OT: 2018 Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-7) NEXT @ EDM (8-9) November 3 (CLINCHED PLAYOFFS)

[bustamente]

Demski out Harris out but Nichols keeps on ticking

 

[Ducky10]

Holy crap this team is painful to watch.

 

[None]

That was a catch Adams needed to make, Nichols couldn't have really done better.

 

[Ducky10]

Bottom line, no defense fears Nichols, they all know he can't beat them over the top and he is a zero running threat. He is becoming so easy to adjust to, team is going nowhere.

 

[rubikscube]

Roh and Alexander having awesome nights. Nichols not doing anything to inspire confidence. Yeah, we're winning but he's thrown for under 200 yards with 10 minutes left against the worst team in the league

 

[None]

I'm really happy to see how ineffective the new rules make Chip Cox. The guy's made a career being one of the dirtiest players in the league.

 

[jetsforever]

Finally a decent drive

 

[GNP]

Bottom line, no defense fears Nichols, they all know he can't beat them over the top and he is a zero running threat. He is becoming so easy to adjust to, team is going nowhere.

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I just don't understand why you'd make a comment like that ?? Nichols threw the ball at least 45-50 yards right on the money to Adams, and the defender knocked it out of his hands. He also threw a couple of other really nice long throws. Nichols can throw the ball deep, and with accuracy -- you must not be watching the game ??

I do agree that he's no threat running the ball, as he's playing with a bad knee, and he's sliding to prevent getting hit, and I don't blame him.

The people that complain he cannot throw the deep ball--I just don't understand. I think he throws it about as good as any other CFL quarterback, and good enough to win with. I don't think the Bombers problems are with Nichols, although he has been playing with "low" confidence in the last 3 games or so. Nothing wrong with his arm strength or accuracy when he throws, as far as I'm concerned.

Nichols can certainly beat them over the top--no problem !!!

 

[Ducky10]

I've lost count how many times Nichols has left the pocket and right into the pressure. At least 3 sack tonight on him imo.

 

[Ducky10]

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I just don't understand why you'd make a comment like that ?? Nichols threw the ball at least 45-50 yards right on the money to Adams, and the defender knocked it out of his hands. He also threw a couple of other really nice long throws. Nichols can throw the ball deep, and with accuracy -- you must not be watching the game ??

I do agree that he's no threat running the ball, as he's playing with a bad knee, and he's sliding to prevent getting hit, and I don't blame him.

The people that complain he cannot throw the deep ball--I just don't understand. I think he throws it about as good as any other CFL quarterback, and good enough to win with. I don't think the Bombers problems are with Nichols, although he has been playing with "low" confidence in the last 3 games or so. Nothing wrong with his arm strength or accuracy when he throws, as far as I'm concerned.

I saw the Adams drop, it's one of the few times he's pushed the ball down the field all night and on the very next play they brought pressure without any fear he would beat them through the seam. Don't patronize me with comments like I'm not watching the game, honestly I have no idea what you're looking at, his arm strength and accuracy on mid to deep routes are not up to par with the best QB's in this league. Without Harris Nichols is not a threat, he's a game manager at best.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

I'm still in the "Nichols is still injured" camp.

BUT:

this team has enough talent to win games if Nichols is just a game manager. If Nichols turns over the ball, the bombers have no chance to win.

 

[Ducky10]

Lol, now he does it, set that tone earlier in games and he'd have a chance at being more successful. Good throw though.

 

[Ducky10]

I'm still in the "Nichols is still injured" camp.

Maybe, might explain his happy feet tonight.

 

[bustamente]

Bomber did what they have done all year beaten the bad teams which they are one, not really a convincing win and some important injuries will hinder this team going forward.

 

[GNP]

I saw the Adams drop, it's one of the few times he's pushed the ball down the field all night and on the very next play they brought pressure without any fear he would beat them through the seam. Don't patronize me with comments like I'm not watching the game, honestly I have no idea what you're looking at, his arm strength and accuracy on mid to deep routes are not up to par with the best QB's in this league. Without Harris Nichols is not a threat, he's a game manager at best.

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I do "not" buy what your selling my friend !!! at all. If your watching the game as you say you are, you can clearly see he threw the ball to Adams-"right on the money" for at "least 50 yards." He did that 2 or 3 other times as well. Why do you say he's "no threat" over the top. What do you expect ?? He can throw it 50 to 55 yards, and with accuracy. It's quite apparent. Are you saying he can't make the throws ? when you just admitted he made a long pass to Adams, or are you saying, he doesn't throw the ball deep enough when he should be ??

What do you want here --maybe John Elway, or Brett Farve --probably the longest ball throwers, with the strongest arms, I've seen over the last 20 years or so, and maybe they could throw it 60-65 yards --and not many can do that. ( very very few-maybe Rogers as well)

Your perception of Nichols is totally unfounded in my opinion. If you want to see a guy with a weak arm--look at the Montreal quarterback.(Manziel) He's getting picked off repeatedly, trying to throw a wide out with no velocity on the ball. That's what you call a "weak arm." Nichols is above average, more than enough to win with.

I'm not going to argue with you--"but we see things very differently here."

Your entitled to your opinion, but I don't for one minute buy what your trying to sell, and I watch a ton of football--both NFL and CFL. Well leave it at that.

 

[Ducky10]

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I do "not" buy what your selling my friend !!! at all. If your watching the game as you say you are, you can clearly see he threw the ball to Adams-"right on the money" for at "least 50 yards." He did that 2 or 3 other times as well. Why do you say he's "no threat" over the top. What do you expect ?? He can throw it 50 to 55 yards, and with accuracy. It's quite apparent. Are you saying he can't make the throws ? when you just admitted he made a long pass to Adams, or are you saying, he doesn't throw the ball deep enough when he should be ??

What do you want here --maybe John Elway, or Brett Farve --probably the longest ball throwers I've seen over the last 20 years or so, and maybe they could throw it 60-65 yards --and not many can do that. ( very very few-maybe Rogers as well)

Your perception of Nichols is totally unfounded in my opinion. If you want to see a guy with a weak arm--look at the Montreal quarterback.(Manziel) He's getting picked off repeatedly, trying to throw a wide out with no velocity on the ball. That's what you call a "weak arm." Nichols is above average, more than enough to win with.

I'm not going to argue with you--"but we see things very differently here."

Your entitled to your opinion, but I don't for one minute buy what your trying to sell, and I watch a ton of football--both NFL and CFL. Well leave it at that

Teams are not overly worried about Nichols beating them deep. Overall he's below average on mid to deep routes. I don't care whether you agree or not.
I've watched, played and coached a lot of football as well, big deal.

 

[Mbraunm]

Teams are not overly worried about Nichols beating them deep. Overall he's below average on mid to deep routes. I don't care whether you agree or not.
I've watched, played and coached a lot of football as well, big deal.

I totally agree and have been stating this for awhile: Teams have no respect for Nichols (for good reason) and focus their resources and schemes on shutting down the short game.

We may eventually get the crossover but have absolutely no chance to win against good teams with Nichols. I really like a lot him as a person but he is just not a decent QB who can win a game ON HIS OWN MERIT.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

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I do "not" buy what your selling my friend !!! at all. If your watching the game as you say you are, you can clearly see he threw the ball to Adams-"right on the money" for at "least 50 yards." He did that 2 or 3 other times as well. Why do you say he's "no threat" over the top. What do you expect ?? He can throw it 50 to 55 yards, and with accuracy. It's quite apparent. Are you saying he can't make the throws ? when you just admitted he made a long pass to Adams, or are you saying, he doesn't throw the ball deep enough when he should be ??

What do you want here --maybe John Elway, or Brett Farve --probably the longest ball throwers, with the strongest arms, I've seen over the last 20 years or so, and maybe they could throw it 60-65 yards --and not many can do that. ( very very few-maybe Rogers as well)

Your perception of Nichols is totally unfounded in my opinion. If you want to see a guy with a weak arm--look at the Montreal quarterback.(Manziel) He's getting picked off repeatedly, trying to throw a wide out with no velocity on the ball. That's what you call a "weak arm." Nichols is above average, more than enough to win with.

I'm not going to argue with you--"but we see things very differently here."

Your entitled to your opinion, but I don't for one minute buy what your trying to sell, and I watch a ton of football--both NFL and CFL. Well leave it at that.

Nichols is a below average CFL QB right now. I would argue he is currently the second worst starter behind only Manziel.

The eye test tells me he's not pushing the ball downfield effectively, and the stats definitely back that up, both in pure yardage, and more interesting stats.

He is the least efficient QB in the CFL. I went through the top passers for every other team and calculated their Yards per attempt (2018):

EDM - Rielly: 9.4
CGY - Mitchell: 9.4
HAM - Masoli: 9.3
MTL - Pipkin 8.1
BC - Lulay: 8.0
OTT - Harris: 7.9
SSK - Collaros: 7.6
TOR - Bethel-Thompson 7.6
WPG - Nichols: 7.4

That's the lowest in the league of the regular QB's. Only QB below 7.5

Oh, and for completeness' sake:

WPG - Streveller 7.5

So he isn't pushing the ball downfield. Is he at least accurate? I mean, we use swing passes and short passes a lot, and Harris is good at catching, so he must be pretty accurate.

Completion percentage:

Harris - 67.9
Rielly - 67.2
Masoli - 66.5
Bethel Thompson - 63.2
Bo Levi - 61.8
Lulay - 61.4
Pipkin - 61.3
Nichols - 61.2
Collaros - 59.7

And for completeness' sake:

Streveler - 66.2

(Numbers from: Stats - CFL.ca)

Like I said - I think he's hurt. I think if he's healthy we see a couple percentage points in accuracy, and his Y/A goes up to high sevens, low eights.

 

[tbcwpg]

Nichols is a below average CFL QB right now. I would argue he is currently the second worst starter behind only Manziel.

The eye test tells me he's not pushing the ball downfield effectively, and the stats definitely back that up, both in pure yardage, and more interesting stats.

He is the least efficient QB in the CFL. I went through the top passers for every other team and calculated their Yards per attempt (2018):

EDM - Rielly: 9.4
CGY - Mitchell: 9.4
HAM - Masoli: 9.3
MTL - Pipkin 8.1
BC - Lulay: 8.0
OTT - Harris: 7.9
SSK - Collaros: 7.6
TOR - Bethel-Thompson 7.6
WPG - Nichols: 7.4

That's the lowest in the league of the regular QB's. Only QB below 7.5

Oh, and for completeness' sake:

WPG - Streveller 7.5

So he isn't pushing the ball downfield. Is he at least accurate?

Those numbers look to me like play calling is just as big of an issue. I don't have confidence that either QB can do it consistently but Nichols can throw it if necessary.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

Those numbers look to me like play calling is just as big of an issue. I don't have confidence that either QB can do it consistently but Nichols can throw it if necessary.

His accuracy should be higher then. At least up to Strevelers ~65%

Neither QB is particualarly effective at pushing the ball downfield, very comparable there, but Streveler this year is at least giving you a dual threat, and a more accurate passing.

 

[GNP]

Nichols is a below average CFL QB right now. I would argue he is currently the second worst starter behind only Manziel.

The eye test tells me he's not pushing the ball downfield effectively, and the stats definitely back that up, both in pure yardage, and more interesting stats.

He is the least efficient QB in the CFL. I went through the top passers for every other team and calculated their Yards per attempt (2018):

EDM - Rielly: 9.4
CGY - Mitchell: 9.4
HAM - Masoli: 9.3
MTL - Pipkin 8.1
BC - Lulay: 8.0
OTT - Harris: 7.9
SSK - Collaros: 7.6
TOR - Bethel-Thompson 7.6
WPG - Nichols: 7.4

That's the lowest in the league of the regular QB's. Only QB below 7.5

Oh, and for completeness' sake:

WPG - Streveller 7.5

So he isn't pushing the ball downfield. Is he at least accurate?

Completion percentage:

Harris - 67.9
Rielly - 67.2
Masoli - 66.5
Bethel Thompson - 63.2
Bo Levi - 61.8
Lulay - 61.4
Pipkin - 61.3
Nichols - 61.2
Collaros - 59.7

And for completeness' sake:

Streveler - 66.2

(Numbers from: Stats - CFL.ca)

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Interesting post you've made Tom, with good researched statistics, and I cannot comment on it now, but I will later. I do have something to say about it, you may find interesting. I will add quickly, I see this as no surprise that Mitchell is at the top, because I think he has the strongest arm of all CFL quarterbacks. Bear in mind though, he has great receivers that can get open, and an offensive coordinator, that will call a lot of deep plays, whereas Paul La Police calls a lot of short plays, to Harris etc. I think the Bombers need to revise this. I like Paul La Police though, but he does seem to conservative, and all teams are just looking for Harris-"to predictable"

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

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Interesting post you've made Tom, with good researched statistics, and I cannot comment on it now, but I will later. I do have something to say about it, you may find interesting. I will add quickly, I see this as no surprise that Mitchell is at the top, because I think he has the strongest arm of all CFL quarterbacks. Bear in mind though, he has great receivers that can get open, and an offensive coordinator, that will call a lot of deep plays, whereas Paul La Police calls a lot of short plays, to Harris etc. I think the Bombers need to revise this. I like Paul La Police though, but he does seem to conservative, and all teams are just looking for Harris-"to predictable"

You'll notice that Mitchell's Completion percentage isn't that high compared to others, but his Y/A is the best in the league. CGY goes deep more often, that's for sure. Trading off a lower percentage with bigger chunk plays.

You can get away with a slightly lower Y/A if your Comp% is better.

Nichols last year:

Y/A - 7.7 (+0.3 Yards)
Comp% - 71.0% (+10%)

I think we have better overall weapons this year. I think that 10% drop in completion percentage is a big one.

This is another big difference:

Nichols threw an Interception on average every 72 throws in 2017.

This year?

He's throwing an interception on average every 21 throws.

Nichols is just not completing a high enough percentage of passes for the scheme, which is a (IMO) ball control nickel and dime kind of offense.

 

[GNP]

Those numbers look to me like play calling is just as big of an issue. I don't have confidence that either QB can do it consistently but Nichols can throw it if necessary.

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Very good post here tbcwpg- the Bombers offensive coordinator Paul La Police is calling a lot of these short hitch passes and screens to Harris etc, and that reflects in the quarterback's throwing stats, making them look a lot lower.

I think the other teams are looking for this now, and it's not working. I think Paul needs to mix it up, and stretch the field-"throw it deep more often." They are just to predictable right now, and their record is showing that.

I think Nichols is more than good enough to win with -- they could use another deep threat receiver though, and start using their slot receiver more-Weston Dressler. He's really good for these 15-25 yard passes, but as he's older, he's injury prone now. He just got back though, and the Bombers win a lot more when he's in the lineup.

Paul La Police has to start mixing up the playbook, inj my opinion.

 

[snowkiddin]

Manziel is terrible, and TSN and the media needs to stop talking about how amazing he supposedly is!

 

[GNP]

Manziel is terrible, and TSN and the media needs to stop talking about how amazing he supposedly is!

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Hey snowkidden - your right, but he attracts attention because I believe he was voted the most valuable college QB in America. I think he also won the Heisman Trophy as well, and got the name Johny Football. People are intrigued by this-he's a novelty.

After the novelty wears off, and he keeps playing bad, like he is now --I don't think we'll hear to much about him. You are right though, he get's a lot of unwarranted attention.

The media knows the public wants to hear about him, and people tune in right now because of that, and he sells advertising space. It will die out though, unless Johny can turn his game around, although he doesn't look that impressive at all.