Winnipeg clicked after QB switch
The Blue Bombers have reached the season’s midway point, and they will enter the second half on a four-game winning streak. Kirk Penton presents a mid-season report looking at their top five stories so far:
1. The Quarterback Switch
On July 24 Drew Willy was informed he would no longer be the starting quarterback for the Blue and Gold.
Willy, whose contract spiked to $411,000 this season, was 1-4 as the starter, had trouble connecting on the deep ball, got sacked too often and appeared to have lost confidence.
Matt Nichols grabbed the controls and hasn’t looked back. Most importantly, he is 4-0 as the starter.
Nichols will receive a $63,000 bonus if he starts six games this season and could get as much as $100,000 extra based on playing time. TSN’s Farhan Lalji reported that the Bombers and Willy are going to have a conversation about renegotiating his contract. Willy’s agent, Brian Mackler, would neither confirm nor deny.
It’s unlikely to happen, but if the Bombers want to release Willy without guaranteeing his contract for the rest of the season, they have to do it before Sunday’s Labour Day Classic.
2. The Coach
The big news going into the season was head coach Mike O’Shea, entering the final year of his three- year contract.
The thinking went it was playoffs or bust for O’Shea, who currently has a 17-28 record. That’s likely still the case, although if the Bombers put up a good fight the rest of the way and still come up short, perhaps a shorter extension could be in order.
3. The Free Agents
The Bombers for years have had trouble finding and developing enough good imports to make them competitive, so general manager Kyle Walters got the chequebook out in the off-season and spent more than $1 million on several veteran CFL free agents.
The results have been mixed, but the ones who have panned out have made the Bombers better. Running back Andrew Harris has been a workhorse out of the backfield, and kicker Justin Medlock has made 20 consecutive field goals, a club record.
Defensive tackles Keith Shologan and Euclid Cummings have combined for only two sacks, but they’re part of a defence that has forced a league best 33 turnovers.
Receivers Weston Dressler and Ryan Smith have missed nine of 18 starts due to injuries, while Canadian offensive lineman Jeff Keeping hasn’t played yet due to a knee injury.
4. The Replacements
Thanks to all the injuries the team suffered in the first half, several new players have stepped up and got the team on its streak.
Newcomers like defensive backs Kevin Fogg, Terrence Frederick and Taylor Loffler, offensive linemen Travis Bond and Manase Foketi, and receivers Thomas Mayo and Jace Davis have all been contributors to the team’s recent resurgence with players like Dressler, Smith, Paddy Neufeld, Chris Randle and Johnny Adams on the injured list.
And you can’t forget about slotback Clarence Denmark, who was released in the off-season. He was brought back after the receiving corps suffered several injuries.
5. The Assessment
Trying to pin down just how good the Bombers are is a game everyone played during the first half. The rough start had naysayers saying, ‘Here we go again,’ while the recent hot streak has the believers saying they knew they were good all along. They are very likely somewhere in-between.
The second half features two games against the lowly Roughriders, one against the enigmatic Argonauts, another against the powerhouse Stampeders, a massive clash against the Eskimos on Sept. 30 that will determine the season series, and then home-and-home with the Lions and Redblacks.
We likely won’t know until the night of Nov. 4 in Ottawa, where they play their final regular season game, just how good the 2016 Bombers really are.