More on Matt

He made an indelible imprint on the 2016 Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

And now Matt Nichols is hoping he can do the same on new contract with the franchise that helped breathe new life into his career… and vice versa.

The Bombers went 10-4 this season under Nichols – including Sunday’s crushing 32-31 loss to the B.C. Lions in the West Semi-Final – after he replaced Drew Willy as the club’s starting quarterback in late July.

Adored by his teammates for his fire and his toughness, Nichols finished the regular season with career-best numbers, including a 97.1 QB rating after completing 69.4 per cent of his passes for 3,666 yards and 18 touchdowns against nine interceptions.

Those numbers should translate to bigger numbers on a new contract, with discussions expected to heat up further now that the season is done.

“It’s something I haven’t thought much about,” said Nichols on Monday as the Bombers cleaned out their lockers. “I’m a big believer in living in the moment. I think you owe it to your teammates to not have that distraction during the season. Now that the season’s over with, we’ll begin talks and see what happens.

“I love my teammates here and this is my best professional season. I love the guys here and we’ll see if we can’t get things worked out. A lot of it’s out of my control. That’s why you have an agent. I don’t deal directly with the team.

“We’ll see how it works out. This will be my first time going through actual contract negotiation coming off a starting season. This is new waters for me. We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks or the next month”

Nichols was signed to an extension last year that reportedly paid him $185,000, plus another potential $100,000 in bonuses to serve as Willy’s back-up. But after being handed the starting chores, he found a home here after battling injuries and being traded by the Edmonton Eskimos last September.

“I hadn’t had a real opportunity until this year,” said Nichols. “I felt like we had a great thing this year… you saw the guys had a trust in each other and I felt like I had the trust in my teammates. That’s what creates a winning atmosphere.

“We were able to win a lot of games this year, we just didn’t quite get it done yesterday.”

“What did we start the year, 1-4?” added Weston Dressler. “And then Matt moves into the starting spot and we played some good football after that. I hope his contract talks go well. For me personally, I’d love to have him back here. He’s a guy I loved playing with, I loved playing for him. Just the attitude and the energy he brings into the huddle. He’s a special competitor and a special teammate so I hope that he’s back here for sure.”

Interestingly, the man who showed so much faith in Nichols – head coach Mike O’Shea – is also seeking a new deal.

“I know from the time he picked me up at the airport when I got traded last year that he had belief in me,” said Nichols of O’Shea.

“I felt that from him all last year even when we were losing some close games and we were a struggling team.

“I felt the same thing this offseason, the belief in me, and the day he told me I was going to be playing (starting) I was working out in the weight room the day after we played Calgary. He told me, ‘The ball is yours. Go get it.’ And that’s all that needed to be said. He had a lot of faith in me and I have the same in him.”

Dressler went to bat for O’Shea, too, pointing to his influence not only as the head knock, but also in understanding how to build a team’s work ethic and trust from within the dressing room.

“Osh was awesome,” said Dressler. “Having just one year with him, I was really impressed with how he led this team but also allowed the players in the room to lead the team as well. I think he did a good job of balancing that, between him and letting the players define the team.

“As a team, we did a good job of establishing our identity and he had a big role in that.”

Weston Dressler

“It was just an attitude and an energy level that we brought. The game yesterday was brought to a new level. We played a good game yesterday, it’s just unfortunately we didn’t win. But we did a lot of good things throughout that game. That’s playoff football. It comes down to a couple of things here and there and you’ve got to give B.C. credit – they made just a couple more plays than us towards the end of that game.”