trueBlue83

I'll gladly have a chat with anyone who is a fan of CFL football. most rational Bomber fans I would think are much the same. I don't have much time for the poser football "elitists" who trash on the CFL and think they're above watching it because 'I'm an NFL fan' . Good for you... I don't mind the NFL either, but it doesn't mean I try and pretend I'm above watching the Canadian game!

get Flanders in there

our D was good against the bottom half teams. that isn't going to get it done against a good offence! couple that with the fact they took twice as many penalties on D then they had all season, and you're extending drives for them unnecessarily. to quote our old buddy Jim Lahey 'it was a perfect storm of sh!t'

I've been saying this since last season when people we're making a case for Nichols for MOP and saying he's right there with Reilly, while looking at nothing but numbers. I wonder if activating Flanders from the practice roster would help give things a different look, and help LaPo run a more creative shorter type offence and help Matt get some confidence back. If we're going to stick with him, it seems we've got to dumb it down and make things easier on him. Which is not a position you should have to be in with a QB who's been 7+ years in the league and has been starting for the last 3.

when you look back at his numbers from last season, much of his success came early on in the season. if you go back 1 calendar year from this weekend, he only has 2- 300 yd games, one being the Banjo Bowl. I know he doesn't care about numbers, but I think you can make an argument that opposing defences have figured out how to get to him. Take away the underneath stuff, let him take the short passes and force a 2 and out. I saw a stat on the game when I re-watched it yesterday saying the Bombers had 40- 2 and outs this season, and I believe there were another 6 or 7 Friday. O'Shea is the coach here, and needs to put his loyalties aside and do what's best for the team. Leaving Nichols in for entire games when he's showing struggles is not what's best for the team. One thing I also noticed when re-watching yesterday was the body language of players on the offence. There were several plays where Nichols dumped it off to Harris, and after getting back up from being tackled by the 3 players that were right around him when he caught the ball, got up and just had a look of 'why the hell did you throw that to me??'. Adams had a couple looks of defeat. Yet, when Streveler went in, it seemed the offence had a little jump in their step. When doubt starts to creep in, and a dressing room gets divided, things only get worse.

so if he is in fact still injured, and he is important to have healthy as our team's starter... why don't we sit him back down for a few games and let him get healthy again? after all, isn't the old saying, the CFL season doesn't truly start until after Labour Day? with our record we're already in a playoff position, and the possibility of a crossover is very much there.

unless Nichols wins us a playoff game, I don't put him ahead of Kevin Glenn.

do they still do the Coaches Show on CJOB on location somewhere, or is this just done in studio?? Definitely want to listen tonight, but would probably head down to wherever it's being done if they still do that!

Thompkins has shown that he's got some upside... I think the receivers that are running short routes just tend to go through the motions and give up on plays early because they know the QB isn't going to scramble to create a play downfield. I bet you it looks entirely different with Streveler behind centre. You'd know not to quit on a play because he can escape and create something out of nothing.

I chose to leave my seat "I give my all and play my heart out" or whatever he said... that's fine. Our publicly owned football team pays you over $400K a year, and what I see out there doesn't warrant half that pay at this point. but when the offence can't even move the ball into FG range, we don't even give Medlock the chance. last year, he had 5, 6, 7 FG performances because at least Nichols got the offence that far. Way too many 2 and outs this season, and that's what I see. Also, last year (at least for the first half) he was very efficient, went through his reads and found an open guy, or dumped off to Harris and let him make a play. I paid a lot of attention to Nichols head when he was in the pocket, and it really seemed as though he just locked in to one side of the field Friday. Didn't really see him go through the reads to all receivers, and the Oline was giving him time to do so.

I think this goes back to the Bombers staff allowing him to rush himself back in to play. The original diagnosis was Matt would be out 4 - 6 weeks. All of a sudden, he's ready to go week 4? I knew, and I'm sure a lot of other people knew, based on the massive ass brace that was on his knee, that we was probably rushing back. Was this Matt worried about his starting position? It shouldn't have been... you don't typically lose your spot due to an injury. I think the staff rushed him back in, potentially wanting to avoid a QB controversy. But to think that the Bombers needed Nichols back at the helm to play a weak Lions team is kind of laughable. They could have stuck with Streveler, probably won both of those games, and brought back Matt against the Argos, which would have been a nice soft couple games to ease him back in. I think our record would actually be 1 win better had they waited till week 7 to put Nichols back in. He's unquestionably the leader of this team... but I don't think it's a bad thing that we've got the Streveler option there, and it does not hurt the team as whole to give this guy more time when the offence sputters with Nichols in there. It's a team game. Streveler is a part of this team too. Putting him in for a few plays, when he should have gone in with as much as 8-9 minutes left in the 4th quarter Friday, and been left in to finish, when Nichols wasn't moving the ball. How is that a bad thing for development?? That's purely 100% on the coaching staff, and even more so for listening to Nichols and letting him go back in to mop up and pad his passing stats in garbage time!

ok... now are 7 of those teams bringing him in as a backup or a starter? Montreal is a possibility with Johnny injured.

this isn't meant to be totally negative, or insinuating I want to get rid of the guy.... but let's just cook up a crazy scenario here and have a debate. Nichols gets super frustrated with the city & fans, and says 'Kyle... I've had it, can you please trade me!' . Is any other team in the league stepping up and making an offer for him?

June Jones is not the DC

I'd have to think that a player with his kind of drive isn't just going to give up on his dream that easily.... that said, if he really likes being on the field full time and being a true leader, maybe it becomes his new goal to help bring this city a championship, or three! We'll see if the lure of the almighty dollar reigns supreme!

be patient... it'll be back to Richie Hall by mid August!

I can't say with honesty that I've been watching every play that closely, but if you have, hey, good on ya bud.... really though, if that is the case, it's because he knows he's not getting the ball thus giving a half-assed effort.... at that point, time to shake hands and part ways. I think this was best case for both sides at this point.

you mean like throwing to him once, and then avoiding the rest of the game because he dropped one? or when you finally do go to him, throw it well behind and low so he has to go to the turf to actually catch it.... if Nichols could hit someone in stride instead of standing still or coming back to the ball, maybe the passing game would be more effective!

Nichols is better when going deep?? Better than who?? You can't be serious if you think that is the strength of his game, I'm sorry!

it's so sad that technically he "earned it" by suiting up.... unlike another has-been who used to suit up in Green who took a paycheque from the Blue & Gold this season!

I'm sure he was making decent coin to be the 3rd best QB on the Edmonton roster. That was a good dump on their part as well I'm sure!

this isn't meant to be an ignorant comment, but I didn't even know the CFL draft went 8 rounds deep!

I hope anyone who bought a Bowman jersey left the tag on it!

might even think Johnny Football is a "footballer" coming in for the Impact of MLS!

look at Nichols numbers in the first half of last season VS the second half of last season..... it takes a dive once teams have his tendencies figured out. He had 6 games over 300 yds last year, 4 of which were in the first half of the season. He's effective when the run game is rocking and he can dump it off, but if we get down and have to move the ball downfield quickly, he is ineffective, plain & simple. I was curious, so I looked up the numbers after the BC game last week: Date Opponent Passing c/a Yds TD's INTs Final Score Notes July 1st SK 23/36 331 4 1 43 - 40 WPG July 7th CGY 27/40 267 1 2 29 - 10 CGY July 13th TOR 20/36 228 0 0 33 - 25 WPG 4 FGs + KR TD July 21st BC 28/36 254 3 1 45 - 42 BC July 27th MTL 34/43 358 2 0 41-40 WPG Aug 4th OTT 25/38 319 1 0 33 - 30 WPG 6 FGs Aug 12th HAM 25/35 267 2 0 39 - 12 WPG 6 FGs, Hamilton winless Aug 17th EDM 32/40 390 1 0 33 - 26 WPG 4 FGs Aug 24th MTL 26/38 227 3 1 34 - 31 WPG 4 FGs Sept 3rd SK 35/47 364 2 2 38 - 24 SK Harris - 9 carries, 29 yds Sept 9th SK 24/37 282 3 0 48 - 28 WPG Sept 22nd OTT 23/33 319 2 0 29 - 9 WPG Ottawa Rookie QB start Sept 30th EDM 24/32 238 2 0 28 - 19 WPG Oct 6th HAM 14/18 158 1 1 30 - 13 HAM Masoli 27/33 338 2 TDs Oct 14th BC 23/30 172 0 0 26 - 20 WPG 3 FGs, 1 PR TD, 0 passing or rushing TDs Oct 21st TOR 25/33 268 1 0 29 - 28 TOR Oct 28th BC 3 for 7 30 0 0 36 - 27 BC 7 FGs, Nichols injured