Need to Know | July 22

It’s a discussion that has long since faded. And in hindsight, the very notion of such a narrative seems almost implausible now.

Rewind to last September and as many Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans will recall, there was growing quarterback debate in this town, the flames of which were fuelled by the play of Matt Nichols in the Banjo Bowl and the fixation with promising No. 2 QB Chris Streveler.

Nichols was intercepted three times that day, with two of the mistakes returned for touchdowns, as the Bombers lost their fourth straight game to fall to 5-7.

What happened next, with the Bombers having a bye week and then returning to defeat the Montreal Alouettes – the first of a five-game win streak – was not only critical in putting the club back in the playoff picture, but also to Nichols finding his mojo again.

And when we say mojo, consider this as the Bombers returned to practice for another work week on Monday: Nichols and the Bombers have won the last 10 regular season games he has started (11-1 if you include the playoffs), and his numbers during that 10-game run are extraordinary. During that streak, Nichols has completed 72.6% of his passes for 2,363 yards with a gaudy 19:2 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Those numbers include Friday’s masterful performance, in which he completed 25-of-29 passes for 295 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions in a 31-1 spanking of the Ottawa REDBLACKS that saw him finish the game by completing 19 consecutive passes, a new club record.

Nichols riffed on all that and a number of topics – including this week’s visit to Hamilton – after practice on Monday. After his session, he spoke a bit longer with bluebombers.com on his incredible turnaround that dates back to last September and pulling himself up off the mat to come out swinging again.

There’s a lot of hard work and sweat equity from offseason workouts involved in his remarkable rebound, but another element is also at play here.

“I mentioned it a bit last year, but a lot of it is developing that capacity to overcome a couple rough games,” Nichols began. “Obviously I had the support of my wife, my teammates, Coach O’Shea last year, who reminded me not to act on what had happened in two bad works but to go off a whole body of work over a few years.

“First of all, it’s easier to go out there when you have people believing in you and when people show that faith in you, you better go out and answer the bell. That’s just continued to evolve in my preparation and weekly process to make sure there’s never a mental lapse for me.”

There’s clearly an obvious connection between a healthier Nichols and his juicy stats through the first five games of 2019. But Nichols also reaffirmed that strengthening his mental game since last September has been a huge factor.

“One of the major things I did do, and I haven’t talked too much about it, has been working on the mental side,” said Nichols. “Whether I’ve had a good play or a bad drive or whatever, I have some tools now I use to get me back to even. That allows me to never get too far ahead of myself whether it’s going good, or it’s going bad.

“Of course, that’s always something people talk about, especially if you do turn the ball over or miss a throw… people say, ‘Oh, you’ve got to flush it and move on.’ But it’s sometimes hard to do that unless there are ways to do it. I’ve had a little bit of help with developing ways, a routine, to bring me back to even. It’s really helped me.”

That much is obvious. So, too, has been his increasing comfort level in Paul LaPolice’s balanced offence, the newer weapons at his disposal in the receiving corps, and a return to health that has him moving around the pocket effectively.

Put that all together and Nichols – just 10 games removed from a low point – is now playing arguably the best football of his career.

“He understands the offence a little bit better, he picks his spots to throw it deep and he’s just more tuned in to getting the ball to the right spots and not forcing things,” said running back Andrew Harris. “If you looked at his mistakes compared to last year, he’s way under. That’s just another sign of his maturity, his growth in the offence and also his trust in the guys around him.”

With the Bombers returning to the practice field Monday for their first session in advance of Friday’s visit to Hamilton here are some other items to help get you up to speed in this week’s NEED TO KNOW…

SICK-BAY UPDATE:

LB Adam Bighill practised for much of Monday’s session, as did WR Lucky Whitehead. Both SB Nic Demski, S Jeff Hecht and OL Jermarcus Hardrick were out there running around, but without helmets.

Asked about Bighill, Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said he was ‘very close.’ He also went into further detail when asked about the process behind the veteran linebacker being a ‘game-time decision’ for the last three weeks without actually getting the green light to play.

“It might be that way again,” he said. “On a daily basis we stick with the same routine with Al (Couture, Director of Health & Perfformance/Head Athletic Therapist) evaluating the player in the morning, putting him through a battery of tests and workouts and evaluating them again in the evening and then again in the morning to see how they’ve come out of it and how they respond to that.

“Couple that with the depth we have, the length of the season and where we’re at in our season and those all add up to these types of game-time decisions. I’m not so sure that’s going to change this week or not. We’re going to keep to the process we have in place. Al does a great job, so we’ll just keep plugging away and see where not just Adam, but any player lands. That’s the process we follow with every player who might be a game-time decision.”

O’Shea also said that an update on WR/KR Charles Nelson will be a couple of weeks away.

THUMBS UP:

One more update from the injured list: DE Jonathan Kongbo, selected fifth overall by the club in the 2019 CFL Draft, was on the field practising for the first time this season. Kongbo, who started at the University of Tennessee, injured his ACL last October in a game against Auburn. He’s scheduled to come off the six-game injured list next week.

“Man, I have a lot of respect for the way he’s just stuck with it and kept working hard,” O’Shea said of Kongbo. “It’s not easy for a player to be shelved and with the way the rules are and not be able to participate on the field… this is his first chance to get in on the defence, otherwise he’s had to be on the sideline or working on his own. That can be difficult in a team environment where you’re used to doing everything with the team.

“So, this must be a good day for him and a relief and I’m proud of the way he handled it. It’s not easy being on the sideline doing all the work yourself.”

MATTHEWS NEWS:

Global News Winnipeg reported Monday that WR Chris Matthews was stabbed at a downtown restaurant over the weekend and was taken to the hospital before being released. Winnipeg Police Services told Ted Wyman of The Sun that no charges are expected to be laid from the incident and Matthews was practising on Monday.

He is on the one-game injured list and was not available for interviews and O’Shea would not comment on the incident saying only, “We’ll leave that for the Winnipeg Police Services.”

NEW BLUE BLOOD:

The Bombers added two new Canadian receivers to their practice roster on Monday with the signings of Malcom Williams and Alex Morrison. Williams (6-3, 220, Langley Rams) appeared in 24 games in 2017-18 for Toronto, pulling in 27 passes for 266 yards. Morrison (6-4, 220, UBC) was a fourth-round draft pick of Montreal in 2017, who returned to the Thunderbirds in 2017, but missed all of last year due to injury.