SammyGreene wrote: ↑Mon Jul 17, 2017 9:34 am
Was that Foucault's block who put the hellacious hit on Jennings? Somewhat overshadowed with the big win and Lulay's performance but now we hold our breath and hope it's nothing more than a bruise.
Would hardly be surprised if it's sprained or even partially separated. That was a big hit with all the weight on his throwing shoulder.
I'm with you Biltz, Green Road Kill and others who thought Travis' best days were behind him. Even on that opening series it looked too fast for him but sure enough it was almost magical to see him back in 2011/12 form and making every possible throw with quick decisions.
I'm a huge Jennings fan and hope he is back quickly but if Lulay maintains this level of play for at least another week it must change Wally's thinking somewhat moving forward. Don't think we will see the offence stall for long stretches without seeing Lulay for a series or two to perhaps change the momentum. Jennings certainly noticed to.
“I expected nothing less, but for him to come in and throw for over 400 yards is phenomenal. We haven’t had that all season,” he said. “He stepped in. That’s the role of a backup but you don’t always expect him to come in and do that. He came in and played a crazy good game.”
If Jeff Reinebold's game plan was to take away Manny and Burnham and ignore Nick Moore it didn't work. My goodness was he wide open for much of the night.
Agree with BC FAN, Blitz and others too. Go with 4 international receivers when Williams returns and adjust the ratio on the defensive line. Not getting enough from Brooks and Turner right now to justify the all-international tackles. Still say Brooks hasn't been the same player since he was hurt in the week #4 Calgary game of last year after being so dominant.
Not sold on Purifoy at safety. Seems like a far more of impact player closer to the line of scrimmage.
Very much looking forward to a steady diet of Western teams over the next 5 weeks.
We both agree that Purifoy, at this point in time, has not been the impact player at safety than he was at nickel back. Right now I believe Clarke would be the better safety. All one can hope for is that Purifoy becomes more comfortable with the position and begin playing the spot with the same aggressiveness that he played the nickel position.
Yes it was Facault's missed pass block that led to Jennings injury. But any lineman can miss a pass block in a game. Most don't lead to injury. However, Buono benched Steward for a number of games last year for missing a run block. Faucault won't get the same treatement because it would refocus on the trade in a negative light.
It looks as if Travis Lulay will get one or two starts or maybe even more, depending on how long it takes Jennings to heal up his bruised shoulder.
In an earlier post, I wrote that Lulay's arm last Saturday night looked stronger than his 2011/2012 seasons. But I was more impressed with his poise, when staying in the pocket, not bailing too quickly, going to his second and third reads, going to hot reads and check downs when Hamiltion blitzed etc. Lulay looked like a different quarterback in many ways than his earlier versions.
Yes, Hamilton's defence is abysmal so far this season but that doesn't take away what Lulay did. He was playing against pros and its not easy to say the least, to throw for over 400 yards with an 80%+ accuracy rate against any defence.
Lulay, in the past, was a quarterback who was usually at his best in the fourth quarter. It often took a lot of time for him to settle down. He was often too uptight early in games. Its a lot easier for any quarterback to come off the bench. Its a different orientation and a lot less pressure.
How Lulay will handle a starter's role or play in his next game is still up in the air. We anticipate that he should do fine. His confidence has to be sky high and he will take his momentum into his next game on Friday night. He will understand that he has been given a second life as a quarterback, in terms of starting some games and this is a tremendous opportunity.
But while the focus is on Lulay's comeback performance last game, there has been scant mention of our Leos sticking with him through thick and thin. Lulay missed a ton of games due to injury from the second half of 2012. Lulay signed a two year contract extension worth $450,000 going into the 2013 season. He got hurt part way through the 2013 season and only returned to start he playoff game against Regina, a game in which he only threw for 211 yds.
Lulay was hurt for most of 2014 and we traded our first round draft choice for Kevin Glenn, as Lulay was not ready. Lulay got his first start in Week 11 that season but only threw for 167 yds and left the game with a minute to go, with his shoulder causing extreme discomfort.
Lulay started the 2015 season for us, struggled as our starting quarterback and then suffered an MCL injury that would eventually paved the way for Jonathan Jennings.
When one looks at Lulay's injury history (especially his long term shoulder injury and throwing problems due to it), as well as his play in the 2013 and 2015 seasons, most teams would have thrown in the towel on Lulay.
Going into the 2016 season, no other CFL team was interested in Lulay as a starter nor would any team other than our Leos have been willing to pay Lulay the amount of money our Leos were willing to pay him to be a backup quarterback.
As Ed Willes said , in his article this week:
The Lions have always known they’ll get that preparation from Lulay because, at 33, he remains the consummate pro. But they didn’t know if he was still an elite quarterback, someone who could deliver the goods on the field in addition to mentoring Jennings.
The game against Hamilton turned out to be a great feel good story for both parties - it was a great story for Lulay, who had battled injuries and less than stellar play when he did play and had stayed strong mentally while in the backup role. Lulay had an incredible game, when one figures the rust that he was also playing with. But it was also a game in which our Leos organization was rewarded for sticking with Lulay, when there was no indication that his shoulder would ever fully heal.
When Jennings returns he will be our starting quarterback again. Buono learned, even though it almost took him forever to do it) that quarterback controversies don't help a team as we learned through the Dickenson/Printers saga, the Pierce-Jackson years, as well as the Printers/Lulay time period as well.
But no question Sammy, Buono will likely be quicker to make a change in the future, should Lulay continue his fine play and Jennings ever struggles. Two very good things that Lulay did against Hamilton was go to Nick Moore, when the Tiger Cats focused on Burnham and Manny and secondly he dumped off more underneath. At the same time, its easy to forget, after only one game, that Jennings has had some incredible games and his ability to threaten defenses with deadly accurate and often difficult throws is not an easy thing to find.
Lulay is the ex-girlfriend who has showed up looking hot at the party of while Jennings has become the regular girlfriend who has been a little boring of late. The roles were reversed in 2015. Perspective is always important.
I also agree with you about Brooks. He is not the player that looked so promising early in a Leos uniform. We seem to be waiting for him to show us that promise again. He might never do that. Brooks had one sack last season, rarely gets good penetration on the pass rush, and he is anything but a dominant interior tackle so far this season nor was he for most of last year either.
"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)