Eastern Final, November 20, 2011 Vegas Odds and Comments

[WestCoastJoe]

Whoooo Hooooooo

Buck runs for 48 yards for the TD and the lead.

[TheLionKing]

Good win by the Bombers. Looking forward to Buck's return next week.

[notahomer]

Good win by the Bombers. Looking forward to Buck's return next week.

Me too! I like watching Buck, too bad its for the Bombers. I wish this Esks/Bombers matchup was not part of the Friday doubledip because I would have loved to watch it. Caught some of it in the stadium when the Esks were leading 14-12 but lots of the 4th was missed.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/chang ... story.html

Alouettes defeat the Argonauts 36 - 23.

TORONTO — The Montreal Alouettes’ offensive philosophy is unlikely to change. But every once in a while, they surprise everyone by running the ball. And, in Brandon Whitaker, have a tailback capable of delivering.

“Every week I get asked the question, why don’t we run the ball more?” head coach Marc Trestman said following Thursday’s 36-23 victory against the Toronto Argonauts. “This week, we felt with the kind of defensive line they have, and the kind of pass rush they can sustain, we did want to level the playing field with more runs.”

Whitaker, in his third season with Montreal — but first as the starter, having replaced free agent Avon Cobourne — gained 150 yards on 19 carries against the Argos. That included a 58-yard run early in the third quarter, setting up one of Dahrran Diedrick’s three short-yardage touchdowns.

In praise of the running game ...

To slow down a strong pass rush.

To tire out the D Line and Linebackers.

To eat up the clock.

To get your O Line fired up.

To set up your passing game.

To take some pressure off of your quarterback.

With or without Whitaker, Calvillo and the Als’ offence was too much for the Argos to overcome. Calvillo missed only six of 36 attempts, passing for 349 yards and one touchdown. For the second time this season, Calvillo threw for more than 200 yards in the opening half. But Toronto did itself no favours, constantly rushing only three linemen while refusing to blitz, hanging back and playing a zone defence.

Rushing only 3 linemen allows an offence to get hot. Pass and run.

Refusing to blitz feeds into that.

Hanging back and playing a zone defence feeds into that.
...............

It seemed to me that Benevides went back to a 4.3 defence for the most part against the Riders. We got fairly good pressure on Durant. IMO we do not blitz enough when we try the 3.4.

IMO Benevides has the tendency (or it is him following Wally's preference) to do the hang back defence. To play a zone defence. To blitz sparingly.

I thought we were more aggressive more often against the Riders with our blitzes and with the 4.3 defence.

[korey&dante4ever]

A win by Hamilton over Cgy today and it will be the purrfect week for our Lions:

Gain a game on everyone in the west, AND Toronto who are threatening to crossover

[B.C.FAN]

A win by Hamilton over Cgy today and it will be the purrfect week for our Lions:

Gain a game on everyone in the west, AND Toronto who are threatening to crossover

I guess we shouldn't laugh but it seems funny to see "Toronto" and "threatening" in the same sentence.

[notahomer]

Well Calgary won and its the best they've looked, IMO. Still not as scary as past seasons, IMO. With Calgary it was Joffrey Reynolds, Riders it was Wes Cates. Both these team seem to be phasing out their workhorses. I know running back is one of the shorter careers in football. I just think the Stamps/Riders would do better using these characters more. But its the Coaches/Coordinators who know what they are doing. To be honest, I'm kinda glad these two aren't banging out the yards. Their replacements haven't 'replaced' them just yet, IMO and I'm kinda hoping they won't.

[Toppy Vann]

Well Calgary won and its the best they've looked, IMO. Still not as scary as past seasons, IMO. With Calgary it was Joffrey Reynolds, Riders it was Wes Cates. Both these team seem to be phasing out their workhorses. I know running back is one of the shorter careers in football. I just think the Stamps/Riders would do better using these characters more. But its the Coaches/Coordinators who know what they are doing. To be honest, I'm kinda glad these two aren't banging out the yards. Their replacements haven't 'replaced' them just yet, IMO and I'm kinda hoping they won't.

Don't know why Dickinson pulled a Chapper and waited til the second half to use Joffrey Reynolds more.

If DD were in BC we'd be noting that real fast with a player of his calibre. Maybe DD has tutored too much under JC and doesn't like to run.

As Matt Dunigan said on the panel at the half of that game - Give him the rock!!!

Cates is hurt and the jury is out if his back up has what he has.

[KnowItAll]

A win by Hamilton over Cgy today and it will be the purrfect week for our Lions:

Gain a game on everyone in the west, AND Toronto who are threatening to crossover

actually, the lions win temporarily increases chances of argo crossover.

[Rammer]

A win by Hamilton over Cgy today and it will be the purrfect week for our Lions:

Gain a game on everyone in the west, AND Toronto who are threatening to crossover

actually, the lions win temporarily increases chances of argo crossover.

??? With the week, the Lions gained a game on the Argo's, which in my books makes the Argo's chances of a crossover decreased vs an Argo win which would have increased their crossover chances.

[KnowItAll]

A win by Hamilton over Cgy today and it will be the purrfect week for our Lions:

Gain a game on everyone in the west, AND Toronto who are threatening to crossover

actually, the lions win temporarily increases chances of argo crossover.

??? With the week, the Lions gained a game on the Argo's, which in my books makes the Argo's chances of a crossover decreased vs an Argo win which would have increased their crossover chances.

right now, the argos are tied with west 3rd place. If sask had won, argos would be 2 pts behind. Worse for them. Lions win better for them.

[Rammer]

actually, the lions win temporarily increases chances of argo crossover.

??? With the week, the Lions gained a game on the Argo's, which in my books makes the Argo's chances of a crossover decreased vs an Argo win which would have increased their crossover chances.

right now, the argos are tied with west 3rd place. If sask had won, argos would be 2 pts behind. Worse for them. Lions win better for them.

Right you are, but his week at a glance was liking the Argo's loss, helping the Lions, which it did.

[notahomer]

...Cates is hurt and the jury is out if his back up has what he has.

Thanks, I didn't know Cates was hurt and IMO, his back up isn't getting done what Cates used to do to CFL defences....

[WestCoastJoe]

Week 7 games ...

I'll take

Montreal

Calgary

Hamilton

B.C.

[notahomer]

I'm going to go out on a limb (this really would have been CRAZY 12 months ago) take the Esks over Montreal.
Stamps over Riders
TiCats over Argos
Lions over Bombers.
The first and last games I'm not totally sold on. Pretty sure the Stamps/TiCats get W's. But this is the CFL......