Doublezero

Stamps = horseshoes.

Darby picks up a Green fumble and runs for a TD but Masoli chases him 40 yards and tries to cut him off to prevent the score. Love to see that in a QB.

Amen.

They just keep finding ways to disappoint.

Matt Noodle-Arm Nichols.

Maurice Leggett got checked out by doctor today, according to O'Shea. Hope he's okay but that achilles from last season is a hard injury to come back from 100%

Yes, injuries have limited his mobility that's for sure. He still could have made some kind of effort after tossing a dump pass right into the arms of the defender. Davis must've have been his 4th or 5th read lol.

Mad at the whole bunch of them - players and coaches - after two crap losses. But the way whiny Nichols didn't even bother to chase Ja'Gared Davis after his bonehead pass was intercepted has put me permanently off that dude. I want Streveler in there next time, anyone but Nichols truth be told.

Don't forget that after the D finished last in just about every statistical category last season, that MOS said he would be taking a larger role in running the D this year. So don't be layin' it on Richie alone. Mike "we need more pressure Richie" O'Shea is involved in helping keep the D a finely-tuned machine.

He has no interest or knowledge of much of anything on the offensive side of the ball. Didn't you hear his comment when he was mic'd up during the Stamps game? "Defence is No. 1 always!" That is his passion and interest and expertise.

Stamps just followed the same max protect recipe as Ham and Ott. Sad Bombers didn't see it coming. Walters is probably a good scout of Canadian draft talent. MOS probably a good special teams coach. "We need more pressure Richie." lol about 20 mins too late. Way over their heads in their current roles with this club.

Richie Hall will fall this week. But there are deeper problems.

Second week in a row Harris has been repeatedly, repeatedly, stuffed running straight dive plays up the gut. You'd think they'd try something else after awhile. He looks slow and plodding. Is he hurt? Even when he gets a bit of space he's neutralized. We need some misdirection. Also, the O needs some other legit run threats to keep opponents guessing. Which is why Streveler and Flanders should start next game, along with Harris and Demski.

But Matt Nichols still gives us the best chance to win.

Love it when we beat the Stamps. Doesn't happen too often but when it does - it's a beautiful thing. Go Blue!

After the final whistle when Riders thumped the Stamps the other night, Calgary HC Dave Dickenson and his brother Riders ST Coach Craig Dickenson shook hands. Camera caught the jubilant Riders coach say to his deflated Calgary brother: 'We had to work for it. You'll take Winnipeg next week." Dave Dickenson replied: "We'll see." Calgary is an elite team but Riders showed Stamps are probably not as good as their 7-1 record shows. They are beatable. Nichols will have to be his best, make plays and shake off contact when the pocket shrinks. Bombers will have to get and early lead and limit turnovers and penalties. Bombers front 7 will have to seriously pressure BLM and limit the explosion plays. Crystal ball says Bryan Bennett might play a factor on specials.

Win-Loss isn't always directly correlated to QB play. Look at 2014. Drew Willy got credit for 5 wins in the first 6 games that year when it was actually defence and special teams that won those games for Winnipeg. People bought Drew Willy jerseys, despite the fact his play was actually pretty shaky. The Bombers then proceeded to lose the next 10 games out of 12. Those losses obviously weren't attributed to Willy either since Walters and MOS kept trotting out a futile and soul sucking Drew Willy as starter for another painful year and a half. Personally, I'd prefer to take entertainment value as the criteria for deciding which QB should play. Based on that, I bet most fans would take Streveler over Nichols. That's why they booed the decision to pull Streveler in the Redblacks game. Compared to Nichols, Streveler moved the ball, was fun to watch. Brought hope.

I won't speculate on why Nichols performance has been so lackluster compared with, say, last year. It's definitely not related to "talent". But if it is due to an undiagnosed or undisclosed physical limitation then he is not helping his team by not being forthcoming about it. If the problem is psychological then let's hope he turns it around. Either way, he probably would benefit from sitting and watching for a couple of games. O'Shea says Nichols gives us the best chance to win. Not sure that's necessarily true.

Nichols completion percentage in 2018, among QBs who have played 5 or more games, is 62.4%. That puts him behind Harris Reilly Masoli Mitchell Franklin Bridge and Streveler. For a starting CFL QB that is pretty much the bottom of the heap.

Ironically, the BBs whining about the boo-birds could precipitate even louder and more sustained negative vocality from the IGF grandstand if Bombers lay another egg at home.

In my humble view it's not a question of more or less mobility with Nichols. He's basically a pocket passer. The trouble is that he usually goes down on first contact when the pocket collapses. Seems unable to shake off the first hit and make a play. These days he seems to be playing in slow mo - and when he's forced to get rid of the ball quickly he's not always accurate with his throws. So that compounds things.

I hope you're right. The TD throws to Dressler and Demski were things of beauty. Nichols didn't move around much though. Pretty static in the pocket. That's unusual. This is the CFL after all.

Providing Nichols can get the ball anywhere close to the target. 3 of his mid-range throws vs Hammy were very nearly picks. 3 of his deep balls were wildly off target. Yes, the deep misses could have been the receivers messing up. But Masoli looked way more accurate than Nichols, who stood in the pocket all night. Why was that? By-week rust? Is he still injured?

Richie's D succeeds when we put sustained pressure on opposing quarterbacks. This year, we've been better since the front 7 have performed better. We're still giving up a lot of yards per game but not yielding as many points to opponents. In the past few years the O has had to score a gazillion points each game because the D was giving up so much. So far this year we've been better. I agree this next game will be a good test to see what kind of team the Bombers are.

Yes, last game vs Toronto was better. That game vs Hamilton was the low point.