Bomber offence good enough to move the ball effectively against the Argo defence or will we see a sad reversion to earlier this season when the O-line couldn't provide Zach with enough time to find receivers downfield and he ends up running for his life? I guess we'll find out soon enough.