Lions 26 @ Riders 13 -- Post Game Stats and Comments

[TheLionKing]

Benny made a very strange call on 3rd and 3. Not to kick the field goal. Afraid of the big runback, no doubt. Dorazio whispering in his ear. I would not call making that decision sending a message, unless the message is fear, playing it safe. A lead of 13 is nothing. 2 and a half minutes is a lifetime in the CFL. If his decision had come back to bite him in the butt, it would one for the ages.

Strange call indeed. If Benny is afraid of a runback if McCallum misses he should have at least kicked it out of bounds and force the Riders to march the length of the field.

[TheLionKing]

You sure about Khari Jones, I swear I heard JC in place of Benevides being used.

You are right , he did say Jacques Chapdelaine , i heard it too . You're mistake however is that it was CHRIS Shultz the commentator and not SCOTT Shultz the former Rider DT that made the error .

Scott Schultz would be calling out the Lions' offensive line as being "fat sassy pigs"

[Blitz]

Thanks for the recap, Blitz. Excellent detail.

Wally appointed a loyal, underqualified protege as Head Coach. That is a tough gig. Benny had a look of desperation, more than usual. Non stop screaming. Well, Wally wound him up. Can he calm him down? The decisions of the OC and DC are what matter in the game. And they were good. It does the team no good when Benny is shouting at the world. Stay calm and let your OC and DC do their jobs.

Benny made a very strange call on 3rd and 3. Not to kick the field goal. Afraid of the big runback, no doubt. Dorazio whispering in his ear. I would not call making that decision sending a message, unless the message is fear, playing it safe. A lead of 13 is nothing. 2 and a half minutes is a lifetime in the CFL. If his decision had come back to bite him in the butt, it would one for the ages.

Benny was shouting at Parks after a penalty on STs. Parks was not really having it, and stood in Benny's face, until Benny moved away.

Benny is in a tough spot. But he accepted the contract. He accepted all that goes with it. It would be best for him if he can find some calmness. The prep is done by game time. Shouting during the game will not help. That is not leadership. How does shouting at a referee help? How does shouting at a player help? How does yapping at a coach help? At some point Wally might be wondering if he should have done a thorough search for a highly qualified successor, with a huge resume full of achievements. Chamblin's team was not well prepared for the game, but he is calm on the sideline. His behaviour is not counter productive.

As noted numerous times, the level of coaching has risen fast and far in the CFL. Great coaches all over the place. No easy wins out there. We will be hard pressed to make the playoffs after the amazing starts of Edmonton and Winnipeg. And then there is Calgary. And Regina. Yikes.

We have some hope. We have very good talent. Our OC and DC can prepare competitive game plans and play calls. Washington seems especially calm and cool. Khari maintained his calm. It has the makings of a very intense season. No gimmes. Makes it great for the fans.

I agree WCJ that the coaching has improved in the CFL...there are no coaching staffs at present that are weak, something well coached teams took advantage of.

Certainly when I look around the league... Hufnagel in Calgary, Chamblin in Riderville and Chris Jones in Edmonton and Mike O'Shea off to tremendous Head Coaching career starts in situations that were dire last year and the West looks like its going to be a battle. In the East there is Kent Austin in Hamilton, Scott Milanovich in Toronto, and Tom Higgins in Montreal...all Head Coaches who have shown they can get it done. Rich Campbell is in Ottawa and in his first season with a new franchise....but he has background experience with three CFL teams and has lots of promise.

We lost our first two games due mainly to a deficits In coaching. We won against Saskatchewan due to excellent game plans which allowed our talent to be able to come forward much more than in those first two games.

I was happy for Khari Jones and the adjustments he made to our offence for the Regina game. Too bad that we did not go into this season with the type of offence that was so successful for us at the end of last season but it looks like we've turned that corner. Our defense was dominating in the second half against Regina and Washington also had a sound game plan and called a good game.

Our offence was tremendously advantaged against Regina with a solid imposing defense, great field position, turnovers, and Regina penalties but we rolled up a lof of offensive yardage in the game, cut down our sacks, ran the football successfully, avoided the high rate sacks and interceptions that plagued us in the first two games, and made some good completions on second down...all good signs.

I also thought George Cortez called a poor game against us. I was happy that we did not hire him for our offensive coordinator. He is a spread offence disciple and while that offensive scheme was very advantageous at one time, its past its due date. I find him quite rigid and he played into our defenses hands by not going with a quick perimeter passing attack against us...but we also played tighter pass defense against Regina.

I believe that the upcoming Montreal game will be a real test for Khari Jones. Montreal often brings six and even seven defenders. Obviously we will need to run the football a lot again using tight end sets to combat that blitz and we'll also need a quick passing attack again. However, Montreal plays a lot of press coverage and we will need a slightly different strategy in the passing attack.

Our ability to take on the blitzing, aggressive defense with a good offensive game plan will be a big test. The heat will be coming much more than the Riders sent it. Harris and Logan will also be keyed on again as they were in Montreal. Khari will need to step it up again but the positive is that he has made adjustments to his thinking in terms of our offence.

What I am also hopeful for is that Benevedes will stop being a detriment to our success on the sidelines. Right now I'm not looking for postives from him...that might be too much to ask..but just to stop hurting us on game day.

[Blitz]

The man in charge of the Lions said if you want a copy of his coaching manual, it’s not for sale.

“You think I don’t know my room? I’ve been around some of these guys for 10 years, and I don’t care what the (rookies) think,” Benevides said Sunday

“You’re either on or off. My comments aside, the coaches got on them and got better performances, but the players knew they had to play better.

“Behind closed doors I didn’t want the pressure of (going) 0-3 to get us down, but I also understood they had to feel that sense of urgency. They responded exactly as I wanted them to do.”

Vancouver Province

We're 1-2 and Benny is feeling his oats and strutting his stuff......irritating.

I highly doubt anyone would want to buy his coaching manual..

[TheLionKing]

As much as I am pleased that the Lions won, there are lots of room for improvements:

- cutting down on stupid penalties

- tackle the quarterback, Don't let him get outside and make plays. At the very least keep him in the pocket

- catch the football

[DanoT]

Coach Benny's yelling at players and coaches on the sidelines needs to stop asap. The time for getting after someone is AFTER seeing the game film so then what transpires between the HC and others is based on factual film evidence. A good example was the illegal ST block call on Cord Parks. Benny got in his face on the sidelines when he should have respected the player and just asked him what happened. The video replay backs up Parks' claim of innocence and shows him trying to stop himself from colliding with an opponent who had slowed down in front of him. A questionable call at best so Benny owes Parks an apology.

If Benevides doesn't control his emotions on the sidelines and start treating his assistants and players with respect then he will end up being in danger of loosing this team.

[pennw]

I agree WCJ that the coaching has improved in the CFL...there are no coaching staffs at present that are weak, something well coached teams took advantage of.

Certainly when I look around the league... Hufnagel in Calgary, Chamblin in Riderville and Chris Jones in Edmonton and Mike O'Shea off to tremendous Head Coaching career starts in situations that were dire last year and the West looks like its going to be a battle. In the East there is Kent Austin in Hamilton, Scott Milanovich in Toronto, and Tom Higgins in Montreal...all Head Coaches who have shown they can get it done. Rich Campbell is in Ottawa and in his first season with a new franchise....but he has background experience with three CFL teams and has lots of promise.

We lost our first two games due mainly to a deficits In coaching. We won against Saskatchewan due to excellent game plans which allowed our talent to be able to come forward much more than in those first two games.

I was happy for Khari Jones and the adjustments he made to our offence for the Regina game. Too bad that we did not go into this season with the type of offence that was so successful for us at the end of last season but it looks like we've turned that corner. Our defense was dominating in the second half against Regina and Washington also had a sound game plan and called a good game.

Our offence was tremendously advantaged against Regina with a solid imposing defense, great field position, turnovers, and Regina penalties but we rolled up a lof of offensive yardage in the game, cut down our sacks, ran the football successfully, avoided the high rate sacks and interceptions that plagued us in the first two games, and made some good completions on second down...all good signs.

I also thought George Cortez called a poor game against us. I was happy that we did not hire him for our offensive coordinator. He is a spread offence disciple and while that offensive scheme was very advantageous at one time, its past its due date. I find him quite rigid and he played into our defenses hands by not going with a quick perimeter passing attack against us...but we also played tighter pass defense against Regina.

I believe that the upcoming Montreal game will be a real test for Khari Jones. Montreal often brings six and even seven defenders. Obviously we will need to run the football a lot again using tight end sets to combat that blitz and we'll also need a quick passing attack again. However, Montreal plays a lot of press coverage and we will need a slightly different strategy in the passing attack.

Our ability to take on the blitzing, aggressive defense with a good offensive game plan will be a big test. The heat will be coming much more than the Riders sent it. Harris and Logan will also be keyed on again as they were in Montreal. Khari will need to step it up again but the positive is that he has made adjustments to his thinking in terms of our offence.

What I am also hopeful for is that Benevedes will stop being a detriment to our success on the sidelines. Right now I'm not looking for postives from him...that might be too much to ask..but just to stop hurting us on game day.

The thing Khari really took advantage of against the Riders is the fact their defense is weak in the middle at this time with very weak linebackers to go along with the loss of DT's Sholagan and Evans .Good plan by Jones attacking them there by running the ball at them . Als may be tougher next week, but then Als almost never do well in BC Place .

[Blitz]

We ran the ball 22 times on first down and got 173 of our 186 rushing yards on first down.

We never run the ball on second-and-five; the fact we did that twice was huge,” Harris said

The Lions remembered Harris and Logan combined for 213 yards along the ground in the West Divsiion semifinal last year on the road against the Riders and took it from there.

Vancouver Province

In reflecting back on this game and our first two games, our offensive game plan was very different. It was very different by formation (tight end sets and lining up both Harris and Logan is slot positions at times on passing downs). It was different in how many times we rushed the football. It was different in that we attempted to run the football a couple of times on second down.

One wonders why we didn't have this type of game plan against Edmonton and Montreal. It makes one wonder, why we didn't start the season this way, when we had finished last season with such a powerful running game and it makes one wonder what or who caused us to change our thinking in terms of offensive game planning against the Riders.

Interesting stuff.

[Shi Zi Mi]

Benny made a very strange call on 3rd and 3. Not to kick the field goal. Afraid of the big runback, no doubt. Dorazio whispering in his ear. I would not call making that decision sending a message, unless the message is fear, playing it safe. A lead of 13 is nothing. 2 and a half minutes is a lifetime in the CFL. If his decision had come back to bite him in the butt, it would one for the ages.

Strange call indeed. If Benny is afraid of a runback if McCallum misses he should have at least kicked it out of bounds and force the Riders to march the length of the field.

At the time of the call I thought it was smart.......Lions up by 13, 2 and a half minutes left.....with a defense that was dominating the Riders......the stupidest thing to do would have been to give the Riders a quick score on a missed field goal attempt (reducing the lead to 6) and a ton of momentum for the last 2 minutes of the game.

It's funny....if the missed field goal return for a TD had occurred......there would have been a huge outcry on this board......how could he be so stupid?.....why risk it when you've got the game in hand?....etc, etc.

Hindsight is ALWAYS 20-20

[MexicoLionFan]

At that distance, if McCallum missed, it would have gone through the end zone, so no danger of a long return...the Lions could have easily punted into the end zone for 1 point as well...or McCallum could have coffin cornered it and made them drive the length of the field to score...you play football to win aggressively, not afraid...and MB reacted in a fear mode, and that could have cost us...it was a stupid call by a guy in panic mode.

[David]

I agree. Lots of ways to score points there. I didn't think - even at the time - that running the ball up the gut on 3rd and 3 was the smartest move.

The thing is, since we only play the Riders 2x this year, aren't these points really important for a tie-breaker in this tight West Division?? Don't you want to score as many as possible against them?


DH

[cromartie]

When you're bad, it's never as bad as you think it is.

When you're good, you're never as good as you think you are.

That said, I wouldn't want to be Montreal this weekend. There are some guys, particularly on defence, that are going to be angry. Very angry.

[sj-roc]

I wasn't talking trash on the unsportsmanlike penalty. All I said was, "C'mon 33, get up!" But the fact I was standing over him looked bad.

[TheLionKing]

The life span of a coach yelling and shouting at his players is very short. Don't ask how I know

John Tortorella

[Rammer]

The life span of a coach yelling and shouting at his players is very short. Don't ask how I know

John Tortorella

But all is good if you get a secure contract.

John Tortorella