17to85

players don't like to always be looking over their shoulder for the hook.

but it's two upgrades out of 5 positions on the offensive line. Bond is better at LG than Hardrick and whichever one of Hardrick or Foketi plays RT is way better than Neufeld was. So you straight across improve 2 positions and not only that, you don't have the young NIs isolated like they were. Goosen has big bad Bond next to him now and makes his job easier, Chungh has a better right tackle next to him rather than a liability. You strength the entire line making those two choices and the results speak for themselves. Nichols and Bond came in at the same time and the difference in the OL play was night and day. Nichols gave things a spark to be sure and he wasn't dealing with the mental issues Willy had but the single biggest difference is the improved play of the offensive line. The defense got a hell of a lot better from those first couple weeks of the season as well and that really didn't have much to do with the offense. The D sucked ass against Montreal and in Calgary weeks one and two and then slowly improved. They had a big turn over night against Hamilton and they won the game, they played real well against Edmonton in a losing effort and then the changes happened to the offense and boom, 5 game win streak.

I still remember a half time segment that Matt Dunigan did explaining how the Bombers basically made the defense choose if they were going to double up on Stegall or Bruce and Khari was just putting it up to whichever one had single coverage. Not a bad way to go about things.

And I do believe that he will look like a different player if he gets back in, but I don't see how he gets back in unless Nichols all of a sudden starts turning the ball over a lot or gets hurt but the OL is keeping the qbs a lot cleaner so he's not as likely to get hurt.

You know I knew that Rider fans were fair weather and band wagon fans, but it just bottles the mind to see them reacting like they are this season. Your team sucks and has since day 1 of the season but the only possible explanation is that the league is screwing them over... not the way Jones took a hatchet to the roster? Not the side show like atmosphere he's fostered there with the short rope for players? I mean we saw the same **** here with Mike Kelly and didn't cry conspiracy, we just said yeah Kelly is a clown and he's hurting the team. The Riders are fortunate that they have Durant who is a real good qb otherwise it would be even uglier.

Confidence is key though and sometimes you do need a spark from a benching as significant as your starting qb.... that being said I don't believe Nichols is doing anything right now that Willy isn't capable of. Willy won when his D forced 6 turnovers too. The D has improved since the start of the season, the OL has improved, the run game has improved. There is a lot going on now that wasn't happening when Willy was in there independent of what Willy was doing. Yeah he had issues with his confidence but the team collectively has improved since he was sat down. You gotta try pretty hard to lose when your D is winning the turn over battle as lopsidedly as the Bombers have been this past stretch.

Yeah that game right there is why I love the CFL. Back and forth, up and down, lots of big plays. Real entertaining way to end the labour day weekend.

Thanks for dragging up bad memories.

All the bitching about a PI call is simply a bad football team looking to make excuses for their badness. I saw contact clearly when it first happened, obviously the refs did too. That it might have been a soft call is of no consequence. They were calling soft PI all game long so it just stuck with what was already happening. My advice for the Riders is to get over it and learn 2 football noobs.

Or how about the OL just looks flat out better? Harris numbers alone back that up. No rin game what so ever means a defense can tee off on the qb but when the run game is a concern they have to account for it

Man oh man ray is having a hell of a time with the pressure

Khari was also willing to take a risk and let his receiver win a battle. Sometimes you gotta take those risks

Don't ******* jinx it guys

Lapo tends to try and over think things a lot, one of the reasons I was never happy bringing him back.

Here's a positive, we've already won more games this year than we have most years in recent memory and we have a huge chance to make the playoffs cause there are plenty of winnable games left on the schedule.

if it's a penalty at the start of a game it should still be a penalty at the end of the game too. I hate this idea that it's OK to cheat when it's late in a game but not early, it sort of invalidates the early part of the game.

You could see a few times yesterday where Dressler and Nichols were just not on the same page. They get that worked out the offense automatically improves because Dressler might be a midget but he's a good receiver.

This **** show and poor record looks real good on Jones. Couldn't happen to a more deserving *******

You want a medal for beating me in golf? Anyone can do that, I suck at golf and freely admit it.

They were calling super soft PI all game long why be surprised they did it on the final drive too?

Like any game the qb made some good ones, some poor ones, had receivers blow some on him. Lapo is going full 2011 though. D is dominating the turnover battle so he is full on just don't **** up mode. 0 risks and boring as shut offense that struggles without the D getting them primo field position

Wooooooooooooooo!

I am hoping that Weston Dressler is still pissed at Jones for tossing him aside and makes it his goal in life to make then regret it.

Yeah steep rock is nice. Lotta fun memories up there

Ooooo Moosehorn that's a shame as well... Full disclosure I'm from Ashern so I can't really talk either