Lions at Riders Oct. 12, 2024

[SammyGreene]

Then why hasn’t Adams had practice reps? He’s played less than two quarters of football since he was hurt in Week 9, and that was a month ago. How can Adams be ready if needed when he doesn’t get any reps in practice or games, even in garbage time? On the season, Chase Brice has by far the Lions’ best completion percentage (75.0) and QB rating (109.8), and he’s making a fraction of what the other QBs are being paid.

The optics of this is bizzare. Arguably your undisputed leader trying to fire up his team in pre-game yet also knowing he won't be taking a snap in a crucial game for home field advantage.
As BC FAN says why is VA taking no reps in practice? Your starter hasn't thrown a TD pass since the win in Montreal 5 games ago yet no need to prepare your apparent 1B QB for potential relief duties if things aren't going well yet again?

It will be intresting to see the amount of carnage from this massive collapse. President Duane Vienneau is a business/marketing guy with no football operations background. He knows better than anyone how much this slide has cost the club financially in a Grey Cup hosting year.
Co-GM McElvoy isn't involved with the lack of game preparation but certainly is huge part of the player personnel decisions that includes some bizzare releases and loads of cap space spent on receivers.
So it comes down to Doman and how much of a fresh start he wants in 2025 and it better be significant.

[DanoT]

I didn't expect a win for the Lions in Regina but this lack of competitiveness was brutal. Out coached once again.
Lions were out played and over match at Oline, Dline, and soft D that let opposing receivers get open. Lions receivers struggled to get open, forcing Rourke to throw time and again into tight windows.

I don't have any answers to the Lions woes but neither do the Lions coaching staff. I'm just a dumb fan but the coaches are pros who should know what to do and what adjustments to make...but they don't.

[Sir Purrcival]

Mercifully I am out of the country and didn't have the pleasure of watching that debacle. I was one that advocated for staying the course for the coaching. I still think that was the right decision, but since our season is all but over, I would suggest that the start of the search begin now to replace the coaching regime. There may be some worthy candidates coming in the off-season and we might as well start looking now.

[yukonlion]

Yes I noticed that pre-game speech by Adams and thought the same.. the QB system has been mismanaged. I think Rourke is liked by the other players, but VA made it his team, and it still is. He needs to play against Montreal (and start) to get some rust off if we have any chance. As Camopbell said"We're going to need both". buthas handled it badly...

[maxlion]

In the 3 games before Rourke started, Adams and Dolegala had forgettable performances in 3 straight losses, including the historically awful loss against Winnipeg. Then Rourke came in, went 8 for 25 with two picks in another loss. I'm not sure that either QB is the answer or the problem with this team.

[Clash Dance]

Totally agree Maxlion. Alot of people pointing at QB, when we have huge issues giving QB time, receivers not getting open, above average dropped passes, vanilla special teams and a D that always gives up high completion % and is on the field too long as a result. Then throw in a 1 dimensionable offensive game plan, and Doug Flutie would struggle in this team. However, if you claim VA is 1B, how is he not getting reps in practice? VA and Rourke should each get a half in the next game in case we need both in playoffs.

[Lui05]

The franchise player, like many others before him, has been ruined by the NFL. He is to blame for that.

Trade him. Keep Adams he is a legit CFL player.

I'm of 2 minds about this.

1. I'm in complete agreement that he's washed, and truly was never that great to begin with, just another more personable version of Casey Printers who caught lightning in a bottle once, never to recapture it. In this case, finding a sucker to pay him for us and keep VA makes sense.

2. He still isn't that great, but he's not this bad and he's younger and less injury prone than VA. Trade VA and pray that the entire offense was mishandled by fools and with a full training camp under the tutiledge of professionals to truly gel with his receivers, backs and O-line, some vague resemblance of what we saw prior to this year may reappear in 2025.

I don't have high hopes about #2. But I am more confident that #1 will turn out poorly as VA won't play 18 games next year either. Giving up on Rourke at this point would be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I think the absolute hubris of coaching and management ruined this season. We're hosting the grey cup so let's create snake oil and sell it as a championship team. Then, when VA goes down, let's bring in this young kid with more splinters in his butt than reps behind center in the past 24 months and expect him to look like Doug Flutie at his polished peak.

Are we paying Rourke way too much money? Yes. Is now the time to bail? I don't think so. This situation is dumb and one that not many could thrive. So I'd say we stick with him for 2025, and bring in another QB as backup that we trust to become #1 in 2026. Give Rourke until Labour Day. We'll know by then. If he's washed, bench him for the other guy. We can cut him then at the end of the season. The money we're paying Rourke is a taxation rounding error to Doman, an annoyance akin to you and me losing a $5 bill down the sewer.

My prediction is this was all a big mistake and Rourke will be out of the league by 2026. But, I think it would be foolish to assume I'm correct and jetison him to another team for 2025.
Both him, and we, the BC fans, deserve to see what this can look like with a full training camp (with hopefully a completely different coaching staff).

My 2 cents.

[TheLionKing]

I am not a coach and know what's the issues in the dressing room - but if QB struggles and you mentioned publicly that both QB.s are there for each other, what is the harm in using the alternate QB. Its like if you have two decent goalies in hockey and one struggles a bit - make the change and see if the plays can be improved. Its a team game.

Losing by 20+ so far in the third is a bit shocking at this point. Rourke has not drove any TD for the last while. If not in this game, certainly look at the next.

Campbell said on the post-game raadio broadcast that given the state of the game, he wasn't going to put Vernon in, especially since he hadn't had any practice reps. The impression was that if the game was close, it would have been considered.

Begs the question is VA injured ? If not why is he not getting reps.

[TheLionKing]

After what Amar Doman has done to rebrand the Lions, he deserve better than Neil McEvoy, Rick Campbell and his coaching staff are delivering. Two more games and the house cleaning begins.

[Toppy Vann]

It was there from the first play of the game when rather than hand off and attack the middle they flare it out to the RB with the worst possible result. Down 7 - 0.

It was still close until the last minute of the half with the Lions moving the ball well. The fumble came at a bad time. I didn't think Nathan was playing poorly and look forward to the PFF rating news. The D had the run under control and Sask was kicking FGs.

The short kick to start the second half signaled the game was over long before it actually was. Horrible play call imo. What they should have done was kick it deep and then go get the ball back. More easy points given up until it was out of hand and two fairly easy points for the Riders.

By not kicking it deep but going for a Hail Mary that is clearly happening and fooling no one with the onside kick attempt, it shows a complete lack of confidence in their DEF that they'd hold them and get field position. Yah it was a lousy call to start the second half!