THE CANADIAN PRESS
When Mother Nature finally allowed us to play some football on Wednesday night, it ended up being a very good thing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. In front of a patient crowd at Investors Group Field, the Bombers earned a second straight victory and moved into a West Division playoff spot in the process. After four straight non-playoff seasons, and after a dismal start to this year, these last two weeks have given fans in Winnipeg some much needed excitement.
Reasons for optimism
This column has been very hard on the Bombers in recent years, but I have no problem saying they’ve looked pretty good the last two weeks. Winnipeg has scored 67 combined points in decisive wins over Edmonton and Hamilton the last two weeks. Along the way, the Bombers have given us plenty of positive notes to touch on.
First off, I’ll give credit where credit is due because Matt Nichols has played well. I disagreed with Head Coach Mike O’Shea’s quarterback decision to go from Drew Willy to Nichols a couple weeks ago. Well, so far those disagreements don’t seem overly well placed.
One of my main points of contention to the pivot swap was Nichols’s lack of explosiveness on the field. Nichols has always been a very accurate, capable and reliable game manager but has struggled in converting progress between the 20’s into big points on the scoreboard. But maybe that’s exactly what Winnipeg needed.
I believed, and still believe, Willy brings more game breaking potential to the position than Nichols does. In saying that, though, Willy’s gun-slinging ability had led to more mistakes than the Bombers were comfortable with prior to the switch. At 1-4, Winnipeg needed a spark and Willy’s performance hadn’t been good enough.
Since taking over, Nichols has played accurate, mistake-free ball. No, he’s not throwing for gaudy touchdown totals, but he’s also not turning the ball over. His sound decision-making has helped calm things down for the Bombers, which has been crucial. As such, this writer’s worry about explosiveness has been somewhat irrelevant.
There’s another noticeable change in need of highlighting, too. If you’ve read this column over the last few years, you’ll know how big a fan of Justin Medlock I am. I called him Winnipeg’s most significant addition during the off-season and he’s been just that over the last few weeks.
After a rocky start to his Bombers tenure, Medlock has reverted to his automatic form over the last three weeks. He’s a perfect 11-for-11 in Winnipeg’s last three games, including a stellar 15-point performance against the Eskimos in Week 6. I firmly believe Medlock is the CFL’s most impactful kicker and he’s looked all of that lately. His team’s improved performance in recent weeks isn’t just simply a coincidence.
QUICK HITS
» Landry: 5 takeaways from Week 7
» Where will ‘Air Canada’ land next?
» Nye: Riders see in Stamps what they hope to one day be
Darian Durant looks on during the Riders’ Week 7 loss (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
In Week 2’s edition of the MMQB we talked about how important it was for Winnipeg to not make any snap, knee-jerk reactions. The Bombers were 0-2 at the time and had looked mediocre at best. Well, that’s exactly what happened. O’Shea is still the coach and no big, “fix all” trades have been made or attempted.
A little patience has paid off the last couple weeks and hopefully that continues. More than anything, though, Bombers fans deserve some positivity; not just because they sat through a 150 minute rain delay on Wednesday night.
Nice problem
Despite being a reality of the sport, injuries are never a good thing and we never hope to see them. That said, I can’t remember an injury scenario playing out better than what we’ve seen the last few weeks with the Ottawa REDBLACKS.
Let’s go through a brief recent history lesson. In Week 1, Ottawa lost its number one quarterback and reigning Most Outstanding Player in Henry Burris. But instead of that being the worst-case scenario it probably could have been, there’s free agent signing Trevor Harris to step in and shoot the lights out for four straight weeks prior to sustaining an injury of his own.
But, again, the timing worked out perfectly. Just as Harris went down with a leg injury, there was Burris ready to return. While his first game back wasn’t stellar, Burris was back in form Saturday night in helping Ottawa to a 23-20 win over the Edmonton Eskimos.
» RELATED: Improvement key for REDBLACKS
Jermaine Robinson after a game-turning interception vs. Edmonton (Patrick Doyle/CFL.ca)
As I watched Burris throw for 341 yards and two touchdowns a couple nights ago, I was trying to remember the last time such misfortune worked out for a team so fortuitously and I honestly can’t remember timing working out this well when talking about injuries to two star quarterbacks.
Just a few weeks ago, we thought the REDBLACKS were going to have to make a difficult decision at quarterback in the near future. That tough choice still looms somewhere in the offing despite being delayed a little bit. What Ottawa ends up deciding, I don’t know. What I do know, however, is this “problem” at quarterback they have on their hands is one most teams yearn for.
Under the radar
I want to clarify something really quick. The BC Lions have a human highlight reel as a quarterback; they have one of the most exciting returners in football; they boast an exciting, deep group of receivers and are able to roll out the best linebacker combo in the CFL and they’re still flying under the radar? It’s hard to believe, but it seems to be the truth.
The 4-2 Lions are one of the early surprises of the 2016 season but they looked good once again in a 38-18 win over Montreal on Thursday. Even with one of the top records in the league to this point, though, the Lions don’t seem to be getting a lot of run. Perhaps they should be.
Jonathon Jennings is ridiculous. The stuff this guy is capable of doing while on the run is truly unmatched right now. His arsenal of talent was on full display against the Als as he literally made one mistake as part of a stellar 331-yard outing. Sure, Jennings is young and still has lots to learn, but he’s also one of the league’s best quarterbacks a third of the way through 2016.
The Lions have one of the league’s most exciting players in Chris Rainey. I know I get out of my seat every time he’s about to return a kick. Yeah, he wasn’t very busy against Montreal, but that doesn’t change how much of an impact he can make when he touches the ball.
BC has a dynamic receiving duo with Emmanuel Arceneaux and Shawn Gore and it sports just as important a duo on the other side of the football, too. Linebackers Soloman Elimimian and Adam Bighill form a devastating partnership in the middle of the field and have been as advertised so far this season.
The point I’m trying to make is this: one of the players I just highlighted fall into the “under the radar” category, so perhaps the team they play on shouldn’t be in that category, either. If BC keeps building on its 4-2 start, I doubt it will be for much longer.
