Leo/Argos Keys to the Game

[Blitz]

Our Leos, coming off a too tight, exciting win at home over the Hamilton Tiger Cats take on a Toronto Argos team this Sunday, that defeated a tough Bombers team on Tuesday evening.

Our Leos will be well rested, the Argos not as much so, and both teams are dealing with injuries at key positions. Our Leos will be without Hardrick at left guard, Josh Johnson at nickel, Dante Marsh at corner, and likely will rest Andrew Harris at tailback.

But we have outstanding depth to fill in. Not many teams could lose an import left guard and replace them with a Canadian starter in Kirby Fabian, or an Andrew Harris and have a Stefan Logan ready to assume a larger role, or have a Stefan Yell, the heir apparent, being able to shift over and step in at short side corner....nor would they have the talents of Jamal Johnson/Torri Williams to step in at outside linebacker/nickel.

The big question mark will be whether our Leos decide to start Kevin Glenn, coming off a 400 yard passing performance and Offensive Player of the Week honors or Travis Lulay, a more than three year starting quarterback and former CFL MOP honoree. CFL teams would love to have this challenging decision going into a game at the quarterback position. The likelihood is that Glenn will start, especially if Harris does not play, and Lulay will get reps, as our Leos bring him back slowly and ensure that when he enters a game he will have the best likelihood of success. However, we likely won't know the answer until Thursday and the reality is that who starts at quarterback is not the most critical aspect of winning this game.

The 3-4 Argos will take on our Leos with some renewed confidence after a 297 yard passing performance by Ricky Ray and more importantly the knowledge that they can achieve a balanced offensive attack. Toronto rushed for 174 yards against Winnipeg, as Steele and Slaton were able to run the football effectively against a Winnipeg team playing its second game in five days.

This game pits the CFL's league leading offence, even missing their top receiver in Owens against our Leos defense that is best against the pass and 2nd best in the CFL in average yards against.

Offensively our Leos go into this game as the CFL's best rushing offence and second best offence in terms of average yards per game against a Toronto defense that has struggled so far this season. Toronto is sixth in the CFL against the pass and 7th against the rush.

Here are my keys to the game

OFFENCE

1. RUN THE FOOTBALL

Toronto is not a good team at defending the rush but they are good at timely blitzes to get pressure and sackss on the quarterback. We need to do what we do best, even if Harris does not play. Logan can run inside or outside. I wished that we would have added Antwi to the starting lineup but we will go with Brown due to his experience at blitz pickup. Brown also has the ability to run inside or outside. When we run the football often and effectively we win - its that simple.


2. NO INTERCEPTIONS

There has been a lot of discussion regarding the number of interceptions that Glenn has thrown this season but Lulay also threw 11 interceptions in an injury shortened season last year. A big reason for those interceptions from both quarterbacks has been due to too much pressure from bad blitz pickup and the fact that we are too concentrated on a slot back and tailback pass oriented offence. Arsenault, Taylor, and Harris (Logan) are our major weapons in the passing attack and we should continue to use them effectively but defenses have cheated for too long on our inside passing attack and they are now using a defensive back to cover our tailback rather than a linebacker on most occasions. Last game, we got better pass blocking and we were able to integrate Gore into the offence and the results were obvious.

We need to use our outside recievers more often to keep defenses honest and we need to continue to improve our pass protection, especially in the area of blitz pickup. Once again it needs to be mentioned that we need to integrate more anti-blitz strategies into our offence as part of this goal and cut down on the six receiver/empty backfield set..and if we do use it, we need to use wide bunch sets, rather than spread sets or have the tailback in motion so we can throw quickly and effectively when we need to (which is often in this formation because defenses blitz it)

We also need to avoid long yardage situations with time count violations. Going into the Hamilton game we led the CFL in this penalty category. For those who moaned about Chap's hand signals, we actually had the least time count violations in the CFL under Chap. This season we did not get plays in quickly enough too often but got if fixed against Hamilton. Second and long situations are a recipe for increased offensive turnovers.


DEFENSE

STOP THE RUN

Our Lions defense is last in the CFL in stopping the rush (668 yds against) and we have also given up the most first downs rushing as well. Quite frankly there is no excuse for it. With Mitchell, Taylor, and Westerman inside and with a linebacking crew of Eliminian, Bighill plus the addition of Jamal Johnson, who was recruited as a free agent to bolster our run defence, we should be much better.

Toronto's offence becomes much more effective if the can rush the football. Ray tends to be a high percentage, underneath passer who is even more effective in passing situations when he is in decent second down situations.

PASS RUSH

Blitzing Ricky Ray a lot is not a recipe for success. He is tall, slides well, and can get a football off with defenders draping all over him. He can find his receivers quickly and he looks off very well. Our defensive backs need to play tight coverage - Ray more than knows how to pick apart a predictable soft zone coverage. This is a game in which our front four (in the six man rotation) is effective. We need to get penetration on the pass rush from our tackles and get good pressure from our defensive ends and if we do blitz we need to be much better than we have so far this season and get pressure on the quarterback quickly. Ricky Ray can burn a defense with deep corner patterns if a blitz is picked up well, leaving the back end is vulnerable.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Its the same old message. McMann, no matter how dangerous our punt returner is, has not been getting the job done. We need to able to scheme up better blocking and reduce the special team penalties. We need more discipline and better blocking for our return game.

WRAP

Both our Leos and the Argos have offences that can move the football. The advantage going into this game is that our pass defense is better than the Argos as is our overall defense. Our Leos should be favored but this should be a close game in which defense will be the key to victory.

[WestCoastJoe]

Thanks for the in deprh, first rate preview, Blitz.

The Argos might be settling in a bit. They lost Jones and O'Shea to HC opportunities. Speaks well of Milanvich and the organization, it seems to me,

Ricky Ray has lit up the Lions a number of times. It will be a surprise if we keep him in check. They have run the ball well.

How much will we miss the inspirational play of Harris? Risky to play him, on a damaged ankle.

Will the Argos go conservative against Glenn and our pass protection? That would be a mistake, IMO. The TiCats did not get after us as much as the Als and Eskimos. D formula vs the Lions -- Blitz. Stunt. Overload.

Looking forward ...

[B.C.FAN]

Ricky Ray scares me. He's coming off his best game of the year, with a 78% completion percentage, 297 yards passing and 4 TDs against 0 interceptions for a QB rating of 145.6. On the season, he has completed nearly 70% of his passes, with 12 TDs and 4 INTs. Stopping Ricky Ray is the key to victory for the Lions.

How to stop Ricky Ray is the big question for me. I don't have the answer. As I posted in another thread, the Lions will likely have new players at four positions in the secondary on Sunday: Ronnie Yell replacing Dante Marsh at boundary corner, T.J. Lee (or Keynan Parker) replacing Yell at field corner, Torri Williams replacing Josh Johnson at nickelback and John Hardy-Tuliau replacing Williams at dime back. Ray will be licking his chops. He could hit an 80% completion rate against that secondary.

The Lions are not a good blitzing team and Josh Johnson, their most effective blitzer, is out of the lineup. Ray does an outstanding job of sliding in the pocket and hitting his checkdown receivers. He can look to be all wrapped up but will still get the ball off to a receiver in space. And the Argos use hitch screens and other quick releases to attack the edges of secondaries, which has been a weakness of the Lions and will be tested even more on Sunday with new starters on both corners.

If the Lions don't get pressure on Ray, he will pick apart the Lions' young secondary. I agree with Blitz that the Lions need good pressure from the front four. Alex Bazzie has been geting better off the edge each game. Perhaps Khalif Mitchell and Eric Taylor will be motivated to exact some revenge on their old team. Jabar Westerman, if given reps on defence, may want to audition for a possible trade to the Argos since Wally seems intent on shipping him back East. How much pressure the Lions can generate from their front four will be a key to the game.

[sj-roc]

Not gonna counter anything else from your OP Blitz, but... you keep calling him Stefan Yell.

It's *Ronnie* Yell.

Perhaps you're conflating names with former NHLer Stephane Yelle? Having a Stefan (Logan) on our roster would probably also reinforce that.

[TheLionKing]

Key to beating the Argos is taking Ricky Ray out of the equation. Pressure him, don't give him time to pick our revamped secondary apart.

[Blitz]

Not gonna counter anything else from your OP Blitz, but... you keep calling him Stefan Yell.

It's *Ronnie* Yell.

Perhaps you're conflating names with former NHLer Stephane Yelle? Having a Stefan (Logan) on our roster would probably also reinforce that.

Thanks for pointing it out sj-roc. I have a mental block at times with certain names....its like a circuit sometimes doesn't fire right. My apologies to you and all and especially to 'Ronnie'. which is a great name for a corner.

As b.c. fan and others have mentioned, I don't think there is an easy answer in defending Ricky Ray but getting him to check down and coming up quickly to make good tackles is one strategy. Obviously a defense needs to mix it up and needs to pressure him but you don't want to blitz him ineffectively and give him time to make throws and too much space on the field to find receivers.

[pennw]

1. RUN THE FOOTBALL

Toronto is not a good team at defending the rush but they are good at timely blitzes to get pressure and sackss on the quarterback. We need to do what we do best, even if Harris does not play. Logan can run inside or outside. I wished that we would have added Antwi to the starting lineup but we will go with Brown due to his experience at blitz pickup. Brown also has the ability to run inside or outside. When we run the football often and effectively we win - its that simple.

Good preview Blitz , but were you perhaps thinking of Keola Antolin rather than Antwi ? I believe Antwi is already on the game day roster but mostly as a special teamer and certainly would not be a fill in for Harris as he is listed as a LB. Antolin on the other hand is some one I would like to see get game action .

[Blitz]

1. RUN THE FOOTBALL

Toronto is not a good team at defending the rush but they are good at timely blitzes to get pressure and sackss on the quarterback. We need to do what we do best, even if Harris does not play. Logan can run inside or outside. I wished that we would have added Antwi to the starting lineup but we will go with Brown due to his experience at blitz pickup. Brown also has the ability to run inside or outside. When we run the football often and effectively we win - its that simple.

Good preview Blitz , but were you perhaps thinking of Keola Antolin rather than Antwi ? I believe Antwi is already on the game day roster but mostly as a special teamer and certainly would not be a fill in for Harris as he is listed as a LB. Antolin on the other hand is some one I would like to see get game action .

It was Antolin that I was wanting to refer to and didn't...and yes, like you, I would have gone with Antolin as my choice for this game to rotate with Logan at tailback and return kicks.

Because we are going with Brown....and we also inserted Brown into the lineup the last time we had the opportunity to dress an import due to injury, when we went with Steward at tackle and Fabian at guard previously this season...then it appears that if Logan were ever to be nicked, then Brown is always going to be our next choice and Antolin is only a deep reserve practice roster player.

I would have dressed Antolin because this would have been a great opportunity to see what he could do in regular season action. We've seen Brown before in the tailback rotation - reliaable, solid but not spectacular. Antolin had an impressive debut in an exhibition game but we haven't seen him since and unless Logan and Brown are both hurt we probably never will, at least this season.

[Sir Purrcival]

Based on last nights game, the front 4 are going to have to have their best game of the season. They are going to have to get their own pressure without much help. If you starting blitzing the LB's, that is going to create huge holes for either Ray to step up into and keep it or to hand off or dump off to either Steele or Slaton. Those guys had monster games last night despite Slaton's two fumbles. Mann also appears to give Ray a bit of an experienced target among receivers.

SolE, Biggie and Johnson are going to have stay back a little and cover the rush lanes and the crossing patterns. If they don't, then Ray will eat them alive. Toronto handled a pretty good team last night and didn't look like a 2-4 team while doing it. True the Bombers looked like they were a bit out of gas and they had some big plays undone by penalty that may have changed the game but it was clearly the best Tor. game of the season so far. We may have to hope that they are a bit gassed after a short week as well.

Toronto put Willy on his keester a lot last night. We will need quick plays 2 counts like we did in the 4th against Hamilton. They will blitz a lot so some roll outs, screens and sneaks may be in order. Let's see if they have it figured out.

[notahomer]

I was amazed at how well the Argos looked considering their 'starters' in all the reciever positions are injured

Ray is almost definately starting to develop chemistry with some of the replacements (some from his past like Mann). Injuries in waves like this obviously hurt the team but they also have given opportunities to players who probably would not have the chances they have been given.

Fumbles played a big part in keeping the Bombers in this game, IMO.

The last three minutes of the first half of BOMBERS/ARGOS last night, was a purrfect example of the kind of football I wonder if the Lions can play this weekend. If the Lions play like the Ray-led Argos DID, the Orangemen will spread the ball around and use an effecient offense to score a last play TD to head into halftime (TD caught by the 8th different reciever Ray had thrown to, IIRC). If the Lions play like the Bombers did they'll shoot themselves in the foot in a variety of penalties (including a time-count loss of down penalty) and a shanked punt.

The broadcast crew kept coming back to the short turnaround for the Bombers and maybe that had something to do with it? However, IMO, there have been quite a few games in the last few seasons where the Lions have had similar results to those last three minutes (playing like the Argos did sometimes, seemingly more often like the Bombers did-hopefully my warped memory). So, if its a TIRED TORONTO TEAM we get Sunday, lets hope the Argos make the same kinds of mistakes the Bombers did. Regardless, I do not see us winning if we follow the Bomber lead instead.

(I picked the Lions to win in the pool so )

[TheLionKing]

Lions better not think that it's a gimme because the Argos have a short turnaround.

[MexicoLionFan]

Great comments Blitz and everyone else...lots of excellent points made...as for the game, the Lions will be in tough with the key injuries they have, and being on the road in the east where they have been poor for quite a while now...like Blitz said, on O when we run the football well, we win...on D, if we don't put pressure on Ray, we will be in trouble...if Washington plays passive against Ray, he will pick us apart...as for S Ts, we have lots of talent, we just have to get the proper coaching in place to use it effectively...

Big question also, when does Lulay play...with Kevin Glenn's appalling lack of care for the football, it should be sooner than later, but we will see...again, great job everyone!

[David]

I would have dressed Antolin because this would have been a great opportunity to see what he could do in regular season action. We've seen Brown before in the tailback rotation - reliaable, solid but not spectacular. Antolin had an impressive debut in an exhibition game but we haven't seen him since and unless Logan and Brown are both hurt we probably never will, at least this season.

My gut tells me Antolin would be the right choice for this game and I am disappointed we won't be activating him. Don't get me wrong, I like Timmy Brown. He will get us 4, maybe 5 yards a carry - perhaps even bust a punt return for 20 yards. But Keola Antolin may be the secret weapon to tilt the field in our favour.....something we're going to need if we're going to pull this game out. However, playing Brown is consistent with Benny/Wally's woefully conservative "if it's broke, don't fix it" and "PR players have to pay their dues first" mentality.


DH

[B.C.FAN]

The first duty of a running back is to pick up the blitz. CFL teams pass more than they run. Brown has much more experience than Antolin as a blocker (and as rusher, receiver and kick returner) and has earned the coaches' confidence. Harris is probably the Lions' best back at picking up the blitz. According to LU, we'll see more of Rolly Lumbala in this game as a blocker.

(Harris) was nowhere to be seen Wednesday, which more than likely means that Tim Brown will be given a plane ticket and Rolly Lumbala is about to get a fair bit more blocking work against the blitz-happy Argos defence.

The Lions want to keep Travis Lulay upright as much as possible in his first game of the year. Bene hasn't named a starting QB yet but he says Lulay will play. I expect him to play at least half the game, and perhaps the whole game since Kevin Glenn is still hobbled by the thigh bruise he picked up on Friday.

Fifth Quarter blog

[cromartie]

I'll be at this one in person, so I'm hoping for the best.

I don't like the matchup of Ricky Ray against a young secondary, however. This one might not pan out well.

It's a shame that Harris is injured, however, because we could have used the run against Toronto to try and bleed this one out through winning the TOP battle.