AKAChip

One of the strangest things in the CFL right now is how often Hajrullahu is convinced his missed field goals actually were good.

I mean, the fact that Willy hasn’t stuck anywhere since leaving Winnipeg would indicate it wasn’t just a Lapo thing. I know you’ll say something along the lines of “Well Lapo clearly broke him beyond repair” and again, I can’t stress enough that I think Lapo is a huge liability right now. It just seems like you’re not willing to even consider that maybe Nichols has something to do with the issues the team has moving the ball in close games. I’m not even necessarily making a grand statement with this post, I’m just thinking about how different things would be had Nichols not been inserted into the lineup in some of the most favourable conditions imaginable.

On the topic of the time when Nichols replaced Drew Willy, I was inspired to look back to 2016 to the period immediately after the QB change. The Bombers started 1-4 with Drew Willy and then went on a seven game winning streak when Nichols came in but that hardly tells the entire story. Can't help but wonder how different things would be today at the QB position had that seven game streak, which undoubtedly (and rightfully so) entrenched Nichols as the long term starter for this team gone a bit differently. For one, Willy's numbers were surprisingly not that bad during the 1-4 start. Yes, I remember him being shellshocked and checking down a lot but doesn't that all sound familiar? It didn't help that of those four losses, two were against Calgary and one was against Edmonton. He still only turned the ball over four times in five games and was legitimately great in the win over Hamilton and the loss to Calgary. I agree that a change needed to be made and running Willy out of town was clearly not a mistake, but I guess the point of this all is that Nichols' play right now isn't really any worse than end stage Willy. It's the circumstances surrounding the rest of the team that are vastly different. Nichols comes in that season and the Bombers immediately go on a seven game winning streak. However, the best team BY FAR they beat in that stretch was an Eskimos team that finished 10-8. The other wins were two against the one-win Riders, one against the 7-11 Als and two against the 5-13 Argos (who had Logan Kilgore and Dan Lefevour as their starting QB in those two games). Yes, none of those are automatic wins but talk about favourable circumstances! The even crazier thing is, there was a three game stretch where the Bomber defence forced a combined 16(!) turnovers. It's nearly impossible to lose when you force five turnovers in a game, regardless of what your offence does. Nichols' average stats in that seven game streak? About 260 yards passing and one touchdown per game. Granted he didn't have to do much and wasn't turning the ball over, but his numbers were actually worse than Willy's against significantly weaker competition. And yes, many people will say the numbers don't matter as long as the team is winning and they weren't wining with Willy and they were with Nichols. I just find the circumstances around the QB change and the corresponding records very interesting and can't help but figure that going into that extremely easy stretch of the 2016 season had Willy not been benched at that exact moment, the team probably has a similar record and then where would things be at today? Likely neither Willy or Nichols are the QB for this team.

That's a fair point but the team around Willy was significantly worse than the team around Nichols. Winning has a way of absolving poor play. Problem arises when it's not sustainable and the warning signs are ignored.

Who was questioning the Bombers’ drafting? The distinct majority of people said the Bombers had the best draft of anyone this year.

I’d like to believe this is the case but last season, Streveler became less and less involved late in the year. Even with Nichols struggling badly. It seems unlikely that this type of thing is even on Lapo’s mind.

Hey Glen, Davis is older than Bo Levi Mitchell. Maybe it’s about time you stop calling him a “young” quarterback.

Very few people see Harris as a stud. He’s pretty bad. The fact that he’s an upgrade on Nichols says more about Nichols than Harris. And while I don’t personally love the strategy, there’s a massive difference between called screens and dumps off to the RB in a panic.

How in the world is JFG still in the league? He keeps finding new ways to humiliate himself.

What exactly is the downside to waiting out the rain? Coming back to IGF at midnight to watch the second half of the Edmonton game was an absolute blast. What is the league afraid of?

I don’t understand why the Riders insist on continually trotting Arceneaux out to play field receiver to get his 15 yards a game. He’s embarrassing himself out there. I get that field WR doesn’t get a ton of targets but they’re wasting the spot on a guy who both sucks and is expensive. Just terrible.

The point is Nichols stays healthy and the other two haven’t. Frankly, even when playing Nichols is only marginally more entertaining than BLM just standing on the sideline.

If you think Nichols gives this team a better chance to win than Reilly, there really is no reasoning with you. A trade isn’t going to happen and Reilly is likely far too expensive but if given a legitimate opportunity to make that deal, anyone with half a brain does it.

I am absolutely positive, beyond any shadow of doubt that if Harris were the QB for the Bombers and Nichols were the QB for the Eskimos and they were putting up the exact same numbers they have now, you’d be singing Harris’ praises and talking about how Nichols can’t push the ball downfield and relies on short passes.

Neither. Unless you count the ring Harris won as a backup.

I don’t doubt that much of this is true and it sucks because there are more and more reasons every game to give Streveler some more meaningful reps but the point still remains that Nichols flopped AGAIN late in a close game when he had a chance to close it out and the offence absolutely needed first downs to close it out and the ball was given to Streveler. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking on my part.

How many career snaps does Streveler have that you’re making this very decisive statement? Unlike “Matty” who is clearly a virtuoso in the pocket?

Augustine is a real RB but it destroys the element of surprise when it’s a RB running that play and not a receiver. Demski is what he is. He can make splash plays but he’s inconsistent and struggles when not in open space. Even then , running him up the gut it a recipe for failure.

Yeah. Most logical people don’t ignore all the warning signs just because the team won. The same don’t only see the negatives when the team loses.

1. No, he doesn’t. 2. I agree that gadget plays don’t work for an entire game but to pigeon-hole him into that is unfair when most of his reps since early last season have been short yardage and end game reps. And he looked not out of place in three early season starts straight out of college last season when he was given a chance to be a QB and not just a gadget guy. At the very least, he moves the ball and the team undeniably seems to get a jump from him being in the game. 3. Mostly see point two but I’d ask when hasn’t he shown he can do it? It’s not like Nichols is having even remote success throwing 20 times a game. Did the Stamps know what Arbuckle was capable of before he was pressed into duty? Again, not saying Streveler is the answer. That’s never been my rhetoric. Just that Nichols has been so bad that it’s hard to find a reason not to give the guy a chance.

This team has a ton of talent everywhere except QB. No team in football history is built so that special teams win it for you. You can’t account for one special teams TD in a game let alone two. This team loses miserably without those two TDs, unless you suggest that Nichols marches the team for a TD on both occasions. I think the concept that this team is built so that ST wins the game for you is ridiculous but even if we accept that as true, there’s only one reason why a team with this much talent would want to rely on teams rather than offence to win the game for them. I’ll let you guess what that might be.

It appears we’re at an impasse. I fully appreciate Lapo’s limitations as a playcaller. The marriage of Lapo and Nichols is one from hell that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. But it’s very easy to say it’s Lapo and not Nichols when we haven’t seen this offence run through anyone else since game 3 of last season.

I would hope so because using the Nichols playbook with Streveler would be beyond insanity. And yes, I see him besting “Matty” at all those metrics. And maybe they’ll actually move the ball in the second half every couple of games. Bare minimum it will be watchable, entertaining football.

Arbuckle was tremendous on both TD drives. I know it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a QB take control of the offence like Arbuckle did there but sometimes QBs make great plays. There was one throw to Rogers on a drag route from Arbuckle that I’ve never seen Nichols make in 4 years.

Lapo may be conservative but it’s never been quite this bad. I know you’ve been asked this before but do you honestly believe he’s calling upwards of 10 checkdowns a game? Nichols was hardly under pressure in this game, is the call wait for three seconds and then pass to Harris? I don’t expect you to see things how I see them. I admit I have no expectations of Nichols and I don’t like him as a player. Am I biased? Probably. But your bias against Lapo skews your opinion of Nichols just as much. I just can’t get behind the argument that the completion percentage indicates Nichols was “good enough”. Of course he had some good throws today. Some of the intermediate throws to Lawler were very good and the deep ball to Wolitarsky was a beautifully thrown ball. But his decision making and accuracy down the stretch was horrid. Forgive me for not being satisfied with just barely scraping by with a victory in a game where we scored two punt return touchdowns. And even then, Nichols needed to be pulled to close the game out.