The Stamps are an outstanding team that was a purrfect 9-0 at home this season. Our Leos are an excellent road team that went 6-3 away from home in 2016. Lets have a closer look at this game.
LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES. YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET
Forest Gump said "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get'. We don't know what the outcome of this game will be but we do know what we are going to get.
We are also getting a game in which the opposition (our Leos) has the best chance to beat the Stamps. We beat the Stamps at home this season and we outplayed them in Calgary in our second game of the season. The only other loss the Stamps experienced this season was when they rested Bo Levi Mitchell and a few other regulars at the end of the season.We are getting the two best teams in the CFL in the West Final. We are getting a game between two teams that really should be the Grey Cup game
The reality is that the talent between both of these teams is very, very close. That could be seen in the first game, when we defeated the Stamps at home. It could be seen in the second game, in Calgary, when Jennings threw for 374 yards to Bo Levi Mitchell's 364 yards as the very inexperienced Jennings outdueled Bo Levi Mitchel for most of the contest.
But in the third game, in B.C. the Stamps superior coaching showed up.
The Stamps went Man/Cover 2, mixing in some Zone/Cover 2 against our explosive passing attack and shut our offence down. Khari Jones had no answers. That game became the formula for almost every opposing defensive coordinator in the league.
The Stamps defence shut down our offence so bad that Jennings was pulled afer a mind numbing 45% completion rate, with no one open to throw to and Lulay couldn't move the offence either. The Stamps pitched a shutout against our offence in the second half of the game and we didn't score a touchdown in the entire game. Offensively, the Stamps rolled for 37 points against our defense as Bo Levi Mitchell completed 74% of his passes for 340 yds of passing.
What should have been a very close contest between two equally talented teams, that had battled each other down to the wire in the first two contest, turned into a wipeout for the Stamps.'The Legend" Wally Buono had been completely outfoxed and outsmarted by former Leo and rookie Head Coach Dave Dickenson.
Jones made some major adjustments to our offence in the final three games of the season - more crossing patterns, using the tailback in the passing attack, moving receivers around more, more motion, the bunch formation,and some shorter routes while also adding a sprinkle of new plays as the fullback screen, the fly sweep, the fullback cross block for the inside zone read, and even added one zone read option last game (which was critical to open up our inside zone read by keeping the opposing defensive end honest and also convert some second and short run plays that we were getting shut down on in the last part of the season.
But defensively, we haven't changed a lot of things, except to use Bighill, at times, as a two deep safety or a three deep middle safety. Our defensive performance has slipped in the second half of this season, while our offence has gotten better. We put up 529 yards of offence against the Bombers in the West Final.
A key change was the very late addition of Paul McCallum, which provides the calm knowledge that we have a field goal kicker that can be relied upon more than Leone.
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES
When Forest Gump said "Stupid is as stupid does' he was saying that our previous actions tell us everything. You either repeat the past or you learn from it.
We don't have to outcoach Calgary but we cannot let them outcoach us, like they did in the last time we played them in the regular season. How do we ensure that doesn't happen?If we want to win this game we cannot be outcoached.
Most important of all, we need our coaching staff to better mentally prepare our players for the start of the game.
Byran Burnham said, after the West Semi-Final that Wally has 'presence'. No question that he does. But 'presence' can be both a good thing and a bad thing.
This season was a turn around season, mostly due to Jonathan Jennings. But Buono has also had a very positive effect on this Leos team. His presence, his high expectations for players performance, his demandingness, his brutal honesty in talking to players, his willingness to give the room to his vet player leaders, have all played at role in turning this team around too.
Some of that is due to predictability. Buono's philosophy has been "Keep on keeping on', which basically has meant doing the same things that got us there. In the playoffs, Buono is not going to do what Paul LaPolice did to us in the first half of last weeks game and surprise. If life is like a box of chocolates, with Buono you know what you are going to get. His argument would be 'try to stop us'.Wally Buono has a record of too many poor starts in playoff games.
But Buono's teams in the playoffs have come out nervous, uptight, and mistake prone too often. You could see the pressure and nerves in Buono's face in the last few contests as he badly wanted a home playoff berth and also to win the Semi-Final. He's lost his temper on the sidelines more in the past few games than he did all season, when he was much calmer for most of this year.
Buono needs to get back to being more composed and confident before a game.
His players will sense that and perform better to start the game, instead of being all nervous and therefore lose focus. Buono is a fighter. Our Leos fight like he does should we be down. We'll play to the final whistle. Buono doesn't give up and hates to lose. His players reflect that. But Calgary is a team that will be difficult to 'fight' back if we give them too much of an early lead.
Ryan Phillips, who was one of many Leos badly beaten in the first half of the Semi-Final, when we gave up 25 first half points said "It was the simple things that were killing us in the first half,” said Phillips. “Busted coverages, a lack of communication. Things we had been doing for 18 weeks". Sol E added "We were making a lot of dumb mistakes in the first half. I feel like in the first half we let our Then we recomposed ourselves.”
No truer words could be said.Ryan Phillps comments "We have to go out there mentally focused. That team (Calgary) is not going to let us come back from a deficit like that. They don’t kill themselves. They are a disciplined team.”
We also need to be well prepared for Calgary, game plan wise. Last game, against the Bombers our offence was mostly very disciplined. We played very smart, passionate offensive football. Every player made key plays for us on offence. The early fumble was unfortunate and just a very good football play.
When the Bombers stopped us on second and two early in the game, we ran the zone read option for the first time this season the next time on second and short, It worked and changed the complexion of the game for our running attack. Jeremiah Johnson, realizing the Bombers were really focused on stopping our inside zone read inside, cut hard outside on some impressive cut back runs.
We need to add a quick toss play to stretch the defense with our run game. If Calgary is willing to run a lot of sweeps with Messam, there is sure in the hell no reason why we shouldn't be doing the same with Rainey and Johnson.
We used our other receivers and were not Manny-centric or Burnham-centric. Jennings threw his most passes to Stephen Adekolu (5 receptions). He hit Iannuzzi with key passes on the final drive. We used Rainey on sideline routes for two key second downs, rather than just trying to hit him with a swing pass that would have been stopped.
But three coaching errors cost us. The first was throwing to Arseneaux and Burnham right off the 'get go'. That led to Arseneaux hurting his ankle on the first reception breakup and an interception early on a comeback route. The comeback route was a pre-designed primary read. Had Khari Jones read Lionbackers all week he would have been advised not to throw early to our two primary receivers because that was what the Bombers would be keying on early.Khari Jones and Jonathan Jennings both did exceptionally smart things in the Semi-Final. You don't put up the numbers we did without doing a lot of smart things on offence.
Spreading the receivers out means the quarterback needs more time for the throw and running them deep also means he needs more time to throw. The football is on the three yard line. Thirty yard throws make no sense at all and they are designed plays.Secondly, we blew converts by having our receivers so spread out and then having them run deep patterns into the end zone, when a simple bunch formation, with a quick throw would be so much wiser.
The controversial Loffler hit on Arseneax has created a lot of attention this week for good reason. Manny was vulnerable and badly hurt. But the play should never have happened in the first place. Why doesn Jones have Manny running a deep route over the middle against Cover 2. The only reason that Manny should have been running that route was to be used as a decoy.
We've lived by the sword for most of the season with our vertical passing attack. Defenses were giving up a lot to try to stop it. We avoided throwing into double coverage all game, except for that one play to Manny. Now he is hurt. Even if Loffler had held up on the hit, it was a pass we should not have thrown. It was a route that should not have been in the playbook for this game.Calgary defensive tackle Turner, who will suit up for the Stmaps this game said "They want to command the line of scrimmage, run the ball and throw that deep ball to Manny (Arceneaux).”
But our offence has been outstanding for so long now, in terms of racking up yards and putting points on the board.
Oh really!! Washington was not prepared to play the Bombers. We knew Nichols would use misdirection sprint outs and we had no plan to stop that. We knew early they would go to the flats and we had our linebackers playing the hook zones. Once again, all Washington would have needed to do was read a few Lionbackers posts and he would have had his defense better prepared.Its our defence that is letting us down too often, although they have come up with coming up with key stops late in games. But they have relied too much on our offence in the second half of this season. Mark Washington said, after the game "The reason I don’t have hair is because of the first half. “We changed our scheme a little bit (in the second half).
When we 'adjusted' Sol E. came up hard to the flat area against Harris and we shut that down, and prevented Harris from breaking free. in the second half we managed more pressure, forcing Nichols to hurry some throws. We also shut down Winnipeg’s short passing game in the second half and we held the Bombers to two field goals in the second half.
On the last Bomber drive of the game, after we had shut down the Bombers offence all second half, by keying on their short passing attack, Washington ran Biggie back to safety on that final drive. It was a good thing that Bazzie knocked down that second down throw from Nichols. The Bombers were throwing short to drive to field goal range and we had Bighill 30 yards back covering nobody.If Washington wants to keep whatever hair he has remaining, he needs to get smarter a lot quicker...like before a game rather than half time. He also needs to get smarter and not be so fearful at the end of a game too.
MAMA SAYS THEY WERE MAGIC SHOES. THEY COULD TAKE ME ANYWHERE
Jonathan Jennings wore magic shoes in the West Semi-Final. His two running touchdowns were critical to our victory. His last touchdown run the 'Immaculate Run' led us to victory. His option run, off the zone read, was very important to opening up our running attack that put up 193 yds. of rushing between Johnson, Rainey, and Jennings.
Jonathan Jennings is the best pure passer I have ever seen play in the CFL and that includes Flutie, Cavillo, Brock and all the quarterback greats. As a Leo quarterback Kapp was tough as nails, Tagge was fearless, Dewalt a good long ball thrower, Dickenson was accurate in the short and intermidate range, Printers could throw very well on the run, Lulay was an excellent double threat quarterback when he got outside, but none of them can throw like Jennings.
When Mike Beamish seemed to be angling for Lulay to take over the starters spot a few games ago I was upset. This Leo team needed Jennings badly to win. Jennings has Buono's back for very good reasons. Buono may not make the best third down calls but he knows greatness in a quarterback when he sees it in game action.His accuracy on the long ball is unworldly. He can flick his wrist, while off balance, and throw a bullet 30 yards into a tight window.
Tedford may have discovered Jennings but Wally was wise enough to know what he had. I highly doubt that Buono would have returned to the sidelines this season, if he didn't have Jennings as his starter or recognize the talent on this team at the end of last year.
Bo Levi usually has all day to throw. But if we want to beat the Stamps, we'll need to take advantage of every tool in our tool box. A big advantage that Jennings brings is his ability to run.If I had the choice of Bo Levi or Jenings as my quarterback I would take Jennings.
Against Man/Cover 2, the defensive backs often have their backs to the football. If Manny plays, and perhaps even if he doesn't, the Stamps will play Cover 2. That gives them five in the box against our spread set. If they rush four, that means their middle linebacker has to cover both the tailback and Jennings. Can't be done if Jennings will run. But we'll need to use misdirection play action.
Khari Jones needs to PLEASE STOP using the quick swing pass to Rainey. Instead, he needs to use Rainey differently, using him on patterns and delays out of the backfield. Same thing for Jeremiah. The screen pass will be there also, as will the quarterback draw.Jennings must also be willing to take off outside, if no one is open and the middle linebacker covers the tailback. If he doesn't then we throw to the tailback. Easy peasy, if we are wiling to do it.
ALWAYS BE ABLE TO LOOK BACK AND SAY I DIDNT' LEAD NO HUMDRUM LIFE
Our Leos brain trust needs to face facts. You don't beat a team like Calgary playing afraid to lose.
We can't play 'hide under your mother's dress' defence. We're the underdogs.
The Stamps only allowed 20 sacks this season. They have a multi-dimensional offence. They rotate in all their receivers. They put up the most points in the CFL. We can't just leave Bo Levi to sit in the pocket all game, eating a hot dog, while looking downfield for an open receiver because he will find one. We can't just blitz the hell out of him either, because the Stamps have the best anti-blitz offence in the CFL. But we can't be passive. We really have to mix things up.
Our defense tied with Calgary for most sacks in the CFL, but other than the Riders game, when we had 7 sacks, we've done a lousy job of getting quarterback pressure and sacks for too long now. We have the lineup to do it. Bazzie has to have a big game. Menard has made a big difference to Roh's play but this is a game that Roh has to really step up. Bryant Turner Jr. really adds to our lineup inside, complimenting Brooks and Westerman. We should have been using him all year.
We can't just use the Bighill/Sol E. A and B gap blitz. The Stamps will be ready for it and their offensive line is excellent. We need to blitz Sol E. and Biggie differenty and use Lokombo and Purifoy on some blitzes. We also have to play Calgary's receivers tighter than we usually play most team's receivers. Calgary is too good to just sit back and hope that mistakes will be made on throws or we can just come up and make tackles short of the first down.
In other words, we can't just play hum drum defence.
We have to be well prepared, with a great defensive game plan and be ready to play from the opening whistle...or Washington will have no hair left at the end of this game. In other words we have to play a smart but an aggressive smart game.
WE WERE LIKE PEAS AND CARROTS
Jonathan Jennings and Manny Aresneaux have been like 'peas and carrots' this season. They have been a joy to watch play together. Bryan Burnham has had an exceptional season - he is fearless, as well as talented.
.But, as Jennings is our cool, poised, determined general and leader under pressure, Manny has been the heart and soul of our offence. I would love to see Manny play. It will be so much tougher to win without him.
But we can, if Manny can't go.
If Manny can't go, we'll have to either insert Douglas McNeil a 6'3", 200 pound receiver who can run the 40 in 4.46. Athletically he’s really impressive, he has a 36-inch vertical leap, he has long arms and is very good at catching the ball at its highest point. Its either him or speedy Shaq Johnson or alternating them.Cauz said, after the West Semi-Final, "It’s easy for a good quarterback to look elite when everything is going your way, but what about when you’re down 25-6 with fewer than two minutes in the first half? What about when you lose you best target, in this case Emmanuel Arceneaux, who was knocked out of the game with seven minutes to go in the third quarter?
It’s far easier for any signal caller to succeed when you’re playing with a lead with a healthy team and the opposing defence has no idea what you’re going to do. Go back and watch that game-winning drive by the Lions and you’ll see Jennings convert four second downs culminating with that touchdown run. In all of the chaos Jennings looked like the calmest player on the field.
We came back with two long winning touchdown drives using Adekolu, Iannuzzi, Sinkfield and Burnham. All will have to step up if Manny is not able to dress.
NEVER LOSE YOUR SENSE OF WONDER
No matter what happens in this game, we've seen some special things this season.
Its been my favorite seasson of all of them and I don't need a Grey Cup victory to still feel that way. Its magical to see a young quarterback like Jennings lead so many game winning drives. Its been special to see the Manny Show performing at its best. Its been inspiring to see Burnham make so many plays with his hands, his feet, and his heart.Just when you think you've seen it all and are almost jaded, this season has been invigorating and special
Its been 'out of my chair excitement' to see Chris Rainey cut on a dime and leave defenders wondering what happened or to see him stick his head into the middle of the defense and come out of a pile like lightning. Its been gratifying to see my faith in Hunter Steward rewarded by knocking huge defensive tackles on their back or pancake a linebacker. It was joyous to see Stephen Adekolu, a player I wanted to see play badly, come up with five key receptions in a playoff game, when he only had two career receptions going into the game against the Bombers.
Its been inspirational to see Sol E. recover from a brutal Achilles heal injury to once again be the CFl's best defender.
Its been satisfying to be patient and finally see our Leos brain trust finally go with Bryant Turner Jr. instead of Darius Allen, rotate in three defensive tackles with Brooks and Westerman comprising the other two parts of the trio and using Menard, as well as Row at defensive end.
Its been a treat to watch Anthony Gaitor play with so such aggressiveness and celebrate victories with such joy or watch a Purifoy make a game saving tackle with so much heart and hustle. Its been memorable to see a 46 year old retired field goal kicker in Mcallum, whom I didn't want us to let go, come back out of retirement and with only a short week of practice, be purrfect in his first game back and hit a longer attempt as well - amazing. And its been gratifying to see Wally Buono, even though he drives me crazy at times and frustrates the hell out of me too, return to the sidelines at 66 years old and have such a successful season.
This season has made the Cardiac Kids seem dull, the Joe Kapp 1964 season seem almost ordinary, and the Dewalt led Grey Cup season almost uninspiring in comparison. Its made the 2000 season seem mediocre in comparsion and the 2006 season a diminished memory. Only the 1994 and 2011 seasons compare but it didn't have as many exciting moments.
I DONT' KNOW IF WE HAVE A DESTINY OR IF WE'RE JUST FLOATING AROUND ACCIDENTAL LIKE A BREEZEThere have been so many special plays and special moments, its almost been surreal.
I don't know if our Leos players have a destiny or we're a breeze.
Our Leos led the CFL in rushing. The Stamps have the CFL's leading rusher. Both quarterbacks are leaders. Both offences threw for a lot of passing yards. Our offence averaged 401 yds. of offence per game this season. The Stamps offence averaged 398 yds. per game. But with a better field goal kicker for most of the season, the Stamps scored more points.But one thing I do feel is that these Leos players have played their hearts out for each other and have a special chemistry that the Football Gods have sent down from above.
The Stamps gave up the least points in the CFL this season - an average of 20.5 points per game. Our defence was third in the CFL- giving up an average of 25.2 points per contest. Both teams tied for the league lead in quarterback sacks. Our Leos gave up an average of 398 yds. per contest while the Stamps gave up 399 yds. average per contest.
Both defenses were the excellent against the run (Calgary 72.4 yds. per contest, B.C. 72.7 yds. per game). Calgary gave up 290.2 yds. per contest while we gave up 291.4.yd. average per game. Both teams were the least penalized teams in the league.
Its a huge game on Sunday. Win or lose, this Leos team will fight the good fight. I hope our coaches will give them every tool to play the best game of their lives. The odds are against us.
Go Leos!!May the Football Gods be with us.
