JuranBoldenRules

Calgary's D is insane. Ton of guys on their first contracts too.

That reaction is almost always ACL or achilles.

BLM just blew his knee out.

You watch BLM and Reilly and how they can move in the pocket, step up, step around the rush and get out of the pocket when it is the right play. You can't defend against that. Then watch Nichols this season, no pocket presence, basically tap dancing in place until the rush gets him, nowhere near the level of these guys.

Maybe we should get Wolitarsky to change his name to FANTUZ and then Lapo will know to make him the first read more!

They showed some this week. Had good adjustments for the blitz in the first half, including some quick routes behind the blitz and Harris. Riders started showing more 3 man pressures, Bombers quit running and Nichols stared blankly downfield in the 2nd half. Personally I'd run like crazy at those 3 man pressures and challenge them to take down Harris, Demski, Lafrance running downhill. Bombers went away from it and didn't seem to have many plays with audibles for Nichols to adjust from pass to run against the 3 man rush, we saw it once and Harris got them into 3rd and short. That was on one of the 2nd half FG drives. Lapo is getting outfoxed every week and too often he's outfoxing himself. Ya they have to adjust, but sometimes you have to trust what is working too. You can also have multiple plans and options to switch into. Seems like the adjustments get made at half and they can't switch out of that. It's mind boggling how many games in the last calendar year that this team has gone 2 consecutive quarters (usually the 2nd and 3rd, sometimes 3rd and 4th) with basically no offensive production in terms of first downs, yards and points.

Disagree. They ran the ball at will when they ran the ball, Nichols had plenty of time. Harris blew it on the one sack and no one even touched Jefferson on a slide protection. No more than a half dozen pressures in that game against the most eager pass rush in the league. It's not a pressure against a 3 man rush when the QB holds the ball for 7 seconds.

Nichols is doing a lot of hesitating in the pocket this year and that's helping pass rushers and hurting his receivers and Harris. They are always waiting for the ball, rarely see someone hit in stride, make catch, get creamed play over. Not much YAC. Lapo needs to fix this in the gameplan, run quick passing game all the time because Nichols is really struggling to make reads and move the ball out.

Wish we had a safety like Woodman. Guy can play, all over the field supporting the DB's in coverage, making plays on the ball. Canadian too. Something we just don't have.

OL was great in Sask. One sack was on them. They were playing arguably the two best pass rushing DE's in the league and the best D in general at pressuring the QB. Nichols struggles to get the ball out and really needs a simplified offense. They ran a simple quick passing game with lots of misdirection and some rollouts in the first half and put together a bunch of drives. They go to a straight dropback passing game in the second half and Nichols can barely complete a pass.

Sub 80 standard QB rating vs over .500 teams, around 78. Has turned the ball over for a TD in each of those games, fumble vs Ottawa and pick six vs Calgary and Sask (which doesn't factor into QB rating). His QUAR, the CFL QB ranking invented last year to better reflect QB impact on winning games, is just over 60 after the Sask game. Was 85.7 last season.

Noticing Cuthbert having a real hard time identifying players this season. Almost Bob Cole-esque.

Or more importantly, in a year where this team is supposed to contend, the #1 QB is .500 with wins against only BC, Toronto and Hamilton (combined 10-17). Only one of those on the road. The BC and Toronto wins versus essentially their backup QB's, guys who have since been demoted. Hard to be too hopeful about this season and this QB. And it's three embarrassing losses.

Cut and paste any number of QB names in there, Buck Pierce, Alex Brink, Drew Willy, Kevin Glenn. Bob loves the QB's. It's rarely their fault. Great PBP man, and has a great historical perspective, not an analyst.

Difference being Nichols would have to call the play and then execute it within 20 seconds. Pierce is coaching.

Speaks to rank in points for being not a great indicator of points in the standings, the ones that count for placement. Who suggested Pierce is going to light things up? I'm suggesting the Bombers need to try something different. They can't replace all the players. Clearly the playcalling is a problem when you go two quarters in nearly every game with almost no production, even in terms of getting first downs. Pierce is one of 4 offensive coaches, and the most logical to take over playcalling either temporarily or for the rest of the season if it were taken from Lapo. A different point of view could make a positive difference and break some fairly obvious tendencies Lapo has that teams are clearly preying on week after week. Playcalling changes hands all the time. Most often head coaches are offensive coaches and take it over, or it goes vice-versa where the head coach was calling plays and hands it off to the OC. Bombers are a bit unique having a coach who isn't an offensive coach, just them, BC and Ottawa.

Where do OC's come from?

Haha, he'll be getting 7 figures USD to be an OC in NCAA or NFL for the next 20 years. Actually kind of funny all the QB's we dressed in the 07 Grey Cup have already gone on to pretty good coaching careers. Kingsbury, Dinwiddie is coaching BLM with the Stamps, Zac Taylor is the QB coach for the LA Rams and is actually Mike Sherman's son in-law. Dinwiddie would probably be top of my list to be our next OC. Didn't think he was awful calling plays for Montreal, had awful QB's for sure. Has worked with Dickenson for 3 seasons now, if anything rubs off there we'd be laughing. I can't see MOS getting fired. I think both co-ordinators are due for replacement. 3 seasons is a pretty long stretch for coordinators.

We do owe him one for the Drew Willy trade.

Tom Clements.

Wouldn't be a 70 year old GM/HC. Can tell you that.

D forced some big punts deep in Rider territory and on drives starting close to midfield. O didn't play along. Only thing the D didn't do was create a bunch of turnovers.

Bomber O not getting a first down in almost the entire 4th quarter and the Riders have the ball near midfield to start 3 straight drives did it. Collaros just had to be patient.

Talking consistency. His offenses always have long lapses. That's a huge problem in my opinion. That's a big difference in winning and losing. Lots of times all you need are 2-3-4 first downs, even if the drive ends in a punt. Eat clock, get field position. The long stretches of 2 and outs are killers. Even with some gaudy numbers and individual seasons by guys like Khari, Stegall, Durant, Harris, Lapo's teams have finished 1st in their division twice in 10 seasons as a playcaller. Did you take out all the TD's D and special teams scored, safeties? Lapo came here in 2002 with 2 years of pro coaching experience. Maas took over as OC in Ottawa with the same level of experience Buck has. Who knows if he's up to it, but he's not inexperienced. We know Lapo is drowning right now. Maybe Manny Matzakis is available since experience is so crucial.

It was but the stability provided by Miller and Walters should help the candidate pool the next go round.