Lions at Bombers Aug. 3, 2023

[TheLionKing]

Wonder how many fans are left at the viewing party

[Lion Guy]

Lawlor exposing the donut boys big time tonight.

have you ever noticed that as soon as the Lions have a bit of success they do something stupidly cocky like calling themselves the donut boys and then get slaughtered and embarrassed? Every fricken time. I hate that crap

[TheLionKing]

Looking forward to Oct. 6

[B.C.FAN]

As disappointing as it was, this game can serve as a wakeup call for the Lions, who were getting too high on themselves for being the “donut boys” and holding opponents without touchdowns in four of their first seven games. The Bombers brought them down hard, and B.C. will be looking up at Winnipeg in next week’s power rankings, and perhaps until the rubber match on Oct. 6.

[Walt67]

It's really interesting that in our two losses, the results are lopsided and the team looked very outmatched.
That said - and it is far from excuse - you would hope the schedule maker avoids pitting teams playing on a short week against division winners that are coming off of a bye. That is not a recipe for competitive, watchable football.

[SammyGreene]

The question is how much does tonight undo what the Lions had accomplished up to this point of the season. Most importantly from a confidence standpoint.
A tough task on a short week and against a rested team eager for redemption but Lions seem to have no answer for Kenny Lawler regardless who is covering him and what year it is. TJ Lee might have had his worst game as a Lion.
What is BC going to do in October to counter the Bombers' maximum protection if their secondary can't handle Schoen, Lawlor or Demski in man coverage?
And by contrast Lions offence couldn't counter with any big plays of their own despite its heralded receiving core. Whitehead still in search of his first TD.
At some point over 18 games they need to bail the defence out and didn't come close tonight, not even finding the end zone.

[Toppy Vann]

The Bombers were prepared on both offense and defense for the Lions and the players were dialed in as if it were a playoff game which basically they're competing for - the right to the bye and the WDF at home.

I like the Bombers schemes and play calling and in that last Ottawa loss I thought Buck lost the plot a wee bit in the second half and Richie Hall let Crum run and pass and win. Post that game O'Shea there was nothing in the play of the team that concerned. Turned out he was right judging by this win.

The Lions didn't seem to make any changes to how they played on offense and defense from the last time they played them. They seem to play at the same tempo as they do in practice which is game tempo but it never changes.

Evans tossed that INT where he had Hatcher open for a TD as Duane Forde said. If he was hurt then get the bleep out of there.

Lions are not a team that can make any in-game offensive adjustments as the playbook and signal caller rely totally on execution.

The bombers attacked the Lions man coverage brilliantly on deep balls for TD to Lawler and Schoen.
Even the Bomber's short yardage plays showed some changes as late in the game before the snap there were 4 backs/slots behind the QB who all ran in different directions.

[Toppy Vann]

The question is how much does tonight undo what the Lions had accomplished up this season point of the season. Most importantly from a confidence standpoint.
A tough task on a short week and against a rested team eager for redemption but Lions seem to have no answer for Kenny Lawlor regardless who is covering him and what year it is. TJ Lee might have had his worst game as a Lion.
What is BC going to do in October to counter the Bombers' maximum protection if their secondary can't handle Schoen, Lawlor or Demski in man coverage
And by contrast Lions offence couldn't counter with any big plays of their own despite its heralded receiving core. Whitehead still in search of his first TD.
At some point over an 18 games they need to bail the defence out and didn't come close tonight, not even finding the end zone.

The Lions were probably tricked by the Bombers' max protection thinking run and not the long balls to Lawler and Schoen. That was a change for sure in the Bombers' schemes.

TJ Lee made one great effort to dive on the TD - didn't quit. Yah they got torched but credit to the Bombers protection and the accuracy of Collaros. Also their receivers didn't have to make quite the brilliant catches like the Lions QB Dane Evans tossed in that first half.
I think Collaros and the Bombers just were ready for the man coverage and Collaros had time to hit the throws.
It's clear the Bombers given their personnel aren't afraid to add wrinkles and do it successfully.

The tactics for the second half says HC Rick C was to do just do their jobs. But that hole they were in no doubt was deflating.

Dom Davis hasn't really played other than short yardage. That failed first half 3rd and 1 was lame.

[TheLionKing]

Lions are not a team that can make any in-game offensive adjustments as the playbook and signal caller rely totally on execution.

Gosh, where I have heard that before ?

[yukonlion]

argos also picked apart our man defence.. hope we can figure it out.. more pressure up front helps.

[TheLionKing]

Disagree that Winnipeg didn't do anything different.

[Rammer]

Bombers had something to prove. They played with more intensity at the end of the game than the Lions at any point. Out worked and the Lions will have to show up on the rematch and again in the playoffs.

[SammyGreene]

Maybe the Lions knew exactly what they were doing before the Elks snatched him although the right QB & scheme are big parts of it:

The B.C. Lions have submitted a big offer for CFL all-star receiver Kenny Lawler.

Per sources, the Leos have tabled a contract proposal that would pay the three-down league’s reigning receiving yards leader in the $250,000 range for the 2022 season. If accepted, it would make Lawler the CFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback.

[David]

Problem areas as I see them:

* Weak protection. Oline really hasn't been the same since the last Winnipeg game and we're not finding enough chunk plays/deep balls. Peirson way under-sized and we're not opening enough running lanes for our backs. We may have to go with 3 Imports and put Greene in at safety. Perkins played his worst game of the season.

* Winnipeg and Toronto have exposed our man coverage. If we don't get significant enough pressure, that could spell trouble in the playoffs. The book is out. Throw deep on B.C. (problem is, for most teams, there hasn't been enough time for QBs to set and find an open receiver on say, a go or wheel route).

* Can we talk about the elephant in the room no one seems to want to talk about? Lucky's production. Granted, he may still be suffering the lingering effects of a hamstring but that's another problem. An inability to stay healthy. I still want to see more of Terry Williams at WR or packages.



DH

[David]

Oh yea, does Campbell realize that he CAN throw a challenge flag? There are no bonus points for keeping it in your pocket at the end of the game. Good grief. Our players literally have to be mugged before he will consider it.

Was it not foolish to run out the clock after Williams' long return in the final minute? Couldn't there be tie-breaker potential in which every point counts. We could have at least kicked a field goal instead of taking a knee twice.

We should have had a roughing the passer call on Bighill's late hit on Evans. No need to take him to the ground like that.

Dumb idea to try and execute a low % onside kick with over 9 minutes left.


DH