Bombers QB Matt Nichols improving game by game

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This article was published 08/10/2015 (3783 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Matt Nichols’ numbers have improved dramatically in several key categories since he was traded from Edmonton to Winnipeg last month.

But sadly for Nichols and Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans, the one notable category in which the quarterback’s numbers have gotten worse is also the only statistical category that really matters — wins and losses.

Nichols is just 1-3 as the Bombers’ starter over the past month, compared to 5-2 as the starter in Edmonton earlier this season.

So how is it Nichols has improved statistically — his touchdown-to-interception ratio, yards per completion and efficiency rating are all better in Winnipeg than they were in Edmonton — and yet is losing more often?

The simplest and most revealing answer is the problem with the 4-10 Bombers right now is very clearly not the quarterback.

Indeed, Nichols’ 83.3 efficiency rating in four starts with the Bombers is half a point better than the 82.8 rating Mike Reilly has posted in six games as the starter in Edmonton in 2015.

How come Reilly and the Eskimos are winning and Nichols and the Bombers are losing? Well, it’s always something in Bomberland, isn’t it?

Last week, the difference was an Edmonton kicker who made his field goals and a Bombers kicker who didn’t.

The week before, the difference was a CFL official who blew a call in the final minute of the game that cost the Bombers a first down and a chance for a game-winning TD against the Calgary Stampeders.

The week before that it was a woeful performance by the Bombers’ special teams that put them in a big hole early in a blowout loss to the Montreal Alouettes.

The point here is it’s always something that causes the Bombers to find ways to lose games while other teams find ways to win.

But on a team where there is plenty of blame to spread around, one thing is clear: Nichols has been part of the solution — not the problem — since his arrival early last month.

If you’re looking for reason to hope as the Bombers head to Vancouver for a Saturday night game they must win to maintain any chance of turning this season around, it’s that Nichols has gotten progressively better with each start and is getting comfortable with an offence that was very much in progress when he joined it.

“Normally a training camp is a couple weeks, a couple pre-season games. It’s really about four weeks to get comfortable with an offence. And that’s about where I am right now,” Nichols said Thursday following Winnipeg’s last full practice in advance of facing the B.C. Lions. at BC Place.

“I feel like it’s all old hat now and I know everything and where everyone’s going and what my reads are. Right now, it feels like I’ve been in this offence a long time.”

Bombers centre Dominic Picard said the progression in Nichols’ game has been unmistakable.

“He’s getting way more comfortable with the system and the guys surrounding him,” said Picard. “His confidence is up and him and I, we interact a lot better communication-wise.”

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said it’s been the small and easy-to- overlook details Nichols has had to overcome by joining the team mid-season.

“There were a couple of little things that we discovered where you sort of went, ‘Oh, this was mentioned in training camp and we haven’t mentioned it since. OK, let’s fill that gap in for him.’

“But for the most part, it’s been getting on the same page with your targets… He didn’t have the benefit of (training camp). But he’s getting it now just with practice time.”

With injured Bombers starting QB Drew Willy still not practising and the Bombers having just three regular-season games remaining after this weekend, it’s looking increasingly as if Nichols will be under centre for the balance of the season.

What happens after that for Nichols remains to be seen. Having been burned this season by not having an adequate backup for Willy earlier in the year, the Bombers front office is eager to lock down Nichols now that they have one.

But Nichols, who is a free agent after this season, has said he’d like to see if there might be a starting job for him somewhere in the CFL before he commits to holding a clipboard for Willy.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek