Doublezero

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.

Cory Watson shouldve caught that throw from Lulay. He hasn't caught a pass in about 5 years. So glad he is long gone from here.

I thought JM2 would be better too. Same style of QB as Vernon Adams so Khari would not need to tweak MTL schemes. Clearly it was a gross error to think Manziel could succeed after just a few days of practice. Even Adams, with 4 years in the CFL, couldn't do much behind that O-line. But that MTL team is just plain bad - from the coaching on down. Kavis Reed is being revealed as a joke, again. I feel sorry for the fans in Montreal. This is bad for whole league.

Manziel might be pretty good. He's had 3 months in the league to watch and learn, albeit not too long to learn Montreal's system. Looking forward to the game.

That was an amazing comeback by the Argos. Had a feeling they could do it and they did! Does anyone know what all the delays were about in the final minute, after 3rd and inches was confirmed?

Reilly has phenomenal escapability, plus outstanding receivers in Williams and Walker, plus horseshoes. Sask has the better defence. Collaros gave Regina's offence some life. But often, whenever things get wobbly for him, he blames his team-mates. And that is poison.

wow

QB Bryan Bennett on punt cover at 1:26ish -and he's in on the tackle! But looking at the set-up there's gotta be a play off this formation in the future.

I was a big fan of Randle - just a shutdown DB. But sometimes I wonder if he's lost a step - especially last half of last year and first few games this season his play has been spotty. He was interviewed this week - Thursday - talked about his competition with Heath etc and gave every indication he was playing - so it is a bit mysterious.

Play calling on the 3rd down conversions was terrible. The QB keeper around the end was used in the prior game vs BC and Lions were expecting it. Later, 3rd and goal from the 2, you ask the QB to run up the gut from the shotgun formation, c'mon. Even if your QB is built like a linebacker everyone knows it is a run. All the 3rd down conversions/gambles were a shambles. Too clever by half, as they say.

He has been a violent brute on teams - just the way we like 'em. But I think he's nicked.

Been extremely impressed with Lapo's play calling this year and that highlight thread was fun to watch. Streveler reminds me quite alot of Dunigan.

I was pretty disappointed with the play of Dressler and Leggett.