Lions 39 - Eskimos 19 Post Game Stats and Comments

[bbang]

I commented to my buddy sitting beside me at the game on how loud the crowd was when joseph was under centre. We were only 1 minute into the game and the place was super loud after the reilly pick, when edm. went on offence. I believe that edm. called a timeout at one point in the third because they were definitely on the verge of taking a time count due to the noise. And yes those thundersticks work really well, my wrist still hurts from beating those all game long ( on defense only of course )

[TheLionKing]

Anyone know the attendance tonight at BC Place?

Didn't announce it at the game but it was a good crowd. The end zones were quite full.

[TheLionKing]

This was my favourite game of the year so far at BC Place stadium.

Some (including me practically EVERY GAME) like to moan/complain about the gameday/stadium presentation stuff. Was it purrfect tonight? NO, but it was a dramatic improvement, IMO.

1. They used the newish decibelmeter throughout the game.

2. They seemed to tone down a bit on the 'LETS MAKE SOME NOISE' being screamed into a microphone (perhaps because we were making noise?).

3. Almost every play was replayed! Of course replays are sponsored by an advertiser now (Global, IIRC) but at least I get to see them. The only one I wish I could have seen but missed was the Edm punt that brushed off a BC player only to be recovered by an Eskimo (who was charged with no yards....).

4. Stats were updated relatively quickly after every quarter and just before the third quarter kickoff there was a video montage of the big replays from the first half!

So, IMO, a really big to the Lions/BC Place for the gameday stuff tonight. Dramatic improvment but keep it up, theres more to do, IMO.

As for the football. Brown the returner looked a lot better until later in the game. Esks were obviously kicking away from him as balls hit the turf and his returns were shorter. Was really nice to see him used in the running game too.

I was not surprised Reilly had a good game. He's looked good, IMO every other time he's stepped on the field. Starting is something different though and he passed with flying colours, IMO. The BC defensive stand after Reillys pick really seemed to jack the crowd up.

It was one of those games were the stats they were showing in the stadium should have meant a huge lead by the Lions heading INTO halftime but alas it was still a healthy six.

The final quarter was a joy to watch. Realizing the Lions were clinching another Western divison title and there are still a couple games left to go in the regular season. What can a Riderfan say on November 3rd? That game may still mean a lot to them so I really hope the Lions lay into them....

Oh well, I'm gonna catch what I can of the first half again, now. The game is replaying on TSN2 at midnight.....

And there were challenges.

[sj-roc]

Didn't announce it at the game but it was a good crowd. The end zones were quite full.

It was announced early in the 4th quarter as 30,102. The four lower bowl end zone corners in particular looked by far to my eyes to have their greatest occupancy so far this year. As repeatedly noted here, these as the poorest seats for their penultimate pricing category, just before the start of the cheapest tickets along the back of the endzone.

[WestCoastJoe]

Nice to see Akeem get off the launching pad.

Reilly comes out throwing, no doubts.

Taylor great tough grab.

Esk D giving Harris the respect he deserves. Kept him relatively in check.

Kick coverage a concern.

3-4 bringing a ton of pressure by Stubler. Jailbreak.

Westerman awesome. 8 men blitzing at times. Ha ha

TB great middle run.

Reid's man beats him clean. FG 10-7 end of 1st Q ... Big TOP ad for BC.

...............

Edm no answer for BC pressure.

Reddick and Smith sack. 10-10

TB beautiful return.

Nick Moore finds holes in the D.

EJ great on the end around.

TJ Hill nice strip after a Taylor near catch.

Bighill runs down Joseph.

LaRose two bad penalites in a row on STs.


MR great scramble. Nice shovel to TB.

Helluva game plan by JC.

Procedure on ... umm Valli.

NFL idiots criticized MR's throwing motion. Gheezus. Even though they liked his intangibles, et cetera.

EJ should have had the TD catch IMO. One handed it. Gave up on it.

Solo misses a tackle on Charles. And I disagree with the notion that guys like Solo and Mitchell intimidate opponents. Nahh Not at the pro level.

Another great return by TB. Nice block by Gesse.

FG 48 yards. 16-10

Westerman draws a holding call. Blown coverage, overthrown.

Shake and bake Brown. 16-10 end of Q2.

................

How good are pumpkin heads and orange Lions unis for Halloween? Ha ha

Horse collar on Arakgi.

Pressure by Lions.

Harris. Reilly.

Valli beaten clean by his man. Loss for Harris.

I feel sorry for Valli, but he is a liability for our team.

Beautiful sack by Williams. Nice commentary by Suitor.

Tough D by Schmos.

Reid beaten clean for a sack. FG 19-10.

Nice tribute mention of Bobby Ackles.

Banks saves a TD, trips up Charles.

(Banks loved playing for Joe Pao Pao, and credits the Ottawa fans.)

Dayo ... Ha ha

KJ ice cold.

EJ nice run on a short pass.

Beautiful shovel to TB.

Nice run by MR.

Laurent runs over Reid for a sack.

Solo gets blocked out nice scramble by KJ.

19-12 end of Q3.

..............

Love Shawn Gore. Very quick, great run.

FG 22-19.

Suitor, "Williams is arguably the best rush end in the league."

Beautiful misdirection play. Way to go, JC.

Gore two catches. Head shot on Gore by TJ Hill. Recovery by Taylor.

Shaddap Suitor, making excuses for head shots.

Nice drive. Moving pocket.

Reilly to Moore. Practice buddies. 29-19.

Hello, Ottawa.

Phillips int.

Harris. FG 32-19.

Jordan two sacks.

TB TD.

[WestCoastJoe]

Some overall impressions.

Fantastic game plans by JC and Stubes.

Great game by Reilly.

Brown.

Williams.

Smith.

Westerman.

Jordan.

Character win.

We let the Eskimos hang around and it almost cost us.

Great bunch of recievers.

One can see that EJ was a running back at one time. He and Gore are terrific on the end arounds.

Nick Moore is hitting his stride.

Taylor is a keeper.

The Schmos focused on Harris, as they should, but our versatility came through.

Tough game. Close for 48 minutes. KJ was so so, and lucky on the TD pass.

Very happy for Lulay's buddy, who has been very patient. Hello, Ottawa. Actually he might well be gone before then.

Character. Character. Character.

[DanoT]

Best comment of the night was from the TSN half time show. Randorf: "Well, the CFL is going to need to add another team to the Power Rankings.....the BC Lions Backups" lol.

I commented before the game that Mike Reilly who is a free agent in 2013 is likely to go and sign with the Esks. What an audition that was!

Here's my Lulay and Reilly are roommates on the road and good friends. Reilly is only 2 years younger than Lulay so they have both known for a while that if they are both going to have successful pro careers, it won't be on the same team.

Scenario #1: Lulay plays out his option in 2013 with the intent of going to the NFL in 2014, so Reilly signs with the Lions in 2013, with the intent of being the Lions starter in 2014. Not all that likely, imo because like the last two CFL star QBs to test the NFL waters, Dickenson and Ray, Lulay will be pencilled in as a "NFL career backup" and as far as I know get similar pay to a top paid CFL QB. So playing and staring in the CFL is a better option for a top notch CFL QB, especially for Lulay who is more of a classic CFL roll out QB than a stand in the pocket classic NFL QB.

Scenario #2: Lulay resigns with the Lions in January 2013 for long term big $ (by CFL standards), then in Feb. when Reilly becomes a free agent he signs with Esks who have the most cap room at QB and are in the greatest need since KJ, although playing well, at 41 is best being a back up or retiring in 2013.
With Lulay getting big $ some other vets with big contracts may get traded, released, or asked to play for less $., or asked to retire.

[Blitz]

Wow, it was an exciting game to watch and a huge win for our Leos, in that we clinched first place in the West (and can rest who we want to or need to in the next two weeks) We put a lot of points on the boaard....I think our second highest point total for the season. Anyway, here are my post-game thoughts.

THE GOOD

We came into this game with a rookie starter in Mike Reiley, who had thrown the football a total of 9 times prior to this game. Reilley, after a quick interception to start the game (which would have rattled most first time starters) rallied back with a beautiful deep ball to Akeem Foster and a touchdown throw to Courtney Taylor. Reilley threw for 275 yards against a very tough Edmonton defense which was only one sack behind our Leos going into this game as well as leading the league in interceptions. More on Reilley in my wrap.

Rich Stubler had an outstanding game plan for the Eskimos. The guy is brilliant. He used both the 3-4 and 4-3, disguised his blitzes very well and brought them from everywhere. He blitzed the hell out of Joseph early and often. By the end of the game Joseph had completed 6 passes our of 24 attempts (and Joseph was coming off 2 impressive performances). We got excellent push inside from Jordan and Westerman, Keron Williams was a stud out there, Smith had another understated and solid game, and BIghill showed that he is a better middel linebacker than Eliminian ever was (so that is saying something,

Our pass defense, overall, while giving up a few big plays, was impressive. With Joseph having little time to throw, when he was not being sacked, gusy like Dante Marsh and Phillips (who was snake bitten but had excellent coverage all night.

Offensively, once again Nick Moore led the way as our go to receiver. It was great to see us use Akeem Foster. Courtney Taylor is the real deal. Tim Brown looked very good in our running attack.

IN terms of game planning I thought Chap did a great job in the first quarter and the fourth quarter but came out way too conservative in the second and third quarters and it hurt us. There was a time when you couldn;t get Chap to run the football with a 50 point lead and two minutes left in a game. This time, Chap kept runnng the football inside with Harris when it was obvious that Edmonton was playing our run in the second quarter. In the second half Edmonton decided to bltiz the hell out of Reilley and Chap adjusted to it slowly, needing to give Reilley some quicker hitting pass plays. However, with that caveat Chap once again did some outstanding things, which included the tremendous variety of running plays we utilize as well as really moving the pocket around for Reilley.

Tim Brown had another excellent game in the return game. Brown stuggled, for the most part, early in the season and our Leos were starting to look for other options. Howeer, in his last number of games Brown has been really impressive. If he can get that first block and find space he is very dangerous and shifty. Once again, Browns returns came at key times and were a key to victory. MCCallum went 6/6 in the field goal kicking department and hit a couple of long ones..his field goal kicing is still a tremendous strength for our Leos,
THE BAD

Even with a huge win against a highly motivated opponent, there were areas of needed improvement as there always is with any team in any game. Here are a few:

As noted by cromartie and others our interior offensive line is not good enough. It was bad enough to see Angus Reid knocked 3 yards into our backfield on a quarterback sneak a couple of games ago. In this game, he had his butt handed to him on a platter in the second half, with regard to his pass blocking. Ounce again Valli got a key procedure call aganst him and played mediocre. Kabongo was the best of the three but not much better. It was obvious that the three couldn't open holes in our running game either, with Hraris going 12/44, Our running attack workd so well because we scheme it so well and because we have talent at the tackle postiions, and because Harris and Brown are so good..not because these three are opening big holes.

Defensively, Ryan Phillips had such great coverage all night but should have had 4 interceptions ...and mistimed his leap that went for an Edmonton touchdown but it was also an unlucky play. My favorite Lion, Korey Banks was bum chasing in the first half and was beaten deep 3 times and fortunate on a couple of them. (however Banks came back to have a great second half including a great tackle that saved a touchdown)

Mike Reilley, in the third quarter, against the blitz, really needed to get the ball out of his hands quicker. It was the same kind of thing that Lulay struggled with earlier this season against the blitz. Yes, the protection was not great at times but Reilly needed to make quicker reads or quicker throws and instead he got sacked too often. However, one can't be too tough on him for that...just an area that he will get better at with more experience, as Lulay has.

THE UGLY

McCallum's punting still looks like a crap shoot on every punt. He really needs to get his punting fixed before the playoffs. He has been such a great directional punter in the past and not a guy who ever shanked many. He has shanked more this season than he has in all his previous seasons with our Leos.

WRAP

I've decided to wrap this edition of THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, In West Coast Joe style. Kudos to Mike Reilley on a very succesful first start as a Leo.

Leadership
Patience
Character
Team Player
Mobile
Hard working
Intelligent
Makes Throws into Tight Windows
Great Deep Ball
Tough
Excellent at Crunch Time
Resilient

[Blitz]

....and here is how the Vancouver Sun and Lowell Ullrich wrote about Reiley's performance...

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Life of Reilly Improves with pivotal win in impressive Showing

There were great moments, like the 27-year-old from Kennewick, Wash., dropping a 47-yard thing of beauty over coverage and right into the hands of Akeem Foster on the team’s second offensive series, displaying a nice touch. And two medium-range bullets he zipped into tight places to Nick Moore and Foster during a second-quarter drive, showing off a big arm. The shovel passes to Tim Brown, revealing some flair and ball-handling skill. A couple of impressive runs. Decent feet for a big man.

Vancouver Sun

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Three Down Football: Relley gets the Job done

First down: The players in the locker room might say they knew Mike Reilly was capable of getting the job done, but the truth of the matter is nobody knew until he delivered for the Lions Friday in their 39-19 win over the Edmonton Eskimos.

And now that they know the time they’ve given Reilly they know it wouldn’t be unreasonable to offer him another contract at the end of the year before he becomes a free agent.

The start wasn’t slick, with Reilly getting picked off on the first offensive series. But it was clear throughout he knew the offence and for the most part made the right decisions. It was exactly what Travis Lulay needed in order to rest a shoulder he admits is giving him problems, but will now be given whatever time he needs to heal before the Nov 18 West Division final.

Lowell Ullrich

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I really believe, hwoever, the key to our offensive success is not the quarterbackplay or Harris, or our receivers, or our offensive tackles.although all of those are important. The key is our offensive scheme and our play calling, the diversificiation of our running game, our misdirection/motion style of offence and the fact that we can attack offensively in so many different ways.

[South Pender]

Just a brief observation: On the Reilly interception early in the game, I noticed that Ernest Jackson wasn't even looking for the pass. In my opinion, that interception wasn't entirely on Reilly. Jackson, had he been properly tuned-in, might have caught the pass, but, failing that, probably could have prevented Sherritt from intercepting it.

[SammyGreene]

I really believe, hwoever, the key to our offensive success is not the quarterbackplay or Harris, or our receivers, or our offensive tackles.although all of those are important. The key is our offensive scheme and our play calling, the diversificiation of our running game, our misdirection/motion style of offence and the fact that we can attack offensively in so many different ways.

Couldn't agree more Blitz. Yes, no doubt Roy, Wally and company have done a fantastic job recruiting talent. But also says something about the scheme when you can plug and play five different starters on offence last night and still put up big numbers. This is what Kavis Reed had to say about the Lions offence via a TSN clip:

"BC had a phenomenal game plan and they executed it to perfection.

Jacques had a wonderful game plan. He moved the pocket, changed up the launch points and had the shovel pass working. It took a lot of pressure of the young guy where he didn’t have to make too many decisions."

http://watch.tsn.ca/cfl-news-and-highli ... clip788416

Sometime during the summer of 2011 the light bulb went on for Chapdelaine and he ditched the old Hufnagel/Cortez philosophy and there has been no turning back. BC is now ahead of the curve when it comes to a diverse offence. Heck, it's got to the point where a receiver end around is routine. Sure is fun to watch and I'm guessing fun to play too given how everyone is involved.

Sometime in February Reilly is going to owe Chapdelaine a nice dinner for that significant raise he will get as a FA quarterback as I'm sure some team will be bucking up for him.

[agent2]

Took my gang of ten and sat in first two rows os the top deck at the 30YL, great vantage point, although with so many empty seats up there you kinda feel out of the crowd. Letting the esks hang around in the middle part of the game was worrisome but Joseph was simply terrible down the stretch and our D was as awesome as ever. Unfortunately Lulay's hunt for the TD Pass streak ended last night.

[Blitz]

I really believe, hwoever, the key to our offensive success is not the quarterbackplay or Harris, or our receivers, or our offensive tackles.although all of those are important. The key is our offensive scheme and our play calling, the diversificiation of our running game, our misdirection/motion style of offence and the fact that we can attack offensively in so many different ways.

Couldn't agree more Blitz. Yes, no doubt Roy, Wally and company have done a fantastic job recruiting talent. But also says something about the scheme when you can plug and play five different starters on offence last night and still put up big numbers. This is what Kavis Reed had to say about the Lions offence via a TSN clip:

"BC had a phenomenal game plan and they executed it to perfection.

Jacques had a wonderful game plan. He moved the pocket, changed up the launch points and had the shovel pass working. It took a lot of pressure of the young guy where he didn’t have to make too many decisions."

http://watch.tsn.ca/cfl-news-and-highli ... clip788416

Sometime during the summer of 2011 the light bulb went on for Chapdelaine and he ditched the old Hufnagel/Cortez philosophy and there has been no turning back. BC is now ahead of the curve when it comes to a diverse offence. Heck, it's got to the point where a receiver end around is routine. Sure is fun to watch and I'm guessing fun to play too given how everyone is involved.

Sometime in February Reilly is going to owe Chapdelaine a nice dinner for that significant raise he will get as a FA quarterback as I'm sure some team will be bucking up for him.

I loved reading your post Sammy Greene. Yes, "JaquesBall" with its misdirection/motion structure is really fun to watch. You said the 'light switch' went on in 2011..I always have believed that Chap went to bed one night and was visited by the Ghosts of Football Past, Present, and Future and woke up a changed man. Who knows why he changed but he did and its great to watch.

An example of what Chap sets up. He puts Ernest Jackson in motion. He can hand off to Harris and fake to Ernest, he can fake to Harris and hand off to Ernest. He can fake to Harris or Ernest or both and sprint out and throw to two receivers. He can fake to Harris and then come back to the shovel pass to him (or Brown) if he is in there. Before the snap he has people moving around everywhere.

Congrats to Harris for his accomplishment of breaking 1000 yards. Also congrats to Benevedes, who now has the record for the most wins of any CFL rookie Head Coach in CFL history (and there are a lot of names on that list including Buono)

[David]

I love that shovel screen that we run. Just when the defensive lineman thinks he has the quarterback dead to rights, BAM!, the running back is 10 yards down the field. I also like the hand-off to the receiver who's in motion, although I tend to think that it works a little better with Ernest Jackson than Kierrie Johnson just because he's harder to bring down when he gets up a head of steam.


DH

[Hawkballer 14]

Congrats to the BC Lions, 2012 West Division champions. Next up, win the Western Division Final November 18th.

From where I'm sitting, I'd love to see MB dress the exact same line-up next week in Calgary. Give Travis, Geroy and Arlen one more week to get healthy; run the starters for maybe the first half against Saskatchewan.

And that Reilly kid is pretty good, another win for the "Wally Buono QB Factory".

Off-topic, it was great to see Buck Pierce get a win yesterday. As much as I wanted to see Winnipeg do the right thing and shut BP down for the season, it felt great to see him out there with a smile on his face.