JuranBoldenRules

Honestly with the inconsistency of our offence and more precisely QB play for 4 games this season it's impressive that we've basically been in every game, for 3 quarters in the case of the Calgary game.

Passing Charts Interesting from Marshall Ferguson. Nichols completed 5 passes over 10 yards on Friday night. There is absolutely no way that's by design. That's a guy who is taking a long time to progress through his reads (too long) and move the ball leaving himself with no options. Also from Ferguson:

Nichols has put up basically the same numbers with each team and OC he's played with. The one thing he's done better the past two seasons is significantly decrease the amount of turnovers he is responsible for.

TBH I wouldn't count that Adams catch as difficult. He chose to grab it one handed. The ball was placed where only he could get it and he had a step on the DB. He chose not to turn his shoulders and took it one handed but also could have rose up and caught it with two.

Not sure it matters. We couldn't move the ball for long stretches. We have a great OL. If our QB threw for 400 yards we wouldn't worry about our rushing game.

Those phony subjective stats are kind of a joke to be honest.

Consistently executing the basics would be a good start. Watching Nichols in the pocket he's clearly struggling with pre-snap reads, either making bad ones or not trusting the ones he's making, and really struggling to account for blitzes (luckily BC only blitzed intermittently). There's a lot of double clutching and dancing when he isn't under much pressure. That is a really bad sign. He seems to do better when they give him those little quarter rolls to move the launch point and get his shoulders towards his target. Otherwise he's doing a lot of twisting and tossing some funky inaccurate tosses on anything downfield. Obviously we can't see film quality footage but I'd assume his indecision and slow release is often leading to the number of checkdowns he's "forced" into. Simply, the ball has to be moving faster whether they determine it's on Nichols or play calling, and those two can help each other out.

He had 3 great drives. That's excellent. If our D didn't come up huge repeatedly with the field tilted and both D and teams score or set up the offence in the red zone it's a blow out. Guy needs to find some kind of consistency. And it was half of the 3rd Q and most of the 4th where we couldn't get a first down. Not exactly clutch.

Nichols didn't get a first down for a full quarter. He absolutely did not have a better passing game, 150 fewer yards. Don't care too much about completion percentage when you aren't throwing longer than 5 yards most of the time.

Think they probably both saw something BC was doing leaving the middle of the field open plus took the shot thinking the D was spent and the O was not moving the ball (no first downs and 2 turnovers in 6 possessions after the 2 TDs to start the half). O'Shea didn't give much detail but said Medlock had the green light if he saw the key they were looking for. Does that mean something from film study they had on for the whole game? Or on the sideline tonight? Or that punt specifically?

Bizarre man...you're comparing Jennings and Lulay. Lulay is turning the ball over at a much higher rate than Jennings who you called a turnover machine. Just ******* bizarre.

Why was that dumb? It was called a completion on the field. He had to challenge to get the incompletion.

So is Lulay. 5 TD's 4 INTs, plus a INT on a 2 pt convert that was nearly returned back for 2 vs Hamilton, so basically 1:1 TD/INT ratio. His ball wasn't great to start and sailed more and more as the games wore on.

One was a starter who came back. The other was his backup who separated his shoulder.

I think we need a DB at safety too. There's the threat of Loffler taking someone's head off sure, but he's slow, and not very impactful generally. I think he'll be a hell of a WIL when he won't get caught in coverage as often and will be in closer proximity to the ball, covering less ground. He's a good tackler. I'd platoon Knox and Hurl, shift Loffler down to WIL and pick a DB to play safety.

Comes down to using run formations IMO. Most of our run plays start with our OL in 2 point stances and Harris getting the ball moving east-west, super slow developing. We run a ton of empty backfield so opposing D knows there's no chance of a run (especially if Dressler isn't motioning across). They don't really run between the tackles per se everything is a read play where the back is trying to wrap around the tackle and get loose, only cuts back if there's a gap. Because the handoffs are out of shotgun with everyone flat footed the D are coming at Harris or any back downhill. We need to reverse that equation and let our guys tee off.

I think the flashes he shows, the 2-3 drives a game where he's on fire, might do that regardless of record. I think there are a lot of issues with playcalling. Things work, then disappear. Misdirection works amazingly, but is only good for the 2nd and 3rd quarters, no commitment to a run game even with an overpowering OL crew and some great backs, one who can't get on the roster. Nichols doesn't have a quick enough release to run a very diverse passing game, but they sure as hell can help him out with a run game.

250 yard QB in a league where 300 yards is average. Only reason we are in these games with good teams is because our D and special teams can score and put the O in the redzone. Can't move the ball reliably. Can't even get first downs for long stretches. O is not improving even with continuity from last season. Lapo better figure out how to move it with what he's got and better utilize the whole roster. An all-star QB isn't going to appear to save his bacon.

If they are throwing deep that bodes well for our turnover count. I'm more worried about Johnson and defending the slip screens they like to run against zone.

Rightfully so. It's been BS from day one. Tens of millions below cost. The mortgage keeps growing because they keep running into more trouble and requiring more financing, not actually making payments on the big chunk. Fact is we were lied to by the previous government, Asper and previous Blue Bomber administrators. They low balled the cost to get approved and the taxpayer will end up paying for it. Do I care about that? No I don't. It was necessary, the stadium. The lying should really result in people locked up, and not just for this project. The development/construction industry and politicians of the 00s and early 10s pulled a lot of cons on us.

That is not unique to the CFL, particularly on special teams plays. I'm always looking for flags.

I don't think they would have overturned it. Does it happen 20 times a game and only get called a few times? Yes. Is it a penalty? Yes. You can't block in the back. It's literally the first thing you are taught when you're 8 years old in full pads for the first time, much like checking from behind in hockey. Even though Miller cut in front of Noel that doesn't mean he can coast through him. It's on him. I'm also not so sure about the "he was gone" argument because he still had one more cut to make from the sideline in and potentially could have been caught. Personally I don't like those calls. They are so inconsistent on blocking penalties on returns.

Disagree. With Lulay's shoulder issues any pass over 5 yards is a risk. He is going to turn the ball over a ton. Decent amount of luck against a discombobulated D in Hamilton and still had some big turnovers.

You would need way more than 2 crews. If you think they are bad now you think they'll be better fatigued? Plus full timers would need salaries in the high 5 figures, maybe even low 6. Most of them right now are police officers, lawyers, teachers, insurance brokers etc. They aren't giving up their actual careers for $50,000 a year.

Exactly. TSN is already giving Ottawa the out and Ottawa is already whining about it. But it happens to everyone, the Bombers just had a short week, and the Eastern teams have minimal travel. Ottawa isn't leaving their time zone and they have an hour of travel to Toronto. IMO the team with the "two in one week" schedule should always be an eastern team unless it is a Western team given three consecutive home games.