The Place for BC Lion Discussion. A forum for Lions fans to talk and chat about our team.
Discussion, News, Information and Speculation regarding the BC Lions and the CFL.
Prowl, Growl and Roar!
Looks like our Leos have priortorized getting our running game dominance of last season back. A tough order as we play Calgary on Friday night.
No doubt, if we hope to win in the playoffs, we have to get this changed around.
The article at CFL. ca is posted below.
Lions working on restoring running game dominance.
CFL.ca Staff
VANCOUVER -- Averaging just under 40 rushing yards per game in his last nine outings, Andrew Harris’ season hasn’t exactly gone according to plan.
But stats can be somewhat deceiving.
In that same span, Harris has been averaging just 10 carries per game, a stark contrast to Jon Cornish’s 15 and Kory Sheets’ 18.
Harris, however, has made his name by being a true dual-threat back. As of now, the Winnipeg native sits fourth on the Lions in receiving yards with 414 on 50 receptions.
Through 14 games last season, Harris had already hauled in 67 catches for an impressive 629 yards.
Is his downturn in production a simple case of not being utilized as much as last season?
His head coach seems to think so.
“Right now it’s not certainly where I want it to be and certainly last week the running backs did not get enough opportunities but ultimately it comes down to me,” Mike Benevides told BCLions.com.
Related Links
Morris: DeMarco powering BC offence
“Right now it’s a work in progress, we had some plays out of the quarterback and receivers but we need to get it from the running back position and we are working to that end, we have to be better.”
Take this stat into account: In 2012, Harris and the Lions run game was tops in the CFL, rushing for 124.9 yards per game on 367 total carries.
This year, BC is currently averaging just 98.9 yards on the ground per game, and are currently on pace to record 344 attempts.
Benevides, however, isn’t even close to pinning the blame on Harris, or anyone other than himself for the team’s troubled ground attack.
“All of it, like I said starts and ends with me. It is something we are working hard at and we need to get that on track. It’s been there at times but not consistent enough and I got to get that fixed,” he said.
It's possible that BC's trouble on the ground can be connected to their problems offensively as an entire unit.
These ‘problems’, however, are ones that can most definitely be corrected.
As Benevides explains, execution is key.
“The biggest thing is that if you don’t play a clean game, if you miss opportunities for points and if you let a team stick around and if you can’t make up the deficit that’s tough to do,” he said.
“You can’t hurt yourself with penalties and mistakes. When you get a chance to protect the football, when you get a chance to score points, when you get a chance to make plays you’ve got to make that happen.”
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
Playoffs look to be going through the Prairies at some point at least, in November you better be able to run the football or prepare to watch the Grey Cup from the stands at best. Both Calgary and Saskatchewan rely upon their ground game now, it is even a bigger factor come a Prairie playoff game.
There's still four games left in the regular season, plenty of time to work on the running game. At least Harris should be well rested for the playoffs. Apparently the Lions will bring in S. Logan next week if he can get a passport, according to WX1130. Harris and Logan have much the same skillset, outside runners, good hands and can't block...so they'd probably rotate rather than recreate the dynamic Logan/Roberts duo of '08.
JohnHenry wrote:There's still four games left in the regular season, plenty of time to work on the running game. At least Harris should be well rested for the playoffs. Apparently the Lions will bring in S. Logan next week if he can get a passport, according to WX1130. Harris and Logan have much the same skillset, outside runners, good hands and can't block...so they'd probably rotate rather than recreate the dynamic Logan/Roberts duo of '08.
Logan makes guys miss and hit air, Harris is good but can't turn on a dime like Logan can; well could in his first stint as a Lion. Be interesting to see if Logan can find a passport when so many others won't be getting theirs.
I put about 70% of the blame for our running woes (at least between the tackles) at our offensive line, but Harris should not be blameless. He's been too tentative looking for an opening IMO. He needs to be more explosive and decisive instead of dancing around. Poor blocking or schemes notwithstanding, you need your feature back to do more than just be effective running outside and catching swing passes. If there's a glimmer of hope with Logan it's that he's explodes out of the backfield, and he apparently agreed to a practice roster contract today (he could be here as early as Sunday, according to LU).
Blitz wrote:
Looks like our Leos have priortorized getting our running game dominance of last season back. A tough order as we play Calgary on Friday night.
They've been saying that all season and look at the results. It's not a matter of running the ball more often but run it more efficiently. I have little faith in our Offensive Coordinator solving the lack of a running game. Right now, the Lions are a one dimensional football team.
A big part of last seasons running success was due to Lulay's running. Chaps doesn't like to run the ball and likes to keep the QB in the pocket. I don't mind not running the ball so much as long as it is replaced by screen passes, shovel passes etc. but that is another phase of the game that Chaps doesn't like to call. I am so done with Chaps play calling.
They say that D wins championships but O sells tickets. Look for attendance to drop for the rest of the season and into next year if the play calling remains unchanged.
When we led the CFL in rushing last season it was due to a combination of Harris getting good yardage per carry plus Lulay was able to get outside and run the football, Brown did a good job with his reps, and we also ran a number of fly sweeps with our receivers.
Andrew Harris finished 3rd in rushing last season (the same spot he is in this season) behind Cornish and Sheets.
Last season Andrew Harris carried the football 187 times. He has carried the football 158 times this season. All he needs is 29 carries in our last 4 games and he will have carried the football more than he did last season, when our offence put up more average yards per game than any other CFL team in the league.
The difference this season is that Harris is averaging 4.8 yards per carry and last season he averaged 5.9 yards per carry.....a significant difference. Harris was also able to break more runs last season. His longest run in 2012 was 61 yards while this season his longest is 23 yards and Harris has had very few runs for a big gain in 2013. In terms of touchdowns scored Harris scored 7 rushing touchdowns last season and he has 6 so far this season.
So, even though it may seem like we are not using Harris to run the football like we did last season that is not the case. Its just that when we run Harris we are not as effective as we were last season. That ineffectiveness has also hurt our passing attack. It has caused more second and longs and reduced the effectiveness of play action as well.
Benevedes, as the HC and Chapdelaine as the offensive coordinator, are ultimately accountable for the effectiveness of our running attack. However, the two men who actually coach the running game are Dan Dorazio, offensive line coach and Kelly Bates, running back coach. They are the same two men, along with our offensive coordinator and HC who were able to get have our offence gain the most yards rushing last season as well.
The reason that our offence has slid this season is that we are not running the football as effectively with Harris, our quarterback has not been able to escape and run the football as effectively as last year, and we have not been able to pass as well either (in part due to our lowered effectiveness in the runnin game)
In terms of the lowered effectiveness of Harris running the football I see it mainly as an offensive line issue plus Harris seemed quicker at times last season.
Why does Calgary look so good with 3 different quarterbacks. Its simple. They run the football so effectively with Cornish it also sets up great second down situations and that really help the quarterback. Its the same situation in Saskatchewan. Durrant looked great with Sheets in the lineup and dismal without him.
So before I potentially read what a brilliant offensive coordinator Dave Dickenson is again.....he looks very good right now because Calgary has a very good offensve line and a great running back in Cornish and that makes all the difference. In 2007, with Hufnagel serving as our consultant, we changed from a pass first offence to a run first offence with Joe Smith. Kruck looked very good as an offensive coordinator and Jarious Jackson, who had never started a CFL game until that season won 9 out of 11 games for us, as we set a regular season record for wins.
Its Hufnagel who has the brilliant offensive mind. He was the coach who created the spread offence in the CFL and was ahead of the curve at the time. With defenses focused on stopping the pass Hufnagel advised us well in 2007. He also advised Dickenson well, as well as mentoring Dickenson in his first season as offensive coach. Hufnagel called the plays for Dickenson in that first season. When Dickenson, whose CFL experience was gained under Cortez and Chapdelaine, started to become a pass first spread offence offensive coach Hufnagel ordered him to run the football more and guided him in making the change.
I see the major problem as our offensive line as David posted but Harris also needs to just hit the line hard at full speed. make a quick cut or lower his head rather than trying to pick a hole. We also need to get the diversity back in our running attack again. We had the most diverse running calls in the CFL last season and early this season and we tried to simplify our running game for better execution and that is not working.
You can only scheme to a certain degree however. Its not easy to hide an offensive line that is average at best, which it is right now.
Finally, if we are going to use the zone read we need our quarterback to fake it to Harris and run outside more often on that play. The zone read (zone blocking, quarterback read) is supposed to be run differently. The quarterback reads the defensive end and if the defensive end comes upfield he hands it off. If the end crashes the quarterback fakes the handoff and runs outside. Lulay rarely did that this season and DeMarco has done it once, on the first play of our last game.
Frankly, the zone read has been around in the CFL for too long and defenses have gotten good at shutting it down. They don't fall for the backside cut from the running back anymore. Burris, with Reynolds, ran it best at one time in Calgary but its mostly past its due date. In the NFL the zone read really came into vogue last season but defenses are shutting it down more there as well..have a look at San Francisco this year...they lived off the zone read last year but its not so easy for them so far in 2013.
Finally, Harris was not as good a rusher as Cornish or Sheets last season but he was a better pass reciver. His strength was that he was a dual purpose back. However, Harris also did not get the attention in 2011 and 2012 that he has gotten this season as a receiver out of the backfield. We need to be able to find ways to get Harris in space in the running and passing game...easier said than done..because that is his strength.
Finally it looks as if Stefan Logan will be with us soon. How that will impact our running game remains to be seen.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
Remember all the Harris v Cornish debating last season? It's not even a question this year.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
