CFL Playoff Previews

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.cfl.ca/video/index/id/119537/autostart/true

Ya gotta luv Milanovich. Lunch bucket kind of guy. No pretense. Ragged sweat shirt. Sun faded hat. Sniffling with a cold. LOL Straight answers. Some humour.

Does Hamilton have to prepare for two quarterbacks? No. They have to prepare for Ricky.

http://www.cfl.ca/video/index/id/119599/autostart/true

Lions peaking at the right time. Tedford. Bighill. Phillips.

[WestCoastJoe]

Ready for work ...

[B.C.FAN]

Special teams will play a huge role in this game. Chris Rainey scored touchdowns on a pair of 103-yard returns in his only game against Calgary. The Stamps' punt cover team was ranked eighth in the league and gave up a league-high 4 TDs (tied with Winnipeg). The Stamps have Tim Brown back after missing a total of six games this season to injuries. Coach John Hufnagel says "He's ready to go." The Lions' kickoff cover team ranked last in the league.

Factor in Calgary's superior placekicking, their penchant for attempting 2-point converts and the Lions' league-high 11 missed 1-point converts. It would be nice to think the Lions' hopes rest on the arm of Jonathon Jennings but they more likely rest on the shoulders of Chuck McMann

[InUrFace]

Weather will be a huge factor as I looked it up and said wet snow for that day. We better have a strong run game plan and it will be hard to throw in this type of weather ...winds dont know about. Still this will be JJ first game in this type of conditions lets see what hes really made of with these circumstances ..weather and Playoff game. Im sure he will be the same JJ out there cool calm collective with a mindset thats ready. As for Mcmann dont know why he still here. Yet this is on him if special teams dont look special. Cover teams better cover Brown and we better have wedges put together for Rainy to bust on to get yards and a possible kick return TD or TDs lol. Lets see Washington stay away playing conservative when we have a lead, thats if we get a lead. 3rd down conversions lets hope they work on our favor if Jeff decides to go for it. Just dont throw Mcgee in or Lulay to do them. Roar or Purr hmm which one will it be this time.

[JohnHenry]

Here's a link to an excellent article on CFL.ca:

Resurgent Lions ready for best in the West

Posted: November 11, 2015 02:30 PM

VANCOUVER – With a surging defence and one of the most exciting young quarterbacks in the league, a resurgent BC Lions team is ready to take on the best of the West.

All season the Lions failed to beat either Edmonton or Calgary, and now they face an enormous task in having to beat both if they’re going to make it to the 103rd Grey Cup Championship. Yet after re-discovering themselves late this season, optimism for the Lions is high.

Jonathon Jennings took over the job from an injured Travis Lulay and provided exactly the spark the Lions needed, and ever since that moment they’ve been competitive against some of the league’s best clubs. They’ll look to take the next step in a tough road match against the defending Grey Cup Champions.

Continued: http://www.cfl.ca/article/playoff-previ ... n-the-west

[TheLionKing]

Lions one of the most balanced team in the league ? You got to be kidding.

[Blitz]

Bad weather will favor Calgary's run game and short passing attack. We tend to throw deeper stuff and also have difficulty when defenses stack the box. We need to be able to both run and pass in this game, depending on how Stubler plays us.

Stubler is a fox and he will be disguising his defenses well, trying to give Jennings a lot of false reads.

We're a definite underdog but I'm still excited....there is nothing like watching playoff football in November.

[maxlion]

Bad weather will favor Calgary's run game and short passing attack. We tend to throw deeper stuff and also have difficulty when defenses stack the box. We need to be able to both run and pass in this game, depending on how Stubler plays us.

Stubler is a fox and he will be disguising his defenses well, trying to give Jennings a lot of false reads.

We're a definite underdog but I'm still excited....there is nothing like watching playoff football in November.

If I'm not mistaken, Stubler and Cortez are the two most experienced coaches currently coaching in the CFL. Stubler has 5 cups over 27 years, while Cortez has 5 in 20. This will be the 5th time that a Cortez-led offense has met a Stubler-led defense in the playoffs(1998-2000, 2013). All of the games involved western division teams. Cortez' teams have won 3 of 4 previous meetings, outscoring Stubler's defense 115-89 in those 4 games. Let's hope that Cortez can outfox the fox one more time!

[Blitz]

To pull an upset, you need big plays. With Jennings, we have a chance to do that.

Before Jennings made his meteoric rise up the depth chart from third-stringer to eventual starting pivot in the wake of injuries to Travis Lulay and then John Beck, a span of 10 games, the team had completed just six passes of 30-plus yards.Over the next seven games, which began with Jennings coming on in a relief role in a 35-23 loss at Calgary on Sept. 18, the Lions have completed 14 passes of more than 30 yards.That’s akin to an average of one explosive passing play every two games, versus two explosive passing plays every game. And in the grand scheme of things, it’s huge.
Vancouver Province

and Manny has been a different player with Jennings at quarterback.

THE MANNY SHOW(pass reception stats)

First 10 games: 49.6 yards-per-game, 3.3 catches-per-game, 3 touchdowns
Next 7 games: 93.6 yards-per-game, 6.1 catches-per-game, 6 touchdowns -

theprovince.com/sports/football/bc-

[B.C.FAN]

If I'm not mistaken, Stubler and Cortez are the two most experienced coaches currently coaching in the CFL. Stubler has 5 cups over 27 years, while Cortez has 5 in 20. This will be the 5th time that a Cortez-led offense has met a Stubler-led defense in the playoffs(1998-2000, 2013). All of the games involved western division teams. Cortez' teams have won 3 of 4 previous meetings, outscoring Stubler's defense 115-89 in those 4 games. Let's hope that Cortez can outfox the fox one more time!

Interesting. Stubler was fired in B.C. after his defence was shredded by Dave Dickenson's Calgary offence in the 2012 West Final. Stubler and Dickenson won a Grey Cup together as coordinators in Calgary last year after losing to Saskatchewan in the 2013 West Final.

[maxlion]

If I'm not mistaken, Stubler and Cortez are the two most experienced coaches currently coaching in the CFL. Stubler has 5 cups over 27 years, while Cortez has 5 in 20. This will be the 5th time that a Cortez-led offense has met a Stubler-led defense in the playoffs(1998-2000, 2013). All of the games involved western division teams. Cortez' teams have won 3 of 4 previous meetings, outscoring Stubler's defense 115-89 in those 4 games. Let's hope that Cortez can outfox the fox one more time!

Interesting. Stubler was fired in B.C. after his defence was shredded by Dave Dickenson's Calgary offence in the 2012 West Final. Stubler and Dickenson won a Grey Cup together as coordinators in Calgary last year after losing to Saskatchewan in the 2013 West Final.

Not quite. Stubler was still in BC in 2013, losing to Cortez' Rider offense in 2013-which went on to defeat Calgary and Hamilton to win the cup. Fair or not, Stubler has had a rep of having lots of regular season success, but playing soft in the playoffs.

[maxlion]

To pull an upset, you need big plays. With Jennings, we have a chance to do that.

Before Jennings made his meteoric rise up the depth chart from third-stringer to eventual starting pivot in the wake of injuries to Travis Lulay and then John Beck, a span of 10 games, the team had completed just six passes of 30-plus yards.Over the next seven games, which began with Jennings coming on in a relief role in a 35-23 loss at Calgary on Sept. 18, the Lions have completed 14 passes of more than 30 yards.That’s akin to an average of one explosive passing play every two games, versus two explosive passing plays every game. And in the grand scheme of things, it’s huge.
Vancouver Province

and Manny has been a different player with Jennings at quarterback.

THE MANNY SHOW(pass reception stats)

First 10 games: 49.6 yards-per-game, 3.3 catches-per-game, 3 touchdowns
Next 7 games: 93.6 yards-per-game, 6.1 catches-per-game, 6 touchdowns -

theprovince.com/sports/football/bc-

Jennings is also right at the top in average yards per pass attempt at 9.3.

[B.C.FAN]

Stubler was still in BC in 2013, losing to Cortez' Rider offense in 2013-which went on to defeat Calgary and Hamilton to win the cup. Fair or not, Stubler has had a rep of having lots of regular season success, but playing soft in the playoffs.

Right, the Lions' playoff meltdown against Saskatchewan in 2013 was the last straw. There is hope.

[TheLionKing]

Bad weather will favor Calgary's run game and short passing attack. We tend to throw deeper stuff and also have difficulty when defenses stack the box. We need to be able to both run and pass in this game, depending on how Stubler plays us.

Stubler is a fox and he will be disguising his defenses well, trying to give Jennings a lot of false reads.

We're a definite underdog but I'm still excited....there is nothing like watching playoff football in November.

If I'm not mistaken, Stubler and Cortez are the two most experienced coaches currently coaching in the CFL. Stubler has 5 cups over 27 years, while Cortez has 5 in 20. This will be the 5th time that a Cortez-led offense has met a Stubler-led defense in the playoffs(1998-2000, 2013). All of the games involved western division teams. Cortez' teams have won 3 of 4 previous meetings, outscoring Stubler's defense 115-89 in those 4 games. Let's hope that Cortez can outfox the fox one more time!

Let's hope the trend continues.

[sj-roc]

Special teams will play a huge role in this game. Chris Rainey scored touchdowns on a pair of 103-yard returns in his only game against Calgary. The Stamps' punt cover team was ranked eighth in the league and gave up a league-high 4 TDs (tied with Winnipeg). The Stamps have Tim Brown back after missing a total of six games this season to injuries. Coach John Hufnagel says "He's ready to go." The Lions' kickoff cover team ranked last in the league.

Factor in Calgary's superior placekicking, their penchant for attempting 2-point converts and the Lions' league-high 11 missed 1-point converts. It would be nice to think the Lions' hopes rest on the arm of Jonathon Jennings but they more likely rest on the shoulders of Chuck McMann

STs, specifically the return and cover teams, will impact field position. So I checked some trends from the regular season.

Cgy is 9-1 when they win the FP battle and 5-3 when they lose it. BC is 5-4 when they win it and 2-7 when they don't. The only game Cgy lost despite winning FP was Wk5 @Ott. The only two games BC won in spite of losing FP were in Wks11&15 @Mtl and vsSsk respectively.

Which means and it should probably come as little surprise, Cgy will likely win going away if they take the FP battle. OTOH BC will not only have to win FP but also get a few more other breaks go their way if they hope to prevail.