Riders 33 - Lions 30 OT Post Game Stats and Comments

[Tinfoiling]

It was an exciting game. The fans are always in it there. I just thought that CP shouldn't have thrown that last pass. He had another down. That seems to be his problem, in the heat of the moment he forgets some of the elements of where the team is at. Great game for Baron. I wonder if it felt better given Fantuz beat him for the touchdown last time. Reid should be given a medal for playing under his condition.

[Rammer]

Bumpus has to be awarded as well, he made a great catch on the CP hope ball. Plus a couple of returns didn't hurt his overall stock either.

[TheLionKing]

The problems that has plagued the Lions the last 2 seasons killed them again this afternoon:

- inability to convert on 3rd and short

- surrendering first downs when they have the opposition on 2nd and long

- poor special teams coverage

- predictable offence, no imagination

Jacques Chapdelaine has to go. The Riders were without both of their defensive halfbacks and the Lions failed to take advantage. When Barron Miles went down and was replaced by Tad Crawford, the Riders immediately went after him. It's all coaching. Absolutely no imagination on offence.

[Rodu]

I'm fairly confident, if Miles doesn't get a freak injury, we win the game. If he stays in, there is no Crawford to pick on across the middle

[B.C.FAN]

Some postgame quotes from Mike Beamish's article:

Printers on the game-ending INT:

“The mindset is to allow my guys to make plays,” Printers explained. “I saw Geroy matched up against the defensive player [cornerback Omarr Morgan]. I just threw it up hoping to give him a chance. I didn’t see No. 14 [Patrick] at all. I thought Geroy would be able to move the guy, but he was being held [by Morgan]. It was unbelievable. Honest to God, I didn’t see him [Patrick].”

Right. Geroy had position on Morgan and made catches in similar plays earlier. Printers just didn't see the safety sliding over.

Buono on the game and Printers:

“The game isn’t won and lost just in overtime,” Buono said. “It’s won and lost throughout the whole game. There were plays that were made and plays that weren’t. I thought, at times, Casey was good. I thought at times he was spectacular. And there were times when you could see he hasn’t played in a while.”

Simon on Printers:

“Even though Casey’s been in this offence before, he’s only been with us for three or four weeks,” Simon said. “Nobody’s going to play purrfect. And you can’t expect I guy to come in and be purrfect with a few weeks of practice. Casey played a helluva game. He gave us opportunities to win. He made great throws. He did an excellent job.”

Buono on next week:

“Let us get over the loss before we get into all that stuff [who starts the next game],” Buono said. “There was never, ever a reason to pull Casey, no. Casey did a tremendous job, under a very intense, hostile environment, on the road, against a good defence, all the noise . . .”

I can't disagree with any of those observations.

Link

[WestCoastJoe]

Some postgame quotes from Mike Beamish's article:

“The mindset is to allow my guys to make plays,” Printers explained. “I saw Geroy matched up against the defensive player [cornerback Omarr Morgan]. I just threw it up hoping to give him a chance. I didn’t see No. 14 [Patrick] at all. I thought Geroy would be able to move the guy, but he was being held [by Morgan]. It was unbelievable. Honest to God, I didn’t see him [Patrick].”

I like Casey's honesty here. No excuses either. And Geroy might have won the ball if he had not been blocked and impeded by a DB with his back to the ball.

“The game isn’t won and lost just in overtime,” Buono said. “It’s won and lost throughout the whole game. There were plays that were made and plays that weren’t.

Pass defence was not very good at crucial times.

“Even though Casey’s been in this offence before, he’s only been with us for three or four weeks,” Simon said. “Nobody’s going to play purrfect. And you can’t expect I guy to come in and be purrfect with a few weeks of practice. Casey played a helluva game. He gave us opportunities to win. He made great throws. He did an excellent job.”

Yep. Casey gave them chances to win.

“Let us get over the loss before we get into all that stuff [who starts the next game],” Buono said. “There was never, ever a reason to pull Casey, no. Casey did a tremendous job, under a very intense, hostile environment, on the road, against a good defence, all the noise . . .”

Give Wally a chance to catch his breath.

It was a tough loss. But I take some positives out of it. Casey is back. Not per-fect, as Geroy says, but he gave his team lots of chances to win. Over 300 yards passing. Great scrambling. Great ball protection until the one mistake at the end.

[Solar Max]

Bumpus has to be awarded as well, he made a great catch on the CP hope ball. Plus a couple of returns didn't hurt his overall stock either.

What an improvement he was over the..uh...other guy.

[hwgill]

I too am pissed that the PI wasn't called on that last play. BUT, how many times did our D fail us on 2nd and long last night? If they had done their jobs, we wouldn't be having this discussion because the game wouldn't have been close.

[SammyGreene]

If they had done their jobs, we wouldn't be having this discussion because the game wouldn't have been close

Defence had an exceptional 2nd half and the Miles INT should have been the dagger. Can't believe he gets hurt on the TD celebration and then Durant promptly exposes Crawford in the secondary on the game-tying drive.

Can't say enough about the game Miles was having up until that point and how much the secondary seemed lost without him.

[ziggy]

All we need to do is get into the playoffs and its a new season. We've lost two to the Riders on the last play of the game and beat them twice. We've beat Montreal who I think will take the East. If we show we can beat Calgary, I feel we are in good shape. Printers looked good, Bumpus was an upgrade, our D continues to give up big plays at crucial points in the game, but if we can get a sustained pass rush that could be the answer. I actually felt good after yesterdays game (except for the final result). Bring on the playoffs.

[David]

Mallet was our leading rusher with 44 yards. Pathetic. We've won our last two games because we ran the ball well. So naturally The Chap forgets about the run. CP played well, but with a first and goal from the 8 in OT, the ball never should have left his hands. Holy Grey Cup 1988, Batman. Only thing close to the horrible job from The Chap was the job done by the zebras.

We should be in first place tonight, with the division title in our own hands. But we are not. That's what has me so pissed off tonight.

I'm not so sure you'd be criticizing him if the refs called PI on the Riders.

But whatever, it's in the past now. We need to prepare for Calgary.

I thought a draw play on first and goal from the 8 would have caught them off guard. Either way we needed to run. I (and everyone in the park on on TV watching) knew the Riders were going to pin their ears back expecting a pass from Casey. Yes, it should have been thrown into the stands (even into the turf for intentional grounding would have been okay), but we should have done a better job of mixing up the plays instead of all those passing plays in OT.

I also thought we under-utilized Harris in this game. Yes, he got injured on that one play at running back, but even before that, it was just that one play with him lined up as a slotback. We had a failed screen pass that we never went back to. We should have given the Riders a steady diet of screen passes to mitigate the blitz.

DH

[Bosco]

Mallet was our leading rusher with 44 yards. Pathetic. We've won our last two games because we ran the ball well. So naturally The Chap forgets about the run. CP played well, but with a first and goal from the 8 in OT, the ball never should have left his hands. Holy Grey Cup 1988, Batman. Only thing close to the horrible job from The Chap was the job done by the zebras.

We should be in first place tonight, with the division title in our own hands. But we are not. That's what has me so pissed off tonight.

I'm not so sure you'd be criticizing him if the refs called PI on the Riders.

But whatever, it's in the past now. We need to prepare for Calgary.

I thought a draw play on first and goal from the 8 would have caught them off guard. Either way we needed to run. I (and everyone in the park on on TV watching) knew the Riders were going to pin their ears back expecting a pass from Casey. Yes, it should have been thrown into the stands (even into the turf for intentional grounding would have been okay), but we should have done a better job of mixing up the plays instead of all those passing plays in OT.

I also thought we under-utilized Harris in this game. Yes, he got injured on that one play at running back, but even before that, it was just that one play with him lined up as a slotback. We had a failed screen pass that we never went back to. We should have given the Riders a steady diet of screen passes to mitigate the blitz.

DH

Agreed, in hindsight, that situation seemed ripe for either a QB or half back draw, but unfortunately, draws are rarely in Chappie's playbook, and screen passes are virtually non existant.

[WestCoastJoe]

... we should have done a better job of mixing up the plays instead of all those passing plays in OT.

We should have given the Riders a steady diet of screen passes to mitigate the blitz.

DH

Yep. Screen plays must be on Wally's "Trash Can" list. Along with draws, QB draws, Look-in passes, and Roll-outs (planned not improvised by a QB scrambling for his life, which no doubt the coaches will grade him down for not following the play).

In the "Trash Can" list of plays on defence are LOS overloads, frequent blitzes from all angles, at any time, pressure pass coverage, linebacker mobility, defensive line mobility, and anthing to do with "attack" football.

The idea is to keep it conservative, and count on the opponent to make mistakes. No "livin' on the edge" with this philosophy. Instead it is "dyin' slowly by passivity and non-aggression" in time of war.

The philosophy is Wally's. It has served him well enough all these years. IMO we do not know what the philosophy of Chapdelaine or Benevides is, because they are delivering what the boss wants. Dave Ritchie was more of his own man, being so very experienced, and with such a strong resume himself.

I do not blame the O Line for having to block more guys over them than they can account for. And I do not blame our D Line for having to line up the same way, in the same positions, with the same assignments, with no overloads to help, all game long.

Not my cup of tea, but whaddyagonna do? Enjoy the spectacle of the games, and support the team is all we can do. (Well, OK, we can biotch and moan and complain and criticize. That is our right as fans.)

[SammyGreene]

I thought a draw play on first and goal from the 8 would have caught them off guard. Either way we needed to run. I (and everyone in the park on on TV watching) knew the Riders were going to pin their ears back expecting a pass from Casey. Yes, it should have been thrown into the stands (even into the turf for intentional grounding would have been okay), but we should have done a better job of mixing up the plays instead of all those passing plays in OT.

I also thought we under-utilized Harris in this game. Yes, he got injured on that one play at running back, but even before that, it was just that one play with him lined up as a slotback. We had a failed screen pass that we never went back to. We should have given the Riders a steady diet of screen passes to mitigate the blitz.

DH

I liked the draw play there too. They did try it two plays earlier with Harris and Jimenez was flagged for procedure, putting them in a passing situation.

After watching the 2nd half on TSN's VOD — just can't believe how piss-poor our pass protection was at times. On the Bumpus TD the Riders only rushed three yet Baggs blew past Jiminez and Sherko, flushing Casey to his left almost instantly.
On the game-ending INT .... Shologan made a couragous and immobile Reid look like a turnstile — coming right up the middle and again immediately flushing Casey to his right.

LU reports a broken foot for Angus meaning he could be done a while. This would mean a major shuffle in the line. Is Bobby Singh still available to be activated?

[WestCoastJoe]

LU reports a broken foot for Angus meaning he could be done a while. This would mean a major shuffle in the line. Is Bobby Singh still available to be activated?

Singh has been hurt too, but I believe he is available now. We also have Andrew Jones and Justin Sorensen.

I expect Dean Valli will move to centre.