OK, it IS Willy ...

[voodoochylde]

2 hours ago, Nash00 said:

Field position was huge in the first half but the way Nichols was moving the ball then he was having success so his numbers could arguably have been better with a longer field. Not going to complain when we start every drive in opposition territory though.

I will give the O the benefit of the doubt of playing safe to protect the lead but it was a little concerning that they struggled on 1st down so much after having great success in the 1st half on 1st down. Seemed like we tried to stretch the field a lot on first down, which led to 2nd and long a lot.

This.

I am all for giving the "second half offense" under Nichols the benefit of the doubt but for a unit that is really struggling to find success over the course of 60 minutes, I hate seeing any kind of let down.  The offense needs an identity, keep a foot on the throat of your opponent and do not let them off the mat. 

All that said, this win is very nice and I'm enjoying it.

[bearpants]

1 hour ago, voodoochylde said:

This.

I am all for giving the "second half offense" under Nichols the benefit of the doubt but for a unit that is really struggling to find success over the course of 60 minutes, I hate seeing any kind of let down.  The offense needs an identity, keep a foot on the throat of your opponent and do not let them off the mat. 

All that said, this win is very nice and I'm enjoying it.

I would have like to have seen at least one TD drive in there... of only in prep for the games where we're holding a 7 point lead rather than a 34 points lead...

[Nash00]

5 minutes ago, bearpants said:

I would have like to have seen at least one TD drive in there... of only in prep for the games where we're holding a 7 point lead rather than a 34 points lead...

The drive where we kicked the FG to go up 37-11 comes to mind here. 2nd and short and we run a toss to Harris that was doomed from the start. We stacked the left side and I was really hoping we would run a corner route to the endzone or at least use levels to force the DB to pick and worst case we find the guy underneath for the 1st down.

[White Out]

5 hours ago, M.O.A.B. said:

6 TD 0 INT in 2 games and 1 Qtr... and 2 W...  whats not to like.

One specific poster here remarked before the Edmonton game about how concerned the Nichols backers were. The post was very much along the lines of `cant wait to rub it in when Nichols sucks'. The reality is there are a small number of folks here who were so heavily invested on Willy that Nichols doing well is a complete rebuke that Willy wasn't a huge part of the problem. 

edit: Found the post , from wbbfan

I can feel the nervousness of the its all willys fault toxic group as they get to see nichols in edm. wonder how many games of excuses he will get before full panic sets in.

im guessing hes gonna be between 2-3 tds and the same for pics. Hit around 10 times. Hard to beat a team all three meetings out of the year nichols may pull it out in edm. I hope mos doesnt panic pull nichols for willy though. 

If this isn't full on hoping for someone to fail just to prove you aren't yourself wrong I don't know what is.

As for me...I've never suggested that Willy was the sole problem. There was clearly a confidence issue with the entire offense, and, the line was not as good as it should be. Bond has made a huge difference, but Nichols is the biggest single difference by far last 2 games. His confidence has cascaded through the entire line up. He was throwing medium to long balls with confidence and accuracy-- something Willy used to do. Can Willy regain that kind of confidence? Who knows. I would place my bet on no... the guy is nearly 30 and never really been consistent. Ever. Not a knock on Willy because i don`t like him. He seems like a good guy and teammate. But you can`t pay someone 400k a year and hope they become something they've never been before. 

Edited August 4, 2016 by White Out

[Goalie]

Would have like to see them make it 41 at one point there, all i was hoping for in the second half was just 1 TD... just 1. It is somewhat concerning that the O struggled pretty big time in the 2nd half but... at the same time, when you are winning by that much, i think it just comes with the territory, take the foot off the gas a bit, altho i don't really think they did since Nichols was looking for quite a bit of deep passes, i just think they failed to execute, i guess tho when you are up by 34 or whatever it was at that time, why not take some deep shots, Second half was pretty boring to watch and somewhat concerning for sure, Nichols almost throwing a pick 6 wasn't good, Hamilton DB dropped it, that's 2 games now where the Opposing teams DB has dropped pretty much a pick 6. 

 

I probably would have put Davis in the game tho later in the 4th, he can run a bit so... just run the ball and keep the clock moving really. 

Edited August 4, 2016 by Goalie

[17to85]

Everyone knew Lapo would lock it down and get super passive in the 2nd half, 34 points is a big lead in any game. Would have liked to see them not get so passive though, really go for the throat rather than just be content to hang on, but we all knew what we were getting when Lapo was brought back. 

[Brandon]

12 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Everyone knew Lapo would lock it down and get super passive in the 2nd half, 34 points is a big lead in any game. Would have liked to see them not get so passive though, really go for the throat rather than just be content to hang on, but we all knew what we were getting when Lapo was brought back. 

But he wasn't passive though....   first play in the 2nd half was a bomb down the sideline that Kohlert (or it may have been Adams) missed on. 

Same goes with Harris on 2nd and short he blew the easy first down by trying to get greedy and bouncing it out to the side and then taking a loss on the run. 

I don't think the play calling was bad in the 2nd half... the execution should of been more clean.  A few drops by Adams and Kohlert killed drives.  

Throughout the game I thought Nicholls made mostly good plays,  two balls could of been picked but aside from that most of those balls were placed in areas that receivers could of made the catch.

[17to85]

1 minute ago, Brandon said:

But he wasn't passive though....   first play in the 2nd half was a bomb down the sideline that Kohlert (or it may have been Adams) missed on. 

Same goes with Harris on 2nd and short he blew the easy first down by trying to get greedy and bouncing it out to the side and then taking a loss on the run. 

I don't think the play calling was bad in the 2nd half... the execution should of been more clean.  A few drops by Adams and Kohlert killed drives.  

Throughout the game I thought Nicholls made mostly good plays,  two balls could of been picked but aside from that most of those balls were placed in areas that receivers could of made the catch.

ahh we saw plenty of the hand offs or short passes on 2nd and long that are a hallmark of the passive Lapo offense. 

It's one thing to shut it down when you're up 34, but you won't be up 34 every game and I think this team still needs to develop more of a killer instinct. The first win against Hamilton and the win against Edmonton both started out with domination but the final scores were close because of that passive offense. Just had the instances in this game where they got touchdowns early and quickly so they were up big without it being closer than it should have been. 

[wbbfan]

6 hours ago, Nash00 said:

Field position was huge in the first half but the way Nichols was moving the ball then he was having success so his numbers could arguably have been better with a longer field. Not going to complain when we start every drive in opposition territory though.

I will give the O the benefit of the doubt of playing safe to protect the lead but it was a little concerning that they struggled on 1st down so much after having great success in the 1st half on 1st down. Seemed like we tried to stretch the field a lot on first down, which led to 2nd and long a lot.

nichols had 3 drives over 30 yards and none over 60 yards.

[Nash00]

11 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

nichols had 3 drives over 30 yards and none over 60 yards.

The drive where Mayo scored was a 67 yard drive.

[wbbfan]

Just now, Nash00 said:

The drive where Mayo scored was a 67 yard drive.

your right. Which is just over half the length of the field. that 7 play drive was also our longest iirc. in every other game this year that would have had us in fg range. Our td drives came from there 10, our 43 and there 39. 
 

Mean while we punted after starting from our 55, kicked a fg after starting on the hamilton 17, and a fg after starting from the ham 37. punt after starting at our 41, fg after starting at our 54, 

Point is, nichols put up points but in situations he should have, and with gift wrapped field position left a ton of point on the field. 

[IC Khari]

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

Would have like to see them make it 41 at one point there, all i was hoping for in the second half was just 1 TD... just 1. It is somewhat concerning that the O struggled pretty big time in the 2nd half but... at the same time, when you are winning by that much, i think it just comes with the territory, take the foot off the gas a bit, altho i don't really think they did since Nichols was looking for quite a bit of deep passes, i just think they failed to execute, i guess tho when you are up by 34 or whatever it was at that time, why not take some deep shots, Second half was pretty boring to watch and somewhat concerning for sure, Nichols almost throwing a pick 6 wasn't good, Hamilton DB dropped it, that's 2 games now where the Opposing teams DB has dropped pretty much a pick 6. 

 

I probably would have put Davis in the game tho later in the 4th, he can run a bit so... just run the ball and keep the clock moving really. 

[Goalie]

It's not complaining. It's reality. I don't get this whole idea that if you point out flaws in Nichols game, it means you are complaining or wanting Willy. That's not the case at all...

It's not even complaining, it's talking about the game and what happened pretty much. 

[Nash00]

2 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

your right. Which is just over half the length of the field. that 7 play drive was also our longest iirc. in every other game this year that would have had us in fg range. Our td drives came from there 10, our 43 and there 39. 
 

Mean while we punted after starting from our 55, kicked a fg after starting on the hamilton 17, and a fg after starting from the ham 37. punt after starting at our 41, fg after starting at our 54, 

Point is, nichols put up points but in situations he should have, and with gift wrapped field position left a ton of point on the field. 

Meh, I'm not going to moan about lost opportunities in a game we won by 26 points. Maybe there will be a time when it matters but no point labouring over hypotheticals.

Willy was put in similar situations this year with less results, and I am a Willy fan. You can argue he didnt have the best circumstances in the first few weeks but can anyone say what Nichols had to work with last night was ideal?

I don't understand why the fanbase has to be fractured over the starting QB. If Justin freakin' Medlock is the starting QB and we win I don't care. Wins are rare in these parts, hopefully one day we can dissect every missed opportunity but right now I'm going to enjoy the win for what it was.

[BBlink]

I don't think you can read too much into our second half offence. How often does a team dominate like that in the first half and then continue it into the second. It's a combination of less-risky play calling, taking the foot off the gas (mentally it's different), and push-back from the other team (adjustments)

Contrary to belief it is not risky to throw a deep ball into one-on-one coverage on the sideline. If the receiver is any good he will at the very least knock the ball down. 

If you want examples of teams letting up, just watch some of the teams the Bombers played early this year with Willy in the lineup. A lot of people think we were a good 4th quarter team but really we were just good when the game was out of reach. But this time we were on the right side of the ball

[Goalie]

People need to watch the second half again, the play calling was fine. It was the execution that wasn't there. Nichols went deep many many times in the second half, mainly on first down actually, leaving us in 2nd and long lots. 

[Arnold_Palmer]

18 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

your right. Which is just over half the length of the field. that 7 play drive was also our longest iirc. in every other game this year that would have had us in fg range. Our td drives came from there 10, our 43 and there 39. 
 

Mean while we punted after starting from our 55, kicked a fg after starting on the hamilton 17, and a fg after starting from the ham 37. punt after starting at our 41, fg after starting at our 54, 

Point is, nichols put up points but in situations he should have, and with gift wrapped field position left a ton of point on the field. 

We scored 3 first half touchdowns, two field goals, punted once, and ran out the clock on 6 first half  possessions. Not too sure how we left "tons of points on the field." Nichols was efficient when he needed to be. If we don't score those touchdowns and come away with field goals instead it's a game going into the second half instead of being up 34-0. I put zero stock into our second half defense. Hamilton was defeated, they stacked the line and we ran out the clock. 

[17to85]

5 minutes ago, Goalie said:

People need to watch the second half again, the play calling was fine. It was the execution that wasn't there. Nichols went deep many many times in the second half, mainly on first down actually, leaving us in 2nd and long lots. 

Going deep isn't the be all and end all of aggressive play calling. To me aggressive is more about taking risks and the Bombers did not do that at all in the 2nd half, but you expect that when you're up that big. trouble is the Bombers do that if they're up by only a little too. 

[Nash00]

6 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Going deep isn't the be all and end all of aggressive play calling. To me aggressive is more about taking risks and the Bombers did not do that at all in the 2nd half, but you expect that when you're up that big. trouble is the Bombers do that if they're up by only a little too. 

I thought we seemed to get away from what was working in the first half, short to intermediate throws on first down and getting the ball out quick. We also had success with hurry-up in the first half as well. You aren't going to run hurry-up with a lead in the second half but the quick hitters seemed to stop. We could have ran a few screens to Harris too but he was in pass pro for those longer passes.

[wbbfan]

8 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

We scored 3 first half touchdowns, two field goals, punted once, and ran out the clock on 6 first half  possessions. Not too sure how we left "tons of points on the field." Nichols was efficient when he needed to be. If we don't score those touchdowns and come away with field goals instead it's a game going into the second half instead of being up 34-0. I put zero stock into our second half defense. Hamilton was defeated, they stacked the line and we ran out the clock. 

Im talking about the 2nd half and over all in terms of field position. How did we leave a ton on the field? We had amazing field position and put up little to nothing out of several opportunity as i listed. 

They didnt stack the line. When the D/teams gives you the ball in FG position and you put up a fb the offense doesnt get positive credit.

[Arnold_Palmer]

Just now, wbbfan said:

Im talking about the 2nd half and over all in terms of field position. How did we leave a ton on the field? We had amazing field position and put up little to nothing out of several opportunity as i listed. 

They didnt stack the line. When the D/teams gives you the ball in FG position and you put up a fb the offense doesnt get positive credit.

The game was over. I wish we had more of a killer instinct, but Lapo was more concerned about running out the clock. I'll take 37 points any night. If Hamilton bothered showing up i'm sure our second half production would have been better.

[Goalie]

It was 34-0 at half but easily could have been 42-0 at half... So they did leave points on the field for sure, But i mean, i guess that's just nit picking a bit... but... It's true... If you get the ball in the red zone to start a drive, coming away with a fg isn't good enough, you need a TD... Yeah we won the game and that's all that really mattered but... at the same time, we did leave some points on the field. 

[wbbfan]

29 minutes ago, Nash00 said:

Meh, I'm not going to moan about lost opportunities in a game we won by 26 points. Maybe there will be a time when it matters but no point labouring over hypotheticals.

Willy was put in similar situations this year with less results, and I am a Willy fan. You can argue he didnt have the best circumstances in the first few weeks but can anyone say what Nichols had to work with last night was ideal?

I don't understand why the fanbase has to be fractured over the starting QB. If Justin freakin' Medlock is the starting QB and we win I don't care. Wins are rare in these parts, hopefully one day we can dissect every missed opportunity but right now I'm going to enjoy the win for what it was.

Thats the type of attitude that leads to long losing streaks. You dont often get that many turn overs and amazing returns on teams leaving you starting at center field all day/

 

1 minute ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

The game was over. I wish we had more of a killer instinct, but Lapo was more concerned about running out the clock. I'll take 37 points any night. If Hamilton bothered showing up i'm sure our second half production would have been better.

NO game in the cfl is over at the half. One needs only look back to last week edm and ham to see that.

[Goalie]

I believe the looks on Hamiltons players faces and body language at the half did say the game was over but i also agree that the game wasn't over at the half. The bombers need to find that killer instinct, This is now 2 games in a row where they have had a very quick start only to do nothing the rest of the way pretty much. That is concerning for sure. Last week Edmonton, and yeah it was garbage time but Edmonton almost came back and tied the game.... 

 

Hot starts are good but in my opinion, you need to play for the full 60 minutes and these last 2 games, wins, and that's nice but these last 2 games, we have not played for the full 60 minutes, we have ridiculous hot starts that might not be sustainable long term, but then go to sleep on O for long periods of time. Concerning for sure. I'm enjoying the wins but these guys still have a ways to go until they are legit contenders for sure. 

[Tracker]

Yes, the second half was not as dominant as we would have liked, but no doubt Steinauer's defence got tuned up at half-time. There is still plenty of reason for optimism against Toronto- Nichols will be more familiar with his receivers, the d-backs will have gotten more in sync, and with a bit of luck, Hardrick will be back. Toronto is well-coached with good players but not unbeatable.