Keys to the Game

[Blitz]

Well, the Big Dance draws ever closer as our Leos have one last day to prepare for Grey Cup Sunday

Its been a magical season, from the despair of the first 7 games to the magic of the winning streak and a WDF convincing win over Edmonton.

While nothing has been determined I have no doubt that this is Wally's last game as our Head Coach, win or lose, and Sunday provides him with the opportunity to have his crowining moment.

Here are the keys to the game:

LULAY VS BUCK

Both quarterbacks have similar styles, both are mobile and courageous. Lulay goes into the Grey Cup game as the leagues Most Outstanding Player while Pierce has the confidence of the Bombers players to get it done.

Lulay led the league in rushing amongst CFL quarterbacks this season. But Buck can take off and hurt a defense as well.

The CFL is a quarterback driven league and while too much emphasis can be placed on quarterbacks for wins or losses, there is no doubt that the play of Lulay and Pierce will be a key factor in the outcome of this game

WINNING THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE

Defense wins championships and successful defense is predicated on pressure. Winnipeg led the CFL in sacks (55) and gave up the fewest passing yards (223.1 per game). They also finished first in giving up the least amount of yards per game. Winipeg's defense finished first in most defensive categores.

Our Leos new six man defensive line rotation can also exert great pressure. We were second in the league in sacks. While our defense finished behind Winipeg in most stattistical categories..our Leos finished first in one very important category...we gave up the least points in the league.

The play of the big boys in the trenches for both sides will be a huge factor in the outcome of this game.

DEFENSIVE STRATEGY WILL PLAY A HUGE ROLE

Tim Burke, Winnipeg's defensive coordinator, won two Grey Cups in three seasons with Motreal but instead of staying comfortable, he left for a new challenge in Winnipeg, where he took last year's struggling defense and turned it into a formidable force. His game plan to shut down our offensive weapons - Lulay, Simon. Bruce, and Harris will play a huge role in the Grey Cup on Sunday.

Mike Benevedes game plan will also be a key factor. His strategy, in terms of shutting down the Winnipeg running attack will be vital to a victory as will his play calls to keep pressure on Buck Pierce.

JAQUESBALL VS BARESI

Sunday's Grey Cup match also pitts offensive coordinator Jaques Chapdealine's revitalized offence agaisnt former Leos assistant coach and now Bombers offensive coordinator Jamie Baresi's run oriented offence.

Chapdealine has gone from an offensive coordinator who was considered the biggest reason for our woes over the past number of seasons to looking like an offensive geniurs for good reason. Our offence has undergone radical changes in scheme and play calling.

Baresi has remade Winnipeg's offence into one that lookes similar to the offense we ran here in 2007, with Joe Smith leading the way. Its a run attack offence with a big pl;ay capacity in the passing attack.

Both offensive coordinators have huge chalenges tryign to exploit two outstanding defenses with few weaknesses. Sunday's game planning and play calling by these two coaches will be an important key to this game.

BIG NAME PLAYERS NEED TO BE STARS

While both our Leos and the Bombers success has been based on team play, both teams have starts that will need to come through big time on Sunday.

For our Leos that means game changers like Geroy Simon, Arland Bruce, Andrew Harris, and Korey Banks will need to come through. The Bombers also have a number of big play guys includign Chris Garnett, Terrance Edwards, Clarence Denmark, Odell Wilis, and Jovan Johnson.

A big individuaal play at a key time can be a deciding factor.

WRAP

The keys to this game will be quarterbacking, winning the line of scrimmage, coaching in terms of defensive and offensive strategy, and big play players making big plays.

Hopefully we'll win all these facets of the game on Sunday.

[joe kapp22]

This may sound odd Blitz but:

-We simply must run the ball effectively, Wpg can passrush really well, they drop everyone else back in coverages, if we can run the ball well enough it will neutralize much of their edge on Defense as it makes them hesistate on the Dline, and forces the linebackers to first read the run then drop back into coverages.

We simply must avoid their 4 man rush getting to Travis while their secondary has to pay no attention at all to Harris as a running back.

[B.C.FAN]

Three simple keys:

1. Protect the ball.
2. Win the line of scrimmage.
3. Win the special teams battle.

[notahomer]

This may sound odd Blitz but:

-We simply must run the ball effectively, Wpg can passrush really well, they drop everyone else back in coverages, if we can run the ball well enough it will neutralize much of their edge on Defense as it makes them hesistate on the Dline, and forces the linebackers to first read the run then drop back into coverages.

We simply must avoid their 4 man rush getting to Travis while their secondary has to pay no attention at all to Harris as a running back.

Doesn't sound odd to me at all. The Lions really struggled, IMO, when they were a passing team. Add a running game and suddenly defenses weren't quite so dominating against our offense. The running game was the real 'black sheep' of the Chap Offense. If we ran on an obvious run situation and it got stuffed---'we'd better go away from the run'. But if we struggled passing- we didn't go away from throwing (not that we should-balance is key). I really like how JC is calling the games now and I hope he continues to do so the Lions win......

[pennw]

Part of the running success is the running of Lulay himself . Not just running for gains , but rolling out to throw as well . IMO Lulay has really excelled in this area down the stretch . Much has been said about the improved protection by the line , but that has been two fold. Lulay has made the o-line that much better with his scrambling ability . They've both made each other better . I would shudder if Lulay went down with the game in balance tomorrow . I don't see JJ coming in and doing much in such a scenario , unless we already got a lead. I would hope to be proven wrong there of course . Recent history has not shown much for such a prospect though . Think I'd want to see Riley get a shot in a worst case situation should JJ be in and not getting it done .
I've PVR'd most of the games this season and re-watching them really does show how much of our success has been Travis pulling it out while under a fair bit of pressure , with guys in his face . Getting rid of the ball instead of taking sacks . Making critical first downs .
Our D is key for their half of the game of course , but the rest will depend largley on how well Lulay performs under pressure like most of our wins this season .
As for the D stopping the run is the biggest key , something our D has been lacking in the last couple of seasons , but has really come on strong in down our amazing stretch run . No doubt that has alot to do with our new D-line coach as noted in another thread already .Stopping the run while still getting the pressure on the QB . IMO a one dimensional Bomber O won't get it done . Garret is the type of running back that will give us trouble though , as compared to a Messam type . Our big horses can stop big power runners with brute force , but Mitchell and Taylor chasing scat backs ? Not quite the same . I see the big guys getting tired doing that . Need speed there .Hopefully Bene has this all figured out . That is the Bombers bread and butter .

[geroy_simon_081]

If BC plays like they've played in the last 3 games, this won't even be a contest. The Lions simply need to play like they have in last 3 months. When you have 3 or 4 animals in Winnipeg's backfield on every snap, Buck is going to have to take off. If I'm Benevides that's exactly what I want; Elimimian meet Pierce. No way Winnipeg's O-line can stop BC's D-line so they force Buck and Garrett will have to beat them with their feet.

Offensively, look for Shawn Gore to have the best game of his young career. I really think Gore will have a big game. Also just protect the football, Winnipeg doesn't win if they don't win the turnover battle. Lastly, look for Travis to run and make plays with his feet more than usual. As we saw last week, this guy is a superior athlete.

[Soundy]

My three keys to the game:
1. Get more points than you give.
2.
3.

Uhh, that's about it.

[TheLionKing]

This may sound odd Blitz but:

-We simply must run the ball effectively, Wpg can passrush really well, they drop everyone else back in coverages, if we can run the ball well enough it will neutralize much of their edge on Defense as it makes them hesistate on the Dline, and forces the linebackers to first read the run then drop back into coverages.

We simply must avoid their 4 man rush getting to Travis while their secondary has to pay no attention at all to Harris as a running back.

Totally agree. We must have an effective game both to give Lulay time to throw and to keep their defence off balance.

[Blitz]

This may sound odd Blitz but:

-We simply must run the ball effectively, Wpg can passrush really well, they drop everyone else back in coverages, if we can run the ball well enough it will neutralize much of their edge on Defense as it makes them hesistate on the Dline, and forces the linebackers to first read the run then drop back into coverages.

We simply must avoid their 4 man rush getting to Travis while their secondary has to pay no attention at all to Harris as a running back.

I don't think it sounds odd at all joekapp22!! Winnipeg was also the best team in the CFL against the pass this season so its the strenght of their defense.

The last time we played Winnipeg their two backup tacklles ate up the interior of our offensive line and their defense had Lulay under extreme duress all game.

We have the same offensive line personell but there are big differences this time. Fist of all, we changed our blocking scheme after the Winnipeg game. Secondly, at that time, we also were exclusively a pocket passing team with a vanilla run game, which comprised of only running the zone read play (with the occasional reverse) between the tackles, run out of the spread offence.

Now, we run the football in a variety of ways..from pitchouts, Wildcat, shovel passes, and misdirection. We also line up in first down often with two backs, with Lumbala offset and also a tight end. We have a different running game now, with a different running scheme. We're also more committed to the run now.

We also move the pocket around much more now and use a lot more misdirection.

Every offence shoudl go into a game with the concept of both running and passing but you also have to adjust to how the defense is playing you. Last game, we came out passing as Edmonton anticipated us running the football mroe and came back to the run. The run can set up the pass and also set up play action and the pass can set up the run.

Winnipeg's defense was third against the tun this season so this at looks like a little lesser strength of their defense than their pass defense.

The art for Chapdelaien in the Grey Cup game.... is picking the right spots to run and to pass and to adjust to what Winnipeg is doing on defense...as you can bet that Burke has a game plan that is different than what we've seen previously to try to shut our offence down.

No question that against a formidable defense like Winnipeg you have to both run and pass and keep them off balance as the best way to win.

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

my Keys
not to get too high or get too low

stopping the run on D

getting at Buck early( sorry MB)


getting Andrew Harris involved early so play action works later in the game

and try to have some fun

[joe kapp22]

More or less what I'm thinking Blitz, iirc Willis was just smoking Archibald in our last meeting, as in running right past him and pressuring Travis.

Cure for that is to run at Willis and the rest that you mention, shovel passes, the motion/misdirection in the backfiled that Chap started using on running plays and shovel passes and screens etc.

On D, I suspect we have a bit of an edge because they know Buck really well.

[Toppy Vann]

'blitz:

WRAP

The keys to this game will be quarterbacking, winning the line of scrimmage, coaching in terms of defensive and offensive strategy, and big play players making big plays./quote]

The losses to the Bombers should keep BC more focused to start.

The Bombers have not been peaking into the playoffs and if there is a weakness there it is their inability to consistently protect Buck Pierce. When Buck drops back he has to be not just looking downfield for the open guy but blindside for the missed guys his team isn't picking up. Lulay just has to do his job and not think of someone else not doing their's. It is what makes one QB MOP and another equally competent QB toss INTs.

BC if they continue to keep their offense like it has been going and can stop the rush has an edge on offense that makes them score more often.

I think this game will be a close one.

[Roaring Fan Since 82!!]

Well, here's my thoughts on this Grey Cup Sunday for the Leos...just 90 minutes or so before kickoff....

Get the first points. TD would be great, but a FG to set the tone, get on the board, get into the game, and get going! Noticed during the streak Lions get the first points, then are off to the races.

Hit Buck. Then hit him some more. He's a resilent QB, so the D needs to play their normal hard-hitting self. It's going to be tougher to get Buck off his game today.

Lulay and O mix it up. After the ball is snapped, get some motion in the backfield to confuse the Bombers D. Who's gonna get the ball? Harris? Lumbala? Brown? Bruce coming back? or Lulay takes off, or rolls out and throws a strike downfield?...keep the D guessing.

McCallum. I think he's gonna be a key. If the Leos stall in Winnipeg's zone, 4 is gonna be there to take some points, and let the O regroup for another crack later.

Fans! Make some noise cause I can't be there! I'll be cheering hard in front of the TV!

[Belize City Lion]

Time of possession. A lot of our success has come from getting the defense rested and keeping the other guys from putting drives together. Other Lions defenses had more of a "bend but don't break", I think the 2011 Lions go out on every drive expecting a two and out.