BC vs. Edmonton Game Thread

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TheLionKing
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Student vs. The Teacher

Hope the offensive line continue with their improvement from last week.
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WestCoastJoe
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Stop Charles

Mix things up on D for Reilly

Run the ball with Harris

Protect Lulay
............

And, as Jimmy Johnson would tell his team:

Ya gotta make plays.

Ya gotta protect the ball.
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JohnHenry
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Two pretty evenly matched teams. The Esks have the edge in rushing with H. Charles and John White, who could be effective outside. Harris did have some rushes up the middle last game but the Lions could soon give up on that against Sherritt...leaving them with Arseneaux on the end-around but without the speed to make the corner.

It boils down to the passers. It's doubtful the Lions DE's will be able to contain Reilly, he could kill us with his scrambling, but can he find his receivers down-field? That is the key to the game, Reilly scrambling and completing some long passes. If he can do that, the Esks can win. But Lulay with his pin-point accuracy and timely scrambles should be good for 30 points...and hopefully the Lions victory!

:roar:
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DanoT
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JohnHenry wrote:Two pretty evenly matched teams. The Esks have the edge in rushing with H. Charles and John White, who could be effective outside. Harris did have some rushes up the middle last game but the Lions could soon give up on that against Sherritt...leaving them with Arseneaux on the end-around but without the speed to make the corner.

It boils down to the passers. It's doubtful the Lions DE's will be able to contain Reilly, he could kill us with his scrambling, but can he find his receivers down-field? That is the key to the game, Reilly scrambling and completing some long passes. If he can do that, the Esks can win. But Lulay with his pin-point accuracy and timely scrambles should be good for 30 points...and hopefully the Lions victory!

:roar:
I don't believe that Esks have the edge at RB. IMO Harris is better than Charles and Elimimian is a better MLB than Sherritt. One of the reasons that Sherritt set a record for tackles last season is because the Esks D was on the field so much of the time.

As far as Reilly completing long passes, Stubler coached teams usually are good at keeping everything in front of them, bend but don't break. :roar:
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MexicoLionFan
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The Lions proved last week that they are a very good football team...the Offence will get better each week, and the STs have to improve...I think its another win for the Leos...I expect a huge game from Lulay tonight, watch for it...
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DanoT wrote:
JohnHenry wrote:Two pretty evenly matched teams. The Esks have the edge in rushing with H. Charles and John White, who could be effective outside. Harris did have some rushes up the middle last game but the Lions could soon give up on that against Sherritt...leaving them with Arseneaux on the end-around but without the speed to make the corner.

It boils down to the passers. It's doubtful the Lions DE's will be able to contain Reilly, he could kill us with his scrambling, but can he find his receivers down-field? That is the key to the game, Reilly scrambling and completing some long passes. If he can do that, the Esks can win. But Lulay with his pin-point accuracy and timely scrambles should be good for 30 points...and hopefully the Lions victory!

:roar:
I don't believe that Esks have the edge at RB. IMO Harris is better than Charles and Elimimian is a better MLB than Sherritt.
Our weakness in the ground game, in my opinion, has been between the tackles. Harris has made some plays off-tackle and outside, but we lack the quick, deep punch up the middle when we need it.
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notahomer
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Hope Harris gets to roll. Let those OL give some smack and they'll be more able to pass protect later.

Love to see some longball in there too......

If the D plays like they did against the Argos, I'm gonna enjoy this game regardless of the end result (obviously still want a dominating Lions win in all three phases). Its especially tough, IMO, to watch our D get pushed around. Hope they bring their A game (or would that be their D game?).

Special teams will be interesting to watch. Gotta figure they are headed in two directions here. OUR KICKING, seems to be settling into O'Neill but our returning has been ?????.

All in all, a nice way to spend a warmish July evening, IMO. Fridge stocked, cold KFC to munch on. All I am looking for is a solid LIons effort and we get these guys again in a weeks time........
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David
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Interesting article in a Viriginia newspaper today on Thomas DeMarco. The part I don't quite understand is highlighted below. Did the writer mean "short yardage" plays (but this isn't new. DeMarco has run them before in Weeks 1 and 2?

By Harry Minium
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 13, 2013
NORFOLK

It was a crisp October day in 2011 and senior quarterback Thomas DeMarco was on a roll. He had thrown three touchdown passes for Old Dominion, which would defeat Massachusetts to claim its first victory over a Top 25 team.

But late in the first half, on a simple power run play, DeMarco went down awkwardly while being tackled. A defensive end rolled over his ankle.

He'd been injured before and had always recovered quickly. But every time he put weight on his ankle, he felt unbearable stabs of pain.

At halftime, after his injury was evaluated as a severe sprain, DeMarco said tears began rolling down his cheeks.

"I probably cried harder than I had in my entire life," he said. "I knew I was done."

True freshman Taylor Heinicke played the second half against UMass and immediately became ODU's star.

That was difficult for DeMarco to swallow. He had been the face of the program in its first 2 1/2 seasons. Yet he played only sparingly the rest of his final college season.

"My career could have ended right there," he said.

Remarkably, his career was far from over. Thanks in part to his own grit and determination, DeMarco has carved a niche with the Canadian Football League's British Columbia Lions.

Last season, he was BC's third-string quarterback. This season, he is the backup for the Lions, who play at Edmonton tonight in a game to be televised by ESPN2 at 9:30.

ODU coach Bobby Wilder, who also lost his starting position as a senior quarterback at the University of Maine, said that in his 26 years of coaching, "I can't think of a greater example of anyone turning a setback into a comeback."

DeMarco's pro aspirations looked bleak when ODU's season ended. His ankle didn't truly heal until months after the season, which cost him precious workout time as he prepared for pro tryouts.

He had thrown for 51 touchdowns and 5,732 yards and rushed for 1,456 yards and 30 touchdowns at ODU, where he is still the school's career rushing leader. But he stands 5-foot-10, doesn't have great breakaway speed and is a good, but not great passer.

During ODU's Pro Day, he held a clipboard for NFL scouts interested only in defensive linemen Ronnie Cameron and Eddie McClam.

"They made it very clear they weren't interested in anyone else," DeMarco said.

He then tried out for six CFL teams, driving from Norfolk to Richmond, Jacksonville and Atlanta for tryout camps. In Atlanta, he slept for six hours at a Motel 6 before dragging himself out of bed for a tryout, in which no one showed any interest.

During his sixth and final tryout, in the wind and rain in Washington, D.C., he caught the eye of the BC Lions. Neil Mc-Evoy, the Lions' director of player personnel, said none of the half dozen quarterbacks there could throw the ball with accuracy in the rain except DeMarco.

"His passes were whistling," he said.

The Lions offered DeMarco a two-year deal, contingent upon him making the team.

He barely made the cut and threw just 13 passes last season. But the Lions liked what they saw, and traded backup quarterback Mike Reilly to Edmonton during the offseason.

This season, DeMarco played most of the second half in two exhibition games for the Lions, completing 18 of 37 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns. He hasn't played in BC's first two regular-season games, losses to Calgary and Toronto, but said he expects to play tonight. The Lions have several plays in their offense tailored to him.
Adjusting to the CFL and its different rules have been challenging. The field is longer and wider than American football and it's a three-down, 12-player game in which wide receivers and running backs can sprint toward the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped.

"A corner route is 60 yards here whereas in American football, it's 35 yards," he said. "Last year was a very difficult adjustment. But I learned so much. The best way to describe training camp this year is that it was fun. I was so much more comfortable with everything."

DeMarco said his experience last year made him understand how much he needed a career beyond the CFL. It isn't known how much DeMarco makes, but with a minimum salary of $45,000 and an average salary of $83,000 in the CFL, he's not getting rich.

"I realized how quickly I could be cut," he said.

He approached Wilder and Mark Benson from ODU's fundraising foundation, looking for advice. They put him in contact with Kim Curtis, who heads Tidewater Home Funding.

"Kim made it clear he had to earn a position with the company," Wilder said.

His resume popped. In four years of junior college and at ODU, DeMarco earned an undergraduate degree in business management and a master's in business administration. Curtis, an ODU alumnus and booster, had met DeMarco and said she was impressed with his intelligence and respectful manner.

But she wondered, was he truly serious about the mortgage business?

"I was so wrong," she said. "He was a star quarterback at Old Dominion and plays in the CFL. But he didn't expect people to roll out the red carpet for him. He's serious. He's worked hard."

He's now a licensed mortgage loan officer for Curtis for eight months out of the year.

Although he's a California native, DeMarco now calls Hampton Roads his offseason home. He lives with Pat and Charles Core, a couple he met from ODU, in their Chesapeake home.

"I have friends in the Norfolk area that I consider family," he said.

"I appreciate every day how blessed I am to be doing what I'm doing. I love football so much, and it's not like I could hang my hat on my senior season.

"I didn't want it to end that way."

And thanks in large part to his determination, it didn't.


LINK


DH :cool:
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Very interesting piece, David--even with the typical sloppy journalism. Tom DeMarco seems from this, and other things we've learned about him, to be a really first-class young man. Whether or not he has a long career in the CFL, my prediction is that he'll succeed in life.
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WestCoastJoe
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Very nice article by Harry Minium of the Virginian-Pilot. :thup:

Thanks for sharing that, David. Good find. :thup:

The more we get to know about Thomas DeMarco the less surprised I am by his sterling character. Academic success. Career awareness. Football achievement beyond seemingly everone's expectations.

Well done Neil McAvoy seeing the potential with this rather amazing young man. :thup:

Thomas DeMarco ... I am a believer.
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cromartie
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Cuthbert. Finally.
zark
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I just got off the Shmoes forum. About all they could talk about tonights game is the weather and their fight song. Kind of sad really. Not much info about their team. Their last home game attendance was over 35,000 against the Riders.
The Lions got 25,000 out to see the Argos.
The Shmoes played on Saturday.
The Lions played on Thursday.
The Argos had 18,000 on Thursday against the Riders. Thursday games don't really work.IMO!
That being said, I hope Lulay uses the long ball more often.
Go Lions Go! :beer:
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Coast Mountain Lion
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DanoT wrote:
I don't believe that Esks have the edge at RB. IMO Harris is better than Charles and Elimimian is a better MLB than Sherritt. One of the reasons that Sherritt set a record for tackles last season is because the Esks D was on the field so much of the time.

As far as Reilly completing long passes, Stubler coached teams usually are good at keeping everything in front of them, bend but don't break. :roar:
And Sherritt's record for tackles masked the fact that the majority of those tackles were on a ball carrier who had already gained significant yardage by the time he got to him.
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B.C.FAN
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Coast Mountain Lion wrote:
DanoT wrote:
I don't believe that Esks have the edge at RB. IMO Harris is better than Charles and Elimimian is a better MLB than Sherritt. One of the reasons that Sherritt set a record for tackles last season is because the Esks D was on the field so much of the time.

As far as Reilly completing long passes, Stubler coached teams usually are good at keeping everything in front of them, bend but don't break. :roar:
And Sherritt's record for tackles masked the fact that the majority of those tackles were on a ball carrier who had already gained significant yardage by the time he got to him.
Edmonton was the worst team in the league against the run last year. Andrew Harris's biggest games have come against the Esks, as have Jon Cornish's.
TheLionKing
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Wonder if the Lions got some trick plays with DeMarco in to hold on field goal attempts.
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