JuranBoldenRules

As I've said going on two years now, the best thing I can say about Nichols 2017-18-19 performance is that he's limited turnovers. Nichols has very visibly declined physically over the past couple seasons, he's very unlikely to improve at this point. Without Harris having all-time great seasons, all time great D and ST play in terms of turning the ball over, field position and keeping TD's off the board, we don't win many games with Nichols level of play and average D/ST. We should expect better at QB. But we can also try to run it back with great D and ST plus Harris carrying us, but as we know from 16-17-18 it's hard to win the games we need to win to get to the Cup, against that level of competition, with a very limited intermediate (10-20 yard) passing game. An OC that can scheme a screen game and consistently use misdirection and play action to his advantage would make any of our QB's better overall. My preference is Streveler 1A/veteran 1B for next season. Nichols could very well be the 1B. The offense for Nichols is basic and already there, we need an OC who can scheme the RPO stuff to suit Streveler and give it a go.

Sure, but look at the numbers the rest of the QB's around the league put up on Ottawa and Toronto especially. Nothing impressive by a veteran QB. Quite a few 400 yard games put up vs those two.

Nichols would be battling Fajardo and MBT for the 9th-10th spot on my QB power ranking in terms of guys I'd want to build around in 2020. I wouldn't mind keeping Nichols to backup/mentor/buttress Streveler, but we're spinning our wheels with Nichols at the very best. We aren't getting past the Calgary's and Hamilton's on Nichols arm IMO. Keep in mind Nichols now has a rebuilt shoulder in his throwing arm. Remember how Khari returned from that injury?

The fact that MOS has managed four straight seasons of double digit wins in a ruthless West Division without a star QB says a lot about the team and culture he has built here. You can feel the difference in attitude and approach all over the place. There is always an urgency to win the next play, but they aren't looking past that or stuck in bullshit pissing contests like some of the players/units on Hamilton and Sask are.

Sure except Nichols #'s are against OTT, TOR, BC, EDM. Collaros went 4-0 against the 3 best opposing D's in the league and didn't turn it over once in the playoffs. Hell of a stretch to try to say Nichols could have done the same, we'll never know.

We've also dominated field position and turned the ball over at a record pace since Nichols has been our QB. It all goes together. Is Nichols one of the 10 best QB's in the CFL in 2020? I don't think so. That's why I'd move on. How much should we take away from some good games against the 3 teams that didn't play the playoffs and some mostly poor ones against Hamilton and Calgary?

Nichols had real trouble handling pressure these past two seasons. It changed how defenses schemed against us. Blitz and don't lose track of Harris, do that and our passing game was dead in the water. To me that was the big difference between Nichols and Collaros, Collaros got the ball out quicker when he read pressure, and he also moved very well in the pocket where Nichols was usually quite stationary and not getting around or by anyone. I find it hard to extrapolate how Nichols played vs Hamilton the past 2-3 seasons into a Grey Cup win, but we'll never know. Our D certainly had lots of trouble with Hamilton in the past couple seasons but handled them in the Grey Cup game.

The Wired episode from the Grey Cup gives quite a glimpse into the different approaches where Lawrence is focused on "why are they comparing me with all these average players" and everything the Bombers say is about winning the game. Same kind of thing from the WF episode where the Riders are really unfocused in many of the clips they show or focused on personal ****. Steinhauer has some work to do to build the type of culture O'Shea has built here.

Popp was fired because he's awful at his job.

222 yards passing in the Grey Cup. The ability to make those tight window throws to get first downs and quick throws to beat pressure is the big issue to me. Nichols was by far the worst of the 3 who started for us this season at these two things, yes even worse than Streveler. Our ability to score enough points this season with Nichols was hugely dependent on two things, the D/ST dominating field position and providing our offense with many possessions starting on the opponent side of midfield (or just scoring themselves) and Harris. There weren't many 60-70-80 yard scoring drives even against crap opponents. Too many games we've lost the past two seasons with Nichols simply as a result of our O not being able to stay on the field. There's lots of issues with scheme too, but Nichols has never looked the same since the knee injury just prior to 2018, and I'm not sure I want to hitch my wagon to his recovery from a pretty significant shoulder joint injury.

That's where the rapper got the name. Rhymes was a pretty prominent NCAA player.

I think it all comes down to who the OC is. I don't believe that Lapo can scheme a passing game to fit Streveler. If Lapo is back, Nichols will be the starter. I feel it is an extreme long-shot that Collaros is interested in staying here if Toronto is an option, even Ottawa might be an option too. I would like to see the Bombers hire an OC who really understands how to scheme RPO and 3 man routes to cut down the field for Streveler and use him as the weapon he is, so really a mix of Run-and-Shoot and the option stuff. Streveler draws so much attention that if we could scheme RPO with run options and quick passing/screens we'd have a very dynamic offense incorporating the skills of all the playmakers we have Harris, Demski, Grant/Whitehead/Nelson and some really big targets in Lawler and hopefully Wolitarsky.

Adams is really physical but tends to get lazy in his routes. One big play we could have had in Sask if he just completes his route at speed. But then see what he does to finish the big run by Harris on 2nd and 17 after Streveler gets called for OC. I don’t know. Definitely a guy who’s bought into the mindset of the team but I think we could get a better player at his price.

I think Glen Young would be DC and they’d have to find a LB/DL coach. From what I’ve heard Hall was really close to retiring each of the past two off-seasons. Who knows maybe this is the right time after the championship.

It was so slow developing pre-snap I was yelling "timeout" at the screen.

Yeah we had Dunigan and McManus signed with BC in 93 where he split time with Barrett and Austin.

Hervey is going to have a hard time making an experienced hire. I’m surprised he didn’t get canned.

Well it’s a signing bonus. The bonus is paid at signing. Could have made it more of a reporting bonus but still if a guy is a prick he just has to show up for first day of camp and then retire. The league needs to work on standard wording in agreement to be able to claw back bonuses if players don’t fulfill their obligations under it. The NFL sure claws back bonus money and fast.

The condition is Collaros re-signing here, free agent or otherwise. The only way the Bombers sign Collaros without coughing up the pick is to sign him after the draft. Any sign and trade deal through another team would be void or result in the Bombers coughing up the pick.

We were the highest scoring TEAM in the league. You can win with Nichols providing the competition is relatively average/poor and D/ST score a lot. Sort of the Sask 2018 model with Collaros. I don’t think you win a Grey Cup that way. Our D and ST scored just under 9 points a game directly in our first 7 wins and handed the ball over to the O inside the red zone almost once a game in the 7 wins. So that’s about 13 points per game on average from the D/ST, and we were scoring just over 30 in those games. A good O on its own should put up 21-24 points a game and a great one is more like 27-28. With Nichols we were well under 20 this season even in wins against mostly putrid opposition (Ottawa x2, BC x2, Edmonton, Toronto, Calgary Janarion night). Nichols was pretty bad to close 18, worse in 19 and now coming off a devastating injury to his throwing shoulder. To me at this point I’d bring in an OC who can scheme RPO and a great run/screen game and go all-in on Streveler with Nichols or Collaros backing up.

I wouldn't be surprised if all the OL on that list moved on to other teams or retirement. In a weird twist I think the imports would be tougher to replace than the non-imports. Most of the 30+ guys could be moved on from IMO. A guy like Adams is a pretty big meh to me, sure made a few plays in the playoffs but I think a guy like Lawler should be our #1 receiver heading into next season. If Adams came cheap sure keep him, but wouldn't pay much into 6 figures to make it happen. I'd go up to $165-175k to keep Wolitarsky and make him our primary slot receiver. If you had in order of targets Lawler, Woli, Bailey, Whitehead/Grant/rookie/FA, Demski, Petermann....that's a pretty awesome group IMO. You've got size, speed, hands.

Keep in mind we started this season with our 3 NI OL starters from the last few seasons either injured or not on the roster. This team overcame everything, too many examples to post. So many guys came onto the roster and even if they ended up back off the roster they all provided huge plays and contributed to wins. So really it comes down to leadership, building and maintaining a culture that envelops all the individuals within it and those who arrive into it. O'Shea is the star.

Wait a few weeks the Bombers will have nicer stuff produced. All that's up currently is the generic CFL stuff where it's basically "insert team logo here."

Teams sell the rights to the local broadcasts, TSN owns rights to nationally broadcasted game, Grey Cup. Corus used to own the Grey Cup rights.

Watch the last two seasons of Last Chance U for an example of why that statement is complete BS.