Well I certainly did not envision an Oh and Five start to the season ... but I did anticipate some major bumps in the road this year.
You had to expect with 29 new players (somewhere in that range) and a whole bunch of first year CFLers as starters that there was going to be some growing pains ... lets take a brief look back so far ...
Training Camp - influx of all this new talent takes time to gel ... two preseason wins shows that the athleticism is there, but not necessarily the "brains" for the CFL game ...
Game 1 & 2 - showed that inexperience with receivers running poor routes, the defensive backs blowing assignments and the D-line not getting enough pressure ...
Game 3 vs. Montreal - had it not been for an outstanding performance by Anthony Calvillo - I was there, he had a fantastic game - broken plays making big yards 3 TD's 0 INTs ... Cats show some big play offense but can't get it done ... promising for ...
Game 4 in BC - where we've won ONCE in 11 tries ... not the best formula for success ... long trip, short week, Grey cup champs ... and I believe if the ref keeps his flag in his pocket on a 2nd and long for BC's 3rd stringer to put the ball on the one yard line ... we win that game too ... that being said - you don't win games like that with 100 yards + in penalties
Game 5 in Winnipeg - they're ticked - they lost TWICE to us in the preseason, an 0 and 4 team ... now on their home turf, Stegall needs the record, fans going nuts ... tough place to win ... Ticats were right into it until that 40 yard pass (ah, no offensive pass interference in the CFL this year I guess) in the 4th quarter, and the Bombers blew it open ...
Game 6 vs Winnipeg AT HOME - I see no more excuses - We've had leads going into the 4th quarter the last two games ... and I say this MUST be a win ...
I think the coach has done a great job (minus Mike Working - tough to compliment a last place offense)
Dejardins has been awesome ... when have you EVER seen this many players platooned in during midseason to help??
I've been around since the Ballard days when we were stuck with Mike Kerrigan and Todd Dillon as our ONLY QB's for what seemed like a decade! So credit the coaches and GM for evaluating all this new talent, finding some gems (ie. Zeke Moreno, Pete Dyakowski, Gagne-Marceau, Timmy Chang, Chris Bauman and others) and cutting ties with ineffective players immediately ... good work there ...
Gause and West immediately stepped in last week, and started on the D line with only like 2 or 3 practices ... they looked fast, and even if it doesn't work ... and is a show of faith that the organization is looking to improve ...
And as the one thread tried to do ... stay positive and be patient! I'll take our fan friendly, down to earth "caretaker" Bob Young running this team over any owners we've EVER had ... he's learning, admitted mistakes, and keeps trying to turn things around ... that's more than Harold Ballard ever did ...