IT'S OFFICIAL, WE ARE HEADING TO MTL

[theaardvark]

why and how the bombers can accept this is beyond me.

The D plays as a whole, and Jake makes them better.

Check the D's numbers.

[Blue In BC]

The D plays as a whole, and Jake makes them better.

Check the D's numbers.

So our D wouldn't better if we had Casey Sayles as a direct replacement for Thomas?

You can't justify that Thomas makes them better by being there. It should also be pointed out that he's seeing less and less reps while being replaced by Lawson and Woods.

We've given up 54 points in total in the last 4 games since Woods was added to the AR. In the previous 4 games we gave up 104 points. Woods has 10 DT's in 4 games and Lawson has 4. Thomas has 3 in the last 10 games.

Houston played the last 2 games and Parker the last 4 games. With improvement in the secondary, the DL should be having greater success across the board. It's not coming from Thomas.

[dd]

When you're more worried about rewarding and honoring past effort than winning this year.

Sorry but it's true and not just for Jake Thomas.

Yes Jacob is a card carrying member of the old boys club, he's untouchable

[dd]

So our D wouldn't better if we had Casey Sayles as a direct replacement for Thomas?

You can't justify that Thomas makes them better by being there. It should also be pointed out that he's seeing less and less reps while being replaced by Lawson and Woods.

We've given up 54 points in total in the last 4 games since Woods was added to the AR. In the previous 4 games we gave up 104 points. Woods has 10 DT's in 4 games and Lawson has 4. Thomas has 3 in the last 10 games.

Houston played the last 2 games and Parker the last 4 games. With improvement in the secondary, the DL should be having greater success across the board. It's not coming from Thomas.

some folks refuse to see the situation for what it is, a very unproductive player who's well past his prime if he ever had a prime

[Jesse]

Hey Lawson and Thomas were playing against the same depth tackle and did either register a tackle?? Nope. And ya, they're nats but that's the problem our NAT d linemen contribute negligibly to our defensive tackle stats. And betts is a NAT right?? Spend some money and get quality nats.

I think the inside guys were the starters (to begin the game at least).

[Jesse]

The D plays as a whole, and Jake makes them better.

Check the D's numbers.

We're not even comparing Jake to any all star calibre DL. We are comparing 2025 Jake to 2024 Jake and he doesn't hold up.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

We're not even comparing Jake to any all star calibre DL. We are comparing 2025 Jake to 2024 Jake and he doesn't hold up.

No kidding. The man has 9 tackles for an ENTIRE season. He has no stats since the Banjo Bowl.

Jamal Woods has 4 tackles YESTERDAY. Or nearly half of Thomas's entire campaign production.

It's absurd and symptomatic of not putting the 2025 team first which we didn't honestly do this year. We instead decide to honour players who have been here a long time. Some folks like that. Some coaches like that. But it is what we decided to do.

[gordo]

Yes Jacob is a card carrying member of the old boys club, he's untouchable

He fills the J-Gap.
And a chair at O'Shea's poker night.

[TBURGESS]

Quite frankly, all this whining over a player who makes zero difference is annoying.

If we simply signed Lawler instead of Schoen, we'd have won a couple more games and we'd be hosting a playoff game. That's how close the team still is. 

[Pete]

Quite frankly, all this whining over a player who makes zero difference is annoying.

If we simply signed Lawler instead of Schoen, we'd have won a couple more games and we'd be hosting a playoff game. That's how close the team still is.

yeah I agree, maybe OShea keeps him around to take the heat off everyone else. For the 4oth time  ,its time to let go

[Sir Blue and Gold]

yeah I agree, maybe OShea keeps him around to take the heat off everyone else. For the 4oth time  ,its time to let go

It's not just Thomas although he's the most egregious example of taking a victory lap this year.

We went all in on Streveler as the backup despite the fact he got much worse as we went along (he was largely ineffective outside of a game June) and was mocked on TSN as a "grindback". The bottom fell out in Ottawa and he never really recovered. Now that his knee didn't hold up (who's not shocked, he ran like a rhino)we're a hit away from a guy who hasn't played a snap in a meaningful game since last Grey Cup. Stupid.

Willie can't actually rush the quarterback anymore but we're apparently okay with that.

Amazingly, Stanley Bryant has held up and is sort of a middle to slightly above average tackle still. That's amazing.

We didn't make enough hard decisions in the off season and we have forgotten that talent wins football games and the culture serves to keep everyone on the same page. O'Shea seems to have decided that culture is now winning in and of itself.

[dd]

Quite frankly, all this whining over a player who makes zero difference is annoying.

If we simply signed Lawler instead of Schoen, we'd have won a couple more games and we'd be hosting a playoff game. That's how close the team still is.

You're right , total whiff on lawler and what did we do when schoen went down?? We didn't sign rhymes who was available, we didn't trade for anyone we underfilled the position with cheap second rate receivers and are still paying the price.  We lost allstar yoshi and dobson and replaced with in house under fills and our o line is among the worst in the league. You have to replace quality with quality

[Tecno]

Hallett would be the next choice to take out in order to keep Bailey.

I'd be shocked if Hallett comes off for one of the new kids.  Hallett is the next Gauthier -- a long-termer.  I think he's earned his spot as a ST staple.

[Tecno]

So our D wouldn't better if we had Casey Sayles as a direct replacement for Thomas?

Completely useless comparison.  One IMP, one NAT.  Especially at the DT position, where there are virtually no good NATs and the difference between the NATs and IMPs is like the grand canyon.

Compare Fatboi to Laurent.  Where's Ted??  Oh ya, at home somewhere.

You can't justify that Thomas makes them better by being there. It should also be pointed out that he's seeing less and less reps while being replaced by Lawson and Woods.

And that means the system is working precisely as intended.  The super-vets stay to train the next gen, then retire gracefully when they have clearly lost it.  MOS/KW have spelled this out before (the training part, not the retire part, though that's implied).

Fatboi is pencilled in to get his big shot at winning it all at home in the GC.  After that I think Mafia will feel he's (finally) owed nothing.

Picture it & imagine the storyline of Fatboi hoisting the home cup after a zillion years on the same team and retiring in glory.  Players everywhere will see how we treat our supervets (and undo some of that "they never called me" damage...).

The rest of y'all can be satisfied with having to watch only 1 to 3 more games with him.

[Tecno]

If we simply signed Lawler instead of Schoen, we'd have won a couple more games and we'd be hosting a playoff game. That's how close the team still is.

And Lawler could have been stuck in the USA for 9 week, or gotten another DUI, or been injured in his first game... with Schoen being healthy all season.  We gambled on Schoen vs Kenny and lost.  Could have just as easily gone the other way.

Not to mention we got Schoen for like half of what Kenny cost...