Bombers vs. Lions Game Day Thread - Round 2

[TheLionKing]

Round 2 of back to back. Lions lost the opener 37-35 in which the defence was caught napping on 2 Bomber trick plays. They can ill afford to spot the opposition 21 points and play catchup. A must game if the Lions want to finish 2nd and an opportunity to host a home playoff game. Because of last week's 2 point loss, Lions must beat the Bombers by at least 3 points to win the season series. Really looking forward to the rematch.

[Blitz]

Round 2 of back to back. Lions lost the opener 37-35 in which the defence was caught napping on 2 Bomber trick plays. They can ill afford to spot the opposition 21 points and play catchup. A must game if the Lions want to finish 2nd and an opportunity to host a home playoff game. Because of last week's 2 point loss, Lions must beat the Bombers by at least 3 points to win the season series. Really looking forward to the rematch.

Hard right now to get a feeling about how well our Leos will play and how well the Bombers will play. When two teams play a rematch game, one week later, coaching and adjustments become much more important. The Bombers will be pumped, with a good shot of a home playoff berth and have less pressure on them than our Leos, who had a much stronger hold on second place for most of this season.

But our Leos should be pumped too, playing at home, wanting revenge after a loss, and the opportunity to securie second place again and the opportunity to play a playoff game at home.

Jennings threw for 422 yards and our offence racked up more than 500 yards of offence and we still lost the game last week. Explosive plays on offence and special teams were the key to our attack last game: Rainey (70 yds.), Adekolu ( 36 yd. interference call), Rainey (56 yds.) Burnham (55 yds), Burnham 23 yds.), Rainey (46 yds) Burnham (33 yds.) Arseneaux (28 yds.), Rainey (44 yds.) Arseneaux (30 yds. pass interference) Arseneaux (35 yds.) Burnham (18 yds.), and on our final offensive drive of the game: Burnham (41 yds.) Iannuzzi (22 yds).

We attacked Winnipeg safety Taylor Loffler last game and will likely do so again, if we can. Having Shawn Gore and Antonio Johnson back in the lineup on offence is a boost but we need better offensive coaching in terms of our run attack, red zone offence, and play calling at critical times.

We certainly need to run the football better this game. The Bombers were well prepared for our inside zone read running play. We had 7 rushes of 3 yds. or less, 3 rushes of two yards or less, and two rushes in which we lost yardage (-1yd, -5 yds) before Allen was stopped on second down and 2, gaining 1 yd. and Rainey was stopped for -1 yard on our final offensive drive. Johnson will start this game but we need to make some adjustment to our blocking scheme to negate the Bombers linebackers against our running game and need some run play diversity.

On defense, we have to focus on the Bombers running game and their play action underneath passing attack. Harris had a 23 yd, run against our defence, as for some bizzare reason Mark Washington had our defence mostly in a Cover 2 and Cover 3 in the first half, worried about the Nichols long passes that didn't exist. He had Bighill running backwards from his linebacking position to cover the deep half or the deep third of the field, where he covered air.

Nichols only threw one pass for over 20 yds. (Dressler) against our Leos last week. Dressler had 65 yds. in receptions and Harris had 50 yds. They are Nichols 'go to' receivers and should be our focus. We need to play more Cover 1 in this game and take away the Bombers short and short intermediate possession passing game. But Torri Gurley will get his first start for the Bombers and he adds a different dimension and will be a factor that we'll have to game plan for.

Mark Washington certainly needs to dial up a much better game plan that the one he drew up in the first half of last weeks game. "Why take away an opposition's strengths when you can over-focus on their weaknesses" was Washington's motto for last weeks game plan. We need a smarter defensive scheme tonight.

Bryant Turner Jr. dresses for this contest, in place of Brooks, who has tweaked his knee. I thought there might be an outside chance we would insertJeremy Harris for this game but he remains on the practice roster.

Go Leos!!

[Blitz]

VANCOUVER — The Bombers will have a proven, big bodied receiver in the lineup for the first time since Darvin Adams went down with a collarbone injury in late July.

Tori Gurley will make his Winnipeg debut on Friday night at BC Place, and while the B.C. secondary knows it will have a challenge on its hands, it isn't sure how much Gurley will be involved in the offence after only two practices.

“He's a 6-4, 225 pound receiver, but how he gets acclimated into the offence is definitely something that we'll just have to make note of and see,” veteran halfback Ryan Phillips said Thursday at the Lions practice facility in Surrey.

“How much of the playbook he knows and how much he's been able to grasp is still out there and questionable, but to be able to run deep balls and run certain routes and things like that you don't have to know too much of the playbook to be able to do those things.” Winnipeg Sun

[CardiacKid]

The Bombers have been a surprise (maybe even a pleasant one) this year, especially when you consider how their year started. What I find particularly interesting about their record is how they are manhandling the takeaway/giveaway stats.

From the little I have watched them this year, I have been surprised how adept Nichols has been at managing games from start to finish. From his stint with the Eskimos and last year with the Bombers, he seemed to consistently find ways to lose with poorly timed interceptions, forcing the ball downfield with really low percentage throws and stalling drives. I always regarded him as a QB who couldn't create or manage momentum; maybe another descriptor is a guy who made poor decisions too many times.

This year is a different story. Very few interceptions in comparison to touchdowns but can the Lions rattle the guy into being the "old Nichols"? I keep thinking the bubble is going to burst at some point for him. Tonight would be awesome.

[Alputt]

Looking forward to big games from the usual offence side stars, Jennings, Burnham, Arceneaux, Rainey. I think it's crucial the defence step it up that deficit last week proved to be insurmountable. Also I see it's Johnson's turn over Allen at RB, I hope we can get some more on the ground this time around although I don't really fault Allen for low production last week we never really got a run game established for him. Rainey was the go-to and the Bombers figured that out pretty early.

No room for missed FG's tonight either! Especially at home in the dome...

[DanoT]

The Bombers have been a surprise (maybe even a pleasant one) this year, especially when you consider how their year started. What I find particularly interesting about their record is how they are manhandling the takeaway/giveaway stats.

From the little I have watched them this year, I have been surprised how adept Nichols has been at managing games from start to finish. From his stint with the Eskimos and last year with the Bombers, he seemed to consistently find ways to lose with poorly timed interceptions, forcing the ball downfield with really low percentage throws and stalling drives. I always regarded him as a QB who couldn't create or manage momentum; maybe another descriptor is a guy who made poor decisions too many times.

This year is a different story. Very few interceptions in comparison to touchdowns but can the Lions rattle the guy into being the "old Nichols"? I keep thinking the bubble is going to burst at some point for him. Tonight would be awesome.

I think Nichols, with the help of his OC LaPolice and his short passing game, has gone from what looked to be a career backup QB to a very capable game manager. So the question is, will he continue to progress to elite or near elite QB?

It sure helped Nichols that the Lions O line put almost no pressure on him all game and way too much of the time DC Mark Washington had Bighill dropping to play safety, leaving a pretty big area for Elimimian to cover.

[TheLionKing]

Guy sitting in front of me said he went to school with Couture of the Bombers. He's wearing #70 for tonight's game. Friends are expecting a trick play involving him. We'll see

[Alputt]

Nice play by Sinkfield to catch up with that ball!

[Alputt]

Leone!!!!!!!! Bah.

[TheLionKing]

Leone misses goal field

[Sir Purrcival]

Another wasted opportunity. Expletive removed.

[Alputt]

That was close! C'mon D!

[CardiacKid]

Deja vous all over again.....that better have woken up the D.

[CardiacKid]

If that is a fumble...we'll, you can guess where I am going with that.

[TheLionKing]

OMG Command Centre got it right