I'm re-watching the playoff game vs the Riders, and it got me thinking about certain guys I'm really looking forward to seeing because I think they'll take a "next step" this season.... 

-Marcus Sayles -- By the end of the season he'd become a bona fide starter. Had all kinds of potential to be elite this year. 

-Kyrie Wilson -- Love his size and motor. I really think he's going to flourish as a starter, especially next to Bighill. 

-Streveler -- With an offseason where he knew what his role was going into the next season, so he could fully train and prepare..... Could be something even more special this year. 

The Canadian artillery on offense.

Wolitarsky, Demski, Simonise, Petermann

Harris, Oliviera

That's as deep as I can ever remember for a Bomber team in Canadians who are legit playmakers.  Most of my life as a Bomber fan we'd be tossing someone out there to fill a Canadian spot hoping they could catch a pass if the defense left them open.  These guys can all make plays.  Gives the Bombers a lot of options in terms of who slots in where, whether 3 imports start on OL etc.

Excited to see what Lapo builds and how they use Streveler.  See if Nichols can find consistency again.

Great examples you guys, but you’re not going to me so excited that I call them all-stars in the making. That would put me in  the “folks around here” category. And who wants that?

No siree bub, no siree.

Corey Washington 

Geoff Gray and that big dude (Eli) from Hawaii. If these guys live up to their potentials, we're golden.

Excited to see if Nichols can take another step beyond "meh"

 

Excited to see our front 7.  Jefferson is going to either be a monster.. or create so much havoc that Biggie and company are going to have great games. 

 

Excited to see Derek Jones as a safety.  Speed, good cover skills and I trust he know what the calls are, seeing as hes been reading the playbook and running the role in practice for how long now?

 

Lastly, most excited to see if we finally have a bonafide deep, lanky, go up and get that ball, threat! 

I think this is the year Jeff Drover really steps up at receiver...

 

But seriously, I'm most excited to see what Jefferson and Jeffcoat are gonna do on the same line!

As this long offseason comes to a close, I am literally excited to see all the players. Heck. I even miss Buzz and Boomer. Bring it on!!

4 minutes ago, nate007 said:

I think this is the year Jeff Drover really steps up at receiver...

 

But seriously, I'm most excited to see what Jefferson and Jeffcoat are gonna do on the same line!

I like Drover but I really think Hargreaves has a 1000 yard season in him.

I’m excited for a number of players but mainly Streveler because this team is too good to have the season ruined by extreme mediocrity at QB. I hope O’Shea and LaPo see that. 

1 hour ago, AKAChip said:

I’m excited for a number of players but mainly Streveler because this team is too good to have the season ruined by extreme mediocrity at QB. I hope O’Shea and LaPo see that. 

Not to derail a thread, but you think Streveler is better than Nichols right now?

7 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Not to derail a thread, but you think Streveler is better than Nichols right now?

I do.

7 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Not to derail a thread, but you think Streveler is better than Nichols right now?

I won’t speak for Chip but personally, yes I do in certain ways. Definitely not in other ways, but I truly believe Streveler does some things better than Nichols right now.

15 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Not to derail a thread, but you think Streveler is better than Nichols right now?

I’ll put it this way, he’s definitely not worse and while you normally choose the veteran over the young QB due to the high floor usually associated with the vet, Nichols has an insanely low floor, as we saw last season. I worry very much that we will be chasing the Nichols of two seasons ago for the rest of his career. Mobility may be largely overrated for QBs but Nichols’ inability to move the pocket in any capacity and cave under the slightest pressure is going to be a massive disadvantage. 

I love the Strevelation, but I think he's being massively overrated right now and Nichols massively underrated. Do I think Streveler is going to be really really good? It's likely...in time. He's already a better runner, so I'll give him that. But in terms of reading a defense and operating the passing attack, it's hands down Nichols all day. 

I’m not convinced that Streveler is a sure fire great player in this league. He’s promising, but we’ve been burned too many times before. What I am certain of, is that it will be extremely difficult to win a cup with Nichols and his extreme limitations. Yes, teams have won with game managing QBs before (Crandell comes to mind immediately) but it puts us at a major disadvantage. And while the rest of our roster is strong, it’s not head and shoulders the best in the league which would lighten the pressure on him. Our receivers in particular aren’t dominant enough as of right now to make his job easier. I’m certainly not convinced Nichols is even league average at reading a defence. And his inability to do anything under pressure is close to bottom of the league. 

Edited May 6, 20196 yr by AKAChip

3 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I love the Strevelation, but I think he's being massively overrated right now and Nichols massively underrated. Do I think Streveler is going to be really really good? It's likely...in time. He's already a better runner, so I'll give him that. But in terms of reading a defense and operating the passing attack, it's hands down Nichols all day. 

Nichols has tunnel vision, is a statue in the pocket and really seemed to stray from the style of football that got him to the level he was playing at as we got deeper into the season last year.

Maybe recency bias underrates him but he has a lot to prove this year, especially if we want to go anywhere as a team.

Still want Nichols down by a score late in the 4 th

48 minutes ago, Mike said:

Nichols has tunnel vision, is a statue in the pocket and really seemed to stray from the style of football that got him to the level he was playing at as we got deeper into the season last year.

Maybe recency bias underrates him but he has a lot to prove this year, especially if we want to go anywhere as a team.

Even Nichols good performance last year wasn’t good enough.  Playoffs were ridiculous with locking in on one-read.  Lapo can help him out sometimes with misdirection but if the defense reads it Nichols is screwed.

The most impressive thing about Streveler is his ability to protect the ball but still make plays.  Lapo is a constraint on him though, I hope having the off-season has allowed him to develop concepts better suited to Streveler and that when he plays this year substantially we aren’t going to see him running Nichols’ offense.

50 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Even Nichols good performance last year wasn’t good enough.  Playoffs were ridiculous with locking in on one-read.  Lapo can help him out sometimes with misdirection but if the defense reads it Nichols is screwed.

The most impressive thing about Streveler is his ability to protect the ball but still make plays.  Lapo is a constraint on him though, I hope having the off-season has allowed him to develop concepts better suited to Streveler and that when he plays this year substantially we aren’t going to see him running Nichols’ offense.

There's no real evidence Streveler can read an offence other than finding the occasional uncovered receiver, he still has a long way to go to prove he's a legitimate #1 QB IMO.  His style is reminiscent of a young Reilly who relied heavily on his athletic ability as a runner in his early years, not so much now days and he's better for it as it's a necessary transition.  I'd prefer he emerge this year as a young Collaros, good mobility in the backfield but with the smarts to use his athleticism to expand the field and buy receivers more time instead of just bull rushing his opponents.

Edited May 6, 20196 yr by Throw Long Bannatyne

It’s nice to say we have a good stable of QBs..

It’s another thing for it to be true.

Limited. That’s the word I would use.

Nichols has limited abilities. Streveler is limited by the offence presented him, and he is still a newbie. And LaPo is limited by his own unwillingness to change his game planning, especially during a game.

Can we win with these guys? Certainly. 

Nichols has proved it. Streveler still looks like he has lots of promise. And LaPo is a smart OC. He just needs to “unpucker” and use the weapons he does have. 

All of them.

Edited May 6, 20196 yr by Mr Dee

Has Nichols proved we can win with him when it counts? He has exactly one playoff win and he “beat” a Rider team without its QB and put up largely terrible numbers. Harris just took over the game. The following week he played terrible again, it was just against a team that was actually good so the rest of the team couldn’t overcome it. Nichols gets a ton of slack for a season and a half of good play. We’re very, very lucky to have the roster we have right now but it isn’t going to last forever. 

Edited May 6, 20196 yr by AKAChip

3 minutes ago, AKAChip said:

Has Nichols proved we can win with him when it counts? He has exactly one playoff win and he “beat” a Rider team without it’s QB and put up largely terrible numbers. Harris just took over the game. The following week he played terrible again, it was just against a team that was actually good so the rest of the team couldn’t overcome it. Nichols gets a ton of slack for a season and a half of good play. We’re very, very lucky to have the roster we have right now but it isn’t going to last forever. 

I go back to the first two playoff games under Nichols where he was outstanding.....and the defense screwed him.

1 minute ago, Noeller said:

I go back to the first two playoff games under Nichols where he was outstanding.....and the defense screwed him.

It'd be really nice if we could get everyone on the same page in the same season.

I'm excited to see the new receivers we've brought in to see if our scouts have finally got a pipeline going.  Combine that with our Canadian kids, Oliveira adding to the offense etc. That should be pretty exciting.

I'm also excited to see how much pressure we get from our defensive line with the addition of Willie Jefferson. Could mask our possible weakness in the secondary.

4 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I go back to the first two playoff games under Nichols where he was outstanding.....and the defense screwed him.

That was long enough ago that in my mind he has to show that last season wasn’t an anomaly at this point. I’m not sure he deserves the benefit of the doubt when there is a promising QB behind him.