Great post, Blitz. I was planning to make some of these points in the B.C.-Calgary preview thread once you start it. I'll elaborate then.Blitz wrote:There has to be a reason why Wally's teams have had so many successful regular seasons and have come out awful to start a playoff game. Some of that has had to do with predictability. Winnipeg threw a lot of stuff we hadn't seen before. Buono tends to go into a playoff game with what got him there.
But we've had too many Buono led playoff teams that have come out of the gate like they are on Planet Pluto, reflecting more than just a strategy/game planning issue. The players have seemed 'almost out of it". Wally's demeanor before these big games is always highly nervous. His face is twitching before the game starts. I think his players pick up on it. Wally's fear during the regular season with situations, like third and less than one and punting from the oppositions 35 yard line, fearing a return more than a field goal or going for field goals inside the oppenents 5 yard line reflect his fear. But he is more relaxed during the regular season.
Come playoff time, he is much worse. The 2004 Grey Cup game was a good example. His fear drove him to start an experienced quarterback who was very rusty and have O'Mahoney attempt to punt the football out of bounds on every punt, which really hurt field position. In the 2005 WDF, we came out nervous and we looked completely out of it to start the 2007 WDF. Wally spoke to the team before the 2012 WDF and we were out of that one early too.
Wally fears losing more than he craves winning. I think its a huge reason why we have a long history with him of getting off to bad starts in playoff games in most seasons. His players are way too uptight and that kind of pressure can make their heads go into a different space and not be sharp.
The missed assignments on defence yesterday were an example of that. Wally has been known to yell bizzare stuff during a playoff game so I really believe the nervousness and poor play and missed assignments early, are at least partially derived from him. Then we settle down and start playing like we can. The problem is that getting down early can make it a lot tougher and sometimes its not possible to come back, like we did yesterday.
I also agree that Wally is a fighter. Therefore, I also believe that the fight that we have, also partially comes from Buno. It allows us to fight back when things are down. Buono never gives up and neither do our players.
What our Leos need from Buono is to be more confident and poised and relaxed (while also focused) during the week before, as well as pre-game, before a playoff game.
Then we would have both elements - a better start to a playoff game because our players would be more confident and and less nervous and uptight, and at the same time, they would have Buono's fight, should they face adversity.
An aside, I hope with age, you can root for your Leos a little more comfortably now. Saying that, I stood for the entire fourth quarter!!
As for turnovers, I never said the Lions had to win the turnover battle against Winnipeg, just make one or two fewer turnovers per game than they did during the regular season. They did that, running a clean slate for the final three quarters after Jennings turned the ball over twice in the first quarter. I also have some thoughts that might shock you on the likely importance of turnovers in the West Final. You'll have to wait to read them.