voodoochylde

I'm always an advocate of letting guys play through things (you can't have someone looking over their shoulder, worrying about job security, and expect to get the best from them).
That said, Nichols hasn't played particularly well at all this season. It's not just a quarter or a half of football - we're talking games - and it's becoming a detriment to this team. With Streveler, the offense is more dynamic, is more difficult to defend (he spreads the ball around to everyone) and is simply more versatile .. LaPo just needs to stay out of his own way, hah!
In the end, I'm not going to get too worked up over the regular season. Yes, it's more fun to sit through a win than a loss but we've seen time and time again that your record means NOTHING if you make the playoffs and at that point, anything can happen. Not writing this team off yet.

Perhaps I'm in the minority here but what's not to like about Walters?  He's brought in the talent to rebuild this sad sack team inherited from Joe Mack.   Say what you want but the guy has done a remarkable job . Lest we forget that we had a 3-15 team not too long ago.   The blame should squarely fall on the coaching. I'm running out of excuses to defend O'Shea.   Hall needs to go.  LaPo just looks lost right now.. no imagination again. Just like it was all those years ago.  This season is slipping away and changes need to be made.
 

The concession areas, especially the rum hut area, were jammed all game. I think that accounts for many of the empty seats.

iT'S NOT LIKE THE sask defense shut our run down tho...Harris ran for 55 yards on 9 carries...Demski had a 5 yard run and Lafrance..tho he fumbled which was a huge turnover had 1 yard...also Strev had a 1 yard sneek...so 62 yards rushing in a half isn't really being shut down..we went away from it, and from the play action and to give the receivers that half second of indecision on the DB's as to if it run or pass..thats what stalled us out I think...Now pretty sure that is on LAPO...Not Nichols as I highly doubt he was going rogue and changing the play calls....and if he is...and still not producing, that alone is cause to be yanked as we can't be in an Inmates running the Asylum situation...thats when you kn ow your season is done

I don't think it is an issue with the play calling...hard to determine if it is Nichol's not being able to execute on all the options, or gets jitters and just want to dump it off for fear of getting injured further..and I don't think he is 100 percent...in body and mind
I see receivers open...or in a position to be thrown open or lead to a ball...and Nichols isn't pulling the trigger for whatever reason. Also...teams know he is no threat to run this year, and basically disregard that in their pass rush, and even on a play action/roll out...they know he ain't going anywhere. Tho he was no major threat or consistent runner before, the ability/threat was there...and that is huge in an offence to hum along nicely.
The fact that Harris is able to accomplish what he is right now is amazing and is a tribute to his talent...and the o-line...now if we could insert a QB who can threaten a defense with the notion he may take off, as well as stand in and make intermediate passes and utilize the offence then we will be onto something...but right now..Nichols funk is affecting things big time and it is the issue we have sputtered..
 
 

Remember when they played Ottawa and Nichols was pushing the ball down field (and missing targets are throwing into double coverage).     
It's not the game plan it's the execution.   
I'd really like to see Streveler get some action to see if instead of firing the OC maybe a switch at QB might just kick start the offense.   Worst case scenario he falls flat on his face and we go back to Nichols. 

The whole team has to come out ready to play and keep playing the whole 60 minutes. If they get out in front, they need to keep piling it on.  To hell with laying back and protecting a lead.
Against Ottawa, they got punched in the mouth and never responded. This is going to be that type of game and the Bombers NEED to hit back or it’s going to be a very long afternoon.

The whole team has to come out ready to play and keep playing the whole 60 minutes. If they get out in front, they need to keep piling it on.  To hell with laying back and protecting a lead.
Against Ottawa, they got punched in the mouth and never responded. This is going to be that type of game and the Bombers NEED to hit back or it’s going to be a very long afternoon.

CFL Game Notes -
CFL.ca
👁‍🗨well, if you go by stats..the Bombers are in for a tough time in Regina.. Ugly, ugly stats
Chris Jones is 46-35 as a HC
Mike O’Shea is 40-42
Sask is 35-19 over Wpg in the Labour Day Classic.
29 of those games have been decided only in the last 3 minutes.
The meetings since 2002 have generally not been all that close - only 5 of the last 16 games were decided in the last 3:00 - Saskatchewan comes into the game with a better record (5-4 vs 5-5) than Winnipeg for the first time since 2014
- QBs: Saskatchewan will start their 4th straight different QB in the Classic, with Zach Collaros; Matt Nichols will start his 3rd in a row  (Nichols started once for Edmonton vs Calgary and threw for 203 yards); Matt Nichols has yet to be held under 300 passing yards; he has 341 & 364 yards in his two Winnipeg LDW starts (16-17)  (Nichols started once for Edmonton vs Calgary and threw for 203 yards)
- Zach Collaros has also yet to be held under 300 passing yards in an LDW game; his three 300+ games were with Hamilton
- Zach Collaros becomes the 38th player to start a Labour Day Weekend game for the Riders; Nichols is starter #39 for Winnipeg
- Winnipeg snapped a Saskatchewan 11-game win streak in their 2016 LD Weekend meeting but dropped to 1 win in 13 last year
- The Riders have outgained Winnipeg in the last 7 LDW meetings by over 100 yards per game (Avg: 388 to 275)
Breaking Down Who Wins LDW Classic: There have been 54 previous games in this LD matchup and here is how it has broken down based on which club came into the game with a better record. The Bombers are 5-5 this year compared to the Riders at 5-4.
WPG came in with better record: 29 times (Wins: SSK 18, WPG 11)
SSK came in with better record: 15 times (Wins: SSK 11, WPG 4) Note: Teams came in with even records 10 times
As the Riders were seeking in 2017, the underdog has often won this LD Weekend matchup. The Bombers have only 4 upset wins as underdogs i.e. the team lower in the standings heading in.
___________________________________________________________________________________________ Other Team Notes – Winnipeg at Saskatchewan:
- Charleston Hughes: Leads the CFL with 12 Sacks (7 more than any other player) and comes into this game with a streak of 7 straight games with at least one. That is the longest consecutive games streak in his career, his previous long run was set at 6 in a row from Jun 28/14 to Aug 9/14.
- Most consecutive games with a QB Sack: Over the last 25 years, here are the longest streaks with at least one QB Sack. Charleston Hughes has tied the most by any Saskatchewan player and is 3 short of the highest on record since 1994
👁‍🗨Joe Montford and Philip Hunt are the two players ahead of Hughes, each with 10 game streaks.
- Sam Hurl 100 GP/ U of Calgary: Hurl will suit up this week for CFL game #100 in his career and it will be start #56. He is a prominent member of a remarkable 99 players that have come to the CFL from the Dinos - of those 99 individuals Hurl will become the 20th player of this group to make it to 100 career regular season games.
- Nichols 9-3 .750 coming off a loss: Despite a second straight loss last week, Matt Nichols has had a remarkable run since July 2016 in the next start after a Blue Bombers loss as he will be doing again this week. In his last 12 starts after a Winnipeg defeat the club has gone 9-3 for a .750 winning %.
- Avoiding 3 losses in a row: The Bombers have not lost 3 games in a row in the same season since the final three weeks of 2015. They have gone a span of 46 games with just 5 streaks of 2 defeats in a row and none longer than that.
5 of the last 6: The Riders have beaten Winnipeg just once in the last 6 games. This is the best Bombers' 6-game run against their Saskatchewan rivals in the last 13 years.
Opponents' 502 net yards: The Bombers yielded just 325 net yards per game over their first 8 contests and through Week #9 ranked #4 in the CFL. Since then, they have given up 502 yards per game (493 & 511), the highest in the CFL since Week #9. The main area where this has come is on 1st down plays. First 8 games: 6.3 yards per play, Gm #9-10: 8.3 yards per play.
Riders Sacks Allowed: Saskatchewan allowed 9 Sacks in their first 4 games. Since then in 5 games they have yielded just 3. Expect some 2-&-Outs: The Riders are #1 forcing opponents 62 times into a 2-&-Out. Winnipeg is #3 with 53 forced 2-&-Outs.
- Jovon Johnson: Sat out last week's game and that snapped his consecutive games played streak at 73 in a row.
Andrew Harris: Was held to just 13 yards rushing last week on 7 carries. That tied his lowest yardage since Oct 7/15 vs EDM.
- Josh Bartel Inside the 10: Bartel has 6 punts pinning opponents inside the 10-yard line this year, one off the CFL lead. He is #2 overall with 60 since 2012. Winnipeg's Justin Medlock in many less games is #3 since 2012 with 36 including 7 in 2018.
- Offensive & Defensive TD Same Game: The Riders' Nick Marshall scored a touchdown on offence and defence in the same game two weeks ago with a 3-yard rush and a 67-yard INT return. That specific Offence/Defence TD pair had not occurred since Tyrone Walls for Edmonton on September 4, 1972 a span of 46 years. There have been only 4 such pure occurrences in the last 50 years. Last week, Marshall scored another offensive TD on a short run and actually leads the club in touchdowns with 4.
The nearest since 1972 was Milt Stegall on July 15, 1999 who caught a 37-yard TD pass from Kerwin Bell and returned a blocked punt/fumble 52 yards for a score.

On Offence
- O line same as last week with Foketi at RT
- Simonise got Adams' reps;
- LaFrance got Harris' reps;
- Washington got all reps with 1st team...Lankford didn't get any with first team while I was there....leads me to believe that if either Adams or Dressler can't go...Washington draws in with Lankford off the game day roster;
- My sense is that Adam's will be good to go...while Simonise took Adams' scrimmage reps...they didn't have him taking part in 1st team offence drills while punt team was scrimmaging...he and the other reserve receivers were tending to their scout team duties on punt coverage...
- Dressler's participation in practise was similar to the past two weeks...helping out LaPo with drills...not sure he draws in...
- Nichols threw a bad pick to Priester (playing the scout team)
- Streveler moved the ball well against 1st team D hitting a home run deep shot to Lankford over Fogg...

On D
- Bryant got 1 team reps at tackle
- D Line was Roh, Bryant, Nevis, Okpalaugo (Thomas rotating in...didn't see Poop Johnson rotating in)
- Secondary was the same as last week
- Fenner in at SAM for Leggett
- Gaitor came in on some packages as extra DB...didn't see Cooper coming on as extra DB
- Randle subbed himself out intermittently with Priester coming on...doesn't look serious

Based on how they practised today, it appears as one lineup change will be Washington on for Lankford (Dressler was on the game day roster last week); another will be Jeffcoat coming off...not sure who comes on in place of Jeffcoat...maybe Gaitor

Fenner and Wild were on punt team...leading me to believe they'll continue to be on the roster as DI's...not sure if an extra DB like Gaitor will come on...if so...the other DI will likely be a choice between Poop Johnson and the extra DB.  

Based on the way they practised...it doesn't look like they're too concerned that Leggett won't be ready to go...I based this on the fact they kept Fenner on punt team...not likely that they would have him on punt and kick team and starting SAM...
They still have one full practise day left...plenty of time to change up D and ST if Legget can't go

FWIW...the team looked very loose...not especially as sharp as I've seen them in past practises...but that's a subjective opinion...others who attended may feel differently
 

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

I really think Wolitarsky is being criminally underused .. this guy just screams Jason Clermont to me .. that's a body that could be used in the slot.

Irving reported as much on Twitter.

Irving reported as much on Twitter.