Leos/Riders Post Game Thoughts

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cromartie
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I'm not a fan of 2nd down blitzes, personally, but if they work, who cares? And they worked.

This is what a dominating line of scrimmage performance looks like. They don't happen often enough nowadays, sadly.

Leone was kicking with the flu. I'll state what I have said previously, we have the best starting field position and our opponents have the worst starting field position in the league. The latter is because of Leone. He can turn FGs into singles if it means opponents are consistently pinned in their own territory. The onus is on the offense to score.

Actual rollouts by our QB. Refreshing we're doing things on offense now other than throwing out of the pocket exclusively.
TheLionKing
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CardiacKid wrote: Ese Mrabure has better stats than Mich'ael Brooks. Both have 1 sack but Mrabure has 21 defensive tackles to Brooks 16. Of course there is more to consider about their contributions but I just happened to find that intriguing. Should Mrabure have been offered a spot on the game day roster and not the PR?
Classic example of the saying "Stats are for losers"
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JohnHenry
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TheLionKing wrote:
B.C.FAN wrote:
The placekicking situation has to improve. I don't know if anyone else is out there, but I don't think Wally wants to place the Lions' playoff hopes on the foot of a slumping Leone.
It's too late in the season to be making changes. We're stuck with Leone the rest of this season and hope his kicking doesn't cost us in the playoffs.
Leone is our man until the end of the season. Even he probably realizes he'll be gone next year and is just trying his best not to cost his team the game. The Lions will just have to work around his deficiencies and hope they can score TD's instead. Fera in retrospect seems like a much smoother kicker than Leone who can't seem to direct his punting anymore either. Maybe Leone will make-up for his misses and kick a 60-yd game-winning FG in the Grey Cup and be the hero? (The Stamps might be ripe for the picking in the WDF after not winning a game for a month.) :cheer:
Blitz
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Rammer wrote:Blitz, always good to read your assessments. Sinkfield is playing the coach killer role right now. Thankfully the Lions have enough quality receivers to keep the ball moving the yardsticks. If Sinkfield could live up to his 1000 yard receiving season, the pressure our opposition D's would open up for our top three receivers.

JJ was let down by those three vs the Riders, thankfully the Riders decided to tank this game. I suspect it was best for Jones to offer up this game as an audition for next year's players, that way the outcome should not be held on him by the Rider management. If the Riders offered up this effort before the Riders final home game at Mosaic, I can't see them giving anymore at BC Place. If I am the Bombers mgt, I am not very happy with the Riders effort to win, but that of course is more on them for losing their game yesterday.
Rammer, its always good to read you too. You always offer an insight that makes me think.

Sinkfield is like that hot babe in high school, who is full of herself and that so many of the guys are tempted by and chasing. The one who actually wins ends up being the loser, cause he'll spend a lot of money on dinners and she'll often frustrate him and hurt him. :wink:

Or in close to the words of Forest Gump....she's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.

Buono, on signing Sinkfield:
“Terrell is an experienced and seasoned receiver who brings both skill and depth to our offence,” said Lions GM and head coach Wally Buono. “He has excellent speed which is critical to our game and he can also be a key contributor on special teams as a returner"
Sinkfield, on being signed by Wally and was fast tracked into the starting lineup:
The Lions visit the Edmonton Eskimos (5-7) on Friday, and while Sinkfield isn't sure when he will make his debut, it's clear he expects to make an impact soon."A weapon like myself, you wouldn't really want to have it on the bench," he said. "When you've got a weapon, you want to us it."
Sinkfield does has burner speed. He's played 6 games for us now and is averaging just over 2 receptions per game. He has two touchdown receptions for us and two pass receptions for over 30 yds. He averages 17.6 yds. a catch, with his average really fattened by a couple of long receptions.

Boldewijn was averaging 3 receptions per game for our Leos over his 6 games as a Leo starter but we mostly used Boldewijn as a possession style receiver.

Sinkfield has dropped one out of every three passes thrown his way. Each one of those dropped passes was a relatively easy catch to make. His dropped pass against Winnipeg led to an interception and touchdown. A number of his dropped passes were drive killers.

The most reliable play to Sinkfield has been the jet sweep. We've called the play twice over the past three games. Sinkfield got 22 yards on the first one and 16 yards last game. We didn't call the play in our last game against Edmonton, but with Edmonton playing man we should have.

Sinkfield does not run disciplined patterns, frustrates the hell out of Jennings (who is usually so poised), and he is very unreliable as a receiver.

Sinkfield has played two good games out of his 6 games. He has 246 reception yards to date. He had a good game against Ottawa (84 yds) and a good game against Winnipeg at home (96 yds) which was mostly based on one long reception of 62 yds. Over the other four games he has played for us (Edmonton, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, he's averaged 15 yds. receiving per game. That is not what Wally paid so much for.

Yes, one could argue that Sinkfield's speed opens things up for our other receivers but I haven't seen any changes. Other teams still double up on Manny and Burnham.

Khari Jones, who for most of the season was vanilla and rigid as a two by four, has made a lot of good changes offensively recently. Those changes have also included moving Sinkfield around. For most of this season, for example, if you were an outside slotback, you were an outside slotback. But Jones has lined up Sinkfield in the inside slot, at wide receiver on the boundary side, etc. but most of the time, Sinkfield has not been able to take advantage of man single coverage and he has dropped footballs.

Sinkfield could be the guy who plays a key role in winning a playoff game or a drop of his could end up losing us a playoff football game. Who knows at this point in time.

Overall, Sinkfield has shown flashes but he's also been disappointing too.

I dont' want to get going too much about the other receiver spot - our field side wide receiver - which Iannuzzi plays. Iannuzzi had one reception for 6 yds. last game and one drop. He's been our starter since 2011. He's kinda like the high school girl who was very cute and had great promise but ended up gradutating and then sitting around the house watching a lot of daytime television. :wink:

Iannuzzi averaged 169 yds. per season for us over his five previous seasons. That averaged out to 9 yds. per game. Last season Iannuzzi only had 5 receptions for the entire season - less than one catch every 3 games.

Iannuzzi is having his best season as a Leo. He has 360 yds. of receiving this season for an average of 23 yds per contest. But he has been targeted 51 times and caught 29 of them. That is a much lower percentage rate of success, in comparison to throwing to Manny, Burnham, or Gore. In other words, throwing to Iannuzzi is usually a much lower percentage chance of success, than even throwing to Sinkfield. Jennings throws a very accurate football, so no excuses.

When Adekolu came into the game late in the second half of the Ottawa game, when Gore was injured, Adekolu made a key 19 yard reception and looked poised while doing so. When Adekolu played Iannuzzi's spot in the one game against Winnipeg, (Iannuzzi was moved to Gore's spot due to Gore's injury) Adekolu had one reception and also created a 36 yd. pass interception penalty (on a throw from our 31 yard line that put the football on the Winnipeg 43 yd. line.)

Adekolu is 64", 220 pounds, with great hands and very good speed. He's also fearless. Yet we've pined him for 3 seasons to special teams. Even last season, when Iannuzzi had 5 catches for the entire season, Adekolu never saw the field.

If we even gave Adekolu some rotational reps, we could line him up in the inside slot at times in the five receiver set, put Sinkfield out wide on the wide side and run him deep, opening up Burnham while giving Sinkfield an opportunity to get open on a fly route, because Sinkfield sure as hell can't catch a crossing pattern - he's dropped 3 of them, with wide open field ahead.

I sarcastically have commented that Stephen should change his name to Mario or Luigi.

There are many good reasons to rotate personell during a season. It develops players, gets them game reps, prepares for a potential injury to the starter, uses that particular player's strengths, and can also create a different look. For example we've rotated in Lokombo and Purifoy in the past, because both bring different skill sets. We brought in Thompson to play two deep safety, taking out a linebacker or lineman and it was effective (we did it again last game with excellent results, abandoning the Bighill safety experiment). We've used Aragki as a linebacker. We rotate in defensive linemen to keep them fresh.

We also do that on offence. We use Lumbala at times or we go five receiver set. We bring in Rainey for Johnson or Allen. But not at receiver. Why not create a different look by brining in Adekolu for Iannuzzi at times. We could use Adekolu's great size and hands at inside slotback on a key possession passing down. Or we could switch Gore and Adekolu, in terms of position, for a few plays, and line up Adekolu at boundary wide receiver, where he would be a big target for a quick out or slant.

Its almost as if we are afraid to give a different receiver some rotational game reps in Iannuzzi's spot, so Iannuzzi doesn't get shown up. Iannuzzi has had special treatment since he arrived in B.C. Paris Jackson got pined for him.

For example, in 2011, when Iannuzzi was handed the starters job, while Paris Jackson was pined, Iannuzzi had 8 receptions that season on 15 targets. Towards the end of that season, Iannuzzi got hurt. Jackson came in and made some huge receptions for us, including a 51 yard reception and that one catch itself almost matched Iannuzzi's entire season total. Jackson also made two
big play receptions in the 2011 Grey Cup game. But it was back to the bench for Jackson in 2012, while Iannzzi only came up with one out of every two passes thrown his way.

I would be starting Adekulo and rotating in Iannuzzi, while putting Iannuzzi on the kick return team too for Shaq Murray Lawrence. Iannuzzi's strength is as a returner, complimenting Rainey. Iannuzzi has had 6 seasons to step up, as a receiver. Id' also be finding a way to get Blaszko or Shaq Johnson on the game day roster next season and start developing one of them for the future. However, I'd get Shaq to change his name to Carlo and Brett to change his name to Rocco.

Guess I did get going. :wink: Frustrating!!
"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)
TheLionKing
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Memo to Jones: Take note of Blitz's post. :wink:
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Lionheart
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WestCoastJoe wrote: Farewell to old Mosaic.
You mean Taylor Field
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WestCoastJoe
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Lionheart wrote:
WestCoastJoe wrote: Farewell to old Mosaic.
You mean Taylor Field
"Mosaic Stadium" redirects here. For the current Regina football stadium, see Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field.

New Mosaic Stadium - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › New_M...

Mosaic Stadium is an open-air stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan. Announced on July 14, 2012, the stadium will replace (old) Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field as the home field of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Taylor Field

(Old) Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field

(New) Mosaic Stadium

Blame the naming difficulties on the Melon Heads.
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.

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green road kill
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By reading some of the posts ,I think some people have forgotten just how big a hit the Lion D has taken because of injury.YELL,CLARKE and TJ LEE are gone, thats 75% of the starting secondary.Fenner and Gaitor were
thrown into the fire ( Babes in the woods when it comes to the CFL game)

Did this change the way MW called the D YUP

Did he do things to try and help them out Yup

Did he follow the golden rule
You don't bet the farm on a busted flush Yup

Are things getting better You betcha

We've seen in the last 2 games that the back end is starting to gell, Fenner and Gaitor are starting to play better.Seeing whats in front of them and making a play, not thinking about it. There is a big difference.
With the secondary inproving, this will free up the front 7, we'll see more stunts and blitzes and more man to man .
Fenner and Gaitor needed game time and thats what MW gave them, with the least amount of pain.
With a big game Saturday and the playoffs comming this D looks a lot better than it did a couple weeks ago.
Blitz
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green road kill wrote:By reading some of the posts ,I think some people have forgotten just how big a hit the Lion D has taken because of injury.YELL,CLARKE and TJ LEE are gone, thats 75% of the starting secondary.Fenner and Gaitor were
thrown into the fire ( Babes in the woods when it comes to the CFL game)

Did this change the way MW called the D YUP

Did he do things to try and help them out Yup

Did he follow the golden rule
You don't bet the farm on a busted flush Yup

Are things getting better You betcha

We've seen in the last 2 games that the back end is starting to gell, Fenner and Gaitor are starting to play better.Seeing whats in front of them and making a play, not thinking about it. There is a big difference.
With the secondary inproving, this will free up the front 7, we'll see more stunts and blitzes and more man to man .
Fenner and Gaitor needed game time and thats what MW gave them, with the least amount of pain.
With a big game Saturday and the playoffs comming this D looks a lot better than it did a couple weeks ago.

Well, Washinton tried to do that last season too, with a green backfield, he dropped Bighill into two deep and three deep safety for 2/3 of the season - and it didnt' work so why not do it again?

Its understandable that Washington wanted to go two deep safety while Fenner got adjusted. But why use Bighill? You take a linebacker who is a very good coverage linebacker but asking a 5'10" 230 pound linebacker to race back 20 yards just before the snap of the football, and then play deep safety is not wise.

We have 3 players who can play deep safety on the roster - Thompson, Fraser, and Parker. Purifoy can also play deep safety. Why not have Bighill cover underneath and drop Purifoy deep, if you want to rush four. Or, when rushing three, why have Aragki in the game and drop Bighill deep.

If you want 7 players in defensive pass coverage, with five playing underneath zone and two players playing two deep zone, then you have to go with one linebacker if you rush four and two linebackers if you rush 3. Makes more sense to me, to take a linebacker out of the game to rush four, or use Bighill or Sol E. on a blitz as your fourth rusher, if you want to keep both in the game. If you are rushing three down linemen, why not keep Sol E. and Bighill as your linebackers and use seven defensive backs and bring in Thompson, Fraser, or Parker - any one of them can play deep safety better than Bighill.

Another option was to have Bighill play an underneath zone position and drop Purifoy to two deep safety - if we wanted to not bring in another defensive back.

We're also not fooling the opposition quarterback, with Bighill racing back to deep safety. He can see him running back there so easily and it tips off our coverage, giving the opposing quarterback and easy read.
"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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