Critics giving Bombers’ QB rough ride
Even sporting a 6-2 record and sitting in first place, Bombers QB still has doubters
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are 6-2, sitting in first place in the West Division, undefeated at home and unbeaten against their division rivals.
You’d never know it from the judgment the team — especially quarterback Matt Nichols — has received in the court of public opinion for its offensive performance of late.
Twitter users, e-mailers and people on the street have found cause to criticize Nichols and the Bombers’ offensive game planners over the paltry passing yardage totals in the last two games.
There were even some boos directed the quarterback’s way late in last Thursday’s 26-24 win over the Calgary Stampeders at IG Field.
The Bombers had just 169 passing yards on Aug. 1 in a loss at Toronto and just 177 yards through the air against the Stamps. Those are average halftime totals for some CFL quarterbacks.
There are certainly those who think Nichols is to blame, even though the veteran quarterback only attempted 22 passes against Calgary and completed 18 of them.
“I don’t hear any of that criticism,” Nichols said Monday as the team returned to practice in preparation for Thursday night’s game against the 1-7 B.C. Lions.
“I’m pretty dark on the Internet these days. Whatever. I think people can look at the facts though.”
So let’s look at those facts. Nichols and the Bombers offence held the ball for 33:41 against Calgary, the quarterback did not throw any interceptions and, most importantly, they won against a strong Western rival.
Conversely, they did not get in the end zone and they failed to pick up a key first down with about two minutes left in the game, with the result still hanging in the balance (they were saved by a Winston Rose interception).
Overall, the offensive performance was much like it has been all season — nothing flashy, heavily reliant on running back Andrew Harris and focused on ball security.
“I thought it was very good,” Nichols said after reviewing the film of Thursday’s game. “We would have liked to have finished a couple more drives but I thought we did a good job with time of possession and a lot of second down conversions. We ran the ball extremely well, we were efficient in the pass game. We had a good game plan going in, we executed the game plan well and beat a good team.”
Nichols threw most of his passes at or behind the line of scrimmage, dumping the ball off to Harris eight times to elude pressure. He said it was all part of the game plan against a strong defence.
“It’s everyone across the league not being able to push the ball down field a ton against Calgary,” Nichols said. “We had one that I think was a catch to (Drew Wolitarsky) in the end zone (waved off for being out of bounds), we almost had a deep one to Chris (Matthews) and it barely got knocked out. We were right there close to a couple of big ones.”
For the season, there are some stats that support Nichols.
While the Bombers are seventh in the league in passing yards (230.8 per game), attempts (243) and completions (171), they are third in completion percentage (70.4). Despite not throwing one in the last game, Nichols still leads the league in touchdown passes with 14 and has thrown just four interceptions.
He remains second in the league in passing efficiency (with a rating of 106.2, behind only Saskatchewan’s Cody Fajardo at 106.7) and has the best win-loss record of any quarterback.
He also has an all-time record of 43-28 as a starter, including 38-21 with the Bombers. That is a .644 winning percentage in Winnipeg that simply can’t be ignored.
Might the Bombers be better off with Mike Reilly or Bo Levi Mitchell or Trevor Harris at quarterback? Yes, they might. But would their winning percentage be much better than .644? That would be a stretch.
Bombers coach Mike O’Shea certainly seems to be keeping the faith.
“Good teams are gonna find different ways to win games,” O’Shea said. “Every team in the CFL has shown that this year. Whether it’s takeaways on defence or special teams play or offensive explosions, you’re gonna find different ways to win games, maybe field goals.”
So what would he say to the critics who seem convinced the Bombers can’t win the big games with Nichols behind centre.
“Nothing,” O’Shea said. “I don’t need to answer those critics. Anybody can go on social media and make a comment.”
And they will continue to.
Until Nichols leads the Bombers to a Grey Cup and/or wins a most outstanding player award, the hits from his detractors are going to keep on coming. Twyman@postmedia.com Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman
We had a good game plan going in, we executed the game plan well and beat a good team.