Esks vs. Lions Aug. 6 - Game Day Thread

[B.C.FAN]

The 4-1 Eskimos come to town with the CFL's top defence, which hasn't surrendered a touchdown in two games.

The Lions have juggled their own league-worst defence to try to shore up the secondary. Ronnie Yell returns from injury to his boundary corner spot. Cord Parks moves to boundary halfback, where he played last year. Rookie Steven Clarke plays Parks' old field corner spot for the second straight game alongside veteran halfback Ran Phillips, in his second game back from a hamstring injury. T.J. Lee, who has been picked on repeatedly in man and zone coverage, remains on the 46-man roster as a backup. Chris Rwabukkamba remains at starting safety ahead of the recently acquired Eric Fraser.

The Lions are healthy. The only change to the 46-man roster is the addition of SB Bryan Burnham at the expense of DT Zach Minter, who has yet to play after a preseason injury. Burnham is not expected to play Thursday. The deletion of Minter means there is no chance of any changes to bolster the undersized defensive line.

The Lions' depth chart can be seen here.

The Esks have made two roster changes due to injury. Slippery rookie RB Shakir Bell has been moved to the injured list. Chad Smpson will take his place but kick returner Kendial Lawrence will probably also get some reps. Starting national WR Nate Coehoorn is also injured. He'll be replaced in the starting lineup by Devon Bailey. Matt Nichols remains at starting quarterback for the injured Mike Reilly.

[WestCoastJoe]

A real test ...

Chris Jones knows what he is doing. His concepts are effective.

On defence he pressures the QB. He mixes it up. He disguises intentions. He moves the guys around. He overloads. And he blitzes very effectively. Guys love playing in such a defence. They are on attack. They smell blood. They become like a shark feeding frenzy.

The alternative is what we play, what Wally prefers: passive, soft, reacting, zone. No tricks. I cannot see any guys loving to play in this type of defence. Guys actually get demoralized.

On offence Jones wants a solid running game. Good blocking. Good pass protection. Receivers that fight for the ball.

Can we rise to the occasion? Will we rise to the occasion? Possibly.

Can our defence succeed without changing its spots? Dunno about that. If we give up tons of yardage again, at what point does Wally try a new spin? Change stuff but not admit it? Change stuff but also change personnel, and then blame lack of execution on those guys who now are out?

Is Mark Washington really running our defence? Or is Wally heavily involved in setting the overall tone, the scheme? Not the details of course.

[DanoT]

Esks will play 7 or 8 in the box with lots of stunts and disguises, so unless the Lions move Lulay out of the pocket, the ESKs D will dominate.

If the Lions continue playing Loh, Westerman and sometimes Bighill out of position, their soft D will be mush.

I don't really think that the Lions are going to be in this one.

[TheLionKing]

Lions looking for their 1st win against a team which isn't named the Riders. Numerous questions heading into the game:

- Will the Lions get off to their signature quick start and then go into hibernation for the next 3 quarters ?

- Will the Lions be able to stop 2nd and long ?

- Will the offence be able to handle (and counteract) the aggressive Edmonton defence ?

- Will we continue to see the Buono defence again ?

- Will we see double digit penalties ?

[Hambone]

If anyone is looking for a great seat I have an extra. 242 Row O. PM me an email address and I'll forward the pdf.

[sj-roc]

The 4-1 Eskimos come to town with the CFL's top defence, which hasn't surrendered a touchdown in two games.

They've only allowed 4 majors as a defence in 5gms so far this year, tops in the league. Three came in their opening week loss to the Argos in Fort Mac, but only one since then, in Ottawa three weeks ago — which oddly enough came on an 106yd 18-play drive, and which like our opening score last week lasted nearly nine minutes (interestingly we lead the league with 17pts on game-by-game initial offensive series).

BC's D is tied for 3rd-worst with Tor in TDs allowed with 14, trailing only the totals of 15 & 18 for (respectively) Wpg & Ssk, Edm's last two opponents. Even taking Edm's game in hand into account the difference is still pretty stark.

Another discouraging trend: Two weeks ago vs Tor we scored 6pts in the final 44mins. Last week in Wpg it was 6pts in the final 51mins. Will we even get 6pts in total against a team that surrendered less against each of their last two opponents?

If we're lucky, this might be a trap game for Edm.

[sj-roc]

Lions looking for their 1st win against a team which isn't named the Riders. Numerous questions heading into the game:

- Will the Lions get off to their signature quick start and then go into hibernation for the next 3 quarters ?

- Will the Lions be able to stop 2nd and long ?

- Will the offence be able to handle (and counteract) the aggressive Edmonton defence ?

- Will we continue to see the Buono defence again ?

- Will we see double digit penalties ?

Interestingly Edm despite their league-best win pct have the league's worst 2nd down conversion rate at 43.2% and also the 2nd-worst average first-down production at 5.5yds. They make up for it with their stout defence and special teams performance (most punt returns, 32 and best PR yd avg at 12.8) that gives them the league's most drives started beyond midfield.

[SammyGreene]

Couple of very tough games ahead. One side of me wants the Lions to win and at least keep pace for a playoff spot in the West. The other side wants to see the defence kept being lit up until some serious changes are made. I expect the Eskimos defence to dominate this week and the Lions defence to be completely overwhelmed the following week in Hamilton.

[TheLionKing]

Lions looking for their 1st win against a team which isn't named the Riders. Numerous questions heading into the game:

- Will the Lions get off to their signature quick start and then go into hibernation for the next 3 quarters ?

- Will the Lions be able to stop 2nd and long ?

- Will the offence be able to handle (and counteract) the aggressive Edmonton defence ?

- Will we continue to see the Buono defence again ?

- Will we see double digit penalties ?

Interestingly Edm despite their league-best win pct have the league's worst 2nd down conversion rate at 43.2% and also the 2nd-worst average first-down production at 5.5yds. They make up for it with their stout defence and special teams performance (most punt returns, 32 and best PR yd avg at 12.8) that gives them the league's most drives started beyond midfield.

That will no doubt improve after Thursday. Wonder whether Nichols will get over 100 yards rushing with Biggie and SolE dropping deep to defend against the pass.

[sj-roc]

I see that the first of what is scheduled to be five debates in the run-up to October's federal election will be held tomorrow night. While I doubt it will have much of an impact on the gate as most people will have already decided on whether to attend the game before the debate was even scheduled, it won't help, either. It prob won't impact the tv ratings much either since it's scheduled to air 5-7pPT before the game starts.

[Toppy Vann]

If there is a parallel between this federal election and football let's hope it's in the statistical areas. As the study from Unifor shows of the 9 federal gov'ts studied this band of Tories in Ottawa is statistically the worst and finished last in job creation, last in exports, seventh in government debt, second last in personal income growth per capita, in business investment, in youth employment BUT they've still got a decent chance to 3-peat and despite the odds so can our BC Lions.

The huge risk to the Esks is what the coach can't see in his team and it's what each of his players individually believes the challenge to be in playing the Lions. It's a temporary condition that can plague a team riding high who has seen these guys on film and each believe this to be an easy win for them.

They look fine in warm up and while nothing outwardly is said each deep doesn't believe they're in tough to win based on the film they've seen.

Ergo the Lions come out and before you know it they're up again 21 to 0 like before. Esks never get untracked and the Lions pull off a surprise victory.

However, if the Esks come in prepared to play at a high level and BC hasn't made adjustments this week (something I doubt their DEF will do) this could get ugly.

If the Lions OFF is ready to open up the play book and give them different looks it's going to be a tough game and these Lions will get a sound beating.

As to Wally controlling the DEF... WCJ - I doubt it - I just think the guy in charge there is limited. The coverage changes in personnel might help but more of this dropping off Bighill will lead to the Esks ripping the Lions apart but with Chad Simpson there.

The Lions coaching staff haven't yet showed they grasp their reality and that of their opponents. Lucky for them they've still got the Riders to play based on the trend I'm seeing.

[VictoriaFan]

I remember a few years ago Winnipeg's d was so hot they called it swaggerville, and I seem to remember it unravelling at some point. Maybe Edm. will come in all cocky and get tons of penalties. Crazy things happen.

[WestCoastJoe]

As to Wally controlling the DEF... WCJ - I doubt it - I just think the guy in charge there is limited. The coverage changes in personnel might help but more of this dropping off Bighill will lead to the Esks ripping the Lions apart but with Chad Simpson there.

I would not say controlling, Toppy.

But philosophically, it is his system, the one that he has favoured throughout his career. And Mark Washington is his pretege. Strong loyalty both ways.

The guy in charge, MW, as you say ... Who knows what he is capable of? Not much shown so far.

One gets the impression that both Wally and Mark are living in a dream world.

Or can the old fox, Wally, once again pull rabbits out of the hat, and put a competitive team on the field? Sticking to what he knows? Sticking to what he believes in.

[Blitz]

This is going to be an interesting matchup in terms of defensive styles.

I didn`t write KEYS TO THE GAME for this match because the two threads often tend to have some of the same comments and felt this thread would suffice.

Its interesting to see how both the Eskimo`s fate`s on defence changed from 2013 to today as both teams hired new coaches who would lead their respective defenses.

When Chris Jones took over in Edmonton and began coordinating Edmonton`s defense they had been last in allowing the most rushing yds. per game (145.7 yds. rushing) last in average gain per catch (8.7 yds.) and 6th in average yds. of offence against, giving up an average of 368 yds. of offence per game.

Now the Eskimos only give up 71.6 yds of rushing per game (2nd), 6.2 yds. per catch (1st) and only 279 average yds. of offence per game (1st).

When Mark Washington took over our B.C. defence from Rich Stubler, he not only inherited a record breaking defense that had led 12 defensive categories in 2012 but he also inherited an excellent defence from 2013, that only gave up 94.4 yds. rushing per game(2nd) only gave up 7. 3 yds. per catch (1st) and 318 yds. of offence (2nd)

Its not taken very long for Mark Washington to also have a profound impact on a defence, just as Chris Jones has in Edmonton but for us its in a different direction. Our defence gives up 139 yds. rushing per game (last), 9.4 yds.per catch (last), and a whopping 424.6 average yds. of offence per game (last)

It hasn`t taken very long to have our defense go from championship calibre to a disgrace, just as it hasn`t taken very long for Edmonton`s defence to go from mediocre to outstanding.

To win this game, our defense has to play a heck of a lot better than it has and Mark Washington needs to really take a look at what he has done to our defense in his short tenure and figure a way to improve it. The trend is not our friend in Mark Washington leading our defence.

[Toppy Vann]

As to Wally controlling the DEF... WCJ - I doubt it - I just think the guy in charge there is limited. The coverage changes in personnel might help but more of this dropping off Bighill will lead to the Esks ripping the Lions apart but with Chad Simpson there.

I would not say controlling, Toppy.

But philosophically, it is his system, the one that he has favoured throughout his career. And Mark Washington is his pretege. Strong loyalty both ways.

The guy in charge, MW, as you say ... Who knows what he is capable of? Not much shown so far.

One gets the impression that both Wally and Mark are living in a dream world.

Or can the old fox, Wally, once again pull rabbits out of the hat, and put a competitive team on the field? Sticking to what he knows. Sticking to what he believes in.

From all that I read when Tedford is hired the deal is that Wally will GM and Jeff will HC and he does not want - nor will he accept - any interference from the GM on his decisions. In fact Wally has made it clear on the draft pick under discussion that this wil Jeff T's call. Remember Wally had arrangement directly with his owner.

No doubt there was some pressure both business wise and because he likes MW to keep him as there no doubt was with Khari Jones but honestly to suggest that Wally is still influencing actually coaching decisions is most likely fantasy.

Now if the skid continues and with the Esks to play - I'm not betting the farm on the Lions to Win, Place or Show this week - how long will silence be there. Wally wouldn't comment on the radio on the gambles etc but this guy is Teflon Wally - you knew exactly in his non-comments what he thought of that long first 3 and near 4 yds. He is a shrewd communicator.

Looking at the papers pre game anyone hearing anything but defensive posturing from the Lions coaches/players.

I hardly think fans are calling for Lulay's replacement (other than casuals) but that seemed to be topic at their practices with the media. Look at the response from Matt Nichols after Franklin got 3 td passes in the good weather. He came out more focused and more precise last game. He was dissed yes as he played in the bad weather and the seas parted as did the DBs for the raw rookie QB.

To me the messaging from the Lions suggests they're not learning the lesson each game offers them. Much like Chamblin in Regina although he's more arrogant.

I'd like to hear a more focused message from the HC as to how they're responding to the slide.