Lions 33 - Stampeders 31 Post Game Stats and Comments

[Blitz]

Wow, what an exciting game and an exciting finish...a lot of big plays in this football game We're now tied for first place in the West with Calgary and beaten Calgary two of of our three games, if it comes down to a tie breaker at the end of the regular season.

What a turnaround from our 1-6 start. I look back at a number of keys to that turnaround...the benching of Lulay, the comments by our Leos President regarding Wally's future, Bebevedes ib the hot seat, Chap on th eedge of the cliff and suddenly everything changed. If we had started 3-4 we would never have experieced this winning streak....the terrible start caused a coaching epiphany which significantly changed our schemes and gave us this opportunity to be the best team in the CFL right now.

Chap called another excellent game as our multi-formational offence, with its runnning game diversity, its use of tight end formations, its use of motion and misdirection is becoming a tough offence to stop.

Special teams were almost our downfall in this game, outside of McCallum's great play. The huge return by Larry Taylor when we had a 14-0 lead and were dominating the contest allowed Calgary back in the game. Brown's ill advised field goal return attempt and fumble really hurt. .Larry Taylor's 122 yard return off our missed field goalattempt almost was a dagger to the heart.

Wally made some interesting game calls in this game. He gambled on every third down and short, even in our own end of the field. Jarious ran off-tackle on his sneaks, avoiding the usual of running into Angus Reid's butt being blown back into our backfield. Andrew Harris did not have very good stats rushing the football but he made a couple of plays out there which were impressivem, including his touchdown run and his pass play, when he broke two tackles on the sidelines. Brown ran hard after his field goal return fumble.

Lulay played well, especially in the first half, when he looked very poised. He still has the strong tendancy to bail to his right when he experiences pressure and defenses are on to that tendancy. Lulay's accuracy on both crossong patterns and long throws has improved signicantlly over recent weeks and is due in part to the time he's had to throw the football..a combination of better pass blocking but mostly due to better scheming and play calling.

Keron Wiluans sack and fumble recovery on Burris to start the game and Yarichuk's fumble recovery on a botched Calgary zone read play were huge for us.

There were a couple of key plays on the final drive of the game. The first was Iannuzzi getting a good punt return and a no yards penalty call and the second was Arland Bruce making a great adjustment to make a catch after Calgary dropped off nine players into pass coverage..it was a very smart play that gave us the opportunity to attempt the last play field goal.

What Buano and Chap or Lulay were doing with 14 seconds left was beyond me, as we almost ran out the clock. We should have been at the lone of scrimmage on that play and snapped the football as the referee signalled time in. The play call was confusing too as we should have either gone with two quick pass plays in that situation and really deserved to lose the game based upon that boneheadedness.

However, it looked like McCallum, who had tied and then broken the consecutive field goal record earlier on 47 and 46 yard kicks through the goalposts was going to experience a disappointing night when he missed the 45 yarder and had the play returned for a touchdown. It made sense to attempt the field goal, the way McCallum was kicking but Wally has often punted in this situation in the past and with Taylor out there for Calgary running wild all game and our downfield coverage so terrible I was almost expecting Wally to punt in that situation.

However, McCallum kicked an amzaing 53 yarder through the middle of the posts to add an exclamation mark to his game and season to date as well as win the game for us.

A wild game, exciting CFL action at its best with a great outcome for our Leos.

[Wakesbetterthanyou]

Worst to first. Not gonna complain about a thing. Go Lions!

[TheLionKing]

I miss the cable cam..... There would have been some great shots on that piece of equipement last night....

Missed the cam as well. Wonder why they took it down.

[Spud387]

I miss the cable cam..... There would have been some great shots on that piece of equipement last night....

Missed the cam as well. Wonder why they took it down.

Cost

[WestCoastJoe]

I miss the cable cam..... There would have been some great shots on that piece of equipement last night....

Missed the cam as well. Wonder why they took it down.

It is expensive.

http://www.cablecam.com/News.aspx?id=208

From 2008 ...

Networks still use their sideline cameras for play-by-play action but augment that with Cablecam shots for the more important NFL games. The system isn't used all the time because of its expense -- use of the camera and the technicians who run it costs about $60,000 a game.

Present day cost? Dunno ...

[WestCoastJoe]

Some shots from TSN ...

[WestCoastJoe]

The happy hero ...

[notahomer]

Its amazing how selective my memory gets. I was leafing through todays paper and I totally forgot about the touchdown called back (due to penalty) on a Stamps punt return. Our special teams is really our weakest link, IMO. Big swings. Special Teams (and Defence too but to a lesser degree) really get ignored when things are working but boy do they stand out when they are not. I can remember Special Teams being the stars of the game, IMO, when we were struggling.

I also like Buono's logic. This was a 5 point game in Buono's mind. Two points Calgary could of got but didn't, Two points the Lions did get and needed and of course another point because it gave them the season series.


http://www.theprovince.com/sports/footb ... story.html

[Gerry]

WCJ. Thanks for the link on Cablecam. That was an interesting read. A guy from Edmonton who first put it together in Whistler and died of brain cancer at age 54. What a story!

(I'm posting on my iPhone using BB Lite.)

[Gerry]

Sorry to be off topic but Touch BB Lite works well on iPhone. Probably okay on Android too.

[WestCoastJoe]

WCJ. Thanks for the link on Cablecam. That was an interesting read. A guy from Edmonton who first put it together in Whistler and died of brain cancer at age 54. What a story!

(I'm posting on my iPhone using BB Lite.)

No problem, G.

Re the Whistler connection ...

"The challenge in any sport is to make it more intimate and take the viewer where he hasn't been before," he said.

Rodnunsky took some scary risks to get the first overhead shots with his Cablecam prototype. In 1989, he created a version of the cable camera by stringing 1,400 feet of steel cable above Sudan Couloir at Blackcomb Mountain in Canada, one of North America's most harrowing ski runs.

"It's a serious piece of real estate," he said. "It makes Cornice at Mammoth look like a beginner run."

Honestly, I've never paid that much attention to Cablecams, but they have my attention now. It was amazing in the first game back at renovated BCPlace.

I was at that game, but really enjoyed reviewing it on TSN, with the Cablecam very prominent.

[PigSkin_53]

The happy hero ...

Sorry this is a little late guys but its been a busy Thanksgiving weekend

Now its time to give a little thanks of my own, for our team that was so well prepared for by our coaches Friday night, for the guys, for our fans everywhere.

With .02 seconds on the clock down by a single point it was the Stamps game to loose

With .00 seconds on the clock, PM with ice water flowing in his veins brings home the bacon breaking Robo's record in the same night

It has been a long time since I have seen so thrilling a game!!!

[TheLionKing]

Wonder if whatever JoJuan Simpson said to McCallum had any impact on his missing the field goal.

[Blitz]

Interesting stuff on the decision regarding McCallum kicking the winning 53 yard field goal against Calgary.

Wally had called "Punt" to attempt to tie the game with a single. However, McCallum said to Wally.."Nope, I've got this one" as he held the kicking tee in his hand. The Province reported today..

"But with first place on the line, McCallum talked his way on the field with a kicking tee. On a night when he became the most consistent field goal kicker in league history, when he ran his streak of consecutive three-pointers to 30 straight, he didn't miss when it mattered." (Vancouver Province)

Thankfully McCalllum won the argument and we're in first place now.