Lions 19 - Riders 16, Post Game Comments and Stats

[WestCoastJoe]

The Lions have solved some problems, but some still remain.

VANCOUVER - Sean Whyte kicked a 33-yard field goal with five seconds left on the clock Friday night as the B.C. Lions beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 19-16 to boost their hopes of hosting to a CFL playoff game.

The winning points came after receiver Geroy Simon made a shoestring catch at the B.C. 51-yard line to keep the game-winning drive alive.

Whyte's fourth field goal of the game made up for two misses in a first half dominated by the Lions.

B.C. improved to 6-7 and caught Edmonton for third place in the congested West Division after the Eskimos lost to Winnipeg earlier Friday.

Saskatchewan -- which lost for the second time in three starts -- slipped to 7-6. They remain tied for first with Calgary but the Stampeders can move ahead by winning Saturday in Hamilton.

B.C. backup quarterback Travis Lulay threw his first professional touchdown pass, a 38-yard completion to Paris Jackson for the Lions' only major score.

Lulay, in for starting quarterback Buck Pierce on a second-down short-yardage play, gave the Lions a 13-3 lead early in the second half.

However, Pierce threw for more than 300 yards with Jackson and Simon his favourite targets. Both had more than 100 receiving yards.

Andy Fantuz caught a 24-yard pass from Saskatchewan quarterback Darian Durant to draw the Riders to within two points at 16-14 late in the game.

Durant's scrambling kept Saskatchewan's two-point conversion attempt alive and he eventually found Gerran Walker in the end zone for a 16-16 tie.

Luca Congi kicked field goals of 49 and 47 yards and Whyte conceded a safety for Saskatchewan's other points.

The Lions piled up 272 yards of offence in the first half but could not finish drives and held only a 6-3 lead at the intermission.

Pierce completed 16-of-22 passes, including his first nine throws, but two marches stalled at the Saskatchewan one-yard line.

Tailback Martell Mallett was denied twice from the one and Lulay was also rejected by the Roughrider defence.

While Whyte connected for two field goals, he hit the right upright from 31 yards and was wide left from 45.

Saskatchewan's offence sputtered, converting only one of 10 second-down situations and sacks of Durant, who was intercepted three times ended three drives.

NOTES: Wally Buono was saluted before kickoff for his CFL-record 232nd coaching victory achieved Sept. 19 against Toronto . . . NFL journeyman Damane Duckett started at right tackle for the Lions, replacing Jason Jimenez, who's out with an ankle injury . . . Lineman Gene Makowski played his 246th game for Saskatchewan to tie Ron Lancaster for second-most career games as a Roughrider . . . Quarterback Casey Printers remained on the B.C. practice roster and pivot Jarious Jackson (shoulder) could return next week against Edmonton . . . Saskatchewan and B.C. split their previous two games . . . The teams conclude the season series Oct. 24 in Regina.

The Canadian Press

[WestCoastJoe]

cfl. ca does not have the stats up yet.

Here are some observations from the game.

Buck had superb game management. Threw some deep balls, some over the middle. Used his legs very well. As the radio guys said, it looks like he does not know how to do the Hook Slide. He will not do it. I am guessing he is what he is. He will not play it safe with his body. Other than the third quarter, where his productivity ground to a halt, I thought he looked a lot like the Buck of old. A gunslinger, and a guy dancing through land mines everywhere. Well over 300 yards passing, with some drops in there too. Protected the ball. It was great fun to see him scramble for those yards on the final drive.

Mallett was once again a horse. Man can this guy run? What a treat to watch him.

O Line: some gaps here and there, but I thought they did a lot of things well.

Receivers: Good. Geroy and Paris made plays. As did Arceneaux. Paris has picked up a bit of the dropsies, that contagious disease that Cory Rodgers and Rufus Skillern had. Grice-Mullen might still have it too, along with his propensity to fumble.

D Line: worked their tails off. Lots of pressure on the QB. Great energy against the run.

LBs: very effective for the most part.

DBs: Still have that propensity to give up a huge play at a key time in the game. Fortunately the Riders had no time left at the end, because it looked like they were going through us like a hot knife through butter.

STs: Clutch FG at the end, but some problems here and there. Not sure about this, but I might prefer to have Paul McCallum back instead of Sean Whyte. Sean's punting can be problematic. Slow release. Mis-hits. He ain't there yet, but he is a gamer. This is a tough call.

Short yardage and goal line packages: non-existent. Giulio was all over the Lions for their problems here. He recalled how Doug Flutie said why not use the huge 20 yard deep end zone and run your regular offence? I agree. And leave the QB in the game who got you down to the one yard line, and is obviously in a great rhythm. Plus the QB you bring in is stone cold. Lack of creativity, too much predictability, and reliance on "smash mouth" football are real problems here, IMO. The D has as many men in the box as they can squeeze in there and we try to pound it through them anyway. Here is Wally's short yardage approach ... Bang it in there against all those guys in the box. Forget about using the deep end zone.

Coaching: Very good, except for the Neanderthal approach to short yardage, for which they should be horse-whipped. Is that too strong an opinion? Pardon me, but it is offensive to see such a complete lack of creativity on plays from the 1 yard line, when there is a 20 yard end zone to exploit. Montreal and Calgary have run some nice stuff inside the 5-yard line.

These are just fast opinions off the top of my head after an intense game. Happy to change my view if you see something differently than I did.

[swervynmerv]

Lots of thoughts after that game, I needed some time wind down!!

1. Kudos to Buck. You can never ever say he doesn't have the heart of a Lion(so to speak!!). He stepped up and refused to lose. Hopefully this game will be a turning point for him.

2. Our lack of point production is still a concern. With over 500 yards total offence, it should not have been even close. We seem to bog down in the " red zone". Is that playcalling??? I still would like to see more imagination in our offence.

3. Grice-Mullen, buy some stick um!!! You cost us one game against the Riders and almost another!

4. Martell Mallet. What a horse!! Great pick up. Joe Who??

5. If you think we are critical on Lionbackers, you should listen to the Rider fans on their post-game show! They are out to lynch Durant and Miller. I love it!! They will have to cancel their planned Grey Cup Parade for this week.

[Rammer]

I would also give out a big thank-you to O'neill Wilson, he caught everything thrown his way and a few of them were big 2nd down plays.

Pierce on the series that we hit he FG upright on Whyte's attempt was hurting badly with two solid hits early on that drive. If his ribs were hurting before the game, he really knows where the pain is after the game. With that in mind BP's run for 19 yards was a thing of beauty in the fourth quarter drive, and his sidestep of the defender lead to a collision of Riders that lead to Lucas injury.

Who says 4 quarters don't equal a Buck, he was full value in tonights contest.

[almo89]

Buck had a gutsy game. I still think he needs more time in the pocket. He gets rocked way too much every game.

[WestCoastJoe]

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT

B. PIERCE 29/43 343 0 0

Great game by Buck. I thought he was TKO'd a few times early in the game. It is so annoying when he is clobbered after he has released the ball. The referee is watching and eats his flag. So much for protecting the QB. You can almost see the referee thinking: well the tackler only took 1 and 1/2 steps after the throw, and he didn't launch himself at the QB, and he didn't lead with his helmet. No penalty. Williams finally nailed Durant in the same style. It must have been an even up non call by the ref.

Glad Buck survived. He won't use the Hook Slide, so I am going to just have to hope he can stay out of harm's way.

T. LULAY 1/1 38 1 0
Not bad. 1 pass. 1 TD.

Receiving Rec YDS TD LG

P. JACKSON 8 114 1 38
Huge game for Paris.

G. SIMON 6 134 0 60
Huge game for Geroy.

E. ARCENEAUX 5 40 0 12
More to come from this guy.

R. GRICE-MULLEN 5 38 0 15
O. WILSON 3 31 0 12
M. MALLETT 2 16 0 9
R. LUMBALA 1 8 0 8

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG

M. MALLETT 20 81 0 21
Little Joe Smith. Love the way he runs. Silent Assassin.

B. PIERCE 4 28 0 20

R. GRICE-MULLEN 2 27 0 24
Very slippery on that one run.

T. LULAY 2 4 0 4

Fumbles NO LST REC YDS
R. GRICE-MULLEN 1 1 0 0
A. MCKENZIE 0 0 1 0

Field Goals FG LG XP PTS
S. WHYTE 4/6 43 1/1 13

Punting NO AVG NET LG

S. WHYTE 3 35.7 88 47
Is the Kid ready to take over from McCallum? Not sure.

Punt Returns NO YDS AVG LG TD
R. GRICE-MULLEN 3 19 6.3 11 0
I. SMART 2 7 3.5 4 0

Kickoffs NO YDS LG SG
S. WHYTE 7 406 64 0

Kick Returns NO YDS AVG LG TD
R. GRICE-MULLEN 3 63 21.0 24 0
A. JONES 1 6 6.0 6 0

Defence TKL SK INT FF
J. ARMOUR 4 1 0 0
A. HUNT 4 0 0 0
D. TONEY 4 0 0 0
T. GEORGE 3 0 0 0
S. WILLIAMS 3 0 0 0
A. MCKENZIE 2 1 0 0
R. PHILLIPS 2 0 1 0
K. BANKS 2 0 0 0
R. FOLEY 1 1 0 0
B. MILES 1 0 1 0
J. GLATT 1 0 0 0
B. JOHNSON 1 0 0 0
D. MARSH 1 0 0 0
O. WILSON 1 0 0 0

Looks like 3 sacks. Foley, Armour and McKenzie.
.......................

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT
D. DURANT 18/29 240 1 2

Receiving Rec YDS TD LG
A. FANTUZ 6 90 1 24
G. WALKER 5 33 0 14
W. DRESSLER 4 88 0 46
C. GETZLAF 2 25 0 18
W. CATES 1 4 0 4

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG
W. CATES 10 32 0 11
D. DURANT 1 12 0 12

Nice job by our D, keeping their running game under control.
.........................

Stats from cfl.ca

[TheLionKing]

Nice to see some real blitz packages instead of just rushing 4

[Toppy Vann]

Certainly kudos to Pierce and brickbats to Buono. Buono should be ashamed of himself after his coaching performance tonight goes 0 for 2 and no points from the one yard line while the guy he fingered for his play is sitting on the bench. He doesn't kick a FG he should have had his guy kick. That is bad coaching and they better apply the same standards to themselves they hold their QB too.

Buck apparently had the fingernail torn off his ring finger on this right hand. Yikes that is painful and despite the hits from the porous offensive O-line, he played super as some expected he would.

[pennw]

As for the non-hook sliding WCJ , if you saw the game on TV and heard the commentary through out how Pierce was called out by his coach , that he need to step up his play or they would look else where you might understand why he abandoned the hook slide . But he still did dive down early on one run . The theme basically was that he was playing for his career and certainly he put on a career performance.I also think WB should own up to the terrible coaching blundering going on in the goal line offense . The absurdity of calling out your QB and then when he's playing lights out , pull him at the most crucial times at the one yard line putting in the back-up instead ??? What does that say about the coach ? If only Calgary were so stupid .
Nice to see Benevides grow some nads and call the blitz on 2nd and long instead of the dreaded 3 man rush . Why not make your D look good for a change instead of bad?
While it was somewhat maddening seeing them allow the gangrene pull even at the end , squandering all that great play by the PLAYERS on offense , after the game , I took some satisfaction in one thought about Rider nation ; How they must have felt seeing their team pull even only to have BC drive down for a winning score using all the remaining time on the clock . I know that feeling pulling your hair out seeing the enemy drive at the most crucial time , and I imagine it was like that in Riderville . That is almost worth the frustration early

[Coast Mountain Lion]

Hetherington seemed to be on the field a lot, at least in the second half. Has he had any passes thrown to him at all?

[pennw]

Hetherington seemed to be on the field a lot, at least in the second half. Has he had any passes thrown to him at all?

That was because Paris Jackson hurt his knee , don't recall seeing Heatherington get anything .

[SammyGreene]

A gritty gritty performance by so many last night.

Other than the game-tying TD drive by the Riders, the secondary was superb and everyone contributed. A huge hit by George on Bagg (how solid has this rookie been?), an outstanding INT by Phillips and a terrific read by Miles for the other INT.

Wally called out his veterans to step up their games this week and they certainly did, led by the leadership and poise of Pierce. Really nice to see intermediate routes be his bread and butter last night.
Other than the game earlier this season in Edmonton, Simon was the difference maker we have been so accustomed to seeing — none more than his shoestring catch on the game winning drive.
P-Jack did have one drop but made a number of nice grabs over the middle, putting his 6-foot-3 frame to full use. Fingers crossed that he is okay as that would be a huge loss.

A big win for sure but perhaps even more encouraging was how the Lions pretty much dominated a pretty good Riders team for 60 minutes with only their lack of finish preventing a much more lopsided score. Hopefully the sign of things to come.

[hwgill]

What we need more than anything, based on what I saw last night, is the ability to score when we're on the one. The Lions should have been up 20-3 at the half, not 6-3.

[WestCoastJoe]

What we need more than anything, based on what I saw last night, is the ability to score when we're on the one. The Lions should have been up 20-3 at the half, not 6-3.

I thought it could easily have been 31 points for us at the half, if it were not for our Neanderthal approach to short yardage and goal line offence.

We should leave the QB in who got you there. Run your regular offence, or at least have a package with some options in it. There are acres of space in the end zone, with one on one coverge on our receivers. Mercifully for the fans, at least we actually have some receivers in there now, and not just the Giants package.

(Watching the body language of our receivers at that time, I expect they are thinking: I'm just a decoy. The whole world knows I am not getting the ball.) And that is how the receivers look on goal line plays. Like decoys no one expects to get the ball.

Occasionally, why not run goal line from the spread the way Calgary did? QB draw is there. Pass is there, with one on one coverage in a huge end zone. Running back up the middle is there.

It's a head shaker how we try to pound the ball in against a defence with 9 men in the box, looking for nothing other than a QB sneak or RB up the middle.

And do we actually think defences are not going to pay attention to RGM around the end? They have seen that play now, and if we run it for the rest of the season, I don't think defences are going to ignore RGM.

[David]

Certainly kudos to Pierce and brickbats to Buono. Buono should be ashamed of himself after his coaching performance tonight goes 0 for 2 and no points from the one yard line while the guy he fingered for his play is sitting on the bench. He doesn't kick a FG he should have had his guy kick. That is bad coaching and they better apply the same standards to themselves they hold their QB too.

Buck apparently had the fingernail torn off his ring finger on this right hand. Yikes that is painful and despite the hits from the porous offensive O-line, he played super as some expected he would.

Ashamed of himself? Give me a break!

No points from the one yard line is the direct result of their D-line overpowering our O-line, mano-a-mano. Plain and simple. We didn't have the jumbo formation that everyone was criticizing earlier, but were spreading guys out on the line with Grice-Mullen in motion. Yet Saskatchewan repeatedly penetrated through different gaps. While I wouldn't mind seeing Lulay run a naked bootleg or a pitch-out to Mallet, there comes a time when you have to pin this on your O-line for not getting the job done. Not the Head Coach.

The only thing I would question is the wisdom of sending your quarterback out on the last play before the half to try an ill-advised Hail Mary pass with the kicker standing on the sidelines wondering why the coach isn't showing any faith in his leg. That's all.

DH