blueandgoldguy

That might be Nichols choice not to throw downfield as he should have.

Six years for this franchise without a playoff victory. Longest streak in the league. Even Montreal has a playoff victory in that time span. Sigh.

Masoli suffered from a couple of drops by his receivers and he ended up getting a TD and field goal in the final minutes of the game to win it. If Hamilton is able to overcome some questionable drops why can't the Bombers? Is the talent on the Bombers inferior to that of hamilton's?

So Nichols said he went through 4 or 5 reads and receivers were not open. On the post game show they were going over the stats. Nichols was 16-23 on passes of 5 yards or less and 4 of 11 on passes of 10 yards or more. I think it is safe to say it isn't on lapo that the team is incapable of stringing together first downs thanks to the conservative passing. Nichols is not capable at this point of finding an open receiver 10 yards down the field

Every team faces drops from their receivers yet they are still able to battle through it and post respectable numbers and win the game. Look at Masoli the other day. there were two times late in the game that a well-thrown pass went off the receivers facemask. The receivers misjudged the throws. The second one with the wide open receiver has particularly egregious. Yet, on the very next play Masoli found another receiver for the TD. Shortly after he marched his team down the field for the winning field goal. When the receivers didn't come through in the clutch, he still managed to drive his team down the field. At this point, nichols is playing so poorly that a few dropped balls breaks the offense.

I think it was opened when Matt criticized the fans for booing him.

Damn. Your mind is made up about Matt Nichols. No return to 2016/first half of 2017 form, huh?

Following Chris Walby's line of reasoning, putting in Streveler is opening Pandora's box.

O-line is not as good and Nichols has zero escapability. The poor passes are mostly on Nichols, not Lapo....never had a great long ball but it is worse this year. Nichols has options on every play...it's not a set play to throw the ball 5 or 6 yards when the team needs 9. He has options out there beyond the first down marker, but he either doesn't want to make those passes or he is incapable of it.

Why? Because he is so sensitive? His play this year warrants being pulled and if he can't handle it he is not mentally tough. We have probably already seen the best of Nichols thanks to a dominant O-line in 2016-17.

Funny reading that article a few days ago in which Hall said the defense was heading in the right direction. Anytime the Bombers face a good QB it seems like an automatic 350+ passing yards given up by the defense. Mitchell just set a personal record with over 450 passing yards. Sure doesn't seem like it's heading in the right direction.

Walby says putting in Streveler is opening up Pandora's box.

Nichols was struggling for many games in the second half of last season. It's been over a year of average to below-average QB play. I suspect his days as a good quarterback are over. Lapo getting as much as he did out of Nichols in 2016/17 is a testament to his play-calling.

Reilly gets the ball there a lot faster than Nichols. That's what a strong arm will do.

It would have been interesting to find out what he wanted per year vs. what Cal offered. Why didn't he sign with another team eventually?

Nichols drop off in performance goes back to the last third or so of the 2017 season. We are talking nearly a year at this point. It's not the case of a QB having one or two average/poor games. Let's see what happens over the next month. If the poor performances continue, I suspect we have missed an opportunity in 2018 for a legit Grey Cup run.

They did bring in that scout this year who is highly regarded. Can't remember his name... Maybe it will take another year before his work makes hay.

Someone in the other Bomber forum said Mike O'shea stated in the post-game show the reason Nichols stayed in the game is that there was still a lot to learn lol.

Apparently Nichols is crying about the fans booing him on social media.

I'm hopeful we can win 5 more games after presumed losses the next 2 weeks against Calgary and Sasky. Beat Saskatchewan in the Banjo Bowl, beat Montreal at home, beat Edmonton in one of the two road games, beat Saskatchewan at home, and beat Calgary at home (probably clinched first place by then so hopefully they only play their starters for the first half).

There is a Sharknado in the forecast for Sunday, August 19. Close enough to a rogue meteor?

Nichols mostly average/mediocre play extends back to the second half of last season. Plenty of average games last year. He was clearly outplayed by Rielly in last year's playoff game getting a good chunk of his passing yards in the final 11 minutes when the Bombers were down by 23 points to Edmonton (playing a prevent defense). Nichols has not had one excellent game this year. If the Bombers had an elite defense, they would have a shot at a Grey Cup with an average QB ie. 1990 Bomber team with Tom Burgess. However, this game is yet another example that is not the case. The defense is mediocre against everyone but the worst teams and will likely continue to be for the rest of the season with several weak spots (Fogg and Loffler) and a defensive coordinator who will not be fired until the end of the season...so Nichols will have to improve substantially for this team to have a shot at winning a playoff game.

jeez and he gets sacked for good measure. Why is he still in there!?

Yes, that is what I was thinking. I guess Roberts and Simmons would also get free hotel and per diems with that as well staying in all these little, big towns of Western Canada.

Thanks for that. I wonder what the likes of Jake Roberts and Ron Simmons were paid for the series of shows they did for CWE last year and this year? Is it a per-show basis? Or are they paid a flat fee for the 20-30 shows they appeared in? Any ideas?