Stamps’ trash talk doesn’t faze Nichols

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This article was published 07/07/2017 (3301 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell made a bold pronouncement on national television with his team leading the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27-7 last season.

“We’re showing them who they are right now and we’re going to keep showing them,” Mitchell told a TSN audience before narrowly eking out a 36-34 win on Sept. 24.

The Bombers rallied to take a late lead, only to have Mitchell drive his offence down the field to set up the winning field goal on the last play of the game.

Winnipeg quarterback Matt Nichols, Mitchell’s close friend, said he took no offence nor was he motivated by the trash talk.

“I know Bo and he’s just a very confident guy,” Nichols said after Winnipeg’s walk-through Thursday in preparation for tonight’s clash with the Stampeders in the home opener at Investors Group Field (7:30 p.m.).

“I’ve tried to almost take a little bit of that from his personality, because I think that’s something that gives him an edge and he’s an extreme competitor. He’s just a guy that seems like he never plays a bad game and so you know what to expect from him.”

Nichols was asked if he agonized over the missed opportunity.

“The main thing we can take from it was things could have been different if we would have started a little bit different in the first half,” Nichols said.

“That’s something that’s a goal of ours, especially as an offence, is to be better in the first quarter and play four complete quarters. This is a tough defence, it’s going to be a good test for us.”

Messin’ with Messam

Winnipeg defensive tackle Jake Thomas has plenty of respect for Jerome Messam, Calgary’s jumbo-sized tailback, who had a combined 116 rushing yards on 27 attempts in two games to start the regular season.

“He’s definitely a mismatch back there,” Thomas said. “He’s 255 pounds, you really don’t see that big a back in this league. We have to take care of our jobs, everyone has to be gap sound and gang-tackling is so important on him because he’s going to break a tackle or two. But if we can swarm and run to the ball, we’ll be all right.”

Calgary, however, has a diverse offence, which is difficult to pin down.

“You can’t be so focused on one person, they have a lot of weapons,” Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said.

D-line success

Thomas was encouraged by the work of the defensive line last week, which limited the Saskatchewan ground game to 20 yards on 10 attempts.

Winnipeg’s four-man rotation of tackles, which also includes Drake Nevis, Cory Johnson and No. 1 overall draft pick Faith Ekakitie, allowed for a rested, physical defensive front.

“I think it’s huge,” Thomas said. “You look at hockey, for example. Guys are going out for a shift and getting a minute or two off. We try to do the same thing — go out, four to six plays, play as hard as you can and if you feel a little tired, someone’s going to come out. The biggest thing I find this year is there’s no real drop-off. We have four great D-tackles playing every game. If you’re not 100 per cent, you might as well let someone who’s fresh go out there.”

Thomas said Ekakitie has earned his playing time, allowing the Bombers to dress four tackles instead of the three they employed for most of last season.

“He’s done a great job of learning,” Thomas said.

“He’s definitely getting better every day. The first week of camp, there’s always a learning curve for a rookie. He’s picked up the playbook pretty well and he’s got his feet wet now with the last week. So I think with every week he’ll be getting better and better.

“Hopefully, we can shut down the run like last week, clean up a few things because we gave up a lot of passing yards last week and a lot of points. I don’t think we want to win games 43-40 all year.”

Lighting it up

Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson isn’t surprised by the number of high-scoring games around the CFL so far this season.

“The rules are really built for offence, they really are,” said Dickenson, whose club has scored a league-high 74 points while posting a win and a tie in its opening two games.

“It just seems like that’s the way it goes… in my opinion you’ve certainly got to be a balanced team. You have to know where you’re at, your defence has to step up when it needs to and offensively, you just can’t give (the opponent) short fields. If you’re giving a team 80, 90 yards to score and they’re doing that, you’ve got issues on your defence and you’ll lose a lot of games.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sawa14