TrueBlue4ever

Si-*COUGH*-moni

You know, it's not a foregone conclusion that the second he gets touched he WILL get another concussion. Hopefully no one decides to target his head just to increase the likelihood of knocking him out of the game.

Yeah...I don't feel bad.

Funny, I was at the 2 wins and none of the other games in that span. In fact, I'm on a 7-0-1 streak (9-0-1 if you count road games). Anyone want to fund my season tickets? I could guarantee a Stanley Cup win!

I'll see what I can do. I'm in line to collect 3 or 4 tonight and I don't think my companions will want them.

I don't see Nichols getting or warranting a raise (based on coming off the injury, not a criticism of his play), but the bar has been moved with the Reilly and Mitchell signings last year. Top end QB will run you 3/4 of a mill now, next level $500K plus. If Masoli or Nichols convinces some team that they are completely healthy, it would not surprise me to see at least one team offer close to a half million for them (deserved or not). Depends on desperation, and what you think the drop-off in talent is behind them. No one wants to repeat what Ottawa did this year at QB.

And as for the bolded part, that could be the motto for the comments in this entire fan site.

But does he hamstring our offence, in that we can't afford top tier talent elsewhere, and therefore utilize a run-heavy offensive scheme? Would the drop off in talent be so much that it would not be offset by gains elsewhere with the cash freed up? Just something to ponder.

No one seems to mind that we ripped off the Riders national anthem call of "Glorious and Green" and made it the lame "Glorious and Blue" (seriously, "Blue north" would be such a perfect fit given what we yell at Jets games) so why dump on him for altering their fight song?

One other option is that we jettison Andrew Harris and go with Augustine and Oilveira as cheaper options, and invest in the team elsewhere (pricier established star receivers, a big ticket QB, a shut down DB or 2). Maybe a change to a pass-focussed offence will follow if the talent is there.

I could see both Nichols and Streveler back again. As it stands right now, Nichols can only really claim big (Harris-type) dollars based on his win-loss record, but his injury history has to be of concern. I would sign to a heavily incentive-laden contract with payouts for hitting games played, yardage, TDs, etc. Therefore, if he (as he has done every year here) misses a few games he won't hit those marks and it costs us less. Streveler has not really done anything to suggest that he is in for a big payday in the off-season and that we need to enter a bidding war for his services. His stock may have even dropped with the team falling from 1st to 3rd in the standings once he took over as starter and how he willingly puts himself in harms way so much with his style of play that he has knocked himself out of the lineup. Honestly, thinking back to pre-season, I thought Streveler was the worst of our 4QBs in the games, but since he was locked in at #2, Bennett got his walking papers despite in my mind playing better in limited action. With all the other Western teams, Hamilton and Montreal all set at QB next year, we are only competing with Toronto and Ottawa and have Nichols/Streveler/one of Masoli or Evans/Arbuckle if he shakes loose from Calgary/MBT/Collaros as options, even Franklin or Jennings if you have faith they can be rejuvenated with a change of scenery (not saying I do). I don't see Streveler being one of the top 3 to take over as unquestioned starter based on his second half of the season right now. He signs as a back-up somewhere and continues to develop, but his style is so fundamentally different than every other QB out there, I'm not sure if anyone throws big money at a guy who wouldn't be easily plugged into an existing offensive system and playbook if the starter goes down.

It goes deeper than that. 17 went all in on the genius of Joe Mack and needed a scapegoat when the team fell into ruin to save his cred on the site. So he blamed LaPo for those failings. Problem was once LaPo got canned, we lost 52-0 the next game with Mack standing beside Tim Burke, so of course all the failures then switched to the ineptitude of Burke. Having set his precedent, 17 has clung to the "blame LaPo" card with the new regime, regardless of personnel issues, results, or injury factors. Just my opinion.

Streveler is 6'1", 216 lbs., Nichols is 6'2", 211 lbs. "Big Chris" is a bit of a myth by the tale of the tape.

That offence has been the #1 scoring unit in each of the past 2 years, and was #1 again this year before Nichols went down, and is still #2 overall. It’s also the #1 rushing offence for 3 years running. Not sure how that is underperforming. For all of Trevor Harris’ big passing yardage numbers, none of that translated into lots of points or a majority of games won. If our passing game is deficient, it’s because we have designed a proficient running style offence that is the opposite of underperforming, has gotten us a bunch more wins than losses, and is likely due to the skill we have at running back and the lack of same at receiver. That’s on the personnel, not the coordinator.

My point is how do you know that they are being underused or ignored, or that they could be better utilized. Maybe they can’t be because they just aren’t good enough. Maybe they aren’t being thrown to because, rather than being ignored, they just aren’t getting open. Maybe McGuire isn’t being played because he doesn’t have the talent to lead the team yet, and like EVERY OTHER 3rd string QB in this league, will be kept holding a clipboard in his first year. Maybe it has nothing to do with the O.C. and everything to do with the player’s ability in the first place. My point is the only objective way to say it is the O.C. and not the player’s ability is to see who suffocated here and then went on to thrive elsewhere. Otherwise our assessments of a clearly superior player being handcuffed by a clearly inept O.C. Is pure opinion with no objective basis in fact to validate it beyond our own inherent pre-formed biases.

Your avatar actually makes that joke funnier.

4 in 14 years (OK, I looked it up). Missed the playoffs 5 times, injured one year, and lost 8 playoff games. Nichols has made the playoffs every year he has been the starter here, FYI.

True that. He spent 6 years bumming around NFL practice rosters and not playing at all, so I did not realize he is 31. But not a lot of mileage on the body, and he has put up some decent numbers on a very bad team. Maybe he'll be a late bloomer? Khari Jones was 29 when he joined the Bombers, made MOP at 31.

Gerald Alphin Chris Armstrong Eddie Brown Terrence Edwards Craig Ellis Terry Evanshen Tony Gabriel Stephen Jones Hal Patterson Kamau Peterson Jamel Richardson Geroy Simon Gerald Wilcox

Personnel?

So you're saying once O'Shea decided to input these players into our roster on offence, LaPo found a way to utilize them in his scheme, and our offence improved because of it?

No, no, no. Your argument was that LaPo cannot elevate the talent he has. I gave you examples of players who had talent and have had their best performances under a LaPo offence. A.K.A had their performance elevated under his scheme. If a player did not elevate his talent under LaPo, maybe it had something to do with a lack of talent to begin with that could not be elevated by anyone. But show me a player who got better after getting out of LaPo's system and was elevated by different coaching? Then I will consider the merit of your argument.

I would say thriving elsewhere matters most, as it gives an objective standard to measure the system here versus elsewhere, as opposed to a personal opinion as to who is above average or not. Flanders and Augustine both did well here when given the chance, but their restriction was being slotted behind Harris, not handcuffed due to LaPo's play-calling. Blame the depth chart and the head coach's roster decisions for them, not the OC play-calling. As for the receivers, well hard to make a definitive statement on them, since we are run heavier than all other teams. But none of them have shown enough obvious game-breaking talent that they warrant a fundamental change in the playbook to get them the ball a dozen times a game and for us to change to a passing game. And our current QB/RB combo would have a lot to do with the decision to avoid the pass, no? Darvin Adams was able to put up a 1,000 yard season in this offence, Woli is a very good blocker and runs decent routes, but he isn't a burner, has dropped a few this year, and doesn't look like he is being ignored despite getting great separation from DBs this year (because he really isn't busting coverages). Bailey was not being given a chance to start, again a roster decision and not a play-calling one. And since his QB has been the pass-averse Streveler, maybe his running QB has something to do with his lack of production (in limited sample size). Whitehead for all his speed does not seem to get separation much on long downfield routes (from the iso replays I have seen). So lousy may be an exaggeration, but I would say above-average is as well. LaPo runs the offence based on what he has to work with, and I believe pretty much everyone thought our receiving corps was sub-par going into the season and crying out for a Matthews, Zylstra or a Duke Williams to get picked up. Not sure where all these underused stars suddenly materialized from in the eyes of the fans. Sometimes the most obvious explanation is the right one. We were 7-2 with a #1 scoring and efficiency, ball-control style offence (not flashy, but effective). Then our QB got hurt. We have struggled to win since then. With our back-up. Not all his fault, as the D has collapsed at times. But the fundamental offensive change was at QB. That result doesn't fit the agenda of many who wanted Nichols gone from the start of the year and figured Strev was the guy to lead us to the promised land. He has not lived up to the hype, so people look for a scapegoat to save face and credibility in their opinions, and have pinned it on LaPo. He is not above criticism himself, but axing him is not the only obvious solution here, as so many wish it would be.