A lot. This guy still isn't getting the respect he deserves, and I'm not even talking here. TSN, Sportsnet, the papers, Nichols in general seems to still have the game manager tag on him. I have to think some of it comes from our play calling and how stupidly conservative we can get, and that's understandable I guess if your a fan of another team and just catch a quarter or two. But for full time analysts and our own fans, this guy isn't Matt Dunigan but he sure as hell isn't Garza or Dinwiddie. 

Nichols finished last night with a QB rating of over 120, 4 touchdowns, 300+ yards, and 64% throwing. Yet you would think that he needs to elevate his game if you read some of the posts from the game thread. So yeah, I'm going to make a Matt Nichols bandwagon because after watching a long line of terrible quarterbacks (including the anointed Drew Willy) I like winners. And Nichols is a god damn winner.

 

 

Rock solid player at the most important position in the league. Was bummed about the loss yesterday, but glad to hear Nichols is making Winnipeg his permanent home. Sounds like he really likes it here, and that's good 'cuz we like him here too.

The title of this thread just ain't right, man... I love Matt Nichols.

He came to play on Sunday and left it all on the field. He had an incredible season and played through struggles and injuries, always giving it 110% every snap. He epitomizes the character of this team and has established himself as a top pivot, a leader, a great team player, and a damned fine human being.

I can only hope the Bombers release an alternate jersey for the 2018 season. His name and number will be on mine. (or failing that, just a road jersey with his name and number)

Yeah I think he confirmed his worth and silenced his critics...also the fact he stood thee and didn't use injuries as an excuse...he will get better..we will get better...Give him a legit scary number one threat along with what we have now...he will have bigger numbers net year and more wins...and I bet a Western Nomination MOP nod

1 minute ago, Booch said:

Yeah I think he confirmed his worth and silenced his critics...also the fact he stood thee and didn't use injuries as an excuse...he will get better..we will get better...Give him a legit scary number one threat along with what we have now...he will have bigger numbers net year and more wins...and I bet a Western Nomination MOP nod

would also help to have an offensive coordinator who doesn't stop using his runningbacks when they get into the red zone. 

hopefully we have the sense to learn from that..review each game what worked and why and track how we scored...and then manage the games next year and not get cute and fancy...

 

1 minute ago, Booch said:

hopefully we have the sense to learn from that..review each game what worked and why and track how we scored...and then manage the games next year and not get cute and fancy...

 

but after this long is there any hope of that for Lapo? I don't believe people can change their personalities. 

5 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

but after this long is there any hope of that for Lapo? I don't believe people can change their personalities. 

According to a lot of people here lapo is a world class oc. I disagree. 

Lapo held the offense back full stop by over thinking things and doing the DCs job for them by stopping what's working. There was no reason to not pound Harris and Flanders all first half cause it worked all season vs. Edmonton and it worked when they did it against them this game too, they were just too quick to not do it. 

Lapolice is just good enough to make you think he's great but we will never win a cup with him as offensive coordinator because he is a loser. 

48 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Lapolice is just good enough to make you think he's great but we will never win a cup with him as offensive coordinator because he is a loser. 

It's truly amazing how you pull no punches whatsoever in your horribly biased opinion. The Bombers had a top offense in the league this past season and that helped them post a 12-6 record and host a home playoff game, one in which said offense performed very well.

Objectivity isn't a strong suit, eh?

As I posted way back when......Nichols's sum is truly greater than his parts....particularly in the leadership/intangibles aspect.       We can certainly go the distance with him at QB.

14 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

It's truly amazing how you pull no punches whatsoever in your horribly biased opinion. The Bombers had a top offense in the league this past season and that helped them post a 12-6 record and host a home playoff game, one in which said offense performed very well.

Objectivity isn't a strong suit, eh?

It's the same as when he was head coach here, good enough to barely lose. This team needed turnovers by the D to win all the time the last few years, that's because Lapo has a loser mentality and plays not to lose rather than playing to win. You were happy to see them complete 2 balls and then punt on the first frive? pound it down the esks throat and build momentum rather than giving it to them right away. How about the drive where Harris carried the team into the redzone and then they went away from him and kicked a field goal? Why try and hit the endzone when we can kick 3s? 

Lapo is a bigger problem than Hall. Problems on the D are more related to players and their usage than the coach, but the problems on O are coaching problems. Top rb and top OL and we don't commit to a run game, WTF is that? Especially when your top receiver is hurt and you killed the other team running all year. **** Lapo he is as much to blame as Hall. 

1 minute ago, 17to85 said:

It's the same as when he was head coach here, good enough to barely lose. This team needed turnovers by the D to win all the time the last few years, that's because Lapo has a loser mentality and plays not to lose rather than playing to win. You were happy to see them complete 2 balls and then punt on the first frive? pound it down the esks throat and build momentum rather than giving it to them right away. How about the drive where Harris carried the team into the redzone and then they went away from him and kicked a field goal? Why try and hit the endzone when we can kick 3s? 

Lapo is a bigger problem than Hall. Problems on the D are more related to players and their usage than the coach, but the problems on O are coaching problems. Top rb and top OL and we don't commit to a run game, WTF is that? Especially when your top receiver is hurt and you killed the other team running all year. **** Lapo he is as much to blame as Hall. 

 

18 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Objectivity isn't a strong suit, eh?

Thanks for proving my point.

You must be on some solid fumes if you actually believe LaPolice is a bigger problem than Hall. That's gotta be one of the dumbest and most ignorant comments you've ever posted.

Did you even watch the WSF...?

8 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

 

Thanks for proving my point.

You must be on some solid fumes if you actually believe LaPolice is a bigger problem than Hall. That's gotta be one of the dumbest and most ignorant comments you've ever posted.

Did you even watch the WSF...?

Did you watch it? Rookies making mistakes in coverage is hard to blame on the defensive coordinator. Missed tackles are hard to blame on the defensive coordinator. He's not calling a game to make those mistakes. That's on players. I also doubt that Ritchie Hall is driving the strange deployment of the depth chart on game days. That one I put on O'Shea. But the problems on offense.... not committing to running the ball, bullshit redzone play calling, throwing short of first downs all the damned time until we have no choice but to try and make up a deficit... That's on Lapo because it's been a Lapo trademark his entire career as a coach which spans almost 2 bloody decades. 

Offence isnt perfect, but how can anyone point to that as the teams biggest issue? Lapo is doing his job, the defense needs to be fixed. 

I would argue that leading the league in turnovers is the defense doing it's job....

2 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Did you watch it? Rookies making mistakes in coverage is hard to blame on the defensive coordinator.

Yeah, I was there. I saw a defense get clowned badly in the third quarter, and it wasn't just the rookies making mistakes. Five straight possessions by the Eskimos all resulting in points.

Hilarious how you can give Hall a pass on his players for not executing but when it's the offense, it's all LaPolice's fault. You're not fooling anybody here.

3 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Yeah, I was there. I saw a defense get clowned badly in the third quarter, and it wasn't just the rookies making mistakes. Five straight possessions by the Eskimos all resulting in points.

Hilarious how you can give Hall a pass on his players for not executing but when it's the offense, it's all LaPolice's fault. You're not fooling anybody here.

you can hide weaknesses on O a lot easier than you can on D. For example, OL and RB strength of the team and weakness for the esks is run D, let's use that to our advantage rather than trying to make Matt Coates a focal point of the offense. 

But what do you do on D when you have 2 rookies on the same side of your backfield and a safety that doesn't provide help over the top and a plugger at middle linebacker? how do you scheme around that? 

Edited November 14, 20178 yr by 17to85

3 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

you can hide weaknesses on O a lot easier than you can on D. For example, OL and RB strength of the team and weakness for the esks is run D, let's use that to our advantage rather than trying to make Matt Coates a focal point of the offense. 

But what do you do on D when you have 2 rookies on the same side of your backfield and a safety that doesn't provide help over the top and a plugger at middle linebacker? how do you scheme around that? 

The same Matt Coates who had 100 yards receiving...? Yeah, how terrible. Could the offense have been better on Sunday? Sure. But you can't tell me the production it did manage is worthy of the harsh criticism you've given it, much less your claim the offensive system is a bigger issue than the defensive one. That is garbage and you know it.

As for the defense, system and personnel were both issues, as we saw during the season. However, the former (under the guidance of Hall) has been here for three straight seasons and the results have been much of the same, despite different personnel. Rookies (Alexander and Walker) can improve; veterans (Hurl) cannot. It's time for the system to be replaced.

I ain't saying Coates didn't do well, I'm saying it is irresponsible to rely on that guy when you have Harris and Flanders in the backfield and an OL that has been damned good all season. 

How can people watch the Bombers and not see the problems that Lapo has had all the along and continues to have? He waits until he is in a hole to open things up, can you imagine if he tried that before they get behind the 8 ball? That is my frustration with the guy and it is a huge problem. How many times has this team won without the D coming up with turn overs for the offense? 

This team has some ratio problems on D and is happy to throw out too many rookies in the backfield, that puts Ritchie Hall in a tough spot. Now I don't care if they fire him or not, but I trust him to make smart decisions and adjust more than I trust lapolice. Honestly I'd replace em both, but acting like Lapo is fine and Hall is the only problem is bullshit. They're both cut from the same cloth, difference is Hall is more willing to change things. 

I wish 17to85 would tell us what he thinks of Lapo, preferably in every thread.

1 minute ago, sweep the leg said:

I wish 17to85 would tell us what he thinks of Lapo, preferably in every thread.

working on it. 

Even before Westerman got hurt and the ratio was affected, the defense made the same mistakes it did all season.

Nobody's acting like the offense is fine, either. But if we're going to look at this team through a lens of objectivity and rationality, the offense was hands down the best aspect of the 2017 Blue Bombers. LaPolice has been here for two seasons and in that time, we've seen significant improvement on offense. On the other side of the ball, Hall just completed his third season as DC and even with changes and improvements to personnel, the defensive production has not improved. It's not rocket appliances here to see what the weak link is on this team.

And if LaPolice is a loser, what does that make Hall?

5 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

working on it. 

Work harder.....

2 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Lapo held the offense back full stop by over thinking things and doing the DCs job for them by stopping what's working. There was no reason to not pound Harris and Flanders all first half cause it worked all season vs. Edmonton and it worked when they did it against them this game too, they were just too quick to not do it. 

Lapolice is just good enough to make you think he's great but we will never win a cup with him as offensive coordinator because he is a loser. 

Yup, held it back so much that they finished 1 and 2 in almost every offensive category.  Wow, what an anchor to our offensive game planning.  can't believe he crippled the offense so badly that we could only manage to score the most points in the league, or second most offensive only..  I mean, wow.  almost had Nichols as western MOP and set his career numbers pretty lofty..  but nope, you're right.. hes a bum