Leos/Evil Empire Post-Game Thoughts!!

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Blitz
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Post-Game Thoughts

What a game!! It was a wild one as every aspect of CFL football was on display, with excitement on offence, defense, and special teams. There were many spectacular plays in this game, numerous momentum shifts, and lots of scoring.

We saw Paris Jackson go vertical to make a great catch in the first quarter, Ian Smart turn the first half around with a great punt return, Crawford make a great interception by jumping a curl route, Jarious Jackson fight off a defender to make a touchdown throw to Jason Clermont that showed his tremendous strength, Crawford make a great punt block and Ricky Foley show tremendous speed to take the blocked punt into the end zone.

We saw Stefan Logan blow past defenders on a couple of outstanding runs, Jamal Johnson blow up two blocks on a sweep and drive a pulling guard into an Edmonton back. We saw Buck Pierce come into the game and play really smart in maintaining and preserving our victory.

While it wasn’t pretty at times, there were so many areas of our schemes in this game that I ‘ve wanted to see for a long time actually materialize. On offence we went multi-formational and saw more two back set and tight end sets than I can remember in years as Lyle Green played fullback and tight end a ton. Lamballa also get a few reps, which I anticipated and he looked great on his touchdown plunge. Jarious Jackson threw three touchdown passes, Jason Clermont had two touchdown receptions and played tough when we needed to run down the clock.

Defensively we used both Jamal Johnson and Ricky Foley more than I can remember and they both played great. On special teams we used the wide return as well as the vertical return on punts.

It was a game that had me on the edge of my seat and times. It was unpredictable but in the end our Leos prevailed in a game we really needed to win. Let’s have a closer look!

OFFENCE

This was a very different style of offence than our usual ace back five receiver set. We saw Lyle Green lined up as a fullback, tight end, and wide receiver. We used a lot of play action in the first half. In the second half with Buck Pierce in the game we used misdirection play action with Logan and booted Buck Pierce out.

We used a variety of two back formations, tight end formations, and also used the ace back set at times. Our offence took advantage of turnovers to score the touchdowns that brought us back into the game when it looked like Edmonton was going to blow us out in the first half.

However, the game also had a situation that saw Jarious Jackson benched. Frustrated by a play call that was sent in, when Jackson managed to get away a throw, while being dragged down to avoid a grounding call uncharateristically he expressed his frustration to Wally as he walked to the sidelines. Later, following a turnover, Jarious threw a football to Lyle Green that shouldn’t have been thrown. Edmonton slid a linebacker into the middle from the outside linebacker postion.. Jarious was unhappy with the package that was sent in on the play and there appeared to be confusion. Wally yanked him.

It was good to see Buck Pierce get some reps and he played well overall. The interception Buck threw was a great play by the Edmonton defender. Buck worked the underneath game with accurate passing. I wrote earlier this season, that it would be after Game 6 that Buck would be ready to play well, after his shoulder healed more and he had knocked off some rust from his inactivity last season. He looked confident and poised and also made a nice 16 yard run that displayed his old jump.

The game also showed the power of Lambala, the versatility of Lyle Green, the speed of Logan, and the advantages of the two back set and the tight end set to our arsenal. It also showed why we need two quarterbacks over a whole CFL 18 game season and both Jarious and Buck styles compliment each other.

Stefan Logan’s 34 yard scamper was a thing of beauty although we only had 4 rushing yards in the first half of the game. I have a feeling that we could be saying goodbye to Joe Smith sooner than later.

I have been very critical of the Chap but I was more than very pleased with this game plan offensively and since Chap has been given lumps by me for a lack of creativity in the offence he gets major kudos for this game. There were times we didn’t execute but considering we started Plante at right guard at short notice and were missing Geroy Simon, we did the things offensively we needed to do to win.

DEFENSE

This game was the story of two halves. Korey Banks, who was torched badly in the first part of the game for three touchdowns. The best cover guy in the CFL looked like he couldn’t cover my kid sister and was being singled out and picked on. However, in the second half he redeemed himself with some outstanding coverage as we dug in and played tough against a revamped and very dangerous Edmonton offence under Rick Worman.

Dante Marsh had an excellent game, Brent Johnson is really looking like the Brent Johnson of old recently. One way you could tell was how low he was lining up and his speed off the snap. Wake beat his offensive lineman constantly to get pressure on Ricky Ray and Hunt had a big game at defensive tackle. Otis Floyd made an outstanding play in the flat.

Our defense looked like they had finally got their game together again in the second half and really needed to. Javy Glatt’s fumble recovery was a big play at a critical time.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Tad Crawford’s blocked punt, Ricky Foley’s touchdown off the blocked punt, Ian Smart’s 200 return yards, two fumble recoveries on Edmonton’s return teams…this was a game that special teams had more influence on the outcome of the game than any Leo unit. While we gave up a couple of runs on punt coverage this was a game in which we would have been going home early if our special teams hadn't really come to play. It was an inspired effort!!

PLAY OF THE GAME

There were a lot of great plays in this game and it would have been easier to pick Paris Jackson’s great catch, Logan’s spectacular 34 yard run, Jason Clermont running out the clock by running through and over people, Crawford’s interception or punt block, Ian Smart’s punt return and many more. However, if you really appreciate defense..Jamal Johnson coming from across the field from the play to shed an initial block and completely destroy a 300 pound pulling guard into his own tailback while also making the tackle was something special.

WRAP

Edmonton looked like they were going to blow us out of B.C. Place early. However, we capitalized on seven Edmonton turnovers, who shot themselves in the foot as we scored 28 points on turnovers. With great special teams and the ability to hang onto a lead by playing tough defense at times and also move the football when we needed to, we got a big win that we needed.

However, this game was too tough on the heart at times. Now that’s it’s over we can sit back and enjoy the feeling of beating the Evil Empire and know that good has returned to the world.
"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)
The Pez
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Hear Hear! :beer:
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almo89
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Great recap. Good things I saw. We actually saw the 2 back set in there today. I was happy to see Green in there used for different things. I wonder if they would do they same if Smith was starting? Great to see Jamal Johnson playing more than just special teams and he showed that he can play. I still hope to see them run the ball more next game.
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B.C.FAN
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Great summary, Blitz. The Lions won, and everybody got to go home happy, especially me because I caught the final pass of the game after Dante Marsh intercepted it and threw the ball to me in the crowd.
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QB Club 63
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Nicely done, Blitz, :thup: but I'm a little disappointed you failed to mention the tremendous job of booty-shaking that was done by Lionbackers own Ballistic Bob. :yahoo:

The man won himself a cellular phone from Rogers for his dance moves at the game tonight. :beer: Any guesses as to how quickly he'll be putting it up for sale on eBay? :wink:

WTG Bob! :beauty:
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Rammer
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QB Club 63 wrote:Nicely done, Blitz, :thup: but I'm a little disappointed you failed to mention the tremendous job of booty-shaking that was done by Lionbackers own Ballistic Bob. :yahoo:

The man won himself a cellular phone from Rogers for his dance moves at the game tonight. :beer: Any guesses as to how quickly he'll be putting it up for sale on eBay? :wink:

WTG Bob! :beauty:
I offered him $10 for it, I don't have it yet, but he will probably call me tonight. :)

BTW, he was the worst of the lot on the dance off, but his style got him the phone. :tease:
Entertainment value = an all time low
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Rammer
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Crawford made a huge play in knocking down the punt, he bounced to the middle ala Miles and found his easy button lane to demolish the punt. I thought the flag was going to kill it, so I didn't celebrate until the call went the other way.
Entertainment value = an all time low
TheLionKing
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Despite their win, the Lions are still making too many mistakes. Too many men and playing with no end penalties. Why was Korey Banks trash talking in the 3rd quarter when he finally made a good play ? He got badly torched for 3 touchdowns tonight. A repeat performance in the next game will have firsdown45chimpy demanding Buono trade him for Casey Printers.

Good to see Buck Pierce get some quality playing time.
Blitz
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B.C.FAN wrote:Great summary, Blitz. The Lions won, and everybody got to go home happy, especially me because I caught the final pass of the game after Dante Marsh intercepted it and threw the ball to me in the crowd.
What a cool way to wrap up a night B.C. Fan.... and a huge win over the Evil Empire! You should get Dante to autograph it!!! I thought Marsh played an excellent game, with two interceptions and some big hits.

The offensive stats in this game are a bit deceiving in that our offence was on a short field a lot of the game, due to our turnovers and the Smart return. Edmonton's offence also had the football a lot of the time. Worman has sure retooled their offence and they are very dangerous. We were fortunate that we got seven turnovers and our special teams played so well.
By the way, even though I knew you were kidding on another thread I'm not opposed to the ace back, five receiver set. I think it's a good formation but should not be our only one. It wasn't last night. Multi-formation is the way to go and I was surprised that at one time, so many CFL teams got away from it and got stuck in the spread all the time.

I just looked at the tape again and Jarious Jackson's throw to Clermont, for his second touchdown was an amazing play in that a defender had Jarious in his grip but Jarious still managed to get the throw off. It was surprising that we didn't use Logan hardly at all in the first half but the thinking was to line up in two back or tight end set to provide a run look and pass out of it. I was happy that we went more to the run in the fourth quarter, something we haven't done enough of so far this season.

Jarious will start against Calgary but he was completely frustrated with a couple of play calls and expressed it. He wasn't happy with the package on offence, when he threw the interception, in trying to hit Green in the end zone and Buono was frustrated with Jarious on the play.

However, we really are struggling with our short yardage running, both on second or third and short and down at the goalline. It's interesting that Edmonton only had six plays for the red zone last season and this year they have 22 plays for the red zone. We are passing in the red zone this season whereas last season we ran the football down there and Smith led the league in scoring touchdowns. Finally, when we used Lambala, a 245 pound back, it looked like we had a potential solution.

We can't even get a yard on a quarterback sneak and that's not Jarious who is the problem. Angus Reid is built low to the ground and should get great leverage. I'm not sure if he is part of the problem in snapping the football and not getting push at the sametime or whether the problem is our two guards as the defense slants into those gaps and they are not getting low enough with enough of a initial push but it's so bad that Wally wouldn't gamble on third and two feet to go late in the fourth quarter and on every quarterback sneak you could see his anxiety.

Defensively, in this game our linebackers played much better and we had different combinations out there. Jamal made a big difference in playing more...he just moves to the football so quickly...and we even had him and Floyd lined up together at times. However, our defensive backfield, which should be such a strength does not look in sync out there. Part of the problem is that we have been taking too many liberties and not playing within our concept but adding to the woes is the fact that many CFL offences are changing. They are going more vertical, challenging deep more often, and becoming more innovative. In order to be successful, our pass defense now has to be better this season than in the past. Right now I have some serious questions about the play of Myles as our nickel back and wonder if trading Knowlton was the right move.

There are still a number of concerns that our Leos team has to address if we want to win a Grey Cup this season. However, last night I saw some postive directions that I hope we will continue with.
"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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SammyGreene
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Post game thoughts:

• It’s great having the extra 30 minutes to get to the stadium for 7:30 starts but it can be a killer when you are bringing young kids to the game — never mind trying to catch the last ferry back to the Island. Walking out of the stadium at 11 pm is crazy.
Not sure if it was the late finish but I am simply amazed at the number of people who head to the exits with 4 or 5 minutes to go with the outcome still in doubt. It happened in the previous game against Montreal too that also went down to the wire. And we sit among season ticket holders!

Offence

• Really nice to see Buck Pierce get quality playing time and make a difference in the end. I thought the QB change was the right call by Wally. As he said afterwards, game management is so important from your starting QB and that was a terrible decision by Jarious at that juncture of the game. Often Wally has given him a chance to redeem himself but message needed to be sent, especially when you have a high quality back-up QB.

Wally was also quick to snuff out any QB controversy by announcing Jarious will start against Calgary which also is the right call.

• Logan reminds me a lot of what Barry Sanders brought to the NFL. He could get stuffed for a loss on one carry but then break lose for a 60 yard major on the next. The Lions simply need a game breaker like that on the field, especially with so many teams enjoying significant upgrades in offensive talent this season.
Still, the Lions have no confidence to use him in short yardage situations, given how many times they threw in that situation. I agree with Rammer that Lambala could thrive in such a role and giving more playing time to a promising young Canadian is never a bad thing.
I don’t think we have seen the last of Joe Smith but his $130,000 salary that becomes guaranteed after Labour Day could be a factor, especially if the Lions want to spend more money to find a 5th receiver among NFL cuts.

Defence

• Haven’t seen a Lions defence get beat on a regular basis like this since the ’04 season. Nice to see them step it up in the 2nd half but there is plenty of work to be done over the bye week — revisiting their coverage and packages. Wow was Wally animated watching the defence get picked part in the first half, especially after he called them out during the week.

• If I had to put my finger on anything it would be a slight decline in play by a number of veterans who have been a key part of this unit for the past three seasons. Collectively, it ads us.

• When Korey Banks is off, he is really off and it has happened too many times this season for one of the league’s best. It seems to be a confidence issue with him as his head was hanging in the first half and a lot of players, including Geroy were trying to pump him up. He did respond with a better second half.

•For the life of me, I can’t figure out Benevides rotation at times but simply put Jamal Johnson needs to be used as an every down player.

And congrats BC Fan on the Marsh INT!
Blitz
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SammyGreene wrote:Post game thoughts:

Offence

Really nice to see Buck Pierce get quality playing time and make a difference in the end. I thought the QB change was the right call by Wally. As he said afterwards, game management is so important from your starting QB and that was a terrible decision by Jarious at that juncture of the game. Often Wally has given him a chance to redeem himself but message needed to be sent, especially when you have a high quality back-up QB.

• Logan reminds me a lot of what Barry Sanders brought to the NFL. He could get stuffed for a loss on one carry but then break lose for a 60 yard major on the next. The Lions simply need a game breaker like that on the field, especially with so many teams enjoying significant upgrades in offensive talent this season.
Still, the Lions have no confidence to use him in short yardage situations, given how many times they threw in that situation. I agree with Rammer that Lambala could thrive in such a role and giving more playing time to a promising young Canadian is never a bad thing.
I don’t think we have seen the last of Joe Smith but his $130,000 salary that becomes guaranteed after Labour Day could be a factor, especially if the Lions want to spend more money to find a 5th receiver among NFL cuts.

Defence

• Haven’t seen a Lions defence get beat on a regular basis like this since the ’04 season. Nice to see them step it up in the 2nd half but there is plenty of work to be done over the bye week — revisiting their coverage and packages. Wow was Wally animated watching the defence get picked part in the first half, especially after he called them out during the week.

• If I had to put my finger on anything it would be a slight decline in play by a number of veterans who have been a key part of this unit for the past three seasons. Collectively, it ads us.

• When Korey Banks is off, he is really off and it has happened too many times this season for one of the league’s best. It seems to be a confidence issue with him as his head was hanging in the first half and a lot of players, including Geroy were trying to pump him up. He did respond with a better second half.

•For the life of me, I can’t figure out Benevides rotation at times but simply put Jamal Johnson needs to be used as an every down player.

And congrats BC Fan on the Marsh INT!
I agree Sammy...Wally's decision to pull Jarious was the right move but for a different reason than just the interception. Jarious was frustrated and expressed it on the series before that play. He was frustrated with the offensive package our Leos used on the play that he threw the interception. I think it was more than just a message with regard to the interception and Wally might have left him in there if it had only been that. Jarious has been really outstanding at fighting through frustration but last night was different.

I also believe we have to do some things for Jarious as well. In our last previous win...Jarious had to deal with a illegal procedure call for us not having the right package in there, followed on second down by a delay of game penalty as the play was sent in late. It took a third down throw to Joe Smith for 11 yards to pull out the game. I also liked the play calls for Buck that Jarious didn't have. For example Buck had running and passing plays while we threw almost exclusively when Jarious was in there and from the pocket. When Buck was in there we used a misdirction play action to Logan and a bootleg for Pierce and we also had a rollout for Pierce. The kind of play calls sent in for Buck would have also been more beneficial for Jarious. I was also happy to see Buck Pierce get some quality reps...we'll need both before this season is over.

As for Jamal Johnson...I've been posting for eons about getting him in there. He just hits a ton. He's the fastest linebacker we have. He knows how to scrape and explode up into a hole to stop a tailback. He's an outstanding tackler. He is excellent at tackling in the open field. We started the game using Pottinger and having Jamal in his usual role on the bench. However, Benevedes knew his defense was in trouble and he began to use Johnson more and more.

I believe we still have a talented defensive backfield. Crawford is the heir apparent to Miles, who is slower now, and this will probably be his last season. Still, Miles experience is invaluable, especially with a new defensive backfield coach in Washington.
Reggie Myles play really concerns me and I wonder if we shouldn't be using Jerome Dennis as our nickel back.

With regard to Joe Smith...if Lamballa continues to get more reps and play well...I can see us phasing Smith out. However, you need both a power back and a fast tailback to be successful. Montreal went away from the power back concept and it seems that many teams are wanting to go faster at tailback,especially with defenses plugging the inside run. However, you still need a power back for short yardage and in the red zone. We can't keep passing all the time in the red zone!!
"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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Let's not forget the ST. Without a doubt they were the difference. The offence struggled, the defence failed to cover, but the ST kept us in the game and gave us the chance to win.
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The one thing I find frustrating about Jackson is how he struggles to find the right touch on different throws. I was in Edmonton for the game last week. Twice in the first half receivers had their man beaten by a good 5 yards on deep patterns and Jackson overthrew them by another 5 yards or more. Both would've been easy TDs. He did that again last night with Paris Jackson in the first half. Then on the Shabazz pick he tried the finesse soft toss to Green. Shabazz made an amazing play to climb the ladder and stretch his arm as far as he could for the one handed grab. But that "changeup" gave Shabazz just enough time to close and make the big play.
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The thing with the interception that JJ was unhappy about the play call is that he had Bwenge all alone on the goal line straight in front of him under the goal post , but chose to throw into the crowd instead.
The thing that I was finding frustrating to watch is that JJ keeps trying to throw the home run strike far to often when we need first downs more consistently .( Late in the game RR seemed to fall into that trap to and it really killed their momentum too.) So who is responsible for all those long bombs ?( they're great when you complete them , but to many misses on those isn't good) Is that our game plan or is JJ just doing that on his own ? When you've been 2 and out too many times , wouldn't it be wiser to try a more patient and higher percentage approach ?
As soon as BP comes in they try something different and it worked ok . Next time I'd like to see JJ try get more consistent before trying for more long stuff and getting us more 2 and outs .
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ziggy wrote:Let's not forget the ST. Without a doubt they were the difference. The offence struggled, the defence failed to cover, but the ST kept us in the game and gave us the chance to win.
I say ST gave us the win along with EE blunders . Neither D no r O should get credit.
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