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That's not being thrown under the bus at all and it wasn't the club who went to the media. Being thrown under the bus would be Walters holding a press conference and saying something like "due to his game manager status and being injury-prone, we've decided to cut ties with Matt Nichols and focus on signing a real QB... Zach Collaros". The reality is that once they made the choice that they want to bring Collaros back, they had 3 options with Nichols: A) Give him a heads up so he can start making other plans B) say nothing and leave him twisting in the wind C) give him false hope that he'll be back as QB1. They chose the most professional and respectful route available to them.

AND..... once again we see MOS being a man and going directly to MN himself and having a one on one conversation. That, alone, is one of the professional things about WBB FC...

We will have to agree to disagree about what "throwing someone under the bus" means. Telling a player they won't be pursuing them before FA starts, as far as I see it anyway, is the right way to do business in the CFL. Let them know where you stand, Nichols can now focus on his next step instead of waiting on something that may never come.

Callers ruin call-in shows, period.....

There’s also plenty of reason for them to tell Nichols ahead of time. Mainly, respect towards a human who has contributed a lot to our franchise. lots of people forget that while the club is a business, when your business is people you really need to always remember that respect goes a long way. (I know you know all this, just couldn’t find the post you replied to so I quoted yours instead)

Nice...

That article is purely fishing for a story. Notice how the quotes are all from an agent and not the player? Guarantee that Naylor reached out to anyone who would talk just to get something to drive clicks. So he got the agent who is clearly going to be stoking the fires trying to get his client the best pay day possible. Here's what I'd suspect: Nichols wants to stay as the starter for the Bombers and if they told him they were going to prioritize Collaros then yeah he would be disappointed, and that's understandable. But let's not pretend that it's Nichols out there raising a stink. He's handling it out of the public spotlight.

And how have the bombers thrown anyone under the bus?

I'm not sure if the Nichols is upset article has any truth/merit to it. Lets say it is true, then is this really a surprise. I've pointed out numerous times over the last two seasons where Nichols has not accepted any blame and likes to pass the buck when it comes to his own poor play. He's not a Duron Carter level diva, but he has shown in the past that his emotions gets the best of him and I have not listened to an interview after a rough outing where he lumps the team in playing not well rather then saying he had a poor performance and needs to be better himself. I don't give an F if his feelings are hurt... if it's all about loyalty and wanting to win then why not accept a back up salary with performance bonuses in order to stay with the Blue and Gold?

People worrying about Buck not being the best speaker is funny to me. He didn't get to this point by charity

On a personal level you absolutely have to feel bad for Nichols. From a team perspective though they have to make the tough calls, QB being one of them.

The players know how useless John Hodge is just the same way we all do

Is Matt Nichols a pharmaceutical rep for Cialis or Viagra? #StayHard??

Matt Nichols responded to this tweet today, with this:

You know that he's got speech problems right? A thing that was well documented while he was QB. Things that go back to before he was a football player....he's come a long way, but still has issues with speech. It's gonna happen.

Shame, the Bombers or Collaros do not win a G.C. without the leadership Nichols provided since arriving in 2015. Colour your world with the shitty end of the stick if that's what you prefer.

Who cares about how he speaks? Frigg did anyone listen to Willie Jefferson interviews.... every two seconds he had a long ugggggggggggggggggghhhhh and uggggggggggggghhhhh but the guy could play and it wasn't like he was completely brain dead on the field. Lets give Buck the benefit of the doubt, judge the guy if he calls shitty plays and if the team runs a vanilla offense.... don't judge him because he's a crappy interview.

Matt Nichols does not appreciate John Hodge speculating on his recovery........

sounds like some real shitty work... .... ... .... I'll show myself out...

So, the player's agent goes to the press to complain about something that had not been public before he bitched, and somehow that means that the Bombers are throwing said player under the bus? I don't think that phrase means what you think it means.

I prefer the older guys who reference someone from the 70s/80s and thinks that the starting qb and head coach should be canned because of losing one game. They then reference other team players/coaches usually pronouncing the names completely wrong and says that they are elite and ones that we should get....

Plenty of males do that too.

Even the quote is like "yeah he is a little upset". Which anybody would be in Nichols' position.

And we thank him and move on.

wait wait you're telling me a pro athlete or coach talked to the media in empty cliches? And on a Mike O'Shea team no less? Inconceivable! Dude had a radio show in 2010ish when he was the starter and it was clear then that he was never gonna be a Jeremy Roenick quote machine but I recall he did a real fine job handling the call-in yahoos, especially when the team wasn't playing well. And I think that after a career of high-level play as a starting QB and a promising start in coaching, it's safe to say that he's figured out how to talk to football people.

Hopefully he wants to follow in daddy foot steps

Flying under the radar in terms of offensive coaches for me is line coach Marty Costello and the job he has done with the line, remember the doom and gloom of losing not 1 but 2 very good Canadian starters, I think he has done a great job with the talent that he has.

If Gritty punched him, he probably deserved it. #FreeGritty

Just don't bodily propel me beneath public conveyance please.

Too bad we don't have a 🖕 option to provide feedback to a post.

I’m quite surprised myself. Talked to enough people at Grey Cup who would know and every single person said Collaros was good as gone. Curious to see how it plays out

I mean, if you can get two guys with their talent level. Why not? That would be the ideal situation. Except maybe for the response of media/fans when one has a shitty game. I'd like to see Collaros and Mcguire to start the year personally. With Mcguire getting significant time in the pre season and regular season games. Really want to see what that guy is made of.

How do you ever get rid of a player then

When your coach calls you to tell you the team is going a different direction, you've already played your last game for the team.

We have no idea what was actually discussed, so it's probably best to not assume anything just yet. This whole situation puts the Bombers in a bit of a precarious position. It'd suck to see agents use this as leverage for the respective clients.

Hot take: Unless we sign him he is going to a team whose OL is a hot mess. If I were Arbuckle and I had to choose a Lapo offence with Bob Wylie to coach up the OL it would look much better to me than a TO led by Jarious Jackson offence. Methinks there is more at play then best fit ($).

I'm no Maurice fan but this isn't his doing, it's Chevy's. He let way too many players walk while tying up $17M in cap space in aging Buff, Perrault and Kulikov. Now he's hooped, time to tank and start unloading the dead wood and cut your losses. This is a deep draft and maybe he can finally land that top 6 Centreman he's being renting the last 3 years.

Interesting article. I tend to think its time to let Matt go.

My guess is it wasn't a fluke. The guy has won 3 Grey Cups as a coach.

Not to say I want Hall gone, but I think there's still questions about who was responsible for that playoff run.....and that's fair.

he was super cool after the GC game, going around and shaking hands with every fan around the stadium. Had a LOT of family there with him....he was digging the moment.

Sounds like Rasheed Bailey is excited.. “I’ll Start By Saying Congratulations Coach Buck @pierceQB11 Nobody’s More Deserving Of The Job Than You . I’ve Watched You Everyday Layout All The Ground Work For This Moment. Can’t Wait For You To Lead Us This Year” 🙏🏽

Looks like tonight's lines will be: Connor-Scheifele-Laine Ehlers-Wheeler-Roslovic Perreault-Copp-Appleton Bourque-Shore-Harkins I actually think that's better than what we've had recently, aside from Lowry, of course. I'd also dump Bourque and play Vesa, but it's not surpising Bourque is in there to get another 4 minutes. I'd also like to see Harkins get a shot on PP2 instead of Perrault or Copp. He's obviously had a lot of PP experience with the Moose, so why not?

Brossy should start the next 5 games. Give Hellebyuck a break and show the team how bad they really are.

4 goals on 18 shots. And there is no urgency in this team. The fat lady has sung on this team. I'll be shocked if we win 10 more games this season

Born in Winnipeg!

Yeah, I don't think I would have called him up either, but he's up and I'd let him play over Bourque.