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If I were HC, I would have the offence score as many points as possible. At the same time, I would have the defense do everything possible to limit the scoring by the other team. I'd stress that if we can score more points than them over the course of the game, we stand a good chance of winning.

I do not see anyone calling for Nichols to be permanently benched in favour of Streveler, but rather that we want to see that if the game is not going well for Nichols, Streveler will be put in to give the team and fans hope. As a fan, it is very frustrating to see Nichols coming out again and again when clearly he is struggling. Streveler ought to have had a lot more reps and time to adapt to the CFL, so ought to be more effective now. Nichols does not seem to be getting better, and Saturday will tell us a lot.

Streveler 1-2 this year, Nichols is what? 4-2? This isn't even a question.

CFL.ca CFL Game #48 Team Notes – Edmonton at Hamilton: - Coming off a Bye since 2011: Since 2011 Hamilton has had 12 games coming off a bye week but are just 3-9 .250 (including a 1- 6 .143 mark since 2015). Their .250 winning pct. in post-bye games is the lowest in the CFL in that time. Overall teams have played 107 times after a bye since 2011 and CFL-wide they have gone 61-46 .570 and thus have taken advantage of the extra rest. - Mike Reilly 300+: Reilly is tied for #10 all-time (with Sam Etcheverry) with 39 games of 300+ yds. He needs just 84 passing yards to go by Condredge Holloway (25,193) into #18 all-time and is just 25 completions away from 2,000. In 87 starts he is 51-36. - 1st half vs 2nd half: There has been a distinct difference in these two teams' results in the 1st half of games vs 2nd halves, especially in passing where 14 of Edmonton's 19 TD throws have been before half-time. Of Edmonton's 15 T/Os, 11 are in the 2nd half. - Hamilton Home vs Road: The Ti-Cats have relied on home field advantage more than any other club in the CFL recently. Since 2011 they have won 35 games at home vs just 24 on the road - almost 60% of their 59 victories. BC is next with 57% of their wins. Reilly TDs: He has 8 touchdowns thus far on pace for 16. The CFL record by a QB is 14 by Doug Flutie in 1991. Note: Jackie Parker had 17 TDs in 1957 but played only half of that season as a QB (8 starts at QB, 8 at receiver with 5 TD receptions). - Hamilton receiving I: Jalen Saunders left their last game in the 1st Quarter and did not return after picking up just one catch for 26 yards. Combined with Luke Tasker and making up their #1 & #2 receivers from 2017 (180 receptions in total), they accounted for just two catches last week. - Edmonton #1 & #2 receivers: The Esks can make it twice in 3 years with the CFL's Top Two receivers ('16, '18). That has occurred just 6 times since 1958. Winnipeg 1961 & 1971, Edmonton 1979, Calgary 1999, Edmonton 2001, & Edmonton in 2016. - Brandon Banks: Now has a 22-game receiving streak, 12 clutch 2nd down catches in his last 3 games, and 100+ yards in 11 of his last 14 games. Since Sep 4/17, he is the CFL's leading receiver with 1,677 yards over the 18 games since then: 1. Banks HAM 1,677 2. Saunders HAM 1,451 3. Walker EDM 1,450 4. Tasker HAM 1,074 5. Arceneaux BC 1,063 - Hamilton Offence #2: The Tiger-Cats come in with the #2 ranking for Net Offence at 403.5 yards per game in 2018. They have gone over the 500-yard mark twice already, something they did just once across all of the 2016-2017 seasons. The last time that Hamilton averaged over 400 yards per game was back in 2004 at 405 per game. - Sean Whyte up to #2 at 86.2%: With his current streak of 13 made FGs in a row, Whyte has passed Justin Medlock for the #2 ranked FG% of all-time. Whyte is now 288-of-334 in his career for an 86.2% success rate. Medlock sits at 316-of-367 86.1% and they both trail all-time leader Rene Paredes (327/375 87.2%). - Red Zone Defence: The Ti-Cats have stopped opponents 15 times out of 23 Red Zone chances, #1 in the CFL at just 35%. They have forced opponents into 6 Red Zone Turnovers, #1 in the CFL. - EDM last 4 games gap in Field Position: In the last 4 games, Edmonton opponents have started 12 drives inside the Eskimos' half of the field compared to just 4 by the Edmonton in the opponents' end. On average they have had to start at their 31-yard line vs the opposition's average start at the 42-yard line - a gap of 560 yards worth of field length. - Most penalized club: The Eskimos reached 1,000 penalty yards last week with their 6th game of 100+ yards or more this year. - 536 Net Yards: Last week Edmonton gained 536 yards of Net Offence, their most in almost 4 years since Nov 1/14 (550 vs BC). - J.C. Sherritt: Has a Sack in 3 of his last 4 games after getting none in the first 5 games. He now has 476 career Def. Tackles. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The sad thing is with the Nichols situation, I believe no matter how Matt is stinking the joint out, this head coach will never make the change to Streveler...That is not how O'Shea rolls....He proved that in the last game and that is a very bad aspect of this coach....The first concern should be WINNING ...not worrying about hurting a players feelings

I agree that Streveler should get more playing time but not as a starter. MOS shouldn't be saying his time is capped because he got more playing time than he would have got had Nichols not been hurt. That comment by O' Shea is beyond stupid. It does give you an idea of his strange mindset.

After wading through 13 pages of the "Sky is falling" (the Mat Nichols thread) and more of the same on the LaPolice thread, I saw a lot of grumbling and nonsensical blather. The " what a difference one game makes" sort of said it all in terms of a frustrated board of posters. But now that we have got that out of our system, let;s look at what we can do to be positive and to put our team in a position to win. It is possible to beat Calgary if we get a couple of non-offensive TDs like the Roughies were gifted at perfect times. Note too Regina replied to Calgary's attempted come back with more scoring of their own to really put them in their place, Assume that Lankford & Folketti start and that Chandler Fenner plays most of the gane What would you do as head coach/OC/DC to give the Bombers their best chance of winning?

I'm sick of hearing about the winning record... I know that seems outrageous, and I'll take heat for it.. I don't care. I've watched his play closely the last two seasons, and since the second half of last year, it's dropped off. Looking at who they beat last year and this year, Nichols has only beat 2 teams with a winning record in the last calendar year. Saskatchewan in the Banjo Bowl last year and Edmonton a few weeks later. After that, he only beat BC in a game where he threw for 172 yds and 0 TDs. For me, it's what have you done for me lately... and while he has turned in some wins, it's my honest belief that Streveler would have won those games too. I'll stop harping on it for now and see what happens on Saturday afternoon.

This is literally the dumbest suggestion. Its a good thing that fans don't manage a team. Backup QB's are always a fan favorite. You do realize wins started to happen when Nichols came back right? You also do realize our defense is crapping the bed?

Cool you shouldn't even bother watching the game then...

I am very conflicted by your statements.

I would not laugh at that..

Win-Loss isn't always directly correlated to QB play. Look at 2014. Drew Willy got credit for 5 wins in the first 6 games that year when it was actually defence and special teams that won those games for Winnipeg. People bought Drew Willy jerseys, despite the fact his play was actually pretty shaky. The Bombers then proceeded to lose the next 10 games out of 12. Those losses obviously weren't attributed to Willy either since Walters and MOS kept trotting out a futile and soul sucking Drew Willy as starter for another painful year and a half. Personally, I'd prefer to take entertainment value as the criteria for deciding which QB should play. Based on that, I bet most fans would take Streveler over Nichols. That's why they booed the decision to pull Streveler in the Redblacks game. Compared to Nichols, Streveler moved the ball, was fun to watch. Brought hope.

For all of you afraid of fat shaming an o line coach in his 60s or 70s who clearly doesn't care, this one is funny.. and I believe that player he's talking to is Geoff Gray.

I have never once said that I place sole blame on Matt Nichols for the Bombers loss on Friday. The defence was terrible, and took penalties that extended drives and allowed Ottawa to keep drives going that they eventually went to score on. However... I fully expected it to be a high scoring game, and one of those 'last team with the ball wins' sort of games. In the parking lot before, I predicted a 44-41 win for the Bombers. Our offence however (which many were saying the week before was the best and most exciting offence in the league) did very little to move the ball on most drives. I know you win & lose as a team, but our leader wasn't inspiring with his play, which I argue has been taking place for the better part of a year now. In 2014, the Stamps who had Drew Tate at QB decided to run with Bo Levi and went on to win the Grey Cup. Their coaches seemed to know they had something and weren't scared to make a switch (If I remember correctly, this was brought on by an injury to Tate, but, Tate wasn't the unquestioned leader afterwards, even though he was winning). Those coaches... John Hugnagel & Dave Dickenson. Two former very successful QBs.

Well, that's pretty absurd and presumably an overreaction based solely on Friday's loss. A loss in which there was ample blame to go around the locker room, not just the QB.

A flatbilly saying this about another fanbase...? Oh, the utter richness. Oh, and one more thing: everyone here save TheSource (who's clearly challenged, so he gets a pass) sees through the woefully transparent insincerity of your comments. You shouldn't be here.

Speaking of glasses, that's Sportsnet 960. 😉

I agree, it is Wylie's choice. But shaming the guy on television & now on You Tube? Don't agree. When I hear that guy chuckling on You Tube it clearly is to me shaming & maybe even bullying. Making fun of someone on the internet while that person remains anonymous. What a concept.

Duron says, hello...

How about playing a disciplined game! Those penalties are costing us big time. Not much sense in playing lights out when we give it all back on penalties. BLM can kill you if he has time so the front four will have to help the DB's by rattling him. Good Luck Blue Bombers! Show us your good stuff.

Offensively, I want to see us confuse Calgary’s D a little bit. I want to see more mixture in the packages that we show their D. I’m not suggesting we lose track of using Harris, but I don’t want them to know when he’s getting the ball. Guessing, I want to see them guessing when he gets it. I want us to come out early and use all our receivers when it is appropriate. Yes, all our receivers, including Harris. Make it an issue. This will open up the running game for Harris, and even Demski, and that fly route they love so much. LaPolice has got all the tricks in his bag, but he shouldn’t limit himself to a certain set of plays when, I think, this offence can be more dynamic. And that includes using guys like Wolitarsky, Petermann, and, if we have to..Lankford. Go from side to side, open up the middle, make Singleton go where you want him to go and exploit that. We’d be an even better team on offence if we’d be able to use a more versatile package. Mr. LaPolice, it’s your move...

Thats BS. He just gives the starter extra rope like most head coaches do. Did Calgary take out BLM last game? Dont think they did. Nichols hasn't been good but.. Hes 4 and 2 as a starter right now.... Hes our QB... But if he continues to struggle then in a week or 2 or 3.. He will be on the bench watching. Bottom line.. You don't sit your starter to play a green rookie until that starter loses more than he wins. You got fans bashing Nichols but really fans opinions dont mean much and shouldn't. What matters is what the guys in the room think and looks like they all to a man believe Nichols is the guy. Was Nichols that bad tho? I mean did we lose because of him? Or was it cuz our D gave up 44 points? I dunno. Nichols wasn't great but he's certainly not the reason we lost or only reason we lost. . If i made a list of problems with the team Nichols is probably 5th on that list. 1. Hall 2. Fogg 3. Randle - he hasn't been good 4. Lapolice and our predictable O playcalling 5. Nichols.

The front 4 has to get pressure on BLM. If that doesn’t happen, based on the games this year, the entire team is doomed.

Make sure the team scored 1 more point than Calgary!

Id love to see a return to the hurry up with streveler for a play or two after a short yardage sneak. Or as a package if the offense is stagnant.

He does not. Only you would say something absolutely outrageous like this . No wonder you got kicked off The Extra Point. Now we're stuck with you.

He feels hopeful.

So, in today's world is that funny or shaming? Especially the guy's laugh. I don't find it particularly funny knowing that Bob's health is at serious risk.

I won’t be so wordy with it ... he’s been terrible

Enjoy.

its hard to tell which guys can get more from practicing then others. but without a doubt, you quickly reach a diminishing point where you need to play to improve. I can see simonise being a guy who benefits from a slower route to regular action. But I think petermann is pretty ready. I mean he would have been an instant starter for us for at least the previous 10 years.

ya, we saw a lot longer in the tooth vets age out and still start with Ritchie. Love him as a coach. But we all knew it.

And if he has a stroke tomorrow it's still all shits & giggles? He needs help to get back to a healthy lifestyle. The teams he coached for all have nutritionists for the players & the best weight & cardio equipment, team doctors, etc. There's no shortage of help for the guy. They should be helping the guy & if I was his HC I'd be strongly encouraging him to get help to lose weight or his employment may hinge on that. I wouldn't want to chance being the HC on who's staff he died. . Although having said that, Wylie is a grown adult & should want to help himself as well.

If you don't cut Dressler this week his salary counts for the season. Even if they signed someone like that they wouldn't cut Dressler, there'd be no benefit.

You guys are too sensitive. Watch yesterday's episode of Hard Knocks, he's featured for a segment, he's quite the character. Geoff Gray gets some screentime too.

I said I saw interviews, not that I speak for any of them

If Edmonton played like they did against BC, they won't win another game... If Calgary plays the way they did against Sask, they won't win another game... And so it goes.

https://www.tsn.ca/tsn-originals/video/tsn-original-finding-murph~1466368 Only 15 minutes long but my eyes got dust in them a bit watching this sad story of Joe Murphy....

He can only get better by playing & not sitting. Making mistakes is how he'll learn & develop.

And you actually think Streveler will deliver us a Grey Cup? Do you come from an alternate universe? You should go back there as the Cleveland Browns have just won their 4th straight Super Bowl.

That was Dennis Green of the Cardinals spazzing out after a loss to the Bears. Mora's rant is the GOAT.

They're going into Calgary & then back to back to back vs Riders. This is no walk in the park or just by saying we'll be fine. The issues brought up here by some pretty knowledgeable fans are valid as far as I'm concerned. They're worth discussing. There are a lot of pluses on this team but there are negatives. Hopefully, these positives outweigh the negatives. I haven't given up on this team yet.

Dressler has been removed from the 6-game list. I wonder if he plays this week or takes one more to make sure he's good to go for Labour Day. If he's back this week, at least all the Lankford angst can stop.

I wouldn't call it "competing" without a win over the Stamps. Sitting at 5-5 (if the Bomber lose) with the following teams on the schedule - Riders (back to back), Montreal, Eskimos, RedBlacks, Riders, Stamps and finally the Eskimos again, a disaster is brewing. A disaster to me is missing the playoffs and joining the Alouettes and Lions on the couch watching the playoffs. I can hear Jim Mora describing the Bombers right now in their current state and it's scary.

The players still have to execute, you can have the best game plan in the world but it won't matter if the players don't execute. It doesn't have to be about dropping passes or missing throws either, it can be as small as missing a block or being yard off your route. It's the execution of the details that sets players/teams apart.

New qb comes to the Bombers. Never played with any of the receivers. What's he do because he has no chemistry with anyone. Not throw the ball? Chemistry is okay but it's not that big of a deal. Chemistry develops the longer a qb practices & plays with his receivers. By now, Nichols knows what Wolitarsky can do.

Na, just be like Gump...

Yeah if we're criticizing Osh for being too loyal... Dave Ritchie is not the guy to compare him too - maybe the only guy MORE loyal to his players than Osh...

And fans always coming up with explanations/excuses. Penalties did us in this game. such and such player is no good. play that guy. so and so is good but he's having off a bit right now. No adjustments. Why don't we stretch the field. why did we stretch the field so much. on and on. Too many highs and lows with this team. Calgary defence, does not have a good game, then collapse next game. And If we can't compare our team to the best team, what's the point?