Stampeders 36 - Lions 32 -- Post-Game Comments

[TheLionKing]

Mike Reilly post game

https://www.bclions.com/2019/06/29/post ... y-june-29/

[Ray Nettles Ghost]

Totally agree with the fact, that this is No where near the 2011 Lions! LOL
Back in 2011, we had a DEFENCE.......we have absolutely NOTHING of a Defence in 2019.
Back in 2011, we actually had a REAL Head Coach.....a Coach that LOOKED like a Real Coach and that the Players respected!
We had a Running a Game in 2011, with an MVP Running Back!
We have nothing of the sort in 2019!
We had receivers back in 2011, we have NOTHING in 2019.
By the way......why do we still pay Willis?
He is invisible on the Field, that is ....until he goes Off Side!
He does absolutely NOTHING out there!
This Team being compared to 2011 is a JOKE.....at best!

[Huge Talent]

Bad teams lose like that. 0-3 hurts, but this really hurts. Not what you need when you're clawing for a playoff spot.

I just hope they snap out of it, for no better reason than it would suck to attend meaningless games as early as September.

Coaching appears to be a problem, as usual.

The only positive I can think of is that we were right there against the champs. But losses like this on a shaky team can kill a locker room. Hopefully not.

Brutal way to lose.

[B.C.FAN]

Totally agree with the fact, that this is No where near the 2011 Lions! LOL
Back in 2011, we had a DEFENCE.......we have absolutely NOTHING of a Defence in 2019.

In 2011 the B.C. defence ranked last in the league after five games and had been giving up big play after big play. It was ranked first in the league the rest of the way. A few key personnel changes and a tweak of scheme made all the difference. The Lions may yet make one or two more personnel changes. I have full confidence that Claybrooks can help tweak Rich Stubler's scheme.

The Lions have led all three games this year, yet they're 0-3. Games are 60 minutes long and seasons are 18 games long. In both cases, it's not how you start but how you finish.

[DanoT]

What a brutal way to loose especially with the O resurgence.

Willis' off-sides was very discouraging as well as very little pass rush. I expect rookies to cost a team a game, not veterans.

Special teams were just horrible once again.

Have to give some credit to Jarious Jackson whose play calling was the best since he became an OC last year. Veteran DC, Stubler, not so much especially in the 4th quarter.

[Blitz]

Totally agree with the fact, that this is No where near the 2011 Lions! LOL
Back in 2011, we had a DEFENCE.......we have absolutely NOTHING of a Defence in 2019.

In 2011 the B.C. defence ranked last in the league after five games and had been giving up big play after big play. It was ranked first in the league the rest of the way. A few key personnel changes and a tweak of scheme made all the difference. The Lions may yet make one or two more personnel changes. I have full confidence that Claybrooks can help tweak Rich Stubler's scheme.

The Lions have led all three games this year, yet they're 0-3. Games are 60 minutes long and seasons are 18 games long. In both cases, it's not how you start but how you finish.

Its been a very disappointing start to the season. But I'm not panicking because I believe that Davone Claybrooks, who was the most sought after Head Coaching candidate this off-season is a smart guy.

We lost our first two games of the season, mainly becauseJarious Jackson (a holdover from the Buono regime and an Ed Hervey favorite) ran way too much of an RPO offence in the first two games.

Jackson's game planning and play calling, combined with the decision making to start Steward at center, Facault at guard, and Boyko at right tackle created two very disappointing offensive performances to begin the season.

Reilly came into the Calgary game with a terrible pass percentage, quarterback efficiency rating, and interception ratio. He'd been sacked 7 times in his previous game and our offence has only averaged 18 points per contest, a worse average than even last season.

We also were an unbalanced offence, as we averaged 28 yds of rushing in our first two games and our rush average was terrible too, with an average rush of less than 3 yds. in our first two games.

OUR OFFENSIVE GAME PLAN WAS MUCH BETTER

Our offence, in our first two games eerily looked the same as last year. Reilly often looked like a worse edition of Lulay and Jennings of last year.

One could even have written that Reilly had 'deer in the headlights syndrome' but an analysis of the type of RPO plays he was attempting to execute, the lack of blocking, the quick pressure, and the well-covered receivers would lead to a much different conclusion.

Against Calgary our offence looked so much better. We didn't even run one RPO play in the first quarter. During yesterday's contest agaisnt Calgary, with more pre-designed play calls, with our offensive line not only revamped but also knowing whether the play would be a running play or a passing play pre-snap, we ran the football well and passed the football well overall.

JARIOUS AND HIS LOVE OF RPO

Of course, Jarious couldn't leave well enough alone and with the lead, went back to the religion of RPO at times. Many of those RPO plays were almost jumped by Calgary defenders and Reilly just barely avoided interceptions. The touchdown pass to Durant was an RPO play in which Reilly managed to get the football off just in time and took a wicked hit just to make the throw.

While I liked the changes of Steward going back to guard, Facault moving to tackle, which is simpler for him, and Boyko going to the injured list, the key to our successful run and pass blocking agaisnt Calgary had more to do with a more balanced offensive attack and less RPO than to do with personnel changes on the offensive line.

DEFENSE PLAYED GOOD GAME UNTIL LATE IN FOURTH QUARTER

Defensively, against Calgary, I thought our defense had played a very good game until late in the contest. Some fans may want to scapegoat Stubler and Claybrooks for our overall defensive performance this year bu that is not where the problem lies.

Mark Washington had a heck of a lot more talent on our defense last season and how did that work out? It worked out,as it did each season under Mark Washington - terrible. Stubler and Claybrooks have both proven they can coach a championship defense. Stubler has done it many times, in fact the most times of any CFL defensive coordinator other than Don Matthews.

JARIOUS JACKSON AND ED HERVEY MOSTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR 0-3 START

I place most of the blame for our poor start this season on two people - Ed Hervey and Jarious Jackson. Jackson, more than anyone, cost us our first two starts due to his RPO religion. A much improved game plan, a committment to pre-snap run plays (and more diversity for our running attack) and actual pass blocking on passing plays made a huge differnce.

But Jackson, last season, for a specific game, usually after 2-3 losses in a row, would move away from RPO, enjoy success, nd then would go straight back to RPO, just like a Scientologist always goes back to his 'training'.

Jackson was hired as OC, on the basis of Ed Hervey's recommendation and was retained, based on his two year contract and Ed Hervey's continued 'love' for Jackson. In fact Ed Hervey is in 'love' with anyone that has worn the green and gold of Edmonton.

ED HERVEY AND HIS PATHOLOGY

Ed Hervey's goal is not to win a Grey Cup. Its to win a Grey Cup with as many ex-Edmonton players and coaches as possible.

That way, if/when our Leos win the Grey Cup Hervey can rub the victory in Edmonton's face for firing him. It appears to be hatred for Edmonton that motivates Hervey most of all and drives his pathological agenda of so many ex-Edmonton signings.

So, I blame Ed Hervey for Jarious Jackson and our RPO and Hervey would likely throw anyone under the bus, even Mike Reilly, to protect Jarious Jackson.

I also blame Hervey for our defense this season. Hervey did such a crummy job this off-season, in terms of our defensive personnel, that he should be embarrasssed. Hervey did not re-sign Shawn Lemon and gave us a defensive line with an aging Odell Willis and noone to replace Lemon.

Hervey let Lokombo and Awe walk, signed Maleki Harris as our starting outside linebacker, Drew Edwards as our nickel back, and signed Adam Konor for huge money as a backup linebacker.

Worse still, with our defensive backfield, Hervey put us in the position of having to quickly sign Anthony Thompson to start at safety for our first game of the season, with only a week's notice. Hervey put us in the postion of having to start Termason at corner. Then for his game, we had to move Thompson to corner to replace Termanson and insert Diozier, with only a couple of practices, into our starting safety spot.

WHAT NEEDS TO GET FIXED ON OFFENCE

On offence, we have enough talent, if we can fix two problem areas. The first issue is Jackson and his RPO offence. If he cannot or will not move away from so much RPO, this Leos team will have its struggles offensively.

Even Mike Reilly can't overcome a bad scheme and poor playcalling, as evidenced by our first two games. Jackson called a much better game agaisnt Edmonton but can he stick with going less RPO? He has not done that in the past.

The reality is that Jackson has now coached 21 regular season games. He should have figured out that RPO sucks, for the most part by now. He also has lots of evidence that it does from his previous Edmonton and Saskatchewan days. The big question make is has he figured that out?

The second issue on offence is Duron Carter, whom Ed Hervey signed. Hervey signed him and Hervey needs to get rid of him. The problem is not that Carter is a mouth piece, a disrupter, and a distraction on offence, which he is. The problem is not that Carter will eventually create disharmony, which he will, because Duron is all about Duron and he brings baggage that has to be dumped.

The big problem is that Duron is our second International receiver and he runs lazy routes and he is undisciplined as a route runner. Burnham needs a book end slot back to take the pressure off and Duron's terrible route running turns him into a high risk option.

WE'RE PLAIN JUST NOT TALENTED ENOUGH ON DEFENSE

On defence, we are just plain not talented enough. Willis doesn't have much tread left on the tire and our other defensive ends will not get the job done. Our linebacking crew is just not good enough. Our secondary is a work in progress. We still don't know yet if Dozier is the answer and Anthony Thompson is not a natural corner.

We should have won the Calgary game. A poorly executed third and one meant we got no points just before half time, when we should have had 7 points. A poorly executed defense of an on-side kick was a sword to the heart. Three off-side calls on Odell Willis, when we needed him to step up, is not the leadership that Ed Hervey believes Odell Willis brings us.

'GOOD BOYS, 'BAD BOYS'

Wally liked his 'good boys'. He viewed them as a reflection of himself. Ed Hervey likes his 'bad boys'. He sees them as extensions of his own past.

I just like winners.

We need a 'winning' offensive coorinator, a 'winning International receiver to compliment Burnham, a 'winning' defensive end who can rush the quarterback, a stud winning linebacker who can pursue from sideline to sideline and lay on a lick, and a 'winning' free safety who can anticipate and make plays.

The ball is in your court Ed. And please, look somewhere else for talent other than Edmonton. All answers are not found in ex green and gold.

[WestCoastJoe]

Great read, Blitz. Excellent detail.

..........

O Playbook.

Run game utilized. √

Dedicated runs. Not RPO options. √

Dedicated pass plays. Not RPO options. √

Pass protection better. √ This fan thinks our OL talent and coaching is good enough.

RBs. White and Rutley good enough.

QB. Good enough.

Receivers. Not good enough. Burnham does not look as he did with Manny beside him. Carter has behaved well enough, it seems. Will that last? But his play has been indifferent. I think his talent is over-rated because of his flash. And that is acknowledging that he will no doubt make some crowd pleasing plays this year. That is our INT receiving corps, Burnham and Carter. Durant has been very good. Cottoy not used. Johnson not used.
.......

Defense not good enough.

Willis not dominating, and not leading his teammates, except as a bad example.

Boesen not productive rushing the passer imo. DBs not good
enough.
..........

Coaching.

Claybrooks. Fail. Delegates leadership to Reilly. Does not see inadequacy of RPO. Does not see inadequacies of defensive personnel. He speaks a thousand words in speeches, but they sound like cliches. He does not have the team in his grip. It is Reilly's team. IMO.

Jackson. Good this game. Will he go back to reliance on RPO?

Stubler. Fail. Swiss cheese defence. Can't stop the pass. Vulnerable to the run. Shoved around on Calgary's winning drives.

Altilio. Fail. Worst prep for onside kick one could imagine.
........

GM Hervey. Fail. Inadequate recruiting of INT personnel. Rush end? LBs? DBs? Receivers? Bringing in and keeping Jarious Jackson as OC, although we saw improvement after one season and 2 games, in this last game.
.........

We are 0 and 3, and looking like that is where we belong.

Just IMO.

[Dusty]

I did not watch the game as I was travelling and so my only "view" of the game comes via this site and TSN summary.

I recall in pre-season, watching Kramer come off the bench and win the game in the dying moments and how exciting that was.... and how the Calgary subs were unable to stop him.

Yes, this game, being played with our first-stringers, hurts, but from what I have read, there was improvement to even get to the point that we were in a position to win. In our previous outings, I do not think that we were playing at a level that was close to being in position to win.

Before the game, I wanted to see improvement first and going 0-3 was less important. I think , based on comments, that this game is a good stepping stone and I'm focussing on the improvements.

[SammyGreene]

Looking back two critical moments of the McMahon meltdown.

2:11 left BC leading 32-21 and Armbuckle sacked by Coleman at the BC 40. Ambles then makes a leaping grab with three BC defenders around for 19 yards to keep drive going.

1:03 left and BC clinging to 32-29 lead when little used national receiver Richie Sidani makes a tough catch with TJ Lee in coverage for 27 yards on 2nd and 4. Again, the secondary (Lee) just needs to make a play there. Winning TD comes 2 plays later.

I thought the onside kick from Parades couldn't have been any better. Tremendous hang time right towards Lions best receiver (Burnham) who was beaten to it by Klukas.
If anything the Lions didn't do a good enough job jamming Klukas to give Burnham a chance to catch it uncontested.

Are way playing so much zone coverage because that's our scheme or the coaches don't believe the talent is there for man coverage?

[Reggiemac]

Before the gam I would have been satisfied to score that many points on the Stamps but to have a sure win snatched away like that was painful. Both the O and the D were playing well in the first half and theD totally failed in the fourth quarter I didnt see a single blitz towards the end and we made Arbuckle look good and our DBs were lit up again at the most critical point. Too bad as they had played well till then. Hopefully we can look back at this game as a turning point in our season

[swervynmerv]

Great read Blitz.

For me the most disappointing thing about the 0-3 start is how much hope there was going into this season.

The Lions really haven’t been a very good team for 7-8 years. They have had moments but overall lots of disappointment for the fan base and poorly played football starting with the 2012 West Final.

I saw media polls that had the Lions anywhere from 3-5 in the West. The odd one had them at 1 or 2, but for the most part they were predicted to struggle for a playoff spot. I thought people were nuts and that BC would come out and prove everyone wrong.

This has been said before but I really feel like we are missing solid leadership at the top. We have never recovered from the loss of Bobby Ackles and David Braley is an absentee owner who let Wally have carte blanche for almost a decade.

As pointed out, Ed Hervey seems to want to make us Edmonton West but unfortunately, other than Reilly, those players brought in look average at best and past their prime.

This fan base deserves better. I know it’s early but an 0-3 start is absolutely terrible for the Lions on and off the field. Those of us on this site will continue to watch and cheer or grumble, but to any casual fan who may have been curious about this “new” team an 0-3 start is a great way to turn them off. There is a good chance the Lions could start off anywhere from 1-4 to 0-5. Where does that leave them in a market that puts summer, the Canucks and almost anything else before the Leos?

I wasn’t expecting a Grey Cup this year. It would have been great but in my opinion the Lions need to take advantage of the Reilly hype and recapture the fans of Vancouver. As much as it about wins, I feel the Leo’s are at pivotal time in their existence. I’ve been a fan since I was 6 in the late 70’s. I’m a die hard. But in a market where the Canucks, Seahawks dominate and there is healthy competition from the Whitecaps, Mariners and even the Raptors, the Lions are in real danger of becoming Montreal or Toronto. A loyal fan base of 15-20000 and that’s it.

I’m hoping Hervey is sitting in his office right now and coming to the conclusion that the Lions aren’t as good as he though or we hoped and changes need to be made.

There is time. With games against Toronto and 2 against the Riders we could crawl back to 3-3. One of Toronto or Sask will win tommorrow. Who would have thought that a team led by Cody Fajardo had a chance to have a better record than BC?

[Toppy Vann]

Nick Arbuckle - the backup QB for the Stamps who won them the game - told his BC Lions story to TSN post game. He tried out for BC at some FA camp or something and they didn't want him but it landed him in Calgary.

Code: Select all

Nicholas Arbuckle (born October 4, 1993) is an American player of Canadian football who is currently a member of the Calgary Stampeders.[1] Arbuckle played college football at Georgia State.[2] During his time playing for the Panthers, he was first-team All-Sunbelt Conference in 2015. Also in 2015, Arbuckle set a Sun Belt record 3,368 passing yards along with school records in completions (307) and touchdowns (28).[3] After a minicamp with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016, Arbuckle signed with the Stampeders in March 2017.[4]

====

While I'm not calling for anyone's head on the staff, it's indisputable that the "vanilla" (Souter on TSN) play calling in the first 2 losses were the main problem on offence. DEF - there are personnel issues.

While Jackson's calls last night were fine - let's hope he doesn't fall back to the predictable.

BUT the Lions pass routes develop too slowly at times and if the first REC is not open it's panic for the QB and especially those involving Carter. Give this guy a running start - move him around more. Some of the plays they run are too freaking short for this talent. There is still not a whole package of run plays like Jackson had back in 2007 when there was an outstanding run game that allowed for a good passing game. And IIRC didn't that era produce a team that scored more points than all others?

Look at HAM and their Canadian back and passes to him!

[MikeAK]

Way too early to panic but last nights game stings. That should have been a victory. I think the team is much better than the record shows though. Remember that there was a lot of personnel turnover in the offseason so there was always going to be wrinkles to iron out. Still lots of time left in the season.

[WestCoastJoe]

From Ed Willes

“This is probably the best we’ve played as a team but, I don’t know what I’m feeling right now,” said receiver Lamar Durant, one of the Lions who had a big individual day that was buried by Arbuckle’s remarkable turn. “It’s just disappointing. We felt like we dominated the game and we just let it slip away. “

“It was a wild two and a half minutes,” said Lions head coach DeVone Claybrooks. “Welcome to the CFL. We just have to find a way to finish the game. We stressed the fact the game is 57 plus three (minutes). You can’t take anything for granted.”

“It wasn’t pretty,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “Did we outplay them? Probably not. They probably outplayed us. Time of possession was obscene in their favour, but football is football.

“I believe that’s why we love the CFL because the game’s not over. That clock goes slow in those last three minutes and we were able to take advantage of it.”

“I never think that. I’ve been part of too many last-second wins and losses. The game is never over, it’s literally never over in this league. I don’t think there was any confusion or thought they were going to roll over and let us have that game. They just made the plays when they had to.” - Mike Reilly

“I know we’re a good team,” said Claybrooks. “You don’t fight the way we fight if you’re not a good team. We have to stay together and fight together. What doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger.”

[Blitz]

Receivers. Not good enough. Burnham does not look as he did with Manny beside him. Carter has behaved well enough, it seems. Will that last? But his play has been indifferent. And that is our INT receiving corps. Durant has been very good. Cottoy not used. Johnson not used.
.......

Defense not good enough. WCJ

I didn't quote your entire post WCJ, due to its length but I agreed with everything you said except that I really don't blame Stubler or Claybrooks for our defense so far. There just isn't the talent there to do that.

Stubler and Claybrooks can't create a pass rush from two defensive ends who can't beat the blocker in front of them. The interior of our defensive line is excellent, with Coleman and Louis but we have four International defensive ends on the game day roster (Willis, Boesen, Koloamatangi, and Darius Allen) and none of them can get to the quarterback.

Its embarrassing that Hervey signed Darius Allen and he is in our defensive line rotation. Darius Allen was a failure here in his first stint in B.C, and he did nothing in Edmonton last year either.

But because Allen had worn the green and gold, that was all that was required for the pathological Hervey to elevate Allen into favored status in Hervey's mind. Allen has a total of 3 sacks as a CFL defensive end as a B.C Lion and an Edmonton Eskimo. Surely Hervey could have found better.

They can blitz and they did successfully in this game but our linebackers and defensive backs are not good enough to cover adequately in blitzing situations.

T.J. Lee is one of the best defensive backs in the CFL. Peters has played surprisingly well as a boundary corner but before this season he has never been considered a great cover guy and would not have been given this role. Aaron Grymes came highly touted as a free agent but he was a CFL All-Star only once and that was back in 2015.

Anthony Thompson has not been able to solidify our defense at any position he has played in the past. He was tried at halfback and struggled, given a short stint at field corner and was burned, and then moved to safety last season, where he was not able to deliver consistently and not signed at the end of 2018. He was only signed at the end of training camp because we were desperate and now he has been moved to wide side corner again.

While Nationals have been used at wide side corner in recent years, as a solution to playing an import at safety or for other ratio reasons, its rare for a National to beat out an International at corner. The International pool is usually just too deep, as well as too wide, in terms of talent.

Yes, there have been Nationals who have excelled at the position, such as Davis Sanchez, who also played two seasons with the San Diego Chargers. But Thompson and Termansen do not have Sanchez type talents to start at corner.

Now lets look at linebacker, where its also been a struggle. In the CFL, there are teams that have decided to go with a National at middle linebacker, for a variety of reasons. But they usually surround that National with a stud linebacking corps. Herdman-Reed is a solid linebacker who plays the run much better than the pass.

But Maliki Harris played 3 seasons for the Stamps but was only a backup and only started 6 games for them over 3 years. We also signed Adam Konar to a huge contract to serve as a backup middle linebacker.

At nickelback, we have Chris Edwards, whose major claim to football fame is, you guessed it, he played for the Edmonton Eskimos. Over 2 seasons in Edmonton, Edwards had 3 interceptions and 0 sacks.

In the meantime, Hervey did not sign Bo Lokombo, a National starting linebacker. In fact Lokombo was so good in 2018, that when we decided to start Awe in the middle for some games, Herdman-Reed played behind Lokombo and rotated in.

Bo Lokombo, who was ranked 1st overall in 2013 CFL draft, returned to our B.C. Lions last after having a few sips of coffee in the NFL. Lokombo had an outstanding 2018 season. Lokombo, last season, led our Leos in tackles, led all of our defensive lineman and linebackers in defensive tackles, had 4 quarrerback sacks, and two interceptions.

Lokombo was not only a good run stuffer and blitzer but he was also an outstanding cover guy who had the speed to play safety. A local product, a National starter, an outstanding special teamer, a former CFL overall first ranked prospect due to his talent, and a physical specimen yet Hervey made no attempt to sign him for 2018.

Hervey paid more to sign the often injured and released ex-Eskimo Adam Konar who is not a starter. Mind boggling.

Hervey has made some good signings. Mike Reilly came over to B.C. but would have done that for any GM who offered the contract that Hervey did. Reilly wanted to be on the West Coast.

I give Hervey credit for signing Lemar Durant, who I think is an excellent receiver. Paying Suhk Chung $250,000 as a guard was insanity, even though Chung is a tough, very good offensive lineman. Most of our other free agent signings were not anything special.

The signing of Duron Carter is not a move I endorsed. My thinking on Carter is based less on his previous antics or personal issues and mostly just a focus on Carter as a football player and as a receiver. He is just not a good receiver. He has talent as a receiver but he runs bad routes, lazy routes, and he is not a receiver who is dependable.

Our Leos have chosen to go with only two International receivers so far in 2019. Lamar Durant and Shaq Johnson are two National receivers with talent, with Durant exhibiting 'go to' qualities.

Cottoy has caught everything thrown his way and John White has also been excellent as a receiver. Lamar Durant has caught 14 of the 19 passes thrown to him.

Cottoy is a raw talent with height, size, and outstanding potential. But perhaps it would have been better to ease him into the lineup a bit more...it must be almost overwhelming to go from junior to pro.

We could have gone with another International in Cottoy's spot to begin the season. But Cottoy is our fifth receiver and we often go with four receiver lineups.

More problematic is having our second International receiver (Carter) be a consistent double threat, along with Burnham. Part of the problem is not Carter. Our RPO offence does not use Carter's strengths. Instead our RPO offence uses Carter for quick outs, quick curls and quick slants.

Carter, like Burnham, is a much better receiver as an intermediate route runner, where he can make plays rather than being utilized as a disciplined route running possession style receiver, which he will never excel at.

There was a reason why Chris Jones, in Riderville, took Carter out of the starting offensive lineup and inserted him on defense instead. There was a reason why Mark Trestmann did not attempt to turn Carter into a 'go to' receiver.

Carter would go on to say, at season end, that Trestmann 'undermined' him. Carter only caught 10 passes for 119 yds. over 8 games in Toronto and was not able to make much of an impact.

The question has to be asked "Why did Hervey want Carter so badly". There were certainly other free agent receivers available, including our own own Manny Arseneaux.

Bryan Burnham has been targeted 29 times yet he and Reilly have only been able to connect 16 times but for 17.9 yds. per catch. That is a poor target/pass reception average but at least very good average yds. per reception. Reilly has also targeted Carter 29 times with Carter coming up with 19 receptions. But Carter's average pass reception yardage is 7. 9 yds. per catch.

As our second 'go to' receiver, Duron Carter is not getting the job done. Whehter that is by design by Jarious or by Carter not getting open on anything other than short routes, it does not open Burnham up. If Burnham is getting double covered, Carter should be getting open more and deeper downfield.

There was lots of good stuff offensively in this game. Reilly finished 36/42 for 354 yards, two touchdown strikes and ran for another touchdown. White had 161 all purpose yards of offence.

Our Leos were ahead 32-21 with just over 4 minutes left in the game. We had an 11 point lead, with 1:32 remaining in the game. We had a 22-10 lead just before the half and an opportunity to go ahead 29-10 had we been able to score a touchdown on a one yard sneak play. We had much more time of possession than Calgary, with over 37 minutes of possession in the game. We've had double digit leads in two of our first 3 games.

We put up over 445 yds. of offence and our revamped offensive line played much better with Roy at center, Steward at guard, and Facault at right tackle, where I believed he should be playing prior to training camp.

This Leos team is close to being a winning team. If Jarious can keep his RPO plays to a minimum, if Carter can either become a dangerous #2 receiver or we can bring someone better in, if we can find a decent pass rusher and solidify our defensive secondary, we could be there at the end of this season.

Lets hope, at least.

But I feel the need to vent my spleen too....so now that "Root, Toot, We Just Gotta Execute" has gone the way of the dodo bird, with Wally's retirement, I need a new lament.

So here it is...sung by Ed Hervey, wearing his Leos top while secretly wearing gold and green underwear.

Hold bold, because instead I'm always sold
On any player who's ever worn green and gold
Its an urge and drive that cant' be controlled
I need players who have worn that 'ol green and gold

The virtues of an ex-Eskimo are foretold
You just can't beat that green and gold
I cannot and will not be consoled
Until every Leo has at one time worn green and gold

I may be scornful and known to be cold
When I was made they definitely broke the mold
And when we win the Cup it will be special to behold
That every Leo will have previously worn green and gold