Leos/Red Blacks Keys to the Game

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Blitz
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Our 7-7 B.C. Lions host the 2-11 Ottawa Red Blacks at B.C. Place tonight.

At the start of the season, this game would have been predicted to be a no-brainer. Our B.C. Lions, predicted to be the best team in the CFL, playing an expansion team in its first season of play, would have been a mismatch. Playing an expansion team in the confines of our 'house' would have created some sympathy for the opposition squad.

Not anymore. We barely beat Ottawa the last time we played them. We had Travis Lulay at quarterback and he had been practicing for weeks, getting first team snaps at practice, and had seen action in our previous two games before his first start. Andrew Harris and Logan were in the backfield. Arsenault and Taylor were our slots. We barely won the game and didn't score an offensive touchdown. We hadn't scored an offensive touchdown the week before.

The excuse machine has been rolled out this week. Our recent string of injuries has created fodder for sports writers, who now seem to have adopted the theme that this has been 'an injury plagued season'. The reality is that it wasn't until recently. The loss of Travis Lulay has also been used as a reason for this season of offensive ineptitude but Kevin Glenn, in Calgary, was able to lead an offence that kicked our ass in the 2012 WDF and lead Calgary last year to a first place finish in the West. Glenn has more passing yards than Edmonton's Mike Reilley. The EXCUSES for our Leos poor offensive play ring hollow.

One of those excuses, prior to the recent spate of injuries is the familiar 'lack of execution. The LionKing hit it on the head when he wrote "Does Calgary draft or sign more intelligent players". The answer is NO. But perhaps they have more football intelligent coaches.

As MLF wrote on another thread
Let's see. Harris, Taylor and Logan all were healthy when the Lions were held to 3 2nd half points in their season opening loss to Edmonton or how about the god awful 24-9 loss a week later in Montreal? Don't forget the 23-6 home loss debacle to the Bombers or managing a measly 3 points in the final 40 minutes on "guaranteed" win day against the Riders.
The reality is that our Leos will field a much more talented team tonight than Ottawa, even with our recent string of injuries. The injuries are also mostly on offence and we weren't scoring with our starting lineup in action.

Henry Burris has completed 62.3% of his passes this season for 2998 yards of passing oifence with a less than impressive receiving corps. Kevin Glenn has completed 62.5% of his passes for 3018 yards this season when he has mostly had Arsenault, Taylor, and Harris in the lineup, which makes one think that Ottawa has had a better designed passing attack than us.

A big reason that Ottawa has been able to comparable to our Leos in their passing attack is that the expansion Ottawa offence, with an offensive line of cast-offs has been able to protect Burris better than our Leos. Ottawa has given up 40 sacks this season while we've given up 43. That is an embarrassment.

Our Lions should win this game based upon this simple stat. Our Lions have the best defense in the CFL. Ottawa's defense ranks 7th. However, last time we played them, our offensive mediocrity made it a very close game and one we deserved to lose.

Here are my KEYS TO THE GAME. I look forward to reading yours.

COACHING

After 3 straight losses, once again coaching comes to the forefront. Toppy Van recently wrote a 'top' post that pointed out Angus Reid would not have written his article that emphasized that the key to the remainder of this season was the need for Benevedes to show true leadership rather than slogans and gimmicks.

Leadership arises when a leader can take his team through adversity. We do have some adversity, with some key players our of our offensive lineup but we are also playing an Ottawa team that has faced the adversity of having a lot less talent all season.

We need good offensive game planning, good play calling, and the ability to make adjustments, should they be needed in this game. We have some talented Canadian receivers who have the ability to step up, if they are given the right circumstances to do so. Iannuzzi has been a four year starter. Shawn Gore has been a starter and a very effective receiver in previous seasons. Haidara was considered the best reciever in the draft in his draft year. Poblah has started a number of games this season. Adekolu had a very impessive training camp. Antolin has quickness and talent if we can open a hole for him to run to. Ernest Jackson has shown that he can get deep and he has excellent hands.

We will choose to sit Fabian down again and use two Internationals on the left side of the offensive line.

On defense, the only change to our lineup is to move Lee to short side coner and use Parker on the wideside. Lee has shown he has very good coverage skills and Parker has already seen a lot of action at wide side corner.Torri Williams can also play there when we insert a Canadian defensive lineman into our 6 man rotatation.

This is not the dire situation the sports writers and Leos are making it out to be. This is a much more talented lineup than Ottawa can dream of fielding.

Its up to our coaching staff to exploit all the weaknesses the Ottawa team has, espcially on defence.

SPECIAL TEAMS

One of the dififcult things an expansion franchise deals with is not only dealing with a less than talented starting lineup. But even more challenging is finding depth for special teams play. The advantage for our Lions in this area is significant.

If Chuck (It always looks foggy) McMann can get our return game going against Ottawa it would give us the field position that might help our anemic offence get going.

OFFENSIVE LINE

With 3 Internationals in the lineup of our offensive line, with top draft choice Kirby Fabian in reserve, with 2011 Grey Cup starting guard in the lineup, surely we should be able to open a few holes for Antolin and Brown. We should be able to give Kevin Glenn reasonable time to throw the football.

This is a game in which our offensive line must dominate. The pressure is on Darazio to finally get this offensive line going. Last season at this time we changed our offensive blocking scheme and Chap changed the offence even more, using a ton of motion to get receivers into position to run block to help Dorazio do his job.

Whatever it takes, it needs to get done.

WRAP

An opposition team travelling to B.C. Place to play our Leos was nothing to look forward to for such a long time. Not any more. Ottawa will come here believing they have a good chance to win. Its time we started to play in our 'house' again like it really is our home and needs to be respected. It may be a low place to start, but beating Ottawa tonight would be a beginning again in geting some pride back again, when we play at home, as well as treating ticket paying fans to a victory they deserve to have.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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MexicoLionFan
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Great job Blitz...I think that BCFAN said that with Brown back S Ts might make the difference tonight...If the Lions are going to win, they had better. It expect OTT to blitz even more than last time as they had great success with a limited amount of blitzing. So this game will come down to turnovers...and as Calhoun said in another thread, I will be pulling for OTT as much as BC, I am just hoping for a fun game to watch instead of the bore feast they had last time around, and we see at home basically every game. I honestly think that BC losses at this point would be more beneficial to us, I really do. If it weren't for our Defence, who play so hard every game, I would probably be rooting for OTT...go figure...

Thanks again Blitz...

BTW, the quote you used was from Rammer I think, maybe TLK...
"Condemnation Without Investigation is the height of ignorance."

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WestCoastJoe
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Or poor us. Oh, woe is us. We have so many injuries. How can people expect us to play well? Well, every team gets injuries. Teams with the best leadership do not whine about it. They don't make excuses. They move another professional into the lineup, and carry on. Kind of disgusting to hear the bleating and focus on our injury situation.

Another thing ... When the staff raises injuries as an excuse for weak play, how does that affect those who move into a playing role? What does that do to their level of confidence? Oh my God, we are so weak because we do not have our starters. We have to put these weak backups in. Calgary did not whine when Kevin Glenn, third string QB, led them to a first place finish last year. Hamilton did not whine when Collaros got hurt. Austin said forcefully to the media that they had confidence in all of their guys.

Keys ...

Will we be able to open holes for our running backs?

Will we be able to protect Kevin Glenn?

Will we be able to integrate our wideouts into the game? That a professional team has been unable to do this is a head shaker.

I expect Ottawa to get after our QB.

I expect Henry Burris to have a productive passing game.

What can we expext from our return game, or our return coverage team?

We still control our own destiny regarding the sneak in the backdoor Eastern playoff spot, as we host the Grey Cup. Can we do it?
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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Rammer
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WestCoastJoe wrote:
Keys ...

Will we be able to open holes for our running backs?

Will we be able to protect Kevin Glenn?

Will we be able to integrate our wideouts into the game? That a professional team has been unable to do this is a head shaker.

I expect Ottawa to get after our QB.

I expect Henry Burris to have a productive passing game.

What can we expext from our return game, or our return coverage team?

We still control our own destiny regarding the sneak in the backdoor Eastern playoff spot, as we host the Grey Cup. Can we do it?
Lions have to win one side of the line of scrimmage at least. I can't recall a game where the Lions won both sides of the LOS this season. All I am asking for is to dominate on one side and that will ensure a victory vs the REDBLACKS.

Forget about integrating our wideouts, that hasn't happened for a decade.

Our OL success will be determined by how comfortable Glenn looks, if he is leaning his head forward early on before the 3 mark, we are done.

Burris even moreso than Glenn can give you a Dr Jeckyll/ Mr Hide performance and without even knowing why he is either one, as the D's performance vs Henry isn't the determining factor like Glenn.

Return coverage is getting worse as the season progresses, and if the Lions get another 5 yard No Yards call and allow the returner to get more than 10 yards, I am going to have a conniption.

Backdoor Eastern route looked good in the summer, but it looks more like an Eastern front winter moving in to me.
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Blitz
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WestCoastJoe wrote:Or poor us. Oh, woe is us. We have so many injuries. How can people expect us to play well? Well, every team gets injuries. Teams with the best leadership do not whine about it. They don't make excuses. They move another professional into the lineup, and carry on. Kind of disgusting to hear the bleating and focus on our injury situation.

Another thing ... When the staff raises injuries as an excuse for weak play, how does that affect those who move into a playing role? What does that do to their level of confidence? Oh my God, we are so weak because we do not have our starters. We have to put these weak backups in. Calgary did not whine when Kevin Glenn, third string QB, led them to a first place finish last year. Hamilton did not whine when Collaros got hurt. Austin said forcefully to the media that they had confidence in all of their guys.

Keys ...

Will we be able to open holes for our running backs?

Will we be able to protect Kevin Glenn?

Will we be able to integrate our wideouts into the game? That a professional team has been unable to do this is a head shaker.

I expect Ottawa to get after our QB.

I expect Henry Burris to have a productive passing game.

What can we expext from our return game, or our return coverage team?

We still control our own destiny regarding the sneak in the backdoor Eastern playoff spot, as we host the Grey Cup. Can we do it?
I have the same feelings WCJ. When Wally Buono first came to B.C. he talked about the importance of accountability.

And yet, for too long, instead of accountability we've had excuses, excuses, excuses.

Some examples.....

~`When our quarterbacks get sacked, pressured, its the quarterback's fault and when they get injured, its "That's why we have four of them' instead of making Dorazio accountable/

~When we can't open a hole for a tailback like Harris last season, even with power formations, its Chap's fault and not the offensive line coach

`When we lose, all Benevedes says is that we are not 'executing' or our players are not 'making plays' and now its due to injuries.

~When we have so much talent and lose as often as we have this season, its because we don't have Travis Lulay and Glenn is not good enough or now its because its been an 'injury plagued season' which wasn't true for most of it so far ..or sports writers write that we've used more starters than almost any time in the past 10 seasons when most of those changes have been by choice.

~The excuse making and blame deflecting doesn't do this team any good. As you note WCJ....the way we whine about the loss of starters does nothing to help those stepping into those postions.

~ Sports writers don't make coaches accountable by stories that make our poor offensive play this season seemingly due to injuries, when that has not been the main story.

~ Coaches don't create accountability by laying blame on players for losses or they do what Washington did recently by saying that when he played there were 'occasions when our offence struggled when he played, which was mostly b.s. and has nothing to do with now.

In any organization, when accountability and responsibility are deflected its a recipe for lowered standards or even mediocrity. Buono, McAvoy and Kelly Bates gave us a very talented team this season. It was predicted to be the front runner even more we lured some great import talent here before training camp.

Ottawa has not one a game on the road this season. We are 10 point favorites. We beat Ottawa last game by one point, were fortunate to do so, with a full starting lineup. We looked as much like an expansion team as Ottawa did in that game...a contest that Paul McCallum said was one of the 'ugliest games' he had ever seen.

Not good enough. Accountability starts at the top. It gets role modelled. Until that happens with our Leos, all the finger pointing will always be pointing outward. Its time those fingers pointed inward. The only ones in this Leo organization who are publically taking responsibility are the players.

That's not the way things should be!!! :thdn:

ps. Arsenault is a game time decision. If he doesn't start we are going to see Lavasier Tuinei, who took Arceneaux’s reps in practice all week. He's tall at 6'5".
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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notahomer
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What worries me about the Ottawa offence is their RUN game and thankfully :cr: that is not something I worry about in terms of our DEFENCE. WHEN, (I'm optimistic) the defence shuts down the Ottawa run game, there is not much left, IMO. The Redblacks recievers have really let Burris down AND Burris hasn't exactly been great either. Ottawa gets its points via special teams and/or the run game, (if they get any tonight :wink: ).

Hopefully WE'LL (the Lions fans) be able to have some impact on those Ottawa offensive drives. I won't need to be reminded to MAKE SOME NOISE, and a penalty or two at just the wrong time for them, will make my night.....

I wouldn't mind being ASKED to eat some crow after this game (I won't). Should the Lions WIN, expect Glenn and some of his recievers to play the "SEE we can do it card, we have faith in each other etc....".

None of that matters as the BC Lions fans have been shelling out money to see a substandard product on offence, IMO. I have enjoyed watching this defence but the offence (and its coaches) deserves the questions being asked of it, IMO.
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When things aren't going well, a fundamental coaching principle is to keep it simple and play hard. In that spirit, I've simplified my analysis to focus on one all-important key.

1. Field position
With Tim Brown out of the lineup in the past two games, the Lions have given up 132 more return yards than they've made each game. That probably translates into a swing of 10 or 15 points per game, and was the difference between winning and losing those two games. The Lions' field-position woes have been well documented this week in other threads. Only one of the Lions' last 45 drives has started in the opponent's end of the field. On the season, only 22 of 214 drives have started in the opponent's end. Otttawa is the only team with fewer starts in the opponent's end. The Lion have to win the return battle. Ottawa and B.C.'s cover teams have both struggled this year. Ottawa has given up 11 big returns (punt returns of 30+ yards or kick returns of 40+ yards), the most of any team. They've also given up an average of 24.4 yards per kick return, the second worst in the league. The Lions have given up an average of 11.3 yards per punt return, the second worst in the league.

It's a simple principle. With good field position to start a drive, a team doesn't need many first downs to get in scoring position. As has been well discussed in other threads, the B.C. offence ranks in the middle of the pack in yardage but is seventh in scoring. The Lions are good at picking up one or two first downs per drive but they often need four or five first downs to get into scoring position. The offence and defence will take care of themselves. Giving them good field position is the key.
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Forget about the need of the offensive line protecting Kevin Glenn and opening holes for Antolin

Forget about special teams coverage

Forget about winning the line of scrimmage

Forget about winning the battle of turnovers

Forget about lack of execution

Forget about stupid penalties

The real key to the Lions' success or lack thereof is COACHING. Will Benevides be able to lead this team and park his cheerleading gig, berating the officials. Will his assistants be able to make timely and effective adjustments ?
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The lack of adjustments by the Lions is a real indicator of the lack of coaching prowess.

At the start of the season I thought that the addition of Paopao as the spotter in the booth would be a real aid to Jones and the O, but there doesn't seem to be second half or in game improvements with the Lions O. Either Paopao does not have much to offer in terms of figuring out what changes will work or he is not being listened to. Either way, it is not working and Jones needs help and it looks like he is not getting any.

So, my key to the game: The Lions O needs to overcome coaching shortcomings and play "over their heads" to get a win. This applies double to the O line who must win the battle in the trenches with power, not finesse.
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Rammer
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B.C.FAN wrote:When things aren't going well, a fundamental coaching principle is to keep it simple and play hard. In that spirit, I've simplified my analysis to focus on one all-important key.

1. Field position
With Tim Brown out of the lineup in the past two games, the Lions have given up 132 more return yards than they've made each game. That probably translates into a swing of 10 or 15 points per game, and was the difference between winning and losing those two games. The Lions' field-position woes have been well documented this week in other threads. Only one of the Lions' last 45 drives has started in the opponent's end of the field. On the season, only 22 of 214 drives have started in the opponent's end. Otttawa is the only team with fewer starts in the opponent's end. The Lion have to win the return battle. Ottawa and B.C.'s cover teams have both struggled this year. Ottawa has given up 11 big returns (punt returns of 30+ yards or kick returns of 40+ yards), the most of any team. They've also given up an average of 24.4 yards per kick return, the second worst in the league. The Lions have given up an average of 11.3 yards per punt return, the second worst in the league.

It's a simple principle. With good field position to start a drive, a team doesn't need many first downs to get in scoring position. As has been well discussed in other threads, the B.C. offence ranks in the middle of the pack in yardage but is seventh in scoring. The Lions are good at picking up one or two first downs per drive but they often need four or five first downs to get into scoring position. The offence and defence will take care of themselves. Giving them good field position is the key.
Interesting about the ST yardage difference, that is a significant amount to overcome. It also demonstrates just how good the D has been in defending the endzone. So while you indicate 10 or 15 points, in reality both games were so low scoring, that the amount is about 6 - 9 in those games, and of course this is a difference maker in the final outcome, given how close each was. To suggest that Brown was the missing ingredient isn't completely fair, as our coverage teams were terrible, and our return teams didn't seem to create any lanes whatsoever.
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B.C.FAN
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Rammer wrote:To suggest that Brown was the missing ingredient isn't completely fair, as our coverage teams were terrible, and our return teams didn't seem to create any lanes whatsoever.
True. The Lions gave up nearly 200 return yards in each of the last two games. The difference vs. Hamilton was 199 to 50 (149 net yards) and vs. Calgary was 197 to 81 (116 net yards). The Lions can't afford to lose that battle again. The cover teams and return teams both have to be better.
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Rammer wrote:To suggest that Brown was the missing ingredient isn't completely fair, as our coverage teams were terrible, and our return teams didn't seem to create any lanes whatsoever.
True. The Lions gave up nearly 200 return yards in each of the last two games. The difference vs. Hamilton was 199 to 50 (149 net yards) and vs. Calgary was 197 to 81 (116 net yards). The Lions can't afford to lose that battle again. The cover teams and return teams both have to be better.
Time for 'Chucky' to be held much more accountable, along with Dorazio and Benevedes. Special teams are 1/3 of the game and too often go under the radar in comparison to offence and defense. But the stats being posted by elite fans on this website show how important they are. Thanks to B.C. Fan and Rammer for highlighting this important area that is having a significant impact on our offence and defense.

I mentioned defense as well. Even though we may be keeping the opposition out of the end zone often, our defense also gives up field goals due to poor field position.
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Rammer
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Blitz wrote:
B.C.FAN wrote:
Rammer wrote:To suggest that Brown was the missing ingredient isn't completely fair, as our coverage teams were terrible, and our return teams didn't seem to create any lanes whatsoever.
True. The Lions gave up nearly 200 return yards in each of the last two games. The difference vs. Hamilton was 199 to 50 (149 net yards) and vs. Calgary was 197 to 81 (116 net yards). The Lions can't afford to lose that battle again. The cover teams and return teams both have to be better.
Time for 'Chucky' to be held much more accountable, along with Dorazio and Benevedes. Special teams are 1/3 of the game and too often go under the radar in comparison to offence and defense. But the stats being posted by elite fans on this website show how important they are. Thanks to B.C. Fan and Rammer for highlighting this important area that is having a significant impact on our offence and defense.

I mentioned defense as well. Even though we may be keeping the opposition out of the end zone often, our defense also gives up field goals due to poor field position.
Funny when you suggest that ST's are 1/3 of the game, as most games are playing a ton more time on O or D. With the Lions O, ST play getting 1/3 the play is almost accurate. ST is all about will and desire, something to watch during this game.
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Blitz wrote:Even though we may be keeping the opposition out of the end zone often, our defense also gives up field goals due to poor field position.
Part of that I feel is we're also up against better FG kicking talent. I don't have numbers as detailed as below handy for our road games but home @BCP, visiting kickers have yet to miss a FGA this year, and it's not like they're all gimmes. 23/23 and 13 of these have been from 40+yds out. On a lot of these FGs, we're sending out the punter:

Sat Jun 28, Edm: 2/2; from 14, 42
Sat Jul 19, Mtl: 1/1; from 42
Fri Jul 25, Wpg: 5/5; from 19, 27, 33, 51, 49
Fri Aug 08, Ham: 5/5; from 14, 31, 32, 38, 40
Sun Aug 24, Ssk: 4/4; from 42, 12, 46, 48
Sat Sep 13, Wpg: 3/3; from 17, 42, 49
Fri Sep 19, Tor: 3/3; from 53, 45, 50

Ott has the league's worst FG% in the league at 69.0% (20/29) so we might see this visiting kicker streak end tonight.

On the road opp kickers are 14/16 against us with Sean Whyte accounting for both misses in our 24-9 debacle in Mtl on Fri Jul 04. So that's 37/39 (94.9%) overall against us. We're 30/34 (88.2%) overall, with home/road splits of 17/20 and 13/14, but more significantly we're generally not connecting (barely even attempting) from long distance. Our FGs often come from drives that should have culminated in TDs.
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Blitz
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Funny when you suggest that ST's are 1/3 of the game, as most games are playing a ton more time on O or D. With the Lions O, ST play getting 1/3 the play is almost accurate. ST is all about will and desire, something to watch during this game. Rammer
You make a great point that special teams are so much more important to our Leos because we punt so often.

However, I am going to add to your quote. Obviously will and desire are a vital component of special teams play. But strategy is becoming more and more an important component of special teams play. Used to be a time on a kickoff where everyone was just supposed to stay in their lanes. Kick off returns meant creating a standard wedge. Punt returns meant either blocking by using the momentum of your adversary to create a hole for the return man or setting up the picket fence for the wide side return.

Its much more sophisticated now. It's moved past spears and gunners on downfield coverage. Its much more complex. Most pro teams have a variety of designed punt return plays.

I really beleive that our special teams return game strategy is well behind the times. It basically relies on blocking the defender, using his momentum and the hope for a seam for the return guy. We basically use a gunner on downfield coverage and fill lanes (sometimes badly).

We also seem to have thrown any surprise plays on special teams out the window. When is the last time you remember a fake punt, fake field goal attempt, a reverse handoff on a kickoff, a non-expected on-side kick. They happen to us but we don't seem to even have them in the back of our pocket. We are not a team that looks to surprise anyone on special teams or offence. Heck, we don't even gamble on less than third and one most of the time.

The days of Lui Passaglia throwing a pass off a fake punt are like looking at your grandparents black and white photos in an old album discooured with age.

Mediocrity, except for our defense, combined with a lack of imagination and no thought of risk/reward ratio (just no risk) characterizes this talented Leo team.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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