Lions 26 - RedBlacks 14, Post-Game Stats and Comments
Moderator: Team Captains
it seems like in first half the play calling or o-line calls are like just way out there then in the second halk the o-line just had like regular pass pro the did better , like when lulay got hurt he was hit by two outside blitzers , couldnt he see this coming ?
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DanoT
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Some of the Lions sacks were pressure sacks, meaning no open receivers for Harris. Late in the game Lions were blitzing instead of playing prevent on D. It appears that the Lions DBs now have the ability to cover man instead of soft zone all the time. 
JJ24's late TD that salted the game away was a "trick play"
as Lions ran off tackle and it was unexpected and fooled the Redblacks D who were of course expecting an inside run between the tackles.
JJ24's late TD that salted the game away was a "trick play"
as Lions ran off tackle and it was unexpected and fooled the Redblacks D who were of course expecting an inside run between the tackles.The score was 19-14 for our B.C. Lions with just less than 4 minutes left in the game. The Ottawa Red Blacks had just kicked a field goal and their defense ran onto the field, knowing that in this defensive battle, with offences struggling, if they could get our offence off the field, they would be an unconverted touchdown away from victory, with time on the clock for a winning drive.
Our B.C. Lions could not sit on that 5-point lead. Having lost two in a row, with a 3-6 season record, we needed to win this game. If not, we would be two games behind the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in our hunt for a cross-over playoff spot.
With 3:55 remaining in the game, Jonathan Jennings lined up behind backup center Chris Greaves, with the football on our 35 yard line, and the drive began. Jennings led our Leos offence for a 75 yd. game winning drive, highlighted by a 33 yd. Jeremiah Johnson run, and then Johnson capped off the drive with an outside burst behind the block of Joel Figueroa for a touchdown.
Our Leos victory put us back in the playoff hunt, one game back of the Bombers. It was a victory we badly needed and probably had to win if we wanted a chance to salvage this season.
This victory was led by our defense, who displayed a ferocious pass rush inspired by the play of Odell Willis and Shawn Lemon. We played aggressive football in all facets of our defense. That allowed our defensive talent and defensive speed to shine. In the first half of the game alone, our defense recorded four sacks and 3 turnovers. We would go on to sack Ottawa 6 times, with Willis recording 3 sacks and creating havoc for Ottawa all game.
Meanwhile, on offence, Jonathan Jennings, in relief of Lulay from late in the first half, due to injury, completed 10/12 passes (82% completion rate) and Ricky Collins stepped up, as I believed he would, with 10 completions for 105 yds.
Our Leos needed to make changes in strategy, and not just personnel, coming off the bye week, if we wanted to keep our 2018 hopes alive. We did that on defense but not on offence.
But our defense was so dominating, it allowed us to go on to victory, at least for this game. Here are some reflections on the win, based on the usual THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY theme.
OFFENCE
Coming into this important game, with a bye week for our coaching staff to reflect and make strategic changes to an offence that had struggled in the first half of the season, instead we got more of the same.
THE BAD
There wasn’t a lot of good about our offence in this victory. Our defense roared in this game, giving our offence great field position off 3 turnovers and 6 sacks. Our special teams blocked a punt and gave us great field postion for Lulay's first half touchdown pass.
But we only passed for 176 yds. in this game. Travis Lulay was 9/15 for 108 yds with 33 of those yards coming off one successful pass out of the spread offence. Jennings went 10/12 for 68 yds. as both quarterbacks mostly threw short passes off RPO plays.
Our running game was just as inept. Jeremiah Johnson’s stats distort. He carried the football 11 times for 63 yds. (6.3 yd. av.) but his 33 yard burst on our final drive of the game enters into that equation. Prior to that big run, Johnson had carried the football 10 times for 30 yds. (3.0 average per carray. Trevon Van had two carries for 5 yds. (2.5 yd. average) and Lulay and Jennings both ran the football once each and both only gained 2 yds. on those two runs.
The reality is that we won this game despite what looked like terrible run blocking and terrible pass blocking. But its play design off RPO that is causing those blocking problems. We’ve watched Jovan Olifioye block for many seasons. We’ve watched Hunter Steward block for a number of seasons now. We all have watched Joel Figuroa block in Edmonton, where he was considered one of the best CFL tackles in the game.
Yet, almost all game, we couldn’t open holes for Jeremiah Johnson and Trevon Vann. Lulay and Jennings were under duress all game. Even with a good snap, they were lucky to have time to take the direct snap and throw the football instantly, while being hit or driven to the ground.
We still stayed with our RPO offence for most of the game. No changes in our offensive scheme during the two week break. Our best success came off Spread plays. Lulay’s touchdown throw to Collins came off a Spread Play. Jennings throw into the end zone to Shaq Johnson, a purrfect throw that was dropped, came off a Spread play.
Our RPO offence is not only a serious problem in terms of run and pass blocking. Its also robotic. When Lulay or Jennings fake the handoff off an RPO play, having gone to their post-snap read, they have a programmed receiver to throw the football to.
There is no or little discretion. Its robotic and prescriptive. Its highly programmed as well as plug and play. It’s a short route thrown into a tight window. And even if Lulay or Jennings were allowed discretion in terms of who to throw the football to, they would not have any time to throw to anyone other than the primary receiver on most RPO plays.
Look at our passing in this game from both Lulay and Jennings. Take away the one Spread pass for 33 yds. from Lulay to Ricky Collins and Lulay passed for 72 yards in almost one half of play. Jennings passed for 68 yds. even though he only threw one inaccurate pass. Had Shaq caught the football in the end zone, Jennings would have had almost the exact same passing yards as Lulay.
Bryan Burnham caught 5 passes for 33 yds., a 6.3 average per catch.Those numbers say it all. One of the best deep intermediate route runners and receivers in the CFL is being confined to 'penny and nickel' routes (not even nickel and dime routes)
It’s not that our recievers could not be open deep or deep intermediate or even in the intermediate range. Its that our pass plays are designed short pass plays. Defenses are crowding them more and more and the windows to throw a completion into are getting tighter and tighter, requiring a very high level of execution from our quarterbacks while under duress. I’m amazed that they have been able to execute to the level that they have.
I posted, during Jennings first 3 games of this season, that the major problem was our RPO offence, the lack of pass protection from the play design, and the necessity of programmed short passes. Travis Lulay’s pass production has continued to decline as our starter as he is more and more programmed into this RPO offence.
Its not a quarterback problem or an offensive line problem or a running back problem or a receiver problem for the most part. It’s an offensive scheme and play design problem.
Its also very difficult to go on long successful scoring drives that require a very high level of execution. Most offences with a short passing game theme struggle with this. They may move the football at times but scoring a lot is a challenge. An offence usually needs one or two 'bigger' types of plays in a drive to have consistent success. Defenses eventually play short passing game offences tighter. Its what our defense did to Ottawa.
We didn’t’ win this game on offence, other than our final drive of the game. We had less offensive yards than Ottawa did.
The UGLY
Our first offensive drive of the game provided a glimpse of what was to come. Lulay, on his first pass of the game ran for his life and was called for intentional grounding. It was characteristic of Jennings first pass play of this season. No time to throw and defenders instantly in his face.
Travis Lulay was first injured in this game when snowed under an avalanche of Red Black defenders. He got poked in the eye and for a couple of minutes it did not look like he would return. But he fought off, the pain, his eye red and swollen, and obviously hurting.
But late in the second quarter, while under duress the entire first half, Lulay was hit at the same time by two Ottawa Red Blacks. The focus will be on an illegal hit. But the bigger question is why were two Ottawa defenders allowed to have a straight route to Lulay in the first place. Neither were blocked nor was any player seemingly assigned to block them. Its outrageous. We were fortunate to have Lulay or Jennings healthy at the end of this game.
Bad snaps from Chris Greaves were a big problem that should not have happened. They led to two fumbles, bad timing, and major challenges for our quarterbacks. Jennings luckily recovered one bad snap and was skillful in catching a bad snap to his left and low and still throwing the football to Burnham for a touchdown.
Why do we have a backup center who can’t snap a football? One could understand a backup center having a couple of bad snaps due to lack of game time at the position or some early nervousness but a high school center could have snapped the football better. Why did they have Pearce playing backup center if he couldn’t’ snap the football. This lack should have been picked up in practices. Had they given Pearce enough practice time? What if Pearce would have been hurt?
This falls on Buono and Dorazio. We have a big game, we know Husband has been hurting for weeks now, and we don’t have a backup center adequately prepared and trained to play the position. Completely unacceptable. They should be embarrassed but they won't be.
DEFENSE
THE GOOD
Our defense played an amazing game overall. Six sacks and 3 interceptions only tell part of the story. Odell Willis was outstanding. His 3 sacks only tell part of the story of his play in this game. He provided leadership, inspiration, and created havoc for Ottawa all game. Shawn Lemon was also a force and Devon Coleman had a very good game too.
Ed Hervey has the formula for what makes a great defensive line in today’s CFL. You need two excellent edge rushers and we have them in Willis and Lemon. But you also need two big defensive tackles and Coleman and Louis fit that bill.
But finally, we seem to have moved away from a Buono style passive zone defense. We played our corners tight. Orange jumped a bubble screen and almost had an interception that would have gone for a touchdown. We had our safety playing up. Thompson had an interception and could have had two more had he ever had previous game experience not lining up 25 yds deep on an island by himself. We blitzed and kept pressure on. We disguised our defense.
T.J. Lee was up near the line of scrimmage often and making big plays as usual. Herdman played solid for his first game outside. Awe showed potential with his speed. Lokombo had an interception and his return showed his outstanding speed and athleticism. McLennan had another excellent game. We were anything but vanilla. We were aggressive. But we had been aggressive in stretches before this game on defense. But this game, we were aggressive from start to finish.
It was almost as if Washington had been visited by the Gods of Football Past, Present, and Future and then had decided to put Buono on IGNORE. There was no typical Buono prevent defense with the lead in the 4th quarter.
Ed Hervey said our defense would get better and he was right. This is an Ed Hervey created defensive unit. In this game, only T.J. Lee and Thompson were out there as starters from last year’s defense. With Washington using our talent in this game as it should be used, we had an outstanding defensive game.
The BAD
There was very little bad in this game on defense. Awe had a clean shot at sacking Harris but arrived too high and Harris ducked him. Anthony Orange, who had an excellent game, took a pass interference penalty that was unnecessary, in that he had jumped the route and had great position.
THE UGLY
Harris hit Sinopoli for a second half touchdown in which two Ottawa receivers were so wide open it was incredible. This was the second game in a row in which our red zone pass defense was badly schemed for a pass play. It needs to get fixed and Washington, who tried to cover four receivers in zone with two defenders last game, needs to do his homework on this one.
SPECIAL TEAMS
We lost the special teams battle with Ottawa, outside of a blocked punt that led to our only first half touchdown.
But that blocked punt was very important, leading to our only first half touchdown. Barnett blocked it, Ogundeko recovered it on the Ottawa 38 yard line and Lulay passed the football to Collins for a touchdown two plays later.
Still, Ty Long had a solid game punting with a 48.8 yd. punt average and hit both of his field goals as we competed well with Leone and Ward in the kicking game.
But we lost the return game battle. Van only had 28 yds. on five punt returns (5.6 yd. average) while Spencer averaged 9.8 yds. per punt return (68 yds.). Van returned two kickoffs for a 20 yd average and Ottawa did a better job there too.
Obviously, if Van followed his assignments and Rainey does not, it didn’t result in better returns with Rainey out of the lineup. It was obvious in this game that our return team game does not look very dangerous at all with Rainey not in the lineup.
COACHING
If ‘players gotta make plays’ and ‘gotta execute’ and ‘gotta be accountable’ then coaching also has to be an important element of game review too. Coaches ‘gotta coach’ too.
In this game, once again, as we usually do, we had game coaching errors or questionable calls. With a lead of 7-0 and our offence obviously struggling with pass protection or being able to run the football successfully, a Rose interception gave us the opportunity to go up 10-0. However, instead of kicking a field goal, on third and five, we went with a fake field goal.
A fake field goal can be a very good idea. But this was not the time to attempt it. This was a field goal attempt that Long usually makes. But the question is why go with a Fajardo inside run with 5 yards necessary for a first down. If it was second and two or second and three that would have made more sense at least. But since Buono has never been a risk taker, he probably has no idea as to when to take those risks and when not to. This was about as bright a call as a quarterback sneak on third and two last game.
What was even more frustrating is that Buono, just after this, refused to gamble on a third and one and punted instead.
But Buono’s major error in this game was not challenging roughing the passer on Lulay’s injury. There was plenty of time for Buono to look at a replay. Worst of all, he didn’t’ even know if it was challengable and asked the question on the sidelines to his staff “Is this challengeable. He is the Head Coach.
If he had challenged the call, it would have led to a first down and 15 yards of real estate.
He is supposed to know what is challengeable.
Buono talks about players ‘mental errors’ after games. But he has been making mental errors, in fact, many mental areas during games all of his career as a Head Coach. Its just that he had such talented teams during most of his time in Calgary and early years here in B.C. that often they didn’t cost us games or were noticed as much.
But Buono’s game management errors need to seriously improve. We’ve been in a lot of close games this season and Buono’s game management errors and mental errors have contributed to many of those losses.
Being ‘accountable’ means fixing things that you are not doing well and being the leader means you need to be sharp as well as to be a role model for ‘knowing your assignments’ during a game as a Head Coach.
WRAP
A big win! A tremendous defensive effort. Still big problems with our offensive scheme. That is obvious as neither Lulay or Jennings can get our passing game going, while throwing accurate passes.
Looks like we’re mostly going to have to do this with defense and special teams and hope we can ‘make enough plays on offence, despite our scheme to win.
It’s a treat to watch so much talent, no matter.
Hopefully Rainey back in the lineup next game. Posey arriving. Parker ready to become a starter. Hope is alive.
Celebrating the win.
Our B.C. Lions could not sit on that 5-point lead. Having lost two in a row, with a 3-6 season record, we needed to win this game. If not, we would be two games behind the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in our hunt for a cross-over playoff spot.
With 3:55 remaining in the game, Jonathan Jennings lined up behind backup center Chris Greaves, with the football on our 35 yard line, and the drive began. Jennings led our Leos offence for a 75 yd. game winning drive, highlighted by a 33 yd. Jeremiah Johnson run, and then Johnson capped off the drive with an outside burst behind the block of Joel Figueroa for a touchdown.
Our Leos victory put us back in the playoff hunt, one game back of the Bombers. It was a victory we badly needed and probably had to win if we wanted a chance to salvage this season.
This victory was led by our defense, who displayed a ferocious pass rush inspired by the play of Odell Willis and Shawn Lemon. We played aggressive football in all facets of our defense. That allowed our defensive talent and defensive speed to shine. In the first half of the game alone, our defense recorded four sacks and 3 turnovers. We would go on to sack Ottawa 6 times, with Willis recording 3 sacks and creating havoc for Ottawa all game.
Meanwhile, on offence, Jonathan Jennings, in relief of Lulay from late in the first half, due to injury, completed 10/12 passes (82% completion rate) and Ricky Collins stepped up, as I believed he would, with 10 completions for 105 yds.
Our Leos needed to make changes in strategy, and not just personnel, coming off the bye week, if we wanted to keep our 2018 hopes alive. We did that on defense but not on offence.
But our defense was so dominating, it allowed us to go on to victory, at least for this game. Here are some reflections on the win, based on the usual THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY theme.
OFFENCE
Coming into this important game, with a bye week for our coaching staff to reflect and make strategic changes to an offence that had struggled in the first half of the season, instead we got more of the same.
THE BAD
There wasn’t a lot of good about our offence in this victory. Our defense roared in this game, giving our offence great field position off 3 turnovers and 6 sacks. Our special teams blocked a punt and gave us great field postion for Lulay's first half touchdown pass.
But we only passed for 176 yds. in this game. Travis Lulay was 9/15 for 108 yds with 33 of those yards coming off one successful pass out of the spread offence. Jennings went 10/12 for 68 yds. as both quarterbacks mostly threw short passes off RPO plays.
Our running game was just as inept. Jeremiah Johnson’s stats distort. He carried the football 11 times for 63 yds. (6.3 yd. av.) but his 33 yard burst on our final drive of the game enters into that equation. Prior to that big run, Johnson had carried the football 10 times for 30 yds. (3.0 average per carray. Trevon Van had two carries for 5 yds. (2.5 yd. average) and Lulay and Jennings both ran the football once each and both only gained 2 yds. on those two runs.
The reality is that we won this game despite what looked like terrible run blocking and terrible pass blocking. But its play design off RPO that is causing those blocking problems. We’ve watched Jovan Olifioye block for many seasons. We’ve watched Hunter Steward block for a number of seasons now. We all have watched Joel Figuroa block in Edmonton, where he was considered one of the best CFL tackles in the game.
Yet, almost all game, we couldn’t open holes for Jeremiah Johnson and Trevon Vann. Lulay and Jennings were under duress all game. Even with a good snap, they were lucky to have time to take the direct snap and throw the football instantly, while being hit or driven to the ground.
We still stayed with our RPO offence for most of the game. No changes in our offensive scheme during the two week break. Our best success came off Spread plays. Lulay’s touchdown throw to Collins came off a Spread Play. Jennings throw into the end zone to Shaq Johnson, a purrfect throw that was dropped, came off a Spread play.
Our RPO offence is not only a serious problem in terms of run and pass blocking. Its also robotic. When Lulay or Jennings fake the handoff off an RPO play, having gone to their post-snap read, they have a programmed receiver to throw the football to.
There is no or little discretion. Its robotic and prescriptive. Its highly programmed as well as plug and play. It’s a short route thrown into a tight window. And even if Lulay or Jennings were allowed discretion in terms of who to throw the football to, they would not have any time to throw to anyone other than the primary receiver on most RPO plays.
Look at our passing in this game from both Lulay and Jennings. Take away the one Spread pass for 33 yds. from Lulay to Ricky Collins and Lulay passed for 72 yards in almost one half of play. Jennings passed for 68 yds. even though he only threw one inaccurate pass. Had Shaq caught the football in the end zone, Jennings would have had almost the exact same passing yards as Lulay.
Bryan Burnham caught 5 passes for 33 yds., a 6.3 average per catch.Those numbers say it all. One of the best deep intermediate route runners and receivers in the CFL is being confined to 'penny and nickel' routes (not even nickel and dime routes)
It’s not that our recievers could not be open deep or deep intermediate or even in the intermediate range. Its that our pass plays are designed short pass plays. Defenses are crowding them more and more and the windows to throw a completion into are getting tighter and tighter, requiring a very high level of execution from our quarterbacks while under duress. I’m amazed that they have been able to execute to the level that they have.
I posted, during Jennings first 3 games of this season, that the major problem was our RPO offence, the lack of pass protection from the play design, and the necessity of programmed short passes. Travis Lulay’s pass production has continued to decline as our starter as he is more and more programmed into this RPO offence.
Its not a quarterback problem or an offensive line problem or a running back problem or a receiver problem for the most part. It’s an offensive scheme and play design problem.
Its also very difficult to go on long successful scoring drives that require a very high level of execution. Most offences with a short passing game theme struggle with this. They may move the football at times but scoring a lot is a challenge. An offence usually needs one or two 'bigger' types of plays in a drive to have consistent success. Defenses eventually play short passing game offences tighter. Its what our defense did to Ottawa.
We didn’t’ win this game on offence, other than our final drive of the game. We had less offensive yards than Ottawa did.
The UGLY
Our first offensive drive of the game provided a glimpse of what was to come. Lulay, on his first pass of the game ran for his life and was called for intentional grounding. It was characteristic of Jennings first pass play of this season. No time to throw and defenders instantly in his face.
Travis Lulay was first injured in this game when snowed under an avalanche of Red Black defenders. He got poked in the eye and for a couple of minutes it did not look like he would return. But he fought off, the pain, his eye red and swollen, and obviously hurting.
But late in the second quarter, while under duress the entire first half, Lulay was hit at the same time by two Ottawa Red Blacks. The focus will be on an illegal hit. But the bigger question is why were two Ottawa defenders allowed to have a straight route to Lulay in the first place. Neither were blocked nor was any player seemingly assigned to block them. Its outrageous. We were fortunate to have Lulay or Jennings healthy at the end of this game.
Bad snaps from Chris Greaves were a big problem that should not have happened. They led to two fumbles, bad timing, and major challenges for our quarterbacks. Jennings luckily recovered one bad snap and was skillful in catching a bad snap to his left and low and still throwing the football to Burnham for a touchdown.
Why do we have a backup center who can’t snap a football? One could understand a backup center having a couple of bad snaps due to lack of game time at the position or some early nervousness but a high school center could have snapped the football better. Why did they have Pearce playing backup center if he couldn’t’ snap the football. This lack should have been picked up in practices. Had they given Pearce enough practice time? What if Pearce would have been hurt?
This falls on Buono and Dorazio. We have a big game, we know Husband has been hurting for weeks now, and we don’t have a backup center adequately prepared and trained to play the position. Completely unacceptable. They should be embarrassed but they won't be.
DEFENSE
THE GOOD
Our defense played an amazing game overall. Six sacks and 3 interceptions only tell part of the story. Odell Willis was outstanding. His 3 sacks only tell part of the story of his play in this game. He provided leadership, inspiration, and created havoc for Ottawa all game. Shawn Lemon was also a force and Devon Coleman had a very good game too.
Ed Hervey has the formula for what makes a great defensive line in today’s CFL. You need two excellent edge rushers and we have them in Willis and Lemon. But you also need two big defensive tackles and Coleman and Louis fit that bill.
But finally, we seem to have moved away from a Buono style passive zone defense. We played our corners tight. Orange jumped a bubble screen and almost had an interception that would have gone for a touchdown. We had our safety playing up. Thompson had an interception and could have had two more had he ever had previous game experience not lining up 25 yds deep on an island by himself. We blitzed and kept pressure on. We disguised our defense.
T.J. Lee was up near the line of scrimmage often and making big plays as usual. Herdman played solid for his first game outside. Awe showed potential with his speed. Lokombo had an interception and his return showed his outstanding speed and athleticism. McLennan had another excellent game. We were anything but vanilla. We were aggressive. But we had been aggressive in stretches before this game on defense. But this game, we were aggressive from start to finish.
It was almost as if Washington had been visited by the Gods of Football Past, Present, and Future and then had decided to put Buono on IGNORE. There was no typical Buono prevent defense with the lead in the 4th quarter.
Ed Hervey said our defense would get better and he was right. This is an Ed Hervey created defensive unit. In this game, only T.J. Lee and Thompson were out there as starters from last year’s defense. With Washington using our talent in this game as it should be used, we had an outstanding defensive game.
The BAD
There was very little bad in this game on defense. Awe had a clean shot at sacking Harris but arrived too high and Harris ducked him. Anthony Orange, who had an excellent game, took a pass interference penalty that was unnecessary, in that he had jumped the route and had great position.
THE UGLY
Harris hit Sinopoli for a second half touchdown in which two Ottawa receivers were so wide open it was incredible. This was the second game in a row in which our red zone pass defense was badly schemed for a pass play. It needs to get fixed and Washington, who tried to cover four receivers in zone with two defenders last game, needs to do his homework on this one.
SPECIAL TEAMS
We lost the special teams battle with Ottawa, outside of a blocked punt that led to our only first half touchdown.
But that blocked punt was very important, leading to our only first half touchdown. Barnett blocked it, Ogundeko recovered it on the Ottawa 38 yard line and Lulay passed the football to Collins for a touchdown two plays later.
Still, Ty Long had a solid game punting with a 48.8 yd. punt average and hit both of his field goals as we competed well with Leone and Ward in the kicking game.
But we lost the return game battle. Van only had 28 yds. on five punt returns (5.6 yd. average) while Spencer averaged 9.8 yds. per punt return (68 yds.). Van returned two kickoffs for a 20 yd average and Ottawa did a better job there too.
Obviously, if Van followed his assignments and Rainey does not, it didn’t result in better returns with Rainey out of the lineup. It was obvious in this game that our return team game does not look very dangerous at all with Rainey not in the lineup.
COACHING
If ‘players gotta make plays’ and ‘gotta execute’ and ‘gotta be accountable’ then coaching also has to be an important element of game review too. Coaches ‘gotta coach’ too.
In this game, once again, as we usually do, we had game coaching errors or questionable calls. With a lead of 7-0 and our offence obviously struggling with pass protection or being able to run the football successfully, a Rose interception gave us the opportunity to go up 10-0. However, instead of kicking a field goal, on third and five, we went with a fake field goal.
A fake field goal can be a very good idea. But this was not the time to attempt it. This was a field goal attempt that Long usually makes. But the question is why go with a Fajardo inside run with 5 yards necessary for a first down. If it was second and two or second and three that would have made more sense at least. But since Buono has never been a risk taker, he probably has no idea as to when to take those risks and when not to. This was about as bright a call as a quarterback sneak on third and two last game.
What was even more frustrating is that Buono, just after this, refused to gamble on a third and one and punted instead.
But Buono’s major error in this game was not challenging roughing the passer on Lulay’s injury. There was plenty of time for Buono to look at a replay. Worst of all, he didn’t’ even know if it was challengable and asked the question on the sidelines to his staff “Is this challengeable. He is the Head Coach.
If he had challenged the call, it would have led to a first down and 15 yards of real estate.
He is supposed to know what is challengeable.
Buono talks about players ‘mental errors’ after games. But he has been making mental errors, in fact, many mental areas during games all of his career as a Head Coach. Its just that he had such talented teams during most of his time in Calgary and early years here in B.C. that often they didn’t cost us games or were noticed as much.
But Buono’s game management errors need to seriously improve. We’ve been in a lot of close games this season and Buono’s game management errors and mental errors have contributed to many of those losses.
Being ‘accountable’ means fixing things that you are not doing well and being the leader means you need to be sharp as well as to be a role model for ‘knowing your assignments’ during a game as a Head Coach.
WRAP
A big win! A tremendous defensive effort. Still big problems with our offensive scheme. That is obvious as neither Lulay or Jennings can get our passing game going, while throwing accurate passes.
Looks like we’re mostly going to have to do this with defense and special teams and hope we can ‘make enough plays on offence, despite our scheme to win.
It’s a treat to watch so much talent, no matter.
Hopefully Rainey back in the lineup next game. Posey arriving. Parker ready to become a starter. Hope is alive.
Celebrating the win.
"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)
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WestCoastJoe
- Hall of Famer
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- Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm
Great read, Blitz. Amazing detail, as always.
Close game. Without the pressure defence, I expect we lose.
Close game. Without the pressure defence, I expect we lose.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.
Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.
Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.
Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
Great summary, Blitz.
I saw a clip from Wally during the game that the Lions came to the realization that they're a better man/pressure team than a zone team. They are. The personnel on defence is the best in years. The team's defensive problems have been solved with a change in scheme.
The problem remains on offence, as you summarize. The Jarious Jackson RPO offence fails to capitalize on the skills of the team, especially the offensive line and running backs. I hope the fourth quarter will give the coaches and players confidence that they can pass the ball successfully to set up the run and protect the lead where necessary. Their first drive featured 5 pass plays (4 completed) and one run and ended with a field goal after the incomplete pass to Shaq in the end zone. That set up the final TD drive, which featured 4 pass plays (including an illegal contact penalty) and 6 run plays, including 5 carries for 52 yards by Johnson. That was impressive offensive play, and the O-line was at its best.
I saw a clip from Wally during the game that the Lions came to the realization that they're a better man/pressure team than a zone team. They are. The personnel on defence is the best in years. The team's defensive problems have been solved with a change in scheme.
The problem remains on offence, as you summarize. The Jarious Jackson RPO offence fails to capitalize on the skills of the team, especially the offensive line and running backs. I hope the fourth quarter will give the coaches and players confidence that they can pass the ball successfully to set up the run and protect the lead where necessary. Their first drive featured 5 pass plays (4 completed) and one run and ended with a field goal after the incomplete pass to Shaq in the end zone. That set up the final TD drive, which featured 4 pass plays (including an illegal contact penalty) and 6 run plays, including 5 carries for 52 yards by Johnson. That was impressive offensive play, and the O-line was at its best.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/l ... -injuries/
TL14 injury seems unlikely to be a concussion (although he said he felt "a bit of pressure in his head"), but biting his tongue/throat impact. You could tell the way he has moving he was in a lot of pain, and I noticed him spitting out his mouth guard.
Now he needs to get past the other traditional Sept injury opponent next Friday in MTL (if he's able to set foot on the field). I know it's a superstition, but it's quite the coincidence all these years of injuries vs OTT and MTL. He got a break in 2016 because JJ10 was entrenched as the starter then.
TL14 injury seems unlikely to be a concussion (although he said he felt "a bit of pressure in his head"), but biting his tongue/throat impact. You could tell the way he has moving he was in a lot of pain, and I noticed him spitting out his mouth guard.
Now he needs to get past the other traditional Sept injury opponent next Friday in MTL (if he's able to set foot on the field). I know it's a superstition, but it's quite the coincidence all these years of injuries vs OTT and MTL. He got a break in 2016 because JJ10 was entrenched as the starter then.
How did the Lions reach the conclusion they were a better man pressure defense? Wally and Washington have always been entrenched in zone.
Did this come out of the player meeting? It would be a good guess.
David wrote:
But when you look at Jennings passing numbers in those first games, they were about our passing numbers last night - 200 yds. per game...which was the passing numbers Lulay was projecting before he got hurt. Against the Riders in his previous game Lulay completed 58.3% of his passes for 240 yds.
I don't consider Lulay or Jennings mostly responsible for those numbers. They are mostly a reflection of our offensive scheme.
I agree that it is probably good for Jennings psyche to come off the bench at this point. However, that argument could have been made for Lulay last season, when he came off the bench and played well.
The reality is that Lulay's passing numbers are going down each game almost. I predicted that would likely happen but not based on Lulay's talents. Its just been wearing for all of our quarterbacks in the Buono era to play in our offensive scheme. But I also thought it would take a season for that decline to happen.
But this RPO offence is very restrictive, even much more than our Spread was. At least with the Spread, if we got good pass protection, we could hurt defenses with it.
Defenses are playing us tighter and the passing windows are getting smaller. Its only our spread passing plays are giving us any receptions that are not nickel and dime.
Even Johnson's big run on the last drive came off a prescribed run because our recievers run routes off RPO and we had Watson run blocking on the play.
I think both Lulay and Jennings would be better coming off the bench but one needs to start and the better option right now is Lulay. But I really don't believe there would be much difference in their play. This RPO offence is tough to quarterback.
Its just that Lulay can handle the entire situation better - from Wally's temper, blaming and pressure to the losses, if and when they happen, to mentally dealing with the defensive pass rush in his face, injury, etc., criticism of his play etc.
Lulay is a very positive guy who doesn't get down easily so we need that aspect of him right now. He has more experience and that gives him more perspective. His successful season in 2011 gives him a more solid base that Jennings doesn't have.
But I highly doubt, if Lulay had not had that early success, he would have been able to deal with things any better than Jennings...if Wally had been yelling at him like he did this year early in his career, it would have had a more impactful effect.
But no question, Jennings has a lot of tools. He looked much more poised in this game than earlier in the season, even with the rush and bad snaps etc.
I sure appreciate how supportive Lulay and Jennings are of each other and it goes both ways. For two players who want to be the starter, their helping each other and being good friends and teammates to each other is impressive.
Did this come out of the player meeting? It would be a good guess.
David wrote:
I always believed that our players were not familiar with the RPO system for our first few games and Lulay, our offensive line, and receivers had gotten a few weeks of practice with it by Game 4. But Lulay was more confident and less hesitant to begin with.Very proud of Jonathon's effort after all of the criticism he faced early in the season (part of which I attribute to the newness of the offence, and partly due to getting too worked up about his failures....largely brought about his uncertainty with his playbook!). However, today he looked decisive and accurate. Perhaps coming on in relief is ideal for his psyche. He's not expected to carry the load, just help out, so there is no real pressure to perform.
But when you look at Jennings passing numbers in those first games, they were about our passing numbers last night - 200 yds. per game...which was the passing numbers Lulay was projecting before he got hurt. Against the Riders in his previous game Lulay completed 58.3% of his passes for 240 yds.
I don't consider Lulay or Jennings mostly responsible for those numbers. They are mostly a reflection of our offensive scheme.
I agree that it is probably good for Jennings psyche to come off the bench at this point. However, that argument could have been made for Lulay last season, when he came off the bench and played well.
The reality is that Lulay's passing numbers are going down each game almost. I predicted that would likely happen but not based on Lulay's talents. Its just been wearing for all of our quarterbacks in the Buono era to play in our offensive scheme. But I also thought it would take a season for that decline to happen.
But this RPO offence is very restrictive, even much more than our Spread was. At least with the Spread, if we got good pass protection, we could hurt defenses with it.
Defenses are playing us tighter and the passing windows are getting smaller. Its only our spread passing plays are giving us any receptions that are not nickel and dime.
Even Johnson's big run on the last drive came off a prescribed run because our recievers run routes off RPO and we had Watson run blocking on the play.
I think both Lulay and Jennings would be better coming off the bench but one needs to start and the better option right now is Lulay. But I really don't believe there would be much difference in their play. This RPO offence is tough to quarterback.
Its just that Lulay can handle the entire situation better - from Wally's temper, blaming and pressure to the losses, if and when they happen, to mentally dealing with the defensive pass rush in his face, injury, etc., criticism of his play etc.
Lulay is a very positive guy who doesn't get down easily so we need that aspect of him right now. He has more experience and that gives him more perspective. His successful season in 2011 gives him a more solid base that Jennings doesn't have.
But I highly doubt, if Lulay had not had that early success, he would have been able to deal with things any better than Jennings...if Wally had been yelling at him like he did this year early in his career, it would have had a more impactful effect.
But no question, Jennings has a lot of tools. He looked much more poised in this game than earlier in the season, even with the rush and bad snaps etc.
I sure appreciate how supportive Lulay and Jennings are of each other and it goes both ways. For two players who want to be the starter, their helping each other and being good friends and teammates to each other is impressive.
"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)
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The_Pauser
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I've seen a lot of people say Jennings was outstanding in relief, or looked good....I don't get that. I felt Jennings did not look comfortable at all. For me it was the same old Jennings who looked like he was unsure of himself, felt nervous in the pocket, and made some throws that felt like they were just sorta lobbed and could have been ripe for being picked off. Definitely a noticeable contrast to Lulay who looks confident, calm, and in control.
If we have to rely on Jennings this season is done.
Aside from that tidbit, I was very happy with our defense last night. Post edited by Mod Staff. We blitzed more, we had constant pressure, Harris never looked comfortable and that created turnovers.
Offensive line was the biggest concern coming from the game, but hopefully with a full week of practice with the new set-up that will help. Second concern would be receiving. It's not sustainable to rely that heavily on a receiver like Collins who hasn't established himself as a star. Sure it can work in a game like last night, but long-term we're going to need to spread the ball out a bit more and the signing of Posey should help.
If we have to rely on Jennings this season is done.
Aside from that tidbit, I was very happy with our defense last night. Post edited by Mod Staff. We blitzed more, we had constant pressure, Harris never looked comfortable and that created turnovers.
Offensive line was the biggest concern coming from the game, but hopefully with a full week of practice with the new set-up that will help. Second concern would be receiving. It's not sustainable to rely that heavily on a receiver like Collins who hasn't established himself as a star. Sure it can work in a game like last night, but long-term we're going to need to spread the ball out a bit more and the signing of Posey should help.
Roar you Lions roar!
I agree, it's way too early to declare JJ10 over his issues. 10/12 for 68 yds, with no pass longer than 13 yds. That isn't going to get it done as a starter. His performance/body language was similar to what we saw in the season opener.The_Pauser wrote: ↑Sat Sep 08, 2018 1:12 pmI've seen a lot of people say Jennings was outstanding in relief, or looked good....I don't get that. I felt Jennings did not look comfortable at all. For me it was the same old Jennings who looked like he was unsure of himself, felt nervous in the pocket, and made some throws that felt like they were just sorta lobbed and could have been ripe for being picked off. Definitely a noticeable contrast to Lulay who looks confident, calm, and in control.
If we have to rely on Jennings this season is done.
One positive though, was that he was able to function at all in such an absurd situation without an experienced center, along with the broken o-line.
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Toppy Vann
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Gutsy win yes. Ottawa not the usual on OFF.
Last week with the Hebert suspension for 2 games, Burris then on the panel IIRC suggested stronger sanctions for head shots - espec for repeaters like Hebert. He also IIRC suggested what kind of message is that to the DEF team maters when Hebert's your Captain. We saw that dirty hit on Lulay some of the answer.
I agreed with Wally not challenging there as it's 1st half - close score - and the league will no doubt suspend the player.
Last week with the Hebert suspension for 2 games, Burris then on the panel IIRC suggested stronger sanctions for head shots - espec for repeaters like Hebert. He also IIRC suggested what kind of message is that to the DEF team maters when Hebert's your Captain. We saw that dirty hit on Lulay some of the answer.
I agreed with Wally not challenging there as it's 1st half - close score - and the league will no doubt suspend the player.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
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chwk_lionsfan
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I would like to see Jennings behind a competent centre who can snap the ball before I pass any kind of judgement. He may have looked a lot difference if Husband had still been in the game.
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TheLionKing
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I'm surprised at Ottawa's playcalling in the final minutes of the game. They were down by 2 scores and they were throwing short and intermediate passes. Not once did they attempt to go deep to get back into the game.
That goes for both QB's in this game . The offense too, as a whole needs to given consideration before passing judgement ,in this game considering the fact the center was not up to even a minimum standard .chwk_lionsfan wrote: ↑Sat Sep 08, 2018 2:58 pmI would like to see Jennings behind a competent centre who can snap the ball before I pass any kind of judgement. He may have looked a lot difference if Husband had still been in the game.
I for one was happy with a win given this fact along with Manny being out , as well as Rainey getting benched . Pulling out a win after losing your center . starting QB , top receiver and return man ( self inflicted) is a decent feat . Did help that our defense played lights out .
Hope the center issue is resolved next week . Will it still be Greaves or some one else ? I thought perhaps Godber was a potential Center . If it's Greaves , he should be doing lots of snapping in practice .