Calgary @ BC - Game Journal and Post Game Comments

[Qman]

Calgary must have injury issued on OLine because it wasn't that good tonight .... also saw that cam thorn dressed as 6th lineman tonight.
Our defense was really good tonight. Calgary helped with lots of drops and left 10pts off the board.

liked jennings composure at start of 3rd quarter when things were going to *poop* offensively with confusion and bad plays. Stepped up and drove down the field from deep in our end with some great throws.

we have no vertical threat in our receiving corp. Went deep all first half vs man and no separation whatsoever. We have a tons of possesion guys. deep 7s, hooks, crossing plays are our bread and butter. No speed or playmakers ... just good pass catchers. Maybe they can have some packages that have rainey in at the X wide-out spot, he is our only dynamic weapon.

Crowd was great. tons of kids!

Great win against the best team in the league!

[green road kill]

It might not have been pretty , it had it's warts and lumps, but who gives rats didly.
Our D got the stops, 4 downs from the 1 yard line and a fake, we were down 17 to 3 in the third and the Stumples didn't get another point. What does that tell you about the D
MW has put together.

The last three minutes were the best I've seen from the Lion team in a couple years. Who said we can't run the ball,who said our Oline couldn't block for the run. We took Cals all world, all every thing D line and ran right over them.And there was didly squat they could do about it.

It might have taken a bit to get it going , but by games end,JJ showed he is just as good
a QB as MR BEE HIVE or any body else.

[B.C.FAN]

That was a tremendous character win and a great atmosphere in the stadium, despite a slow and sometimes ugly first half for the offence and special teams.

The O-line showed its inexperience in the first half but settled down and put the game away by running out the clock in the final 3:23 when everyone knew what was coming. Outstanding. Jonathon Jennings was a bit shell-shocked in the first half and made some bad decisions as a result. He just needed to settle down and take what was there, and that's what he did in the second half.

B.C. special-teams miscues gave the Stamps a chance to build a big lead in the first half but the defence came up big and kept the score close. In the fourth quarter it was Calgary's special teams miscues and the Lions' well designed and executed punt return TD that gave them the lead they never relinquished. Throughout preseason and the first three quarters tonight, the Lions had Chris Rainey return kicks up the middle. On the TD, they set up a return to the right side. Calgary had only one gunner in position to make the tackle and he was blocked at the point of attack. Shaq and another up player peeled off to that side, a couple of downfield blockers set the wall, and once Rainey beat the gunner, I knew it was a TD. Rob Maver wasn't going to stop him.

The defence played an outstanding 60-minute game. They were dealt a bad hand in the first three quarters with a lot of short fields but the goal-line stand was the series of the game may have set a tone for the season. was incredible, Elimimian looked good considering it was his first live action in 10 months, and Brooks, Lee, Purifoy and Bazzie all made big plays.

Wally outcoached Dickenson and, more importantly, set a tone for this team. This win can have a snowball effect on young players who haven't been accustomed to the culture of winning under Wally. I'm expecting a very good season.

[Alputt]

Yeah and I would like to tip my hat to our D as well, that goal line stand in I believe Q2? Awesome... Well done boys! Calgary is a good team.

[WestCoastJoe]

That is a heckuva win.

Many stars.

Wally at his best. The years away from coaching seem to have helped.

JJ can make the offence hum.

The O Line showed signs of their strength, especially on drives to seal the game. Pass protection, which had issues, was helped immensely by JJ's special talents. Elusive. Super fast reads. Fast release. Those bombs achieved something also. Loosened up the D. Kept them off balance. Kept the D Line frustrated and tired them out a bit. Our hogs had some misses, but they laid the bodies on. They tired out the D Line.

I liked our receivers very much. And of course JJ makes them look better. Gore showed his talent. They all did.

Especially impressed with our blitzing. I think it caught Calgary by surprise. Well designed. Well timed. Well executed. Mitchell was not comfortable.

Dickie seemed ready to try some tricks on the old fox. ST punt blocks. Pass to a hog. Goal line shenanigans. Et cetera. But the old fox got the win. And young Dickie took the loss. Ha ha.

Mark W

Wally

Jennings

Rainey

And a host of others. Travis coaching them up on the sideline.

Was Messam full strength? They hardly used him. I thought they would try to run the ball down our throats.

Great game.

[CardiacKid]

It was really awesome to to see the fans at the end give the team a standing ovation. Now if all those folks were to tell 5 friends how much they enjoyed the game and so on and so on...attendance can only improve. Too bad the next home game is the Argos and not a Western division club.
Defence worked its ass off...the way it was going, I thought they would have no gas in the tank at the end. Glad to see Gore be a factor; long thought he has been far too under utilized. Also very glad to see Jeremiah Johnson to deliver his bread and butter of running downhill and getting those hard fought yards. I really like Johnson and think he will continue to contribute important yards when called upon. Lots of other stalwart performances of course....Brooks, Bighill, loved Edem's hit, excellent open field tackling in the secondary, etc.

All around excellent sports day; Wales win at Euros, the Eskies loose and the Leo's come from behind to win.

[DanoT]

When I was watching then Als -Bombers game earlier in the week I watched with envy how the Als constantly rushed 5 or more and even rushed 4 late in the game when they were protecting a lead. So imagine my surprise and joy when Mark Washington did pretty much the same thing.

Nice to see Edam at Free Safety laying some hits and Eric Fraser at this point in his career makes for a nice solid veteran back up.

Brandon Stewart looks to be a really nice veteran addition to the D.

What an outstanding play by Brooks to make the tackle on Tate preventing a TD on the fake FG. However I think it was a poorly designed play by the Stamps because having Tate go under centre, while it created confusion for the Lions as to how to line up, it also telegraphed what the play was going to be. Had Tate got the snap as a holder and just stood up and thrown a pass, the play would be over before any of the Lions would likely have been able to react.

Jennings is a quick study or maybe he just watched the TSN panel at half time because they said that he was throwing the long bomb too much and mostly overthrowing covered guys. He seemed to do a lot less long bombs in the second half.

[Dusty]

The first half was pretty ugly, except for the goal line stand, which was the best I've seen for years.... by the late second half, the boys were looking pretty good..... heck, even the felions were looking better by the end of the second half..... amazing how a lead or a win helps my vision.... <smiles>

[Blitz]

For most of the game, a B.C. win looked like a long shot. Jennings was under incredible pressure in the first half, had very little time to throw and was sacked or hit on almost every play. Jennings took a lot of long shots downfield and also threw some high risk passes. We only put 3 points on the board in the first half and scored our first touchdown near the end of the third quarter. Our run game was also almost non-existent.

Throw in three blocked punts and it was looking ugly.

But our defense kept us close enough, with a huge goal line stand. Brooks had an excellent game and T.J. Lee also made some big plays.

But in the 4th quarter Jennings had more time to throw and he started to find his receivers in open areas. We were able to move the football and then Rainey showed his speed on a 72 yard touchdown scamper. Calgary missed another field goal..this one a 30 yarder...and we ran out the clock with an impressive drive with Johnson carrying the rock impressively.

Jennings completed 24 of 42 passes for 248 yards. Shawn Gore had 7 catches 67 yards and Bryan Burnham had 5 catches for 88 yards. We rushed for 86 yards, with Jennings accounting for 41 of those rush yards and Johnson picking up most of his yardage on our final drive.

Defensively we held Calgary to 50 yards rushing and 233 yards passing. Interesting to see Mike Benevedes defense in Edmonton gave up 543 yards passing and 27 first downs to Ottawa and took costly, untimely penalties.

I thought the keys to the win were:

1. Mark Washington dialing up some successful blitzes at key times in the second half. Key stops in the first half were very important.
2. The offensive line improving its passing protection for Jennings in the second half and Jennings settling down with the improved protection.
3. The offensive line opening some holes on our final drive to enable us to run out the clock.
4. The huge touchdown punt return by Rainey that was a momentum changer.

It was ugly at times, frustrating at times, exciting at times but it was a win to start the regular season....something we needed and can build on.

[Dusty]

I thought the keys to the win were:

1. Mark Washington dialing up some successful blitzes at key times in the second half. Key stops in the first half were very important.
2. The offensive line improving its passing protection for Jennings in the second half and Jennings settling down with the improved protection.
3. The offensive line opening some holes on our final drive to enable us to run out the clock.
4. The huge touchdown punt return by Rainey that was a momentum changer.

It was ugly at times, frustrating at times, exciting at times but it was a win to start the regular season....something we needed and can build on.

Good summary Blitz, I was surprised by some of our blitzes..... obviously Calgary was too. The call on the short yardage TD was also a surprise... This bodes well for our future games.

On the post game show (which I thought was very good with Moj and LU keeping things going until midnite and solid contributions from Farhan and Burns), Jennings said they changed at half-time to going for what Calgary was giving them, which was underneath curl and crossing patterns. It was as if we were playing against our own defence.

I was impressed with the final drive.... when was the last time the Lions ran out the clock like that....good running by Johnson and the O-line really pushed Calgary back.

As has been mentioned, the vibe was strong, the standing ovation was very heart-felt. Good crowd. The family (2 adults and 2 kids) next to me looked like they enjoyed the game.... and were into it... and were talking about coming back.... nows the time to really push for $5 kids tickets for the next game....

[QB Club 63]

That first half was painful to watch. All I could think was "This feels like a preseaon game!" Maybe the CFL & CFLPA need to sit down and figure out a way to get a 3rd tune-up game on the schedule so everyone's better prepared to open the season. The only group that looked ready to play was the D who brought their A game and then some.

But kudos all around for the second half turnaround. It was as if somebody went into the locker room at half time and told them preseason was over, time to get your butts in gear. (Brings to mind the "Lollygaggers" scene in Bull Durham or Strother Martin's "You're blowing it" rant in Slapshot)

[DanoT]

That first half was painful to watch. All I could think was "This feels like a preseaon game!" Maybe the CFL & CFLPA need to sit down and figure out a way to get a 3rd tune-up game on the schedule so everyone's better prepared to open the season. The only group that looked ready to play was the D who brought their A game and then some.

But kudos all around for the second half turnaround. It was as if somebody went into the locker room at half time and told them preseason was over, time to get your butts in gear. (Brings to mind the "Lollygaggers" scene in Bull Durham or Strother Martin's "You're blowing it" rant in Slapshot)

I'm old enough to remember when the CFL was 4 pre-season games and 16 regular season games. They switched to the current format because pre-season games don't make money. The reason that TSN only televises a few pre-season games is because it is difficult to get advertisers to step up and pay enough to cover production costs.

Since players receive a daily stipend plus room and board but no salary during TC, don't expect the CFLPA to agree to any changes that don't also include full pay.

So the first game or 2 of the CFL season are often sloppy and mistake ridden. Learn to live with it.

[Rammer]

The Ugly -

- OL first half play looked like they had never played their position before
- ST punting was blocked once and had two pints touched for huge field turn around in Calgary's favour.
- Jennings accuracy and constant long ball.

The Bad -

- Penalties that were unnecessary and quite shocking from SolE.
- Receiers turned into DB's will Stampeder DB's were waiting on the deep ball.
- The challenges by Wally, no need to give Calgary time to sort out their D on the one yard line. Just punch that ball in and show that you have confidence in your O.

The Good -

- Punching the ball in from the one, Rainey untouched.
- The OL and ST play in the second half, night and day.
- The D, outstanding GL stand, game changer and TSN play(s) of the game.
- Rainey, there was a reason this board wanted him to be re-signed.
- The final drive, when was the last time you saw a final drive to eat up the clock like that by a BC team.

Overall when the D held the Lions in the game even after all the errors by ST and the O, you just knew that the one score difference at the half was possible to overcome. How often do teams lose when they can't put the ball in the endzone squandering chance after chance. Lions D played with the intensity that has been lacking for years, they had Mitchell thinking with little time to figure out the D.

Lions OL had the desire to finish up the game, moving that LoS 5 yards a down. The sloppy first half play should have cost the Lions any chance of a victory. Top that off with penalties extending drives, the score was ridiculous alk thanks to the D. Stopping Calgary 4 times from the one took away the Stamps confidence, instilled hope inter lions and was the turning point in the game IMO. Plus DD showed his lack of HC leadership by showing fear in his expression.

As many mistakes that the Lions made in the first the Stamps filled suit in the second half. Sloppy game, lots of areas to work ion, but an important first win for this franchise. With the Stamps, Eskimos, Bombers losses, plus the Riders bye, lions are first in the West.

[David]

The Ugly -

- OL first half play looked like they had never played their position before.

They hadn't.

Game 1 of the regular season is really just the 3rd preseason game, with intensity. You are bound to see rust and sloppiness, it's the first game with all of the starters.


DH

[Hambone]

That first half was painful to watch. All I could think was "This feels like a preseaon game!" Maybe the CFL & CFLPA need to sit down and figure out a way to get a 3rd tune-up game on the schedule so everyone's better prepared to open the season. The only group that looked ready to play was the D who brought their A game and then some.

But kudos all around for the second half turnaround. It was as if somebody went into the locker room at half time and told them preseason was over, time to get your butts in gear. (Brings to mind the "Lollygaggers" scene in Bull Durham or Strother Martin's "You're blowing it" rant in Slapshot)

I'm old enough to remember when the CFL was 4 pre-season games and 16 regular season games. They switched to the current format because pre-season games don't make money. The reason that TSN only televises a few pre-season games is because it is difficult to get advertisers to step up and pay enough to cover production costs.

Since players receive a daily stipend plus room and board but no salary during TC, don't expect the CFLPA to agree to any changes that don't also include full pay.

So the first game or 2 of the CFL season are often sloppy and mistake ridden. Learn to live with it.

Quite likely coaches and GMs would love a 3rd ex-game but fact is that's impossible to schedule in a 9 team league. One team would have to play a 4th game to ensure the other 8 play 3. Conversely the only way to avoid somebody playing more than 3 is to have one team play only 2. And of course there's the question of how many games in total. Since the East teams went from 14 games to 16 there's always been 20 total; 16+4 then 18+2. Just as it's impossible to balance a 3 game exhibition schedule it's also impossible to balance a 17 game schedule. So you wind up with 21 games total for 8 teams and 22 games total for 1. Logistics aside the financial aspect is a huge factor. Exhibition games don't draw ratings and they don't draw fans at the stadium. Nobody wants an extra ex-game added to their ST package. South of the border lots of discussion seems to surround the NFL's 4 game exhibition schedule and that it should be reduced because it's an a ripoff for the fans to pay regular season prices for exhibition games.