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Honour Dewalt wrote:I also have to say that the refs were very frustrating. Not putting the blame for the loss on them, but those were some brutal calls. Game changing calls that were wrong. And how about the ref calling it first down for Edm after the Lions clearly recovered a fumble. Just looks bush.

I agree - I can't place all the blame on them, but we did get the short end of the stick. And it wasn't like they were just triggerhappy the whole game - they didn't call the late slap to the back of Lulay's head in the 5thQ.

Run defence was just terrible, I think we can all agree on that.

And, what was up with people throwing things at the Felions? Not cool, people.

footbrawler wrote:

prj wrote:What an amazingly inept team! Can't run the ball ... can't pass ... can't tackle ... can't even register the starting roster properly. They played down to the level of the TSN announce crew and the game officials ... and that is BAD!

Further proof that the QB is NOT the problem. The Lions problems go way deeper. Printers is somewhere out there laughing is ass off and so he should.

I thought Lulay played a better game than Printers has all season. Your offense was actually surprisingly pretty good tonight, just that Edmonton ran almost the entire clock down through their run game. You can thank the refs and your run defense for that loss. If anything Printer's should of been watching saying oh wow, so that's how an offense is run.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Eski ... story.html

Mike Beamish ...

Four months later, the Lions still appeared to be partly in a state of preseason confusion, starting before the kickoff tonight when Paul McCallum dressed as the Lions’ kicker but never saw the field.

Somebody forgot to include McCallum’s name on the declared 42-game roster. He was ruled ineligible to play, and the rest of his teammates could find themselves joining him on ineligibility list for the CFL playoffs after a 31-28 overtime loss to the Eskimos.

Snafus, 11 penalties and a failure on at least two plays to have the maximum 12 players on field made the Lions look, at times, like a football version of Dad’s Army.

Ray ... had just 130 yards rushing in the previous 14 games, but ran for a career-best 135 yards against B.C., including a 45-yard run to set up the Eskimos first touchdown, on a nine-yard pass to Fred Stamps.

Ray also had runs of 14, nine and seven yards on a 10-play drive that was finished off by Mathieu Bertrand on a one-yard touchdown run that put the Eskimos ahead 20-15 in the third quarter after the Lions had taken a 15-13 lead at the half.

Runnning back Daniel Porter also ran for a career-best 171 yards as the Eskimos sliced through the Lions defence for 346 yards on 41 carries -- 10 times their rushing production in a 36-11 loss to Hamilton last Sunday.

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/runs+ ... story.html

From Lowell Ullrich ...

Well, at least there weren’t any players on the B.C. Lions yapping at each other Saturday.

Instead, you had coach/GM Wally Buono yelling at his aides on the sidelines because they couldn’t get their lineup organized. You had Buono yelling at his defensive assistants because they apparently mistook Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray for, well, Casey Printers as a runner.

Ray’s game-winning scoring run ended a game in which he had a career-high 112 yards rushing and the Lions gave up a ridiculous 346 yards along the ground.

Though victimized by a pair of early injuries, the Lions showed all the precision of the Bad News Bears for starters.

Edmonton took advantage of the on-field disarray by the Lions quickly. Ray ran 45 yards on his own during the Esks first possession, which set up a touchdown reception by Fred Stamps.

Area51 wrote:

korey&dante4ever wrote:

Area51 wrote:That may be some of the worst analysis I've read here.

soooo, i agreed with you.. aaaand you say that... oookay

I was referring to your claim about Ricky being "non explosive".

Strange that you'd say Ricky's not a rush end that BC needs - - and yet there was absolute outrage in BC when everyone relaized he wasn't coming back. You don't need/want him in BC, but fans are upset that he's gone?

can we put the Ricky thing to rest ... he's an Argo not a Lion, his choice good luck to him. I really could care less if your a fan or family member the Ricky talk is no longer relavent to anything BC Lion related other than history. he moved on ... we all should to

To those that have said we have a good defense, I say Ppfffffttttttttt!

They are the *poop*.

The question now remains, how long before Samulson finds his scoring groove again?

The only stat that mattered was 346 rushing yards for Edmonton, including 135 for Ricky Ray, which exceeded his total for the previous 14 games.

This game was won by the Esks in the trenches. The Edmonton O-line, led by Patrick Kabongo, blew up B.C.'s defensive tackles all game. The linebackers weren't scraping to the hole, and were getting caught inside when the ends crashed down on the zone read, leaving Ray running downfield by himself with no defenders around him. Even when the Esks ran up the middle, the B.C. linebackers couldn't stop them. Elimimian's play was atrocious. Most of Ray's yardage was gained to his side. There was a lot of discussion about the zone read plays with Farhan Lalji on the postgame show. Wally said someone was assigned to Ray on every play. This was the worst defensive effort since last year's embarrassment against Winnipeg. At least the Bombers did it with skilled running backs, not a slow-footed quarterback who normally stays home in the pocket.

I'm sure Javy Glatt is smiling. He had three tackles, including a big tackle for a loss on Robertson, and a forced fumble for the Eskimos, who kept B.C. from establishing much success along the ground. I don't think the Lions attempted a quarterback sneak all night. The coaches seemed to have no confidence that the O-line could get any push up front, and neither did I.

In the second half, the Esks used the success of their rushing game to eat up the clock on long drives, keeping the B.C. offence off the field. The Lions had only five offensive plays in the third quarter and one first down. A second first down was negated by penalty. With a tired and overmatched four-man B.C. defensive front getting pushed around all night, it was a recipe for disaster.

On the bright side, Travis Lulay had a good game, going 25 of 33 (76%) for 278 yards and a TD, plus 9 carries for 63 yards, and led the Lions' 10-point comeback in the final minute and a half of regulation. He actually doubled Ray's passing yards. Ray was just 10 of 20 for 139 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs.

Also on the positive side, Sean Whyte's play was clutch in a game that he didn't expect to play, hitting a 48-yard field goal with no time on the clock while wearing borrowed and scrounged equipment

I hope Aaron Hunt can return next week against Calgary. He's the leader of the defensive line and his presence is badly needed. The Stamps have two great running backs and a good running quarterback and they love to use the zone read.

scrawnyPilgrim wrote:
You can thank the refs and your run defense for that loss.

I don't see how the refs had anything to do with tonights outcome. The endzone flag that Stamps drew on the winning OT drive was pretty obvious when the defender has a handful of jersey on the guy who's being thrown to. Was no different than the call BC got on their OT drive for illegal contact, except the Lions couldn't manage to make anything of it.

This was entirely on the run defence - - and especially on the inability to stop the rushing of Ricky Ray. Of all people you can't contain, Ricky Ray is the guy that burns you on the ground? It would have been so simple to just leave a LB in to spy Ray...there's no way he would run away from any of their LBs. Two or three big hits for no gain would have kept Ray in teh pocket for the rest of the night.

scrawnyPilgrim wrote: I thought Lulay played a better game than Printers has all season. Your offense was actually surprisingly pretty good tonight, just that Edmonton ran almost the entire clock down through their run game. You can thank the refs and your run defense for that loss. If anything Printer's should of been watching saying oh wow, so that's how an offense is run.

Wally has lost this teams confedence in his decision making and coaching ability. I continue to say the same thing over and over again. Wally needs to be replaed. Younger blood needs to step in his place. He cant coach younger talent. He's out of his league. Im sick of seeing good talent in players going to
waist.....Wally doesnt have the ability to coach a young team. As I would call them a new breed. If he cant coach what do you think he will do as GM. F this
team up even more. As he will make the replacements him self and of course you know who is on his list to be head coach. Some one he can control and does
up to this day. Hint Hint. Why does the owner like watching this team loose game after game. The fan base will lower in numbers soon. I pray
it happens to open the eyes of this Owner. Or the next hm game every one buys the teams Jersey or colors we go up against....Just to send a mesg to Wally and the Owner. Until something big happens. Im chillin at hm watching NFL Wally has to many excuses and cuts players for the wrong reason.
He uses them to take the heat off of him self. Bumpas I talked to on the ph in Seattle. As my riend knows him. He told me Wally got rid of him as he asked Wally to change some plays and some oline changes that would help recievers get open. After that Wally cut him. Armstrong the same thing. Any player that
ask Wally to make a change or disagrees with Wally's decisions are cut right away. Wally do everyone a favour and fire your dang self. The only time tonight when the ball was moving is when Lulay called them himself. Enough said.

Belize City Lion wrote:but look at the bright side... no one is talking about CP!

O well let me change that. Lions lost this game because of Casey right? One word for you all. Karma.

Since someone mentioned the bright side, there's one other player who I should have mentioned along with Travis Lulay and Sean Whyte. Anthony Reddick had a strong game at field corner in place of Davis Sanchez. Ray tested him a couple of times without much luck, and Reddick put a huge hit on Kamau Peterson that knocked him out of the game.

@Area51

You obviously weren't at the game! You can say 21,000 fans would agree that the terrible ref calling was part of the reason why we lost. It was brutal out there tonight! Missed calls and calls that weren't supposed to be made contributed to our loss. Two prime examples, the forward PI on Phillips late in the 4th...that was a bunch of baloney! When seeing the replay on the jumbo tron it was clear to everyone that it was a clean and just a great defensive play by #21. We would have had an interception if that call wasn't made. The other was the stupid call on Black after his TD in OT. I apologize but I'm not able to be specific with what the actual call was but I know from all the fans around me they were pissed and shouting profanities. The call took away that TD by Black which potentially could have won us the game in overtime. You're right about saying that we can't just blame the refs for our loss but their controversial calls on those big plays sure didn't help us any. And, yes, our run defense sucked tonight...I totally agree!

Just a quick update on our injured Lions. Sanchez out with a dislocated elbow. LaRose out with a broken fibula and dislocated ankle. He will most likely have surgery within the next 24 hours. A speedy recovery to both of them!

truth-hurts wrote:Just a quick update on our injured Lions. Sanchez out with a dislocated elbow. LaRose out with a broken fibula and dislocated ankle. He will most likely have surgery within the next 24 hours. A speedy recovery to both of them!

Tough breaks for two guys who have made big contributions this year. The Lions will have to juggle their roster and their ratio. The easist option might be to move David Hyland to corner, his natural position, and reactivate Tad Crawford, likely as the starting safety.