CFL off-season discussion

[packfaninnd]

This is not a game streaming thread, as there's a mod here who sets that up here when CFL season starts up, and I will be streaming all the games again this year, but, I did want a chance to maybe start up a thread for the fans that are here as well as maybe make some predictions on how you think your team will fare this year. Preseason starts in about only 2 months from now with kickoff on Canada Day Friday the 29th of June, so .... I'm already gettin in the mood for this amazing brand of football that I've gotten into over the past couple years

Go Bombers

[JasonBourne]

I am very much looking forward to this upcoming season. 100 years, new jerseys, a bunch of new quarterbacks and new coaches, very exciting times.

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Montreal Alouettes - 8 wins

Not sure what happened to this team last year. I can't tell if it was just a bad spell or if their weaknesses were exposed. The East is no longer the weaker of the two divisions, in fact it is much stronger in my opinion. Anthony Calvillo gets hurt, Montreal has a 'bad' year and Calvillo slips into the shadow of serious retirement conversations after this year.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats - 11 wins

On paper the most improved team of the off-season. Henry Burris will come out slinging at the start of the year but will cool off. Im interested to see how well Fantuz fares in the gold and black.

Toronto Argonauts - 12 wins

Ricky Ray is only 32 years old which amazes me, plus it makes Edmonton's trade look even more ridiculous. I believe in this team, can't say why, but I believe in them.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers - 5 wins

Other than Toronto's Steven Jyles, the Bombers have the worst quarterback in the league. I don't see any reason why the Bombers can make it back to the glory they had last season.

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Calgary Stampeders - 10 wins

Not really sure what this team is anymore, I like Drew Tate but I am not sure about the rest of the team. They have the talent to compete with the Lions but I am not sure that they will.

Saskatchewan Roughriders - 9 wins

They will defiantly have a bounce back year. Durant is gonna play much better and the defense will be much improved. Odell Willis was a big steal. This is my dark-horse team by the way, they could shock people and get to the Grey Cup.

Edmonton Eskimos - 5 wins

They gave away their Hall of Fame quarterback and the face of their franchise for nothing. I watched many Toronto games last year and it is clear that Steven Jyles is by far the worst starting quarterback in the league. They should really trade and get Kevin Glenn before they waste this entire season. Sorry Fred Stamps

BC Lions - 12 wins

BC has a very strong team with an ever better secondary then they had last year. Retaining Khalif Mitchell was a huge plus for their defense as well. If not for my dark-horse Riders they would be in the 100th Grey Cup game for sure.
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100th Grey Cup

Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Toronto Argonauts (TOR wins)

[packfaninnd]

well I got a few things to say about your predictions there, some of which I agree with, others, not so much.

first off, idk about who wins the east, but for sure Toronto will be the most improved team and likely the candidates, additions of Ricky Ray and his former eskimo team mate Jason Barnes to compliment another strong supportive running game will make them the team to beat and likely yes the Argos have come out of the old Cleo Lemon days where they were such a turnover prone team which was the ultimatum that kept them from being great. Still gotta see about that offensive line though, can they pass protect effectively enough come big game time. 12 wins to me is still a little much, maybe more like 10 or 11.

As to Winnipeg only winning 5 games, no I don't like that one. Buck Pierce may not ever be what the greats like Flutie, or Calvillo, or some of the other greats were in their hay day, but he's definitely better than Cleo Lemon was, than Ryan Dimwiddie, maybe even better than Travis Lulay, he can get the job done if he stays healthy, and if he doesnt, his backup Joey Elliot will be coming back this year and I've liked what I seen outta him, he maybe the most solid backup in the league up to thus far. Plus, Chris Garret really emerged in the running game near the end of last year, a better back I think than Fred Reid. They lost Greg Carr, but Clarence Denmark I think is gonna be even better this year than the last, so the WR core is still gonna be heavily intact. On defense, they may have lost Doug Brown and Odell Willis, but Jason Vega is a beast up there and I think he's gonna really turn it up this year, and that swaggerville secondary is still very much in tact. Plus the fact that they got a new stadium theyre gonna be coming home to, i think is gonna give them some extra energy just as the renovated BC place helped out the Lions last year. To me the biggest thing that held the bombers down from doing any better than they did last year as well as possibly winning the grey cup was bad play calling, way too conservative, that to me is the biggest thing that must improve for them or yes Paul Lapolice will end up on the hot seat and possibly get fired. But I still got the bombers winning 8-11 games this year.

As to Montreal, their problems are that Father Time caught up to Calvillo last year, his age has shown it out there and I was very surprised he came back this year after suffering a few concussions last year, those I believe really took him off his game and affected his offense late in the season. Also that Montreal defense was very overrated coming into that year as well, the secondary got exposed numerous times by high octane passing teams like WPG, and CGY, and eventually BC in the season finale. As to where they finish this year, too hard to say, maybe they get into the playoffs, but there's a lot of patchwork to be done on this team and I think they gotta hand over the keys to Adrian McPherson by the time it's over with this year. But I really wouldnt be surprised if Montreal is now in the least of the east after owning it for so many years, this team to me out of all the teams in the east has the most work to be done as far as home improvement is concerned.

Hamilton, don't really know how gettin Henry Burris makes them the most improved team on paper, he to me isn't much better than Kevin Glenn, maybe doesn't throw as many picks as Glenn, but still, I'm not really sold on him. Fantuz could be a pretty big contributor, but, I'm still a little bit of a doubter in this team, not sure their defense is all that much better than last year, but we'll see. I'd say 9-9 when this season is all said and done so still a middle of the pack team in my opinion.

as to the west

BC I agree is by far still the most solid team, as they are by far the most intact as far as the key players that made their run to the grey cup win happen returning. They'll for sure be the team to beat in the west and barring any catastrophic injuries I'd say it'll be a toss-up between them and calgary as far as which one gets to the Grey Cup. I'd give them maybe 13, 14, really not even a stretch to say 15 wins.

Calgary I think is deadlocked at 2nd in the west. Big thing for them was not only gettin a new fast rhythm on offense from Tate, but John Cornish is gonna lead the CFL in rushing this next year, he's by far the best runningback in the CFL, even better than Andrew Harris or Corey Boyd, and add in Lemarcus Coker, no doubt the Stampeders have the best RB tandum to compliment their solid passing game. Where Calgary still needs improvement is in their pass rush I believe, so defensively, I don't think they're quite where they want to be, but they will be a competitor this year, and will be at least one of the teams BC loses to.

Saskatchewan will be improved over last year, playoffs yes, but I'm not really sold on Durant, esp after they lost Fantuz. Granted he still has Dressler, but I'm not sold on their running game as I think they're lacking in that department, as Wes Cates got released, a mistake on their part. Durant may have a better year than last year, but if they don't manage to maintain a balanced offense, a huge key for success in the CFL, they could be in trouble down the stretch.
They'll have a better defense I'm sure up front, but still gotta wait and see what happens on the back end of it.

And Edmonton yes I'd have to agree will be in the CFL's cellar after losing Ray, Messam, Barnes, and being stuck with the mediocre Stephen Jyles at QB. The Esks had a good surprise year last year, but that all has now gone down the tubes after all the changes made this offseason, and Kavis Reed will likely need to have an adjusted system by the end of this year for the future of this ball club.

[packfaninnd]

well just under 2 months to go, I'm gettin more and more pumped for kickoff on Canada Day coming up, this is gonna be one hell of a year comin up

[packfaninnd]

well just thought I'd bring everyone up to speed here with what's going on and so that flashcash who I believe is the spoken moderator for the CFL knows, CFL preseason starts up a week from today. Again I wont make this a streaming thread since i know he's the one responsible for that, plus idk that being that im in the USA and usually rely on ESPN3 to stream the games, I probably wont have any links to any preseason games, but just thought I'd list the games that are going on starting June 13

Wed at 7 PM, Toronto Argonauts are at Hamilton Ti-Cats
Wed at 10 PM Saskatchewan Rough Riders are at BC Lions
Thu at 7:30 PM Winnipeg Blue Bombners are at Montreal Alouettes
Fri at 9:00 PM Edmonton Eskimos are at Calgary Stampeders

all times are Eastern Standard Time

[phil40]

way to go packfan! nice to know an american who likes the CFL!
i am a rider fan in CFL and a pack fan in the NFL! i just wish i could figure out how to upload a logo!
anyway i too cant wait for the season to begin. thanks so much for your streams and...
GO RIDERS GO!

[packfaninnd]

way to go packfan! nice to know an american who likes the CFL!
i am a rider fan in CFL and a pack fan in the NFL! i just wish i could figure out how to upload a logo!
anyway i too cant wait for the season to begin. thanks so much for your streams and...
GO RIDERS GO!

Yes, i started followin it about 2 years ago, great league especially when you got summer football fever

tonight is preseason night, and i'm hopin flashcash shows up, or that Admin makes a game streaming thread for tonights games of the argos and ticats at 7 ET and the lions and riders at 10 ET

[nils33]

I would definitively appreciate it!

[Admin]

Looks like both games will be shown; http://www.wiziwig.tv/competition.ph...rican Football

[packfaninnd]

Jason Bourne I'd have to say your predictions on the CFL, except for the one about BC, do not seem to be on line at all with what i see out of the teams so far. I know its only preseason and games mean pretty much nil right now, but

A. The roughriders being the darkhorse? that team has got a load of issues right now, the starting defense may be a little better than last years, but Durant and the offensive line looks in even more disarray than it was last year, unless theyre really tryin to purposefully look bad right now, that team is going nowhere this year but backward

B. You are very seriously underestimating Winnipeg and Edmonton. I dont know how the winnipeg offense will look this year in comparison to last year, but their defense from everything im seeing is lookin as big old bar tough as it ever was and if that continues on, it'll keep em in games again this year and give them a chance to win almost all of them. And even though the Eskimos may look bad on paper with the Ray trade and all that, Kavis Reed is a great coach who knows what he's got. Sure they may not win as many as 11 again this year, but i really dont think they'll win any fewer than 8 though, given what they got. all except for Ssk, the cfl could be a heck of a competitive league this year

[packfaninnd]

well, with 1 day away, Flashcash as of yet has not made a streaming thread for week 1 of the CFL season but I'll just brief you on what i do know for what's available this week via online streaming

Friday Jun 29

7 PM ET Saskatchewan Rough Riders @ Hamilton Tiger Cats - Roughriders look to rebound from a bad 2011 year while the Tigercats look to mesh their new players together to bring a successful team into 2012

10 PM ET Winnipeg Blue Bombers @ BC Lions - The much anticipated rematch of the 2011 Grey Cup takes place out in BC Place as the Lions are going to try to go for a repeat of last year while the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are out to show that 2011 was no fluke.

Saturday Jun 30

7 PM ET Toronto Argonauts @ Edmonton Eskimos - This game perhaps the marquee matchup of the weekend and the biggest test game for these 2 teams off the bat to see which team benefited the most from the biggest trade of the offseason. QBs Ricky Ray and Stephen Jyles each face off against their former teams, as do other former team mates on both sides. For Jyles he is out to prove that he can bring Edmonton success and build on the Eskimos turnaround of 2011, and for Ray, he is out to prove that Toronto with him on the team found the missing link that will bring the Argos to the top of the east and give them a chance to play for the Grey Cup which is being hosted in their town this year.

Sunday Jul 1

7 PM ET Montreal Alouettes @ Calgary Stampeders - With Calvillo gettin up there in age, Montreal will be up against it this year, as well as addressing the question marks in their defense this year, while Calgary now enters the Drew Tate era, as well as a new leader at RB John Cornish, the stamps were a lil disappointed at underachieving in 2011, they may be the team that's hiding under the radar the most right now but ready to finally make the move to go on top.

all these games if youre in the USA are available on ESPN3

and also i know that www.justin.tv/fire_lapolice will have them for if you're in the USA/CAN/UK/AUS area

[packfaninnd]

ok the regular thread is up now

from now on, all streaming links go over here http://forum.wiziwig.eu/threads/7523...ue-2012-Week-1