It might be just a select few posters I'm seeing do this, but man some of these criticisms just get so old.  Sure it's all warranted and good to rip the guy when he throws bad passes or makes a bad decision, but now it's rip him even when he completes a deep ball to Matthews that was called back, or the one to Whitehead that stood?  I mean, what is this?  Some Nichols witch hunt where he can do no right or something?

I'm not going to pretend that Nichols was all good, but on series's where our offense was off he wasn't the only one who made the errors.  Andrew Harris was not good either outside his TD catch and had as much to do with the struggles, as did Fenner on defense, Adams and some of Lapo's play calls that 17to85 talks about.

Nichols isn't above criticism and he doesn't necessarily deserve heaps of praise on his head.  But it's absolutely ridiculous to assume that he single-handedly wins or loses games.  That's not how Mike O'Shea's team works.

And his passing yards are meaningless.  You can rack up yards all day against bend but don't break defenses, but if you don't get TDs out of them, you are overrated.  Yup, I said it.  Passing yards are completely meaningless.

Edited June 29, 20196 yr by USABomberfan

 

A Mirth is reading threads like this.....

14 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

Whitehead's caught 1 deep pass on a good throw his other long TD wasn't a deep pass. Matthews got 1 where he dove for the ball, which matches your idea. Adams and Demski, who were both here last year, got the other deep balls.

Just to clarify, Matthew's deep ball didnt require him to dive, unless I'm forgetting one. He was hit almost in stride...had to slow up a bit...but caught it standing up and was tackled hard to the ground causing his helmet to fall off.

19 hours ago, USABomberfan said:

To go back and bring a little context here to the Lapolice post you were addressing, it was not even directed at you.  It was more directed at trueblue83 post 426 page 26, line about 17to85's take on Lapolice:

"In an earlier post he blamed the West Finalresult squarely on LaPo.... that's a joke"

Take the post there for what you will, I see it as an attempt to let Lapo off the hook, maybe you don't but hence my post more in response to that.

How do you figure this was intended to "let LaPo off the hook?".   I don't believe that any one person is to blame for TEAM play.  I was simply stating that in that game, Nichols was awful and seemed shell shocked the entire game, not being able to find anyone down field, or make any accurate throws. The numbers support this.  To place square blame on LaPo for stalling out drives one after another... I'm sorry, but LaPo isn't behind centre.  If the Stamps were taking away Harris, there are typically 5 other capable players out there ready to make a play, and if the QB can't find any of them and make a throw, that's not on the OC.   If he's calling bad plays, that's one thing, but to routinely not be able to find anyone open, or run an audible to make a play happen, at some point the QB has to have some accountability, which you guys don't seen to want to pin any of on him!

15 hours ago, USABomberfan said:

Blame Google, they did that

I literally copied and pasted

I bolded the part where you were wrong, not google. Not only do you want to #BEBN this year, you're arguing that it's a myth that Nichols was ever inaccurate on long passes in the first place.

This weeks accuracy stats show Nichols at the top of the list. Still hate the stat?

I don't buy into the theory that Nichols was inaccurate on long throws historically, but I do buy into the theory that he has been on the dime this season. That's all that really matters.

Saying he sucked in the past is like trying to say a lottery winner doesn't have money because they used to be poor. It's an invalid argument. If and when he starts missing deep shots then that argument can resume. Right now he has put that knock on his game to bed.

Also, Lapolice called a poor game in the WF last year but it was compounded by some inaccurate throws to receivers and RBs that would have resulted in walk in TDs. Both Nichols and Streveler missed easy home run shots to wide open guys behind coverage in that game.

Edited July 17, 20196 yr by gcn11

Not enough people give credit to the Calgary Defense in that WF they were fantastic. I don't think any offence in the league was going to move the ball on them that day.

When they’re on offence, it’s likely a two-and-out or a quick six. Winnipeg has 24 two-and-outs, the second-most in the league.

 

@Mr Dee posted this in the other thread. 

Still dont think the O is struggling with consistency? 

Another snippet he posted.. In 4 games Nichols has 49 psssing yards in the 4th quarter or about 12 yards per game. 

Still? 

 

4 and 0 is great but 4 and 0 is def covering up a few major issues. 

Edited July 17, 20196 yr by Goalie

10 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

Not enough people give credit to the Calgary Defense in that WF they were fantastic. I don't think any offence in the league was going to move the ball on them that day.

That, along with a poor game plan on O, with tentative play from the QB

15 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

Not enough people give credit to the Calgary Defense in that WF they were fantastic. I don't think any offence in the league was going to move the ball on them that day.

Yes, another point I've been trying to to drive home here

13 hours ago, Rod Black said:

With a lisp? 

Did you ever wonder what kind of sadist invented the word "lisp" so that those with speech impediments had to say it to explain why they were talking like that?

6 minutes ago, Goalie said:

When they’re on offence, it’s likely a two-and-out or a quick six. Winnipeg has 24 two-and-outs, the second-most in the league.

 

@Mr Dee posted this in the other thread. 

Still dont think the O is struggling with consistency? 

Another snippet he posted.. In 4 games Nichols has 49 psssing yards in the 4th quarter or about 12 yards per game. 

Still? 

 

4 and 0 is great but 4 and 0 is def covering up a few major issues. 

Perhaps attributed to RP2 (Run pass punt), a staple of how Lapolice likes to call things, and one poster who I haven't seen in a while here named DR CFL has pointed this out before.

I've noticed the play selection is often run on first down, then call a short pass short of the sticks and hence 2 and out.  This has been a play selection pattern that has followed Lapo around not only with Nichols out there but Strev too.  It was done back in 2011 and before that in 2002-2003 as 17to85 points out.  The players don't always execute which is on them, but this conservative nature has always been Lapo

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

4 and 0 is great but 4 and 0 is def covering up a few major issues. 

I wouldn't go that far. There's room for improvement and the players and coaches have acknowledged that. But major issues is overstating it.

And it helps when the team has a lead going into the final frame. It isn't common for offenses to continue airing out the ball when leading the game, anyway. The ground game becomes more crucial when it's time to start chewing up the clock and close out a game. This is especially common with how LaPolice runs his offense.

Edited July 17, 20196 yr by blue_gold_84

1 hour ago, TBURGESS said:

I bolded the part where you were wrong, not google. Not only do you want to #BEBN this year, you're arguing that it's a myth that Nichols was ever inaccurate on long passes in the first place.

This weeks accuracy stats show Nichols at the top of the list. Still hate the stat?

What part of "copied and pasted" do you not understand?  JFC

Edited July 17, 20196 yr by USABomberfan

30 minutes ago, USABomberfan said:

What part of "copied and pasted" do you not understand?  JFC

What part of 'false belief or idea' don't you understand?

Begging.........for a mod to lock this thread..........plzzzzzzzzzz?

18 hours ago, Atomic said:

So Nichols got better at the deep ball. What's the problem?

There must always be a polarizing figure in Bomber fandom who is either king to one group, and public enemy number one to the other.  That is just probably the way it will always be here

2014-half of 2016, that person was Mike O'Shea who the mob wanted out at the end of 2015.  But then after he got his first winning season the guns went shooting at Richie Hall from about late 2016-first part of 2018.  But then when the defense started playing better and Nichols started struggling in 2018, he became the target, an honor he still seems to hold at least temporarily.  Fortunately for him though he has a few reinforcements of stubborn die hard Praetorian guards in the bunker firing back at the enemies.

But, my guess is as usual that eventually the rockets will stop firing at him and ... Well who knows they might get aimed at Lapolice, Kyle Walters or even Wade Miller next.  Someone's always going to be a target here.

2 hours ago, USABomberfan said:

There must always be a polarizing figure in Bomber fandom who is either king to one group, and public enemy number one to the other.  That is just probably the way it will always be here

2014-half of 2016, that person was Mike O'Shea who the mob wanted out at the end of 2015.  But then after he got his first winning season the guns went shooting at Richie Hall from about late 2016-first part of 2018.  But then when the defense started playing better and Nichols started struggling in 2018, he became the target, an honor he still seems to hold at least temporarily.  Fortunately for him though he has a few reinforcements of stubborn die hard Praetorian guards in the bunker firing back at the enemies.

But, my guess is as usual that eventually the rockets will stop firing at him and ... Well who knows they might get aimed at Lapolice, Kyle Walters or even Wade Miller next.  Someone's always going to be a target here.

You do a tremendous job of proving other people’s points for them by being the strangest person the internet has ever seen. 

Edited July 17, 20196 yr by AKAChip

If the bombers get into a situation where they aren't leading in the 4th quarter you will see Nichols 4th quarter passing stats balloon up. It's like no one has watched lapo at all before...

4 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

If the bombers get into a situation where they aren't leading in the 4th quarter you will see Nichols 4th quarter passing stats balloon up. It's like no one has watched lapo at all before...

Meaningless.....

29 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

If the bombers get into a situation where they aren't leading in the 4th quarter you will see Nichols 4th quarter passing stats balloon up. It's like no one has watched lapo at all before...

Any passing stats accumulated in the 4th Q fall under "garbage time".

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

If the bombers get into a situation where they aren't leading in the 4th quarter you will see Nichols 4th quarter passing stats balloon up. It's like no one has watched lapo at all before...

This pretty much brings home a point, and that is that the season for much of this year has been us leading in the late quarters, and hence lower offensive production in those periods.

 

Now no one is saying it's all good.  I think the offense should be more assertive and go picking up chunks of first downs at a time beyond the explosion plays.  I do think yes we should try to get more of a game killer offense out there rather than let the defense handle everything.

But I think the reason Lapolice is more to blame is because it's not like Nichols just suddenly or purposefully forgets how to complete passes to cause this.  I do think in situations like last week where he was knocked out temporarily it took him out of rhythm.  But Lapolice's play selection can also take the rhythm out of the O and it's been a factor we've not really corrected.

I'd suspect as the season goes on and games get closer and more competitive, the stats in different quarters are going to flip around.

Nichols comes out like a whirlwind but it falls off when there's a lead... yeah Nichols didn't start sucking in game and the defense didn't just figure it out, the play calls just got super conservative as happens with lapo.

4 hours ago, Noeller said:

Begging.........for a mod to lock this thread..........plzzzzzzzzzz?

I would say no to locking this thread,  only because if it was locked then all this posting about Nichols would end up cluttering the Bombers news thread...

7 hours ago, Goalie said:

When they’re on offence, it’s likely a two-and-out or a quick six. Winnipeg has 24 two-and-outs, the second-most in the league.

 

@Mr Dee posted this in the other thread. 

Still dont think the O is struggling with consistency? 

Another snippet he posted.. In 4 games Nichols has 49 psssing yards in the 4th quarter or about 12 yards per game. 

Still? 

 

4 and 0 is great but 4 and 0 is def covering up a few major issues. 

I know theres a few "what ifs " on some of those two-and-outs but Nichols leads the league in td passes and that's all that matters......and were 4-and-0

Edited July 17, 20196 yr by Nolby