Leos/Red Blacks Post Game Thoughts
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 11:18 pm
It was a shootout at the Ok Corrall, well really it was B.C. Place and what an exciting shoot out it was. But the last man standing, or rather the last team standing, after all the bullets were fired, was our B.C Lions.
With over 1,000 yards of offence, with the highest scoring first half in this 2016 season, football fans were treated to an exciting football game that featured two impressive quarterbacks, a lot of offensive talent, and an array of many explosive, big offensive plays.
Our B.C. Lions prevailed 40-33 . Jonathan Jennings was hot, hitting 80% of his passing attempts, many of the deep variety, for 348 yds. and 3 touchdowns.
Ottawa's Trevor Harris completed 71% of his passes for a whopping 485 yds. and two touchdowns. But Jennings was the quarterback who prevailed as the two gunslingers went head to head in leading their offences.
Here are some post game thoughts.
OFFENCE
Our offence put up 461 yard of offence against the Red Blacks. We rushed for 113 yds against the CFL's best run defence, with Anthony Allen leading the way with 82 yards on 12 carries (6.8 yd. average). What pleased me more was that we had a more diversified running attack. Allen's biggest gain on the night was a 27 yard run on an inside handoff power sweep that he cut back. Terrell Sinkfield had 2 carries and Rainey had one carry and Jennings ran for a key first down on one series.
Shawn Gore (4 catches for 85 yds. and Terrel Sinkfield (4 catches for 84 yds. led our receivers. Gore had a 43 yd. reception and Sinkfield got in behind coverage for a 31 yd. touchdown reception.
Manny Arseneaux caught a 61 yd. bomb on our first series, which was immediately followed by a 30 yard touchdown reception by Chris Rainey, who leapt and then outfought Ottawa's middle linebacker for the football. Arseneaux also scored on a short pass and run play.
Bryan Burnham made an impressive run after a catch for an 18 yard gain to take the football to the one yard line. And shocking was that we inserted Adekolu into the game later in the 4th quarter and his 19 yard catch and run was a key play.
Our offensive game plan and play calling was the best I have seen all season for the following reasons:
1. We ran a sweep and a quick toss, diversifying our running attack. Sinkfield almost broke the quick toss for a touchdown run and the sweep play led to a 27 yard gain by Allen
2. We used Sinkfield for some deep patterns and also involved him in the backfield. We also moved our receivers around in this game more often.
3. We used misdirection play action on a few occasions and they worked every time for key receptions.
4. We put Manny in motion, had him reverse his motion and then hit him in the flat and with a great Burnham block, Arseneaux scored.
5. In inserted Adekolu into the offence and he looked cool and determined on his 19 yard reception. He is a big target that can add to our offence.
6. We ran a couple of pre-determined swing passes and draw plays. Both added to offensive diversity.
Credit to Khari Jones for getting away from vanilla. Credit to Jonathan Jennings, whose accurate arm on deep throws is amazing.
DEFENCE
Ottawa put up 543 yard of offence against our defense. This game exposed a number of flaws in our defense that need to get corrected.
Mark Washington tried everything. Four man pass rushes, three man pass rushes, a variety of blitzes, Cover 1, Cover 2, and Cover 3. He used Bighill in a Cover 3 and he also used Purifoy in a Cover 3. He inserted Aragki into the game and went 3-4. He used zone blitzes and dropped Bazzie into coverage. He tried almost everything and looked like he was grasping at straws rather than throwing a variety of defenses at Ottawa. He was desperate.
Trevor Harris often threw quickly but our pass rush was not good enough until late in the fourth quarter.
The first problem on our defense is Brandon Stewart, who was beaten time and time again in this game. His coverage skills are just not good enough and he is playing the wide corner position, the easiest of all the defensive backfield positions. He even missed an easy special teams tackle.
Anthony Fenner misplayed a zone/cover 2 defence by over-adjusting and not covering his deep one half of the field properly. Chris Williams, who was the only deep receiver on that side of the field, scored a touchdown on the play. But that is correctable.
Gaitor played well overall and made a nice interception touchdown return late in the game.. He also made a key breakup to Chris Williams on a second and short, late in the fourth quarter. He covered like a blanket and his interception touchdown return means that he leads our defensive backs in interceptions and touchdowns this season and he has only played during the second half of this season. He's a good one.
Mike Edem missed a key tackle in the game that led to a long Ottawa drive that would have been stopped if he had made the play. His anticipation skills also need to improve.
Mark Washington went to a Cover 3 with Bighill in the middle deep safety position in the second half a number of times. Whey he does that is beyond me. It led to a huge Chris Williams pass and run play, as Bighill missed the tackle. But Bighill should not be placed in that position of covering a Chris Williams in that kind of space.
David Menard, in the fourth quarter, got a great pass rush on Harris, that led to a key tackle by Eliminian and that play led to an Ottawa two and out. Sol. E. had an excellent game with 13 defensive tackles. Darius Allen was non-existent again. Brooks had 0 tackles and 0 sacks.
Our defense was very fortunate with the chop block call on Ottawa late in the game.
Overall, it was a poor defensive performance but our defense played its best late in the game and our improved pressure at that point of the game was enough to thwart Ottawa's offence. We only gave up 3 points in the 4th quarter.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Chris Rainey had a key 42 yard punt return, using his tremendous speed to break to the outside. He basically made the play on his own.
Richie Leone hit two field goals but missed two converts. His field goal kicking is still an adventure but his punting really helped with field position in the second half. He averaged 51 yards a punt and had a 70 yard single in the second half. Ottawa's Medeiros only had a 37.8 yd. punt average and that helped with field position for our Leos.
WRAP
A big win for our Leos who are now solidly in second place with a game in hand. It also was an excellent, entertaining win at home for our Leos fans.
It was an exciting game to watch.
With over 1,000 yards of offence, with the highest scoring first half in this 2016 season, football fans were treated to an exciting football game that featured two impressive quarterbacks, a lot of offensive talent, and an array of many explosive, big offensive plays.
Our B.C. Lions prevailed 40-33 . Jonathan Jennings was hot, hitting 80% of his passing attempts, many of the deep variety, for 348 yds. and 3 touchdowns.
Ottawa's Trevor Harris completed 71% of his passes for a whopping 485 yds. and two touchdowns. But Jennings was the quarterback who prevailed as the two gunslingers went head to head in leading their offences.
Here are some post game thoughts.
OFFENCE
Our offence put up 461 yard of offence against the Red Blacks. We rushed for 113 yds against the CFL's best run defence, with Anthony Allen leading the way with 82 yards on 12 carries (6.8 yd. average). What pleased me more was that we had a more diversified running attack. Allen's biggest gain on the night was a 27 yard run on an inside handoff power sweep that he cut back. Terrell Sinkfield had 2 carries and Rainey had one carry and Jennings ran for a key first down on one series.
Shawn Gore (4 catches for 85 yds. and Terrel Sinkfield (4 catches for 84 yds. led our receivers. Gore had a 43 yd. reception and Sinkfield got in behind coverage for a 31 yd. touchdown reception.
Manny Arseneaux caught a 61 yd. bomb on our first series, which was immediately followed by a 30 yard touchdown reception by Chris Rainey, who leapt and then outfought Ottawa's middle linebacker for the football. Arseneaux also scored on a short pass and run play.
Bryan Burnham made an impressive run after a catch for an 18 yard gain to take the football to the one yard line. And shocking was that we inserted Adekolu into the game later in the 4th quarter and his 19 yard catch and run was a key play.
Our offensive game plan and play calling was the best I have seen all season for the following reasons:
1. We ran a sweep and a quick toss, diversifying our running attack. Sinkfield almost broke the quick toss for a touchdown run and the sweep play led to a 27 yard gain by Allen
2. We used Sinkfield for some deep patterns and also involved him in the backfield. We also moved our receivers around in this game more often.
3. We used misdirection play action on a few occasions and they worked every time for key receptions.
4. We put Manny in motion, had him reverse his motion and then hit him in the flat and with a great Burnham block, Arseneaux scored.
5. In inserted Adekolu into the offence and he looked cool and determined on his 19 yard reception. He is a big target that can add to our offence.
6. We ran a couple of pre-determined swing passes and draw plays. Both added to offensive diversity.
Credit to Khari Jones for getting away from vanilla. Credit to Jonathan Jennings, whose accurate arm on deep throws is amazing.
DEFENCE
Ottawa put up 543 yard of offence against our defense. This game exposed a number of flaws in our defense that need to get corrected.
Mark Washington tried everything. Four man pass rushes, three man pass rushes, a variety of blitzes, Cover 1, Cover 2, and Cover 3. He used Bighill in a Cover 3 and he also used Purifoy in a Cover 3. He inserted Aragki into the game and went 3-4. He used zone blitzes and dropped Bazzie into coverage. He tried almost everything and looked like he was grasping at straws rather than throwing a variety of defenses at Ottawa. He was desperate.
Trevor Harris often threw quickly but our pass rush was not good enough until late in the fourth quarter.
The first problem on our defense is Brandon Stewart, who was beaten time and time again in this game. His coverage skills are just not good enough and he is playing the wide corner position, the easiest of all the defensive backfield positions. He even missed an easy special teams tackle.
Anthony Fenner misplayed a zone/cover 2 defence by over-adjusting and not covering his deep one half of the field properly. Chris Williams, who was the only deep receiver on that side of the field, scored a touchdown on the play. But that is correctable.
Gaitor played well overall and made a nice interception touchdown return late in the game.. He also made a key breakup to Chris Williams on a second and short, late in the fourth quarter. He covered like a blanket and his interception touchdown return means that he leads our defensive backs in interceptions and touchdowns this season and he has only played during the second half of this season. He's a good one.
Mike Edem missed a key tackle in the game that led to a long Ottawa drive that would have been stopped if he had made the play. His anticipation skills also need to improve.
Mark Washington went to a Cover 3 with Bighill in the middle deep safety position in the second half a number of times. Whey he does that is beyond me. It led to a huge Chris Williams pass and run play, as Bighill missed the tackle. But Bighill should not be placed in that position of covering a Chris Williams in that kind of space.
David Menard, in the fourth quarter, got a great pass rush on Harris, that led to a key tackle by Eliminian and that play led to an Ottawa two and out. Sol. E. had an excellent game with 13 defensive tackles. Darius Allen was non-existent again. Brooks had 0 tackles and 0 sacks.
Our defense was very fortunate with the chop block call on Ottawa late in the game.
Overall, it was a poor defensive performance but our defense played its best late in the game and our improved pressure at that point of the game was enough to thwart Ottawa's offence. We only gave up 3 points in the 4th quarter.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Chris Rainey had a key 42 yard punt return, using his tremendous speed to break to the outside. He basically made the play on his own.
Richie Leone hit two field goals but missed two converts. His field goal kicking is still an adventure but his punting really helped with field position in the second half. He averaged 51 yards a punt and had a 70 yard single in the second half. Ottawa's Medeiros only had a 37.8 yd. punt average and that helped with field position for our Leos.
WRAP
A big win for our Leos who are now solidly in second place with a game in hand. It also was an excellent, entertaining win at home for our Leos fans.
It was an exciting game to watch.