AKAChip

He’s not arguing that Montreal isn’t better than last season. He’s arguing the extent to which they are better, especially given how favourable their circumstances are. These “one year wonder” teams happen in the CFL all the time. Adams is still an extremely unpolished and inaccurate passer and if he regresses to the mean next season, the Als are still stuck in quicksand next season.

I think we all know that for better or for worse, he’s coming back next season. He is the ultimate MOS guy based on extensive evidence and it would take a momentous event to change that.

And you’re right in the sense that very infrequently is a late season addition the difference between a good team and a great team but there have been a number of scenarios where it’s made a sizeable difference. There are DB and receiver upgrades out there. I’d argue there are Bighill upgrades out there as well even though I know full well he’s untouchable. The cap room doesn’t do this team any good sitting unused. This core doesn’t have an unlimited number of contending years left.

Marcus Ball is very clearly done so no, he doesn’t make the Stamps better. That being said, with Matthews gone and Nichols’ salary off the books, there should be no shortage of room for the Bombers to bring in an NFL cut. Someone like Shaq Richardson, for example.

If Hecht is indeed getting replaced, I’ll give O’Shea credit. Benching “his guys” especially vets is something he really doesn’t like to do. Granted, it’s beyond the point of ridiculousness when it comes to how poorly Hecht is playing that not removing him from the lineup is borderline negligence.

I mean, it’s clear as day that once the defence and special teams stopped scoring, the wins have come less frequently. If anyone wants to put the credit or blame on the QB change, you’re fighting a losing battle.

Kulikov at either side is not good but infinitely better than Nogier who isn’t even particularly good in the AHL.

Gotta wonder what the narrative would have been if 5(!) of the 7 wins that Nichols started weren’t against BC, Toronto or Ottawa. But yes, all QB wins can be judged in a vacuum. Put Streveler in those games and throw in the second Toronto game too and the Bombers don’t win at least five, probably all six of those games?

That was also 2+ years ago now. He was mediocre in the AHL last year and is 34 now. He is also a bottom-5 skater in the league when teams are getting faster and faster so no, you can’t get much worse than him. You can’t really get worse than Bourque on the third line either. Bitetto making the team is also a worst case, Armageddon type scenario. He is quite literally the worst defenceman in the NHL based on a number of metrics. This team took a big step forward ridding themselves of two defencemen that could not move the puck forward to save their lives in Myers and Chiarot but that doesn’t matter if the replacement is one of the few defencemen in the league worse than either of them. Pionk will be fine in the Myers role and Niku and Heinola are too talented not to succeed. Poolman should have a nice season as well but anytime Bitetto is on the ice, it will take a miracle to not get scores on. Meanwhile, a guy like Gustafson does literally everything Letestu does and has a great camp only to sit in the press box? Why? Because he’s young and Letestu is old? Maurice is so predictable and just so, so stupid and stubborn it’s truly unbelievable sometimes. It’s like he’s trying to prove than he’s untouchable no matter what he does.

Do you get any perks being the King of Semantics, or is it largely just a ceremonial position?

This is valid and a fair point.

I should clarify in the interest of full disclosure. When I call his checkdowns cowardly, I don’t mean cowardly in the sense that I feel he’s afraid of getting hit. I don’t think that at all. I mean cowardly in the sense that there came a point in time where he was petrified to make a mistake to the degree in which is was significantly detrimental to the team. The fact is, the number of checkdowns went down significantly with Streveler at QB which leads me to two possible conclusions. Either they were never being called at the frequency that Nichols was resorting to them, or Lapolice had limited confidence that Nichols could push the ball even to an intermediate level once his confidence was shot. Either option isn’t flattering.

Calling something specific someone does as cowardly hardly characterizes them personally as a coward. Get off your high horse.

There’s really no other adequate descriptor.

Another thing we have sort of forgotten. How many cowardly check downs have we seen since Nichols got hurt?

It’s almost as if there are far more factors than just QB when it comes to wins and losses. Especially in a tiny four game sample.

And yet, the offence has been better without him. Who knew?

Assuming Fajardo signs an extension, only Toronto and Ottawa go into next season with no one clearly designated as “the guy” with Masoli and Arbuckle free agents and Evans showing well in Hamilton, there’s a real possibility that no team is in the market for a starter. Especially since Masoli and Arbuckle are both clearly more attractive options.

It’s also worth noting that there’s a reasonable chance that Nichols, a guy who didn’t have a cannon to begin with, won’t have the same arm strength after all this. Chad Pennington before and after a significant shoulder injury comes to mind. His career ended rather quickly once his shoulder gave out.

We’re in for a fun and exciting end to the season.

My only qualm about Irving is how he pronounces “Weinecke”

This is pure speculation and not based on anything other than gut feeling but as far as Lapo’s playcalling with a lead goes, I always attributed it to him not wanting to give too much away or “waste” good plays when in his mind the game is well at hand. Probably wrong, but it’s where my mind has always wandered to.

The D has made a ton of stops this season when it counts. Both Edmonton games and the Calgary game come to mind. In fact, they make the stops when it counts more than they don’t, regardless of recency bias.

Again, while it was a horrible defensive effort today, the defence deserves some rope for how well they’ve played for much of the season. Even if you put this loss exclusively on them (which is fair enough), they were the sole reason for at least three wins this season so it’s hard to be too upset.

Diminished expectations have caused a lot a people to say Hecht isn’t that bad but even if he’s not that bad, he’s still very bad.