Commonwealth familiar place for Blue Bombers pivot

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This article was published 28/07/2016 (3362 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols had to admit Wednesday he had mixed feelings watching his former Edmonton Eskimos teammates win the Grey Cup in Winnipeg last November.

“It was kind of a bittersweet feeling,” said Nichols. “It was great because I felt I was a little bit of a part of it, starting (almost) half the games here last year… I was happy to see some of my best friends win a Grey Cup and, hopefully, it can be my time soon.”

Nichols spent five-plus CFL seasons with Edmonton and posted a 5-2 record as the Eskimos’ starter in 2015 before he was traded to Winnipeg mid-season. The Bombers, of course, went on to miss the playoffs while the Eskimos won the Grey Cup at Investors Group Field.

Returning to Commonwealth Stadium this week for the first time as a starting quarterback for a visiting team, Nichols described what he hopes will be a quasi-home game for him tonight.

“It’s going to be new for me but at the same time I’ve played quite a few games on this field, practised on this field for the better part of six years. So I think I’m going to have a comfort level out there.”

In addition to making his first start of the 2016 season, there will also be another wrinkle for Nichols: former Esks teammate and fellow quarterback Jason Maas is now the head coach in Edmonton. That had Nichols pondering his mortality Wednesday.

“It’s kind of crazy because it makes me feel a little old to think there’s a head coach in the league that I once played with,” he said. “I’m only 29, but I feel like that was forever ago.”

Maas and Nichols crossed paths in the Esks dressing room in 2010-11, Nichols’ first two seasons in Edmonton.

The past is past

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea is 0-5 as a head coach against the Eskimos but he insisted Wednesday neither his record or that of his team (which hasn’t won in Edmonton since 2006) will be relevant to tonight’s proceedings.

“I don’t think it’s relevant. I don’t think it’s ever been relevant in that regard. Whenever these questions have come up, I always talked about this particular game and never what’s happened in the past,” he said. “And the Eskimos have a new (coaching staff). They’re a different team.”

History lesson?

History suggests the Eskimos will be a very hungry — and dangerous — opponent tonight. Edmonton is a sizzling 9-1 since 2014 when coming off a loss the previous week. And what a loss it was for Edmonton last week, as the Esks coughed up a 25-point, third-quarter lead in a loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

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The Bombers? They’re 8-18 since 2014 in games after a loss. Winnipeg is riding a two-game losing skid after back-to-back losses at home.

Run at a record

Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly is flirting with a longstanding CFL record: he is currently riding a seven-game streak (going back to last season) of 300 or more passing yards.

That’s within two of the CFL record of nine consecutive games with 300 yards or more, set in 1956 by Sam Etcheverry and equalled in 1991 by Kent Austin.

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek