Bombers @ Alouettes

[kelownabomberfan]

Watching the game again in a less inebriated state, I was surprised how sloppy the TSN crew was as well as the graphics guy.  Several times during the night, a "Macho Harris #3 - DB" graphic would pop up announcing that Macho had 33 yards of rushing and 53 yards of receiving and 15 touches (something like that).  I expected them to correct the mistake during the night but they never did.  Apparently according to Duane Forde Taylor Loffler is now from Kamloops.  Forde also announced after Harris' second fumble that that was Harris' first fumble of the season.  Really?  After he had fumbled already in the same game? Several times Montreal would have the ball on their own side of 55, yet the graphic would state they were on Winnipeg's 34 yard line.  Gord Miller kept calling Winnipeg "Montreal" and vice versa.  Just sloppy stuff.  Methinks the boys were out hitting the town the night before.  Can't blame them I guess.

Edited August 27, 2016 by kelownabomberfan

[rebusrankin]

It was clearly a conspiracy.

Edited August 27, 2016 by rebusrankin

[Fatty Liver]

52 minutes ago, Goalie said:

You missed the point.  Point being.... Nichols has been very average the last couple 3 games now. Very very average. That's enough right now. He's also had games where the other team should have more interceptions but has dropped them. Bottom line.. the D and special teams had 6 takeaways... just like the week b4 the bye and we won by what? 14 points both games.... the O is not doing enough.  What the D and Special teams are doing is not sustainable. Eventually you need the O to put up more than 1 touchdown a game 

I agree Nichols has to get more TD's in the EZ but I am not confident any of the other QB's currently on the roster could have won 3 of the last 4 games and that's what counts.  The exception being the delayed Ti-Cat game which I'm sure even Neufeld could have QB'd them to a comfortable victory.

[Arnold_Palmer]

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

You missed the point.  Point being.... Nichols has been very average the last couple 3 games now. Very very average. That's enough right now. He's also had games where the other team should have more interceptions but has dropped them. Bottom line.. the D and special teams had 6 takeaways... just like the week b4 the bye and we won by what? 14 points both games.... the O is not doing enough.  What the D and Special teams are doing is not sustainable. Eventually you need the O to put up more than 1 touchdown a game 

People tend to have unrealistic expectations with the quarterback position. Make no mistake Matt Nichols has been part of the reason we're on a four game winning streak. He's taking care of the football. One INT in the past four games, and he's moving the ball around well. Completing 71 percent of his passes this season. With the way our defense and special teams are playing he simply doesn't NEED to push the ball down field more. He needs to protect the football, and eat up that TOP. Two things he's done a great job doing, plus when it really mattered he drove 90 plus yards down the field which set up a Harris touch down. 

[Blueandgold]

How many teams in the CFL would go 4-0 without their top 3 receivers? How would Edmonton look if Bowman and Walker both got hurt?

[JuranBoldenRules]

I feel like we should be getting more out of the QB position given how the OL is playing.  I appreciate Nichols avoiding turnovers for sure, but he's been about a C+ the last two games on the whole.

[iso_55]

1 hour ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

I feel like we should be getting more out of the QB position given how the OL is playing.  I appreciate Nichols avoiding turnovers for sure, but he's been about a C+ the last two games on the whole.

Nichols gets no respect from the Drew Willy Mavens here who somehow feel he's been done an injustice by being benched. Not accusing you of being one JBR, I'm just saying there are a lot of comments that seem to suggest we're winning despite Matt Nichols & not because of him. So, I'm not singling you out at all. This is just for discussion purposes.

We've won 4 games in a row. We've given up one sack in the last two games. The guy has only thrown a single pick playing with receivers that normally would never play as they're backups at best. He's game managed well & all we've done is win. Nothing he does will ever satisfy them. Our last GC winning qb was a journeyman who played in at least 3 CFL cities during his career. Matter of fact he never saw the field the year before in the GC being the backup qb for Kent Austin. No one ever thought Tom Burgess was ever good enough to win the GC. Yet he did for us.

Let's just enjoy the ride here & give the man his due. Nichols is doing a great job as the field general out there. Nothing flashy like Mike Reiley. However, the players like & believe in him, We're winning,our defense is playing lights out ball hawk, our ST's are humming & that should be good enough for us all.

Edited August 28, 2016 by iso_55

[Goalie]

So now there's not only positrons and negatrons but willy mavens and Nichols lovers I guess ?? 

 

Perhaps it's just me but I don't really give a crap who the qb is... it's irrelevant.... I don't know why pointing out flaws is considered hating Nichols and loving Willy. It's not about Nichols or Willy.  It's about winning a game. Yeah they have done that 4 times in a row now but if you aren't winning when your D is forcing huge amounts of turnovers you have problems. It's great that we are winning but make no mistake about it.... it's 99 percent on the backs of our D and special teams.  6 turnovers and we win by what? 14? Should be winning by double that getting 6 turnovers a game and I get that's it's not all on the qb. 

[Rich]

There is also a group of posters on this site who feel that any criticism of Nichols is somehow an endorsement of Willy.

I'm tickled pink that we've won 4 in a row and I'm not at all clamouring for a return to Willy, but where would you rank Nichols in terms of starting QBs in the league?  At this point, I'd have to put him in the bottom third.  

Nichols has been a very good game manager, he hasn't shown to be a QB who can put the team on his back and win.  The field position that the D and ST have given this team has been a huge part of our success.

Part of this may be play calling.  I wonder if the game plan has been to be conservative on O because of the D and ST.  

But at some point, the D won't be able to cause 5+ turnovers in a game and the O is going to have to pick up the slack on their own.  I'd really like to see what Nichols can do if they opened things up a bit and got a little more aggressive.  We might get to see that when some of the receivers return.

But in the meantime, I am absolutely loving watching this team, and this defense is an absolute joy to watch.

[blitzmore]

Just now, Goalie said:

So now there's not only positrons and negatrons but willy mavens and Nichols lovers I guess ?? 

 

Perhaps it's just me but I don't really give a crap who the qb is... it's irrelevant.... I don't know why pointing out flaws is considered hating Nichols and loving Willy. It's not about Nichols or Willy.  It's about winning a game. Yeah they have done that 4 times in a row now but if you aren't winning when your D is forcing huge amounts of turnovers you have problems. It's great that we are winning but make no mistake about it.... it's 99 percent on the backs of our D and special teams.  6 turnovers and we win by what? 14? Should be winning by double that getting 6 turnovers a game and I get that's it's not all on the qb. 

You totally ignore the fact that there is another team's defence on the field and a very good one.

[Goalie]

6 minutes ago, blitzmore said:

You totally ignore the fact that there is another team's defence on the field and a very good one.

I'm not even just talking about last night tho. Our D is averaging like 5 turnovers a game the last 4 games. 

Ya montreal has a very good D but when you begin 3 drives inside the Montreal 35 pretty much and come away with 3 fgs.... that's not very good O production. Even 1 touchdown there would have made a difference.  Gotta make teams pay for their mistakes with TDS. 

And no... I know there's another team on the field.... I mean Cmon I've watched for 20 years now.... Bombers need to be better in the red zone. Need more tds 

 

Did you know that mo Leggett has 3 pick 6 tds and No bomber receiver has 3. That's an issue. Need more production from the O. Most nights 1 td a game won't do it

Edited August 28, 2016 by Goalie

[kelownabomberfan]

This team is totally reminding me of 1988 and 1990.  The offense was putrid but at least they didn't lose games with dumb turnovers.  Things would be looking bleak and then boom, a turnover/pick six and the game is turned right back around, just like last night.  Moe Leggett jumps the route to Lewis that Glenn had fallen into a trance throwing to (Glenn is pretty predictable, if something is working for him, he goes to that well over and over again) and the whole game just flipped right back the Bombers way.  I know some here keep saying "that's not going to happen every game".  Well no, but it sure seems to happen a lot, and as long as the D line is pressuring the QB you are going to get interceptions.  Which is why the 1980's Bombers defences were such ball hawks too.

[Y2C]

As far as the offense not lighting it up under Nichols, I'll refer you back a few posts in this thread...

 

1 hour ago, Blueandgold said:

How many teams in the CFL would go 4-0 without their top 3 receivers? How would Edmonton look if Bowman and Walker both got hurt?

 

[Goalie]

Very 2011 ish in my opinion so far. I guess the 1 thing I'll say about the O is... sure would be nice to see what they can do with dressler smith Denmark Mayo and Kohlert. Guess that might be playing a bit of a role right now also in terms of lack of O production. Starting a couple rookie receivers every week right so will be interesting to see what happens when dressler and smith are healthy 

Edited August 28, 2016 by Goalie

[iso_55]

30 minutes ago, Goalie said:

So now there's not only positrons and negatrons but willy mavens and Nichols lovers I guess ?? 

 

Looks like, I guess. I like the term Willy Mavens. For 2 reasons. One, I thought of it & 2, it has a nice ring to it.

[kelownabomberfan]

Talking about 1988 - go to the 6:41 mark and see what I'm talking about, and why 2016 is reminding me of that team...

 

[Logan007]

People, let's not forget most of our decent receiving Corp is injured. Nichols doesn't exactly have a lot of weapons at his disposal. I think he's doing pretty good considering what he's working with. 

[iso_55]

Man, watching those highlights just choked me up... I remember that game so well. We were huge underdogs to the Lions & we overcame...

[wbbfan]

26 minutes ago, Logan007 said:

People, let's not forget most of our decent receiving Corp is injured. Nichols doesn't exactly have a lot of weapons at his disposal. I think he's doing pretty good considering what he's working with. 

ehhh mayo has looked really good. He has hardly used harris catching the ball. Denmark has been a man possessed. He and willy have both seemed to have lost kohlerts number. But hes stoddard solid. Ours wrs especially in the 4th made some slick catches. Catching a ball thrown behind you is as tough as it gets. 

Smith and dressler would certainly make a real impact difference though. 

[Jordy]

Oh how soon people forget games of the past. The offence lead by Nichols basically walked down the field at will against Hamilton a few weeks back. They also have had a number of good complete halves in their own right.But the biggest thing is that they haven't needed to be any better because of how dominant our D has been playing.

Can the offence improve? Of course. Will they? Probably. Can the the offence win a game where the D has an off night? I feel confident they can. (But at this rate, we won't have to test that, included in this is the great play of ST's) But I don't see a problem in having to hitch the wagon to the defence (I actually prefer watching a dominant defence, over a similar offence).

Ask any Denver broncos fan of last year if they had a problem winning the Superbowl completely on the backs of their defence.

[JuranBoldenRules]

I don't believe Lapolice is the guy to optimize any QB either, so I wouldn't fully blame Nichols for the amount of points/production of the offense.

[Logan007]

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

ehhh mayo has looked really good. He has hardly used harris catching the ball. Denmark has been a man possessed. He and willy have both seemed to have lost kohlerts number. But hes stoddard solid. Ours wrs especially in the 4th made some slick catches. Catching a ball thrown behind you is as tough as it gets. 

Smith and dressler would certainly make a real impact difference though. 

Remember I said MOST of our decent receivers.  Dressler, Smith, Adams, Davis...all out.  Denmark and Mayo can only do so much.  And yeah, why isn't Kolhert seeing any action.  I actually forgot he was even out there.

[wbbfan]

1 minute ago, Logan007 said:

Remember I said MOST of our decent receivers.  Dressler, Smith, Adams, Davis...all out.  Denmark and Mayo can only do so much.  And yeah, why isn't Kolhert seeing any action.  I actually forgot he was even out there.

I think adams and davis are questionable but yeah we are certainly banged up. 

Kohlert. jfg, and richards have been 100% invisible. Jfg has been all of last year too. In the case of him and richards i tend to think its them. But kohlert idk hes a good wr.  Maybe just doesnt fit well in our system. :s 

[Blueandgold]

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I think adams and davis are questionable but yeah we are certainly banged up. 

Kohlert. jfg, and richards have been 100% invisible. Jfg has been all of last year too. In the case of him and richards i tend to think its them. But kohlert idk hes a good wr.  Maybe just doesnt fit well in our system. :s 

Richards and JFG have been invisible? Well no kidding they don't see the field..

[iso_55]

5 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

I don't believe Lapolice is the guy to optimize any QB either, so I wouldn't fully blame Nichols for the amount of points/production of the offense.

Okay so who's the coach we should have? Who's the guru coach who would turn Nichols into a qb machine & have our offense scoring 45 points a game? Every coach we have is just never good enough, after all. Just can't satisfy some fans.

Edited August 28, 2016 by iso_55