IMO Winnipeg is the logical spot. However - two things.
Oliveira was visibly upset post GC game, especially with the coaches going away from the run game in the 2nd half before being shushed by a vet. He has a point. The Als had no answer for Brady in the 1st half.
He has posted some cryptic comments which seem to indicate he’s not settling for less, even if that means leaving Winnipeg. How big a bidding war, should it happen, can the Bombers get into? And how does it reverberate through the rest of the lineup? I don’t know.
BC makes a lot of sense. The Riders? I would go all in on Schoen & sign Morrow. Morrow & Hickson can give them a decent ground game. What they don’t have is a true #1 WR. I’d take Emilius & Schoen over Emilius & Bane any day.
He finished the game with 19 touches, 100+ yards, and a touchdown that I believe he scored in the second half. Where was this “going away from the run game” you speak of?
This is the first I’ve heard/read about Oliveira’s dissatisfaction with the coaching. Is there anyone who knows of a half-by-half stats breakdown? Maybe the coaching staff saw something that players didn’t.
The CFL could do itself and it’s fans a huge service by trying to increase the player and coaches salary cap. Increasing it by a million dollars would go a long way to rewarding the talented players and coaches for their dedication and abilities while also warding off competition from potential upstart US based leagues. A CFL that could afford to pay top homegrown players like Oliviara and Rourke a salary commensurate with their talents would be an awesome thing.
I’m paraphrasing Oliveira’s comments. The official stats, available on this site, shows he had 9 carries for 69 yds in the 1st half so avg was 7.7 yds/carry. He had 50 yds over 10 carries in 2nd half. So, that adds up with your comments. Maybe Brady felt he should get more touches - in any case, the Winnipeg Press got some interesting quotes out of Bighill & O’Shea as well which raised my eyebrows.
Like any good defense - the Als eventually closed off Olivera in the 2nd half. They learned much from the 1st half.
They could never close off a guy like Olivera completely - but just enough for PIerce & Mountain Man to move away from him to a passing game - which was also stifled, for the most part!
Sure, but how many teams made more than a million on their bottom line this year to pay for that cap increase? I doubt the Alberta teams did, same for sask…
Agreed. They had that one long drive after the Als took the lead. That ended in their lone 2nd half TD by Prukop. Brady had 3 touches for 21 yds on that drive but only 29 yds on 7 of his other carries in the 2nd half.
IMO, Lyle, the Bombers got some lucky breaks in the 1st half which maybe hurt them. The missed offside was the most glaring. With a 2 score lead going into half time it looked like the Als adjusted & the Bombers read their press clippings & occupied themselves clearing space for the Cup. The game was unfolding as was predicted by many - big lead, expand it & run away with the game.
The coaches from O’Shea on down weren’t on their game that day.
Good analysis. Mountain Man (O’Shea) got caught up in his own quiet swagger. He trusted the same systems that got his team to 4 Grey Cups and 2 wins would result in a 3rd. Last year’s upset was due to a jacked up Chad Kelly coming off the bench to relieve an injured MBT.
This year - aside from moving slightly away from Olivera they just stuck to their game plan which is now at the bottom of the ocean next to what remains of the Titanic.
Bombers knew they had a slightly better team - but when you factor both Schoen & Bighill both playing on 1 and a half legs plus the entire Als team jacked up like they have never, ever been I’d say the talent gap was even, possibly favoring the Als by a tad.
Not to mention Fajardo out-playing MOP Collaros for the most part.
However, the biggest reason for the Bomber loss/Als win is defense. Richie Hall’s D evaporated down the stretch. Nothing went right and Hall just went down with the ship. It eventually cost him his job although in Bomberland a slightly different tale was woven.
O’Shea now destined for the Hall of Fame as both player and coach but in this game, awkward Jason Maas out-coached him. I suspect 2 months after the game O’Shea still doesn’t know if he’s foot or horseback - such was the bad ride on Grey Cup Day.
I don’t want to disparage Winnipeg at all, because when you disparage your adversary you also do the same to your own team. It was a great game, one for the ages, and the Bombers could have won it if a handful of plays had gone differently.
Having said that, I would respectfully say that the 17-7 halftime lead was not necessarily reflective of the game in progress. WPG’s first TD drive was enabled by that brutal “unnecessary roughness” penalty on Beverette. Their D lined up offside on the Montreal third-down gamble and it wasn’t called. I’d even argue that the Letcher fumble could have been negated by no-yards. Now, the game is played on the field, so things went how they went, and Winnipeg was up 17-7 at the half. Good for them; they earned it. But I do not think they were dominating Montreal. They played well and got some breaks.
My guess is only Winnipeg and Saskatchewan. Winnipeg again led the league in attendance and is second in TV eyeballs while Saskatchewan was second and first in these categories again. As poor a season as the Riders had on the field, their fanbase remains one of the top 2. Maybe not forever though. I’m thinking that maybe the only other team that came close to making any money was Hamilton, but I’m not even sure about that. Having 20,000 per game is still a far cry from 30,000 and a huge financial difference. Toronto lost a boatload of money again. All teams more or less pay out the same player salaries +/- $100,000 or so.
I don’t know what they lost this year, but under their previous owners the Als were losing $5-10 million a year and you can bet the Argos are losing more than that. I don’t see how a significant salary cap increase is realistic. No business can withstand losing money hand over fist and then dole out raises and bonuses to employees
We would all love to see a significantly higher salary cap, but the current economics of the CFL make that impossible. With equalization payments in place a significantly higher salary cap would be paid for disproportionately by Winnipeg and Saskatchewan. The best way to raise the salary cap is to buy season tickets and patronize CFL sponsors to the point where all teams and the league are making money, which money could then be put towards an increased salary cap.
BC or Winnipeg. BC have dumped a few pricey guys and they need a running game badly. Campbell won’t go without a run game for another season.
Only if Winnipeg doesn’t pony up and make him a reasonable offer.
I do think some guys are in for a surprise - lots of guys found out the last couple seasons that free agency isn’t about how much teams are willing to pay but what fits their budget.
Agreed. With Stanback gone, Als are in position to make a pitch as well. IMO the only teams that may not have a “passing” interest in Brady are Hamilton, Calgary & Edmonton - maybe Argos if they can’t sign Ouellette but an expensive RB is not their top priority. Nonetheless BC would be the most obvious choice outside of Winnipeg. The Cup’s there this year &, as you say, they desperately need a run game. It may cost them Betts but he may be leaning on heading East.
TBH - I can see Calgary making a pitch too. They just signed Mills but Carey is still unsigned. Carey is not the RB he was his first seasons plus he spends a lot of time hurt and only played 9 games last season.