Alouettes 30 - Lions 25 Post Game Stats and Comments

[David]

Why would we not have ridden the Matt Norman train all the way to orienation day at school? Can't figure out why he's mostly been standing on the sidelines for the past couple of weeks while Hameister-Ries hobbles around on one leg and Valli struggles to get back into game shape? (I'm being charitable here)

JHR could have had 2 weeks off in the bye to rest his knee and back and 2 more (Wpg and Mtl) to get healthy again. Wasted opportunity.


DH

[Toppy Vann]

If you want to hear a good pre-game speech listen and watch Mike Benevides on TSN.

He is short and to the point reinforcing the things they've likely stressed at practice as you can see players a bit fidgety getting game ready and not in a mood to listen so the best coaches re-stress what they must do to start.

Benevides says his opening - uses the rule of 3 in the middle stressing the LOS on offence - focus for the run and some pressure on #13 - and ST play then WIN.

The movies show the long motivational speeches but players really don't get a long speech and don't need it.

I agree with the TSN crew and panel - this had the intensity of a play off or Dunigan's GC game comment. Should be a great return match in BC.

[TheLionKing]

Should have put the ball in Harris's hands on one of those final 3 plays. A draw or screen when the Als brought the house would have been nice.


DH

Or a quarterback option. 3 times on the Lions' final drive on the 8 yard line, the Bombers sent the house. 3 times the Lions went to dropback

[Mikemike]

the Bombers sent the house. 3 times the Lions went to dropback

You sure you were watchin the same game as the rest of us King?

[Blitz]

Some quick thoughts

First and goal at the eight...

Three passes from the pocket on first and goal from the 8? No rollout? No run? No creativity? No one open?

It appeared Bruce was not open, but with a guy in your face you have to go somewhere.

Will have to look at the tape. Not going to defend Lulay as much, because it changes nothing in peoples' views. But I will say one has to look at how many positive plays a QB makes getting you a chance at victory. I will ask how many QBs would be walking if they faced what Lulay has been seeing?

Calvillo gets rid of the ball fast ... Yeah, yea

Lulay doesn't read the D ... Yeah, yea

Lulay panics in the pocket ... Yeah, yea

Lulay doesn't go deep ... Yeah, yea

Lulay should have made a sensational throw to Bruce ... Yeah, yea

Lulay should beat pressure, and the blitz, and the breakdowns ... Yeah, yea

Lulay should take what is there ... Yeah, yea

Lulay shouldn't get hit so often. LOL yeah, yea

Lulay shouldn't even need anybody but his center in front of him to beat the blitz, with a quick throw ... Yeah, yea

There is probably more, but you get the idea.

......

Better defensive game plan? The Alouettes

Better offensive game plan? The Alouettes

Better pass protection? The Als

Better pass rush? The Als

......

As BCFAN says, "The Alouettes won the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball." And that will decide almost every game.

And as he says, "Travis Lulay and Arland Bruce had strong games for the Lions but the Alouettes were in Lulay's face all night with linebackers and DBs and the Lions didn't do enough to counter the blitz." Agreed.


Congratulations to AC ...

JC says he will make some adjustments. I think they are needed if we want Lulay walking at year finish.

Just another playoff game vs an opponent jacked up to play us. Maybe a good thing we lose a close one. No way are we clearly ahead of the field. Got work to do as Benny says.

Don't expect any blowouts. Teams are geared up for us. There is great talent throughout the league. When your O Line is pass blocking abysmally, you will probably be in a life and death struggle each week.

I wish Kelly Bates was still working with the O Line. Saw Dan Dorazio with writing board facing his men trying to plug the leaks. Tough spot to be in as coach of this unit, and when it's all televised, but it goes with the territory of pro sports. Xs and Os? Statistics? Well can you pass block the man in front of you?

Agree with you WCJ regarding the game planniing/play calling in this game. Also agree with your thoughts regarding Kelly Bates. When Bates worked with our offensive line last year, he was the coach who got us to change to a man blocking scheme from the old zone blocking scheme we ran for years under Dorazio and it paid huge dividends in our running attack. Bates has coached our runnng backs this year and we are leading the league in rushing. Bates also did a great job at the Canadian draft this year.

You have very strong views regarding the play of Lulay and yuur defense of him on recent posts. I greatly respect all you bring to this website. I also respect that you have passionately argued your points regarding Lulay and what you believe is the problem with our offence, especially over the last four games. I remember well defending uor quarterbacks in the past, saying they were being hamstrung by our scheme and the pressure they faced in making completions while also feeling my views were in the minority for quite a long time..as execution was considered the problem.

We have strongly differed on this topic. I went into last night's game trying to look at our offence through your eyes. Perhaps we are both right or both wrong...but we are at least both passionately trying to assess the challenge our offence is facing.

What did I see against Montreal?

1. First of all, I asked myself this question as I watched the game? We blitzed Cavillo on Montreal's first series and got burned. Why is Cavillo so hard to sack? Why is Cavillo almost impossible to blitz? It truly is because he gets rid of the football quickly and makes great quick decisions with the football. Cavillo was also going up against the best defense in the league. Why did we not get a lot of pressure on Cavillo? Stubler knew that blitzing Cavillo was futle..he threw the occasional blitz in there but mostly went either four man or 3 man line from what I could see and tried to use multiple coverages to shut down Cavillo.

2. Next question? Why isn't blitzing us just as futile? Quite frankly because we don't get rid of the football as quickly nor do we make great quick decisions with the football. Who is responsible for that? I'll get into that a little later in this post.

3. I agree with you regarding our offensive line blocking. We blocked so well last season for Lulay during our winning streak and in the playoffs last season to win the Grey Cup. We had Archibald and Olifoye at tackle, Newman and Valli at guard and Reid at center. Harris was our tailback. Our offensive line play has not been good enough in pass protection this season and especially against Montreal. Our interior line play is just not good enough. Reid is in there mostly due to his experience and line call ability but he is not a dominant blocking center. Hameister-Rees has battled injuries all season. Valli missed a lot of practice time this season and it shows. However, even Archibald and Oliofoye have not played as well thhis season as they did last year. What really concerns me is our inability in the interior of our line to pick up stunts..there are just too mnay times that defensive linemen or linebackers are coming in there completey free or almost free as we just get a small piece of them. Harris has also been inconsistent in his pass blocking..excellent on some plays..weak on others..its a tough job for a tailback to pick up the blitzer but we have to get better at it.

4. I have stated that Lulay is an excellent quarterback...a leader, poised at crunch time, mobille, and given time can dissect a defence. I have argued that he needs to get better against the blitz..needing to make quicker decisisions, challenging deep more often against man coverage, etc. In your eyes Lulay can do no wrong and its all the offensive line's fault. We hae disagreed on this. While Montreal rushed four on occasion last night what I mostly saw, without beneift of tape afterward was Montreal rushing four on occasion and mostly rushing five (one blitzer) and sometimes rushing six.
What was obvious was that Lulay had little time in the pocket on many plays. That has been a problem for sure, ever since we played Toronto. What was different last night, against Montreal, was that Montreal did not play a lot of press man but instead dropped off our receivers, either in man or zone.

5. So, the big question is why are we still trying to play a certain way, when we know that pressure is coming and coming quickly? Why is Lulay playing the position as if he is anticipating more time to throw on each play? Why is Chap running our offence as if the blitz is not coming or as if our protection is great? Why did our offence look the same last night for the most part, although Chap said he was going to tweak it? It did not look like an offence that was designed for quick hitting pass plays? It also did not challenge deep again, ignored a potentially dangerous weapon against man coverage in Earnest Jackson, and did not expoit the quick slants (except for one play to Aralnd Burce), quick outs, seam patterns, etc that we should have been utilzing. Why did we wait until the fourth quarter to run a sceen pass? Why did we not run more htich screens? Why did we not move the pocket more for Lulay? Why did we not use more misdirection? In fact we used less misdirection bootlegs this game than we have all season? Our anti-bltiz strategies in thsi game were terrible. I have been a huge supporter of JaquesBall but this was a poor game plan and poor play calling and poor scheme to use, especially when we knew heat would be coming and its going to continue to come in future games until we can get this addressed.

6. Last nights game, offensively, was problematic in its execution for a number of reasons. Our offensive line blockng was not good enough..that we agree on WCJ. Chap did not help Lulay at all in this game and this was a game that he especilly needed help with. I still think LUlay needs to anticipate that he is not going to have the time as he has in the past and throw the football more quickly. Blitz Cavillo and the snap hits his hands and the pass is gone. At the same time Lulay played courageous last night, took a lot of hits, saw a ton of pressures, and fought through a lot of adversity to give us an opportunity to win the game.

7. The last three plays of the game only highlighted what was wrong last night. Chap tried a quick swing pass to Harris on first down but the play was set up poorly. Chap anticipated blitz but we should have had a block set up on Cox to spring Harris. We knew blitz was coming on second down but had no quick hitting pass play called and Lulay tried to run it. On third down, with more pressure coming we ran a crossing pattern for Bruce..a play that took too long. We should have been running slants down there or a very quick skinny post or a quick out. We could have had Earnest Jackson or Foster as big targets running a pass patterns which walled their defender off and sticking a quick one in there to eiher one of them or we should have had the excellent route running Aralnd Bruce coming off a rub play quickly. Not good enough.

8. Montreal's defense had given up the most points in the leauge this serason as well as the highest percentage of passing completions. We allowed Montreal's defense to look much better than it is.

Last night, aganst Montreal I saw an offence not adequately prepared for a defense we should have antipated, an offensive line that was not good enough, an offensive coordintor who gets more veiwing time on TSN each game than most head coaches not make the play calls that were needed to be made to give Lulay and our offence the tools it needed. Look at Montreal's first series. They anticipated blitz and had the hitch screen ready..and Green took it for 51 yards. Finally, I still think Lulay has to get rid fo the football faster but last night was the worst protection I have ever seen us give him and he was the least at fault out there and defintiely was a gamer...for that he deserved to be able to throw the winning touchdown and couldn't.

[Blitz]

Always important to look at positives as well, even after a heartbreaking loss...

~this was our third game in the last 12 days, played in 3 different time zones and we had a great chance to win, with 3 attempts on the Motreal 8 yd line to score a touchdown to win a game

~Tim Brown had 136 return yds on his first 3 touches and ran two back in the second half which set up two field goals..his special teams play was a key to keeping us in the game.

~Korey Banks had a great game with some impressive tackles, especially the one on Whitaker in the flat and he made a key interception.

~Shell also played a very good game at nickelback and his anticipation on Montreal's reverse was a thing of beauty...dropping the Montreal runner for a big loss

~When Simon had to leave the game with an aggravated hamstring that he picked up against Winnipeg Aralnd Bruce showed that he still has the stuff to be a go to receiver.

~Andrew Harris made some exceptional moves and demonstrated his skill on a number of plays, which also included his tremendosu ability to break tackles at key times.

~Travis Lulay, on a scramble run to his left took a wicked hit and was up on his feet quickly as if he had hardly been hit. He is one skillful and tough runner who doesn't get hurt while always being willing to sacrifice his body to get a first down.

~Shawn Gore is a very deceptive receiver who has speed and toughness

~great to see Paris Jackson's concentration on a tipped football that he caught while laying on the ground.

~Marco Iannuzzi took a hitch screen that was going nowhere and turned it into a very postive play.

[Rammer]

Always important to look at positives as well, even after a heartbreaking loss...

~this was our third game in the last 12 days, played in 3 different time zones and we had a great chance to win, with 3 attempts on the Motreal 8 yd line to score a touchdown to win a game

~Tim Brown had 136 return yds on his first 3 touches and ran two back in the second half which set up two field goals..his special teams play was a key to keeping us in the game.

~Korey Banks had a great game with some impressive tackles, especially the one on Whitaker in the flat and he made a key interception.

~Shell also played a very good game at nickelback and his anticipation on Montreal's reverse was a thing of beauty...dropping the Montreal runner for a big loss

~When Simon had to leave the game with an aggravated hamstring that he picked up against Winnipeg Aralnd Bruce showed that he still has the stuff to be a go to receiver.

~Andrew Harris made some exceptional moves and demonstrated his skill on a number of plays, which also included his tremendosu ability to break tackles at key times.

~Travis Lulay, on a scramble run to his left took a wicked hit and was up on his feet quickly as if he had hardly been hit. He is one skillful and tough runner who doesn't get hurt while always being willing to sacrifice his body to get a first down.

~Shawn Gore is a very deceptive receiver who has speed and toughness

~great to see Paris Jackson's concentration on a tipped football that he caught while laying on the ground.

~Marco Iannuzzi took a hitch screen that was going nowhere and turned it into a very postive play.

-On Brown, great returns, but at least half the leagues returners would have turned in at least one TD with breakaway speed.

-First game that IR Korey Banks making several plays, nice to finally see that from our D specialist.

-Again nice to Shell show up in highlite type plays, that was expected of him and Parker and I can't wait for that to become the norm.

-I like the improvement from Gore, as I stated last season, he reminds me of Nic Lewis, but man do the Lions have to work on that shortside throw to him, he is getting rocked way too often.

-Paris still needs to do better on his downfield blocking, cost us a first down on one play.

-Iannuzzi also made another play when Lulay was once again running for his life, he got the toss well behind the LoS and let it sail into out of bounds, otherwise it was going to be a substantial loss.

[Blitz]

-On Brown, great returns, but at least half the leagues returners would have turned in at least one TD with breakaway speed.

-First game that IR Korey Banks making several plays, nice to finally see that from our D specialist.

-Again nice to Shell show up in highlite type plays, that was expected of him and Parker and I can't wait for that to become the norm.

-I like the improvement from Gore, as I stated last season, he reminds me of Nic Lewis, but man do the Lions have to work on that shortside throw to him, he is getting rocked way too often.

-Paris still needs to do better on his downfield blocking, cost us a first down on one play.

-Iannuzzi also made another play when Lulay was once again running for his life, he got the toss well behind the LoS and let it sail into out of bounds, otherwise it was going to be a substantial loss.

~Agree with you that if Brown had more speed it could have resulted in a couple of touchdown returns. Brown had very good blocking on returns this game and we really opened some holes for him...it certainly was not Borwn alone and he had good space out there on a number of occasions.

~Angus got away with a hold on our big screen play to Harris, although it was not a factor in Harris breaking free. The downfield umpire also threw his flag with exclamation on the play but then the flag was considered dropped in error.

~I really thougth we got away with one when Foster's catch and fumble was ruled an incompletion. It was a scary play with Lulay throwing across the field after taking off and we got away with it twice.

~Arland Bruce made a great play to get us a first down when he came back to the football a crossing ruote pattern and cut upfield after the catch quickly to just get us a first down.

~not sure why we didn't run the reverse hardly at all with either Iannuzzi, Gore, or Earnest Jackson. Montreal was blitzing a lot from the inside while laying back with its defensive backs..the purrfect recipe.

~I thought our defense played very well in stretches and then played poorly on some Montreal drives and gave up some big plays. We wanted to rattle Cavillo early but Montreal was well game planned for that as WCJ noted. Montreal outgame planned us offensively and defensively. We gave up on blitzing Cavillo, tried different coverages and were very successful at times. Montreal had two of its top recievers out in London and Richardson but Cavillo still came up with a 300 yd passing game against the best defense in the league...40 year old quarterbacks can still get it done if you're last name is Cavillo

~Bighill had his worst game as a Lion...he just wasn't a force out there at all but the way Montreal strateged it was a tough game for a middle linebacker to have an impact.

~Couchy Muamba misplayed a throw by Cavillo, coming underneath and it sailed over his head for a big play for Montreal. It was a great play by Cavillo who looked like he could never get the throw there when he let it go.

~I wasn't really able to see how Bell played in his dimeback position but he certainly didn't appear to be a weakness out there.

~Dante Marsh covered SJ Green step for step on a deep ball by Cavillo.. Marsh is getting longer in the tooth for a defensive back but he still has the stuff.







~

[Blue In BC]

Yeah, I thought the Forster catch was a catch. He had control and took at least 1 full step downfield.

[B.C.FAN]

Yeah, I thought the Forster catch was a catch. He had control and took at least 1 full step downfield.

The ruling was consistent with the way the bang-bang play has been called in recent years. Having control for an instant or taking a step with the ball doesn't count. He was hit soon after the ball arrived and he didn't survive contact. There have been more incomplete rulings since that interpretation was brought in, but that's better than allowing questionable catches and game-changng fumbles.

[korey&dante4ever]

Two thoughts:

1) Dean Valli put out the worst individual performance out of any O-lineman, on any team, in any league, in any one game i have ever seen in my entire life

2) We got beat on both sides of the ball at the line of scrimmage

That's the game

[David]

.....Dean Valli put out the worst individual performance out of any O-lineman, on any team, in any league, in any one game i have ever seen in my entire life

While that might be overstating things just a little, I think we could have gotten more out of Frankie Valli last night.

Dean was Rag Dolled.


DH

[MexicoLionFan]

Blitz, Joe, et al...the bottom line is that this is a VERY GOOD football team, as are the Als...we had 3 cracks from the 6 for the win, and didn't get it done, but on the road with this OLine performance, we MUST be one amazing football team...and we are...

Lots of good things from this game, but obviously major concerns, and it is becoming clear to me it is COACHING more than anything else...JC and Dorazio seem in SHOCK that they are being blitzed on every down and that we aren't able to handle it...this isn't good coaching, this is senility...

Last night, as Blitz mentioned, was a purrfect example of how to beat the blitz (Montreal) and how to blitz (Montreal)...as Joe said, Montreal had the better coaching across the board, hands down...BUT we have the better players and the better team, and if JC and Dorazio can get their schtick together, we can be unstoppable again...look at our STs...even they have improved each week to where they are no longer hurting this team.

To beat the blitz, you CHECK DOWN...design WR screens, HB screens, flood patterns with lots of rubs and picks, and as Blitz says, direct, quick hitting runs that exploit gaps...EVERYTIME WE DID THESE THINGS THEY WENT WELL...but we barely did these things...one quick hitter run with Harris (for 17 yards)...one screen to Harris (for 36 yards)...WR screen to Gore for 15 yards...and then the rest was SLOW DEVELOPING POCKET PLAYS where Montreals Defence planned their religious ceremonies...

What is up with JC and is Dorazio senile???

No prep for this, and yet its all that Reinbold knows...its all we have seen for most of the season...no in game adjustments, and yet we coulda, woulda, and shoulda WON THE GAME.

That is because our talent is 2nd to none in this league, but we need the coaching to match...we will always be fine with Stubler, and MB is doing a good job as HC...even McMann has dramatically improved as ST coach...but JC and DORAZIO are going the wrong way, in the face of something very simple...playing to burn the blitz...just look at Calvillo...our 3rd play call from scrimmage, Stubler blitzed both Bighill (who struggled all night) and McKenzie (invisible) and Calvillo promptly hit Green on the WR inside screen (a pathetically simple play) and burned us for 51 yards...after that, we didn't blitz much...

Notice anything Jacques??? No? Nothing at all? Maybe the 36 yard screen to Harris could of happened during the 3rd quarter when you let the game get away after camping out in Montreal territory for 2 FGs and a single point...

Lulay is getting killed out there, AND whats WORSE he is picking up some very bad habits...and he can't be blamed for it...because for Travis it is becoming a game of survival...and this simply should not have been allowed to happen...evaluate your talent coaches...either they execute or you get your GM to trade for someone who will...we currently have 2 guards not starting that are better than the 2 that are...Valli is ATROCIOUS and HR is probably worse...but that is coaching to leave them in there and allow your LEAGUE FRANCHISE QB to get killed down after down after down...we have the 2 best OTs in the league, do something to shore up the middle and we will be fine...but last night cinched it, OFFENSIVE COACHING is our worst problem and it had better change in 6 days...

[TheLionKing]

.....Dean Valli put out the worst individual performance out of any O-lineman, on any team, in any league, in any one game i have ever seen in my entire life

While that might be overstating things just a little, I think we could have gotten more out of Frankie Valli last night.

Dean was Rag Dolled.


DH

[B.C.FAN]

That is because our talent is 2nd to none in this league, but we need the coaching to match...we will always be fine with Stubler, and MB is doing a good job as HC...even McMann has dramatically improved as ST coach...but JC and DORAZIO are going the wrong way, in the face of something very simple...playing to burn the blitz...just look at Calvillo...our 3rd play call from scrimmage, Stubler blitzed both Bighill (who struggled all night) and McKenzie (invisible) and Calvillo promptly hit Green on the WR inside screen (a pathetically simple play) and burned us for 51 yards...after that, we didn't blitz much...

If we're blaming coaching for the loss, I wouldn't let Stubler off the hook. The Lions gave up four offensive TDs, tying a season high, including two rushing plays that should have been stopped at the line of scrimmage. The Lions had given up only three rushing TDs in the first eight games but the Als converted short-yardage plays at will in this game. Anthony Calvillo's 321 passing yards marked only the second time this year the Lions gave up 300 yards through the air. Montreal's 370 yards of offence was also the second highest total by a B.C. opponent this year. This game was a battle between Montreal's league-leading offence and B.C.'s league-leading defence. Montreal's offence won.