TiCats 48 - Lions 8, Post-Game Stats and Comments 20181111

[WestCoastJoe]

2nd and 12, start of the game. Hamilton at their 18. 4 man rush. 8 men back in coverage. And none of our 5 deeper defenders in the picture is close to any of the 4 receivers in the picture. Huge holes in the coverage. Big completion to start the game.

Blurry pic from the tablet and the CFL site, but you see the relative positions of the players. No defender has moved to give close cover to the deep receiver in the middle. Easy pickings for Masoli.

There is some irony here as we fear or abhor deep passes against, and we give one up on the second play from scrimmage.

Fell down? Well, if not that, it would have been something else, methinks.

I certainly won't go far with these pictures. The rout was on very quickly in this game.

screengrab-20181112-185530.jpg

[B.C.FAN]

2nd and 12, start of the game. Hamilton at their 18. 4 man rush. 8 men back in coverage. And none of our 5 deeper defenders in the picture is close to any of the 4 receivers in the picture. Huge holes in the coverage. Big completion to start the game.

Blurry pic from the tablet and the CFL site, but you see the relative positions of the players. No defender has moved to give close cover to the deep receiver in the middle. Easy pickings for Masoli.

There is some irony here as we fear or abhor deep passes against, and we give one up on the second play from scrimmage.

I certainly won't go far with these pictures. The rout was on very quickly in this game.

screengrab-20181112-185530.jpg

This is the play where T.J. Lee (bottom right, in the middle zone) appeared to be coming across to make the interception but fell down, allowing Bralon Addison to make the 38-yard catch. That opened the door for the Ticats and gave them confidence. Wally said after the game that it may have been an omen. The drive finished when Ivan McLennan stopped Dane Evans on third and goal but Evans fumbled into the end zone where ex-Lion OT Kelvin Palmer recovered it for the opening touchdown. That was the second omen. Then on the Lions' first offensive play, Lulay fumbled to set up the Ticats' second touchdown. That was the third omen, and essentially sealed the Lions' fate.

[WestCoastJoe]

2nd and 12, start of the game. Hamilton at their 18. 4 man rush. 8 men back in coverage. And none of our 5 deeper defenders in the picture is close to any of the 4 receivers in the picture. Huge holes in the coverage. Big completion to start the game.

Blurry pic from the tablet and the CFL site, but you see the relative positions of the players. No defender has moved to give close cover to the deep receiver in the middle. Easy pickings for Masoli.

There is some irony here as we fear or abhor deep passes against, and we give one up on the second play from scrimmage.

I certainly won't go far with these pictures. The rout was on very quickly in this game.

screengrab-20181112-185530.jpg

This is the play where T.J. Lee (bottom right, in the middle zone) appeared to be coming across to make the interception but fell down, allowing Bralon Addison to make the 38-yard catch. That opened the door for the Ticats and gave them confidence. Wally said after the game that it may have been an omen. The drive finished when Ivan McLennan stopped Dane Evans on third and goal but Evans fumbled into the end zone where ex-Lion OT Kelvin Palmer recovered it for the opening touchdown. That was the second omen. Then on the Lions' first offensive play, Lulay fumbled to set up the Ticats' second touchdown. That was the third omen, and essentially sealed the Lions' fate.

Yup. From the video, it looked to me like our DB did not have the angle anyway, and then he tripped over a hash mark.

From what we saw in the game, we were not prepared. It would have all leaked out somewhere.

It seems to me, teams tend to make their own breaks.

And we certainly did get three strikes against in a hurry. 1,2,3 you're out.

[Toppy Vann]

This nagging question is this:

Is there something lacking in the quality of the character of this current team collectively?

Toppy Van

I've been thinking a lot more about your question Toppy and this response is more of a tangent.

I think I posted something like this in the past.

There is a big difference between leadership and the formal authority of one's position. In other words, would the people you lead want to follow you, if you did not have your formal position or view you as someone with excellent leadership abilities?

I've always viewed leadership as a down up concept. In other words folks choose to view someone as a leader or they don't. Even in cases where the repurcussions are very serious, people will choose, in some cases to reject formal authority by numerous means, from lack of effort to sabotage to rebellion. The movie Mutiny on the Bounty is a good example of the latter.

There are five positions of power one can lead from.

1. Positive Power - recognizing, appreciating, promoting, and rewarding in one way or the other.

2. Negative Power - giving consequences, embarrassing, reprimanding, demoting, or punishing in one way or the other. This is often fear based power and can be effective in the short term but it can also create resentment.

3. Formal Authority. Power is derived from one's position eg: You will do it because I am the boss and say so.

4. Knowledge Power. People want to follow a leader who has more knowledge that they do or whose knowledge inspires confidence.

5. Personality Power. People follow leaders they like and respect, whose personality traits and character are admirable or likeable.

The best leaders use positive reinforcement most often rather than negative reinforcement and rarely use their formal authority for power.

Instead their knowledge or personality or both are their bases of power.

The best leaders don't operate from a fear based leadership style. They don't need to.

The best leaders also develop another level of leadership. If that level is missing or not trusted, then its difficult to successfully lead the organization. Its up to the leader to create this second layer of leadership.

If it is missing or not wide enough or deep enough, then the environment of the organization created by the leader is a big factor.

In other words, if our Leos did not have the essential player leadership that you are thinking about Toppy, then I view that as a failure of Wally.

How did Wally lead our Leos? Did he mostly function as a leader from a power base of formal authority and fear of consequences, including public embarrassment or was he a positive leader whose knowledge and personality inspired?

Its an interesting question.

Good model of power sources as exercised by leaders but I'm questioning the recipients and their receptivity to the leadership and influence strategies.

If the leadership can't increase the density (numbers) of the leadership core group that buys into the desired culture with the new additions not just upgrade the skill level - but players who fully buy in to the cause - then it can fail.

There were some earlier comments by Lulay this season that I can't find but leave me questioning.

Pre-season with the new HC and some new players some vet like a Lulay will possibly say - there were issues in getting buy in overall.

BUT you are spot on in buy into their schemes and coaching. On the DEF at times in some games it looked like they were assignment focused versus making the play that develops in front of them.

[Blitz]

Good model of power sources as exercised by leaders but I'm questioning the recipients and their receptivity to the leadership and influence strategies.

If the leadership can't increase the density (numbers) of the leadership core group that buys into the desired culture with the new additions not just upgrade the skill level - but players who fully buy in to the cause - then it can fail.

There were some earlier comments by Lulay this season that I can't find but leave me questioning.

Pre-season with the new HC and some new players some vet like a Lulay will possibly say - there were issues in getting buy in overall.

BUT you are spot on in buy into their schemes and coaching. On the DEF at times in some games it looked like they were assignment focused versus making the play that develops in front of them.

Toppy

To the best of my understanding Toppy, you've been a leader in your work place and a leader on the sports field in your coaching background.

Therefore, you know that if you are creating a second layer leadership group, the key is that you want those people to be considered the leaders of the people you want them to lead with you.

Therefore, you also know that you can't just choose that next layer of leaders from your favorite list. Its not how they defer to you that is important - its how others would defer to their leadership.

Using that concept, would you not think that players such as Carl Kidd and Korey Banks should have been part of Wally's Players Council? They weren't, even though the defensive players looked to those two players named more than any other Leo player in their era.

Carl Kidd was adored by his defensive teammates for his toughness, his courage, and his love of the game. They would have run through brick walls for him. But he was not Wally's 'type' for his Players Council.

Korey Banks was the undisputed leader of our defense for many seasons. He could get Khalif Mitchell to jump, with a couple of words and Khalif looked up to him.

Korey Banks was a smart, tough football player, who like Carl Kidd, often played with an edge. But he was also not the type to be on Wally's Player Council.

Yet both should have been. If you want player leaders that the team will look up to then you have to chose player 'leaders' and not your favorites.

Player leaders have to be perceived by their teammates as representing them and are not just there as 'minions' of the Head Coach.

Mark Washington was a player leader and not Carl Kidd. Brent Johnson was a player leader but not a Korey Banks. Nothing wrong with Mark Washington but he was not a player leader and Brent Johnson was an impressive defensive end but he never was looked up to like Korey Banks from his teammates. Banks was a leader and a clutch player. Need I say more?

When Ed Hervey pushed this season for players like Odell Willis to be on the players council I believed it was more about than just getting a new free agent coming representing the new players on Wally's Player Council.

I believed it was about trying to change an old Buono culture, in terms of his player leaders. Willis was the leader of our defense this season, assisted by Shawn Lemon, T.J. Lee, and Anthony Orange.

But if not for Ed Hervey, I not only highly doubt that Odell Willis would have ever been signed by Wally but I also am almost assured that if Hervey had not pushed for Willis, he would never have seen the light of day from Wally as being appointed a player leader.

Not Wally's type but no question his teammates considered him a leader.

[WestCoastJoe]

1st series. Play #4. Screen pass as we bring the house on a blitz, forgetting to account for the running back on the screen. Big gain for Alex Green. At that point, Jones has Washington completely out to lunch. The play was well set up by Hamilton, but they did not even have to block it that well. We made it easy.

This game was a fail for our coaches. And it was also a fail for the players. Lack of effort on tackles. Bad angles of pursuit. They mailed it in, even though, as always, they put their bodies on the line. We had no interest in any more road games. Just get it over. There was no pride in the Lions.

48-8. Overall, it was an embarrassment. Forty-Eight to Eight. Drubbed. One might even say we tanked it.

2018-11-13_0856.png

2018-11-13_0857_001.png

[Toppy Vann]

Good model of power sources as exercised by leaders but I'm questioning the recipients and their receptivity to the leadership and influence strategies.

If the leadership can't increase the density (numbers) of the leadership core group that buys into the desired culture with the new additions not just upgrade the skill level - but players who fully buy in to the cause - then it can fail.

There were some earlier comments by Lulay this season that I can't find but leave me questioning.

Pre-season with the new HC and some new players some vet like a Lulay will possibly say - there were issues in getting buy in overall.

BUT you are spot on in buy into their schemes and coaching. On the DEF at times in some games it looked like they were assignment focused versus making the play that develops in front of them.

Toppy

To the best of my understanding Toppy, you've been a leader in your work place and a leader on the sports field in your coaching background.

Therefore, you know that if you are creating a second layer leadership group, the key is that you want those people to be considered the leaders of the people you want them to lead with you.

Therefore, you also know that you can't just choose that next layer of leaders from your favorite list. Its not how they defer to you that is important - its how others would defer to their leadership.

Using that concept, would you not think that players such as Carl Kidd and Korey Banks should have been part of Wally's Players Council? They weren't, even though the defensive players looked to those two players named more than any other Leo player in their era.

Carl Kidd was adored by his defensive teammates for his toughness, his courage, and his love of the game. They would have run through brick walls for him. But he was not Wally's 'type' for his Players Council.

Korey Banks was the undisputed leader of our defense for many seasons. He could get Khalif Mitchell to jump, with a couple of words and Khalif looked up to him.

Korey Banks was a smart, tough football player, who like Carl Kidd, often played with an edge. But he was also not the type to be on Wally's Player Council.

Yet both should have been. If you want player leaders that the team will look up to then you have to chose player 'leaders' and not your favorites.

Player leaders have to be perceived by their teammates as representing them and are not just there as 'minions' of the Head Coach.

Mark Washington was a player leader and not Carl Kidd. Brent Johnson was a player leader but not a Korey Banks. Nothing wrong with Mark Washington but he was not a player leader and Brent Johnson was an impressive defensive end but he never was looked up to like Korey Banks from his teammates. Banks was a leader and a clutch player. Need I say more?

When Ed Hervey pushed this season for players like Odell Willis to be on the players council I believed it was more about than just getting a new free agent coming representing the new players on Wally's Player Council.

I believed it was about trying to change an old Buono culture, in terms of his player leaders. Willis was the leader of our defense this season, assisted by Shawn Lemon, T.J. Lee, and Anthony Orange.

But if not for Ed Hervey, I not only highly doubt that Odell Willis would have ever been signed by Wally but I also am almost assured that if Hervey had not pushed for Willis, he would never have seen the light of day from Wally as being appointed a player leader.

Not Wally's type but no question his teammates considered him a leader.

Players Council - as things were revealed it struck me then - as a wrong headed idea as it seemed too formalized and restrictive .

You're right every GM and HC and coach in general has their own idea of what makes a good player and that includes leadership skills. Wally seems to like those of faith as they seem closest to him. Football and religion are quite intertwined with the US players and it seems some of the Canadians.

The issue is with influencers influencing the right things and consistent with the team philosophy and desired culture is to be.

Wally was more of a power culture where players knew you'd be toast before your best before date so that incents some followers (players) to act in ways congruent with what the boss expects and finds important.

That leads to some who are the real leaders and tone setters as to how that team plays and performs - not in that HC's circle directly.

The key in any team is preparing your team for those moments in every game that your opponent is now with all the momentum. As the best coaches, it's not trying to prevent, it's all about how you prepare your team to respond. That is where I'm critical of Wally. He seems not to be the best at prepping his teams for that adversity. Old school is to condemn players for that happening. New School is - guys, it's going to happen, it's not about that - it's about how we respond.

Where coaches are key is having responses to that. Wally aint so good.

This is a simplistic video and view of influencers in a group with lessons learned for coaching in ensuring they've got a clear philosophy and standards and how they'll get communicated.

How to create a movement in under three minutes:

It's on you tube but here's Derek Sivers take on the original video:

https://www.ted.com/talks

/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement?language=en


https://sivers.org/ff

[Blitz]

I just watched the video Toppy. Thanks for posting it. It was very good in terms of understanding a concept of leadership and followership. There is no transformative moment without the first follower, who actually became a leader.

On a second note, when the Head Coach is the one who chooses his player leaders and those player leaders do not comprise the real group of player leaders on his team or some players who are considered leaders by their teammates, are shut out, it can create problems.

I really don't think a lot of Leo fans really understood all the implications of Buono deciding to go with Dickenson as his starter in the 2004 Grey Cup and the longer term implications of that decision, that were still there in 2009.

The player leaders for a number of seasons was comprised of players as Dave Dickenson, Rob Murphy, Angus Reid, Geroy Simon, and Jason Clermont.

Shut out were player leaders as Korey Banks, Dante Marsh, Ryan Phillips, Tyrone Williams, Otis Floyd, and especially Carl Kidd.

The Printers/Dickenson quarterback controversy inflamed the split between Wally's "Boys' and some of the 'others' even more.

That split was still there when Printers returned in 2009. One group welcomed him (guess which) and one group didn't.

It was the Players Council that went to Wally and recommended releasing Printers in 2010.

Angus Reid was the player whom I always viewed as the leader of the Players Council, even though it had no 'official' leader. Angus Reid was the leader of the offensive line in a number of ways and Murphy was also on the Players Council as an offensive lineman. But no Korey Banks or Carl Kidd or Otis Floyd?

There has always existed the notion of Wally's 'boys' since Buono arrived here and those players were never scapegoated.

There has always been Wally favorites. Jamall Johnson used to run over Javy Glatt to make a tackle but Glatt was favored as was Marco Iannuzzi over Paris Jackson to name a couple. Glatt and Iannuzzi were highly favored by Wally during their time.

It was the same as always, once again this season. It was the Jennings, the Johnson's and the Rainey's that were scapegoated. Wally's 'golden boys' always got a free pass.

Jonathan Jennings passed for over 5,000 yds. as the leader of our offence in 2016 but he was not named a player leader by Wally for 2017. Travis Lulay was. He handed out the game balls. That made no sense. They say they wanted Jennings to be a leader and Wally never gave him that opportunity. At least include Jennings with the same opportunity as Lulay, when Jennings was your starting quarterback.

That type of coaching style is not a good one. Bill Bilichick treats all his players the same except for Brady, who is tougher with. Often he isn't nice either but he is considered fair. Its often commented on by his players, even if its something like he's always fair - he treats us all like dogs.

Favoritism is never appreciated.

Fairness is an important concept. Its important to children, to students, to workers, and to professional football players too. Its important to almost everyone.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://3downnation.com/2018/11/13/buono ... lions-cfl/

From the column by Lowell Ullrich

Just as Hervey or anyone else knows what the Lions will look like next season after the thoroughness of the thrashing Sunday continued to take hold on the organization. -- L.U.

“The answer you won’t expect to hear is ‘why me?’ It’s really all I can say. I’ve been blessed. God’s been good to me….” -- Wally Buono

“I got to be careful today that I don’t say too much and I don’t say too little, “ Buono said. “There’s going to be a transition for everybody and there’s going to be for me too. I wise man said ‘don’t plan anything in your first year (in retirement).’

“It comes to an end for everybody. If people who can retire like Marv Levy or (the late) Rod Rust, who were great mentors, and I know they were older but they were crazier than I was, then I can do the same.”

“It’s going to be a CFL guy. There’s guys who have committed to this league that deserve the opportunity to grow. I’m an example of getting an opportunity,” said Hervey, who was also non-committal when asked if the Lions had adequate quarterbacking. As for player turnover he said: “I don’t think we’re going to have a massive overhaul of the roster but we need to be more dynamic in some areas. We need more speed in some areas and I like to be longer in other areas…. But I can look you in the eye and say I didn’t sleep the last two nights (after losing to Hamilton).”

Defensive coach Jerry Glanville’s schemes were impeccable and kept B.C. starting quarterback Travis Lulay under duress, guessing – usually incorrectly – for his entire tenure, which ended when he was replaced by Jonathon Jennings late in the third quarter.

Glanville also had to quickly respond to losing two of his starting defensive backs: corner Jumal Rolle was sliced at, but not into, his Achilles tendon by an errant spike during warmup and halfback Josh Johnson went down during the game.

Jones and his offensive staff devised some technical wrinkles which bought Masoli a lot of time to complete each of his first 10 passes, and 14-of-19 overall for three touchdowns, two to Luke Tasker another to Sean Thomas Erlington.

“It goes a long way when you know your coaches are confident with what they’re calling and you know it’s going to work, ” said Ticat offensive tackle Ryker Mathews.

Jones was uncanny in his play calling and design, particularly in opting to have Green carry 17 times and take a couple of well-disguised passes, while the rest of the time picking up the unchecked Lion pass rusher the rest of the time.

Buono credited the Ticats for a well-concocted game plan and its superior execution. His team never demonstrated any of that.

Yes, for one last time, we were out-coached on both sides of the ball.

The offensive game plan put together by Jones dissected our defence.

The defensive game plan put together by Glanville smothered our offence.

"It goes a long way when you know your coaches are confident with what they’re calling and you know it’s going to work, ” said Ticat offensive tackle Ryker Mathews.

Players buy into the game plans brought by the coaches, or they don't. Ya gotta believe. Far too often, facing fresh, detailed game plans, which focus on tendencies and vulnerabilities, our players were disadvantaged, and in key games they found it very hard to buy in. At this time in football, staying with simple Xs and Os schemes that have worked for decades is not good enough any more. The sophistication of the staffs around the league is too high. They can pick you to death or they can blow you away. We got blown away 48-8.

Wally has earned his retirement. That is not the easiest thing to do for many people. I hope he manages the transition well. It is gratifying to hear him call on David Braley to be expeditious in selling the team, for the good of the franchise.

Time to move on. Ed Hervey has a full agenda. Head Coach. Staff. Player personnel. One can thank Wally for the move last winter bringing in Ed. It gives us a chance to hit the ground running for next year, and on into the future. From this point forward, it is Ed's team to run.

On we go ...

[SammyGreene]

Korey Banks was the undisputed leader of our defense for many seasons. He could get Khalif Mitchell to jump, with a couple of words and Khalif looked up to him.

Korey Banks was a smart, tough football player, who like Carl Kidd, often played with an edge. But he was also not the type to be on Wally's Player Council.

Yet both should have been. If you want player leaders that the team will look up to then you have to chose player 'leaders' and not your favorites.

Player leaders have to be perceived by their teammates as representing them and are not just there as 'minions' of the Head Coach.

Mark Washington was a player leader and not Carl Kidd. Brent Johnson was a player leader but not a Korey Banks. Nothing wrong with Mark Washington but he was not a player leader and Brent Johnson was an impressive defensive end but he never was looked up to like Korey Banks from his teammates. Banks was a leader and a clutch player. Need I say more?

You hit one out of the park with this post Blitz.

The Lions treatment of Banks since his retirement is an embarrassment too. He was a Western All-Star in EIGHT of the 9 seasons he played in BC. Also a 4-time league all-star during that stretch too.

How many DBs in the club's history can say that? The man was clutch.
He has yet to be honoured for his career here. Why is is that? He wasn't one of Wally's guys? Remember Brent Johnson was added to the Ring of Honour a year after he retired. He was then later added to the Wall of Fame too. Banks has received zero recognition.

Off topic, I admit to choking up watching Wally's goodbye speech on Tuesday. You realized how much the league has really been his life.

That said, I miscalculated what was going to unfold that day too.

I honestly expected Ed Hervey to come out and apologize on the club's behalf for not only Sunday's game but the way the last 3 weeks of the season unfolded with just horrible performances. Something along the lines how those "no shows" won't be his BC Lions moving forward.
I guess it would have been taking a shot at Wally so he avoided any kind of criticism.

He even praised him at how he had evolved as a coach to relate to today's players and could continued for another 5 years if he wanted to. Huh?

Then suggested it was "just one one of those games" that happens sometimes in the playoffs.

At that point I knew the "love-in" was completely on.

I just hope his actions of the coming weeks will be a lot louder than his words were on Tuesday.

Thanks Sammy for your comment. Should it surprise you that Mark Washington and Jarious Jackson, both Player Council 'leaders' are assistant coaches under Buono.

Where does the great praise of Buono from players arrive from? - It arrives Player Council 'leaders' and former Player Council 'leaders' and those players were named to the Council by Buono and were always given preferred treatment by Buono.

The Carl Kidd's, the Corey Banks, the Dante Marsh's were always on the outside. Heck, Jarious Jackson was named a Player Council 'leader' by Buono when he was a third string quarterback but no Banks, Marsh, etc.

I always have believed that Wally having favorites and having others who deserved better being on the outside hurt our Leos. Jonathan Jennings, Jeremiah Johnson, and Chris Rainey were the players on the outside this season.

I remember well our 2011 season, in which Paris Jackson was punted to the sidelinles for Wally favorite Marco Iannuzzi. Paris Jackson had two 1,000 yard plus seasons in 2008 and 2009 and caught 61 passes in 2010 for 758 yds in 2010.

But in 2011 Wally replaced Jackson with Iannuzzi. Iannuzzi caught a total of 8 passes for 65 yards in 2011 and Jackson never got his starters position back except for the 2011 playoffs, when Iannuzzi was hurt and Jackson made some key catches in those playoffs.

When Wally said, at his final press conference "Why me?" and "God had a plan for him" there were many times I said 'Why him?" too (and for a lot of reasons).

But its over. As you wrote Sammy, the 'love in' was on. Some of it is sincere. Some players really feel a loyalty to Buono because he gave them the opportunity to play and be paid well (in CFL terms). Players as Sol E., Jovan Olifioye, Rolly Lumbala, Travis Lulay, all former Player Council appointees, are the players who tend to praise Wally.

Wally hired Hervey, when he was out of work. Of course, he feels he 'owes' Wally.

For many its mutal benefit. I will blow smoke up your arse and I know you will also 'blow smoke up mine". Its a mutual benefit concept.

But its the silence of others that says a lot too.