3 stars plus hh long cold winter edition

[White Out]

Unless we sign Mike Riley, Matt Nichols is going nowhere and will be the starter next year and people really need to get used to that.

He didn't have a good game yesterday, but neither did anybody on offense really outside of Andrew Harris. Even the Run blocking, which was good most the time, also screwed us over on a couple second and shorts. Calgary had perhaps the best defensive game I've seen in the CFL in decades and unfortunately had to be against us.

I'm as deeply disappointed as anybody as a fan, but there's a lot of positives to look forward to next year, and we beat the Riders in their own building in the playoffs. It's nothing to sneeze at.

 

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by White Out

[Super Duper Negatron]

As bad as Nichols was, you have to wonder if he would have been any better with Calgary's receiving corps. If we go into next year with the same receivers, I roll the dice with Streveler. However, if we can upgrade that position a LOT, Nichols deserves a chance to show what he can do with a better team around him.

Edited November 19, 2018 by Super Duper Negatron

[NorthernSkunk]

 

10 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

You said one of his "horrible qualities" was lack of accountability which draws on his character.  I felt that was an unfair swipe. So, I commented. 

It's not the first time Nichols wouldn't hold himself even a little responsible for a loss.

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, White Out said:

Unless we signed Mike Riley, Matt Nichols is going nowhere and will be the starter next year and people really need to get used to that.

He didn't have a good game yesterday, but neither did anybody on offense really outside of Andrew Harris. Even the Run blocking, which was good most the time, also screwed us over on a couple second and shorts. Calgary had perhaps the best defensive game I've seen in the CFL in decades and unfortunately had to be against us.

I'm as deeply disappointed as anybody as a fan, but there's a lot of positives to look forward to next year, and we beat the writers and their own building in the playoffs. It's nothing to sneeze at.

I disagree to a large extent. We had pretty much the same conversations here 12 months ago, and here we are again. Beating the Riders was emotionally satisfying but, truth be told, they were a bad team and relied on smoke, mirrors and a stout defence to get into the playoffs. And the Bombers barely got past them. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Nichols will be back and will probably be handed the starting job if O'Shea's track record means anything. Fans have to decide if this mediocre season is good enough to be the template for the next few years.

[NorthernSkunk]

9 minutes ago, Super Duper Negatron said:

As bad as Nichols was, you have to wonder if he would have been any better with Calgary's receiving corps. If we go into next year with the same receivers, I roll the dice with Streveler. However, if we can upgrade that position a LOT, Nichols deserves a chance to show what he can do with a better team around him.

Hasn't the team around Matt gotten better each of the last 3 years ?  

[White Out]

30 minutes ago, Tracker said:

I disagree to a large extent. We had pretty much the same conversations here 12 months ago, and here we are again. Beating the Riders was emotionally satisfying but, truth be told, they were a bad team and relied on smoke, mirrors and a stout defence to get into the playoffs. And the Bombers barely got past them. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Nichols will be back and will probably be handed the starting job if O'Shea's track record means anything. Fans have to decide if this mediocre season is good enough to be the template for the next few years.

Matt Nichols did enough to win us the game in the last two playoff games we lost in 2017 and 2016. We lost those games because the defense imploded and O'Shea made some very questionable calls.

Nichols absolutely from the back next year except for Reilly, and I have a tough time getting into somebody's mindset that disagrees with that. Who starts if not Nichols at Reilly? 

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by White Out
autocorrect

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, NorthernSkunk said:

Hasn't the team around Matt gotten better each of the last 3 years ?  

I would argue that the receivers have not.

[Jpan85]

I think people are really underselling the Calgary D they are healthy again. They are the best group in the league on all three levels. They are back to early season form when through what was it the first six games they were giving up 8 points a game. Ottawa will be lucky to get 20 points.

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, White Out said:

Matt Nichols did enough to win us the game in the last two playoff games we lost in 2017 and 2016. We lost those games because the defense of floated and O'Shea made some very questionable calls.

Nichols absolutely from the back next year except for Reilly, and I have a tough time getting into somebody's mindset that disagrees with that. Who starts if not Nichols at Reilly? 

 

I do not quite understand your last two sentences, but are you not concerned that Nichols thought he played a "solid game" yesterday? To me, that says he is living in a different reality.

[jazzsax]

42 minutes ago, White Out said:

Unless we signed Mike Riley, Matt Nichols is going nowhere and will be the starter next year and people really need to get used to that.

He didn't have a good game yesterday, but neither did anybody on offense really outside of Andrew Harris. Even the Run blocking, which was good most the time, also screwed us over on a couple second and shorts. Calgary had perhaps the best defensive game I've seen in the CFL in decades and unfortunately had to be against us.

I'm as deeply disappointed as anybody as a fan, but there's a lot of positives to look forward to next year, and we beat the writers and their own building in the playoffs. It's nothing to sneeze at.

 

 

This. I was in regular chat with the fans all around me and this is what we all said. It was Winnipeg's game if Calgary's D hadn't stepped up, but even the fans were surprised how their secondary performed. It was pretty much flat out until the last minute when they were playing more prevent. 

Was their game of the gear as a D by far. 

 

We have alot to look forward to next year if we can fix out secondary, fill some holes in the receivers and keep the core together. 

 

We also had to go to hostile territory for this game. This season could have been entirely different had we not lost Nichols for first 4 weeks, plus lost 4 in a row in the middle. So many positives to be happy about. 

A cup is coming. Just hopefully next year. 

[White Out]

24 minutes ago, Tracker said:

I do not quite understand your last two sentences, but are you not concerned that Nichols thought he played a "solid game" yesterday? To me, that says he is living in a different reality.

yeah I was doing voice to text in my car.

I dont care what people say in the media. Why get bent out of shape over that? What matters is on the field. We seem to be progressing as an organisation. Granted, not as fast as Huff turned around Calgary, but we are.reasonably on track. We got beat by the #1 team in the league who had a bye week and played their very best on D they possibly could. We lost by one score. It happens.

[do or die]

Nichols may be (and probably) singing a different tune with his teammates, but his post game comments didn't help him with the fanbase.  That said, Matt will be here next year, and we will need to see Streveler, after another camp under his belt, and how things look, as far as his development.  

But, after the knee injury, this year......looks like Nichols has turned into a complete statue, back there.....and when the pocket breaks down.....cannot pressure a D with his legs at all.

We also need to upgrade receiver corps......Matt may be doing all that short side semi-rolling for a reason.   We just don't seem to every get guys in the intermediate and deep areas of the field on one side.....

Edited November 19, 2018 by do or die

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, White Out said:

yeah I was doing voice to text in my car.

I dont care what people say in the media. Why get bent out of shape over that? What matters is on the field. We seem to be progressing as an organisation. Granted, not as fast as Huff turned around Calgary, but we are.reasonably on track. We got beat by the #1 team in the league who had a bye week and played their very best on D they possibly could. We lost by one score. It happens.

To me, the mindset of the quarterback is probably the biggest tool in his box, and if he thinks he played well, why would he try to do better? If his performance was not the problem, then by inference, it was the receivers, and/or O-line and/or the game plan. With that statement, he threw his teammates under the bus.

[White Out]

10 minutes ago, Tracker said:

To me, the mindset of the quarterback is probably the biggest tool in his box, and if he thinks he played well, why would he try to do better? If his performance was not the problem, then by inference, it was the receivers, and/or O-line and/or the game plan. With that statement, he threw his teammates under the bus.

Yeah that's a bit of a stretch man. Remember when Helley had a terrible season last year and he thought he played good? (the year before last I mean)

Edited November 19, 2018 by White Out

[BBlink]

It's pretty disheartening because I think a lot of fans and the team itself thought this might be the year.  I guess the good thing is that we are now in a situation where we really think we can win it all.  We'll need a couple changes next year to really put us over the top.

1. If we can get Mike Reilly that would be amazing but I don't think it's going to happen.  Nichols is a good QB but he is no Mitchell or Reilly.  Probably 3rd best QB in the league but it's by a fair margin.

2. Better receivers.  We did good to improve our Canadian talent but we still don't have those few Americans that can get open consistently.  See: The recruiting of Calgary, Hamilton and Edmonton.

3. Return game/special teams.  What happened here? We used to be able to threaten to score fairly often.  Seems like there's 3 guys on our returner as soon as he touches the ball.

4. One guy I'm going to single out is Kevin Fogg.  Think we need better play out of that position.

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, White Out said:

Yeah that's a bit of a stretch man. Remember when Helley had a terrible season last year and he thought he played good? (the year before last I mean)

And so did Pavelec, and we know how that turned out. Neither he nor Nichols are rookies or sophomores and what you see is what you are going to get.

[White Out]

2 minutes ago, Tracker said:

And so did Pavelec, and we know how that turned out. Neither he nor Nichols are rookies or sophomores and what you see is what you are going to get.

I really don't think you're going to convince a lot of people that words uttered to media are going to some how impact performance from the player.

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, White Out said:

I really don't think you're going to convince a lot of people that words uttered to media are going to some how impact performance from the player.

This is not about Nichols saying something that will impact his performance. If reported accurately,  it gives an insight into his attitude: "I did good, its someone elses's fault" . I should think that a a quarterback who played poorly would be aware of his performance needing improvement and take the heat on himself.

[White Out]

16 minutes ago, Tracker said:

This is not about Nichols saying something that will impact his performance. If reported accurately,  it gives an insight into his attitude: "I did good, its someone elses's fault" . I should think that a a quarterback who played poorly would be aware of his performance needing improvement and take the heat on himself.

Well, now you're adding to it. If he said "it was the teams not fault me" I would agree. But now you're reading into what he's saying and literally adding words. Cmon.

[Mark F]

I don't mind Nichols saying he played well. 

But Earlier game this season,  he said, receivers weren't getting open. Think it was after playing Calgary.

I also get tired of our side telling us how fantastic Calgary is. 

Edited November 19, 2018 by Mark F

[Sard]

The quote I heard on the radio from Nichols was "That wasn't championship caliber quarterbacking"... which implies to me that he is taking some level of responsibility for it.

[HardCoreBlue]

Just now, Sard said:

The quote I heard on the radio from Nichols was "That wasn't championship caliber quarterbacking"... which implies to me that he is taking some level of responsibility for it.

His pocket presence hurt us. That influenced whether his receivers were open or not. At the end of the day their five best players did more than our five best players. As a continueing lifelong Bomber fan I'm getting less and less intense about our drought in not winning a championship which is not a good thing, its turning into apathy. I think that some Bomber players may not fully appreciate that as they have had a fairly short period of time being part of this organization.

[Guest J5V]

7 hours ago, do or die said:

Nichols may be (and probably) singing a different tune with his teammates, but his post game comments didn't help him with the fanbase.  That said, Matt will be here next year, and we will need to see Streveler, after another camp under his belt, and how things look, as far as his development.  

But, after the knee injury, this year......looks like Nichols has turned into a complete statue, back there.....and when the pocket breaks down.....cannot pressure a D with his legs at all.

We also need to upgrade receiver corps......Matt may be doing all that short side semi-rolling for a reason.   We just don't seem to every get guys in the intermediate and deep areas of the field on one side.....

I'm having a real problem today with the idea that had Streveler had the whole year, where would he have developed to by now and would he be better than Nichols. I think he would. Then I get mad at O'Shea. Disappointment and anger with MOS are dominating my emotions right now.

[B-F-F-C]

1 minute ago, J5V said:

I'm having a real problem today with the idea that had Streveler had the whole year, where would he have developed to by now and would he be better than Nichols. I think he would. Then I get mad at O'Shea. Disappointment and anger with MOS are dominating my emotions right now.

So you would have been ok if we missed the playoffs? 

[Guest J5V]

4 minutes ago, B-F-F-C said:

So you would have been ok if we missed the playoffs? 

It's not the playoffs I'm interested in, it's winning a championship. We didn't, so it's a fail either way. I take very little solice in beating Sask.

Streveler played extremely well for a raw rookie QB at the start of the year and showed himself to be a far better athlete than Nichols. I can't help thinking that had he played the season he would have grown by leaps and bounds, especially with that O-line and guys around him like Andrew Harris and Weston Dressler. I honestly don't know what he is learning from Nichols.