Chap ball will stick around

[almo89]

Looks like Wally will keep Chap around, but will "mentor" him more for more diversified playcalling. Interesting...

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Buono ... story.html

[cromartie]

Site suggestion: Could you add a smiley face in the facepalm position? It would come in handy with articles like this.

So that Grey Cup at home you were thinking about? That'll be all for that. Unless that mentor's name starts with George and ends with Cortez, maybe.

[Lionheart]

More BORING offense. Can we get some cowbell with that?

[Rammer]

More BORING offense. Can we get some cowbell with that?

Seconded, very disappointed with this news, but expected it with Wally's radio interview. How he can be happy with what the fans saw on the field is beyond me, and while he has had brain farts with player personnel on occasion, it is generally corrected eventually. My hope is that JC comes to realize that the fans will be applying the thumb print to his forehead when things don't go well in 2011 on the O, and that he declines Wally's generousity here.

[almo89]

Chap said last year that they can't have more diversified plays if the team can't execute the simple ones. Well the offense was starting to look better near the end of the season, so Chap will not have any excuses now to not come up with more plays. We can only hope that Wally will force him to change it up a bit.

[Big Time]

My guess is you may seem some initial diversity, and then things will go right back to the plain old vanilla offense that killed us this year. If the Lions had won even half of the games they lost in their 1-7 start, they would have been in first place. Many of those losses were directly attributed to the boring, unimaginative play calling that IMO has cost this team championships earlier in the decade. I am EXTREMELY disappointed in this news.

[West Coast Blue Fan]

It's not like injuries to the O-line, the starting QB and placing 24 rookies into the lineup this year hurt us.......

I agree that Chap is pretty one dimensional, but to hang that 1-7 start on him is a bit of a stretch

[Big Time]

It's not a stretch at all. Those games were lost due to an inability to score. The ability to score was directly related to the fact that Chap would habitually:

- Call 2 yard throwing plays when they needed 10 or more yards.
- Run the ball right up the middle even though it hadn't worked all game.
- Abandon the run on the few games where it was effective after a few big plays
- Rarely call plays that stretched the defense more than 15 yards
- Rarely called screen plays or move the pocket to take keep the defense guessing

Yes, the players have to execute in order to be successful, but I would argue that by employing these strategies, the Leos were not going to be in a position be successful even if they did execute. The boring, unimaginative play calling has been the single biggest reason for the Lions mediocre record over the last two years. Sadly, it is unlikely to change for next year.

Chap's been with Wally for ten years. He's not going to change. To paraphrase a former NFL coach, "The Chap is who we think he is. And Wally just let him off the hook".

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[ziggy]

To be fair some of those early loses were due to dropped passes and fumbles at critical times. I'm no fan of Chap, but in all honesty our players weren't helping for a lot of those games at the start of the season. In addition we had no O line and we were struggling to find a QB, so while coaching was part of the problem, it sure wasn't all of it. To lay the blame on one guy is a stretch in my opinion, I don't think it was off the mark when it was stated something along the lines of we can't get fancy when we haven't mastered the basics, because at the time we hadn't.

[TheLionKing]

Not the news I'm hoping to hear. John Henry and Big Times sums up my feelings. Wonder how Buono is going to mentor Chapdelaine when he is admittedly not a "x" and "o" guy

[WestCoastJoe]

It is a self-made storyline, one sure to sell tickets. But coach/GM Wally Buono is convinced the way to an offensive resurgence with the B.C. Lions is to maintain the continuity which comes from retaining Jacques Chapdelaine as offensive co-ordinator.

A storyline sure to sell tickets? Hmmmm ...

Continuity ... good stuff if the product is top level.

Dave Dickenson, one-time star quarterback with the CFL club, will not be returning and instead likely selling tickets holding down the same position with the Calgary Stampeders next year.

Of course DD will stay in Calgary if all he is offered is OC somewhere else. His time will come.

Buono said Wednesday he will not ask Stamps counterpart John Hufnagel for permission to speak with Dickenson because his unbending loyalty to Chapdelaine remains as it was when the two first got together 10 seasons ago in Calgary, despite calls at points last year for a change.

"unbending loyalty to Chapdelaine" ... loyalty is a wonderful thing. I would have to say however that JC does not have a resume or a body of work that will bring offers from all over the league.

The endorsement is not unconditional, and there is always the chance a 2011 contract offer to Chapdelaine will not be accepted. But Buono feels that by issuing a mandate for more diversified play-calling and personnel use next year, the quarterbacks who lobbied for Chapdelaine's return will benefit.

"issuing a mandate for more diversified play calling" ... Well, many of us have commented on that. Fine tuning the pared down play book for the specific weaknesses of each opponent could be a lot better. Unpredictability would be an enhancement. Subtlety is more important these days in pro football. The old idea of "we'll run our plays so well the defence will not be able to stop them, even though we don't disguise anything" is long past.

"I need to mentor [Chapdelaine] more. Maybe I need to ruffle the feathers of the offence more. But I'm supporting him because he showed tremendous resilience," Buono said. "He could have easily fell apart and had a nervous breakdown. He stayed confident. He didn't try to blame anybody."

And how will Wally "mentor Chapdelaine more"? Not with the Xs and Os. IMO Wally has probably encouraged JC over the years to be conservative. IMO Wally has that old attitude of we'll run our stuff and defy them to stop us.

"nervous breakdown" Mama, don't let your sons grow up to be football coaches (apologies to Willy Nelson).

As a player, Dickenson got the most out of the scheme initially designed by Hufnagel and adopted by the Lions. But Buono stressed there is more to the job than having a relationship with starter Travis Lulay and wasn't about to fire a co-ordinator with more experience for a chance to hire one in Dickenson with less.

The scheme was designed by Hufnagel many years ago. Hugnagel runs a modernized version of it. We seem to run the old version, the pocket passing attack with a de-emphasized running game, and minimal anti-blitz scheming, and minimal deception for the defence.

However, Dickenson has permission to interview this week for the top coaching vacancy with the Edmonton Eskimos and will be offered the job of Calgary offensive co-ordinator, formalizing his role last year with the Stamps, if he is unsuccessful.

DD, it seems evident, was OC without the title in Calgary this past year.
...................

I don't believe I've ever called, as a fan, for the removal of Wally Buono, or for the removal of Jacques Chapdelaine. That is up to David Braley.

With some adjustments, it might not even be necessary or something fans would want.

It seems to me what has happened is that Hufnagel and Trestman (and the Riders under Austin and Miller) have raised the bar on coaching in the CFL. What has worked for 20 odd years for Wally needs some updating.

Wally is a survivor. I expect he will push for the necessary adjustments. I would say Wally has been blessed at times with outstanding assistants at the OC and DC level (Hufnagel, Cortez, Ritchie, etc.). It would be hard to make a case that JC and Mike B have provided that.
............

Status quo for next year. We'll see how it goes. We had some hope late in the season with Lulay's arrival as a top level CFL QB. Our talent seems outstanding. Will that transate into a competitive team next year? We'll see.

[Rammer]

Not the news I'm hoping to hear. John Henry and Big Times sums up my feelings. Wonder how Buono is going to mentor Chapdelaine when he is admittedly not a "x" and "o" guy

That is the key factor here, unless he employs an outside viewpoint it won't matter anyways. He needs to find the Rich Stubler of the offensive side of the ball, then somehow get him to use the plays during game time in order to confuse the D's from tendencies that Chap returns to all the time. Then to top that off, Chap has to be able to accept guidance, a trait that I don't think is his strongest point.

[Blitz]

Not the news I'm hoping to hear. John Henry and Big Times sums up my feelings. Wonder how Buono is going to mentor Chapdelaine when he is admittedly not a "x" and "o" guy

That is the key factor here, unless he employs an outside viewpoint it won't matter anyways. He needs to find the Rich Stubler of the offensive side of the ball, then somehow get him to use the plays during game time in order to confuse the D's from tendencies that Chap returns to all the time. Then to top that off, Chap has to be able to accept guidance, a trait that I don't think is his strongest point.

The news is as I expected, with Chap returning. It's hilarious that Wally is going to 'mentor' Chap. Wally is even more conservative than Chap and knows less about offence than Chap does.

Not sure why we didn't offer DD the offensive coordinator/associate HC title and the HC position when Wally steps down, likely at the end of next season. Perhaps Wally wants to give the job to Benevedes. It's not as if Dickenson would be a yes man as a HC...he wasn't as a quarterback, once saying he didn't play for Wally but himself and his teammates, after Wally made a critical comment.

Chap Ball will return for another season. The scheme changed enough in the second half of the season to make it the best improvement for Chap Ball during Chap's entire time with our Leos... but it still has a long way to go.