Lionbackers.com

Thursday
Montreal 27 Calgary 30

Friday
Ottawa 17 Winnipeg 19

Saturday
Hamilton 13 Saskatchewan 30
Edmonton 15 BC 59

Very entertaining season opener at McMahon with both offences looking far sharper than what we witnessed a year ago after losing a season and no pre-season games. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come as the league desperately needs a strong and entertaining start with dynamic offensive play.

Alouettes continue to be a tease with Vernon Adams. Looks terrific at times but ultimately can’t get the job done. A bad INT with his team leading by 10 points in the 2nd half then 2 late possessions where his decision making was questionable.
He has a stud receiver with Eugene Lewis.
At 29 and with Trevor Harris iurking he needs to take the next step.

Delta's own Tyson Philpot was also impressive all night on kick returns for Montreal.

Wpg narrowly defeats the Redblacks 19-17 on a dying seconds FG by the guy who missed a convert earlier that would have tied them at 17 but instead left them at 16 until redemption.

Redblacks look like a strong contender with Masoli at QB taking more long downfield shots from the opening to the end. If Jaelon Acklin didn't drop that early on bomb that seemed to be a relatively easy catch that TSN says would have been a TD and if RBs didn't run the clock out entirely while in FG range to end the 1st half that game might have been a Bombers L not the W they got.

That missed convert might have factored into Collaros' diving head-first run as time was late in the game and they were down 17-16. That ill-advised dive led to the Injury Spotters removing him from the game with backup Dru Brown tossing some 3 great completions in a row to put them in FG range and something like 1 second on the clock. He took a head shot and his head banged off the turf that visibly looked like a possible concussion. We shall see this week.

BUT that Dru Brown looks solid as a backup. Procup did all the short stuff as back up.

This season bodes well for some tough, interesting games and no sure path for anyone team to get the GC for now.

I might be the only person who questioned some of the helmet hits that RBs laid on WPG culminating with the final hit on Collaros on that head first dive as they were in desperate straits at that point in the game.

Duane Ford and TSN said nothing but I thought the RBs had questionable helmet to the head shots in that game. Not suggesting deliberately dirty at all BUT higher and for me I wondered if they were questionable for calls.

For the first time in many years there will be no free spaces on the East bingo card. If you are a West team you better finish in the top 3 if you have playoff aspirations.

Thursday
Montreal 19 Toronto 20
Friday
Winnipeg 19 at Ottawa 12
Saturday
Calgary 33 at Hamilton 30 (OT)
Saskatchewan 26 at Edmonton 16

Home teams go 4-0 in week one although Calgary and Winnipeg needed to rally late.
Can the RedBlacks win the rematch back at home after Masoli threw for 380 yards in a losing cause? It was a tough night for former Lion DB Winston Rose although the Bombers definitely were missing DL Jeff Jeffcoat and safety Brandon Alexander.

West teams also went 3-0 against the East last week. For the Lions sake it would nice to see at least one loss this week. I would think a little pressure on the 0-1 Ti-Cats at home with expectations high in Hamilton.

SammyGreene wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 14, 2022 6:57 am

Thursday
Montreal (0-1) at Toronto (0-0) 4:30 p.m.
Friday
Winnipeg (1-0) at Ottawa (0-1) 4:30 p.m.
Saturday
Calgary (1-0) at Hamilton (0-1) 3:30 p.m.
Saskatchewan (1-0) at Edmonton (0-1) 6:30 p.m.

Home teams go 4-0 in week one although Calgary and Winnipeg needed to rally late.
Can the RedBlacks win the rematch back at home after Masoli threw for 380 yards in a losing cause? It was a tough night for former Lion DB Winston Rose although the Bombers definitely were missing DL Jeff Jeffcoat and safety Brandon Alexander.

West teams also went 3-0 against the East last week. For the Lions sake it would nice to see at least one loss this week. I would think a little pressure on the 0-1 Ti-Cats at home with expectations high in Hamilton.

Would love to see Hamilton and Edmonton pull out wins this week. Not likely for Edmonton, but one can hope...

Good grief… Als kicker David Cote does his best Takeru Yamasaki impersonation by missing a game winning 21-yard FG at BMO Field.
Montreal easily could be 2-0 but instead head back home winless to host the Riders with plenty of questions marks including starting QB after Vernon Adams was given the hook early for Trevor Harris. He was decent but did miss a wide open receiver for the game tying 2 point convert. That wouldn’t have mattered if Cote could hit a chip shot.

Oh well we are now guaranteed two unbeaten teams at BC Place next weekend.

SammyGreene wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:35 pm

Good grief… Als kicker David Cote does his best Takeru Yamasaki impersonation by missing a game winning 21-yard FG at BMO Field.
Montreal easily could be 2-0 but instead head back home winless to host the Riders with plenty of questions marks including starting QB after Vernon Adams was given the hook early for Trevor Harris. He was decent but did miss a wide open receiver for the game tying 2 point convert. That wouldn’t have mattered if Cote could hit a chip shot.

Oh well we are now guaranteed two unbeaten teams at BC Place next weekend.

Neither team deserved to win that game but
Montreal deserved to lose. The Argos don’t scare
me.

Masoli again throws for over 300 yards but red zone inefficiency and a critical 3rd down fumble late in the 4th quarter cost the RedBlacks again in a 19-12 loss.
They found the end zone just once over the 2 games and now enter a bye week before hosting BC.
Bombers hardly look dominant but look for third 3rd straight win at home to Hamilton next Friday.

The clear lesson from the first two weeks of the season is that veteran teams find ways to win and inexperienced teams find ways to lose. That's why Winnipeg, Calgary and Saskatchewan are 2-0, and Ottawa, Montreal and Edmonton are 0-2. I don't know if Hamilton qualifies as an inexperienced team but the Ticats managed to blow a 24-0 lead against Calgary on Saturday, turning the ball over three times in the second half and once in overtime to seal their defeat and join the 0-2 teams.

The Argos and Lions, who meet in Week 3, are both 1-0. The Lions have a lot more experience on defence than they did last year, and have no rookies on offence, although Nathan Rourke is in his first year as a starter. Both teams have a chance to prove they belong among the league leaders.

Elkimos played better this week after their beatdown by the Lions last week but still lost to the Riders. Couldn't finish drives and muffed a field goal attempt on a high snap.

Almost inexcusable for the Ti-Cats to blow a 24-0 lead at home. They got greedy on a botched 3rd and 2 in the red zone (after the interception of BLM) when a field goal could have (pretty much) put the game out of reach or certainly demoralize the Stampeders.

One thing for certain in the first two weeks of the season. There are no teams that I fear. I truly believe our Leos stack up pretty well against everyone. Yes, even the Bombers.


DH

Some evident coaching errors affecting game outcomes this year. Ticats, RBs.

Is it my imagination or has the kicking game become a bit of an adventure more than ever in the last few years?

All kickers miss but these days the convert that even at 32 yds seemed sure seems unsure meaning I never miss watching the kicked convert.

Toppy Vann wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:26 am

Some evident coaching errors affecting game outcomes this year. Ticats, RBs.

Is it my imagination or has the kicking game become a bit of an adventure more than ever in the last few years?

All kickers miss but these days the convert that even at 32 yds seemed sure seems unsure meaning I never miss watching the kicked convert.

My feeling on FGs was that when they moved converts back to the 32 they became much less of a sure thing than the old automatic convert from right under the uprights. Most kickers started missing occasional converts leading to a bit of erosion in confidence for FGs anywhere.

As for this year I wonder if the new hashmarks are having an effect. It should make things easier but as those of us who golf know positioning of tee blocks can mess up our minds when trying to line up our tee shots. Cote's miss the other night was actually from inside the hashes virtually perpendicular to the uprights but could that strip of hashmarks so that shouldn't matter.

Thursday
Saskatchewan (2-0) at Montreal (0-2) 4:30 p.m.
Friday
Hamilton (0-2) at Winnipeg (2-0) 5:30 p.m.
Saturday
Edmonton (0-2) at Calgary (2-0) 4 p.m.
Toronto (1-0) at B.C. (1-0) 7 p.m.

Will there still be 4 unbeaten teams in the West after week 3? I'm sure the league is hoping for at least one upset and Montreal tomorrow night would be a good place to start.
Ti-Cats in tough after inexcusably blowing a 24-0 lead last week thanks to some horrific turnovers.
An already discouraged Edmonton fan base might be even more if this week's results go to form and the Elks are buried further in the Western basement.
Lions/Argos might be the most intriguing match-up of as the entire league awaits to see how BC backs-up that dominating opener performance coming off a bye week.

The team that has shown closest to balance on offence (percentage of run play calls vs. pass plays) has WON EVERY game so far this season; the team that has shown more favortism to pass plays has LOST every game so far this season.

Note to CFL HCs & OCs.

Ok, nevermind