Hetherington ... fans call for patience

[Area51]

Surely Lyle Green would be a better option than Heatherington.

Or even in a worst case scenario start Glatt as the 8th NI and slide Arceneaux or Wilson inside.

[PigSkin_53]

It's too bad Matt Carter didn't show more in TC. Hetherington looked better at that time. Carter would be the obvious guy to go to now.

Ouch.

Wonder if we could pick up a guy named Jason Clermont from the Riders.

The way things have gone, with the loss of Carter, and the bad show by Hetherington, it looks like Wally might have pulled the string too soon on JC82.

Why would you have played Heatherington or any of the above, when Lyle Green should have been #2 behind PJ in the 1st place?

LG would never have dropped balls all over the field like that tonight.

Buono just renewed his contract just previous to TC this season.

[Toppy Vann]

I think Lyle Green (while he too could drop a ball) would for me have been a better choice than Hetherington who clearly led to the shift in momentum over to the Esks. I also think if Whyte and McCallum were both there the game might have been better for BC.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

Surely Lyle Green would be a better option than Heatherington.

Or even in a worst case scenario start Glatt as the 8th NI and slide Arceneaux or Wilson inside.

Glatt could probably catch the ball better than Hetherington/RGM/Nicolson/Skillern/Coleman/Rodgers/Simmons/Mock/etc etc etc.

[WestCoastJoe]

I can't fault WB for giving Hetherington his chance. He had a good college career, although his senior year and his draft position were messed up by his illness. He has worked his tail off in practice and caught everything in sight there. He has great size, and very good speed for such a big guy. He came within a whisker of holding onto that pass at the back of the end zone. If he had caught that, he might have been full of confidence for the rest of the game.

Who knows?

(I don't follow the Riders all that closely, but didn't Andy Fantuz drop a ton of passes in his rookie year?)

Does Wally throw Hetherington under the bus now? I don't think Wally can afford to.

If the Lions were serious about converting Lyle Green to receiver, they certainly should have given him more work. It is late in his career for such a change, but he has great size. He has shown great hands as a back out of the backfield.

We have Bret Anderson available. Paris Jackson will be back soon.

NI receiver. What was once a strength for us is now a concern. Two top draft picks have not worked out: Adam Nicolson and Matt Carter (picked off the Practice Roster).

It is a bit tricky for us right now with our NI receivers. We're thin at that spot. Hetherington had the deer in the headlights look tonight, and the wolves are circling him.

[Sir Purrcival]

Hetherington made a couple of catches. He's a Canadian rookie in his first start and has to get used to the speed and intensity of the pro game compared to the CIS. Few rookies are going to be great in their first game. The important thing is to guage how he bounces back from adversity in this next game, that is a truer measure of his potential.

Let's not forget that Arkee Whitlock had about the worst first game in the history of football, but the Esks stuck with him, now he is their starter and a 1000 yd rusher.

Let's also not forget Dante Marsh's first Lions game, getting burned repeatedly for TD's and long gains. Now he is an league all-star and the Lions are very glad they didn't throw him under the bus after one bad game.

Agreed. Hetherington had a horrible game tonight but basically it was his first real action all season. See how good your timing is when you haven't actually played any real live ball. Fantuz sucked a$$ for much of his second season and as I recall RGM looked pretty ball unsure earlier in the season. He has looked much better of late since he went on special teams and showed some pretty decent hands tonight on his TD. Heth... has a lot of potential and will make a very good receiver. If he gets another chance next week, we'll see much better production from him.

[Bobbyp]

Green should have been in there, he has never been given the opportunity and I dont know why.

[Area51]

Forget all about the dropped TD. Drops happen - - it's never good, but it's not something that will get you immediately cut.

The critical screw ups that some people seem to be ignoring are the holding penalty and above all, not running his route properly. Green's no sure handed vacuum when it comes to catching balls - - he dropped one earlier this year when he was standing all alone (it may have been in Montreal).

But I'm pretty sure Green would have managed to get his block without the holding penalty and I'm positive he wouldn't have been late coming out of his break to the point where the throw bounces off his chest. That was inexcusable and just so glaringly awful.

[Solar Max]

I'm willing to forgive Hetherington, given his green-ness and his work ethic. He will squeeze it someday soon.

Paul McCallum, on the other hand, punted worse then O'Mahony used to for the most part. Sean Whyte can't get back into the lineup fast enough, imo.

[TheLionKing]

Hetherington will be better next week if Jackson is not ready to go. As other posters have noted, it's his first start under live fire and he will benefit from the experience.

[Mikemike]

I'm willing to forgive Hetherington, given his green-ness and his work ethic. He will squeeze it someday soon.

Paul McCallum, on the other hand, punted worse then O'Mahony used to for the most part. Sean Whyte can't get back into the lineup fast enough, imo.

I definitely agree with the first point, and the second point is well made also.

Hetherington had one of the worst games I have ever seen, it was painful to watch. I hope that he has a short memory. If so he'll land on his feet.

[Lionheart]

We've had guys dropping the ball all year.

It's contagious. Especially for the younger guys.

Guys like Cory Rodgers, Rufus Skillern, and even RGM. It is a deadly disease if a receiver has it. I

I recall being shocked and surprised that Ryan had actaully caught the ball before the elation of a td had sunk in. In the replay, it was even bobbled for a bit .. gulp.

whew!

[Lionheart]

Surely Lyle Green would be a better option than Heatherington.

Or even in a worst case scenario start Glatt as the 8th NI and slide Arceneaux or Wilson inside.

Glatt could probably catch the ball better than Simmons/etc etc etc.

Excuse me?

What?

[hwgill]

PM also hasn't played for two months plus, he needs to work off some of the rust too.