Id say for a GM that is pretty much whinning and judging.and I have a lot of admiration for Huff usually.
I felt that Hamilton and Winnipeg were the top two teams in the CFL until they played each other and Willy got hurt.....then, eventually Collaros got hurt, too.
Winnipeg is easily in the playoffs in 2016 - in my mind - barring injury, of course.
But it will again and again next year and again!!!1
Agreed on both points. A lot of self inflicted wounds for sure, others are by circumstance. For instance hiring Etchevarry was a fallback after Stubler decided to sign in Calgary. Marcel should’ve been let go a couple seasons back. Why did they keep him? Could it be budgetary limited for the coaching staff was maxed out after they fired Etch and hired Richie Hall and their respective staffs? Was hiring O’Shea a mistake? Maybe. But a lot of people around the CFL and in the media lauded it as an inspired and great hire. Easy to question it in hindsight. Hiring a more experienced HC doesn’t mean they would’ve been a better fit.
Our Oline depth is/was brutal, but a lot of that still comes down to bad drafting and neglect by prior GMs. Walters has gone OL high with each of his two drafts and netted Goosen and Chungh, and will probably do so again this year. Here’s to hoping Jeff Keeping has more in the tank than Picard did. Still I’d like to see them take a run at ex Lion Matt Norman myself though to speed up the process.
O’Shea is a very good coach - - definitely NOT a “mistake” hiring. Problem was, he was surrounded with absolute garbage. Garbage players AND garbage coaches.
Bombers have finally figured out that you need Canadian talent to win in the CFL. Instead of foolishly wasting money on mediocre Import receivers as they did by giving Nick Moore $180k, the Bombers went out and got a pair of top notch Canadian starters in Harris and Sholo. Adding two NIs of that calibre is HUGE.
But they wouldn’t be Winnipeg without making some bad decisions. Signing Macho Harris is inexplicably dumb. Even if they got him for the league minimum, it’d still be a terrible signing because he’s such a horrible player. Can’t tackle and can’t cover. Just a total waste of money. Why not go scouting for an American who would sign for a minimum contract and offer way more upside potential than Macho?
Jeff Keeping is another signing that makes ZERO sense. His play has been in decline to the point where he was a massive liability last year for the Argos. He’s physically done. Actually a downgrade going from Picard to Keeping.
Lucky? Really? I guess he’s had one of the best runs of “good luck” in the history of the league. That must be what separates guys like Huf and Buono from their much more unlucky counterparts whose teams do tend to have losing seasons.
All I'm saying is we were garbage for longer than I like to think AND
We improved our kicking
We improved our receiving
We improved our running
We improved our defense
We shored up our O-line
Should we have checked with others first before we did that ? If Walters or OShea questioned other team's improvement methods, I would question their motives and expect them to keep their mouths shut....It's really no other team's business, except ours.
Of course WPG is all in today, they had better be or they will be out of the League!
Both Walters and O'Shea will be fired if the Bombers do not make the playoffs this year.
O'Shea may not make it half way thru the season, with Lapo looking over his shoulder.
As it is, WPG will be fighting also much improved SSK, BC and EDM for that last playoff spot.
Everyone keeps saying that a team can turn around quickly in this league. Well, I think the Bombers just did that.... Two questions; What would Huff say if Winnipeg stood pat, did nothing and re-signed all our own FAs ? Would he even have something to say ?
Hey Grover, who's the Mack guy you speak of ?
That’s very true, but I guess if you’re going to hire a rookie HC, you had better make sure he’s surrounded by the right coaches. I say that as someone whose team has been down a brutal road the past three years through poor coaching decisions (Hawkins, then Higgins, all the midseason firings, etc.).
Our Oline depth is/was brutal, but a lot of that still comes down to bad drafting and neglect by prior GMs. Walters has gone OL high with each of his two drafts and netted Goosen and Chungh, and will probably do so again this year. Here's to hoping Jeff Keeping has more in the tank than Picard did. Still I'd like to see them take a run at ex Lion Matt Norman myself though to speed up the process.Good to see Walters taking the long view on O-line development. Hopefully those prospects start to pay off and stabilize the line.
.....My summation on our best fa day in quite awhile...'O'Shea has been given the talent to succeed...Walters did his job...The players luv playing for Mike O' and he has a couple of years under his belt with a very good oc and dc...in Lapolice and Hall...I will be very surprised if the Bombers don't make A LOT of noise in the west this year...AND it won't be just because of the noise level at IGF...Buckle up Bomber fans....this is going to be a great ride... :rockin:
You completely misunderstood the point. Huf is very good at what he does, no question. What’s lucky for him is situation in Calgary - ownership that has afforded him the opportunity to do his job without oversight or meddling. Put Huf in Winnipeg where he has to answer to a board made up of a lot of people who should have no hand in running a sports franchise, making decisions and giving their input, and he may not be as successful.
It’s also a way to 1. deflect questions as to why you haven’t done anything. He has a good roster base, so he doesn’t have to delve into free agency other than some tinkering or making decisions on his own free agents. However he’s going to have his local reporters looking for stories so he’s pointed them at the Bombers rather than have them looking at his own team. And 2. having other teams in the league looking for talent in the offseason can drive up the prices he has to pay to his own guys he wants to retain, so that probably ticks him off just a bit. At any rate, he’s free to say what he wants for whatever reason he wants.
Fair point. Think back to when the Stamps were being run by the Feteriks and pressured into giving the owner’s son a shot at QB … it wasn’t pretty.
Fixed, thanks 
…or 3. He’s now just a gm and he’s trying hard to sound like one and impress the locals orrrrrr He’s feeling inadequate in that he hasn’t supplied his new head coach Dickie bird with some of the high profile talent the Bombers did…Especially now that his player supplier Murphy as flown the coop…take your pick :lol:
Nice to see you excited Papa :thup:
…thanx hfxtc…been awhile 
Hufnagel needs to amend his original statement: "I prefer to sign my own guys - and Tiger-Cats."
Bakari Grant, Taylor Reed. Any others Huf? You know there are other teams out there too.
Sure he has. The guys they already had.