Doublezero

Lucky

He still might have a breakout year. Only it will be with another team.

Yes, releasing Simonise is a way to keep both Augustine and Oliveira - who will spell Harris in that RB/SB hybrid - I hope.

He looks to be running OK here: https://www.atlantafalcons.com/video/qb-davis-takes-it-43-yards-10944749

That was a mistake, he should have been given more playing time in Winnipeg - instead they gave the ball to Brian Brohm and we all know how that went.

Based on his stats from last year with the Redblacks when he played in 8 games. More opportunity there than he ever had here. His completion percentage and QB efficiency rating from 2018 was higher than Streveler, Collaros, Pipkin, Jeff Matthews and even BLM. Plus, Davis can take off and run very effectively. That's what I like about him, he's a mobile QB who can only get better with more game time reps. I think he's exciting to watch. Just my opinion but now that he's the starter for them, lets wait and see

Davis wasn't given enough regular season reps in Winnipeg to make a meaningful evaluation. He's above average and I'm not surprised Redblacks just named him QB #1 for regular season: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/dominique-davis-oittawa-redblacks-quarterback-1.5160199

Streveler is going to be fine and could be our No. 1 long before the end of the season. Not worried about him. I am more worried about Lapolice's playcalling, and whether the O-line is going to gel. It looks like the playbook has been tweaked as the QBs have been repping alot of rollouts. That's a good strategy should the O line struggle, and gives both Nichols and Streveler more time to find the open receiver. They both seem to need that time - but for different reasons. That said, it'll be the defence that carries the Bombers to glory this year.

I heard Rod Black describe Mexico as "Central America" - what a f***ing bonehead. The QB play for both Ham-Ott in this game, the playcalling and offence in general looked to be way ahead of where the Bombers appear to be at this stage. In fact, the overall speed, compete level and violence in the Ham-Ott game made Bombers vs Esks look like pixies playing in fairyland. Hayden Moore and Dane Evans are going to be good replacements for Masoli when he gets hurt. Crockett and Sumpter look to be excellent receiver finds for the Cats. Dom Davis looked unsurprisingly good for the Redblacks (I have always been a Dom Davis fan) and he should be the starter there ahead of Jennings - in fact #3 QB Danny Collins looked better than Jennings. DeVonte Dedmon looks like a real find at WR and returner for Redblacks.

More, most likely

Thought it was interesting that watching Nichols interview here https://www.bluebombers.com/2019/05/30/matt-nichols-may-30/ you can see evidence of what looks like Chinese cupping therapy on his throwing shoulder - maybe even needle cupping: https://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/cupping-therapy#1 I can see why QBs would do that - there's a lot of unnaturally violent repetitive rotation of that shoulder joint and surrounding tissue. So if you can help speedy recovery, why not?

Witnessed all of them play except for Jack Jacobs and I voted for Dieter Brock - The Birmingham Rifle. He was with us for a decade - we had some great teams in that era. Dunigan was my second choice. What a warrior. Tom Clements was a joy to watch too, it was a fab time to be a fan of the Blue & Gold.

No idea about Neuf. But Harris looked perfectly fine on the sidelines yesterday and MOS suggested they were holding him out so that the depth guys could get more reps.

Standouts at receiver today for me were Rasheed Bailey and Corey Washington. Fast, sharp route-runners with excellent hands who get the waggle. Wolitarski caught everything I saw thrown his way - and so did Petermann. Simonise is smooth and very, very quick, he looks like his head is in it. He dropped one short out pattern that was right in his mitts but then Darvin Adams dropped x3. Darvin then redeemed himself with a contested TD catch that he snatched away violently (I did not catch the number of the defender who got hornswoggled on that one). Marcus Sayles can really motor and, as others said, Winston Rose and Derek Jones close unbelievably fast on the ball. Gaitor and Fenner both looked good. Sayles might have got a bit of an ouch but it doesn't look like anything an ice bath won't fix. Agree with what others said about Oliveira and Augustine. Both hit the hole really fast, straight downhill. Oliviera got around the end on one play though, running free and clear, on a sweep of all things - you can do that if you're an Oak Park Raider but it doesn't happen often at this level because the defenders are so quick. I heard some grumbling about Nichols from fans behind me in the stands after he missed a couple of 15 yd outs - but he does look to be in the best physical shape I've seen him in since he arrived in Winnipeg. He was rolling out and running a bit more than I've seen in the past. Could that be a new wrinkle in the playbook to accommodate .... Streveler, who missed one or two tosses as well - overthrows where, who knows, it could have been the receiver who messed up. Both QB1 and QB2 were sharp with the short pass, and like others have said the playbook looks to be almost fully installed. The new QB #12 Sean McGuire looks still to be adjusting to the passing lanes on the wider field. He hit the shorter passes but the long balls were way off the mark. It's still early but he doesn't look to be ready to unseat Bennett at the #3 QB at this stage. Lucky Whitehead can catch the football - he made a couple of nice catches in the receiver spot - but what caught my eye was on the returns - he is lightning quick - wow. Honest to God there were a whole lot of bodies out there in uniform. I think we are going to win the Grey Cup.

Agreed. Two-back set might be good. Fewer runs up the gut. More short swing passes.

And was the ball there? Completed pass?

Agreed. Nichols is not the kind of QB who will single-handedly win you games. But he can single-handedly lose them for you, as he did last year - at least 3 times - ie: 7 picks in a string of 4 losses where he hung on to the ball too long and looked like the reincarnation of Drew Willy or T.J. Rubley.

Did Thompkins play any more games after he got stretchered off the field with a neck/head injury last September?

We can disagree about what we see in the video. I think he has a slight limp. You don't. I think he's looking a bit pudgy, you don't. No prob. I'm only responding to the most recent video of him as opposed to one that someone posted on the thread from last year around this time - claiming it is current, which it ain't. You can interpret my comments as an insult but that's not my intention. I really hope Matt has a bounce back season. The cheeseburger thing came from something Matt said in the Free Press Jan 17, which surprised me a bit coming from a pro athlete. Matt Nichols is spending the winter trying to eat better. Maybe shed a few pounds. Get a little bit quicker. "I'm a huge cheeseburger guy. So that's a hard one to get rid of. But the hardest thing is my kids eat mac-and-cheese and grilled cheese all the time, so I've got salmon and broccoli and I'm looking at a half-eaten grilled cheese that I just want to finish off. That's the hardest temptation, is not finish my kids' food," Nichols said Thursday, back in the city for an off-season check-in. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/bombers/nichols-cuts-back-on-burgers-and-hes-starving----for-a-grey-cup-504513472.html

What's ridiculous about it? Here, decide for yourself. Is he favouring his knee? Does he look lean and mean like a QB machine? https://www.bluebombers.com/2019/01/25/matt-nichols-visits-brandon-wheat-kings/ Anyhow, like I said, I don't care if he looks like Wilkie as long as he plays lights out.

Actually no. It was first posted May 8, 2018 and the episode was recorded before Matt's training camp knee injury. You want to know what kind of shape he looks like he's in recently? Take a look at the visit to Brandon from the Bombers site from last month - he looks like he's been eating too many cheeseburgers and is favouring his knee with a slight limp. That said, I don't care if he's shaped like Tom Wilkinson as long he bounces back from a very pedestrian performance in 2018 and plays like he did in 2017.

Dave Campbell from CHED radio said Nichols contract was "restructured" - no idea why anyone would assume Nichols got an extra year beyond 2020 or more money beyond the $455,000 he's set to make in 2019. "Restructured" usually means the opposite. The club goes to Matt and says "We'd like make some revisions your deal ..." Maybe they just decided they don't want to pay him a $225,000 roster bonus next January 15 as they did this year. Or maybe they want to make that bonus contingent on certain performance milestones. And asked him to agree to that. Some intrepid journalist should be digging this out ... Here's what Dunk said Feb 6 before any of this: https://3downnation.com/2019/02/06/bombers-qb-matt-nichols-set-for-pay-increase-but-bombers-have-an-out/

What do these changes in player status mean, from CFL.ca today: 2019-02-19 WPG NICHOLS, Matt QB I Eastern Washington Add To Active Roster 2019-02-19 WPG NICHOLS, Matt QB I Eastern Washington Delete From Active Free Agent

We can still blame him over there.

Spooner to Esks and Fogg to Argos