Leos/Bombers West Semi-Final

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Blitz
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Our 12-6 Leos play host to the 11-7 Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the West Semi-Final. The Bombers beat our Leos in both regular season contests but both games were very close.

The last time these two teams played each other in the playoffs was the 2011 Grey Cup game. In that contest our Leos prevailed over the 8-10 Bombers to win the Grey Cup. But that was then and this is now.

Our Leos have beaten Edmonton, Ottawa, and the Riders twice, since last losing to Winnipeg. The Bombers lost to Ottawa, which gave our Leos the opportunity to secure this home playoff game.

Our Leos have an explosive offence with the likes of Jonathan Jennings, Manny Arseneauz, Bryan Burnham, Terrell Sinkfield, Jeremiah Johnson and Chris Rainey. Khari Jones has made some excellent scheme changes to our offence, over the past three weeks, making it much more dynamic.

The Bombers are a possession-style offence under Nichols, preferring shorter type routes often and using their backs in the flats and on screen plays. They use misdirection play action a lot and they are committed to running the football to set it up.

The Bombers defense is a dangerous, ball hawking defense and they need to be played differently. Our Leos defense has been a passive, bend but don't break style of defense for most of this season but lately, our defense has been more aggressive and the results have been more than favorable.

The Bombers didn't play Keith Shologan, linebacker Khalil Bass, offensive linemen Travis Bond and Sukh Chungh and receiver Clarence Denmark in their last game of the season but they are expected to play against our Leos. But Kevin Fogg is seriously questionable to play against our Leos. He is a dynamic return man and a ball hawking defensive back. But the Bombers Quincy McDuffie can return kicks. He returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown — his second this season — which tied a CFL record for most kick-off return touchdowns in a season.

Our Leos suffered injuries to Jeremiah Johnson and Anthony Gaitor last game. Johnson returned to play in the game while Gaitor didn't. Both are expected to play the Bombers but Shawn Gore may not, due to concussion protocol. Stephen Adekolu started one game against Winnipeg this season and will likely draw in, along with Shaq Johnson being activated, should Gore not be able to play.

Here is a closer look at the West Semi-Final

THE BUONO FACTOR

Wally Buono has won a lot of regular season games as a Leo Head Coach. But Buono's playoff record does not match his regular season record. We are 7-7 in the playoffs under Buono, even though we were highly favored in most contests. The major reason: FEAR

Buono's teams here in B.C., too often, have played so conservatively and predictively, that its hurt us. If Buono has a penchant for punting, with less than a yard to go, inside the opposition's five yard line during the regular season, his fear is even worse during a playoff game. Khari Jones has introduced a number of new formations and plays since our loss to Winnipeg. His offensive scheme is much better prepared to play the Bombers.

The big question is whether Buono will let him run the offence the way he has the last three games or whether Buono will just want to pound the football and play for field position. Its even a bigger question for our defense, which has played very aggressively lately. Will Buono insist we go back to passive defense, hoping the Bombers will be unable to sustain drives. Buono's fear was evident last game against the Riders, when he not only reinserted Johnson but played Jennings late in the third quarter with a 33-4 lead and Chris Rainey late in the fourth quarter, with a huge lead.

Wally needs to be clear thinking in both his preparations for this game and his game calls during the game. Buono can't afford to make bad challenge calls early in this game, as he is prone to do. He needs to gamble on third and one or less, in the opposition end of the field. Buono refused to do that twice in the first Bomber contest and it probably cost us the game. McCallum kicked a 44 yard field goal last contest, so there is no reason for Buono to punt the football, as he did against Winnipeg, from the Winnipeg 35 yard line (and he has done that in the past with a good field goal kicker).

We'll need to play smart against the Bombers defense and play aggressively against the Bombers offence.

OFFENCE

Khari Jones now has the scheme to play the Bombers defense. We didn't have that scheme the last two times we played Winnipeg. From a formation point of view, Jones has numerous plays now, coming off two back sets, ace back sets, and empty back sets. He has introduced the bunch formation, which is an excellent formation against man defense. He has an arsenal of crossing patterns now to compliment our vertical pass plays. He's introduced the jet sweep.

He moves our receivers around much more, rather than locking them into their positions. For example, he now lines up Arseneaux and Burnham together on the same side or lines up Sinkfield outside. Khari has also added some misdirection play action bootlegs for Jennings. Jones even introduced the fullback screen pass to Lumbala last game, a play I have been pleading for all season.

How to we attack the Bombers defense? They play Man/Cover 2. Their man defenders will often have their backs to the football, playing tight man coverage. Last game, one of their safeties cheated up on Arseneaux's deep intermediate routes. Arseneaux had 16 yds. receiving in our last contest. Jeremiah Johnson had 51 yds. on 13 carries (3.9 yd. average). In the previous contest against the Bombers, Anthony Allen had 28 yds. rushing on 11 carries (2.5 yd. average). The message: we can't just run inside against the Bombers and its stupid to do so.

Running Game - Attack the Edge.

We have to attack the edge with our running game. It just can't be inside zone read. The Bombers stuffed our inside zone read in both contests. That means some quick toss sweeps, power sweeps, jet sweep, and most importantly we have to run the inside zone read option. Jennings has to pull the football off the inside zone read and take off outside. He needs to get down when he sees a tackler. But even if Jennings does this a couple of times early in the contest, it will prevent the Bombers ends from crashing down on our inside zone read run and it will also make the linebackers play off deeper.

With the Bombers defensive backs playing man, with their backs to the football, if we get outside, there will be lots of room to run. Play action, coming off misdirection, is also a key. If Jennings can get outside the defensive end, he will have the ability to run or pass, with lots of time to throw. Jennings ran the football for a 20 yard touchdown off misdirection play action in the previous contest.

The Passing Attack - Play Aggressive But Smart

We know the Bombers will key on Arseneaux and Burnham. They will double cover everything deep. They will double cover the deep intermediate passes too. What should we do?

1. Attack Horizontally. We can use our speed to attack them horizontally. That means lots of crossing patterns and rub routes. It means sideline patterns, dig patterns, and slat patterns that avoid double coverage. It means using a lot of bunch formations to create confusion.

2. Attack Weak Points. Think about this. If we are in a five receiver set and the Bombers are playing Man/Cover 2 they need five defensive backs and two safeties to do that. That means they only have 5 defenders to rush the quarterback as well ass cover our tailback, quarterback, the running game etc. If they rush four defenders, that leaves them one linebacker to cover Jennings and Johnson or Rainey.

Play action, with the tailback, after his fake, going out on a pattern, put the linebacker in hell. He either covers the tailback and Jennings runs or he comes up on Jennings and Johnson/Rainey are wide open. Lulay lived off that play to Harris. Secondly, it really sets up the delayed swing pass and the screen pass.

The last time we played the Bombers we ran the swing pass to Rainey far too quickly and tried to block for him. Instead, let the receivers take their man defenders deep on a pass pattern and then swing it to Rainey on a delay swing pass. That will isolate him against a single linebacker. Besides, when the tailback stays in, the Bombers often blitz the linebacker. Make it look like the tailback is blocking. Secondly, I don't even need to explain why the Bombers Man/Cover 2 is so open to the screen pass. Take the man defenders deep, let the rush come in, and we have three offensive lineman and a tailback against one linebacker.

Jones should also go empty backfield on occasion. I usually hate this formation. But if the Bombers cover all six receivers in man coverage, with two safeties, it means they will only have four defenders left. If they rush all four, Jennings can run the quarterback draw or take off inside. Or they will rush three, which will give Jennings more time to throw.

The plays we should avoid are hitch screens and the motion screen to Arseneaux. They are not good plays to run against tight man coverage. They didn't work against the Bombers in two previous contests. Forget them.

If we want to go deep, the deep guys should be Sinkfield and Adekolu. Both will likely get single coverage, as the Bombers safeties focus on Arseneaux and Burnham. Run Arseneaux on a deep post and Sinkfield on a fly and the safety will go to Manny. Run Burnham on a deep post and throw to Adekolu on a fly pattern (he is a long strider who was more open on his deep route last game than any Leo receiver this season).

We can also get away from both Arseneaux and Burnham getting double coverage by lining both together on the boundary side. We can also line up Arseneaux at the outside receiver position on the boundary side, which makes double coverage much more difficult for intermediate routes.

We have to be aggressive but smart aggressive. Avoid turnovers but don't play afraid. We need to attack but attack smart.

DEFENCE - DON'T PLAY 'GIRLY MAN' SCHEME

The Bombers like to run the football and then use play action off it, often throwing to the back. They like to dump to their backs. They like to run short possession routes. So, there is absolutely no sense in using Bighill as a safety, as we did too often in the first two contests we played the Bombers.

Our defence has played so well lately, because we have been aggressive. We've used more formations, we've blitzed more often, and we've stunted a lot. Let Biggiie and Sol E, be linebackers who can come up on a quarterback. Let our defensive backs play tighter defence, as we have lately.

Andrew Harris really hurt us in both contests that we played the Bombers. There is no sense dropping Sol E. and Bighill into underneath coverage and leaving Harris alone in the flat. If Harris goes to the flat, the linebacker on that side has to attack him quickly. At times, on passing downs, it would even be wise to assign Purifoy to Harris with man coverage.

Even if Westerman can play, we need to dress both Bryant Turner Jr. and Brooks. Bryant Turner Jr. has played very well. Use him and Brooks and line up Menard at defensive end. Then bring in Westerman (or Forde) and line up Roh at defensive end. Its really worked for us. Roh plays his best football when he is rotated with Menard. Bazzie got a sack last game because he was not crashing down as often, worrying about the run too. Our defensive ends need to focus on containing and pressuring Nichols, off play action boots. They can't do that, over worrying about the inside run. With Brooks and Bryant Turner Jr. that is not a problem (or hasn't been)

For second and long, take a linebacker out and put in an extra defensive back. Bighill plays best when he is not being asked to be a linebacker and a safety. But most of the time we don't need to play Zone/Cover 2. Zone Cover 1 is enough against the Bombers offence. It's better suited for their shorter passing attack. The big question is ..will Wally want us to play Cover 2 because he is too passive.

SPECIAL TEAMS

This is a game that we need to use Rainey on offence more than usual. At the same time, we want Rainey as a special teams weapon. To do that, we need to give Iannuzzi a punt return to keep Rainey fresh. We also need to use either Sinkfield or Iannuzzi on the kick return unit, alongside Rainey.

But the key is that we have Paul McCallum, who shockingly kicked a 44 yard field goal in his first game back, with room to spare. He put it right down the middle. He also kicked his three other field goal attempts confidently. Had Leone been able to kick a 30 yard field goal against Winnipeg at home, we would have won that game. Had he not missed in Winnipeg, instead of gambling on third and one, with Rainey, we would have been kicking the game winning field goal.

We are very fortunate that McCallum was willing to sign on. Wally had met with McCallum at training camp in 2015 and asked him to retire or Buono would cut him. But when it came to signing McCallum a week ago, Wally didn't phone McCallum. Instead he asked Neil McAvoy to contact McCallum.

To make matters even worse, McCallum had asked to pay Wally the air fare and join our Leos for the trip to Saskatchewan, for the closing of Mosaic, but Buono refused, using the precedent excuse. But an exception should have been made for McCallum, a long time Leo vet who had also had a long career in Saskatchewan and played there his last season - after Wally tried to get him to retire. It was a special occasion.
Flights to Regina from Vancouver are infrequent and inconvenient. And so, goes the story, Maple Ridge realtor Paul McCallum hoped to catch a ride on the Lions’ charter flight to Regina for the farewell game at Mosaic Stadium on Oct. 29. The former Roughrider kicker was prepared to pay $1,000 for a return trip on the Lions’ Air North carrier, but Wally Buono was cool on the idea, apparently not wanting to set a precedent. A day later, McCallum, who flew commercially, received a phone call from the Lions head coach, seeking his services to replace the struggling Richie Leone. McCallum, 46, went four-for-four on field goal attempts Saturday on his return to the CFL.
Then Leone missed his kicks in Saskatchewan and Wally was stuck needing McCallum desperately to bail us out. McCallum could have told Wally to take a hike, after being asked to retire by Wally or be cut and then Wally would not even treat him with a little consideration regarding the flight. But McCallum took the high road. I also bet he got enough money out of Wally that the commercial flight McCallum had to take to Regina ended up being paid for... :wink:

Thankfully, we have McCallum for this playoff game. Hit or miss, I would rather have McCallum kicking field goals in a close contest. I'll live with the result.

WRAP

We need to play smart, aggressive football. Our coordinators have shown recently that they can game plan and play call with smart aggressive football. That was the way we won lately and got this home playoff berth. Hopefully Wally will let them continue what they are doing so very well, recently.

It's a huge playoff game. Our Leos have the talent to win this game. We are a better team than Winnipeg. We should be highly motivated.

Go Leos!!!!! :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar: :roar:
"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)
Blitz
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A few stats to ponder, as our Leos prepare for the Bombers.

OFFENCE

Our Leos averaged 29.6 points per game this season. The Bombers averaged 27.3 points per contest. We averaged 395.4 yards per game of offence. The Bombers averaged 357 yards of offence per game.

Our Leos rushing attack averaged 111.8 yds. per contest and a league leading 5.4 yds. per rush, aided by Rainey's mind blowing 8.6 yds. per carry and Jennings ability to run the football. The Bombers averaged 85.8 yds. per game (4.8 yds. per rush)

We passed the football for an average of 301 yds. per game while the Bombers averaged 286 yds. per game. Our Leos averaged 9.2 yds. per pass while the Bombers threw for an average of 7.6 yds. per pass. Those shorter passes led to the Bombers completing 70.4% of their passes while we completed 66.7% of our passes.

We threw 17 interceptions this season while the Bombers threw 12. Both our Leos and the Bombers gave up 35 sacks this season. Tge Bombers turned the football over 29 times on offence while we turned it over 33 times. Considering how often we challenge deep, this stat was interesting.

Head to head this season, our Leos threw for 422 yards in the first contest (73.3%) while the Bombers threw for 233 yds (69%). We rushed for 91 yds in that game while the Bombers rushed for 108 yds. Total Offence B.C.: 513 yds. Total Offence Winnipeg: 324 yds.

In the second contest, our Leos passed for 327 yds and rushed for 103 yds for a total offence of 430 yds. The Bombers passed for 301 yds. and rushed for 89 yds for a total of 390 yds.

Over the two games with Winnipeg, our total offence was 943 yds whereas the Bombers put up 714 yds. So why did we lost both contests? The factors come down to Buono refusing to gamble on third and one, missed field goals, interceptions, the inability to convert on second and twos, a failed third and one, and fumbles.

Medlock was 10/10 in field goals against us while Leone missed three field goals in our two contests against Winnipeg, including a 30 yarder.

DEFENCE

Our Leos gave up 25.6 points per game while the Bombers gave up 25.5 points per game, almost equal.

Defensively, the Bombers gave up 416 yards per contest, while our Leos only gave up 342 yards per contest. We gave up an average of 73 yds. rushing per game, while the Bombers gave up 87 yds. rushing per game. Our pass defence gave up 297 yds passing per game, while the Bombers gave up 345 yds. passing per game.

We tied for the most sacks in the CFL this season with 52 sacks. The Bombers only had 35 sacks.

So what was the big difference in both defences, Well our defense was better in almost all categories than Winnipeg's defence, which isn't as good as its made out to be except for this:

The Bombers defense had 30 interceptions and we had 9 interceptions. Those turnovers helped the Bombers defence, in terms of points scored against and also helped out the Bombers offence tremendously. The Bombers defense caused 25 fumbles while our Leos defence only created 14.

Add those two stats us and the Bombers defence created the opportunity for 55 turnovers to our 23. A significant factor,

So, if we can avoid turnovers, while moving the football, and even create a couple of turnovers ourselves, while not allowing the Bombers to march downfield with short passing plays, we should win this contest. We are the much better 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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B.C.FAN
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Blitz wrote:So, if we can avoid turnovers, while moving the football, and even create a couple of turnovers ourselves, while not allowing the Bombers to march downfield with short passing plays, we should win this contest.
I couldn't have said it better myself. :wink:

Turnovers were the key to the Bomber turnaround this season. The Lions gave away the two regular-season games against the Bombers (or Winnipeg stole the two games) because the Bombers scored 26 points on nine B.C. turnovers, two of which came while the Lions were in scoring territory themselves. The Lions didn't have to win the turnover battle to beat the Bombers in those two games, they just had to make one or two fewer turnovers per game.

Mike Beamish has a good article on how turnovers keyed the Bomber turnaround this season.
Turnover, Manitoba, is not a destination. It’s an attitude — one that has enabled the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ turnaround from 5-13 a year ago to 11-7 in 2016, a vastly improved record that has earned them a playoff date for the first time in five seasons.

That game is Sunday afternoon at B.C. Place Stadium, in the West Division semifinal against the Lions, a team the Blue Bombers have defeated twice this season by ripping out the football, pouncing on mistakes and pilfering passes that lead to easy scores.

Winnipeg led the Canadian Football League with 59 forced turnovers on fumbles, interceptions and losses on downs. The Lions finished at the bottom of the circuit, in a tie with Saskatchewan, at 27 takeaways.
Jonathon Jennings has never beaten Winnipeg, and threw one-third of his 15 interceptions this year against the Bombers. He knows he can't afford to do that again in the playoffs.
“I’ll definitely be checking out some of that old Winnipeg film. I’ll be ready. Clearly, the difference between us and them this year is turnovers. We haven’t played a clean game against them. We gave away too many opportunities. Once we do something to change that, the rest of our game plan should be fine.”
Jennings has the right attitude, and has played much smarter football since the two games against Winnipeg. It doesn't require a wholesale change of the Lions' attacking philosophy. They just need to be a bit more careful.

Beamish: Tougher test ahead for Lions after easy win over Riders
Lionsfan65
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I really wouldn't be surprised to see the Lions win this one. Both regular season losses to Winnipeg were close, with turnovers and missed field goals being the difference. To put it simply the Bombers didn't beat the Lions, the Lions beat themselves. Jennings has been smarter and more careful with the football over the past few weeks, and the addition of McCallum has shored up the kicking game with Paul going 6/6 on his attempts including PATs for 14 total points. He has never missed a field goal in the playoffs for BC and that could be a big factor this weekend.

It will probably be another close game where a field goal may be the difference.
Blitz
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Blitz wrote:So, if we can avoid turnovers, while moving the football, and even create a couple of turnovers ourselves, while not allowing the Bombers to march downfield with short passing plays, we should win this contest.
I couldn't have said it better myself. :wink:

Turnovers were the key to the Bomber turnaround this season. The Lions gave away the two regular-season games against the Bombers (or Winnipeg stole the two games) because the Bombers scored 26 points on nine B.C. turnovers, two of which came while the Lions were in scoring territory themselves. The Lions didn't have to win the turnover battle to beat the Bombers in those two games, they just had to make one or two fewer turnovers per game.

Mike Beamish has a good article on how turnovers keyed the Bomber turnaround this season.
Turnover, Manitoba, is not a destination. It’s an attitude — one that has enabled the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ turnaround from 5-13 a year ago to 11-7 in 2016, a vastly improved record that has earned them a playoff date for the first time in five seasons.

That game is Sunday afternoon at B.C. Place Stadium, in the West Division semifinal against the Lions, a team the Blue Bombers have defeated twice this season by ripping out the football, pouncing on mistakes and pilfering passes that lead to easy scores.

Winnipeg led the Canadian Football League with 59 forced turnovers on fumbles, interceptions and losses on downs. The Lions finished at the bottom of the circuit, in a tie with Saskatchewan, at 27 takeaways.
Jonathon Jennings has never beaten Winnipeg, and threw one-third of his 15 interceptions this year against the Bombers. He knows he can't afford to do that again in the playoffs.
“I’ll definitely be checking out some of that old Winnipeg film. I’ll be ready. Clearly, the difference between us and them this year is turnovers. We haven’t played a clean game against them. We gave away too many opportunities. Once we do something to change that, the rest of our game plan should be fine.”
Jennings has the right attitude, and has played much smarter football since the two games against Winnipeg. It doesn't require a wholesale change of the Lions' attacking philosophy. They just need to be a bit more careful.

Beamish: Tougher test ahead for Lions after easy win over Riders
I was just parroting your wisdom B.C.Fan. :wink:

It was more than late game interceptions and missed field goals that cost us against the Bombers. Wally kicking field goals on third and less than one, on the Bombers 5 yard line hurt us too, as did punting from the Bombers 35 yard line, rather than go for third and one. We also struggled mightily on second and two situations. It wasn't all on Jennings either. We didn't get a third and one play with Rainey in Winnipeg and Rainey also fumbled in our game with the Bombers in Vancouver.

Buono using up his challenges, often with dum challenge calls has meant that we couldn't challenge later, when there was a good case to do so.

More than enough mistakes all around in those two losses. But we did put up a lot of offence against the Bombers.

Another huge factor which is not looked at is that we put up a lot of points against the Bombers but our defense didn't play well either - way too passive, playing prevent defense against a possession passing team, and giving up the flats to Harris. Too much of the two losses were pinned on our offence, due to the late game mistakes, but if our defence had played better, we would not have been in the late game situations we found ourselves in.
"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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B.C.FAN wrote: Turnovers were the key to the Bomber turnaround this season. The Lions gave away the two regular-season games against the Bombers (or Winnipeg stole the two games) because the Bombers scored 26 points on nine B.C. turnovers, two of which came while the Lions were in scoring territory themselves. The Lions didn't have to win the turnover battle to beat the Bombers in those two games, they just had to make one or two fewer turnovers per game.
The Bombers scored approximately a third of their total points directly from turnovers. So of their 497 points scored, roughly 165 came about from turnovers.

That is a massive total; almost the air in the lungs of their turnaround this year. That is a touchdown and field goal worth of points a game. Probably too simplistic a breakdown of their turnover points but it shows to what extent they needed those points to win. It couldn't be more apparent IMO...cut out the turnovers and the Leos should/will win.

I also hope the special teams will bring the house early in the game in an attempt to block some of Medlock's punts. Try to rattle the guy, get him out of this rhythm in an effort to negatively impact both his field goal proficiency and punting. He is responsible for 220 of the Bombers points this year. So test it early to see if the Bombers are prepared to protect him; if they are then settle on setting up blocks for Rainey's returns.
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Confirmed, Fogg will not play Sunday.
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Robbie
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Blitz wrote:The last time these two teams played each other in the playoffs was the 2011 Grey Cup game. In that contest our Leos prevailed over the 8-10 Bombers to win the Grey Cup.
Actually in 2011 the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had a 10-8 (not 8-10) regular season record and finished 1st in the East Division. And that game was played on November 27, 2011 and the Lions finally avenged the Grey Cup loss exactly 23 years earlier on November 27, 1988. And coincidentally, this year's Grey Cup will be played on a November 27, as was the 1983 and 1994 Grey Cups.
Blitz wrote:But that was then and this is now.
So how about a comparison between the 2011 and 2016 Winnipeg Blue Bombers? I'll start off by saying that perhaps Matt Nichols is slightly more dangerous than Buck Pierce.
Lionsfan65 wrote:McCallum has shored up the kicking game with Paul going 6/6 on his attempts including PATs for 14 total points. He has never missed a field goal in the playoffs for BC and that could be a big factor this weekend.
Well if you count the all important 2011 Grey Cup game, McCallum was 4 out of 5 in field goal attempts.

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The CFL Staff have made their own position matchups:
http://www.cfl.ca/2016/11/07/head-to-he ... tern-semi/
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Blitz
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[quote="Robbie
Lionsfan65 wrote:McCallum has shored up the kicking game with Paul going 6/6 on his attempts including PATs for 14 total points. He has never missed a field goal in the playoffs for BC and that could be a big factor this weekend.
Well if you count the all important 2011 Grey Cup game, McCallum was 4 out of 5 in field goal attempts.
McCallum made all 36 of his previous playoff field-goal attempts for the Lions, including a team-record six-for-six in the team’s 2006 Grey Cup win, and holds the CFL record for the longest field goal ever made at 62 yards. He also has the second-highest field goal total, behind only Lui Passaglai, and in his final season hit 38 of 42 field goals for a league-best 90.5 per cent success rate.
McCallum, who practiced with the team Tuesday afternoon at the team’s training facility in Whalley, said he has no hard feelings towards the 24-year-old who ultimately took his old job, despite his public bitterness after being asked to retire five days into the Lions training camp in June 2015.
I have read over and over again that McCallum was 36/36 in the playoffs for our Leos. I know you are very good with stats Robbie, so perhaps it is 35/36 but that is not the stat most football people seem 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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cfl.ca looks at our Leos/Bombers Playoff and ranks each unit. They believe that McCallum could be a deciding factor.
Head to Head: Who has the edge in the Western Semi?

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TORONTO — We thought a home-and-home that went Winnipeg’s way solidified the team with the advantage between these two but we were wrong.  The Lions have taken care of business since and secured home field advantage which could loom large. CFL.ca looks at which team has the advantage at each major position heading into Sunday’s Western Semi-Final in Vancouver.

Quarterbacks
Matt Nichols revived the Bombers this year while Jonathon Jennings has taken the next step in his sophomore season. Both have been key to their teams being successful but the 24-year-old Jennings is more explosive and can also get it done with his legs.
ADVANTAGE: BC


Running backs
The Lions have the country’s best rushing attack but the Bombers have one of the league’s best all-around backs in Andrew Harris. The dual-threat Harris can do it all and will be a player to watch in the Western Semi-Final.
ADVANTAGE: WINNIPEG

 
Receivers
The Lions’ offence has its own Team 100 with Bryan Burnham and Emmanuel Arceneaux – quite possibly the CFL’s second-best duo of receivers. Add Terrell Sinkfield’s speed and that group is a handful for any secondary.
ADVANTAGE: BC

 
Offensive line
Antonio Johnson and Jovan Olafioye bookend one of the CFL’s most dominant offensive lines, the same one that’s paved the way for the league’s number one rushing attack. Winnipeg’s front five has progressed this season but the Lions get the nod.
ADVANTAGE: BC


Defensive line
Alex Bazzie is unstoppable at times while Mic’hael Brooks is an imposing figure in the middle, helping the Leos rank 2nd in the CFL with 50 sacks. The Bombers on the other hand have struggled to generate pressure while Jamaal Westerman’s sacked only 8 QBs.
ADVANTAGE: BC


Linebackers
The Bombers have a very active group of linebackers led by Ian Wild, Maurice Leggett and Khalil Bass, but it’s hard to argue with Team 100. You can’t simply avoid Solomon Elimimian and Adam Bighill while Loucheiz Purifoy can make plays too.
ADVANTAGE: BC


Defensive backs
While the Lions have done a nice job overcoming injuries to their defensive backs, Winnipeg boasts the CFL’s number one secondary and it’s not particularly close. That unit has forced a league-high 29 INTs. The next closest team? Hamilton with 17.
ADVANTAGE: WINNIPEG


Return game
Bombers rookie Kevin Fogg has been electric but there’s word he may not play. In the end, it’s hard to imagine BC wouldn’t have the advantage anyway – not with Chris Rainey lining up to return kicks. Rainey is just about untouchable in the open field.
ADVANTAGE: BC


Kicking game
It’s hard to weigh place kicking against punting. The Lions have the best punter in Richie Leone but face questions when it comes to FGs, while Justin Medlock is as good of a place kicker there is. It’s hard to ignore the fact that a 46-year-old Paul McCallum could be a deciding factor.

ADVANTAGE: WINNIPEG
"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)
Lionsfan65
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Blitz wrote:[quote="Robbie
Lionsfan65 wrote:McCallum has shored up the kicking game with Paul going 6/6 on his attempts including PATs for 14 total points. He has never missed a field goal in the playoffs for BC and that could be a big factor this weekend.
Well if you count the all important 2011 Grey Cup game, McCallum was 4 out of 5 in field goal attempts.
McCallum made all 36 of his previous playoff field-goal attempts for the Lions, including a team-record six-for-six in the team’s 2006 Grey Cup win, and holds the CFL record for the longest field goal ever made at 62 yards. He also has the second-highest field goal total, behind only Lui Passaglai, and in his final season hit 38 of 42 field goals for a league-best 90.5 per cent success rate.
McCallum, who practiced with the team Tuesday afternoon at the team’s training facility in Whalley, said he has no hard feelings towards the 24-year-old who ultimately took his old job, despite his public bitterness after being asked to retire five days into the Lions training camp in June 2015.
I have read over and over again that McCallum was 36/36 in the playoffs for our Leos. I know you are very good with stats Robbie, so perhaps it is 35/36 but that is not the stat most football people seem to have.


I was at the game and I would swear on a stack of bibles that McCallum didn't miss a field goal that game, however according to the Wikipedia page for the game he had a field goal bounce off the uprights from 48 yards. The game stats page on the CFL website no longer exists so I can't know for sure. Maybe I'm just getting forgetful in my young age. :dizzy:
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Lionsfan65 wrote:I was at the game and I would swear on a stack of bibles that McCallum didn't miss a field goal that game, however according to the Wikipedia page for the game he had a field goal bounce off the uprights from 48 yards. The game stats page on the CFL website no longer exists so I can't know for sure. Maybe I'm just getting forgetful in my young age. :dizzy:
Game stats on cfl.ca are here and play by play is here. See Play #97:
97 3 7 W41 Field Goal (7:35) Missed Field Goal W48 (41 yds)
Ball hit the upright - dead ball 9 14
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Robbie
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Lionsfan65 wrote:I was at the game and I would swear on a stack of bibles that McCallum didn't miss a field goal that game, however according to the Wikipedia page for the game he had a field goal bounce off the uprights from 48 yards. The game stats page on the CFL website no longer exists so I can't know for sure. Maybe I'm just getting forgetful in my young age. :dizzy:
McCallum did indeed miss a field goal attempt at a crucial point in the 3rd quarter. See below.
B.C.FAN wrote:Game stats on cfl.ca are here and play by play is here. See Play #97:
97 3 7 W41 Field Goal (7:35) Missed Field Goal W48 (41 yds)
Ball hit the upright - dead ball 9 14
:yes:
Blitz wrote:
Robbie wrote: Well if you count the all important 2011 Grey Cup game, McCallum was 4 out of 5 in field goal attempts.
McCallum made all 36 of his previous playoff field-goal attempts for the Lions, including a team-record six-for-six in the team’s 2006 Grey Cup win, and holds the CFL record for the longest field goal ever made at 62 yards. He also has the second-highest field goal total, behind only Lui Passaglai, and in his final season hit 38 of 42 field goals for a league-best 90.5 per cent success rate.
McCallum, who practiced with the team Tuesday afternoon at the team’s training facility in Whalley, said he has no hard feelings towards the 24-year-old who ultimately took his old job, despite his public bitterness after being asked to retire five days into the Lions training camp in June 2015.
I have read over and over again that McCallum was 36/36 in the playoffs for our Leos. I know you are very good with stats Robbie, so perhaps it is 35/36 but that is not the stat most football people seem to have.
Okay, I've verified that there are a lot of articles mentioning: McCallum made all 36 of his previous playoff field-goal attempts for the Lions
such as this one:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/?sn-article=vet ... -b-c-lions
And that article was written and published by the Canadian Press.

But sports writers and reporters have certainly reported and published incorrect factual information before this example is definitely one of them because McCallum certainly did miss a field goal attempt in the 2011 Grey Cup.

Midway in the 3rd quarter with the Lions clinging on to a 14-9 lead after Winnipeg put 9 unanswered points, Paul McCallum attempted a 48-yard field goal attempt that hit the right field goal post and bounced back to the field, making it a dead ball and left the score at 14-9 Lions. Here is the 2011 Grey Cup game in its entirety again:
[video][/video]
And that missed field goal starts at around the 1:30:00 mark.

That missed field goal could have been very costly for the Lions as the Blue Bombers still could have taken the lead if they scored a touchdown and completely taken all the momentum. Fortunately the Lions defence stood up and prevented the Winnipeg offence from scoring for a while and fortunately McCallum was able to redeem himself by making the next field goal attempt to give them some breathing room at 17-9. That successful field goal seemed to shift the momentum back to the Lions and sparked the offence to score two more quick touchdowns in their next two possessions to essentially put the game away at 31-9 with less than four minutes to go.
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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The Bombers had the best road record in the CFL this season, winning seven of their nine games away from Investors Group Field.

That mark is even more impressive considering both of their road losses came in Calgary against a Stampeders team that lost just two games all season. In one of those, the Bombers erased a 24-0 lead and led in the final minute of the game before Calgary marched back to kick a game-winning field goal.

On an aside, I'm still thrilled that Khari Jones called a fullback screen for the very first time ever, as an OC here in B.C. Its one of my favorite plays. However, Jones, who will probably never run the play again, needs to make a slight adjustment. On the play, Lumbala lined up right as a split back, came into the middle to block and then slid to his left. However, with his linemen in front of him, the Riders defensive end was able to pursue from behind and knock the football out of Lumbala's grip.

A suggested way to run the play, would be to line up Lumbala as the split back on the boundary side. Put Rainey into the game and have him run a swing pass to the wide side of the field. Have the two boundary receivers take their man deep. Lumbala should chip the defensive end on the boundary side and then slide a step or two to his left. Jennings takes the snap, looks to his right quickly, then downfield, and then dumps the ball to Lumbala behind Olofioye, Steward and Husband who have made a quick block and then slid to their left.

This would ensure that the defensive end on the far side is not able to pursue the play because the offensive line and Lumbala are a couple of steps further to the left. Its also an easier play for Lumbala.

The Bombers play man/Cover 2. No play is better designed for it than the fullback screen to the boundary side. Still hoping for it. Lumbala sure ran well against the Riders. He has looked possessed with his very infrequent opportunities this season. Lumbala has 4 carries this season for a 11.5 yd. average. He has 1 carry over 20 yards and one carry over 10 yards.

In receiving Lumbala has 13 catches for 70 yds. (8.8 yd. average). Good things usually happen when the football is in Lumbala's hands and good blocks happen when its not.
"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)
Blitz
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Some background history for this game from the folks at the CFL.
But what’s also interesting about Sunday’s matchup between the Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers at BC Place is the rarity of it all.

The Lions haven’t played in a semi-final game at home since 1986 and have only ever played two semi-finals at home period:

Most interesting are the parallels.

While home playoff games in general have been a rarity the last half decade for the Lions — BC’s last home playoff game was in the 2012 Western Final, an eventual loss to the Calgary Stampeders — their only two home Western Semi-Finals have both come against Winnipeg.

The Lions went on to win both of those games, a 33-32 nail-biter in 1977 and a 21-14 edge in 1986, before bowing out each time in the Western Final.
"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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