Lions @ Eskimos -- Blog, Post Game Stats and Comments

[pennw]

We played to protect a lead.

We played it conservatively.

We played it "safe."

We played not to lose.

We played deep zone. Usually we had only six in the box, an invitation to Reilly to run, when it counted. And for Bell. The EE, on the other hand, load up the box, especially on key downs. Stuffing the run, and blitzing hard on passing downs. They also mix it up, as does Stubler. We like to line them up the same each down. Stationary.

We ... play ... back.
Honestly, our management and coaching staff do not deserve to win. The players do deserve to win, and deserve better.

Good bye, Andrew Harris. Fare thee well, with a management team that deserves you.

Another life sucking loss.

Any of it stick to Wally? P.R. can explain away everything, of course. What we have been observing is not a train wreck, it is training wheels. We have all these young players. Wally is doing a great job. Juat look at his 25 year record.

It seems to me Braley has divorced himself from this team. With his absentee ownership, with management stuck in the 1990s with a philosophy of cronyism and ultra conservatism, It is a disgrace. We are 5 and 10.

Outstanding Joe, thank you.

As BCFAN pointed out the Lions have led after 3 quarters in NINE GAMES and only have 3 wins to show for it...that's COACHING! The Lions were gifted one-sided ref'ing, turnovers, field position and did everything they could NOT TO WIN! Putting McGhee in COLD and then running the same QB sneak, ON THE SAME SNAP COUNT, is just plain stupid. McGhee is a PRO and should be able to hang on to the ball, secure the snap, BUT, its still not his fault. Leave Jennings in the game and EXECUTE! Our short yardage production while Wally has been here has been beyond a joke, and that has continued over a number of HC's ad OC's.

The Lions D got two consecutive stops on EDM during the 2nd half of the 4th quarter by playing somewhat AGGRESSIVE, blitzing to ensure pressure and disrupt Reilly. Suddenly, with only a minute and a half to go, and 85 yards of territory in front of them Washington LITERALLY (I'm not joking) went into a 2-2-8 formation as I believe I joked about earlier in the season. I could not believe my eyes when I saw this. That D was obviously designed to keep the play in front of our Defence, and thus gave up key runs and scrambles, and STILL allowed Adarius Bowman to haul in a long pass WITH 8 GUYS DEEP! And this is what you get with Wally's defence, he will NOT key on any one guy, they simply line up and play "their game". Perhaps this is why Adarius Bowman has such a history against us? Its literally just incredible that MW GAVE EDM 3 points and OT, instead of playing for the win. Reilly did NOT have a good day, Bowman did. Take away Bowman, keep Bighill in the box to SPY (there's a novel idea) against Reilly running with the ball, and make Reilly do something that he wasn't able to do ALL GAME LONG! And this is our Defensive Coordinator? He hasn't learned a single THING over two disastrous seasons as DC, in fact he's only getting worse!

Joe said it best, our players DESERVED TO WIN, they played their hearts out, on the road, coming off another heartbreaking loss, against the 1st place team, and SHOULD HAVE WON, but for a rookie QB being asked to come off the bench and control the offence at the most critical point in the entire game! Bullsh$t!. Sorry for the language, but there's nothing else to say. Our Coaches work hard EVERY WEEK trying NOT TO WIN. That's not saying that they are trying to lose, but clearly they have doubts about their ability to win games thus they are playing "not to lose" and the results speak for themselves!

Over the last 3 games Andrew Harris has ran the ball ONLY about 25 times! One of those games he ran for over a hundred yards. Yesterday, in EDM during Autumn, we ran the ball with Harris SIX FREAKING TIMES, passed to him ONLY ONCE, and Rainey touched the ball only once. Last week Harris ran for 42 yards on something like 7 carries. What gives? Is our offence designed to ignore or punish Harris as Belize Lion speculated? Or have we just gone INSANE? Without Andrew Harris the Lions wouldn't have 4 of our wins this season, he can run and catch the ball equally well, and he touched the ball SEVEN times in total yesterday for a total of 11 yards! Does anyone still think Cortez knows what he's doing? That Jeff Tedford actually has any control as HC over this football team? That MW is a competent DC? Or that Chuck McMann belongs coaching football? Come on, we have all got to wake up to what is going on here...this team is WALLY BUONO version 3.0 and it is repeating the same mistakes over and over again while ALIENATING players all over this league! Our brilliant coaching staff and MGT are running essentially an ALL IMPORT OLine and we still can't run the ball? Our AMERICAN Punter is being asked to be our place kicker as well, and is so nervous and lacking in confidence that he has now missed something like 8 converts this season. Have any of you kicked in football? The extra point is SO CLOSE to the uprights, and the uprights are so far apart at that distance, that you have to TRY just to be able to miss a convert! Something is radically wrong with Leone PK game, and NOTHING is being done about it!

Everywhere one looks it's coaching, Coaching, COACHING!!! As Blitz pointed out last week, the long time Buono assistants don't speak out or change ANYTHING, they are shielded from the press, stick their heads in the ground, thank the Lord of Wally that they have a job, and keep on doing the SAME THING over and over and over again! Charles Darwin's principle message throughout all of his studies and writings was not that all organisms are selfish, survival-minded life forms, rather that nature is about CONSTANT CHANGE, and that those species that accept change and learn to work together to adjust SURVIVE and THRIVE, those that don't become EXTINCT!

Enough of this movie, groundhog day, starring Wally Buono! Its time for REAL CHANGE!

uh... The converts USED to be that close up , this whole season they have been from 32 yards out ...
I agree though on the stupidity of putting in the third string rookie who has maybe touched the ball 3 times so far in at such a critical point of the game when getting a TD was of the utmost importance right there and then . It completely telegraphed what play was coming and the Esks had the box packed so densely it had zero chance of success even had they not fumbled.
Especially knowing how poorly our short yardage performance has been all season , why would they even think about trying that. Who thought that the play did not have anything other than failure written on it ? That play call was the reason BC lost this game , our defence for the most part looked pretty good having kept us in the game to the end . Had that gone in for the TD those missed kicks would not have lost us the game.
I agree it was coaching that once again lost the game , were leading almost to the end , but the defence only had to give up a field goal after that gaffe to bring on over time . You can' hang this one on defence , the Esks are the top team at this point and BC gave them all they could handle , but the coaches gave them the one stupid play call they needed .

[maxlion]

It's Jennings who has struggled in short yardage situations. Backups are used in these situations to reduce hits on the starter. Putting in McGhee was the right call. Who knows what the call was, sweep, pass, plunge, handoff, whatever. He fumbled before anything else could happen.

[MexicoLionFan]

It's Jennings who has struggled in short yardage situations. Backups are used in these situations to reduce hits on the starter. Putting in McGhee was the right call. Who knows what the call was, sweep, pass, plunge, handoff, whatever. He fumbled before anything else could happen.

Its not the right call if he's not prepared or proven. You don't ask that player to step into such a crucial spot in the game without more successful experience. Keeping your starter in the game in that moment, with a different play call on a different snap count would have been the right move as evidenced by what happened. So much has happened to the Lion's QBs this season that you can't simply pass key responsibilities "down the line" to raw rookies who don't have much of any game experience. Who is holding for the place kicks?

[MexicoLionFan]

uh... The converts USED to be that close up , this whole season they have been from 32 yards out.

Sorry, you are right...I have a weird feed from my provider in Mexico, they cut out to Mexican commercials very quickly after any scores so I have only witnessed one, maybe two converts all season long. Its tough though not to be able to find a CDN kicker to do the job, or an import who can do both well...or not being able to afford another INT player because so many are playing on the OLine.

[pennw]

Sorry, you are right...I have a weird feed from my provider in Mexico, they cut out to Mexican commercials very quickly after any scores so I have only witnessed one, maybe two converts all season long. Its tough though not to be able to find a CDN kicker to do the job, or an import who can do both well...or not being able to afford another INT player because so many are playing on the OLine.

The convert he missed was IMO partially blocked too , the one replay from the end zone showed one hand getting up there and you could see the trajectory change . The commentators missed it and never showed a slo- mo replay . But I had it PVRed and replayed it a few times . A number of Leone's kicks have been blocked or partially blocked and that is not his fault , other guys are not getting it done.

[pennw]

It's Jennings who has struggled in short yardage situations. Backups are used in these situations to reduce hits on the starter. Putting in McGhee was the right call. Who knows what the call was, sweep, pass, plunge, handoff, whatever. He fumbled before anything else could happen.

It was the right call only if you wanted the result we got . I was not suggesting putting Jennings in and still calling the same play .That too would have resulted in failure . I meant putting Jennings in and have them spread out in a regular formation and call anything else but that Bunch formation , so the Esks would of had to defend the whole Endzone . Roll Jennings out or what ever , but make it UNPREDICTABLE . There was no way the QB was getting through that mass of bodies the Esks had stacked in shoulder to shoulder , when they knew exactly what was coming.
But putting McGhee in who has had what , maybe 3 snaps so far is a good idea ? No .
Ya I know the why of why they put in The 3rd stringer for sneaks but that is OLD already and and the success rate has been pretty poor on those lately . Ever since Jarious Jackson got routinely stuffed on those back in about 2008 or so , that idea should have been scrapped . Esks got some pretty good DT's , why would you want to challenge them where they are strongest ?

[TheLionKing]

The Lions D got two consecutive stops on EDM during the 2nd half of the 4th quarter by playing somewhat AGGRESSIVE, blitzing to ensure pressure and disrupt Reilly. Suddenly, with only a minute and a half to go, and 85 yards of territory in front of them Washington LITERALLY (I'm not joking) went into a 2-2-8 formation as I believe I joked about earlier in the season. I could not believe my eyes when I saw this. That D was obviously designed to keep the play in front of our Defence, and thus gave up key runs and scrambles, and STILL allowed Adarius Bowman to haul in a long pass WITH 8 GUYS DEEP! And this is what you get with Wally's defence, he will NOT key on any one guy, they simply line up and play "their game". Perhaps this is why Adarius Bowman has such a history against us? Its literally just incredible that MW GAVE EDM 3 points and OT, instead of playing for the win. Reilly did NOT have a good day, Bowman did. Take away Bowman, keep Bighill in the box to SPY (there's a novel idea) against Reilly running with the ball, and make Reilly do something that he wasn't able to do ALL GAME LONG! And this is our Defensive Coordinator? He hasn't learned a single THING over two disastrous seasons as DC, in fact he's only getting worse!

Classic example of the Defensive Coordinator playing not to loose instead of playing to win.

[Blitz]

It's Jennings who has struggled in short yardage situations. Backups are used in these situations to reduce hits on the starter. Putting in McGhee was the right call. Who knows what the call was, sweep, pass, plunge, handoff, whatever. He fumbled before anything else could happen.

It was the right call only if you wanted the result we got . I was not suggesting putting Jennings in and still calling the same play .That too would have resulted in failure . I meant putting Jennings in and have them spread out in a regular formation and call anything else but that Bunch formation , so the Esks would of had to defend the whole Endzone . Roll Jennings out or what ever , but make it UNPREDICTABLE . There was no way the QB was getting through that mass of bodies the Esks had stacked in shoulder to shoulder , when they knew exactly what was coming.
But putting McGhee in who has had what , maybe 3 snaps so far is a good idea ? No .
Ya I know the why of why they put in The 3rd stringer for sneaks but that is OLD already and and the success rate has been pretty poor on those lately . Ever since Jarious Jackson got routinely stuffed on those back in about 2008 or so , that idea should have been scrapped . Esks got some pretty good DT's , why would you want to challenge them where they are strongest ?

We lined up with Jennings on first and goal from the one. After two unsuccessful attempts, we got another set of downs on the pass interference call. We then sent in McGhee. He fumbled.

Why is this call questionable. Especially when many CFL teams use a back up quarterback to take third down sneaks.

These are the reasons:

1) It was first down
2) It was late in the season and late in the game with a playoff berth on the line
3) McGhee was cold as well as he does not have experience in these situations
4) We went empty backfield with McGhee in there and the Eskimos determined that it would be McGhee sneaking the football by going off-side on the initial first down play
5. We went empty backfield on the second attempt of the first down and it was the quarterback sneak play again that McGhee fumbled.

So the problems were that if was first down (again) on the one yard line, that McGhee did not have experience, we tipped of the play sending McGhee in, we tipped of the play by going empty backfield (both allowed Edmonton to line their defense up for only one thing - a McGhee quarterback sneak) McGhee may have been rattled a bit by the preceding off-side play but who knows for sure.

All I know is that it was an important game for Edmonton as they focus on winning the West. It was an even more important game for our Leos, as we are in a three way race for a playoff spot with only 3 games remaining.

Edmonton used Reilly on their quarterback sneaks. We sent in a very inexperienced backup into a crucial situation at a crucial point in our playoff race In the fourth quarter of a very important game. We had three additional attempts. We didn`t need to use McGhee at that point nor should be used him at all. The very first down play failed because Jennings and Harris miscommunicated on the handoff. I`d have given it to Harris on first down on a very quick hitter or snuck Jennings.

There are many plays that in a football game that lead to victory or defeat. Leone missed four points that we should have had, for example. But sending McGhee in was not wise. We should have gone with the percentages with 5 cracks from the one and with 3 remaining. We took an unnecessary risk and it backfired in a game that we should have won.

We`ve lost so many games this season with the lead at the half and the fourth quarter. It will be blamed on the players but its coaching that has lost us most of these games. Wrong formations and wrong play calls have killed us. We`re in 3 man defensive lines when a team is trying to come back. We`re in the spread when defenses are desperate and blitzing and taking chances when they are behind in the fourth quarter.

Our defense is improving but that is becuause Washington if finally blitzing more and we have Roh outside, MInter inside, Westerman getting reps inside etc. Better pressure is allowing ball hawks like Yell to play to their potential. But still, when the game is on the line, we go passive on defense and we don`t set up on offence by formation and personell to combat a blitz when we know its coming.

Andrew Harris had 2 yards rushing on 6 attempts. Our offensive line is not that bad. Nor was it that bad to give up 7 sacks last game. It has a lot to do with preparation, scouting the opposition, tendencies, (ours and theirs) game planning, play design, play calling, formation, etc.

I feel sorry for our Leo players. Quite frankly they deserve better coaching.

[Blitz]

Ed Willes believes Andrew Harris will not be a B.C. Lion next season and provides his reasons. He also believes that our Leos were in a position to win almost every game this season. I believe poor coaching and poor personell deployment on defense have been the key factors.

The more you watch the Lions these days, the more you’re convinced they’ll let Andrew Harris walk after this year.

Harris’s numbers will be right there with any running back in the CFL by the end of the season. But the Lions’ running game has disappeared too many times at crucial moments during this miserable campaign.

Saturday in Edmonton, the Leos could point to a couple of bounces that didn’t go their way in their latest heartbreaking defeat. But the telling factor in the game was their inability to get the tough yards on the ground; to convert second and short, to punch it into the end zone from inside the Esks’ five-yard line. And that’s been a recurring theme this year.

That’s not all on Harris. But the 28-year-old from Winnipeg is set to become a free agent at the end of the season and when you factor in the money — he’ll likely fetch about $200,000 per on the open market, the inconsistency and the younger team the Lions are building, he just doesn’t seem like a fit anymore.

Like the Lions, the Seahawks have been in a position to win virtually every game they’ve lost this season. Unlike the Lions, they have a championship pedigree. The presumption has been the Seahawks would eventually find themselves, especially when their lineup was restored.

But they’re 2-4, it seems a number of NFC teams have caught up to them and now Pete Carroll’s team is going to have a helluva time just claiming a wild-card spot.

Don’t know if you can trace this back to the goal-line interception in last season’s Super Bowl or if this is just the natural order of things but, clearly, this isn’t the same team that’s dominated the NFC for the last three seasons.

[Sir Purrcival]

Willes may be right but it won't matter who they have as an RB so long as the OC fails to create a game plan that allows for more than 6-7 touches, where most running plays are run from a single back set; where the oline continues to struggle to win battles on the line of scrimmage.

Even on this pitiful team, Harris is still the yard rushing leader from the LOS . Can you imagine what it would be if we were to lose that too? But by all means, let Harris go in the off season for nothing after making him a low ball offer. That would fit in nicely with the Tim Brown, Stephan Logan, Earnest Jackson, Nick Moore and so on. If Wally is going to decide to part ways with Harris, then maybe, he should have tried to trade for something of use in the future and written off this season which it basically is now.

[WestCoastJoe]

From earlier in this thread ...

Good bye, Andrew Harris. Fare thee well, with a management team that deserves you.

I agree with Willes. Why would Andrew want to come back to the Lions? Wally is playing hardball with him. Our offence produces very, very few openings for him.

He can do better financially with another team. He will probably get better blocking. Heck, even Calgary might make a play to sign him. That would be something. Cornish and Harris. Not sure Messam would be in Calgary's longer term plans.

Looks like Wally is pi**ing off another vet who has given his all to the team.

Honestly, as a fan of Harris, I would love to see him run (and catch) on a team with a dynamic offence. Since 2011, that has rarely been here.

Just IMO ... Wally, or anyone speaking on his behalf, could give reasons to let him go. Let him walk. Without compensation to our franchise. He would certainly look energized, dangerous and effective playing against us. Hey, why didn't he do that with us, some might ask? Well, he did, when the situation allowed it.

[Blitz]

From earlier in this thread ...

Good bye, Andrew Harris. Fare thee well, with a management team that deserves you.

I agree with Willes. Why would Andrew want to come back to the Lions? Wally is playing hardball with him. Our offence produces very, very few openings for him.

He can do better financially with another team. He will probably get better blocking. Heck, even Calgary might make a play to sign him. That would be something. Cornish and Harris. Not sure Messam would be in Calgary's longer term plans.

Looks like Wally is pi**ing off another vet who has given his all to the team.

Honestly, as a fan of Harris, I would love to see him run (and catch) on a team with a dynamic offence. Since 2011, that has rarely been here.

Just IMO ... Wally, or anyone speaking on his behalf, could give reasons to let him go. Let him walk. Without compensation to our franchise. He would certainly look energized, dangerous and effective playing against us. Hey, why didn't he do that with us, some might ask? Well, he did, when the situation allowed it.

Andrew Harris is a good running back, an outstanding receiver out of the backfield, and often a lousy pass blocker. But overall, he is a National tailback, he is a very versatile tailback whose pass receiving skills force defenses to weaken themselves (not that we often take advantage) in order to defend against him.

Harris does not hit the hole hard for two reasons. The first is that he was coached to read his blocking. We run the zone read as our primary running play and too often as our only running play. Reading blocks as a tailback is an important skill as well. Secondly Harris has become accustomed to not having a hole at the primary point of attack, as has been pointed out.

Here are Harris's stats

RUSHING

Player Year Rushing Receiving
HARRIS, A 2010 0 yds. 0
HARRIS, A 2011 458 yds. 395 yds.
HARRIS, A 2012 1,112 yds. 718 yds.
HARRIS, A 2013 998 yds. 513 yds.
HARRIS, A 2014 652 yds. 529 yds.
HARRIS, A 2015 868 yds. 426 yds.

Andrew Harris had his best season as a Lion in 2012 and his second best season in 2013. Harris also shared backfied duties with Stepah Logan in the last third of the 2013 season or his stats would have been higher. Harris only became a starter (due to injury) part way through the 2011 season (Wally was in love with Jamal Robertson) but he was an important weapon in our offence in 2011, after becoming our starter part way through that season and was also was recognized for his role in our Grey Cup win in 2011.

It appears as if Harris had wanted to sign here again. But Harris has been critical of our offence on more than one occasion. He has done that with three different offensive coordinators. I agreed with his views regarding our offence needed to 'attack' more and be more aggressive. I questioned his comments regarding his use as a pass blocker. Harris obviously prefers to run routes on passing plays than pass blocking. But he has probably been used more than any other CFL back as a pass receiver during his time as a Lion (and with good results) But there are times that a tailback needs to pass block (eg: maximum protection for a deep ball or longer route or to pick up a blitz while at the same time he is being spied).

The reality is that opposition teams have focused on stopping Harris as the key to our offence and blitzing as the key to defending our spread offence passing attack (while spying Harris out of the backfield).

That has made Harris life much more difficult as a running back. But with a good well designed passing attack we could have opened up the run for Harris. We also could have given him better run blocking over the years and also designed more varied running plays for him and better designed run blocking at times. Its not easy to run inside out of the spread offence when defenses have more defenders in the box than we have run blockers.

Its more than possible to run the football successfully, even when defenses are stacking against the run. In the latter stages of 2013, we ran the football with both Harris and Logan for over 200 yards plus per game at the end of that season and the playoff game and defenses knew we were going to run the football. But we ran shovel passes, pitch tosses, counter plays, misdirection, and we used receivers to block, including lead blocking for the run. We used a lot of motion and formations to provide different looks.

We are not using Harris as effectively as we should. Too often defenses are making contact with Harris while he is still in the backfield because they are run blitzing on first down. Its not that our offensive line is doing a bad job as much as it is that we have less run blockers than they have attacking defenders overplaying our run on first down.

I also believe we should have used a rotational back more often this season. Eighteen games is a long season for a tailback. Using a back like Rainey or using Lockard in a rotation or using Lumbala on second and long) would have spelled Harris off and kept him fresh as well as adding a different look at times and a different skill set.

I don't believe Wally wants Harris back. He is too outspoken for Wally. I believe Harris was not wise to go public, as often as he has, while I have understood his frustration. I believe Harris has not been wise to sometimes show his frustration on the field, at times, as well. I don't believe he was wise to refuse to talk to reporters at the conclusion of a loss this season and to once again to publically criticize the offensive scheme and his role. He was right about the scheme but it also looked like he did not want to pass block as well. He has not shown wisdom at times..(eg: his tweet about good riddance to Khalif, which was bang on but should not have been said as Mitchell returned to play for us the next serason after the Harris tweet)

Why? Because he is an employee. Some Lionbackers like that Harris has been publically critical of our offence. I never have. Its not his role to do that. He needed to do that privately. Secondly his GM is Wally Buono and you knew there would be repurcussions. The first time Harris complained, back in 2013, Wally brought in Stefan Logan. This season Wally said he would not offer Harris a new contract until he had 'proven himself over the last few games of this season.

Its a ruse by Wally. He wants Harris to become a free agent and choose another team to play for. Then the blame will be on Harris for leaving rather than Wally shouldering the blame.

Losing Harris to free agency would be dum. He'll likely be offered more money elsewhere. He will probably be given more opportunities to run the football in a better running scheme. H is a National player who impacts the ratio in a very positive way. He is still a double threat tailback and we will get nothing for him if he leaves.

Welcome once again to Wally's World, where ego, rather than common sense, drives decision making.

[WestCoastJoe]

We are not using Harris as effectively as we should. Too often defenses are making contact with Harris while he is still in the backfield because they are run blitzing on first down. Its not that our offensive line is doing a bad job as much as it is that we have less run blockers than they have attacking defenders overplaying our run on first down.

Many good points, Blitz. I will just quote one of them, as above.

It seems so obvious how the Eskimos overload the LOS at key times. More defenders than blockers. Penetration and Harris is hit in the backfield. We have no answer.

When we are on defence, we have our LBs five yards off the ball, with Johnson already in pass defence, leaving essentially 6 in the box. The offence knows exactly where every defender is, and will be. No movement on D. No feints. Stationary. It is like taking candy from a baby. But that is how Wally wants the defence to play. Here we are. We defy you to block us. That might have worked years ago, but with the detailed planning and preparation that teams do today, we are sitting ducks.

[MexicoLionFan]

Excellent comments guys. I would like to make a few comments about Harris...first, I don't think that he is merely a good RB, I think that he is a GREAT RB and that ONE season in a unpredictable offence and Harris will show the entire league just how good he is (2,000 + yards from the LOS). I watched the Vikings game on Sunday vs. KC, and KC knew that on the road with their injuries the only chance they had to win was to shut down Adrian Peterson (my favorite football player). So KC zone blitzed the LOS every time on 1st and 2nd downs to take AD out of the game, and it worked. Peterson rushed 26 times for 60 yards. Why? Because no matter how good you are as a RB you simply cannot pile up the yardage by never being able to run cleanly through a hole. Great backs will always break at least one, but you have to give them a chance. Peterson was given 26 chances vs. KC, Harris was given SIX! Certainly its a different game, but in autumn in Canada, if you can't run the football, you're not going to win games! Harris also had only ONE reception to go along with his 6 carries. On the road in EDM, with a lead, and we ran the football NINE times, 2 of which were QB scrambles! If that doesn't DEFINE STUPID then nothing does!

The Lions have the talent right now to win a GC, this season, if they could only generate a little momentum and thus confidence, but that simply rarely happens with our coaching. If its not a defence that allows the opposition to regularly have 8-12 play drives (sucking the focus and interest out of the Offence), or Special Teams that commit turnovers and are regularly fooled by fakes, its a predictable offence. Until the COACHING of this football team drastically changes NOTHING will improve here, and if Wally continues to lose out on FAs, conduct horrible drafts, and not add key INT personnel until the mid point of the season, then things will only get WORSE, not better.

I want the best for Andrew Harris, and I don't believe one iota that's in BC. As I said before, I would to see Kent Austin build an offence around him in HAM.

[DanoT]

Excellent comments guys. I would like to make a few comments about Harris...first, I don't think that he is merely a good RB, I think that he is a GREAT RB and that ONE season in a unpredictable offence and Harris will show the entire league just how good he is (2,000 + yards from the LOS). I watched the Vikings game on Sunday vs. KC, and KC knew that on the road with their injuries the only chance they had to win was to shut down Adrian Peterson (my favorite football player). So KC zone blitzed the LOS every time on 1st and 2nd downs to take AD out of the game, and it worked. Peterson rushed 26 times for 60 yards. Why? Because no matter how good you are as a RB you simply cannot pile up the yardage by never being able to run cleanly through a hole. Great backs will always break at least one, but you have to give them a chance. Peterson was given 26 chances vs. KC, Harris was given SIX! Certainly its a different game, but in autumn in Canada, if you can't run the football, you're not going to win games! Harris also had only ONE reception to go along with his 6 carries. On the road in EDM, with a lead, and we ran the football NINE times, 2 of which were QB scrambles! If that doesn't DEFINE STUPID then nothing does!

The Lions have the talent right now to win a GC, this season, if they could only generate a little momentum and thus confidence, but that simply rarely happens with our coaching. If its not a defence that allows the opposition to regularly have 8-12 play drives (sucking the focus and interest out of the Offence), or Special Teams that commit turnovers and are regularly fooled by fakes, its a predictable offence. Until the COACHING of this football team drastically changes NOTHING will improve here, and if Wally continues to lose out on FAs, conduct horrible drafts, and not add key INT personnel until the mid point of the season, then things will only get WORSE, not better.

I want the best for Andrew Harris, and I don't believe one iota that's in BC. As I said before, I would to see Kent Austin build an offence around him in HAM.

^Great post MLF. I have spent most of my life living in BC as a Lions fan but grew up in Hamilton in the 50s and 60s as a Tiger-Cat fan with my dad having season tickets. So the TiCats are my second favourite team and I would love to see Harris end up there. I hope he stays in BC but if Cortez remains OC in 2016 then the boring, predictable, empty backfield spread offense with little or no running game will likely remain. Just watch the fan base dwindle without Harris on the roster. Pretty scary stuff but Wally's stubbornness and ego are also scary.