Nichols not flashy, but efficient

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This article was published 08/08/2019 (2414 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Give Matt Nichols some credit. The much-maligned Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback stuck to the KISS principle — Keep It Simple, Stupid — and was rewarded with a much-needed victory Thursday night.

No, the 26-24 nailbiter over the Calgary Stampeders wasn’t a thing of beauty. There were no major highlight-reel plays from Nichols — new kick returner Janarion Grant took care of that with a pair of touchdown dashes — and the veteran pivot didn’t do anything to make you drop your jaw or jump out of your seat.

But on a night when there wasn’t a lot of margin for error, it was a tidy, workmanlike effort from Nichols coming on the heels of ugly back-to-back outings that had fans calling for his head.

After going 0-for-Ontario, it’s safe to say Nichols’ seat had gotten a lot hotter in recent days. And a date with the always dangerous Stampeders had potential disaster written all over it.

One more poor performance leading to a third straight loss and the calls for backup Chris Streveler were going to get a lot louder. After all, Winnipeg’s talented No. 2 has shown flashes of brilliance in limited work, and there are many who believe he’s overdue for prime time and a starring role.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about sports fans in this town, it’s that they absolutely love the understudy. Whether it’s backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit with the Winnipeg Jets, or Streveler with the Blue and Gold, there’s always this lingering feeling the other guy waiting in the wings is the better option and not getting a fair shot to shine.

Considering backups in Hamilton and Toronto led their teams to victories over Winnipeg these past two weeks, there was mounting evidence of a grand conspiracy for the “I told you so” crowd.

With another backup on the menu in Calgary’s Nick Arbuckle, subbing at quarterback for the injured Bo Levi Mitchell, you could just see this going south in a hurry if the Bombers stumbled out of the gate while their opponent shone brightly once again.

I wonder if Nichols stepped onto IG Field Thursday thinking about the last time he tasted home cooking. After all, it was just three weeks ago when he led the Bombers to a rout over the Ottawa Redblacks, setting a Winnipeg passing record with 19 straight completions to end the game.

He was the top CFL quarterback in a number of statistical categories, his team was off to a perfect 5-0 start and there was growing talk of him being a Most Outstanding Player nominee.

How quickly things can change. 

Nichols, who prides himself on being an efficient game manager, looked anything but over the past two games. He threw three costly interceptions in Hamilton, then had no real offensive answers in Toronto as his team blew a big lead and lost to the winless Argonauts.

As he stepped behind centre to face Stampeders, I fully expected to hear some jeers if his first pass hit the turf, or, even worse, landed in the wrong hands.

Instead, Nichols played it smart. His initial pitch was a four-yard completion, followed by a six-yard strike for a first down. A seven-play, 47-yard opening drive ended with a Justin Medlock field goal, and it was the kind of start Nichols was looking for.

Just as Nichols shouldn’t get all the credit when things go right, he also shouldn’t shoulder all the blame when things go wrong. And he didn’t exactly have a lot of help during the two recent losses, thanks to some puzzling play calling, which severely limited the touches of running back Andrew Harris, the team’s most established offensive weapon.

It’s one thing if your opponent neutralizes Harris. But there’s no way the Bombers should be the guilty party. And yet they were far too one-dimensional, predictable and easy to defend.

Not so on Thursday. Nichols threw 22 passes, completing 18 of them for 177 yards with no touchdowns and, most importantly, no interceptions. He only tried a handful of deep balls, with the majority of his passes being of the short and safe variety. 

Flashy? No. Efficient? Yes.

Harris was also a a much bigger part of the offence, as Nichols handed him the ball 19 times for 100 valuable yards on the ground. That helped keep Calgary’s defence on its toes, much more so than what we’ve seen lately.

Nichols and his teammates on offence protected the ball, not turning it over once all night. He also showed he’s learned from previous mistakes, such as a solo dash during that opening drive on a second-and-nine situation deep in Calgary territory. Nichols smartly hit the ground with a hook slide after gaining five yards, rather than tempt fate by going for the bigger gain and exposing himself to potential injury, as he’s been prone to do.

No doubt it pained him to come up short of the first down and ultimately settling for the field goal, but it was the right decision. And the kind of game management you expect from your top dog. 

Arbuckle did have an impressive night, leading a couple of lengthy scoring drives in which he ran the ball in for scores, then tossing a touchdown strike late in the game. He also showed some inexperience in throwing two interceptions, including a costly one late in the game with his team trying to drive for field position and potentially a game-winning field goal. 

And yes, seeing so many backups enjoy success leaves you wondering what Streveler might be able to do if he’s given an extended look.

Although Nichols might have kept the boo-birds at bay Thursday, he’s not out of the woods just yet. And he won’t be until he proves he can with the proverbial “big one,” which for this deep, loaded Bombers club means one thing only: the Grey Cup game in November.

Anything short of that will ultimately be deemed a failure.

Make no mistake, beating a surging Calgary club is an important step. The Bombers are once again alone in first place, at 6-2, and seemingly pointed in the right direction once again after briefly losing their way out east.

There are sure to be more bumps along the road, and there’s no doubt Nichols hasn’t completely silenced his critics for good. But on a night when many expected to be given more ammunition, Nichols did exactly what he needed to do.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg