Leos/Als Keys to the Gme

[Blitz]

Leos/Als Keys to the Game

Our 5-2 Leos take on the 2-5 Alouettes in a East-West match-up that looks like a mismatch. The Als have recently fired their new Head Coach and Jim Popp has taken over the reins, Anthony Cavillo is injured and won’t play, and the Alouttes are desperately trying to find players to fill out its injury decimated roster.

Our Leos are coming off a hard-hitting, intense, close victory over the Calgary Stampeders – a game that featured inspired defense and a huge kickoff return touchdown by Tim Brown.

However, the possibility of a let-down after such a huge victory, combined with a short practice week and a long trip across the county is a worry.
However, when you look at the present situations of both squads this is a game that our Leos should dominate.

However, this is CFL football, where the unexpected can be the expected and that is why they play the games. Lets have a closer look.

OFFENCE

This game provides another opportunity for Travis Lulay and our offence to have a break out game and step out of their funk.

However, Montreal’s defense has not been that bad, ranking third in the league in terms of giving up the least yardage per game. Montreal ranks third against the rush and third against the pass. However, their defense has been susceptible to big plays and with their inept offence Montreal has allowed opposing teams to score an average of 28.7 points per game, ranking fifth in the CFL.

This is a game in which our passing attack needs to step up. Manny Arsenault is a Top 10 receiver but our offence works best when all our receivers are involved. We need to go to the silky smooth Nick Moore more than three times as we did last game and we need to get Shawn Gore and Iannuzzi more involved in our offence.

Travis Lulay was very upset with himself after our Calgary victory for good reason. and this is a game in which he can redeem himself and get himself back on track. Its time for our offence to start doing their fair share of our team’s performance.

The key to this game is a balanced offensive attack, using both the run and the pass and using all of our offensive weapons. Most importantly, we need to show that we can have a well balanced passing attack by being able to throw from the pocket as well as the rollout, putting some long drives together, avoiding two and outs, and showing more offensive consistency.

DEFENSE

Our last game showed that we can get great pressure on a quarterback and play attack football. That style resulted in turnovers and a lot of two and outs. Solomon Eliminian played lights out football and Adam Bighill and Korey Banks were on the football like a bad smell.

With the best pass defense in the CFL, all our defense needs to do to improve is to create more turnovers from pressure. We need to pay special attention to S. J. Green, who is third in the CFL in receiving.

Montreal is dead last in passing with a paltry 72. 4 efficiency average and that was with Cavillo at the helm. They are dead last in offensive production per game, producing a meagre 280 yds. per game average. Josh Neiswander will start at quarterback for Montreal and we need to pressure him fast and often.and give him a lot of different looks. Any quarterback can look good, even a rookie, if he has enough time to throw. This is a game which could inflate our meager sack total but quarterback pressure in the key.

If our defense plays inspired football, they should create great field position, two and outs, and turnovers and hopefully that will provide our offence with a lot of opportunities to start putting points on the board.

Cord Parks is playing great football on the corner and opposing offences have only thrown the football three times this season in Phillips area. They are mostly focusing on Bell at shortside halfback. He needs to have a good game and LaRose needs to provide him with help over the top.

Stubler showed how good he is as a defensive coordinator last game. Hopefully he will have a good game plan so that a rookie quarterback will not hurt us this time around.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Tim Brown showed what he can do last game if he is given some blocking to work in space. Our downfield coverage was inspired. McCallum was back punting with the leg of a youngster and the skill of a veteran.

Our special teams have been average this season but the Calgary game proved that they can be good. They need to carry that momentum into this game against Montreal.

WRAP

A balanced offence, inspired defense, and solid special teams play should lead to victory for our Leos against a decimated and struggling Montreal team.

The Als already missing Jamal Richardson for the season and Cavillo for this game also are dealing with injuries to linebackers Bryn Roy (knee), Jonathan Beaulieu-Richard (ankle) and Kyries Hebert (knee), long-snapper Martin Bedard (shoulder), tackle Josh Bourke (knee), safety Mike Edem (shoulder) and receiver Brandon London (head). Presently Montreal has 12 players on the nine-game injured list and running backs Brandon Whitaker (separated shoulder) and Noel Devine (ankle sprain) both didn’t play in Regina.

However, while this game looks good for our Leos on paper, they need to go out and take the momentum from our last win and use it to take on a Montreal team that is down.

A fast start by our Leos would really hurt Montreal. If our offence could score early and then not go to sleep, we could really walk away with this one. Hopefully we will.

[notahomer]

Normally I'm not big on EXCUSES, but I'm glad to see the Lions trotting one out this season. Many of the east teams use the time change canard as to why they struggle playing here. MB has used it in return. I just can't recall any Lions coach using timezones as one of the things to adjust. Both teams are playing off of a short week as both played last Saturday......

[274always]

A 7PM start here is not as bad for the lions as it equates to 4PM PST while an eastern team playing west at 7 PM is 10PM EST

Fifty-fifty chance of rain. Might even things a little

[MexicoLionFan]

Excellent analysis Bltiz...this is an important game for the Leos and for Lulay...they can take a stranglehold on a playoff position with a win, and keep themselves in the hunt for first in the west...the Stamps play in TO so that's no gimmie...

I agree with Nota, we should not be using the time zone as an excuse...just go out and play hard, and things will take care of themselves...

[South Pender]

A 7PM start here is not as bad for the lions as it equates to 4PM PST while an eastern team playing west at 7 PM is 10PM EST

Good point. It would seem as though the biological clock factor works a little more against teams traveling West, particularly three time zones..

I know this is an impossible wish to have granted, but I sure wish there weren't Thursday night games in the CFL. If the schedule-planner could use Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only, and, in addition, ensured that every team had at least six days between games, I think we'd see better football. This week, neither team has an advantage in this regard, but it would seem that each has maybe one day of practice and prep for the game.

[B.C.FAN]

Just 2 keys for this game:

1. Play hard. With a short week and long travel, the Lions have to overcome a tendency to come out flat. It's no coincidence that their two losses were the two games when they were arguably outplayed on the line of scrimmage.

2. Protect the ball. These two teams have given up the most points off turnovers. For the Als, the result has been losses. For the Lions, the result has been close scores in games that shouldn't have been close. With the Lions' advantage in experience, there can be no excuse for losing the turnover battle in this game.