Drew Willy benched, Nichols to start

CFL News ?@CFL_News
.@Wpg_BlueBombers announce that Matt Nichols will start at QB vs. the #Esks in the game coming up. #CFL #Bombers

Man, I've forgotten that Nichols was even still in this league...

Why announce this so far in advance. Call me crazy, but are they not better off leaving their opponent guessing a little bit as long as they can?

Yes…but this is Mike O’Shea, do not try to apply logic to any decisions he makes.

Seems like a desperate move to try and convince the fans he is committed to figuring it out, the clocks ticking and he knows it.

yeah…i get that…but if I am his boss I am totally shaking my head to this. I can get trying to appease fans who are getting justifiably restless if this was a home game

I agree, if I were his boss this would 100% be the last straw, I don’t even know if MOS will be HC when the Cats play the Bummers on August 3rd …if I were him I would have stuck with Willy and kept everyone guessing all week about who is starting. It is one thing to sit down Willy and Nichols and tell them who is going to start so each are mentally prepared and even then I would have waited until 2-3 days before the game, but no reason to run to the media with it before this week’s set of games are even done yet. It actually makes zero sense, maybe even negative sense if that was a thing, I have no idea how he has lasted this long.

Really want to see MOS succeed but this does not help his cause. Esks now have a week to prepare for a QB they know well.

Hoping Nichols has a great game to give the BB faithful some hope but not about to put money on it against the EE that will not want another loss after Ham.

Oshea is toast. Seemed like a promising future as ahead coach, but he's been horrible.
A failure by every measure.

You are not crazy. It makes sense NOT to give away your plans.

Might as well just give the Esks the playbook to study. Just to be sportsman about it.

Bombers will be in tough. They will be going against an Esk team in a bad mood.

They will need all the breaks they can get. Starting with NOT announcing the QB.

Look at what he’s had to work with - - mediocre QB and terrible OLine. No coach in the world is going to succeed with that.

I always wondered about O’Shea. He went from player, did whatever for a season and then was the Special Teams Coach for four seasons. Hardly sufficient prep for anything more than a coordinator’s job IMO.

As an Als fan, I would hope that the moment O’Shea is fired Jim Popp jumps at the chance to bring O’Shea in as STC.

Question for those that have watched the Bombers intently since Willy arrived: is he THAT bad or is he a worthwhile reclamation project for another team?

Not sure What O’shea has left on his contract, but if he is fired I can’t see taking a Co-ordinator job just yet as he can sit on his as s and collect the remaining H.C. Salary. If he accepts another position somewhere he would forfeit that I think.

I could be wrong, but I do think that O'Shea is in the final year of his contract.

Richard

I think the old team still has to pay the difference in the HC salary and whatever they make in the new job.

He is not that bad. He is just with a bad team starting with a poor O-Line.

I have watched him close. The reason is when he was with Las Vegas of the UFL, he was very good.
He was behind Chase Clement for some reason.

I was very interested to see how he would do in the CFL.

Smart, on target, decent arm and read defenses well.
Coached and mentored by Jim Fassel.

Let’s remember AC was not very good until he got to Montreal.

O'Shea is in the final year of his contract.

Until he learns to get rid of the ball quicker, Drew Willy will be nothing more than a mediocre QB.

It's because he knows he's facing an angry, pumped angry Hamilton defense who might put Wily out for the season. :wink:

Joking aside, I can't say this is the right or wrong move. I haven't seen enough recent reps by Nichols and Winnipeg's biggest issue on offense has been pass execution. I think the biggest issue is Willy was considered an veteran because he had a some game time in Sask but really just due to his somewhat decent 2013 performance. At the time, I believe there was a QB crunch at the time and talk of Trevor Harris, Zach Collaros, Henry Burris and Kevin Glenn were also in the mix, and the bombers went with Wily instead of going for broke on some more proven products.

I do feel for Winnipeg though, they are in the same purgatory we experienced when Quinton Porter was our starter. A QB with flashes of brilliance but seems to always manage to give up on key plays. The only difference was we had Kevin Glenn around to get us respectable, the Bombers don't.

Technically, he can’t work for another team while that contract is still in force. How much of the salary has to be paid out is part of a negotiation to end the contract early (so he can go to the new team), and can vary from case to case.