Being Mr. Clutch means everything to Nichols
Blue Bombers quarterback prides himself on not turning over the ball in big games
He’s proven he can play hurt, gritting his way through last year’s playoff game with a calf injury and a broken finger.
He’s proven he can come up with his best game at playoff time, rolling up a combined 761 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions in post-season losses the last two years.
The next step for Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols is to win the really big one. Yeah, last Sunday’s West semifinal was big. This Sunday’s division final in Calgary adds the “really.”
These are the games that cement reputations. That separate the good from the great.
A win over the elite Bo Levi Mitchell and the perennial powerhouse Stampeders would shine an entirely new light on Nichols.
The blue-collar passer with the chip on his shoulder would immediately be known as a quarterback who shines when it matters most. And don’t think that rep doesn’t mean something to the 31-year-old.
“Yeah, it does,” Nichols said Wednesday. “Every player wants to have that. I don’t go in thinking I need to have a big game. But I’m focused. I block everything else out of my life for these games. Really try and be in the moment. For the most part, it’s always on my mind ... I’m all in, all football now, for sure.”
Nichols calls himself a football junkie. He’ll watch college bowl games between teams he couldn’t care less about, just to learn. To see how others handle crunch time.
“And not have yourself make the same mistakes you watch other guys make,” he said.
He hopes all that knowledge pays off when he has to make a decision on the fly.
For instance, does he take a chance, or eat the ball?
It could be the last play of a close game, or the first.
Picture the Bombers starting the semifinal in Saskatchewan last Sunday with an interception on their first possession. It could easily have happened.
“First play of the game last week, possibly could have been an 80-yard touchdown,” Nichols said. “But I felt like maybe I’m going to get hit mid-throw, and I didn’t want it to get halfway there and get picked off and start the game off that way.”
So he pulled up, instead of going deep for Drew Wolitarsky, and the ball fell harmlessly to the turf.
“There’s a lot of those splitsecond decisions that can change games,” he said. “I feel I have a pretty good handle on when those decisions can be made and when you can live to fight another day. We always kind of preach, ‘End every drive with a kick. Whether it’s a field goal, convert or punt.’ That’s how you win football games.”
Nichols writes that slogan all over his prep sheets: end every drive with a kick. Because ending even one with an interception can mean the difference.
Nichols hasn’t done that, thrown a pick, in his last 133 playoff passes, including all three playoff games he’s played with the Bombers.
That’s the third-best streak the CFL has seen, according to league statisticians.
“I’m very aware of that stat,” he said. “That’s something I pride myself in. It’s the most telling stat in sports. You win the turnover battle in this league, it’s something like over 90 per cent chance of winning the game.”
Of course, you also have to make some plays.
Chances are Nichols will need to make a few more Sunday than he did last week, facing a Stamps team that’s second only to the Bombers in scoring this season.
“We feel like we’re built to win in a lot of different ways,” he said. “We go into every game with a pretty full arsenal. We can react to whatever their plan is for the day and go from there. We can be a handful.”
Their right arm needs to be a handful Sunday. On the biggest stage of his career.
“He’ll single us out in the meeting rooms and express how much this means to him,” Wolitarsky said. “What he’s been through, his journey. And for him to be here with this team — this is what he’s always dreamt of.”
Teammates call their quarterback Matty Ice.
They also call him their leader. “Last year he had half a calf, a broken finger,” centre Matthias Goossen said. “And he was still balling out.”
This year, Nichols is healthy. With a better team behind him. An open door in front.