Bombers QB Matt Nichols faces his old teammates
Former Eskimo set to face old team as Winnipeg battles for playoff spot
WINNIPEG Matt Nichols and J.C. Sherritt, longtime teammates for 10 seasons but suddenly opponents, went out for dinner as close friends Friday night.
But Sherritt will become one of the “nameless faces” on the Edmonton Eskimos defence by 2 p.m. MDT Saturday at Investors Group Field when Nichols tries to lead the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a step closer to a Canadian Football League playoff berth.
“For me, it’s just another game,” said Nichols, the 28-year-old quarterback who felt the Eskimos showed him a lack of respect this season before he was traded to the Bombers for a conditional seventhround draft pick on Sept. 2.
“I have an opportunity here to try to help this team get some wins down the stretch and try to earn a playoff spot.”
Nichols, who joined the Eskimos in 2010 and missed the entire 2013 season after a couple of devastating injuries (dislocated ankle, torn anterior cruciate knee ligament), finally got a chance to be a starting QB when Mike Reilly suffered multiple knee injuries in this year’s season opener and missed more than two months.
“When you’re getting pulled from games and you’re winning ... I think that was a message to me that they didn’t believe in what I was doing,” said Nichols, recalling the July 25 game against Winnipeg when he was relieved as the Eskimos were ahead 11-3.
He added that “it was obviously incredibly frustrating when you’re 5-2 as a starter for a team and you’re getting pulled from games when you’re winning. That’s just kind of weird for me.”
After completing 61.2 per cent of his passes for 1,488 yards and eight touchdowns, to go along with 10 interceptions, in eight games with the Eskimos, Nichols finds himself in a much better position with the Bombers, who lost their starting quarterback, Drew Willy, to a serious knee injury in August.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s just been awesome working with these guys,” Nichols said. “The confidence that they have in me is awesome.
“This is a position where if you’re looking over your shoulder, any time you make a mistake you’re going to get pulled from a game, you’re probably going to make more mistakes because you can’t play this position scared. You have to be able to go out and trust your eyes and react to what you’re seeing and believe in what you’re doing.
“I think confidence at quarterback is a huge thing.”
In talking about Nichols’ attributes, Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea said: “His poise, his professionalism, he’s a confident guy. He’s not afraid to throw the ball downfield. Yeah, his work ethic. It’s all very professional. That’s what he brings. He certainly has a passion for the game. All that rolled into one is a positive for our team.”
“It’s just one of those things where I felt I played some good football in Edmonton, helped them get some wins and now I feel like I’ve found a home here,” said Nichols, a pending free agent at the end of the season who has passed for 706 yards and three TDs along with two picks in three games with Winnipeg.
He previously called winning the Banjo Bowl against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in his first game with the Bombers “the most fun playing football” that he’s had in the last few years.
Nichols joked that in retrospect it’s too bad he hadn’t done something to help the Bombers when they played that July 25 game at Commonwealth Stadium. Winnipeg, 4-9, is in a three-way dogfight for the final playo berth in the West Division.
“It’s been a crazy season,” he said. “I wish I would have had a heads-up that I was going to be traded to Winnipeg. I might have thrown a few pick-sixes (interception-return TDs) earlier in that game and throwing that game against Winnipeg would have been nice.”
As for Sherritt, he said competing against Nichols is like old hat.
“It’s not like I haven’t played against him every practice for the last 10 years,” pointed out the middle linebacker, who attended Eastern Washington University with Nichols for four years followed by six seasons with the Eskimos. “He’ll just be in a di erent colour jersey, but I know we’re both looking forward to it.
“We train together in the off-season, we practised against each other for so long, competing against each other is nothing new,” Sherritt said. “But bragging rights will definitely be on the line for the whole o - season.”