Lions 16 - Roughriders 20 -- Post Game Stats and Comments

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WestCoastJoe
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Great posts, Guys.

swervyn and Sir P, to mention a couple.

Waiting for Blitz and MLF to weigh in. Gotta cauterize the wounds.
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.
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I don't understand AH only getting 8 touches. No, wasn't getting the holes, but keep pounding and he'll get there. Every loss this year has been less touches for Andrew.
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This game looked a lot like the games Harris struggled through last year where he was basically asked to run into a brick wall and try to make something out of nothing. Just like last year, he mostly got nothing. The play calling was very predictable and there were no deep balls or even medium length balls to help stretch the defense. The Riders o-line destroyed the Lions and gave huge holes all night. If it weren't for some bad drops by the Riders, this game wouldn't have even been close.

Personally, I don't know why they didn't use Logan more. Harris is more effective when the Lions use a dual threat of Logan/Harris. As far as I can recall, Logan only got one or two plays near the end of the game.

Lions couldn't execute but their coaching this game was terrible.
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I had to take some time to cool off after a dismal Lions performance against the Riders on Sunday afternoon on Lions 'Guaranteed Win Day'. The ill-conceived concept should have been called Guaranteed Loss Day because all the concept did was motivate the Riders even more for a key Western Division battle. Many Riders saw the concept as a sign of disrespect while Chamblin viewed it as more motivation to win.

The Lions always draw very well for a Riders game so why we chose this game is beyond. With Benevedes calling the Glenn trade 'the trade of the century and commenting last week that he didn't care what the media and fans thought I had hoped that the supply of leadership brain farts would subside but Skulsky's ill conceived idea cost the Lions around a million bucks while feeding fuel to the opposition. The only good thing that came out of it was that dedicated Lions fans, who have been treated to many poorly played home losses this season get to see a game for free.

I have been a die hard fan of our Leos for decades. I have been disappointed with a lot of losses as well as enjoyed exciting wins. I can handle losses when our talent is not there. However, when our talent is outstanding, its very difficult to do. Outside of playoff games, where in a one game do or die format, an underdog can often pull the upset, our Leos team has usually reflected fairly closely the talent on the field over the course of a regular season.

One exception was the 2011 season. Our Leos obviously had much more talent than a 1-7 team to begin that season. Things were desperate, after two mediocre seasons in 2009 and 2010 and many fans and media were calling for Buono to take a quiet walk and hang up the coaching cleats. Our team practices had been uninspiring and pedestrian at best for a number of seasons.Desperate times are often an impetus for major change and they happened quickly. Benevedes, whose first two seasons as our defensive coordinator were a major drop off and his third season starting abysmally, abandoned his 3-4 defense. Chapdelaine abandoned his spread offence (ChapBall) and quickly moved to a multi-formational motion/misdirection offence. Buono, never attracted to free agents unless they had played for Calgary, signed Arland Bruce, who brought a positive attitude with him that was contagious and with an injury to our import starting tailback, Andrew Harris got his first start and never looked back.

It was a Rocky Balboa kind of story...Wally was on the ropes, having endured punishment due to a declining team for a number of seasons and suddenly we just won and kept winning, all the way to a Grey Cup victory. Wally yelled out 'Yo Adrian, enjoyed the accolades for his amazing comeback, and wisely retired from his coaching cleats.

However, that wisdom did not extend to choice of the next Head Coach and instead he went to his hand picked successor, Mike Benevedes, who outside of that one turn around Grey Cup season had not enjoyed success as a defensive coordinator nor as the person who handled our amateur draft - he did he have the necessary experience or resume to step into the position. However, he did have the right attitude when it came to admiring his boss and that seemed to count the most.

Last season we jettisoned two coordinators who became scapegoats for an 11-7 season and a playoff loss.

Chapdelaine had changed our offensive scheme from a predictable spread offence to the most innovative scheme in the league. It was more than enough to win a Grey Cup in 2011, to be the best offence in the CFL in 2012. In 2013 it was handicapped by a sore armed Travis Lulay, a rookie quarterback in DeMarco, the integration of Buck Pierce, a rookie center who wasn't even pencilled in to play the position at training camp, an early season injury to Kirby Fabian, and the mediocrity of Dorazio, who couldn't open a crack of daylight for Andrew Harris for a long, long stretch of games until he changed his run blocking scheme. However, overall our offensive scheme was the most innovative in the CFL and if you don't believe me, have a look back at the plays we ran in 2012 or the multiple formations, motion, misdirection, and play design in our playoff loss to the Riders last year.

We also jettisoned Rich Stubler, who had a tremendous resume of success, a record setting best defense in the CFL in 2012, and the second best defense in the CFL in 2013, despite being handicapped with the loss of Khalif Mitchell (and no adequate replacement) and lacking a decent pass rusher. We lost to the Riders missing Eliminian in the middle and Stubler was gone.

The release of these two coordinators momentarily relieved Leo fans from their angst of a declining team and momentarily deflected responsibility and accountability away from Benevedes as well as Wally, who chose Benevedes as his successor.

This year has the same feel as the start of 2011. This is a much more talented team than our record shows, as was the case in eary 2011, and that is why I find the losses this season so frustrating. Many pundits picked our Leos to win the Grey Cup this season based upon our existing talent, the addition of Stefan Logan for an entire season, and the signings of Khalif Mitchell, Jamal Johnson, and Schmid. At that time they didn't even account for the emergence of Alex Bazzie, the impressive rookie season of Josh Johnson, the all-star play of first year starter Ronnie Yell or that we would be able to play a non-import at left tackle in Steward, let alone have him play like an all-star.

It was believed that the return of Khalif Mitchell, the addition of Jamal Johnson and a bigger, younger nickel back was all that we needed to become the most imposing defense in the CFL while the one-two punch of Logan and Harris for an entire season was all our offence needed to return to its 2012 best in the CFL form.

The problems that our Leos team is facing right now has nothing to do with talent - the talent is more than there. The problems are coaching leadership, scheme, play calling, and discipline.

Here are some post game thoughts:

This loss was such a key loss for us in the Western Division. We had the Riders at home, with a lot of incentive to win ( a win would have tied us with the Riders, who would have had one game in hand but now we are definitely in last place in the West and have an uphill battle ahead of us. We are only one game above .500 with the talent to be leading the West.

I will not blame this loss on Kevin Glenn nor the inability of Travis Lulay to come in late, as the movie script would call for, and be the hero to lead us to victory. We couldn't run the football, our run game design is pedestrian and relies on the talents of our tailback rather than scheme, our pass protection is not good enough, and our passing offence is the most predictable in years -its bland and boring and poorly designed.

JUST THE FACTS

The facts of this game are brutal.

Offensively they are:

-We didn't score an offensive touchdown
-Tim Brown created more yards on returns than our offence generated in yards.
-In the last 35 minutes of the game, until the Riders went into a prevent defense we generated ONE first down on a shovel pass to our third string tailback whose name was Brown
-Our offence went two-plays-and-out eight times in nine possessions - 25 plays for a total of 44 yards.
-Andrew Harris carried the football 8 times for 11 yards..an average of just a little over 1 yard per carry
-Stefan Logan carried the football once, after an impressive performance against Toronto, and gained one yard on his carry.
-Our best running play was the old Chap fly sweep
-Glenn was 15/21 but only passed for 146 yards, having little time to throw on most plays, had to throw short, and our recievers were well covered. Lulay had the football for 3 possessions, went 4/8 for 27 yards. We passed for a total of 173 yards.
-We held a 13-9 lead going into the second half, then produced a dismal 69 yards of total offence over the final two quarters.

Defensively we.....

-Gave up a whopping 228 yards rushing against a team that we knew was struggling to pass the football and needed to run
-Enabled a second string quarterback who has taken very few reps to be effective against us
-Allowed the Riders to run the football down our throats when it was obvious that they were going to run the football and wind down the clock and we looked awful.
-Gave up 418 yards of offence in our house against a Riders team that was stuggling offensively.

On Special Teams...

-Tim Brown set up our first field goal on an excellent return and then scored our next touchdown on an exciting 75 yard return to spot us a 10-0 lead.
-Brown followed up his 249 yard return performance against Toronto with 277 return yards against the Riders
-Benevedes almost didn't start Brown against the Riders, stating it was a 50/50 chance earlier in the week and it took pressure from media, fans, players, and Brown himself, who went in to talk to Benevedes in order to get his opportunity on Sunday.

In terms of coaching...

-Benevedes chose to kick a field goal, rather than gamble on third and one, with a 10-0 lead that could have put the foot down on the Ridrers
-Defensively we failed to make second half adjustments when the Riders lost Durrant and were forced to play an inexperienced pivot
-Offensively, we didn't adjust to the Riders game plan of taking away our inside running attack by lining up their defensive ends shaded more inside on first down and using a linebacker or defensive back lined up outside. We needed to use more quick tosses and off-tackle plays and misdirection style running plays.
-We were undisciplined again in terms of penalties.

THE REALITY

This is a poorly coached football team. Most CFL Head Coaches would drool to have our talent this season.

On defense we have the best pass coverage skills of any team in the CFL. Its why our pass defense is so good - we have defensive backs that have the talents as cover guys.

Our linebacking crew is also ranked the best in the CFL by most experts. Up front we have two big, imposing tackles and a very good pass rusher in Bazzie.

However, we are not utilizing the talents of our defensive players. This is a very fast, very quick, very aggressive group of players on defense who are being forced to play a very conservative style of defense. We play a ton of zone, we mostly use our linebackers as cover guys, we rarely blitz and we usually blitz poorly due to design and predictability. Last season it was understandable that we played more conservative than in 2012, due to our personell, but this season, we are even more conservative.

We have the secondary talent to be ball hawks with more of a pressure defense, the linebacking talent to do a lot more things scheme wise, and the size and speed up front to run a lot of different defensive sets and schemes. A player like Bighill, who has such great uphill and closing speed is mainly being used as a pass cover guy. Jamal Johnson`s talents are negated in this defensive scheme. Eliminian is mainly being used to scrape behind the defensive line, rather than being allowed to penetrate and explode into the backfield on running plays and that restricts him. Instead he runs from sideline to sideline making tackles.

Offensively, after season after season moaning about Chap being too stuck in the spread offence, I was so relieved and happy to see him move to Jaques Ball and his multi-formational, mostly power offence, with a lot of movement, motion, misdirection, play action rollouts, etc. I didn`t blame him for our inadequate running game mid-season last year, nor do I blame Khari Jones for yesterday`s lack of holes to run to. Dorazio is part of the equation for every offensive coordinator as long as Wally is running the show.

However, I do blame Khari Jones for moving us back to more of a spread offence than we`ve seen since 2005. The six receiver sets are like driving a nail through my head. The five receiver set, with Stefan Logan pass blocking makes as much sense to me as driving a car down a freeway in the opposite direction.

There were reasons to simplify Chap`s offence. It was complex. There was reason to simplify his terminology. There was reason to have a more player friendly offensive coordinator. However, there is no reason to have such a simplified running attack, when you have the best one-two punch of Logan and Harris in the backfield and the different talents they bring, both individually and when used as a tandem. There is no reason to use them stationary, lined up as wide receivers. The best example of that was when Lulay came into the game and on his first pass we called a hitch screen. Logan was lined up in the middle of three wide, the Riders played him for the hitch screen, Iannuzzi completely whiffed on his block (having Haidara, a good blocker lined up wide would have made more sense, and we had to punt. If Logan was lined up as the trail receiver in the wide bunch or was thrown to in motion the play had a much higher chance for a better outcome.

However there was no reason to reduce the power formations, to reduce the receiver rotations, or the lack of imagination in the ways we use Logan. There was no reason to go back to a lot of layered crossing patterns that need good pass protection to work. There was no reason to become more of a pass possession offence rather than a more vertical offence. There was no reason to become more of an inside running team, which is the result of the spread, when we had the speed to also run outside with our tailbacks. Now we only use the occasional fly sweep to run outside. In terms of anti-blitz, a complaint we had about Chap, we have gone backwards. Basically we've put in all in Glenn's hands to get the ball out quickly to a receiver downfield and nothing else.

On defense, there is no reason for us to play such a conservative style of defense that allows offences to get into the second layer so easily or to play such passive zone, with the talent, speed, and aggressiveness we have this season. This defense has the ability to be creating penetration and mayhem. Instead its a Wally `bend but don`t break`, simple, passive style of defense that only relies on our talent and not on scheme or confusing the opposition. It basically says here we are and that disadvantages us. This is not the defense we were promised in the off-season.

THE SOLUTIONS

In 2011, when we were stagnant to say the least and 1-7 we changed our offensive and defensive schemes and added a couple of players in Arland Bruce and Harris,who provided new sparks.

We now have a bye week and its time for some introspection from our coaching staff and the pressure is clearly on Benevedes to get this changed around. He is the most accountable, not his coordinators. Benevedes likes to get in their faces during games but its his job to lead his coaches in developing the best schemes and play calling for our talent.

On offence I believe we need to get out of the spread as much as we`re in. We need to add some dynamism to both our running game and passing attack.

I really believe one of the best ways to do that is to have Lulay start againt the Red Blacks. Not that I think that Glenn is the problem. In fact I hate to think what would have been without Glenn - we likely would have been 1-7, like in 2011. I think starting Lulay will help force Benevedes/Jones to start moving the pocket, introducing some new passing plays and misdirection play action. Even if we don't change our offence very much, Lulay's running ability will help this staid offence. Lulay looked much better in his time on Sunday. He threw a very good deep ball to Iannuzzi, who should have been more aggressive rather than trying to basket catch the well-thrown football.

Its also time to make an offensive change or two to our lineup. We saw what Steward has done with his opportunity. Its time to give Haidara some reps for Gore or line him up at times, instead of Gore as a tight end. Its also time to give Haidara some reps. Another change that could spark us is to give Adekelu an opportunity. We could even insert him in Ernest Jackson's spot or give Burnham a shot. I like Jackson but we are not utilizing him so perhaps a fresh face could give us some positive enthusiasm.

On defense, we now have another big defensive tackle who we counted on this season, who has gone sideways. First it was Mitchell who went sideways in his first season under Benevedes. Now its seems like Westerman is another talent that we are going to lose and he is a non-import.

But mostly we need to play a different style of defense that allows ball hawks like Cord Parks and Ronnie Yell to shine and even Phillips to anticipate. The style we are using does not create sacks, pressure, fumbles, or interceptions. It does not disrupt opposition offences. Its also hampered by a safety who does not have good anticipation skills and that is a roster juggling scenario that can be done if we choose to.

But what we need most is leadership and that is a Head Coaches job. Buono, our new scouting system, and the work of Kelly Bates has brought in the talent. Chris Jones in Edmonton and Mike O'Shea are getting it done with a lot less talent. Its time for Benevedes to do his job and provide the leadership and direction and discipline and style of play that this team desperately needs. The tools for success are here - but they are not being utilized in the way they should be. We're wasting a lot of talent and it needs to stop.
"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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This was a battle of the back up QB's and we lost! The turning point came when the Riders pulled their starter and we left Glenn in! Not sure if Lulay would have won the game for us, but it was clear Glenn wasn't going to. Even when he has time ,if the first read isn't there, he seems lost! As soon as the short game was taken away, we started the epic fail!
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A few related thoughts. First, I don't believe for a minute that all of the ineffectiveness can be put on the coaches. Some for sure, but to have Harris and Logan run the ball 9 times and pick up a total of 12 yards says something about the O-line play that, in my opinion, goes beyond the coaching. Good players rise to the challenge, and our O-liners didn't. The game plan may have been flawed, and adjustments not made when they should have been, but player execution of the game plan was dismal. I think we absolutely have to replace Valli, but he's not the only one under-performing.

Second, I sure can't see removing Glenn for Lulay given what we've seen so far. Despite the fact that he was hurried much of the game, Glenn completed 71% of his passes and had no interceptions. I don't know what his QB rating for the game is, but it should be decent. I hope his injury isn't serious, as I don't see Lulay being ready or able to turn this season around.

Finally, our D isn't all it's cracked up to be. Again, this isn't all on the coaches. We can't mount a credible pass rush most of the time (and not in just this game) with our front four, and we gave Durant and Sunseri tons of time to set up, survey the field and make completions. The final score flattered the Lions. The Riders out-gained us 418 yards to 229, and had Bagg caught the deep pass where he was wide open (another defensive breakdown), the score would have been worse. We may have been out-coached (I find it hard to tell, given the poor play exhibited), but we definitely were outplayed.

The NFL cuts are coming: all teams must be down to 75 (from 90) by tomorrow, and then to 53 by next week. Wally might be wise to bring in a few hungry NFL cuts if for no other reason than to light a fire under some of our incumbents. And, speaking of NFL cuts, the Riders may be getting Dressler back soon; he was cut by the Chiefs.
Last edited by South Pender on Mon Aug 25, 2014 9:48 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Lions4ever
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sj-roc wrote:
Luckily, the Lions were only too accommodating in making sure that even the folks who went to the game didn't go home without seeing plenty of boobs.
I saw a couple of big ones on the Lions sideline.
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sj-roc
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South Pender wrote:Second, I sure can't see removing Glenn for Lulay given what we've seen so far. Despite the fact that he was hurried much of the game, Glenn completed 71% of his passes and had no interceptions. I don't know what his QB rating for the game is, but it should be decent. I hope his injury isn't serious, as I don't see Lulay being ready or able to turn this season around.
His stats on cfl.ca have it at 90.6, by far the best among the four losses, in all of which but yesterday he threw at least two picks (57.3 vs Edm, 38.6 @Mtl, 54.8 vs Wpg). For comparison, Durant yesterday was 81.0 and Sunseri 106.6.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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Lions4ever wrote:
sj-roc wrote:
Luckily, the Lions were only too accommodating in making sure that even the folks who went to the game didn't go home without seeing plenty of boobs.
I saw a couple of big ones on the Lions sideline.
Yep, you'd never say the Riders were the ones who featured a DD.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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I missed most of the game, but finished watching the whole thing this morning...so, what to say? The Lions have loads of talent, more than any other CFL team, I am certain of this, but we are constantly being out coached and AT HOME VS. A DV RIVAL it happened again.

Credit SSK, their coaches (Richie Hall) had a great game plan going in to stop our run and crowd our short passing box and THEY NEVER HAD TO ADJUST because inexplicably, we DIDN'T. Our Offence has officially become a real problem...take away our offensive games against Eastern opponents and we simply do very little well...Andrew Harris (and to an extent Logan) has single handedly willed this group to success at times, but he's still not 100% and he can't do this game in and game out. Jones has flat out failed in his role as OC in the first half of the season, and as Blitz has pointed out, he hasn't changed much of anything...in fact his 6 receiver sets (THAT DON'T WORK) are borrowed from Chaps, and Chaps dropped them 2 years ago...the short, quick passing game ONLY WORKS if you prevent DBs and LBs from cheating...but this is exactly what defences are doing to us...why did SSK's D look so good yesterday when they possess less talent than ours? Because they are constantly guessing, and guessing right. Jones is playing right into the hands of DCs around the league. Even if deep seam route throws don't work (and they should as our guys always have single coverage deep), they send a powerful message to the DBs and LBs, they cannot jump routes...they cannot CHEAT on their drops and their angles...all 3 things are happening against our offence causing our talent to look talentless, but we are NOT talentless. Take Andrew Harris' performance this season away from our O, it has been a joke!

On Defence? Wow...we certainly weren't bad, but how does a rookie QB come in, on the road, against the best D in the league and drive the ball against us? And with our D strength up the middle, how did they get that many yards rushing? Again, COACHING. Washington has "looked good" as a DC to many people this season because of our Stats, but I have probably been the one person that has NOT bought into this belief. Washington is TOO soft in his defensive approach and he is FAR TOO OFTEN CHEATING with our LBs in the pass defence game, and its costing us in our run defence. All any team has to do to gain yards on the ground against us, is simply make the play called look like a PASS...if they do, both Sol and Biggie are taught to cheat to get deep or wide in their drops, which is killing the opposition's short/intermediate middle pass game, but making us vulnerable to big plays in the run game, yesterday was no different. And because we play passive Defence, when we are behind, and its late, our D does not have go to sets to shut down anything to get the ball back. As I have said all year long, championship Defences CREATE TURNOVERS, we don't do this enough because we play too soft! I would much rather give up the odd big play in our pass Defence and become an aggressive, attacking defence that keeps offences scared...too often we don't scare anyone...and we have the MOST TALENT ON D in the entire CFL.

As for Benny, what can you say? He just doesn't have the composure, experience or smarts to be a good HC. That decision to take the ball at our 35 instead of having them kick was unbelievable, especially when you consider that earlier in the season when we didn't have ANY KIND of return game, he was requesting KOs none stop...stupid...and I said this last season, we have to start asking our kicking game to take those 47-54 yard FGs, we are simply giving away too many points. Even if Schmitt has to take them, he practises everyday on his placekicks...

Our record is indicative of this bizarre mix we have had this season...a fortunate schedule, horrendous coaching, and outstanding talent. I could make a case that we should be 8-1 right now, and at the same time we could EASILY be 2-7. As the weather begins to change, as teams begin to smell the post season, either our coaching gets better or we are going to fade out of contention, as the other teams in the league are only going to get better (with the NFL cuts at hand) each week. We won't be adding players, because we don't need the players...our talent is already the best in the league...we need coaching and soon!
"Condemnation Without Investigation is the height of ignorance."

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WestCoastJoe
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Great recap, Blitz and MLF.

Some of us have pointed at the coaching. And some of us feel some guilt doing so. These guys bust their butts, for long hours, and short pay. With huge stress, leading to expanding waist lines for some.

But it is hard to ignore the results on the field. When teams do not take away our running game, we can win. When we can get pressure on the QB, we can win. But if we go in with a standard, roll it out, game plan, we cannot win. The best coached teams find ways to neutralize effective offence and defence.

This is not about effort. Our guys play their brains out. They do not need to strap on their gear any tighter. But when Regina keys on the run game, we have no answer. No holes. None. We do not stretch the field in our passing game. Strictly vanilla. And this allows the D to push the limits. On D, when Regina blocks our front four very well, with their outstanding O Line, we do not have any way to get after the QB. We do not fool anybody with our blitzes. And when Regina has an excellent game plan to run the ball, we have no answers.

First possession of the game. Big return by Brown. Move down to the 31. 3rd and less than one. Benny folds his tent, signals the ultra conservative approach, and goes for the field goal.

First D series. Bighill and Solo blitz. Sack. Two and out. Then Brown TD return. 10-0. And from the on we try to protect the lead.

This is coaching. We have seen our talent, when, on occasion, other teams do not have superior game plans. At those times, our O moves the ball up and down the field. Our D gets after the QB, and stuffs the run. Those times are followed by a continuation of what has worked, and we find that teams have adapted to take it away.

Wally is the GM. Every once in a while he sees enough that he can feel satisfied that everything is OK. He feels that his protégé, with the undistinguished resume, can grow and develop. But times have changed. We have commented endlessly about the rise in the level of coaching in the CFL. It makes for exciting times. And it makes for challenges each and every game. Our OC and DC are green as grass. They seem to get no leadership in Xs and Os from above. Wally admits he is no Xs and Os guy. It seems his chosen successor is no Xs and Os genius either.

Help with an air lift? We can search high and low across the continent and we will not find one player who can bring more than Bazzie, Mitchell, Taylor or Smith in the D Line. O Line? We only use one import there. Receivers? DBs? LBs? We will not find any improvements over the guys we have. And whoever might come in will look just as inadequate at times, with this coaching. The first place people look, when a team struggles, is to change players.

So we are mediocre. Middle of the road. Losing at home, without passion. Players know instinctively when their chances are limited. One can see it in the body language. I expect very few observers had the feeling that we would come back and win. It seems the Riders quietly, patiently came back from a deficit and took the game away. The results could have been worse. Tim Brown put points on the board. Bagg dropped a sure TD pass.

So here we are. Stuck in the middle of the standings. We can still squeak into the playoffs. But Benny has yet to win a game there.

Bitter loss. But we almost took the loss lying down. No fight. Allen ran the ball down our throats. Sunseri took what was there. The Rider defence wrapped it up.

For me, I put it on the coaching.
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.
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Great comments guys, I hadn't read them when I posted...so thanks to everyone especially Blitz, Joe and Swervyn...

All I can add to things is this, for those who blamed our OLine yesterday go back and watch the game, like I did this morning...when we ran the ball we telegraphed it...it was obvious and SSK zone blitzed to cancel gaps and Harris had NOWERE to go...that's NOT the OLine's fault...you can't block a blitzing interior LB while you are already blocking a 300 lb. DLineman. Having Lumbala used more would have helped, as would have adding a "tight end" to the formations, but we didn't. But here's the deal, why is our offence so EASY to predict? Sorry guys, but that's coaching...and when teams are zone blitzing you on first down to stop the run, YOUR F$CKING PASSING GAME SHOULD BE WIDE OPEN...you simply CANNOT cover guys one on one on a CFL field without some kind of help...when Defences cheat against us to stop our run, they should NOT be able to stop our passing game...its a chess match...they adapt, you adapt...and you make them pay for CHEATING...that's why SP and other fans see a game where it looks like their players outplayed ours...I get it...but if you look under the covers, you see the truth...teams look super human against us at times, because they constantly CHEAT...why do teams film games? Why do teams hire a video coach? Why do teams keep coaches up in the boxes...TO SPOT CHEATING and make teams PAY...simply put, we don't.

And when the SSK rookie QB came into game, a game where their starter barely hit 100 yards passing thru 3 Qs, how does Washington completely let his foot off the gas, and pull his LBs further away from the LOS? Their only chance was to run, play action or dump underneath, and WE LET THEM!!! Now, if that's not coaching, then whose fault is it???

And with the bye week upon us, NOW IS THE TIME FOR LULAY...Glen wasn't necessarily the reason we lost yesterday, but plays were there for the taking and he simply didn't make the reads or the throws...if Lulay is healthy, this is why we pay him $500,000 a year...Lulaly too missed open players, but he hasn't played in a long time...with Jones as OC and Glenn as QB, we are NOT going anywhere this season...its time for Travis...not that he will excel in this ridiculous offence, but he has a better chance at success than Glenn at this point.

Coaching, Coaching, Coaching...
"Condemnation Without Investigation is the height of ignorance."

Albert Einstein
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sj-roc
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WCJ,

It's been one of your recurring themes on this board that the quality of coaching has undergone strong growth in recent years, and something in this regard in your last post stood out to me.
WestCoastJoe wrote:... times have changed. We have commented endlessly about the rise in the level of coaching in the CFL. It makes for exciting times.
It's a little bit ironic you say this at a time when many observers have noted games have become more tedious than ever. I don't say this to be confrontational. In fact, I believe you meant it honestly, that you meant it in the sense that because coaching quality has risen so dramatically, it has made it exciting — for students of the game, that's my key here — to observe the attendant evolution in strategy and gameplanning. This point, I can understand (and if I'm wrong on how I read the way you meant it, please feel free to correct me).

The problem of course would be that most of the people who buy tickets to watch all of this are not students of the game, but rather just want to pay for a few hours' entertainment to divert from their usual daily travails. One might draw a parallel here to the NHL. In 1995, the Stanley Cup-winning NJ Devils, coached by noted defensive disciplinarian Jacques Lemaire, ushered in a new era of defensive emphasis and almost made a relic of the 50-goal/100-point scorer (to this day they remain one of the few long-established NHL franchises, if not the only, to have never had at least one of either of these). Many NHL observers have put forth the view that this strong defensive focus by coaches sapped the creativity out of the game's most exciting players.

Do you feel that there's a valid parallel here? I.E., that the widely acknowledged tedium of the current CFL season — and I'm speaking in reference to the entire league here, certainly not just the Lions specifically — can be laid at least to some extent at the feet of coaches who, in the course of greatly raising the bar in their performance, are gameplanning the creativity from the game and the players? I wouldn't think it's 100% the case as for me, it's often the way penalties get called (or not) that seem to detract from the game. But I do wonder whether the former excitement of this game from seasons past would necessarily return if only we cleaned up this aspect of the officiating.

Another point:
Bitter loss. But we almost took the loss lying down. No fight.
On the 1040 postgame last night, I believe it was Farhan Lalji who commented (and I sit too far away at the game to get a good read on this myself) that for pretty much the entire second half, the Lions' bench was emotionless, lifeless. Considering we played that entire half against a backup QB, had held the lead until the last play of Q3 and remained within striking distance the rest of the way, this is simply astonishing.
Last edited by sj-roc on Mon Aug 25, 2014 11:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
TheLionKing
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DanoT wrote:With the O piling up 2 and outs in the second half, why did Lulay not get into the game earlier just for a change of pace and to try and shake things up a bit? :dizzy:

I know that Coach Benny has a game plan and likes to stick with it: "Run the ball and keep Glenn in the game and don't rush Lulay back in to action until after the bye week". This is fine, but if the game plan is clearly not working then adapt and make some changes. :bang:
Another coaching decision that's a head scratcher. All week he talks about getting Lulay more playing time yet he inserts Lulay into the Toronto game with no apparent rhyme or reason.
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notahomer
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If you want to watch this dogs breakfast again, it is replaying tonight on TSN2 @ 9 PM P.D.T. (channel 147 in my neck of the woods).

No doubt this game will probably almost definately "WIN" the fan poll and be the CFL replay game for Tuesday.......
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