Matt Nichols Discredited Too Much? Passing Yards Are Meaningless

[bb1]

3 hours ago, Noeller said:

It's not about whether or not Streveler is ready....it's about having confidence in your starter, who's been arguably the best QB in the league so far this year. You give him the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to work his way out of it. 

Even the great Tom Clements was sat down when struggling to give Huffer a chance to move the O and give a little different look for the d...if we have a QB with a different skill set and it gives our starting Qb a little breather, what's the big deal?

[AKAChip]

 

7 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

I don't think Lucky is a full time receiver yet, better to rotate him in for certain formations for Lawler or Matthews and let him focus on returns. 

I would feel a lot more comfortable with Lucky being the extra receiver as well, though Lapo has shown that he historically does not like to sub in his backup receivers without an injury. I love having the sweep to him as a decoy option to open things up a bit but his actual skill as a receiver is extremely unpolished and I'd prefer to have a receiver in that spot who is a more reliable target. Putting Wolitarsky in the slot seems almost too perfect to me and I'm not sure why it hasn't been explored to a greater extent. Still, Lucky has exceeded my expectations mostly because he's just too fast and too shifty to be ineffective. 

[Floyd]

6 minutes ago, Old Bomber Fan said:

First game this year I have seen so many bomber receivers within 5 yards of one another. Doesn’t take much to understand someone is running the wrong routes OR the play design is crazy! With that said Nichols was not good...why....only he can tell us. In any event if he plays like this in “big” games we will get to the playoffs and exit prior to western final. I don’t put all the blame on Nichols but instead distribute it to a Lapo and Nichols. Poor game plan and poor execution.

The bunching of receivers was noticeable 

would explain Nichols throwing into double coverage so often

[AKAChip]

1 minute ago, bb1 said:

Even the great Tom Clements was sat down when struggling to give Huffer a chance to move the O and give a little different look for the d...if we have a QB with a different skill set and it gives our starting Qb a little breather, what's the big deal?

I obviously agree with you but the fact remains that it a fool's errand to consider it as an option. For better or for worse, O'Shea will essentially never pull his starting QB. It is what it is. 

[17to85]

1 minute ago, bb1 said:

Even the great Tom Clements was sat down when struggling to give Huffer a chance to move the O and give a little different look for the d...if we have a QB with a different skill set and it gives our starting Qb a little breather, what's the big deal?

Nichols showed some signs of getting things back in track, there were just the odd mistakes that derailed it again. Plus he wasn't helped when the returners coughed up a couple either. Switching QBs in that game I don't think would have changed the outcome much. The offense was out of sync from the get go and it wasn't all Nichols.

[AKAChip]

1 minute ago, Floyd said:

The bunching of receivers was noticeable 

would explain Nichols throwing into double coverage so often

Darvin is obviously imperative to the success of this receiving group. He and to a lesser extent Lawler are the only guys who can both have the speed to get downfield at a reasonable rate AND have a chance in a jump ball scenario. Once Wolitarsky was out too, we essentially had no shot. Walker and Lucky are gadget players at this point in time and while I like Petermann, he thrives at most 10 yards beyond the LOS at this point in his career. I wholeheartedly disagree with Lapo not even calling anything to give these receivers a chance to make a play downfield but it was smurf show + Lawler by the end of the game. 

[Tracker]

3 hours ago, Noeller said:

It's not about whether or not Streveler is ready....it's about having confidence in your starter, who's been arguably the best QB in the league so far this year. You give him the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to work his way out of it. 

Nichols had plenty of opportunities to work his way out of his funk but by the middle of the third quarter, it was obvious that he had stalled out. The rest of the offence saw that and stopped playing to the max. That sets a bad precedent- that the coach is willing to sacrifice the game in order to placate the quarterback who just didn't have it that night.

[Floyd]

1 minute ago, 17to85 said:

Nichols showed some signs of getting things back in track, there were just the odd mistakes that derailed it again. Plus he wasn't helped when the returners coughed up a couple either. Switching QBs in that game I don't think would have changed the outcome much. The offense was out of sync from the get go and it wasn't all Nichols.

Another big factor is the field position - walker could never get anything going so a lot of our drives stalled maybe ten yards away from field goal range

Nichols first half is as brutal but he bounced back - then the interception in the third quarter shattered him for some reason - that needs to be fixed

[blueingreenland]

14 minutes ago, AKAChip said:

Darvin is obviously imperative to the success of this receiving group. He and to a lesser extent Lawler are the only guys who can both have the speed to get downfield at a reasonable rate AND have a chance in a jump ball scenario. Once Wolitarsky was out too, we essentially had no shot. Walker and Lucky are gadget players at this point in time and while I like Petermann, he thrives at most 10 yards beyond the LOS at this point in his career. I wholeheartedly disagree with Lapo not even calling anything to give these receivers a chance to make a play downfield but it was smurf show + Lawler by the end of the game. 

I'm thinking Chris Matthews would have made a difference in the ball game (had he been in for Lawler). He's got more CFL experience and more size ( but alas, we will never know.) 

Although on 2nd thought, when you have 5-6 turnovers, it wouldn't have mattered if Milt Stegall was in there...

[AKAChip]

Just now, blueingreenland said:

I'm thinking Chris Matthews would have made a difference in the ball game (had he been in for Lawler). He's got more CFL experience and more size ( but alas, we will never know.) 

Although on 2nd thought, when you have 5-6 turnovers, it wouldn't have mattered if Milt Stegall was in there...

I have a couple of thoughts on this. One, the CFL gameday roster is far too small to design your roster to account for possible injuries. Would it have been nice to have Matthews available for when Darvin went down? Absolutely, but even after the play of the receivers yesterday, I am confident that Lawler is a better slotback than Matthews ever will be. All of Matthews' success at the CFL level has been at the spot that Adams currently occupies, so you either play him at slot, where his relatively poor agility renders him fairly ineffective and wait until Darvin gets injured, or play him at the Wolitarsky spot, where he'll get maybe three balls a game. 

I also have absolutely no problem with O'Shea randomly sitting healthy guys as load management this season. The Bombers will cruise into a playoff spot easily and I'd rather not have guys heading into the playoffs heavily banged up. Harris is a big one who should probably sit against certain crappy east division teams late in the season. It just sucks we have Ottawa and Toronto out of the way after next week. It sucks to not be undefeated anymore but a road loss to Hamilton in week seven is fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. 

[Floyd]

1 minute ago, AKAChip said:

I have a couple of thoughts on this. One, the CFL gameday roster is far too small to design your roster to account for possible injuries. Would it have been nice to have Matthews available for when Darvin went down? Absolutely, but even after the play of the receivers yesterday, I am confident that Lawler is a better slotback than Matthews ever will be. All of Matthews' success at the CFL level has been at the spot that Adams currently occupies, so you either play him at slot, where his relatively poor agility renders him fairly ineffective and wait until Darvin gets injured, or play him at the Wolitarsky spot, where he'll get maybe three balls a game. 

I also have absolutely no problem with O'Shea randomly sitting healthy guys as load management this season. The Bombers will cruise into a playoff spot easily and I'd rather not have guys heading into the playoffs heavily banged up. Harris is a big one who should probably sit against certain crappy east division teams late in the season. It just sucks we have Ottawa and Toronto out of the way after next week. It sucks to not be undefeated anymore but a road loss to Hamilton in week seven is fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. 

His low agility render him ineffective - my god this board is going nuts ha

Rostering Walker over Matthews was a mistake - Petermann, whitehead or Demski can all handle returns

walker did enough to lose his job - hopefully woli is back next week

[AKAChip]

Just now, Floyd said:

His low agility render him ineffective - my god this board is going nuts ha

Rostering Walker over Matthews was a mistake - Petermann, whitehead or Demski can all handle returns

walker did enough to lose his job - hopefully woli is back next week

As a slotback, his poor agility renders him ineffective. He has literally never been an effective slotback in the CFL. He's been good to great at various points of his career, but only out wide. 

[Floyd]

3 minutes ago, AKAChip said:

As a slotback, his poor agility renders him ineffective. He has literally never been an effective slotback in the CFL. He's been good to great at various points of his career, but only out wide. 

He ‘literally’ only played one full season in the CFL

Lapo moves his receivers all over the place - there’s no real slotback now that Dressler is gone

Matthews is not hampering any play calling 

[Stickem]

How can a qb. go from adulation and the penthouse one game....and in the next one take a dump and look like crap in the outhouse...Is Nichols a qb. with 2 different personalities....Please can we stick with the one who took apart the  RedB's the game previous...What's with the guy...He's the living example of erratic and it has happened before ..If we do happen to make it to the Cup I hope the right guy shows up

[AKAChip]

2 minutes ago, Floyd said:

He ‘literally’ only played one full season in the CFL

Lapo moves his receivers all over the place - there’s no real slotback now that Dressler is gone

Matthews is not hampering any play calling 

You can believe what you want to believe. Watch film of Matthews from his rookie season and last season, the two seasons he's had meaningful reps in the CFL. He largely succeeds when lined up outside and does not when lined up inside. Don't know what to tell you.

[Noeller]

So much 20 20 Hindsight.... 

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, Floyd said:

Another big factor is the field position - walker could never get anything going so a lot of our drives stalled maybe ten yards away from field goal range

Nichols first half is as brutal but he bounced back - then the interception in the third quarter shattered him for some reason - that needs to be fixed

There is no magic fix if true. Of all the things that coaches can help players with, this has to be the hardest. An athlete's ego-strength is an intensely personal thing and while other can help, it is an internal thing.

[17to85]

1 hour ago, blueingreenland said:

I'm thinking Chris Matthews would have made a difference in the ball game (had he been in for Lawler). He's got more CFL experience and more size ( but alas, we will never know.) 

Although on 2nd thought, when you have 5-6 turnovers, it wouldn't have mattered if Milt Stegall was in there...

However when Nichols is over throwing with such regularity maybe having another 6'5 receiver in there helps anyway. 

BUt can't second guess the roster moves, the offense was just not working, the fact that they bumbled the very first play shows that. 

[17to85]

1 hour ago, Floyd said:

walker did enough to lose his job - hopefully woli is back next week

and in fact Lucky was handling all the punt returns after the fumble if I am not mistaken. 

[Old Bomber Fan]

I do agree with the Mathews plus and minus as a receiver. He has been both in the cfl and nfl a very good receiver at the wide out position. His ability to go straight or diagonally downfield is his strength. His speed and height make him a desirable target in those situations. We currently have or should I say had Adams in that spot. Unless lapo designs an offence to accommodate both in that role someone is either going to sit or play our of position and in an inferior manner. I don’t believe other than the Tdbto Adams did I see a receiver catch a ball in stride moving up field or diagonally upfield, they seemed to be all curls posts or a dump to Harris to save a sack or something. That is bad game planning or bad reads by the QB. in any event dare I say you will see a different team come Thursday.

One other observation was on the defence. Seemed to me that while Bighill was flying all over the place the middle of the field was wide open. Further he seemed to be very late on many of his blitz’s. Hopefully it is just rust because I’m afraid if it isn’t and had Masoli been in the entire game, we would be shell shocked today from their exploiting the middle of the field. He did it very well for the what 10 mins he played.

[B-F-F-C]

3 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Nichols showed some signs of getting things back in track, there were just the odd mistakes that derailed it again. Plus he wasn't helped when the returners coughed up a couple either. Switching QBs in that game I don't think would have changed the outcome much. The offense was out of sync from the get go and it wasn't all Nichols.

He didn't play well but I think he was having a hard time adjusting to the wind.  Those passes to the sidelines were uncharacteristically off  target and we've seen him make those passes in the past with no problem.

 

[Guest J5V]

11 hours ago, Noeller said:

It's not about whether or not Streveler is ready....it's about having confidence in your starter, who's been arguably the best QB in the league so far this year. You give him the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to work his way out of it. 

Define opportunity. A quarter, a half, three quarters, a season?

[B-F-F-C]

come on...I believe you’re an intelligent guy but seriously you’ve watched enough football to know that’s not how coaches coach.  Nichols is the starter and the game was well within reach. That’s not the time to pull your starter and you know that. 

Oh and the QB is also the guy who’s got you to a 5-0 record.

Edited July 28, 2019 by B-F-F-C

[Guest J5V]

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

come on...I believe you’re an intelligent guy but seriously you’ve watched enough football to know that’s not how coaches coach.  Nichols is the starter and the game was well within reach. That’s not the time to pull your starter and you know that. 

Oh and the QB is also the guy who’s got you to a 5-0 record.

For sure I know that's not how most coaches coach but that doesn't mean I agree with them. As a fan I can do that. Lol. 

[B-F-F-C]

4 minutes ago, J5V said:

For sure I know that's not how most coaches coach but that doesn't mean I agree with them. As a fan I can do that. Lol. 

So you know you’re wrong but you’re arguing it anyway. 😄