Leos/Bombers Post-Game Thoughts!!

[pinkfreud]

Is Paris okay? He was limping for a while last night.

[SammyGreene]

Lions have now surrendered 100-yard games to RBs — Lumsden, Cates and Roberts — in 3 of their last 4 games. This was unheard of against a B.C. defence in recent years up until this stretch. No doubt the injuries to Floyd and now Johnson have hurt but still an alarming trend.

Front four has been very quiet the past couple of games. For the first time this season, I'm noticing the loss of McKay-Loescher who would keep the starters fresh and we wouldn't miss a beat. Foley is nowhere near his level, at least as of yet, despite a promising pre-season.

As mentioned above... a good game called by Kruck but execution was lacking. LU mentioned in his blog how the Lions did not have a good week of practice. If the game plan was to expose the Bombers secondary on deep routes, I wonder how Buck looked in practice throwing those balls? Hardly a vote of confidence for Jackson given his health and arm strength.

The win would have been nice but perhaps more important would have been a breakout game for the offence especially Simon. We rank last in the league in passing, have yet to throw for over 300 yards in a single game and that was against an opponent last night that also has injuries in the secondary and has had problems defending the pass all season.

Clearly an opportunity missed. Also very difficult to win football games when you have scored 1 and 4 points respectively in the 2nd half of your last two games .... at home no less!

[Blitz]

[ The Leos offence has rarely had a good week of practice sinc e Day 1 of training camp....ticks me off!! This wasn't the Riders defense that Jarious played last week. This was a Bombers pass defense that has given up 295 passing yards per game and we passed for 242 yards. We had enough receivers open for 500 yards but if you don't practice at full speed it shows in a game!!

This right now is not a Wally Buono coached football team, in terms of practices. We've had more bad practices this season than we've had in the entire Wally era in B.C. It's not a good sign and Wally needs to find a way to fix it!!

As mentioned above... a good game called by Kruck but execution was lacking

Kruck and Dorazio must not have slept this week. It was an exceptional game plan and excellent play calling overall...you couldn't have asked for more from these two...and I was tough on them last week...but the two really deserve kudos. However, the lack of connection between quarterback and receivers hurt. It's easy to lay it all on Buck, in terms of the missed throws but timing is everything and that comes from great practice habits and practicing at game speed.

[David]

I've heard a couple reports that Buck separated his shoulder...can anyone confirm or deny this?

I wouldn't be surprised Brian. He took a really big shot on the 2nd last play of the game, called the time-out and was clearly favoring his right shoulder as he limped to the bench (it looked to be hanging....I thought he was going to come out of the game for sure). And when he was conferring with the coaches as to what should be called on the last play (the incompletion to Geroy), it was being worked on by Billy Reichelt.

DH 8)

[B.C.FAN]

Is Paris okay? He was limping for a while last night.

According to LU, Paris and Geroy were both hobbled by minor injuries going into the game. I didn't notice anything from their play, and Wally said the team got through the game without any new injuries.

[Krazy4football]

mccallum cost us the game pure and simple,can't believe we traded away pikula

Might have been better to live through the growing pains of a young kicker with a future (especially with such a strong team) than give him away to ride a veteran on the downside of his career. Once the confidence is gone with a kicker , it is doom, as seen by Westwood, Duncan a few years back, and Paul in his last couple of years with us. Wally will demand performance from his kicker. Questionable if Paul will be able to handle it.

[David]

mccallum cost us the game pure and simple,can't believe we traded away pikula

Might have been better to live through the growing pains of a young kicker with a future (especially with such a strong team) than give him away to ride a veteran on the downside of his career. Once the confidence is gone with a kicker , it is doom, as seen by Westwood, Duncan a few years back, and Paul in his last couple of years with us. Wally will demand performance from his kicker. Questionable if Paul will be able to handle it.

Irrespective of last night's game, I said at the time that the Lions should find a way to keep Rob Pikula. Only in as much I'm not sure how many more years Paul is going to be playing, Rob's only going to get better, and good non-import kickers who do double duty are especially hard to find/draft (just ask Saskatchewan who abandoned the Congi punting experiment).

That said, I've been pleased with Paul McCallum's play this year (in 5 of the 7 games at least). What's really surprised me since he came over from Saskatchewan is his punting. For the most part very good distance, direction, and hang time.

DH 8)

[Don Miller]

Last night our special teams (field goals and the fumble return let us down) Winnipeg capitalized on our mistake just as we did the previous games prior to the Sask game. The injury bug has really made our team change a lot. Our defense has cracks now and hopefully can gut out a win in Calgary. The bye week is looking good as we will need to refocus for the next part of a tough schedule. RIght now Sask is the team to beat. Our quarterbacking was just good enough to win last nite. Our fg kicker has to make at least one of those he missed. Our o lineman took some dumb penalties (Jiminez and Murphy) that cost us valuable down yardage. The last play we had Geroy open but again did not get the ball to him. He was in behind the secondary on at least two or three throws and the ball was short due to a good pass rush and likely because Buck can not really step into the throw. At this point the Lions are not going to repeat as GCChamps, there are a lot of games left and hopefully all three facets get it together and we are done with serious injuries.. I don't think we see DD until at least September against Toronto. I hate losing games we should win, but we beat Hamilton in a game we likely deserved to lose. The breaks are not exactly going our way which is the way football goes.

[Blutarski]

Well I for one wont panic with two straight losses as a matter of fact I would not mind if Sask and BC seesaw back and forth all season on top in the west. It will make for a great wrap up month at the end of the season

[Don Miller]

The next Sask game is back in their park and you know that Mosaic (Taylor field is the toughest park to win in) If we have our healthy team we have a good shot at taking the rubber match game which could still decide the West Final. I would rather play here in November. I like the league to be competitive as well but the games you play in Aug are just as important as the ones in October.

[Krazy4football]

The next Sask game is back in their park and you know that Mosaic (Taylor field is the toughest park to win in) If we have our healthy team we have a good shot at taking the rubber match game which could still decide the West Final. I would rather play here in November. I like the league to be competitive as well but the games you play in Aug are just as important as the ones in October.

You guys seem to get up pretty good to play in Taylor field. C'mon, an outdoor playoff game in November will be refreshing. Some snow, wind, you know...real football weather!

[Blue In BC]

It was an ugly win in a tough environment.

We'll take it. A win is a win but we were very lucky t come out ahead.

[B.C.FAN]

C'mon, an outdoor playoff game in November will be refreshing. Some snow, wind, you know...real football weather!

Yeah, the Lions did that in Winnipeg last year. This year, with the Cup in Toronto, there's an easier road, and if the Lions follow it they won't have to play on the Prairies after their Oct. 13 game in Edmonton.

[SammyGreene]

I've heard a couple reports that Buck separated his shoulder...can anyone confirm or deny this?

Wally was interviewed by News 1130 this afternoon and confirmed the team picked up no addtional injuries. This should be good news given Buck's shoulder must have been examined after the game and injured players typically come to the training facility the day after games for further evaluation or treatment.

Wally also said he expects Banks and Simmons back in the starting line-up against Calgary and good possibility Johnson returns as well.