May is underway!
That means we’re knocking on the door to the start of training camps around the league. In fact, we’re less than a week away from camps opening and exactly two weeks away from our first preseason game of 2024.
Good questions.
When I think of Mace I think of Claybrooks who in 3 years as a DC in Calgary was on a team that went 41-13-2 , .741 winning %. Mace’s Argos were 27-9, .750. Huge jump to HC from co-ordinator - in the Rider pressure cooker. I wish him well.
In Wpg it isn’t so much what the Bombers have lost as what the teams around them have gained in the West. I’ll repeat - every team, outside the Stamps have an older veteran QB, 2 VG lead REC, all have excellent RB’s, excellent kickers & returners. They will make a run but anything less than a GC win would be disastrous. Lose a 3rd GC in a row? That would be more damaging than not getting there IMO.
MBT is not replacing Ford he’s replacing Cornelius. When of his own accord he left the CFL he couldn’t do nothing more than lead the league in passing where he plays. The biggest question in Edmonton is who replaces the 24 sacks of AC & Jake.
BC still has the best overall D in the West, Maier should take a step up this year.
Can’t agree that the Bombers losing a third Grey Cup in a row would be more damaging than not getting there. I’m not sure you have thought this one through. Offer any team 5 trips to the Grey Cup in a row and they would gladly take it. The Bombers would be hands down the best team in the league the last 5 years as they are now for the last 4 years. There are 8 other teams that would love to lose 3 out of 5. I think the Bombers making the Grey Cup again would be much harder on teams like BC, who have teased their fans the last few years but in the end haven’t had the goods to make the big show.
As a guy who followed the Minnesota NFL team for almost four decades with only four losses for a Super Bowl record I’m very grateful for the two Grey Cups I have seen WPG win. As much as I wish they had won either or both of the last two games, I’m in this for the long haul. I have had SO much fun watching the Blue Bombers that I can’t imagine giving up on them.
How do you define “best team”? Best team in the West - yes. But in the past 4 years they had the most league wins only twice, 3 West titles matching the Argos 3 East titles. As for the argument that the East is worse than the West, last year the East won 19 of the 32 matches with the West. They were 15-3 vs the bottom 3 West teams & no East team had a worse than .500 record vs the West. So, it’s not as if the Bombers weren’t loading up on a diet of bad teams in the West. Ottawa, Hamilton & Montreal all beat the Bombers.
If the criteria is most Cup wins the Bombers are 2-2 in GC’s. Their 2 losses figure just as prominently in any discussion as the 2 wins. My point is - should the Bombers make it to the GC again, as they well could, the pressure on them will be enormous. A 3rd straight loss would put them in the same category as the 1954-56 ALs. I personally wouldn’t take cold comfort in a 5th straight appearance if it ends with another participation ribbon nor would it do much for the argument of league dominance.
I know you will always try to find a way to diss the Bombers. Sometimes it’s even cute. You are probably the only forum member that considers them a recent failure and that would not view them as the best team of the last 4 years and also consider them failures for going to 5 Grey Cup games in a row. Again, what does that say about the other 8 teams, all of whom have been objectively worse?
I don’t consider them a failure, Jon. After their dismantling of BC in the final I fully expected them to beat the Als. Yes, the Bombers won more GC’s than the other 8 teams the last 4 years - they also lost more GC’s than all but Hamilton who lost 2 consecutive GC’s.
Prior to the Bomber run the Stamps were 1st 5 times in 2012-18 & went to 5 GC’s in 7 years. Yet losing 2 GC’s in 2016-17 after going 28-6-2 is a huge part of the Stamp story. Going 29-7 the past 2 years & blowing 4th qtr double digit leads is also a part of the story for the Bombers. I know what the Bombers could have been. The Wpg press reaction in November tells me THEY know too.
Was last season to be considered a success for making it to the CUP? You may have to ask Richie Hall about that.
I can’t see any reason why it would be damaging for any team to go to 5 straight Grey Cups with only two Championships. Certainly, the players are going to be down, as would the Blue Bomber fans but in the big picture, I have to believe that all four other teams (in the West and their fans) would gladly take 5 straight trips to the Grey Cup with just an opportunity to win. Go Blue
That isn’t in dispute, GHS. I’d gladly take 5 straight trips to the GC. But no coach I know of defines losing in the GC a success. The Buffalo Bills were the only NFL team to appear in 4 straight Super Bowls. That doesn’t register anywhere near the top as far as an NFL success story goes. But if “happy just to be there” is the bar…I’m happy to agree with you. 
Hell I’d be happy if my team just made the postseason 5 years in a row. 