All hail Hall, it’s a sure bet he’ll be back with Big Blue

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/12/2017 (2869 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Since it reportedly has been colder in Winnipeg than at the North Pole during this festive and merry season, it is only fitting some of Santa’s work orders — detailing what gifts the good girls and boys will be receiving — which are normally sent to the coldest place in the world, would end up in Manitoba instead.

Since 12-6 football teams that host playoff games are not on the naughty list, I stumbled across a few gifts that the local football franchise should be opening in the near future, and other presents that can be wrapped by simple deduction.

Since the fishing expedition of a couple weeks past — about the conspicuous absence of a Richie Hall biography on the team’s website — spawned a webpage restoration approximately nine seconds after it was printed, and the fact that we are moving into 2018 without an iota of a confirmation or denial about a certain defensive co-ordinator, you can bet your stocking haul that Mr. Hall will be back for a third time luckier, running the Blue and Gold defensive dozen.

Sometimes, a lack of comment and activity, speaks louder than anything else, and there is little to no chance this team would have been beaten to the coaching depot by Montreal if they were planning on making a significant move here. While I expect the defensive shortcomings of this team in 2017 to fall at the feet of a defensive assistant or two, there are quite simply too many signs pointing towards Hall’s return.

When decisions that are bound to be unpopular to the masses, have already been decided, it is human nature to slow play the results, and delay the news as long as possible. Not only does this take the sting off of a reactionary disappointment from the fresh death of a football season, but fans will also gradually come to terms with this conclusion themselves, by the lack of activity and announcements, that the course is being stayed.

I call it making news by not offering news.

The biggest possible gift of all, of the off-season, literally, would be offensive guard Travis Bond, but we knew that wouldn’t be a package this team would be opening, since Paddy Neufeld continued to start at his spot, even once he was healthy and ready to return to the team late in the year. Defensively, if you take this addition of a Canadian starter on the offensive line, add the ever improving and explosive play of Tristan Okpalaugo and Jackson Jeffcoat, and subtract Jamaal Westerman’s age (33 in February), price tag, and season ending injury, you get a potential gift that would have to be a heck of a deal, and a home town discount, to be delivered and opened before free agency.

Of the three all-star calibre players in the Blue and Gold secondary last season that are pending free agents, T.J. Heath, Chris Randle, and Maurice Leggett, a good Christmas morning would be to land two out of the three. Though Leggett is coming off a season ending injury, and may not want this to affect his asking price, expect him and Randle to be at the top of the wish list, though differences in financial requests and offerings are what is probably holding up putting big fancy bows on their heads. While Heath’s abilities are undeniable, rumblings about his occasional “going rogue” and free lancing, have relegated him as a possible bonus present on the Christmas wish list.

Linebacker Ian Wild, when on the field, has been a steady and unrelenting force for this defence since 2013, and is one of the more respected and tenured players on the football team. Yet the fact that he has missed 31 games, out of a possible 54 over the last three seasons, means it would most likely take a bit of a Christmas miracle for him to be donning the same garb in 2018.

Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears weekly in the Free Press.

Twitter: @DougBrown97