Lionbackers.com

I sometimes think that coaches like quarterbacks get too much praise when teams win and all of a sudden they are dummies when the team loses. Every coach in the CFL has received criticism from their fan bases after loses this year except maybe Jason Moss and we all know that he received more than his fair share with the Riders and Elks when he was there. Now he seems to be a genius in Montreal.

Coaches are only as good as the players on their teams. If you look at the Lions subjectively and not as a fan or from Lions media, they are just not that good.

Defensively we have an average D Line at best average against the run and not a lot of pressure on the pass rush with a 4 man rush. Everyone talks about our great Canadian depth at Linebacker but realistically our Linebacking group is probably one of the weakest in the CFL. Losing Josh Woods was a big blow because we lack speed in the linebacking group and it shows on stopping the run. Tough to gauge how well the DB group is because we are unable to generate a lot of pressure so we play way off dropping our linebackers deep in coverage to avoid giving up the big play. Which results in the other teams throwing underneath all the time and our linebacking core not good enough to come up and make the tackle. Does this make Phillips a bad coach or does it limit what he can do on defence because of the lack of good players on that side of the ball?

Offensively we have an average offensive line at best, an above average running back, great receivers and an outstanding quarterback. Our strength is our offence when VA is on he makes our O line better and we can beat anyone. Unfortunately when his game is off we lose or when he is injured we have NO chance.

I am not sure about Brice as we have not seen enough of him but we have no chance with Dolegala. I believe his win lose record is not 2-9 . We just played the worst defence in the league and provided him with a solid balanced game plan and he was just mediocre and could not do enough to get the win. It doesn't make sense that we have a team that is based on great receivers and explosive plays by throwing the ball and then have a back up whose weakness is throwing the ball deep. Very poor personnel choice by the Lions.

I had great expectations for this team earlier in the season but at this point they have waned, Our defence does not seem dominant enough to be a championship team. However the West is very balanced with a lot of parity. So at the end of the day it will come down to luck and injuries. VA can win take over games and win them and he always gives you that hope that if we make the playoffs he can get hot and and take us to the promise land.

So although me expectations of this team have taken a hit. I will continue to die with every loss knowing that It is wide open and anything can happen, So I will plug my nose and hopefully they can rebound, make the playoffs, and get hot at the right time.

Great post, tedbear. The uncomfortable truth is that, yes, we are just not that good in a number of key areas.

Strangely, we get a lot of sacks. But hurries and stops at key times are what we lack.

I am big on Rigmaiden and the personnel department but their recruits this off-season have not bear fruit.

I am meh on Berryhill. Fulgham was a bust. Perryman and Kent Jr. are a work in progress. While FA William Stanback has delivered and has been a great addition to the club, the same cannot be said for Pete Robertson. Christian Covington is barely noticeable.

There were not enough talented bodies at camp to really challenge the vets in this Grey Cup-hosting season. It amazes me how Josh Banks has played nearly 60 games for the club yet rarely stands out in any statistical category. Teuhema might be our best defensive player this season (him Hladik, and Peters). The rest have been mostly just 'okay.'


DH

Tedbear, you make some great points as do others here.

They can refocus here as there's lot of games left but it still won't change the coaching philosophies.

Coaching can always be better but something is going wrong with the mindsets on that DEF.
Some of the big hits remind me of lousy football teams who relish those few big hits but miss the fact that the other team is winning on the scoreboard where it counts. It strikes me the Lion DEF is now thinking of making big hits, not big plays.

As to our OC, the play calling gets suspect as often it's hard to find a rhyme or reason other than calling big passing plays and relying on VA's God given ability to make good reads and make big plays. When he struggled there was nothing else to call upon so BC got just 4 first downs something unseen in BC since 1954.
I'm not sure if it's Maas calling the plays but it did take Cavillo a long time to call plays for the QB he had versus the plays he'd call if he were the QB.

But this OC has a one track mind.

Stanback is getting decent yardage but my model for how a run/passing team works is more a Buck Pierce Bombers model they had going before the injuries and losses to key offensive players.

Elks game should have kept Dolegala's plays as he started as they weren' t out of it until the 4th Q. Give him plays within his skill set and keep running but with some variations on the themes as Jim Barker said and Dunigan agreed (at the half).