Post Mortem on the Season, Als 50 - Leos 17

[Don Miller]

What can you say Benny out of his league for sure. Too many injuries, lack of depth at receiver and OLine. We haven't had a good safety for years! Lots of these guys will e replaced. Need a new coach and OC.. Washington gets a pass. Unless I see some positive changes no season tickets for me next season.

[MexicoLionFan]

I don't see how Washington gets a pass...I and others saw it and said it most of the season...the Washington's system was a cheat that could easily be exposed. Our least 3 games our Defence gave up over 150 points...that's when it matters...not holding a new franchise to 150 yards in offence in a rain storm because you plug up their basic passing lanes.

I said it time and again ANY team in the CFL could have exposed the Lions D in a one game winner-take-all showdown...YOU MUST PRESSURE THE QB if you are going to have a successful Defence when it counts...what good is it if Washington only coaches well in July and August when teams are adjusting to new personnel???

The tell tale sign of Washington as a defensive coordinator this season??? When teams adjusted to what he was doing he had ZERO ANSWERS...making in game adjustments to stop your opponent is what defines you as a great defensive coach! And no CFL team had as much talent on defence as the Lions...our back eight, short of LaRose was by far the best in the league, with seemingly endless depth!

[sj-roc]

Stats:

http://cfl.ca/statistics/statsGame/id/12823

You know it's been a bad game when the ONLY appearance on the stat sheet from your leading receiver in yardage, receptions AND touchdowns (i.e., Manny Arceneaux) is under defensive tackles.

[cromartie]

Yes, it was strange regarding Lulay's "availability" for this game. Can't play? Don't suit up. False hope to fans. False message to players. Baloney.

Can't play. Don't suit up. Lulay's injury is not something that just happened recently. A well organized team plays, practices and prepares accordingly.

Not strange at all, if you remember in the 2003 Eastern Semi in Toronto that Dave Dickenson suited up and practiced, even though he didn't play. The point is to get your opposing coaching staff to take time to prepare for different QB possibilities.

Of course, when the actual outcome involves facing Spergeon "The Chessmaster" Wynn, your defensive coaching staff really doesn't have to do that much prep work anyway.

And I agree that Kevin Glenn was not the problem with this year's offence. He did just fine last year with Calgary. Didn't win the Grey Cup? Well, Hufnagel has not won since 2008. Not just Glenn at the helm in that time.

Not true. He was a problem with this year's offense, and his physical limitations are apparent. But they were exacerbated by a number of different problems both with blocking and scheme.

Firing JC and Stubler? Face saving. Scapegoats for Wally's protégé. Those guys were experts in their field, Xs and Os masters.

Yes, in football Job One is instilling confidence. Building confidence.

Hindsight foul. Expert, in one case, is being generous. The limitations on offense were apparent. Stubler was a bit of a mystery, personally, but you understand the decision, I suppose, from an organizational standpoint, as a long term investment in Washington that has not panned out.

In a sense, I feel bad for Wally. He raised Benny right from the standpoint of making sure he had a diverse background of football operations, gained coaching experience etc. etc. He groomed him the way you would want a young coach groomed for a HC position. It just hasn't worked, and it isn't going to. And that's too bad. But business is business.

[WestCoastJoe]

Yes, it was strange regarding Lulay's "availability" for this game. Can't play? Don't suit up. False hope to fans. False message to players. Baloney.

Can't play. Don't suit up. Lulay's injury is not something that just happened recently. A well organized team plays, practices and prepares accordingly.

Not strange at all, if you remember in the 2003 Eastern Semi in Toronto that Dave Dickenson suited up and practiced, even though he didn't play. The point is to get your opposing coaching staff to take time to prepare for different QB possibilities.

I will stay with "Can't play. Don't suit up."

And I agree that Kevin Glenn was not the problem with this year's offence. He did just fine last year with Calgary. Didn't win the Grey Cup? Well, Hufnagel has not won since 2008. Not just Glenn at the helm in that time.

Not true. He was a problem with this year's offense, and his physical limitations are apparent. But they were exacerbated by a number of different problems both with blocking and scheme.

I will stay with "KG was not the problem with this year's offence." Any QB would have struggled with this pop gun O. "One Steamboat. Chuck and Duck." LOL

Firing JC and Stubler? Face saving. Scapegoats for Wally's protégé. Those guys were experts in their field, Xs and Os masters.

Yes, in football Job One is instilling confidence. Building confidence.

Hindsight foul. Expert, in one case, is being generous. The limitations on offense were apparent. Stubler was a bit of a mystery, personally, but you understand the decision, I suppose, from an organizational standpoint, as a long term investment in Washington that has not panned out.

Hindsight? Some of us spoke about the risks at the time.

Expert? I would suggest that Stubler deserves that word. And JC with his statistics over the years also qualifies IMO. JC was always saddled with a lifer O Line coach as well.

Some of us saw the dismissals as scapegoats, as noted.

[WestCoastJoe]

From Lowell Ullrich ...

But the Lions’ problems defensively go much deeper in being demolished in the final three games.

“There’s a lot deeper things we need to look at; our scheme, system, personnel, how we coach and what we coach from top to bottom,” said rookie defensive coordinator Mark Washington, who did not see eye-to-eye with Marsh at some points this season, according to a club source.

Yes.

“There’s no way to explain it,” said Benevides after the game, in what may the biggest indictment of all.

Ooooh ... Good answer. LOL

The question Buono must now decide before deciding which of seven free agents to re-sign is whether he has the right leaders on the coaching staff and whether their schemes can be successful in the changing landscape of three-down football.

Yes. The coaching staff. And also the GM. Have the GM promote the GM? Sure.

Washington had a scheme that worked for 15 games, in which the Lions pitched six touchdown shutouts, before it became completely exposed in the absence of a pass rush.

No pass rush. Yes. No blitizing.

And the offence under Khari Jones, who also only had one year of CFL experience calling plays before coming to the Lions, never really got untracked, even when the Lions had a healthy Andrew Harris at tailback.

Yes.

“This game is a microcosm of our season,” said Marsh.

This game certainly exposed a number of ailments.

Can a team quit on a coach? Of course. Not necessarily consciously. But as I have noted, and MLF has noted, when hope goes out the window, performance can go into the tank. That happened today. Do players want Benny fired? Some might. Same as any workplace. Some might have a grievance, or carry a grudge. Unprofessional? Waddayagonna do? Ever want a boss fired? Human nature. And of course there can be bad apples in a room. They have never lasted long in Wally's World. This team gave up the ghost. Some played hard all the way. Physically that is almost always there. I would say Benny is generally well liked. That ain't enough.

Hope for the future? Depends on some decisions.

[TheLionKing]

The warts were there all season ie. no pass rush, not so special teams, playcalling, schemes, penalties etc. A win covers the warts, they were still there. Benevides and the coaching staff including Buono had 18 weeks to correct the problems but didn't. Results showed this afternoon.

[The_Pauser]

Absolutely agree with that article. A decision on the coaching has to come sooner than later, because you can't begin to determine who you want to bring back until you have your coaching staff in place. I predict that we'll have an answer to this within a week after the Grey Cup.

Marsh and Washington didn't see eye to eye? No surprise there. At this point I'll side with the player based on the results the coach got out of a talented defense.

[TheLionKing]

THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL -- Solomon Elimimian won't be able to fully enjoy his record-setting 2014 season.

The BC Lions linebacker is a finalist for the CFL's outstanding player award after registering a league-record 143 tackles. But Elimimian called his season “a failure” following his club's lopsided 50-17 loss to the Montreal Alouettes in the East Division semifinal Sunday at Molson Stadium.

“Man, I've got six months of regrets,” said a downcast Elimimian, who had a game-high 10 tackles. “What ruined it for me was my No. 1 goal was to win the Grey Cup so everything else is a failure in my eyes.

“These individual accolades, I can't enjoy. I really can't, man, because I want to share something special with these guys. We said the first day of June that we wanted to win the Grey Cup. Me getting tackles, that wasn't part of it.”

Montreal put the game away in the third quarter, opening the second half with a nine-play, 79-yard march that Tanner Marsh capped with a two-yard TD run to put the home team ahead 22-3. Then on BC's next possession, Alouettes linebacker intercepted Kevin Glenn, setting up a five-play, 60-yard drive that ended with Brandon Rutley's four-yard touchdown run for a 29-3 advantage.

Marsh added a one-yard TD run later in the third for a 36-3 Montreal lead and the rout was on.

“The third quarter was disastrous,” Lions head coach Mike Benevides said. “It was a 12-point half-time score but once the second half started it went downhill and we couldn't recover.”

Glenn was just 6-of-18 passing for 64 yards and two interceptions (for a -1.6 passer rating) before being replaced in the second half by youngster Travis Partridge. BC thought about bringing former starter Travis Lulay into the game but Benevides said following a warmup Lulay didn't feel physically right.

Lulay has missed 20 of B.C's 21 games the last two seasons with a right shoulder ailment. The Lions added him to their 46-man roster last week hoping he might be able to play, if needed, against Montreal.

Partridge finished 7-of-11 passing for 38 yards and two TDs. While the Lions' offence managed just 249 total yards, a defence that surrendered a league-low 24 TDs was shredded for 215 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

It was an abysmal ending for BC, which dropped six of its last eight game and was outscored 120-36 over its last three contests, all losses.

The Lions also continued their playoff misery against Montreal. The last time they faced the Alouettes in the post-season they dropped a 56-18 decision in 2009.

The lopsided loss will put Benevides on the hot-seat despite having two years remaining on his current deal. But Elimimian came to the defence of his embattled head coach.

“At the end of the day I love coach Benevides and I'm going to play for him and in my eyes he's a great coach,” Elimimian said. “Individually, I don't feel guys played to where we needed to play.



“The dismal ending to the season will also prompt questions regarding Glenn's future. The 35-year-old Detroit native, acquired from Ottawa during the CFL draft in May, was the CFL's second-rated passer with 3,918 yards with 17 TDs but also threw a league-high 17 interceptions and now sports career a playoff record of 4-7.Scheme is one thing but you need to execute and you have to line up man against your man and win the individual battles. Every year, win or lose there's going to be changes roster-wise so we have to look within ourselves individually, we really do because at the end of the day, players play. We didn't do a good job.”

But the 14-year CFL veteran has no intentions of retiring.

“I've got three, four years left,” he said. “I do feel that and feel confident about that.

“We have some ups, we have some downs but it just builds you, it builds your character, it builds you as a person. This game has been a big part of who I am and I think it's going to carry with me even after I am done.”

As for remaining with BC, Glenn said that decision isn't his to make.

“That kind of thing has yet to be determined,” he said. “I'm not in total control of that so we'll have to see.”

But Glenn said his faith will help him deal with the disappointment of this loss and put it into perspective.

“This is the toughest loss because it's present,” he said. “God won't put you through anything you can't handle.

“I do believe that and once I am done I will cherish these moments and probably look back and say, 'You know what? What's going on in my life 10-15 years from now that loss in Montreal was preparing me for this. You have to take some positive out of a lot of negative right now.”

[aklawitter]

An over the hill "leader" comes in, supplants the heart and soul of the team

An iron Mike whistles and stomps, but ends being just another

A superstar on Offence who puts the ball in the endzone amid rumours that he wants out

A divided locker room that tunes out their coach



We've seen this before, please Braley make it only last one year not three

[TheLionKing]

Dressing a quarterback who is unable to play. Smoke and mirrors, sums up the Lions' season.

[DanoT]

I think the signature play of the game and really of the entire season was Iannuzzi's on side punt. The fact that is was poorly designed and had terrible execution was not even the worst part. The worst part was where on the field that it was called. What goes through a coaches mind to decide to run such a play from inside the 5 yard line?

It was at this point in the game that I realized that in order to find an upgrade at HC the Lions could start their recruiting at the local high schools.

[aklawitter]

It was at this point in the game that I realized that in order to find an upgrade at HC the Lions could start their recruiting at the local high schools.

FARHAN!

[Blue In BC]

Glenn has always seemed to play really badly in the playoffs. His record is abysmal it important games. I can't seem him being a Lion in 2015. Whether there are any takers for his services even as a free agent, I'm not sure. There are always comments about him being the best backup insurance QB, but is it really true when you barely squeak into the crossover game before tanking.

I've never been a big fan of the crossover concept. I'm wondering if now that we have Ottawa back in the league whether we should eliminate it in 2015.

[LionsLip]

A total collapse....how disappointing! Changes must be made...starting with the coaching staff. Also get rid of #21 & #27....their time has passed. There are a few others too. The more difficult question is who do you replace them with? There is not an abundance of quality coaches and players around. And then there is the issue of how long do the players take to adjust and buy into a new system? Apparently the Eskimos did quite well at this. But you must make the changes first, then hopefully the rest falls into place asap. I can see now why some of you will not renew season tickets. I am totally for supporting my team, but when you lose like this, and you know there are problems over the past year or so, and you are not going in the right direction and fail to do something about it, or take corrective action.... it gets very demoralizing! It has always been a dream of mine to have season tickets at B.C. Place and cheer the Lion's on (when we move to Kelowna in about 18 months from now). But please B.C. management... make the necessary changes to help make this happen for me and more importantly for the others. If you don't, I can see you losing a fair amount of fan base.....not good! It will be interesting to see what happens in the off season and here is hoping for the best!