Lionbackers.com

It was a battle for first place between the best in the West and the East. We haven't lost two games in a row at B.C. Place since the 2004 season. This was an important game, with the opportunity to stay ahead of the Riders, and to continue to establish ourselves as the best team in the league.

OFFENCE

"Post-Game Thoughts" starts with offence for the first time in a long time!! It was a totally different Leos offence this game. After posting this week, that our Leos needed to use the “Iâ€

We need to regroup real quick. That was a winnable game tonight.

mccallum cost us the game pure and simple,can't believe we traded away pikula

Geroy Simon had fire in his eyes for the first time this season and got himself open more than any previous game this year.

"got himself open" that is pretty shallow statement from you. They finally got him involved in the game. Your sounding like a coach now. Yeah Im sure Geroy wasnt want to get opet in the other games

However, in the second fourth quarter we started to lock in on our primary receivers and got away from distributing the football to all our receivers.

Exactly! Our offense became a little too predictable. But inaddition to that (sorry mightybuck) Buck was just as guilty as JJ was last week - no touch on the football. If that is because of injuries or something else, it shouldn't matter at this level of play. If you can't perform, get out of the way to someone else who can.

Right now we have to start wondering if we are QB hunting all over again (just as we were before DA came here and just before DD arrived when we were all tired of DA). Do we have a QB this season who can deliver the ball to the receivers? That question is still in debate even with DD in there.

I hate losing. Wish I could give one of my usual lengthy post-game posts but this is the first game all year that I didn't watch. Kinda hard to break down the play of the team when you're just listening to the radio. I just can't believe we lost, this game was our's for the taking and we gave the game to them on a platter. As much as it sounded like our offence improved, we still sounded inconsistent. I'd like to actually see a complete game put together from our offence. What's JH up to right now?

I just cannot believe they lost this game.
I can't believe it.
It hurts even more because it was theirs for the taking, unlike last week, when the Riders deserved to win.
5-2?
Ugggh..
Gonna be a long week for me.
Man, this team can drive you nuts sometimes!

got himself open" that is pretty shallow statement from you. They finally got him involved in the game. Your sounding like a coach now. Yeah Im sure Geroy wasnt want to get opet in the other games

I was a coach at one time so maybe that's why I can sound like one at times. Sorry midwestlion!! Geroy has been open at times in past games but not like this game! Getting him involved early always helps with Geroy but he also had the kind of fire in his eyes this game that he had almost all of last season. If we could have hit him a couple of times, when he was open, we would have pulled away in this game.

I thought it was a great game plan that was unfortunately not executed like it needed to be!!

I'd like to actually see a complete game put together from our offence. What's JH up to right now?

Last week there was good reason to blame our offensive coordinators. It was not the kind of game plan we needed for a thirds string quarterback in his first CFL start. However, overall, this was a brilliant game plan with great play calling overall. Too bad our execution didn't match it!!

Right now we have to start wondering if we are QB hunting all over again (just as we were before DA came here and just before DD arrived when we were all tired of DA). Do we have a QB this season who can deliver the ball to the receivers? That question is still in debate even with DD in there.

Well, at the risk of the "P" word signing Printers to a contract that matched the size of Dickenson's would look good right now with a Pierce/Printers combination. However, that wasn't the majority opinion at the time on Lionbackers.

Buck is banged up and hurt his shoulder on the second to last offensive play of the game to boot. Now he has turf toe, a sore hand, sore ribs, and possibly a bruised shoulder. Matt Dunnigan doesn't believe Dickenson will be back this season. Jarious is still in NFL mould and the only way he has the chance to try to work his way out of it is to play and we can't really afford to do that, wanting to host the Western Final.

I still saw enough flashes from Buck tonight to believe he is our starter for the future but right now things look grim at the quarterback position for two reasons...injuries plus the fact that none of our quarterbacks have played to their potential this season so far. There may be a variety of reasons for that but it's still a fact. We just made those throws last season that we arent't connecting on this year.

Blitz wrote:There was a lot of good things in this game offensively. In this game for the first time this year we ran both inside and outside, moved the pocket, bootlegged, used slide protection, utilized play action very well, shifted, changed the cadence, went multi-formational, and threw short, intermediate, and deep. While we missed some throws and our execution in both the running and passing game needed to be better at times, overall the offensive game plan and play calling in this game was OUTSTANDING. It was a shame that it didn't lead to a win!!

Great summary, Blitz. The offence was solid and creative. Buck played perhaps his best game of the season, coming off an injury and still battling the turf toe that seemed to affect his plant and contributed to the underthrows and perhaps the bad pass on the final offensive play. It was a great read against a safety blitz and could have been a first down, if not a touchdown, if the throw hadn't sailed on him.

I agree the play calling was good. The Lions ran the ball consistently on first down. They didn't have many big gains but they allowed Buck to make shorter second-down throws to Clermont, Simon and Jackson to keep the chains moving. The Lions converted a lot more of their second-down opportunities in this game.

The one play that I would throw out of the playbook is the five-yard out to Geroy in man coverage on second-and-goal from the 5-yard line, especially when they had tried and failed on the same play in the previous game. Those were critical missed opportunities. The inside of the field was open. They attacked it on the oening drive for a touchdown but went away from it when they needed it most to extend their lead.

Blitz wrote: SPECIAL TEAMS

Lost the game. What more needs to be said? Smart had good returns but his fumble and McCallum's two missed field goals created a 9-point swing in a 1-point game. Do the math. It was mentioned on the Team1040 postgame show that McCallum is something like 59 of 69 since joining the Lions, and he was purrfect in the playoffs last year, but he admitted he has had a problem hooking the ball this year and that is causing him to occasionally miss wide left. The problem has been evident in warmups more than games before tonight, and especially when the ball is on the left hashmark. Ironically, tonight he was purrfect in pregame and halftime warmups but was wide left twice from the left side in the game.

Blitz wrote:It was great to see Otis Floyd out there on our defense again and he played well as did Ryan Phillips, who continues his outstanding play at halfback. Miles obviously missed Korey Banks out there for a second game and was forced to play the safety position straight up. However Mark Washington was solid filling in for Banks for the second straight game and Mitchell also played well at the wideside corner.

Floyd made his presence felt, and was a big factor in shutting down Milt Stegall, along with some great play from Washington and Glover. Floyd had a shot at Charles Roberts in the backfield on his long run but missed and Roberts slid through a tiny hole to daylight. Phillips was his usual strong self. Four Lions were in the vicinity of Terrence Edwards when he made his big catch to set up the Bombers' fourth-quarter touchdown but Glenn dropped the ball just over the hand of Glatt and Edwards made a tremendous leap to grab it in front of Phillips and Miles, who were both waiting for the interception.

Miles has been hampered by all the changes in the secondary and has had to play straight up, and that's why the Lions have not been able to crowd the middle of the field and intercept the ball. For a player who dressed but didn't step on the field that I noticed, Korey Banks took up a valuable roster spot. At least he is making progress and is close to getting back into action.

Blitz wrote:Kudos to the Bombers who played a patient, smart game. They took advantage of a key turnvoer, played our running game tough, and got an outstanding performance from Rob Pikula, who punted and place kicked extremely well, stepping in for Westwood. He was a guy I didn't want our Leos to trade and this game reinforced that view.

For our Leos we wasted a great offensive game plan and some excellent play calling, struggling to convert drives in the second half. McCallum's two misses and Smart's fumble certainly hurt in a close game. Our defense played well at times but weren't able to shut down Wiinnipeg's short passing game.

This was a game of missed opportunities as we certainly had our chances to win this game. More work to do if we want to get back to that Grey Cup this season!!!!

Well said. It was a winnable game that the Lions let slip away. Kudos to the Bombers, who are just 3-7 against the Lions in the Wally Buono era. There were a lot of bright spots out there but the Lions usually buckle down and make plays at the end of close games. For the second week in a row at home they failed to do that. Hopefully that doesn't become a trend.

B.C. Fan wrote:

The one play that I would throw out of the playbook is the five-yard out to Geroy in man coverage on second-and-goal from the 5-yard line, especially when they had tried and failed on the same play in the previous game. Those were critical missed opportunities. The inside of the field was open. They attacked it on the oening drive for a touchdown but went away from it when they needed it most to extend their lead.

Drives me crazy too to see them run that out pattern to Simon too... B.C. Fan. Simon hasn't been open on the quick out almost all season...seems like they know when it's coming. The quick post would have been wide open too!!

As you note, we were successful attacking the inside of the field in the first half but started going outside most of the second half.

I LOVED the play action in this game. Buck had decent time to throw the football, except in the six receiver set. As you know I'm not a fan of that formation, except in rare cases. What are your thoughts??

I also agree that all the changes in the defensive backfield, especially not having Marsh and Banks on the weakside, where quarterbacks like to pass most often, has forced Miles to alter his game. In essence Banks and Marsh didn't need safety help so Miles could play much more freely and take more risks in jumping patterns.

It was a good offensive game plan, I thought. I do think they went to the well one too many times with the sweep (trying it to the short side inside the ten -not a good idea.)

But Buck looked right about how I thought he would look. Which is, pretty good considering. Given time, he'll be a bit better than a game manager.

This is more or less how the rest of the season is going to go, folks. You're going to need to gut out the middle eight games until the defense gets healthy. Even being significantly undermanned on defense again this week (and Blitz elaborated on this in another thread) it was a narrow loss that, if McCallum executes, is a win.

I've heard a couple reports that Buck separated his shoulder...can anyone confirm or deny this?

Sadly, despite the positives that have been mentioned, the outcome makes them somewhat moot. Again a very winnable game that for a variety of reasons, we let slip through our fingers. There have been other games where we came out on the positive side of the ledger which could just as easily have gone this way as well. We haven't looked good over all the whole season to this point. We have squeaked by most of our games and now we aren't getting quite so lucky as we have been. Most of this lies with the offense and unless we start getting some production from that area soon, there are going to be a lot more games like we had tonight. I don't think we can explain the lack lustre performances away as early season confusion any longer. We are 7 games in and even with the injuries, we still have a very experienced squad. This team seems to be lacking fire and I am at a loss to explain it. It seemed last year there was a sense of mission. This year, it seems more like "Mission Accomplished". I do hope that we can find a way to overcome this because I see us having QB issues for the remainder of the season. Buck is going to take longer to heal. DD if/when he is back will probably take a while to get into a groove and who knows how long he might last and JJ just hasn't gotten the job done although he seems more rugged than the others. It isn't panic time (when is it?) but if this continues over the season, then we may well be contending for 2nd place let alone first. You don't get points for almost in this league. You either are getting the job done or you aren't and lately we just aren't.

B.C.FAN wrote:Kudos to the Bombers, who are just 3-7 against the Lions in the Wally Buono era.

This was the first home loss against the Bombers since opening night of the Buono era in 2003, a game I remember very clearly for some reason. The other loss was the semi-infamous road game in '05 when Stegall burned us with 4 TDs on 4 catches.

Blitz wrote:Rob Pikula, who punted and place kicked extremely well, stepping in for Westwood. He was a guy I didn't want our Leos to trade and this game reinforced that view.

This was one of the rare times in the Buono era that we were burned in a very obvious way by a player who was cut, traded or not re-signed.

I had a bad feeling going into this game, which has been very rare for any home game in the last few years. 2 home losses in a row for the first time since 2004 like you said Blitz and it starts to feel like bad omens. Take it for what it's worth...

If McCallum is better than 1/3 on makeable FGs we win this game. It looks games are going to be that close on most nights the rest of the season.

This is more or less how the rest of the season is going to go, folks. You're going to need to gut out the middle eight games until the defense gets healthy. Even being significantly undermanned on defense again this week (and Blitz elaborated on this in another thread) it was a narrow loss that, if McCallum executes, is a win.

No question cromartie but after getting out to a good lead our offence went 17 minutes without a first down, which allowed Winnipeg the opportunity to get back in the game. During those 17 minutes we missed a lot of great opportunities to put the game away.

I also questioned Wally's decision to punt from the Winnipeg 43 yard line.

Blitz wrote:
Rob Pikula, who punted and place kicked extremely well, stepping in for Westwood. He was a guy I didn't want our Leos to trade and this game reinforced that view.


This was one of the rare times in the Buono era that we were burned in a very obvious way by a player who was cut, traded or not re-signed.

We would be getting a lot more for Pikula now! However, while I'm not going to jump all over McCallum for a poor game (he's been great at crunch time for us since he arrived) we could have kept Pikula as a punter and back up kicker, especially with his talent...as McCallum isn't getting younger. It's easy to forget that one of our competitors used a first draft choice on a place kicker this season and another is using an import. Good ones aren't always that easy to find!