Lionbackers.com

the-real-hugo wrote:Congrats to the Lions and all their fans. Hard loss for us Esks fans to take, but in the end this quote from the thread really says it all...

geroy_simon_081 wrote:The better team won. Simple as that.

Enjoy GC week, put on a helluva show and go get that Cup!

Thanks Hugo, the Esks made large inroads this season, two quality young Canadians in Messam and Bauman, that is a good building block.

It was a fun game to watch. Lulay faked out the camera operator and many of us in my section with his 61 yard scamper for six.... Really had a great time today. Ray and the Esks really fought hard in the second half. I thought this was over when I looked at the stats after the first half. Really looking forward to next week......

Toppy Vann wrote:Wally hasn't been better in his trophy presentation comments and interview with Team 1410 after.

So everyone.....who stayed for it?

Taking a close look at the base of the trophy, it looks like the 2011 BC Lions engraving has already been made. Perhaps with the large lead at halftime, the trophy ambassadors were so confident that it will be awarded to the Lions so they did the engraving at that time.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Cole ... story.html

Some great quotes captured by Cam Cole ...

“The quarterback’s pretty good,” Edmonton’s defensive coordinator, Rich Stubler, readily conceded. “I had a chance to be around him last year [on the Lions’ staff], had a chance to watch him develop as a student of the game, big kid, makes good decisions ...

"The quarterback's pretty good ... " LOL ... Yeah, he is pretty good. MOP methinks.

“And Wally went out and recruited a left tackle, which was big. Ben Archibald was the missing piece on their line, so they’ve protected him better, Andrew Harris has run the ball pretty well, and the young [receivers] matured over the year to catch [Lulay’s passes.] And Geroy Simon’s a great teacher. There’s no better receiver than him in our league.”

Bang on, Rich Stuber. Your guys played hard. But there was no way they could stop Travis, Geroy, Arland, Andrew, et cetera.

“It was everything I hoped it would be. I’m so proud of the guys, the way they responded tonight, won the right to play the Grey Cup in our own town,” said Lulay, who completed 20 of 27 for 293 yards and touchdowns to Simon and Harris — and rambled 61 yards for a score of his own in the fourth quarter.

“Hey, I’m a little bit of an athlete,” Lulay said, grinning.

“It was just one of those times in the game when they had some momentum, and we knew as an offence we wanted to chew some time off the clock, get some first downs ... we didn’t necessarily know it would be a one-play drive, but that’s what happens when you’re playing hard.”

The growth of Travis Lulay has been a very great pleasure to behold. Most Valuable Player. For now and for the future.

“Travis is a tremendous human being,” Buono said. “Obviously he has good smarts, is a good athlete, makes good decisions, but I honestly don’t know if you can say that his character, his persona, isn’t more than all his athleticism. I think people don’t appreciate sometimes how he can capture the moment, and I think a lot of that is because of who he is as a human being.

“The guys respect him, and they play for him — and yet, when things are on the line, he also gives it up, too.”

Wow. Lulay is the real deal. And we have him signed for a couple more years, which just might keep the NFL guys from trying to lure him back south.

Smarts, athlete, decisions. Character, persona. Capture the moment. Respect. ... Yes, Wally. Bang on.

“I played in them as a player, and the game itself is fantastic, the emotion, the energy, the pride — I guess all the clichés you talk about, it’s for real,” said Buono, who has now been in 18 division finals in 22 years as a head coach, and won exactly half of them.

“The ones you win, you forget. The ones you lose sting forever,” he said. “I can still feel the loss of 2005, ’93, ’94. When I watch those highlights, I still get nauseous.”

He looked oddly subdued in victory, perhaps because there have been so many lows, followed by so many highs, after the team’s 0-5 start.

“I’m not angry today. Most games, win or lose I’m angry,” Buono said.

Well done, Coach. This has been a season for the ages. Well done.

“I don’t think you come from the adversity we’ve come from ... and not acknowledge the character of the guys in the locker room.”

Outstanding leadership and character in the room. Geroy. Korey. Arland. Brent. Aaron. And quiet leaders too: Jovan. Solomon. God bless 'em all.

The thing that impress me about Lulay is his getting rid of the football instead of taking a sack. He did that several times this afternoon that saved the Lions from getting pinned back in their end of the field.

What a game!!!!!!!!! We're going to the Grey Cup game and playing at home in new B.C. Place, loaded to capacity.

The Western Final was a display of our Leos team contining its tremendous roll..it continues to a magical season..from the depths of dispair to the magic of winning big at home, ....exciting offence, big plays, great quarterbacking, outstanding talent and speed and intensity, great defense, and stellar special teams play.

OFFENCE

There were so many highlights...which included tremendous play from our skilled positions as Travis Lulay, Geroy Simon, Arland Bruce,and Andrew Harris all made huge plays. Artland Bruce started it off with a great 43 yard catch and Geroy then showed his stuff with a one handed long touchdown catch. Andrew Harris showed hsi speed and agility with his catch and run touchdown and his running ability by making a couple of great cuts to drive the football into the end zone. Travis Lulay took off for the longest run of his football career, a 61 yard touchdown, which not only highlighted Lulay's speed and mobility but it also featured a tremendous block by Arland Bruce. In fact Bruce and Simon made a number of key blocks in this gane.

There is always the game within the game that determiens victories. Our offensive line kept Lulay on his feet and gave him time to throw, even with the number of disguised bltizes that Edmonton threw our way. Olafioye and Archibald were outstanding and a guy who has been under the radar sceen all season, Rolly Lumbala, made some outstanding blocks. In fact Chapdelaine's decision to go with Lumbala on first down and often a tight end set as well was a real key to turning our season around after our early struggles and once again it allowed Lulay a lot of time on first down to throw.

JaquesBall was also on full display, as he game planned and play called so well that he had Edmonton's defense off balance for most of the game. Our offence attacked vertically, horizontally, used misdirection effectively, and combatted the blitz skillfully, When I saw Chapdelaine even using the wide bunch formation today I knew this was an offence now that is so well schemed it often looks like a machine, with Chapdelaine calling the plays skillfully, Lulay executing them with skill and poise, and everyone executing at a high level.

Impressive!!

DEFENCE

Our Leos went with six defensive lineman for the first time this season, as many Lionbackers had hoped and Ricky Ray was under pressure most of the game. We had three sacks on defense, really hit hard, created three turnovers, and shut down Edmonton so well in the first half that it had to be domoralizing for Edmonton.

The best move our Leos defense made all season was to move Korey Banks back to his shortside halfback spot and move Phillips back to the wideside. Today that move continued to prove more than its worth as Banks played a lot of shutdown pass defense, along with his partner, Dante Marsh and between them they had three interceptions.

A revitalized Brent Johnson came hard, Khalif Mitchell was a monster, Eric Taylor played possessed, and Aaron Hunt gave it everything. Eliminan was all over the field as usual, McKenzie made a couple of key plays, and Phillips looked very good at corner.

You almost hate to mention a negative but standing out like a sore thunb at safety was LaRose,who had an awful game and looks out of place at safety.

However, overall, it was an inspired defense that took Edmonton's offence out of the game early and while they made a desperate surge at the end, our defense had established its superiority and talent and passion and it was too much for Edmonton.

Benevedes called a great game as well, had some very timely bliitzes, and forced Edmonton to do a lot of things it didn't want to do. The way our defense came out hitting had Edmonton playing with a lot of nervous anticipation that was also a key factor in our victory.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Paul 'Money' McCallum went 4/4 in the first half, including a 45 yarder and all were straight down the pipe. Our special teams coverage was great. Andrew Harris made a great play on a kickoff that everyone anticipated would be an onside kick and caught the football over this shoulder and made a great return.

KEY PLAYS OF THE GAME

There were many key plays in this game but two stood out. The first was Reddick focing a fumble, coming off a bliz, as he hit Ricky Ray's arm. The play came just after Lulay's interception and really changed momentum. The second was Travis Lulay's 61 yard touchdown run..it was a dagger into the heart of the Edmotnon team.

WRAP

It will be hard to see this special season come to an end. However, lets hope it ends great, with a Grey Cup victory next Sunday. Its the way the final chapter this 2011 Leos story should be written.

Lulay is the real deal. And we have him signed for a couple more years, which just might keep the NFL guys from trying to lure him back south.

On the post game show, they mentioned it was one more year, not a couple. But the thought process is that after next season he'll be 29, so the question becomes one of does he go down and spend the rest of his career as a backup, at best, or a 3rd QB, or does he sign long term with the Lions at a rate around $400k? With age being a factor, I'd wager a reasonable amount of the latter. (That's about 50% heart, 50% head, as I obviously want him locked up as a Lion for the rest of his career).

Robbie wrote:

Toppy Vann wrote:Wally hasn't been better in his trophy presentation comments and interview with Team 1410 after.

So everyone.....who stayed for it?

Sorry, Robbie, but most of the crowd was gone by then. With the win clearly in hand, some folks left before the game was even over. The PA guy didn't really help either by announcing "So long and see you next week" right at the final gun and then five minutes later came an announcement asking everyone to stick around for the trophy presentation.

Taking a close look at the base of the trophy, it looks like the 2011 BC Lions engraving has already been made. Perhaps with the large lead at halftime, the trophy ambassadors were so confident that it will be awarded to the Lions so they did the engraving at that time.

Wow, I think you're right, I don't think I've ever seen that done before. But given the aforementioned delay, that could easily have happened right at the final gun or with a couple of minutes left when the outcome was pretty obvious.

Defence played exceptional. Even Ryan Phillips made a beautiful tackle to stop the Eskimo receiver dead in his track short of a first down.

sj-roc wrote:

Robbie wrote:

Toppy Vann wrote:Wally hasn't been better in his trophy presentation comments and interview with Team 1410 after.

So everyone.....who stayed for it?

Sorry, Robbie, but most of the crowd was gone by then. With the win clearly in hand, some folks left before the game was even over. The PA guy didn't really help either by announcing "So long and see you next week" right at the final gun and then five minutes later came an announcement asking everyone to stick around for the trophy presentation.

Taking a close look at the base of the trophy, it looks like the 2011 BC Lions engraving has already been made. Perhaps with the large lead at halftime, the trophy ambassadors were so confident that it will be awarded to the Lions so they did the engraving at that time.

Wow, I think you're right, I don't think I've ever seen that done before. But given the aforementioned delay, that could easily have happened right at the final gun or with a couple of minutes left once when the outcome was pretty obvious.

Truman defeats Dewey!

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2011/11/20/b ... -says-reed

Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun talks about Wally suiting up 6 D Linemen to attack the Schmos vulnerable O Line.

There was a major mismatch going in which B.C. doubled down on to make it even more of a mismatch.

As expected the Eskimos patch-work offensive line, which has seen 13 different members this year, couldn’t handle the rush from the Lions CFL all-star-studded front seven.

Buono wasn’t satisfied with that.

He closed practices twice during the week so nobody would see the intent to rotate six fresh defensive lineman through the mix against the Edmonton offensive line.

Well done, Wally.

I thought Edmonton did well to keep the Lions rush from overwhelming Ricky Ray. We pushed hard all game, took him out of his rhythm, and except for great effort by the Schmos, I think we would have swamped Ray. 3 sacks and lots of pressure. A big key to the game.

Khalif Mitchell. Eric Taylor. Aaron Hunt. Keron Williams. Khreem Smith. Brent Johnson. That is one helluva group.

I expect the same strategy against the Bombers. Win the trenches, win the game.

WestCoastJoe wrote:http://www.edmontonsun.com/2011/11/20/b ... -says-reed

Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun talks about Wally suiting up 6 D Linemen to attack the Schmos vulnerable O Line.

There was a major mismatch going in which B.C. doubled down on to make it even more of a mismatch.

As expected the Eskimos patch-work offensive line, which has seen 13 different members this year, couldn’t handle the rush from the Lions CFL all-star-studded front seven.

Buono wasn’t satisfied with that.

He closed practices twice during the week so nobody would see the intent to rotate six fresh defensive lineman through the mix against the Edmonton offensive line.

Well done, Wally.

I thought Edmonton did well to keep the Lions rush from overwhelming Ricky Ray. We pushed hard all game, took him out of his rhythm, and except for great effort by the Schmos, I think we would have swamped Ray. 3 sacks and lots of pressure. A big key to the game.

Khalif Mitchell. Eric Taylor. Aaron Hunt. Keron Williams. Khreem Smith. Brent Johnson. That is one helluva group.

Don't know what Jones is suggesting, as the speculation was all around about the Lions using 6 DL all week, but at what cost. It is the cost factor that wasn't exploited and helped the Lions win with their D-line play.

Rammer wrote:

WestCoastJoe wrote:http://www.edmontonsun.com/2011/11/20/b ... -says-reed

Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun talks about Wally suiting up 6 D Linemen to attack the Schmos vulnerable O Line.

There was a major mismatch going in which B.C. doubled down on to make it even more of a mismatch.

As expected the Eskimos patch-work offensive line, which has seen 13 different members this year, couldn’t handle the rush from the Lions CFL all-star-studded front seven.

Buono wasn’t satisfied with that.

He closed practices twice during the week so nobody would see the intent to rotate six fresh defensive lineman through the mix against the Edmonton offensive line.

Well done, Wally.

I thought Edmonton did well to keep the Lions rush from overwhelming Ricky Ray. We pushed hard all game, took him out of his rhythm, and except for great effort by the Schmos, I think we would have swamped Ray. 3 sacks and lots of pressure. A big key to the game.

Khalif Mitchell. Eric Taylor. Aaron Hunt. Keron Williams. Khreem Smith. Brent Johnson. That is one helluva group.

Don't know what Jones is suggesting, as the speculation was all around about the Lions using 6 DL all week, but at what cost. It is the cost factor that wasn't exploited and helped the Lions win with their D-line play.

I don't recall any speculation in the media about a 6 man D Line rotation by the Lions. Myself and Blitz had speculated about it on here.

We were thin at DB, sort of. Arakgi and LaRose getting dinged temporarily put us to the limit. Reddick could always drop back as DB. And we have Cauchy Muamba in backup.

I see backup O Lineman Andrew Jones did play although he was not on the listed Depth Chart. Getting 6 D Linemen suited is not an easy roster ratio task, but IMO it paid dividends today.

Two things:

1) On the trophy, it's possible they engraved both plates before the game and just affixed the Lions one to it with glue shortly before the conclusion of the game.

2) As for the Esks O Line, I actually thought they played much better overall than they did in the previous two meetings. But at the same time, I think, except for the stretch between the 10 minute mark of the 3rd quarter and the 6 minute mark or so of the 4th quarter, our secondary played much better than they had previously.