TBURGESS

If we lost this game, it would be all about the 5 turnovers. We won, so folks either ignore them or just explain them away. The title of this thread is Nichols is the man. That has a very different connotation than Nichols is more than a serviceable backup QB. Sure Nichols got hit on the first fumble. It's still up to him to hold onto the ball. Wouldn't be any different if it was Willy or Reilly or any other QB for that matter.

2.. both of his fumbles.

Way to gloss over everything. nichols threw deep balls better then marve or brohm. He executed the offense properly. Made better fakes and moved the ball with his feet when needed. Did he play mistake-free? No. Did it look like his first game as a bomber after 4 practices? Yes. I dont think many are clamouring for him to be #1 but many see his value and that he is leagues better then previous QBs.. Give the man his due. If he doesnt make the first downs and move the chains, maybe our defense tires out again.. You're the one whose glossing over his mistakes. Better than Marve/Brohm? Sure. I said as much in my post. 'The Man'? After 1 game? Where he played inconsistently at best? Nah. We've seen lots of QB's have a good half before. Most don't end up being 'The Man'.

Great game by Edmonton last night in the pouring rain. Nice to see that Calgary is indeed beatable. Good fun to watch two good teams taking their shots at each other. Best game of the weekend so far.

It's amazing what a win will do around here. Nichols didn't win the game last night the defence did. Nichols could have cost us the game with 3 turnovers in the first half, but he threw a TD pass (The first since Willy went down?) so now he's 'the man' and should be paid like a starter? IMO, Brohm/Marve/'A dozen or so other backup QB's' have set the bar so low that Nichols just looks like our saviour. He's a big upgrade over our other backup QB's, but lets see what he can do for more than a single game against the worst defence in the league before we make any silly proclamations about him.

Muamba and it's not even close. Star NI's play every down. You hope that backup QB's don't get to see the field for more than 3 or 4 games.

Gotta see it from Muamba's standpoint. If the money's the same (Us Matching), then it's a no brainer to sign with the team that's got a real chance of being the GC winner this year. Closer to home too. I was actually thinking Toronto as Greenwood keeps going down to concussions.

We already did that with Mack. See how that worked out?

Letting folks have another year when they haven't been producing is a bigger problem than firing them and starting over. Assuming we don't make the playoffs, and quite frankly that's a pretty good assumption... Hanging on to O'Shea and the rest of the coaches for another year to see if they improve will end up being like hanging on to Mack for that last year to see if he improved. Same results should be expected.

We'll need 8 or 9 wins to make the playoffs. That means winning 5 or 6 of our last 8 games just to make the last playoff spot. If we lose this week, we will have played the weakest team and will need to win 5 or 6 of the last 7 games. Pretty much next year territory already.

I do it for Testman or Austin too.

I'd absolutely love Huffer back in Winnipeg and I'd be willing to 'overpay' him to get him here and to throw out all of our current coaches and GM if he were to take the position. It would be the same as when BC hired Buono and I'd expect the same results in year 2.

My guess is that MB lasts the rest of the season and the whole coaching staff gets replaced in the offseason.

We've been trying to get rid of Greaves since we signed Bryant and Picard in the offseason. I'm surprised that we got as much for him as we did. The 2nd round pick will come in handy next year to get a top 10 draft pick. Edmonton won't have to start a DT in their O line from now on, which should make them better and they don't need the O lineman they traded now that they've got Greaves.

Good trade for us. Wonder what Edmonton was thinking? I guess Greaves is better than a DT through.

You've got the order all wrong. First, bring in good people who prove that they can do the job, then keep them for continuity. Keeping bad coaches for continuity sake is how we end up with MB as OC for far too long.

Then we get a week of "I told ya so" and "We need to keep this group together" and "We're on the right track" and "O'Shea's a great HC" and so on before we fall back to earth the week after. Honestly, we should win this week. Regina's only won a single game all year, it's very hard to win back to back and we're at home.

The first sign of adversity was the 1-8 second half of last season. O'Shea wouldn't have lasted the whole last season in Montreal or Regina or probably anywhere other than Winnipeg where we stick with what's not working for way too long.

Mike's unfortunately been the smirking not deadly type. If he was winning 2 out of 3 games instead of losing 2 out of 3 games, no one would really complain about it. In fact, he'd be some type of saviour around here even if he didn't win the cup.

Folks who want to keep O'Shea on if he doesn't make the playoffs this year don't seem to understand the lessons that history teaches us. The list of rookie HC's who didn't make the playoffs in their first 2 years who didn't get fired has to be very small. The list of rookie HC's who didn't make the playoffs in their first 2 years and then went on to become good to great HC's is equally short. I'm not going to go through all the HC's in the last 20 years for all the teams, but I can tell you that the first and the second list contain exactly zero members when it comes to Bomber HC's in the last 20 years. Maybe someone who thinks we should keep O'Shea can go through the rest of the league and let me know if either group has ever happened in the CFL in the last 20 or so years.

Our defence was the best part of our game, but come on... 161 yards rushing against, 355 total yards, 37:45 time of possession for the Riders. Those are horrible stats for our defence especially against a team starting their 3rd string QB, who'd never won a CFL game. Got tired? Good defences stop the other team and get off the field. Ours didn't.

We've got a shot next week. It's hard to win back to back especially for a team that's only won one game all year. Regina isn't a very good team. Of course we aren't either. We're playing for our playoff lives. A loss would mean we're pretty much out of the playoffs especially if BC wins next week. Nichols could provide a spark that Brohm can't. He's only going to have a couple of practices so he'll be working with a much reduced playbook. The players by themselves could fix the stupid penalty problem this week which will allow our defence to get off of the field quicker. Lirm could punt perfectly and keep the ball out of the middle of the field. Our OC could call some deep patterns, some outside runs, some screens, some quick hitters and move the pocket around. Of course they could have done all these some other time in the year too. The Riders could continue to take penalties that take TD's off the board and make giant mistakes like snapping the ball 30 yards down field and failing to recover it. The giant green monkey is off of the Riders back. They aren't as likely to fail in the 4th now that they've won a game. I'm expecting them to run at us like they did in the second half all game long. If they establish the run and make smart decisions, they will likely end up 2-9.

It wasn't our defence putting the offence in a good spot. It was a huge error by the Riders offence that gave our offence a very short field.It was an error on SSKs part true .. without the recovery .. it's a punt and change in field position (albeit marginally with the wind) and again, you're relying on an inept offence to move the ball.The defence got pressure early in this game .. they WERE doing their part. The defence simply fell on a ball that Messam tried to fall on and missed. That wasn't a great defensive play. It was a horrible offensive play by the Riders. The defence did it's part in the first half and fell apart in the second half. Much like it's done in many games this year. No... it's not because they get tired. It's because the other teams make adjustments and we don't.

The D is not 'folding' they are getting scorched in second half's because the opposition is making adjustments (when they aren't taking stupid undisciplined penalties). These are deeper rooted problems than just running out of gas.It has to be disheartening to a proud player who is giving his all on defence and who knows the game is winnable if only the fourletterwording offense could play even half-decent. I don't wonder at the frustration penalties.The offense gave them a 10 nothing lead to run with.The defence put the offence in position to score 7 of those points. The offence showed ZERO sign they were capable of sustaining any sort of drive from the second quarter on. It wasn't our defence putting the offence in a good spot. It was a huge error by the Riders offence that gave our offence a very short field.

Walters will fire O'Shea eventually or he'll be gone too.