Lions 33 - Argos 17 -- Post Game Stats and Comments

[TheLionKing]

Should the Lions announce Travis as the starter for next Sunday's game and give him all the 1st team reps in practice, as Angus Reid suggested in Team1040's postgame show? A factor is the Lions can't afford to lose many more games in the ultra-competitive West Division...a 10-win team could miss the playoffs this year. Kevin Glenn has played very well this year, not purrfect, but played with that gritty determination...which might give the Lions their best chance to win on Sunday.

Go with the guy who got you here. Lulay is rusty, no training camp or exhibition games. Ease Lulay into the lineup. Don't mess with the chemistry unless you have to.

[Sir Purrcival]

In regards to the timing of inserting Lulay into the game.....IMHO, the thinking on Benny's part.....put Lulay in when the offence had some momentum to give him the best chance of being successful, build confidence and shake off rust......as was the situation both times in the first half. Putting him in when the opposition is fired up and has all the momentum would have been very difficult for Lulay to excel and the risk of him taking some big hits would have been high. Unfortunately, Lulay seemed lost and the Lions were fortunate that the Argos didn't do a better job with the momentum when they had it.

That may have been the thinking but it was pretty idiotic to put in a player who has been off for almost a year into a game when you have a very real chance of putting the opposition in a virtual choke hold. You can't take any chances where teams can rattle off lots of points in the last 3 - 4 minutes of a game let alone when up by only 10 and still in the first quarter. I would expect the head coach of a professional football team to know better than to put a game that is still in it's infancy in the hands of someone who hasn't taken any game snaps in months especially when his starter has you up 10-0 in the first quarter. It totally stalled the Offense. How is that going to affect Glenn next game? Is he going to be thinking he is going to be yanked at any given moment even if he is performing well? The time to work Lulay back in is when the game in either in hand or completely out of reach. Nothing to lose at those points and no need to put additional pressure on Lulay to perform. It will take time to work back into the swing of things and as long as the W's keep ticking up, then there is no need to mess with the heads of either of the QB's.

[TheLionKing]

The Argo defense seemed to rise to the occasion when Lulay was inserted into the game. I think they took it as a personal challenge that we would be giving him "reps" when only up 10-0. That's the way I read it. The pocket collapsed pretty quickly when the Ginga Ninja was inserted - they looked pretty fired up.

DH

You can't replicate live action no matter what you do in practice. It's whole lot faster. Don't have time to think.

[MexicoLionFan]

BTW, love those Gun Metal jerseys...I put mine on once I saw the boys wearing them.

2nd, Quick Parker was small for a DE too, the key is not size, its not really even speed with such a confined area, its QUICKNESS and EXPLOSION. Bazzie is showing both and he will only get better as football is all about confidence, and he's got a ton now...but please remember, he and Smith are playing so well, as are Sol and Biggie, BECAUSE OF MITCHELL and TAYLOR. Someone asked me during the offseason what was the single biggest key for the Lions this year and I said the return of Mitchell. Last year Sol and Biggie LIVED with 300 lb. linemen draped all over them...this year they play "clean"...Bazzie and Smith are getting single blocking, allowing them to excel. I have always said that teams that are solid up the middle win...the Lions are very solid up the middle, and when you consider our corner play, we are looking VERY TOUGH. If Washington starts to get a little more creative and bold on D, we could have a juggernaut unit.

3rd, Lulay is better not to play until such time Jones figures out this offence...we did NOTHING for over 2 quarters of football, with lots of ineffective 6 WR sets, that can get a QB killed. No Lulay until Jones can figure some things out...like PLAYACTION. The guy made a living as a QB using play action...we have the best running game in the league and I've seen it used twice now this season! What gives?

[David]

Keron who?

Just think, Bazzie could still be on the PR if Keron Williams and Wally had made nice and found common ground on his contract.

I could see a day in the not-too-distant future when teams will have to double team or put a tackle and RB on him just to account for his speed and power off the edge.

I really think the lightbulb when on for Alex Bazzie after the 26-13 win in Regina.



DH

[mws]

.500 overall all time? Must have been pretty bad before the Wally Bouno era....hes added a ton of wins to that total in the last 10yrs or so

They were. Lowest period was from about '66-'76. Not a single season above :500. Kudos to loyal fans like TheLionKing, BCFAN, WestCoastJoe and Pigskin_53 (and others) who have stuck with the team through thick and thin (a lot of thin! LOL).


DH

No kidding. I was hitch hiking around Europe the summer & fall of '77. Hitching my way back across Canada, I met these guys in the Sioux who told me, "Your team is in first." I thought for sure they were taking the Mick out of me. Those years were tough on Lions fans.

[Rammer]

.500 overall all time? Must have been pretty bad before the Wally Bouno era....hes added a ton of wins to that total in the last 10yrs or so

They were. Lowest period was from about '66-'76. Not a single season above :500. Kudos to loyal fans like TheLionKing, BCFAN, WestCoastJoe and Pigskin_53 (and others) who have stuck with the team through thick and thin (a lot of thin! LOL).


DH

No kidding. I was hitch hiking around Europe the summer & fall of '77. Hitching my way back across Canada, I met these guys in the Sioux who told me, "Your team is in first." I thought for sure they were taking the Mick out of me. Those years were tough on Lions fans.

Yes, but we had Jim Young back in those days, at least we could watch how he would mess up the DB's.

[TheLionKing]

I cringe whenever the Lions go with a 6 receiver empty backfield set. Brings flashback to Chapdelaine offence in which the quarterback gets sacked or pounded.

[leo4life]

Jones has to use the double tight power formation more and spread the ball around to Gore,Ianuzzi or Jackson to keep D's from targeting Harris,Logan,Taylor and Arceneaux...shocked hes only called play action twice this whole season....not a fan of the empty 6 receiver set...dont know why hes stuck on it so much

[Larry Key]

What I find interesting is how Bazzie and Elimimian are basically the same size, yet one is a linebacker and the other is a defensive end. I'll be honest in admitting I thought Bazzie was too small to play the D Line, and he's proven me wrong. Definitely CFL size though. If Elimimian was too small for the NFL as an OLB then there's no way Bazzie is big enough for the D Line down south. Though it would be great for him if he could make it big like Wake, selfishly I'm happy that we've found a dominant pass rusher who we can at least question if he's in the same league as Wake.

Watching that game last night, Bazzie brought memories of James Quick Parker when he terrorized the league back in the 80's. I don't see Bazzie going anywhere, he is tailor made for the CFL and he'd be too small to play end or linebacker down south. I believe he was a safety or strong safety at Marshall.

[Blitz]

Interesting comment regarding Jones scheme in a Lowell Ullrich article that quotes former Leo Angus Reid.

The latest attack on the scheme of offensive co-ordinator Khari Jones that Glenn is asked to direct came from former centre Angus Reid, who wrote in The Sunday Province that the Lions needed better definition in the absence of injured tailback Andrew Harris.

Our offensive scheme is starting to get more and more attention - and not only on Lionbackers. Lack of play action that should be a weapon from a powerful running attack, the six receiver set, the lack of a diversified passing attack, and the overuse of the spread offence are some of the themes. Hard to believe that Chap moved away from the spread and Jones has brought in back in full force with the majority of plays coming out of the spread and the re-introduction of the six receiver/empty backfield set.

We're winning but this is not the imaginative offence that was anticipated, especially with the ability to use both Harris and Logan in the backfield at the same time at times.

[cromartie]

Well, that was a great way to kick off a vacation week here in Toronto. Some notes:

My comfort level for inserting Travis is a three score lead, so I wasn't particularly thrilled to see him in there at 10-0. Perhaps I would have felt better if he had been productive at all, but his two series couldn't possibly have been worse, and he clearly doesn't look close to ready for prime time.

The offensive line was stellar, overall. Part of me looks at the passing statistics and cringes, but then I regroup and realize that this team did so well running the ball that there wasn't any great need to throw.

I harp on this often, but one of the keys to any return game is how well the guys you have defending the gunners do, and TJ Lee is not very good at this. When looking at returns, those are the guys you should focus on and Lee does particularly poor at jamming gunners at or near the line of scrimmage. He has good closing speed, but he doesn't excel at that (as Ianuzzi didn't last year), that's really something that Haidera needs to be doing.

I don't know how you don't call PI on a pass where the receiver pops up with both shoulder pads on top of his jersey, but leave it to the CFL Command Centre to screw that up.

Most importantly, I actually feel sorry for Ricky Ray. He's looking like he's trying to play with receivers signed off the street. There isn't one guy in that receiving corps with who he has any sort of chemistry at all. Add in the fact that our front seven won the line of scrimmage battle for most of the game and he's a sitting duck. And this is the best team in the east right now. Oy ve.

I saw an actual honest to goodness wide side pitch sweep (I think while Travis was in at QB). I can't remember the last time I saw one of those.

I can't say the passing game thrills me that much. It doesn't look like anything is really working with any consistency, aside from drag routes. But is the passing game working consistently for any team this season? Does anyone have any statistics for how many teams have drives of say, seven plays or more that result in major scores?