For most of the year I had assumed that Hamilton's front office was going to have the most work cut out for it after the season, but at this stage the Eskimos are in much worse shape. Danny Maciocia surely has to be let go as both the GM and head coach at the end of the year and according to reports the players aren't particularly fond of "head coach in waiting" Jacques Chapdelaine. In the only moment of "insight" we've had on this site, we once wrote of Chapdelaine: "You know those movies where they have the team of snotty rich kids going up against the scrappy gang of misfits from across the lake? Lions' O.C. Jacques Chapdelaine totally looks like he should be coaching the snotty rich kids." And while we thought this would make him the perfect coach of the Eskimos, the players apparently disagree.

Anyway, for the last couple of weeks I've been cheering on the Eskimos in large part because I'd rather see anyone other than Montreal lose the Grey Cup this year. But at this stage, it almost seems like they are going into a rebuilding mode as opposed to trying to win against the Riders. 

Why else would they bench their "top rookie" nominee and arguably the most dangerous offensive weapon they have left in Tyler Ebell in favour of a guy who has a total of 9 CFL carries? Does Maciocia just assume that, since they won the Grey Cup with Troy Davis coming in as a late season replacement, they need to change the RB near the end of every year? 

And the excuse that they needed to replace Ebell with an import special teams player is absurd. You use the draft to get non-imports who can play special teams or you poach someone off of another team's practice roster. Or hell, sign Sean Millington. He's available. Very available. Or if they were going to change backs, at least give the fans something they'd enjoy and put Gizmo in the backfield.

In any case, over just the past two years Maciocia has used a number of different options in looking for a #1 running back. There was Troy Davis, that McClendon fellow, Josh Ranek, Ebell and now Anderson. I'm probably missing a few.  Was Mike Bradley supposed to start? Ronald Williams?  Anyway, let's hope for their sake that he's finally found an answer.