Lionbackers.com

Farhan Lalji wrote:Huge blow to #BCLions as @SolomonE56 suffered a torn Achilles tendon last night. Will undergo surgery this week. Placed on 6-gm injured list

Just as I suspected when I saw a replay of the injury and teammates carry him off the field. A torn Achilles tendon (I wasn't buying the preliminary diagnosis 'ankle strain'). I would be surprised if Solly comes back at all this year. Indeed a huge blow. Alex Hoffman-Ellis and Bo Lokombo will have to step-up big time.


DH

That's worse than pouring salt in the wound after last night's dreadful performance. Best of luck #56. I guess we could see Bighill play more of a traditional MLB position. Time for Lokombo to step up big time and use this opportunity to develop a sorely needed impact national starter.

Devastating. No way he comes back after 6 games. That's a season ender and could affect his mobility in future seasons. Terrible, terrible news for SolE and the Lions.

Why are you even using Solly on Special Teams anyway ?
dat

Terrible loss for the Lions. Defence is going to be even more soft with SolE out of the lineup

shut him down for the year, should be good to go by next summer

Not a good injury for a football player to ever have...let's hope the Lions give him all the time he needs to heal it properly!

On the "bright side", we should get a much bigger look at Bo Lokombo, and he's been dynamite already! Import out, National in...this should free up an INT player somewhere else.

That is a shame.

Recuperate well, Solly.

When do injuries or accidents oftentimes happen? When one is overloaded, hurried, worried, overextended, et cetera.

One man in the box. Stop the run game. Stop QB draws. Stop screen passes. Cover receivers. Oh yeah, STOP THE RUN. Sideline to sideline. You are the box. Bighill is in pass coverage. As is Johnson.

STs also? Insanity.

This will shoot holes in the defensive system MW runs. Who the hell else can do all that Biggie and Solly do together? One can only imagine how much worse our D would be without either of those stalwarts.

Is reality sinking in yet with the Lions' staff? Does Wally still think our pass rush is fine? Is our defensive system good? Are the personnel moves good? Chris R? Draft pick #1, Ese? Undersized interior of the DL? Release of Eric Taylor? Nasty send off of Korey Banks and Dante Marsh?

Everything is just fine on the Good Ship Wally.

WestCoastJoe wrote:That is a shame.

Recuperate well, Solly.

When do injuries or accidents oftentimes happen? When one is overloaded, hurried, worried, overextended, et cetera.

One man in the box. Stop the run game. Stop QB draws. Stop screen passes. Cover receivers. Oh yeah, STOP THE RUN. Sideline to sideline. You are the box. Bighill is in pass coverage. As is Johnson.

STs also? Insanity.

This will shoot holes in the defensive system MW runs. Who the hell else can do all that Biggie and Solly do together? One can only imagine how much worse our D would be without either of those stalwarts.

Is reality sinking in yet with the Lions' staff? Does Wally still think our pass rush is fine? Is our defensive system good? Are the personnel moves good? Chris R? Draft pick #1, Ese? Undersized interior of the DL? Release of Eric Taylor? Nasty send off of Korey Banks and Dante Marsh?

Everything is just fine on the Good Ship Wally.

You forgot the mis-handling of the release (told to retire when he didn't want to) of Paul McCallum. Add the release of Logan and Brown who are both better than currant Lion kick returners and add in the stupidity of playing both Loh and Westerman out of position on a struggling D line.

The difficulty in getting FAs to sign with the Lions is also a concern.

Wally is past his best before date and needs to be told to retire at seasons end similar to the manner in which he has dealt with numerous vets in the past. And if the Lions don't have anyone in mind to replace Wally but fire him (tell him to retire) anyways, well that would be consistent with Wally's MO.

DanoT wrote:
You forgot the mis-handling of the release (told to retire when he didn't want to) of Paul McCallum. Add the release of Logan and Brown who are both better than currant Lion kick returners and add in the stupidity of playing both Loh and Westerman out of position on a struggling D line.

The difficulty in getting FAs to sign with the Lions is also a concern.

Wally is past his best before date and needs to be told to retire at seasons end similar to the manner in which he has dealt with numerous vets in the past. And if the Lions don't have anyone in mind to replace Wally but fire him (tell him to retire) anyways, well that would be consistent with Wally's MO.

I don't see the McCallum situation as being mis-handled by the Lions. The Lions extended an olive branch offering him the opportunity to retire on his own terms as part of the team, rather than just kicking him to the curb. In hindsight maybe they shouldn't have been so nice.

The_Pauser wrote:

DanoT wrote:
You forgot the mis-handling of the release (told to retire when he didn't want to) of Paul McCallum. Add the release of Logan and Brown who are both better than currant Lion kick returners and add in the stupidity of playing both Loh and Westerman out of position on a struggling D line.

The difficulty in getting FAs to sign with the Lions is also a concern.

Wally is past his best before date and needs to be told to retire at seasons end similar to the manner in which he has dealt with numerous vets in the past. And if the Lions don't have anyone in mind to replace Wally but fire him (tell him to retire) anyways, well that would be consistent with Wally's MO.

I don't see the McCallum situation as being mis-handled by the Lions. The Lions extended an olive branch offering him the opportunity to retire on his own terms as part of the team, rather than just kicking him to the curb. In hindsight maybe they shouldn't have been so nice.

No question that the Lions intentions were but McCallum is a feisty sort who had no intentions of retiring and his kicking for the Riders proves his worth. He just got beat out by younger, stronger, cheaper Leone. So, yeah in hindsight the Lions should have just released him but the Lions did misjudge McCallum's reaction to the situation.

I thought maybe the wounds of being whooped so badly make a strain/sprain feel worse and maybe he just wanted outta there.

Sad but these things happen and the crazy thing with these Achilles injuries the like of which I never saw in sports (not many) until the 80s is how freakish they happen. It wasn't like he was fell on by a 275 pound OL.

DanoT wrote:No question that the Lions intentions were but McCallum is a feisty sort who had no intentions of retiring and his kicking for the Riders proves his worth. He just got beat out by younger, stronger, cheaper Leone. So, yeah in hindsight the Lions should have just released him but the Lions did misjudge McCallum's reaction to the situation.

IMO BC handled the McCallum situation as well as was possible. The only thing I could've seen them doing differently was to have released him outright without giving him the opportunity to bow out gracefully. McCallum has proven his worth as a Rider and that's as a one dimensional kicker who can still make a 45+ kick if he has a tailwind. I'm curious to see if the Riders don't try to land Sean Whyte, 15 years PM's junior, as someone who can give them a longer term solution.

Hambone wrote:

DanoT wrote:No question that the Lions intentions were but McCallum is a feisty sort who had no intentions of retiring and his kicking for the Riders proves his worth. He just got beat out by younger, stronger, cheaper Leone. So, yeah in hindsight the Lions should have just released him but the Lions did misjudge McCallum's reaction to the situation.

IMO BC handled the McCallum situation as well as was possible. The only thing I could've seen them doing differently was to have released him outright without giving him the opportunity to bow out gracefully. McCallum has proven his worth as a Rider and that's as a one dimensional kicker who can still make a 45+ kick if he has a tailwind. I'm curious to see if the Riders don't try to land Sean Whyte, 15 years PM's junior, as someone who can give them a longer term solution.

Wally certainly gets how players react differently to bad news and it's hard to know how to do this. But let's face it with Wally. He will always get a player before his best before date as that is in his DNA. He will not wait and say Oh Oh, I should have cut him. This is the guy who used to say 'My job is to find a better player than you.' As an aside, too bad he didn't do this as effectively as when he was HC..lol.

Paul Mc no doubt is pissed at the lack of loyalty to him as he strongly believes this new kicker is just here punching a ticket to the NFL for next season.

Lui Passaglia made his own decision on retiring and he retired after 2000 on his accord and possibly Paul now settled in his business here felt the Lions would do the same for him.

They used to make a big deal of Lui's shorter kickoffs and I'd laugh at every game Lui played how it was just not happening as they planned. I'd have settled for Lui with the knowledge that if I wanted a short kick off he'd deliver.

____

Until the 80s playing and coaching I have seen lots of injuries but before the 80s the Achilles seemed not to be the issue with ankle injuries. Now they are. One article suggests to me that the level of work these guys are doing to prepare and get in shape may be a bit of a contributor in terms of "overuse."

These days even amateurs are bigger, stronger faster and in better condition than when I played sports at a high level.

My two stars did Achilles with NO ONE near them. One was on a breakway on turf and just went down like he'd been shot. The other jumped up and heading a cross in the back of the net and fell like he'd been shot from the grassy knoll. NO ONE touched him.

http://patient.info/health/achilles-tendinopathy < Not directly related to tears though.

Toppy Vann wrote:"
Wally certainly gets how players react differently to bad news and it's hard to know how to do this. But let's face it with Wally. He will always get a player before his best before date as that is in his DNA. He will not wait and say Oh Oh, I should have cut him. This is the guy who used to say 'My job is to find a better player than you.' As an aside, too bad he didn't do this as effectively as when he was HC..lol.

I think Buono should apply his philosophy to himself. His best days are behind him.