Lions 28 - Riders 23 Post Game Stats and Comments

[LFITQ]

I anticipated Ritchie Hall would play our receivers tight and take away the underneath game. A lot has been made of Buck's passing percentage but with an accurate passer, who is only throwing short and underneath stuff, you're going to get that, as we did with Dickenson. However, the key was whether Buck would have the ability to go over the top, when the Riders jammed us up. What I liked was that Buck threatened deep in this game, something he hadn't done much of in his two previous starts. While he didn't connect early with the deep ball he did in the second half and it was the key to our win offensively. Buck also hit some deep intermediate throws, which were also open at times. His ability to adapt to a Ritchie Hall defense was what impressed me.

Precisely the way I saw it. If Skillern catches a few more balls, the team would have kept a few drives going. However, as much as I lament about Skillern, particularly in this game, what was impressive was the leadership Buck showed by continuing to go to him to try and get Skillern back in the groove. By doing so, Buck told Skillern he had some faith in him and hopefully that would give Skillern some confidence. It also showed to me that Buck had confidence in that even if Skillern let him down, he was confident he could make it up the next play. That is leadership. That is confidence. That is something that had been missing all season.

However, there is no question that this game was won by our defense. Cameron Wake, as I mentioned in a different thread, was unbelievable. His pressure on the quarterback, his sacks, and his pursuit are so impressive it's hard to find words to describe them. Hunt and Williams also came up big. I was impressed with the play of Jason Pottinger, when he was in there and Foley also played well.

I agree basically with what you are saying here, but the generalization at the front I can't agree with. The defence did not win this game. Not by any stretch. Our defensive front seven won this game. Our Secondary almost lost us this game.

When it boils right down to it, our front lines (d and o) were the difference makers in this game. Oline gave Buck the time he needed for most of the game (one gaff and Buck did pay for it but I'm not sure it was on the Oline specifically) and our Dline harassed and harried Bishop all night.

The secondary was the weak link yet again. It's almost as if they can only get the job done if the dline provides some serious pressure. If I was the front 7 I would be calling a defensive team meeting and trying to get those cover guys to pull up their socks. Mark Washington has got to do something with this group. Maybe cut out the chirping until they show they can walk the walk, instead of just talking the talk.

[WestCoastJoe]

... about the dual scatback concept (if we could try this for Roberts and change our offence to do it why couldn't we have used Joe Smith and Logan together...

Yep ... I agree.

I really had reservations about our Leos dropping Adam Nicholson from the roster. ... I thought we should have been more patient with a Canadian receiver who is tall, has size, and enough speed to be a good player in the future.

Aside from our top 3 receivers, Simon, Clermont and Jackson, our other receivers have an alarming tendency to drop the ball. Receiver depth is the only area of our team, that has not been able to develop talent in Wally's tenure.

Wes Cates exposed what is still a problem for our defense and that's being able to shut down a running back when he gets into our second layer. We finally made a smart move to get Jamal Johnson more playing time, when it was past obvious he deserved more reps. I'm starting to think we should also get Pottinger more reps in the middle on first down.

Once a running back breaks the line of scrimmage against us this year, he is finding a lot of space in which to run.

My guess is that Roberts will be back in the lineup next game. Whether Logan plays or not will prove interesting. Wally is going to want to make the trade for Roberts to look good. However, I thought last night, that inserting Roberts hurt Logan's game and our offence wasn't the better for it.

IMO Logan is the more effective runner at this time. It will always be a passing attack that is the greater weapon in the CFL. And, as has been pointed out a number of times, there are not that many touches available for running backs. I expect CR will be the feature back next week, with either Logan or Smart returning kicks.

[Blitz]

I anticipated Ritchie Hall would play our receivers tight and take away the underneath game. A lot has been made of Buck's passing percentage but with an accurate passer, who is only throwing short and underneath stuff, you're going to get that, as we did with Dickenson. However, the key was whether Buck would have the ability to go over the top, when the Riders jammed us up. What I liked was that Buck threatened deep in this game, something he hadn't done much of in his two previous starts. While he didn't connect early with the deep ball he did in the second half and it was the key to our win offensively. Buck also hit some deep intermediate throws, which were also open at times. His ability to adapt to a Ritchie Hall defense was what impressed me.

Precisely the way I saw it. If Skillern catches a few more balls, the team would have kept a few drives going. However, as much as I lament about Skillern, particularly in this game, what was impressive was the leadership Buck showed by continuing to go to him to try and get Skillern back in the groove. By doing so, Buck told Skillern he had some faith in him and hopefully that would give Skillern some confidence. It also showed to me that Buck had confidence in that even if Skillern let him down, he was confident he could make it up the next play. That is leadership. That is confidence. That is something that had been missing all season.

However, there is no question that this game was won by our defense. Cameron Wake, as I mentioned in a different thread, was unbelievable. His pressure on the quarterback, his sacks, and his pursuit are so impressive it's hard to find words to describe them. Hunt and Williams also came up big. I was impressed with the play of Jason Pottinger, when he was in there and Foley also played well.

I agree basically with what you are saying here, but the generalization at the front I can't agree with. The defence did not win this game. Not by any stretch. Our defensive front seven won this game. Our Secondary almost lost us this game.

When it boils right down to it, our front lines (d and o) were the difference makers in this game. Oline gave Buck the time he needed for most of the game (one gaff and Buck did pay for it but I'm not sure it was on the Oline specifically) and our Dline harassed and harried Bishop all night.

The secondary was the weak link yet again. It's almost as if they can only get the job done if the dline provides some serious pressure. If I was the front 7 I would be calling a defensive team meeting and trying to get those cover guys to pull up their socks. Mark Washington has got to do something with this group. Maybe cut out the chirping until they show they can walk the walk, instead of just talking the talk.

Well, first of all, when you have an ex-player, with no CFL coaching experience, coaching the defensive backfield they are going to take liberties. Banks is having an off year and Miles is not the player he once was. Myles is also not good enough at nickel back.

However, our defense only gave up 9 points for the first three quarters and held us in the game until our offence became untracked. Hall played us tight in the underneath game, as I expected he would. When your offence is using a short passing attack, you also can't have mistakes. By using a high percentage passing attack with Buck, a penalty or a dropped football is more painful. We only had one first down in the third quarter. However, Buck went over the top to Paris Jackson and Geroy Simon in the fourth quarter and the game was won.

There are some who love the high percentage underneath attack. However, good defenses can make it tough, as we learned in 2005 and the second half of the WDF last season. Clermont got clocked again as well. Jarious could go deep but he struggled at times underneath. Buck had shown he could really execute underneath but needed to get his longer game in place. He did that last night. You really have to have all three elements in your offensive passing attack..short, intermeidate, and long and take what the defense is giving up. We didn't do that for three quarters but we did in the fourth and it was the key to our vcitory on offence.

Our pass defense has struggled this year...yet I believe that Marsh, Phillips, and Glover are very good defensive backs. Banks is a great cover guy and just needs to get his game back and I believe he will. However, Miles and Myles are hurting us and Crawford and Dennis are deserving of more playing time.

[pennw]

What I find disappointing in our DBs is the few attempts at knocking passes down . They are right there with the receiver yet the catch is made almost every time , and no knock down attempt . As though they are thinking intercept but if that's not there , it's mostly do nothing , just let them make the catch . Yes they do get some intercepts still , but would not some consistent knocking away the ball be helpful to our D too ?
IMO it's the pressure by the front four that saved the DB's butts last night again .

[notahomer]

I thought Nicholson looked good for the Riders last night. IMO, Bishop did not look so great (not complaining, believe me). It just seemed like he was locking on to recievers and getting crunched in the process. I'm looking forward to the rematch. I think these Riders got a bit of a touch schedule. I think they have a back2back with the Esks and a game with MTL. Thats quite a five game stretch (BC, BC, MTL, EDM, EDM,) IIRC. I was also impressed at how the Riders reacted to the injured Rider who needed to be golf-carted off after the opening kickoff, what a TEAM.

This game was definately fun to watch! I just feel so much more confident with Buck Pierce taking the snaps!

[SammyGreene]

I really had reservations about our Leos dropping Adam Nicholson from the roster. A few games back I had wanted us to start Nicholson a few games back and get Joe Smith into the lineup with Logan and inserting Nicholson would have allowed us to do that. Yes, Nicholson had a few drops but considering his very limited playing time I thought we should have been more patient with a Canadian receiver who is tall, has size, and enough speed to be a good player in the future. Nicholson, on the few plays he was inserted into games had eyes as big as saucers and he was obviously nervous. Last night, playing for the Riders, he looked so much more relaxed. Guys like Skillern and Coleman had dropped lots of passes but they didn't suffer the same fate. It will be interesting to see if dropping Nicholson turns out to be a wise decision

Totally agree Blitz. There's Wally watching Skillern dropping passes all over the place and here's his 2007 1st round draft pick showing the potential they thought of him in the first place. If any player deserves a longer look or benefit of the doubt it's a non-import that you have put a lot of stock in. The fact is he had a very good training camp, dropped some balls in a pre-season game and never saw game action again as a Lion — even with this team screaming for a Canadian receiver depth. If anything, the Riders deserve credit for giving him a chance, considering he hasn't even been there for 2 weeks.

Other toughts:
• Overshadowed by Anderson's two big catches in Clermont's place was him already being part of the receiver package before #82 got dinged and that was one of the first things that jumped out at me last night. It seemed like he was used more for blocking than anything else in the early going but he was definitely playing ahead of Hill who rarely saw the field last night.

• Nothing pains me more than seeing a safety make the right read but still not make the play. In the past three years that was rarely the case with Barron Miles but the goathorns were huge last night — first on the Dressler catch then on the ball to Palmer when it seemed like the game was in hand after the Simon TD. Ironcially it was Ryan Phillips with him both times.

•When does Wally make the first contract extension offer to Cam Wake? We know its coming soon and let's hope it's a serious one ($200,000) making him the highest paid defensive player in the league because he is worth every penny. I know the NFL aspirations will make him look south, but let's at least make it a difficult decision for him.

• We get spoiled by the consistency of Paul McCallum — another player who's contract is up at the end of the season. I thought he struggled with few of his early punts but was booming the ball in the 2nd half which was huge when the offence had three straight 2 and out possessions and field position was crucial. he also hit a clutch 57-yarder in the 4th quarter.

• At least we kept pace with the Stamps and Eskimos as the West continues to tight up. Maybe even more importantly, we maintained our 3 game lead on the Bombers for the crossover. The Stamps have a home-and-home with the Argos coming up so you have to like their chances of improving to 9-4. As tough as the loss was to Montreal, the main difference between this year and past seasons, is the two losses to Calgary — a team we have traditionally owned. The standings (and our Western division) record would look dramatically different had those games followed the trend of previous seasons.

[TheZeppo]

A few random thoughts:

-what a great game to see live! Thank you so much BC Lions for a great way to end my annual pilgrimage to Canada!!

Wow! Coming all the way from Belize to see a game. Makes me chuckle about the
guy who posts here a lot complaining about the traffic from Abbotsford.

[Hambone]

While the dual scatback thing didn't appear effective I think it's too early to toss it out. It creates a major wrinkle to the offensive scheme. I think it's asking a bit too much for them to purrfect it with only a couple of days of practice. They now have some tape they can work with to identify some adjustments as well as another week of practice to get some kinks out of it. Let's not forget they got to debut it against arguably the league's top defence. It may never become a staple of the offence but I'd like to see it still be a part of the the package.

[B.C.FAN]

The defence did a great job for three quarters, especially the front 7. Glatt had another strong game, reading the play well and equalling Wake's total of 6 tackles. He also blitzed effectively and put a good hit on Bishop.

Wes Cates had only three carries of more than 5 yards through three quarters. The Riders faced a lot of second and long situations, and that allowed the Lions to crank up the pressure on Bishop, whose only two losses as a starter have come against B.C. But the B.C. offence's inability to sustain drives in the third quarter, picking up only one first down on the last play of the quarter, put too much pressure on the defence. Cates' first four carries of the fourth quarter went for 11, 28, 7 and 22 yards.

This was a typical B.C.-Saskatchewan football game. Neither team allowed many sustained drives. Logan and Roberts had little success trying to stretch the field wide against Saskatchewan's strong linebackers. The Lions tried a screen pass a few times but it had little success for the same reason. Most of the offensive success for both teams revolved around the deep pass. Look for more of the same next week, with deep passes and turnovers being the keys to the game for both teams.

[Belize City Lion]

It was an enjoyable game to watch.....and had the feel and hitting of a playoff game. Offensively, while I'm not crazy about the dual scatback concept (if we could try this for Roberts and change our offence to do it why couldn't we have used Joe Smith and Logan together...it would have been a better combination)

I still believe the no two back set for Smith and Logan (and the later out right benching of Smith) had more to do Smith being in the dog house for attitude issues (including skipping games and Bobby's tribute). I got ripped for that opinion at the time, but I think I have been somewhat validated by the trade for Roberts and the fact that the Lions suddenly what to try a 2 back formation.

[Solar Max]

I still believe the no two back set for Smith and Logan (and the later out right benching of Smith) had more to do Smith being in the dog house for attitude issues (including skipping games and Bobby's tribute). I got ripped for that opinion at the time, but I think I have been somewhat validated by the trade for Roberts and the fact that the Lions suddenly what to try a 2 back formation.

You weren't wrong, as it had EVERYTHING to do with the trade to Winnipeg for Roberts, and your validation is at hand.

Some people forget that what Wally says to the Press may not be exactly what he thinks, either. Saying that Smith had no responsibilities to the team on Game Day, or to Bob Ackles' family may have been the "politically correct" thing to say, but you can bet your dacha in Parksville that it wasn't what he was really thinking.

Watching/listening to Wally is like reading Pravda in 1980; you'll get the official party line, but it likely has little truth and a lot of propaganda in it.

I for one, wouldn't have it any other way.

[almo89]

I thought Bishop looked most dangerous when he was rolling out of the pocket. When he was contained in the pocket, his passes weren't that accurate.

[Solar Max]

Something else that just occured to me, and please forgive me if it has been mentioned: Jason Pottinger had his best game as a Lion last night, IMHO. He was a monster out there.

As disappointed as I was with Adam Nicolson being unable to step his game up with the Lions, and then getting a reality check by being cut, it was more than made up for by the play of Pottinger.

And no, I'm not pleased to see an Ottawa U alum step up in Regina, I am hugely distraught with Adam, because we all knew he had the talent, but for whatever reason( lack of coaching here, nerves, whatever) he chose not to bring his A game, but then did last night in another jersey.

His lady friend will now come here to flame me for that, but look at the stats for yourself, madam. Adam never brought out his talent here except at Camp, a huge disappointment, because we all saw the talent that he wouldn't use in game situations while he was here last night.

[VANRIDERFAN]

It was a great game to watch though the result could have been better . The BC defensive ends were monsters all night and their ability to keep Bishop contained contributed greatly to the win. Next week in Regina will be huge for both teams.

On a side note, I went to the game with a family who have just been posted from Colorado to Vancouver. They are die hard NFL fans but I bought the girls Rider t-shirts to wear and by the end of the game they were standing and cheering for the Riders to pull out another win! Sorry about corrupting another Vancouver family to the green side (NOT ).

[Solar Max]

On a side note, I went to the game with a family who have just been posted from Colorado to Vancouver. They are die hard NFL fans but I bought the girls Rider t-shirts to wear and by the end of the game they were standing and cheering for the Riders to pull out another win! Sorry about corrupting another Vancouver family to the green side (NOT ).

Cry for the lost children.