Lions 7 - RedBlacks 5 -- Post Game Stats and Comments

[Rammer]

Opposing team lines up for a FG, then spreads out for an obvious not-FG.

TIMEOUT?! Benny? Brown? Bueller?

QB and O-line fake a sneak from 4.5 yards and the Lions bite.

Where is the preparation, Mark Washington & Chuck McMann? 2 weeks!

I wonder what the numbers are for attempted trick plays against the Lions that are successful, vs the Lions attempts/success. We are way down in that stat department.

[leo4life]

Agree and the ultra conservative staff has no clue to be ready or even attempt one of their own...it will keep happening till they prove they are prepared and can actually stop it

[SammyGreene]

A gut wrenching conclusion to another dreadful CFL game this season.

My heart goes out to Travis and his pending recovery. Maybe we see him later this season as a backup after another lengthy rehab process. Not sure what his future holds but I’m pretty sure his days as a marquee $500,000 year QB are over.

Some outstanding comments on here as usual from Cro, WC Joe, David and others. I echo everything.

Believing more and more the 2012 season was just a carry over of Wally and the championship run from the previous year. Nothing more although he did have two experienced coordinators that are now sorely missed. The more control Benevides is given the more he shows he is in over his head.

Poor game planning, irrational in-game decision making and unbelievably conservative at times. He coaches not to lose rather than to win. The end result is a pedestrian brand of football that is turning a lot of people off.

How can Wally sit back and watch him bring down this franchise? So far this season, the carnage includes three home games where the Lions have been held without a TD in the 2nd half (all losses of course) and now this dreadful offensive performance.

Good luck to the Lions ticket/marketing departments maintaining their 15,000 season ticket base next season never mind getting more people onboard with this product.

[cromartie]

How many times does your QB have to get sacked/nearly get sacked/get injured before you figure out that going to the six wide set on 2nd and 10 is a bad idea?

How many times does Burris have to hit a receiver in the spot Bighill just vacated on a 2nd down blitz (which you shouldn't be doing, you blitz on first down, not 2nd) before you figure out it's a bad idea?

Credit where credit is due. Our linebackers and secondary are extremely talented and are carrying this team. Elimimian is ODP. The Special Teams breakdowns (more about the players than scheme), offensive line problems and average defensive line play, along with the lack of discipline and, most maddeningly, failure to adjust in game by either coordinator, are what are killing this team. And it's f-ing Groundhog Day.

Why has it been a decade since we've had an offensive coordinator who figured out that if five guys can't block a pass rush on 2nd and long, bring in a FB/TE to help out.

This was not a banner game for Olafioye. Two penalties and two sacks allowed, and that's just stuff visible from the naked eye. How hard was it to get him some help?

[Rammer]

A gut wrenching conclusion to another dreadful CFL game this season.

My heart goes out to Travis and his pending recovery. Maybe we see him later this season as a backup after another lengthy rehab process. Not sure what his future holds but I’m pretty sure his days as a marquee $500,000 year QB are over.

Some outstanding comments on here as usual from Cro, WC Joe, David and others. I echo everything.

Believing more and more the 2012 season was just a carry over of Wally and the championship run from the previous year. Nothing more although he did have two experienced coordinators that are now sorely missed. The more control Benevides is given the more he shows he is in over his head.

Poor game planning, irrational in-game decision making and unbelievably conservative at times. He coaches not to lose rather than to win. The end result is a pedestrian brand of football that is turning a lot of people off.

How can Wally sit back and watch him bring down this franchise? So far this season, the carnage includes three home games where the Lions have been held without a TD in the 2nd half (all losses of course) and now this dreadful offensive performance.

Good luck to the Lions ticket/marketing product maintaing their 15,000 season ticket base next season never mind getting more people onboard with this product.

There are only so many games that you can offer "garauntee win night".

As for conservative in game decisions, why would we ever have expected more from underneath the tutelage of Wally? I have mentioned how 'in game decisions' in the past were 'Wally like', now it seems to me that they are becoming more Wally like and Wally offered up.

[Blitz]

A gut wrenching conclusion to another dreadful CFL game this season.

My heart goes out to Travis and his pending recovery. Maybe we see him later this season as a backup after another lengthy rehab process. Not sure what his future holds but I’m pretty sure his days as a marquee $500,000 year QB are over.

Some outstanding comments on here as usual from Cro, WC Joe, David and others. I echo everything.

Believing more and more the 2012 season was just a carry over of Wally and the championship run from the previous year. Nothing more although he did have two experienced coordinators that are now sorely missed. The more control Benevides is given the more he shows he is in over his head.

Poor game planning, irrational in-game decision making and unbelievably conservative at times. He coaches not to lose rather than to win. The end result is a pedestrian brand of football that is turning a lot of people off.

How can Wally sit back and watch him bring down this franchise? So far this season, the carnage includes three home games where the Lions have been held without a TD in the 2nd half (all losses of course) and now this dreadful offensive performance.

Good luck to the Lions ticket/marketing product maintaing their 15,000 season ticket base next season never mind getting more people onboard with this product.

Excellent post Sammy - an insightful summary of the last 3 seasons under Benevedes as well as our game against Ottawa.

We basically snuck out of Ottawa, having stolen a victory we didn't deserve. Had we lost the game, as well as Travis Lulay, the script would have been even more tragic.

From now on....in my post game thoughts, I am going to rate our offence, defense, and special team play based on a sytem called Benny Belly Bumps. A one bump is poor, two bump is below average, three bums is average, four bumps are good and 5 bumps are excellent.

Here are some post game thoughts:

There were a few plays in this game, in reflection that said everything about this B.C. Lions team.

The first play was the handoff to Andrew Harris, after Eliminian had caused an Ottawa fumble on our own one yard line, preventing a liklely Ottawa touchdown, and LaRose had been the last player to toucht the football. Lualy haned the football off to Andrew Harris and he was blown up in our own end zone, when the objective of the play was just to get us a two or three yards to get our offence out of the shadows of our goal posts.

The second play was the botched field goal attempt by Ottawa, late in the fourth quarter as Burris had successfully moved the Ottawa offence down to our 25 yard line. Ottawa lined up to kick what would have been a game winning field goal attempt and the snap, in the driving rain was bobbled and Ottawa came away with nothing. The football gods conspired against Ottawa. The game was stopped due to the weather after the bothced attempt. PLay likley should have been delayed earlier but even if that statement didn't deserve to be true, our Leos were very, very fortunate.

The third play may turn our to be the end of Travis Lulay's career as a starting quarterback in the CFL. Our offence had been horrible but Lulay, almost always at his best in the final minutes of a football game, mounted a late drive, with his best two passes of the game, hitting Arsenault on a layered post against Ottawa's surprising 0 coverage on the play and then hitting Courtenay Taylor, looked like he was sewing up the game. But Lulay dropped back to throw on the next play and the ball slid out of his hand and fell to the turf. Lulay tried to recover his own fumble and his shoulder was hurt again. The play also put us out of field goal range and gave Ottawa a last half minute opportunity to attempt a drive for a winning field goal.

After off-season surgery and a cautious reintegration into our staring lineup, it had been considreed 'Lulay time' again at the staring quarterback position. The Ottawa game was considered the purrfect game for Lulay's return as our starter, after weeks of practicing and some limited game action in our last two games. Lulay had wanted the start and considered himself more than ready to reasume his role on our Leos. The big questions now are can Lulay ever heal enough to become a starting quarterback again and can a team bulid arond a player who now likley can't be counted on physically to be in a starting role. It changes our Leos picture tremendously if Lulay cannot be 'the guy' for the future.

But the play that said everything to me was Benevedes not iniitally going for a third and half yard gamble attempt last in the game. He sent out the punt team but with Lulay and many other Leo players deploring Benevedes to go for the third down short yardage attempt, Benevedes called a time out, put the offence back in and we mounted our final drive. The entire scenario said everything. Benevedes showed no confidence in Dorazio, our offensive line, or a running back or quarterback to pick up a half yard. It showed Benevedes was hoping for our defense to be able to hang on one more series to steal a victory against a new franchise that had only won one game this season. That is not a championship calibre mindset. But there was something even more important that happened on that play call and it was the look on Benevedes face. Gone was the arrogance, the smugness, the sense of all knowing self-importance, and the snarly role playing facial expressions that we are used to seeing. Instead it was a look of desperation and almost shcck. The play said so many things.

OFFENCE (Rating - * (One Benny Belly Bump)

Prior to this game I wrote that who was playing quarterback for our Leos was much less imporant than being able to run the football. For the second game in a row we did it terribly. I don't buy the excuse that it was due to two new players in the lineup because we ran the football terribly last game, when we had Steward and Valli playing and our starting offensive line was intact. Last season we had a number of games, mid-season, having great difficulty running the football and continued to strugle until Logan was brought in and we changed our run blocking scheme. Chap took all the blame for that last year but its obvious that the problem runs much deeper.

Harris and Logan, two outstanding backs, combined for 12 carries for 28 yards, just over a two yard per carry average. The inability to run the football made it more difficult for Lulay, as it did for Glenn last week.

Khari Jones, the offensive coordinator who was supposed to add unpredictability and dynamism to our talented offensive personell, gave our offence another predictable, unimaginative game plan. Jones had two weeks to prepare for Ottawa, he had lots of time to prepare for a more mobile quarterback in Lulay, whose best strengths are his ability to bootleg and semi-boot, was kept in the pocket to pass. Lulay's runs were successful, based on his escapbility and athleticism, rather than due to play design. Lulay went 18/27 for a meagre 167 yards, the secondt time in as many games that our passing offence was held to under 200 yards, even though once again we had less than 20 rushing attempts by our backs.

Lulay only passed for 75 yards in the second half of the game, with most of that yardage coming on the final dirve of the game. Lulay missed a number of passes in the game but he was also pressured and sacked and would have been sacked more had he not made some athletic plays. This lack of protection was not mainly due to two new players staring on the offensive line nor has the lack of protection this season been due to the rotating left tackle position. This lack of protection has been there throughour the Dorazio era with our Lions. As posted previously, the lack of quarterback protection has been with our Leos when we gave up the most sacks in the CFL, in 2005 and even in our Grey Cup winning season of 2006. We have given up the most sacks of any CFL team over the last decade, with some outstanding offensive line talent. If we were the worst team in the CFL at protecting the quarterback, when we had Murphy, Bates, Jiminez, and Reid in their prime, the problem is not going to get any better without a coaching change. Kudos to Dave Dickenson, Casey Printers, Buck Pierce, Jarious Jackson, Kevin Glenn, and of course Travis Lulay, who have all done wonders to play as well as they have. Kudo's to Chap, as well, who eventually learned that he had to compensate for it and make scheme changes that should not have been a necessity. Khari Jones has yet to learn that.Still, its a very difficult thing to overcome.

Kito Poblah and Iannuzzi lined up as our staring wide receivers in the game. Niether are good enough for that role and Iannuzzi is at best a fifth receiver. Its time to give players like Haidara and Adekulo and opportunity. Why Poblah was given the opportunity again over Haidara or Adekelo is beyond me. His training camp, exhibition season, and his previous outings show that was undeserved and Haidara and Adekelo were more deserving of an opportunity.

Vancouer Sun columnist called us an 'unispired mess on offence, even with the return of Lualy as our starter, and he was right. Lowell Ullrich wrote "the return behind centre of Lions quarterback Travis Lulay was a painful exercise that resulted in almost a complete absence of offence".

The reality is that Kevin Glenn and Travis Lulay have contended with two major obstacles - poor protection and a poor scheme. An absent running game only adds misery to that equation when it happens. What Travis Lulay did was give us hope that both

DEFENSE **** (Four Benny Belly Bumps)

Our defense played a heck of a game. If they were not playing Ottawa or not given up so many yards with Ottawa driving in the rain to set up what should have been a game winning field goal, I would have rated our defense with 5 Benny Belly Bumps. I wrote the key for our defense going into this game was to shut down the run, an area, that has plagued our defense all season. We held Ottawa to 2 yards rushing in the first half. That should have been enough to give us a big lead.

Our defense allowed Ottawa to drive for what looked to be a game leading touchdown but Eliminian made a big play to jar the football loose. Our defense gave our offence a turnover with a Marsh intercpetion and return and a penalty by Parks wiped out a second Marsh interception.

The defence also had to made adjustments as Ronnie Yell got hurt after making an impresive, aggressive tackle on Ottawa’s Michael Hayes. We went with Torri Williams and Keynan Parker and both played well, especially Williams.

SPECIAL TEAMS *** (Three Benny Belly Bumps)

Ottawa went into this game with a priority of shutting down Tim Brown. Ottawa did a good job overall but Brown did break free for a big 43 yard return that was wiped out by a penalty.

McCalllum proved that he is like a fine wine, getting better and bette with age. In fact he almsot defies age. McCallum kicked a 49 yard field goal, even having to put his plant leg down on a moist field.

COACHING ** (Two Benny Belly Bumps)

We had two weeks to prepare for a game plan with Lulay as our starter. We did nothing special with it, even with our knowledge of Lulay's mobility and strengths, We had two weeks to adjust our running attack, after a miserable outing against the Riders, and didn't, outside of the concept of giving Logan more carries. The timing of our running plays is off and that is really evident on fly reverses and counter plays with Harris and Logan and our hitch screens are also poorly executed. The pass game is a layered, unimaginative script from a pocket passing approach. We ran a few more power formations but mainly used the five receiver spread with the occasional six receiver formation. We did do something smarter and keep Harris in while flanking Logan in the five receiver formation but once again we used Logan stationary, rather than in motion, which mimimizes its impact.

This is an offence that is so unimaginative. Chap's offence was much more dynamic, with more motion, more power formatins, more misdirection, and better schemed. What we probalby should have done is bring in an assistant offensive coordinator/quarterback coach to warm and fuzzy and communicate with the players like the role Edmonton gave Jarious Jackson. Right now its back to the drawing board for Jones, who has to learn that Dorazio is not going to give him the protection he wants for his offence, no matter who is playing offensive line, and change his scheme. His mostly spread offence is only spreading our chance of success way to thin.

Defensively, we shut down the run and got good pressure on Burris but failed to wrap him up or sack him as many times as we should have. We may prefer a more aggressive defense and expected one but overall, our defense has played very well this season, outside of shutting down the run and we did that this game.

On special teams, getting Brown back in the lineup has changed things a lot and McMann has made some adjustments in our punt return game and even introduced the wide return as a change up to Brown's vertical return game.

However, this is a team that does not have the leadership it needs. Too many penalties, too many delay of game penalties, too many undisciplined penalties reflect the Head Coach. Benny wanted two coordinators that he could direct more easily than a Stubler or a Chapdelaine, who both knew more about football than he will ever know. Benny has been able to get into both Washington and Jones faces during games and get away with it. But leading is much more than former Benny Belly Bumps and ice cream treats and exaggerated comments to the press and jumping all over assistant coaches.

This Leos squad lacks the coaching leadership it needs for the talent that is has...and a lot of talent is being misused, especially on offence.

WRAP

We escaped with a win, but Lulay's injury takes away the hope that was likely too wishful, that we can overcome what ails us. Lulay should not have been given that role of hope. Its up to our coaching staff to prepare this team much better and pinning all our hopes on the leadership and mobility of Travis Lulay was more magical thinking than reality and unfair to Lulay, as it has been unfair to Glenn to put so much negativity on him. Both have been given very difficult roles, when the responsiblity for winning sits squarely on the Head Coaches shoulders, expecially with the talent we have.

Its an interesting time in Leo Land.

[Hawkballer 14]

A win is a win is a win, style points not given. Bank the two points, get a good week of work in for Winnipeg next Saturday.

Sucks to see Travis go down again, but next man up. Your turn Kevin...

[cromartie]

What we probalby should have done is bring in an assistant offensive coordinator/quarterback coach to warm and fuzzy and communicate with the players like the role Edmonton gave Jarious Jackson

That is Joe Paopao's role.

On special teams, getting Brown back in the lineup has changed things a lot and McMann has made some adjustments in our punt return game and even introduced the wide return as a change up to Brown's vertical return game.

And it isn't working, because we do a terrible job of containing on the edges on returns. This is a near constant problem, I'd argue the biggest problem, actually, with our return game, and it's one of two reasons I get frustrated that Haidera isn't getting more playing time. He excels in this role and is a tough receiver in the field, yet he largely languishes on the bench.

That said, I do think Ianuzzi has had a much better year, or would be having a better year if the offense made an effort to get him the ball. Poblah is more or less a non-factor.

[Sir Purrcival]

Without doubt there are some coaching issues.

The two calls that stand out for me last night was the almost not going for it on 3rd and less than a yard? The other was the illegal punt that was declined.

On the first (3rd and less than a yard). I mean that is an automatic go for on any other team. I couldn't believe it when it looked like they were going to punt and like someone else mentioned, fortunately saner heads prevailed. A ridiculous call even to to consider punting much less send the team on the field.

The illegal punt I guess you can see the reasoning behind it a little. Tim Brown has been smoking the last three games and from one point of view, you can see why maybe you make that call. It was a huge punt from Ottawa that I think make that play look so bad but never the less it turned out badly, again.

The run up the gut on the 1 yard line I thought was a pretty bad call given that the Oline had been struggling with pressure up the middle and you just knew they were going to be coming hard and the end result was a safety.

This game was best summed up as being gifted to us by divine intervention. The weather intervened at just the right time and in just the right way. True Ottawa missed the FG but had the Lions tried to run the O into that wind or worse even had to punt into it, it likely would have put Ottawa right smack back where they were, deep into our territory. By any reasonable standard this game was a disaster and frankly, I am now getting to the stage where I am thinking that losses may actually be better for this team long term. Bene and co just seem to be constantly a step behind most of the other coaching in preparedness and discipline. And we have yet again probably lost another QB to permanent injury. That is 3 premier QB's and counting. No team is that unlucky and as many here have mentioned, the suspect reasons are known and remain unresolved.

This has held me back from buying seasons tickets the last couple of years and there was no way I was going to buy Grey Cup tickets based on what I thought this team was likely to achieve this season. My faith has been badly eroded the last two seasons. Not so much because of the record but because of what looked like to be a slow, inexorable downward spiral, complimented by injuries and even the expansion draft. Even 2011 was a disaster that somehow became a miracle. Take that away and what have we had? A lot of missed opportunity.

[WestCoastJoe]

Excellent post, Blitz. One of your best.

You have no axe to grind. You are calling it as you see it. Many of us here share your sentiments and judgments.

Many excellent posts here. Sammy, Sir P, cro, to mention just some on this page alone.

Wally is a survivor. This might be his biggest test. I cannot see him allowing the ship to founder. His sense of survival and his patience will be at odds.

Is it possible we will kind of right the ship? Yes. But will we continue to see a lot of what has been noted here? Of course. There are two and a half years of evidence at this point.

Where is the coaching brilliance? Benny? Khari? Mark? Dan? Chuck?

Mark W is doing well in some respects. But not in blitzing. Not in pressuring the QB. Not in stopping the run over the course of the season. Not in being an attack oriented defence as we were led to believe.

[B.C.FAN]

I agree with many of the comments about the coaching staff, but I think a bit of perspective is needed. This is not all about the Lions. Edmonton went into Ottawa and won 10-8 in a very similar game with no touchdowns. Edmonton, by most accounts, is a good, well-coached team this year. Ottawa's defence doesn't get enough credit.

The Lions' lack of offensive production can be attributed mainly to the inability of the reshuffled offensive line to open holes for the running game and to a string of costly penalties. The Lions took 12 penalties to Ottawa's 5. Without a running game, the offence became too one-dimensional. Lulay did well under the circumstances but he showed some rust on some of his throws, especially in the first half.

When two linemen make their first start in the same game as injury replacements, the results are usually bad, and the lack of cohesion and communication was evident from the first half. I didn't pay close attention to formations and personnel groupings but I noticed Lumbala and Harris/Logan were both on the field and involved in protection in a lot of passing situations, especially in the second half.

[Sir Purrcival]

Excellent post, Blitz. One of your best.

You have no axe to grind. You are calling it as you see it. Many of us here share your sentiments and judgments.

Many excellent posts here. Sammy, Sir P, cro, to mention just some on this page alone.

Wally is a survivor. This might be his biggest test. I cannot see him allowing the ship to founder. His sense of survival and his patience will be at odds.

Is it possible we will kind of right the ship? Yes. But will we continue to see a lot of what has been noted here? Of course. There are two and a half years of evidence at this point.

Agreed!

[rburns13]

have not seen enough of Partridge, but isn't Beck already in his 30's?

Considering that QB's who have relatively healthy careers play into their late-30's, this shouldn't be a concern. Beck doesn't have a lot of mileage, either. I'd look for him to be brought to camp next season to compete for the starting spot.

[MexicoLionFan]

With our offence and S Ts, our Defence needs to be more aggressive...you may argue that Washington is doing a good job with our stats, but he lines up the best D talent in the league each week and is allowing opposition teams to control Time of Possession, which is going to come back and bite us in the ass come winter. With the type of D players that we have, we should be running an aggressive D, but Washington is cheating the devil by using the freakish athleticism of all 3 of our LBs to shut down the middle of the field in the pass game. I guarantee you that teams see this, and they are going to exploit it when they need to...in other words we are SO EASY to game plan against for a 1 game showdown (aka Playoffs). And in the game last night, they gave away a TD, a sure FG, and a lot more by DROPPING PASSES, if OTT receivers were able to consistently squeeze the football, our "vaunted" D might have given up 20+ points last night and we would have been BLOWN OUT!

With a weak offence (and let's face it, its not going to change) to win in the playoffs our D is going to have to score points and generate turnovers...and we are not getting turnovers to any degree with this passive style of play...if Elimimian doesn't make a HUGE single effort down at the goal line to swipe the ball away and stop forward progress, WE WOULD HAVE LOST...that's one great player, making a great play with NO MARGIN FOR ERROR left because of Washington's bend, don't break philosophy...if we had a decent to good offence, this might help us to win football games, but with an offence that goes WEEKS without generating a 1st down, we MUST have a Defence that can get the football back and disrupt momentum!

And with Brown, Schmitt and McCallum our S Ts function as that's a LOT of talent, but again, way too many penalties, and unpreparedness. I am surprised that more people didn't notice this...when OTT went to a 5 receiver set out of their punt formation, WE HAD NO CLUE WHAT TO DO...all the players panicked, and if it wasn't for Brown's strong recognition and tackle, that might have been a TD...no one else was even close to the receiver! And that is inexcusable for a punt return team...even in midget football, punt return teams are taught what to do in case of a fake via the run or pass. And OTT did a great job limiting Tim Brown's effect on the game...his only good return wasn't, as it took a penalty to spring him...and EVERY OTHER TEAM in the league has now got Tim Brown firmly in their sights, and will limit him too...and moving forward with Glenn at QB, a limited Tim Brown and more uncertainty on the OLine, we will be hard pressed to beat an average football team.

I think its time to very honest about this season, based on who we have played, and when we have played them, we have had a "soft" schedule thus far...and we are LUCKY beyond belief to be 6-4...and further if we did not receive absolute monster games from Harris and Logan, and have the surprise of surprises in that fact that a rookie, injured, CDN OL played Left OT at an all star level, and we would likely be 1-9, perhaps 2-8. We now have another gift in the fact that we have WIN and TOR at home over the next 2 weeks, if we don't win these games, this season will be over, as we will finally start to face some tougher tasks during the fall...and remember, this TEAM, Mgt and Coaching Staff, went into the regular season without a healthy LT and no backups for the position. Again, if Hunter Steward doesn't pull off the impossible, and Andrew Harris play Superman, we would never have recovered from this disastrous gaff...IMO its a mess.

[aklawitter]

The Fake seemed to be an exact copy of last game... when Bighill got beat for TD. This time, Bighill got beat for a first down.