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From today's Blitz section:

FRIDAY
Saskatchewan at B.C., 7 p.m.
Talk about a totally different vibe. Here's Riders coach Ken Miller in the Regina Leader-Post after his first win: "I've hugged the players and tomorrow I might hug them again. I thanked everyone. I would like to point out that our assistant coaches were sensational. It's a tremendous organization to work with and I'm so happy to have a leader like [general manager] Eric Tillman." The Lions played in Calgary like spoiled kids who somehow believe their Grey Cup title last year was stolen from them. Truth is, they haven't played a decent game now since last Halloween.
Province pick: Riders.

Anyone sense the Province's talented beat writer doesn't get a good vibe from the Lions these days? He also picked the Stamps to win last week.

Given the Lions precarious offensive line situation (Valli in and Murphy currently in Florida) this prediction is hardly a stretch.

SammyGreene wrote:From today's Blitz section:

FRIDAY
Saskatchewan at B.C., 7 p.m.
Talk about a totally different vibe. Here's Riders coach Ken Miller in the Regina Leader-Post after his first win: "I've hugged the players and tomorrow I might hug them again. I thanked everyone. I would like to point out that our assistant coaches were sensational. It's a tremendous organization to work with and I'm so happy to have a leader like [general manager] Eric Tillman." The Lions played in Calgary like spoiled kids who somehow believe their Grey Cup title last year was stolen from them. Truth is, they haven't played a decent game now since last Halloween.
Province pick: Riders.

Anyone sense the Province's talented beat writer doesn't get a good vibe from the Lions these days? He also picked the Stamps to win last week.

Given the Lions precarious offensive line situation (Valli in and Murphy currently in Florida) this prediction is hardly a stretch.

The Lions are beatable right now, I was hoping that the attitude of the Lions "being better than the rest" would be left behind the door coming into this season, but that wasn't evident against the Stamps last week. Top that off with Simon's comments about the Lions getting teams 'A' games whereas the Edmonton's and Saskatchewan's don't get that game from the rest of the league....

Lions had better start looking at themselves in the mirror, we have a ton of adjusting to do in order to find ourselves.

Rammer wrote:

SammyGreene wrote:From today's Blitz section:

FRIDAY
Saskatchewan at B.C., 7 p.m." Truth is, they haven't played a decent game now since last Halloween.
Province pick: Riders.

Lions had better start looking at themselves in the mirror, we have a ton of adjusting to do in order to find ourselves.

How about a good swift kick in the pants?

Didn't we get that last Thursday night

Lowell Ullrich, who covers the Leos with rapt attention has not been happy since the beginning of last season with our Leos practice habits. He's has perspective, having covered the Leos for a few years now.

Ullrich did not seem to be impressed with the Leos at training camp this year as well or their first week of practice. Kelly Bates said last game was the worst loss he can remember and said if the Leos were not pissed then they shouldn't be playing football.

However, he also agreed that Leo team has mostly been a set lineup and few players have been pushed but also believed this was a veteran group that had pride.

We set a record for wins in the regular season last year, even with a lack of intensity at practices. However, we were overconfident in the WDF, as a number of Leo players have said. We'll find out against the Riders whether this team is hungry enough or not. Wally was patient last season and has been patient again this season. Winning helps but if we start losing Wally's patient approach will likely dissipate very quickly!!

For the love of God, PLEASE don't let the Riders win. Their fans are insufferable at the best of times, and a win over the Lions will have them planning the Grey Cup parade, and it's only July. :x

I know CFL teams can never 'afford' to lose. However, (IIRC) the Lions have had some struggles busting outta the gate a few of the past few seasons. That being said, I sure don't want to watch a Riders win anything like how the Stamps won. We'll never hear the end of it.

In 2006, Lions went 2-3 in their first 5, including a defeat at Taylor Field that should have been a victory. Then came the famous rant in the locker room by Dave Ritchie, with the other coaches joining in. Things happened, including the departure of Antonio Warren and Sam Young.

A veteran group to be sure, but lately one that spends much time reading its press clippings from a year or two past. If the Lions show up, they win a squeaker; if that team from last week shows up, they get blown out by a powerhouse Regina squad.

Looking forward to seeing Stith in at LT, where Murph was so badly outmatched last Thursday due to his lack of practice reps. Jarious will need to start swiftly this week IMO, or the Lions will be down 2 TDs before he has a chance to get on his game.

And the defence needs to have learned how to tackle.

Saskatchewan by 4.

Blitz wrote:Lowell Ullrich, who covers the Leos with rapt attention has not been happy since the beginning of last season with our Leos practice habits. He's has perspective, having covered the Leos for a few years now.

LU is like a windsock and only weighs the way the Lion's blow, as far as what Kelly Bates has to say about that is just that, wind until the offensive line proves that our success begins and ends with their dominance to control the line of scrimmage.

Blitz wrote:We set a record for wins in the regular season last year, even with a lack of intensity at practices. However, we were overconfident in the WDF, as a number of Leo players have said. We'll find out against the Riders whether this team is hungry enough or not.

Hunger is a commodity that is measured in wins and losses and we are not off to a good beginning, as you know Blitz. Wally has been too complacent as he freely admitted this off season since our last Championship, and has yet to distinguish himself from that of a coach like Don Mathews as winning back-to-back championships, as so Wally cannot afford the luxury of patience this season if he hopes to go out of this game as that of "the Don's" equal, not yet!

I hate to share in Lowell's assessment, but there's a part of me that is very worried about Friday night. I know that it won't be the end of the world if we lose, but starting 0-2 is not the way you want to try and forget about how '07 ended up. For the good of this team's mental well-being, we need a W.

No need to panic, regardless of the outcome.

I'm not feeling terribly optomistic though. I'll (grudgingly) give the Riders the edge in this one.

Always happy to be proven wrong, however.

No Ordinary Joe wrote:I hate to share in Lowell's assessment, but there's a part of me that is very worried about Friday night. I know that it won't be the end of the world if we lose, but starting 0-2 is not the way you want to try and forget about how '07 ended up. For the good of this team's mental well-being, we need a W.

We are all afraid to loose Joe that is why our victory is assured, if we recognize it can give us the proper perspective, attention to detail, intensity, and focus, unlike our attitude last Thursday.

The issues WCJ outlines in his practice report concern me too.

I was not a fan of listening to that stuff from HC on down about the bad taste of the WDF and how that was the driver to this season. Heard Angus Reid say now the focus is game to game. Finally sanity prevails.

The intensity will improve for sure Friday. This team is too highly skilled not to come out fired up and playing hard.

That said, I am concerned that the new coach on D will take a season to learn his job and the O coaching structure and JC unhappy being in the booth and the QB - coach situation will be major distractions to this team.

I watched the first part of Monday practice and was unimpressed with the way the D were warming up and was trying to remember if it looked that unstructured with Dave Ritchie there. Not much is being said in the media about the loss of DR as DC but I think it is huge. When I watched how DR interacted with his players including injured guys there sending in the signals it spoke volumes of how this guy coached and how comfortable he was to let his players including injured keep in the game and keep focused even when not playing. Didn't see that with MB in the pre-season home game but it is early and he is learning and has huge shoes to fill.

With hockey on about giving Sundin $10 million to come to Vancouver, I can't help but think how much more would have it taken to keep DR here as DC. I think more $$$ would have kept him from retiring. I am pretty confident in that as he did want to be HC at Sask. These assistants get worse money than average players.

I completely agree Toppy. Coach Ritchie was a huge loss. I was very upset when the news broke of his departure from the team. With that said though, I'm not throwing in the towel on Mike yet and I don't want to use the Calgary game as a measuring stick for his ability. That was an abomination at every level and I'm willing to completely give the team a pass on it. It that same type of effort is displayed on Friday night though, it'll start to look like a very alarming trend and a cause for concern. Friday's game is definitely a big deal despite only being the 2nd game of the season.

Solar Max wrote:In 2006, Lions went 2-3 in their first 5, including a defeat at Taylor Field that should have been a victory. Then came the famous rant in the locker room by Dave Ritchie, with the other coaches joining in. Things happened, including the departure of Antonio Warren and Sam Young.

A veteran group to be sure, but lately one that spends much time reading its press clippings from a year or two past. If the Lions show up, they win a squeaker; if that team from last week shows up, they get blown out by a powerhouse Regina squad.

Looking forward to seeing Stith in at LT, where Murph was so badly outmatched last Thursday due to his lack of practice reps. Jarious will need to start swiftly this week IMO, or the Lions will be down 2 TDs before he has a chance to get on his game.

And the defence needs to have learned how to tackle.

Saskatchewan by 4.

Good post.

NiteHawk wrote:For the love of God, PLEASE don't let the Riders win. Their fans are insufferable at the best of times, and a win over the Lions will have them planning the Grey Cup parade, and it's only July. :x

Ya think we are bad, Calgary was planning their parade route after the win last week.