A Shocking Drubbing By The Eskimos-Here's Why!!

[Blitz]

We went into last night's game, having beaten the Eskimos twice (a strong win with Jarious, a lucky win with Buck at the controls last game when Simon pulled one of the hat) and with a playoff berth on the line and playing at home, one either expected a huge win by our Leos or a close exciting game.

So what the hell happened??

1. THE CASEY PRINTERS INJURY

There was a noticeable change in the body language of many Leo players when Casey Printers got hurt early in the contest. The team sagged a little. Printers play had breathed new optomism into the Leos team. It was a similar situation in 2004, when Wally announced to the team that Dickenson was starting the Grey Cup game, after Printers had played outstanding and was the MOP. A change in the quarterback position can do that. However, our Leos had dealt with quarterback injuries all season. The difference, however, was the team also knew that Buck would not likely last and Zac Champon was likely not prepared. Did all those thoughts run through their minds at that moment. Unlikely, but it was a disappointing blow to the offence, early in the game. You could see it especially on Geroy.

2. BUCK PIERCE AS THE BACKUP

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that Wally would use Buck as a backup and play him even if it meant hurting his shoulder further. Buck won't likely be back next season but Wally wanted to win now and playing injured quarterbacks is part of his history. However, giving Buck second reps and not giving Zac Champion enough reps with the first team offence, prior to this game, was not smart. Wally should have been prepared, if Printers went down, then it would likely be Zac Champion finishing the game.

3. WE DON'T HAVE AN OFFENCE THAT HAS PLAYS TO BEAT A BLITZ.

Opposition defenses blitz the hell out of us and always have in the Wally era. Our offence, under Chap (what a joke it is to call Dorazio our offensive coordinator while the receivers coach calls the plays) just doesn't have an anti-blitz package and never has. Why have we been successful at times in the past. Well, Dave Dickenson hung in there for an extra hallf second and took a severe beating, Printers in the old days and recently had to excape like a magician, Jarious tried to get back as deep as possible and threw long, and Buck tried to use a nicel and dime approach which required purrfect execution to succeed.

When we've been successful offensively against the blitz, it's usually been due to some exceptional play from the quarterback position. It certainly hasn't been due to the offensive scheme, which doesn't screen, utilize designed rollouts with blocking, tight ends, etc. to burn blitzing defenses.

Calgary didn't want Chapdelaine, Edmonton didn't want him either. He's a good receivers coach but he is not offensive coordinator material. He's too conservative, too predictble, and too rigid. Give Kruck another chance...he would be a major improvement.

4. OUR RUNNING ATTACK IS TOO VANILLA

We added the toss sweep to the attack as a second play to our running attack but we're still blocking our one running play using with a vanilla zone blocking scheme. Edmonton crosss blocked, trap blocked, and used a very impressive blocking scheme, zone blocking while peeling back their tackle to trap block.
Defenses are more on to simpel zone blocking shemes these days because they'vve seen a lot of it and the backside defnesive end stays home.

5. SHORT YAARDAGE OFFENCE SAYS EVERYTHING

When you can't execute third and a foot and you've struggled with short yardage so often it says everything. Here somethning simple a high school coach can see.....we go on the same sanp count almost all the time and defenses are reading our snap count and into our backfield before our offensive line hardly moves.and yet our coaches have still never addressed it.

6. MIKE BENEVEDES IS IN OVER HIS HEAD

Mike Benevedes is a dedicated young coach but he wasn’t ready to become a defensive coordinator yet. He was an enthusiastic, good special teams coach who also got to work with the linebackers to continue to learn under Ritchie but he really doesn’t have a total grasp yet of how to be a successful defensive coordinator and his learning curve is painful to our success.

Benevedes tried to stop the run last night. He used three linebackers on first down and then he started to bring Barren Miles up for run support. What he needed to do was run blitz on first down. To make matters worse, he chose to blitz on second down against Ricky Ray, sometimes on second down and five. You can’t blitz Ricky Ray. He’s the one quarterback you play a tighter zone defense against. If I know that, sports writers know that, and game commentators know that, Mike Benevedes should know that. We're passive most of the time, when we should be more aggressvie, and when we need to be more passive, we take stupid risks.

Last nights game, in terms of trying to shut down the run, was another embarrassment. It would never have happened to Dave Ritchie, even if he had high school players out there. He knew how to make game adjustments.With Benevedes and Mark Washington as Wally disciples and with little experience in their present positions and not having the presence or stature necessary with the players they coach, we are suffering.

Mike Roach should be the defensive coordinator. He knows more about defense in his little finger than our other two coaches have in their totality.
We’ve also made some horrible decisions defensively. We stuck with Javy Glatt too long at middle linebacker and didn’t have a suitable replacement. Armour has done his best but is not the answer. We blew it by not playing Jamal Johnson in the past and then not wanting him to be our starter and lost him to Hamilton when he returned after his NFL tryout.

We pined Lavar Glover for almost the entire season when he is obviously a better corner than George. We kept Ricky Foley on the bench when it was obvious he should have been getting more game reps last year than Brent Johnson and we’ve kept Brent as an every down player when his play hasn’t deserved it. Ritchie would be kicking asses and getting the most out of his players.

We need to hire Ritchie as a consultant next season, like we did with Hufnagel in 2007.

7. SPECIAL TEAMS

McCallum has hit 13 field goals in a row and should never have been demoted for one game-another bad personell decision. Gryce-Mullen had another big return last night. However, our special team downfield coverage and tackling was horrible last night our biggest game of the season and perhaps said it all-we are not being coached well enough to win.

9. COACHING

Wally has assembled a lot of yes men around him that he has trained in the CFL. Chap, Dorazio, Benevedes, and Washiington do not have the personalities or mindsets to take our strategies in new directions. Wally is not an x and o’s coach. Quite frankly we’re stuck.

[SammyGreene]

Chap, Dorazio, Benevedes, and Washiington do not have the personalities or mindsets to take our strategies in new directions. Wally is not an x and o’s coach. Quite frankly we’re stuck.

Nice breakdown of the horror show Blitz. Just a complete ass kicking on our home field and for the THIRD time this season. Unfrickin real.

The downfall of the organization began when Braley decided they could go through the 2009 season without hiring a club president. This was a vote of confidence for the jobs George Chayka and Wally Buono were doing.
We saw the some old boring marketing plan and watched their attendance take a significant hit this season. On the field, it was the same old same old with Wally as he insisted all he needed to do was go younger to upgrade his team by userhing out Tyrone Williams, Otis Floyd and others. Meanwhile, it was the same predictable and conservative schemes on both sides of the ball.
Now this team has gone from 1st to 4th in three years.

What really scares me is as you suggest "we're stuck." Let me add I don't want Wally to be shown the door. I have a lot of respect for the man and what he has done in this league and for the Lions. I just think he has way too much authority and nobody in the organization is going to 2nd guess anything he does.

[Wakefan]

Blitz, I agree that our offensive attack against the blitz is a joke. Where are the screen passes to Mallett and the quick slants over the middle to Simon and Jackson? Saskatchewan continuously blitzed us a couple of weeks ago and we almost never counteracted it with a smart football play.

As for the defence, I am not a football coach so I am not an expert but I have watched almost every Lions game for the last twenty years, so I feel I have gained some knowledge. Benevides is in over his head, but it also appears that we HAVE TO make 7 or 8 personnel changes next year. On a positive note, I believe Calgary made about that number of changes last year and they won the cup.

As for who should go, Brent Johnson and Aaron Hunt are no longer effective players especially considering they probably make over $100,000 each. Jeremy Gibbs is young but he constantly gets pushed out of the hole on every running play, and you can't have that in a nose tackle. Ricky Foley needs to be resigned quickly because he is a free agent in February and you know he will get some significant offers. Thankfully, Anton McKenzie's play has improved significantly in the last two months, but at times, he still looks like an average player. Glatt and Armour are not starting linebackers anymore. Unfortunately, if we get rid of Glatt and Johnson, that eliminates two Canadian starters and who replaces them? As for the secondary, it looks like Dante Marsh is on the down side of his career as he regularly gets beat by speedy receivers and Darren Toney has been exposed lately. One time last night, we blitzed both safeties, Crawford and Miles, and Fred Stamps was wide open behind Toney. That is just pathetic! Korey Banks should definitely be back and maybe Miles can return as a part time player and special teams participant. I am not sure what to think about Phillips and Glover though they should probably return because you can only change so many players on defence.
Lastly, if I am Wally, I think long and hard about offering the head coaching job to Dave Ritchie. Wally could then concentrate on his job as GM. Dave Ritchie teams were never outcoached and more importantly, outworked like we have been too many times this year.,

[Blitz]

Great insight Sammy and Wakefan.

Our defense was so bad that I really doubt Printers could have led the offence to enough points to win this one. Of course wally will try to lay it off on the quarterback position or the flu...rather than take responsibility.

He installed Chap by listening to a small cadre of players. He installed Benevedes and Washington in their positions before they were ready. He had the opportunity to turn the reins over to Ritchie as Head Coach, to stick with Kruck/Dorazio as offensive coordinators, who were moving in the direction of running the football more back in 2007, before it became more in vogue, and he promoted Benevedes when he should have talked a wise, experienced guy in Mike Roach to take the reins (since we know he won't go outside...they wouldn't be a Wally clone that way) Wally knows he's not an x and o's guy so he needs bright coordinators to adapt to the ever changing nature of the CFL, in terms of strategy.

Edmonton had the 8th best runnning attack in the league coming into this game. We still couldn't shut them down. Yes, our personell needed to be better but the fact is that our personell was better than the performance. We also employed bad defensive strategy. We needed a quick, fast, explosive linebacker like Jamal Johnson this year in a two linebacker setup.

This game really showed how much our coaching needs to improve. We didn't lose this game due to the quarterback position. When a team like Edmonton can run on our defense at will, our quarterback, no matter who he is, is watching the game on the sideline.

[bclions16]

Maybe the coaching wasn't great, but too many games the effort wasn't there. We should keep in mind the circular nature of winning and losing, and we can't expect to be the only team that doesn't have off years or melt-downs. And yes, we do need to fix a lot of problems, and should expect to get better.

[bclions16]

It was a similar situation in 2004, when Wally announced to the team that Dickenson was starting the Grey Cup game, after Printers had played outstanding and was the MOP.

Interesting point, I hadn't heard that before.

[cromartie]

This game really showed how much our coaching needs to change.

Fixed.

All of this was predictable at least a year ago. But some of you kept hoping a savior at QB would bail you out. In the end, even you succumbed to that idea, Blitz, which is disappointing.

Let's see if we get the type of offseason we need, or how many years the beatings will continue until Mr. Braley tires of it. As we've learned, unfortunately sometimes, he's a pretty patient man.

[SammyGreene]

Let's see if we get the type of offseason we need, or how many years the beatings will continue until Mr. Braley tires of it. As we've learned, unfortunately sometimes, he's a pretty patient man.

Exactly, he sat back during the Adam Rita era and did nothing until Bob Ackles came along.

[ziggy]

This game really showed how much our coaching needs to change.

Fixed.

All of this was predictable at least a year ago. But some of you kept hoping a savior at QB would bail you out. In the end, even you succumbed to that idea, Blitz, which is disappointing.

Let's see if we get the type of offseason we need, or how many years the beatings will continue until Mr. Braley tires of it. As we've learned, unfortunately sometimes, he's a pretty patient man.

Bring in Miller from Sask and we will be contenders again?

[TheLionKing]

Let's all hope that Wally Buono has an epiphany while lying on the warm beaches in Hawaii and fire Chapdelaine and Benevides. Perhaps Christie Buono has a couple of capable replacements in mind.

[hwgill]

Let's all hope that Wally Buono has an epiphany while lying on the warm beaches in Hawaii and fire Chapdelaine and Benevides. Perhaps Christie Buono has a couple of capable replacements in mind.

...and end up with a Lumbala version of coaches?

[Blitz]

This game really showed how much our coaching needs to change.

Fixed.

All of this was predictable at least a year ago. But some of you kept hoping a savior at QB would bail you out. In the end, even you succumbed to that idea, Blitz, which is disappointing.

Let's see if we get the type of offseason we need, or how many years the beatings will continue until Mr. Braley tires of it. As we've learned, unfortunately sometimes, he's a pretty patient man.

Well, cro, I'd have brought in Trestman but you thought he was a lousy coach!

I did succumb to the idea that perhaps Printers could bring some unpredictability to our very predictable offence and perhaps pull off a miracle. However, I also realize that no quarterback, over an extended period of time, can overcome the deficiciencies of our scheme cro...and you know how long I've been *beeotch* about it, even during our glory days. It's like a giant piano a quarterback and an entire offence has to carry on their back each and every game.

In the good 'ol days we had Ritchie and his defense to bail us out but we don't have that anymore either. I really believe we should hire Ritchie as a consultant. It will be a huge mistake when Buono steps down, which will be soon, if not this year, definitely at the end of next season and if it's Benevedes, the heir apparent or Chap, with Mark Washington as the defensive coordinator, we're in huge trouble for the future as well.

[WestCoastJoe]

1. THE CASEY PRINTERS INJURY

There was a noticeable change in the body language of many Leo players when Casey Printers got hurt early in the contest. The team sagged a little. You could see it especially on Geroy.

Yes, from the upper level of the stadium one could see the players sag, especially Geroy, whose productivity had been re-kindled by Printers.

2. BUCK PIERCE AS THE BACKUP

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that Wally would use Buck as a backup and play him even if it meant hurting his shoulder further. Wally should have been prepared, if Printers went down, then it would likely be Zac Champion finishing the game.

True. Zac was not prepared to play. And who could blame him? Bumped all the way down to 5th string. Not given reps as a starter. An unfair test due to his unprepared state.

3. WE DON'T HAVE AN OFFENCE THAT HAS PLAYS TO BEAT A BLITZ.

Opposition defenses blitz the hell out of us and always have in the Wally era. Our offence just doesn't have an anti-blitz package and never has.

When we've been successful offensively against the blitz, it's usually been due to some exceptional play from the quarterback position. It certainly hasn't been due to the offensive scheme, which doesn't screen, utilize designed rollouts with blocking, tight ends, etc. to burn blitzing defenses.

It's a head shaker. I can't help but think that Wally doesn't like screen passes, QB draws, slant passes, dump passes, anti-blitz blocking or anything of the sort. Does anyone really think our OC, or DC for that matter, call (or game plan) anything other than what Wally wants?

4. OUR RUNNING ATTACK IS TOO VANILLA

We added the toss sweep to the attack as a second play to our running attack but we're still blocking our one running play using with a vanilla zone blocking scheme. Edmonton crosss blocked, trap blocked, and used a very impressive blocking scheme, zone blocking while peeling back their tackle to trap block.
Defenses are more on to simpel zone blocking shemes these days because they'vve seen a lot of it and the backside defnesive end stays home.

We don't adjust at half time. No surprise because we don't change during the year. No surprise there either because we don't change schemes in the off season. Vanilla all the way, except in the most bizarre circumstances.

5. SHORT YAARDAGE OFFENCE SAYS EVERYTHING

When you can't execute third and a foot and you've struggled with short yardage so often it says everything. Here somethning simple a high school coach can see.....we go on the same sanp count almost all the time and defenses are reading our snap count and into our backfield before our offensive line hardly moves.and yet our coaches have still never addressed it.

Even skinny Ricky Ray gets to push the ball in behind a line that is no more talented than ours, less so I would say. I am reluctant to blame our players for the failings of our short yardage and goal line shambles.

6. MIKE BENEVEDES IS IN OVER HIS HEAD

Mike Benevedes is a dedicated young coach but he wasn’t ready to become a defensive coordinator yet.

Turning down the Argos job is revealing. How could a coach who is ready turn down such a huge promotion? Even if promised the HC job in Vancouver at a later time, I would think a confident, ambitious coach would take the one offered at the present time.

We're passive most of the time, when we should be more aggressvie, and when we need to be more passive, we take stupid risks.

Mike Roach should be the defensive coordinator. He knows more about defense in his little finger than our other two coaches have in their totality.

Mike Roach does not like the prevent defence, nor taking a passive approach. But he is not really a Buono disciple. Buono prefers coaches who do it his way. Buono must have had many an argument with Dave Ritchie, his friend, but who has a greatly different philosophy of football.

We’ve also made some horrible decisions defensively. We stuck with Javy Glatt too long at middle linebacker and didn’t have a suitable replacement. Armour has done his best but is not the answer.

We blew it by not playing Jamal Johnson in the past and then not wanting him to be our starter and lost him to Hamilton when he returned after his NFL tryout.

I have to wonder why Jamall Johnson did not get an opportunity with the Lions. I am guessing he was considered too freelance, too much of a gambler, not willing to play it exactly as the coach wants. All he has done is join the season late and lead the league in tackles. JJ had countless fans in B.C. who are convinced thay saw his potential. Potential that Buono either did not see or chose to ignore.

We pined Lavar Glover for almost the entire season when he is obviously a better corner than George.

Wally is very selective whom he chooses to punish. The rules seem different for some players. Joe Smith, Lavar Glover. But others go on and on with poor performance and are unpunished.

We kept Ricky Foley on the bench when it was obvious he should have been getting more game reps last year than Brent Johnson and we’ve kept Brent as an every down player when his play hasn’t deserved it.

Yep. I expect Foley does not exactly fit the profile of the subservient attitude Buono seems to want in his players and coaches. If Wake had stayed, I expect Foley would have had to wait a lot longer to get playing time in place of Johnson, who seemed to mail it in most of the time this year.

9. COACHING

Wally has assembled a lot of yes men around him that he has trained in the CFL. Chap, Dorazio, Benevedes, and Washiington do not have the personalities or mindsets to take our strategies in new directions. Wally is not an x and o’s coach. Quite frankly we’re stuck.

Yes, we might be stuck. Buono rules the roost. Braley attends games, but is an absentee owner otherwise. Ackles great leadership and wisdom are missed. It is Wally's show. And I think Wally's weaknesses are becoming more evident.

Some fans and coaches prefer a conservative approach, but our conservatism borders on Neanderthal. Predictable, without innovation, without adaptation, without subtlety, without sophistication, without variety, without an attack philosophy, with a play safe, play scared, play afraid to lose mentality all the time.

[cromartie]

Well, cro, I'd have brought in Trestman but you thought he was a lousy coach!

I did succumb to the idea that perhaps Printers could bring some unpredictability to our very predictable offence and perhaps pull off a miracle. However, I also realize that no quarterback, over an extended period of time, can overcome the deficiciencies of our scheme cro...and you know how long I've been *beeotch* about it, even during our glory days. It's like a giant piano a quarterback and an entire offence has to carry on their back each and every game.

In the good 'ol days we had Ritchie and his defense to bail us out but we don't have that anymore either. I really believe we should hire Ritchie as a consultant. It will be a huge mistake when Buono steps down, which will be soon, if not this year, definitely at the end of next season and if it's Benevedes, the heir apparent or Chap, with Mark Washington as the defensive coordinator, we're in huge trouble for the future as well.

I'm somewhere between surprised and shocked by Trestman, who didn't show me a damn thing in the NFL. But good on him for turning me into a believer. (Incidentally, when Tom Cable is fired in Oakland, look for them to take a run at him for the HC job.)

I'd gladly write Ritchie a check to consult. And I do think Benevedes, in his role as ST coach and non-import draft head, has value to the organization. But it isn't as a DC.

I don't have a great opinion on Special Teams, so I'd love some feedback. Is it scheme or talent? (And I don't mean to ask that question about the guys catching the ball, it's really more a question about the guys doing the blocking?)

Chap I'd give a one way ticket to the domestic destination of his choice. (Though, again, he strikes me as someone who could probably run a CIS program pretty well).

It should also be obvious that this coaching staff is in dire need of a Quality Control Assistant. Knowledge is power and someone who can give whomever the replacements on the staff are both self scouting and opponent scouting information, on a full time basis, would be of great help.

[cromartie]

Turning down the Argos job is revealing. How could a coach who is ready turn down such a huge promotion? Even if promised the HC job in Vancouver at a later time, I would think a confident, ambitious coach would take the one offered at the present time.

As I learned the hard way once, a bad promotion is not better than no promotion at all. With Rita, Mohns, and Clemens all capable of sticking their fingers in your pie, and a personnel situation that was a mess, I would have most likely turned it down too were I in his position.

I have to wonder why Jamall Johnson did not get an opportunity with the Lions. I am guessing he was considered too freelance, too much of a gambler, not willing to play it exactly as the coach wants.

I loved the guy too, but he couldn't stay healthy.

I am reluctant to blame our players for the failings of our short yardage and goal line shambles.

I've always said that if you can't get one yard on third down, you don't deserve to win, especially in a league that lines up one yard off the ball. That said, you at least need to open up the playbook often enough to keep teams honest about what you are willing to do at that down and distance and that hasn't been done.