Leos/Riders Post-Game Thoughts!

[Blitz]

It was a huge win in a place that has not been kind to our Leos. Our Leos defense jumped all over the Riders offence early, creating key turnovers that our offence was able to convert into points on the board. Dickenson went out of the game early with a shot to the chin and Buck went down with helmet hit to his throwing hand as he ran into the end zone for a touchdown. Jarius Jackson played the entire second half. The play calls were conservative for him as we tried to to hang onto the lead and Jackson also looked tentative, not wanting to make a mistake.

The lead looked very comfortable until a single play turned the momentum of the game. Paris Jackson's attempted punt block led to a new set of downs for Saskatchewan and they scored a field goal with Marcus Crandall leading them downfield. Crandell then drove the Riders for a touchdown and suddenly they had a lot of momentum and we had a game again. However, the comeback was shortlived, as our defense held and we came up with two more big turnovers in the second half. Javy Glatt's interception for his first ever CFL touchdown was great to see..he came so close last season. A 42-12 score was not indicitive of the play of the game but it was reflective of how outstanding our defense is at creating instant offence. It's the same recipe as last year...defensive turnovers resulting in big victories!

DEFENSE

I'll start with defense again because again it was our defense that shut down the Riders early. Wake, Johnson, and Glatt were in the Rider backfield early. We created five turnovers that led to 24 points by the end of the third quarter. Johnson, Hunt, Wake, and Williams were very solid all night long, creating good pressure, especially in the first half, making Joseph's time in there miserable.

Our defensive backfield was all over the Riders receivers early. Miles picked one off and Phillips had another excellent pick. Brent Johnson made a great play, knocking the ball out of Joseph's hands and recovering the fumble. Miles picked one off and Phillips had another excellent pick. I always thought it was a mistake to convert Phillips to nickel last season and his move back is paying big dividends. Phillips second interception and runback late in the fourth quarter sealed the deal along with Javy Glatt's touchdown interception, our seventh turnover of the night.

Our defense was on the field too long in this game and it started to show in the fourth quarter. We gave up some big passing plays and Dominguez was a horse for the Riders..a huge target who ran excellent patterns. However we stopped the Riders on a third down conversion was big, along with Phillips interception. Our defense is the best in the CFL and they really proved it tonight!

OFFENCE

Dickenson threw to Joe Smith for a touchdown pass to open the scoring on a well-designed play that caused the Rider linebacker to get caught up in the wash. Dickenson looked more poised in his brief time in there. They blitzed Buck and he needed to get the ball out quicker. However he also made some excellent throws as well as looked rusty at times as well. Buck Pierce ran the ball in for a touchdown, as he took off and found a seam in the Riders defense. Joe Smith ran for another touchdown following another turnover. Paris Jackson had an excellent game on offence as did Jason Clermont. Not many throws to Geroy, Simmons, or Rodgers. We need better distribution. I was suprised we ran a trap play on second and two with Buck in there in the first half and Smith was stuffed. Jarious didn't play well but at least it felt safer having him in there instead of a raw rookie. Jarious ran the ball in himself for a touchdown on a broken play. Our offence took advantage of turnovers and while they still didn't look in sync they did put up 35 points off the six turnovers they had the opportunity to convert.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Ian Smart ran hard on punt returns and picked up excellent yardage. Our coverage teams were excellent. Tad Crawford recovered a fumble. Why Benevedes had a block on, with a 28-0 lead beats me. You take the sure thing protecting a lead. However, outside of that one play, with McCallum on the money we had definitely won the special teams battle, until late in the fourth quarter, when the snap sailed over McCallum's head and we had to give up the safety and the ball to Regina.

WRAP

Not a game that was inspiring offensively but a win is a win. Outside of great turnovers by our defense and some stellar play by them as well at times, we're kinda winning ugly but I'll happily take ugly for a win in Regina! I'll take it and hope we can get our two quarterbacks home quickly to begin their recovery.

[pinkfreud]

There's 8 seconds left!

[Iron Lion]

boy, I thoght this would be a HUGELY different game. I thoght it would be a pitched war, and BC came in and stomped on some rider ass



not that im upset

[LFITQ]

Sorry Blitz, but I actually liked the way the Lions offense was able to move the ball and capitalize on turnovers.

When you have a defense as strong as ours is, the offense has to use that as almost another offensive weapon and tonight the Lions did just that.

When opposing teams make mistakes against us, our offense has the ability to punish them for those mistakes.

Tonight was a big game for Team Chemistry. The offense showed the Defense that great plays by the defense will be rewarded with offensive scoring. It helps to alleviate the weight thrown on the Defense's shoulders. No longer do they think that they have to not only turn over the ball and score. Now they can have some confidence that if they get a big stop or turnover, the offense will put points on the board. That goes along way to help BOTH sides of the ball.

My concern is how the team didn't seem to pick it up when JJ took the field. There seemed to be a collective "holding of the breath" and the tense moments in the 3rd/ early 4th quarter was indicative of that. That rushing TD by JJ did alot ot help the chemistry of the team as he showed that he too could put it in the endzone on a turnover and allowed the defense to relax a bit.

Overall I'm quite pleased with this game and especially the result. But when a TEAM wins the result is always positive!! And this was certainly a TEAM win, which can only bode well for future games.

[Blitz]

Sorry Blitz, but I actually liked the way the Lions offense was able to move the ball and capitalize on turnovers

These are my quotes below from the thread I began LFITQ. I liked the fact that we were able to score points off turnovers, as mentioned.

It was a huge win in a place that has not been kind to our Leos. Our Leos defense jumped all over the Riders offence early, creating key turnovers that our offence was able to convert into points on the board.

Our offence took advantage of turnovers and while they still didn't look in sync they did put up 35 points off the six turnovers they had the opportunity to convert.

Judging by the Edmonton game I don't think we're missing the Chap's play calling at all. I thought this was an important win for our team!

[kidder]

Wow, .................... that was a spanking, .............. our defence is a complete and total game changer. There can't be a team in this league that could seriously rate themselves until the've gone four rounds with our D. .......................... Great win guy's !!!!

[Iron Lion]

The defence is like a brick wall, sometime running it to it might crack it, but mostly you get stopped, and more often then not, it hurts.

[ThreeTimesOneMinusOne]

The Lions' slogan should be "BC Lions Football: Know Your Place!"

Because DAMN, that was vintage D-FENCE!!! I like that they didn't let up a single bit until 0:00 to go in the 4th. Got fans jawing at you? Know your place, Saskatchewan. The Riders got some crumbs after half-time, but then they also got it fiercer up to 0:00. You could tell on TV just how much the players enjoyed nailing the Riders every which way. Not only did they want to win, they wanted to beat the crap out of them, well after the fact.

Not impressed at all by Jarious, but at least he didn't have a hole to dig us out of. Phillips and Smith were obviously the reason for his one successful drive, even though he scored (which was pretty much his only good play). But, QB's should be fine.

[LFITQ]

But Blitz, what I was mainly commenting on was your "wrap up".

Not a game that was inspiring offensively but a win is a win. Outside of great turnovers by our defense and some stellar play by them as well at times, we're kinda winning ugly but I'll happily take ugly for a win in Regina!

Whereas I agree with your initial statement, by the time you get to the wrap, I disagree completely for the reasons I mentioned above.

I think this WAS an inspiring win offensively and did lots to help the team "gel". They went in to HOSTILE territory and spanked a team that was "power ranked" by some to be better than them. And it was the WHOLE team that got into the act. Special teams, Offense and Defence. That was a game that will certainly help to bring out some of the "fun" that DD eluded to in a comment in today's Province that I talked about in a different thread.

Oops I did forget to mention that I agree with you. We are not missing the Chap at all. Monsoon-like conditions and you THROW the ball? Especially when you have a back like Ebell in there??? Thank god he is gone.

I'm also getting more and more impressed with our OC by committee. Tonight had a good gameplan. I think they needed to change it up a little bit for JJ when he got in there, and get hism some shorter passes to give him success quicker as a confidence booster, but otherwise not bad.

[lion24]

I am very happy with the win tonight as the Lions always tend to have a tough time playing in Regina HOWEVER........as dominant as the defence is right now the offence still has a long way to go to catch up to the quality of play the D is providing and at some point the Lions cannot keep relying on scoring from the defence Usually, there is less chance of defensive slumps than offensive slumps but at some point the Lions have to get much more crisp on offence. Tonight injuries probably prevented any sustained momentum on offence as three different qb's had to play.

I did like some of the returns from Smart tonight that provided the Leos with good field position and would still like to see more running from the Smart/Smith combo. One thing I was wondering I saw Pottinger in the game (thought he played pretty well) was Floyd and Jamal Johnson hurt in the game? Hopefully Dickenson and Pierce are not out too long they both didn't seem to be in too much discomfort after the game? Anyway, I am happy with the win and the defensive destruction tonight but I am looking forward to seeing the offense catch up hopefully soon!!

My last thoughts are on the TSN broadcast with it apparently being "bring your kids to work night" as I am certain an 8 year old was running the camera tonight and missing the plays completely And I really was frustrated with McManus and Black telling me how Saskatchewan had the momentum at 28-10 and basically cheering for the Riders to make a comeback

Anyway, a good win tonight and I think the rest of the teams are hoping the Lions don't find their offense too soon as they have won games even with a shaky offence for three games now!!

[Iron Lion]

My last thoughts are on the TSN broadcast with it apparently being "bring your kids to work night" as I am certain an 8 year old was running the camera tonight and missing the plays completely

They missed 3, count them 3 punt returns, what the hell is that!?

[B.C.FAN]

Good summary, Blitz.

On offence, I thought the Lions showed a lot of confidence in Jarious Jackson to allow him to throw on first down in the fourth quarter. Overall the Lions did a good job of protecting the lead and protecting the ball. Jason Clermont and Paris Jackson were huge, combining for 12 of the team's 14 completions. After three weeks, Tony Simmons and Cory Rodgers remain non-factors in the offence. I notice Boden and Anderson both got in the game in the fourth quarter. Rob Murphy had perhaps his worst game as a Lion, getting beaten inside and outside by Fred Perry, once for a sack, and taking a crucial roughing penalty on Buck Pierce's first offensive play, wiping out a big gain by Clermont. Jimenez had even more trouble with Perry on the other side and also gave up a sack. The hit that knocked Dickenson out of the game also came from Jimenez's side but I don't know who had responsibility to block him on that play.

On defence, the team gave up its first TD drive of the season in the third quarter, thanks to some big catches by Dominguez. Dante Marsh is usually a sure tackler but Dominguez came alive when Crandell came into the game. What can you say about the ball hogs on this defence? They're fun to watch, and you can tell they were disappointed with the mistakes they made that gave the Riders a bit of life in the third. Congratulations to Javy Glatt for winning the pot and scoring the first TD of his career. He covered a lot of ground in pass defence and did so flawlessly while still leading the team in tackles and picking up a sack to go with the INT and TD.

On special teams, Ian Smart gave the team great field position throughout the first half when the score was still close and averaged an impressive 26.7 yards for the game on kickoff returns and 14 yards on punt returns, while protecting the ball. Paul McCallum was 2-for-2 on field goals, including a 46-yarder to make it 11-0 and averaged an impressive 46.4 yards on 8 punts. Paris Jackson's roughing the kicker penalty was a huge turning point that gave the Riders some life for the first time and led directly to their first score. He was close to blocking the kick but it was a bad call to try for the block at a time when the Lions needed only to avoid penalties and turnovers. Tyson Craiggs' bad punt snap was the first I can recall him making but could have been a big factor because it put the Riders within two touchdowns of the Lions.

All in all, an impressive win. I hope the injuries aren't serious and the team can get motivated to play Hamilton on a short week.

[Balraj]

Just a quick question on the game, why was it that when it was 28-3 and 28-10 that some backups were in the game in the name of Josh Bode, Bret Anderson? it was still a game and sask. was pressing at times. I could understand Pottinger cause Otis was injured.

[rb]

Defence awesome-- again. At this point, the D is so stifling and ballhawking that it can win games on its own. The line is so good that we rarely need to bring more than four rushers to get pressure. A three-man rush often provides pressure.

Another good job by the special teams, too. Good kick coverage, and I'm so glad we have Ian Smart instead of Lockett.

Offence? So-so. Sure they put up some points, but when you're starting 10 - 20 yards from the opposition goal line, you're supposed to score. Little in the way of sustained drives. Without the short fields, there wouldn't have been many points. No turnovers, that was the brightest spot. And with the defence being so utterly dominant, and the special teams doing well, taking care of the ball is pretty much all the offence needs to do to win.

[sports & stuff----ric]

camera work was really bad for some reason!