Alouettes 30 - Lions 25 Post Game Stats and Comments

[WestCoastJoe]

Stats coming.

Helluva game.

I have one complaint.

Pass protection is more like a sieve.

The commentators talked about the pressure all night.

Valli got beat like a drum.

Calvillo barely got touched.

I suppose people are going to put it on Lulay again.

Not me.

[WestCoastJoe]

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT
T. LULAY 24/39 275 2 0

Receiving Rec YDS TD LG
A. BRUCE 6 76 2 31
S. GORE 5 57 0 21
A. HARRIS 5 56 0 36
G. SIMON 3 31 0 13
A. FOSTER 2 20 0 13
M. IANNUZZI 1 16 0 16
P. JACKSON 1 14 0 14
E. JACKSON 1 5 0 5

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG
A. HARRIS 8 56 0 18
T. BROWN 4 19 0 6
T. LULAY 3 20 0 11
M. REILLY 1 1 0 1
S. GORE 1 1 0 1

Fumbles NO LST REC YDS
T. LULAY 1 0 0 0

Field Goals FG LG XP PTS
P. MCCALLUM 3/4 47 2/2 12

Punting NO AVG NET LG
P. MCCALLUM 7 43.6 266 56

Punt Returns NO YDS AVG LG TD
T. BROWN 6 106 17.7 56 0

Kickoffs NO YDS LG SG
P. MCCALLUM 5 312 64 0

Kick Returns NO YDS AVG LG TD
T. BROWN 5 164 32.8 61 0
S. FOORD 1 17 17.0 17 0

Defence TKL SK INT FF
L. SHELL 6 0 0 0
A. BIGHILL 5 0 0 0
K. BANKS 4 0 1 0
D. MARSH 3 0 0 0
K. MITCHELL 3 0 0 0
K. SMITH 2 1 0 0
B. PARKER 2 0 0 0
A. MCKENZIE 2 0 0 0
R. PHILLIPS 1 0 0 0
C. MUAMBA 1 0 0 0

[WestCoastJoe]

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT
A. CALVILLO 19/31 321 2 1

Receiving Rec YDS TD LG
B. WHITAKER 6 64 2 28
B. BRATTON 5 91 0 42
S. GREEN 4 87 0 50
E. DESLAURIERS 3 73 0 39
P. LAVOIE 1 6 0 6

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG
B. WHITAKER 9 48 1 13
V. ANDERSON 3 10 1 5
A. CALVILLO 1 9 0 9
B. BRATTON 1 -5 0 0

Fumbles NO LST REC YDS

Field Goals FG LG XP PTS
S. WHYTE 1/2 37 3/3 6

Punting NO AVG NET LG
S. WHYTE 6 46.5 173 53

Punt Returns NO YDS AVG LG TD
J. FOSTER 4 27 6.8 9 0
B. BOWLING 1 12 12.0 12 0

Kickoffs NO YDS LG SG
S. WHYTE 6 361 68 0

Kick Returns NO YDS AVG LG TD
V. ANDERSON 5 122 24.4 31 0

Defence TKL SK INT FF
C. COX 10 0 0 0
B. PARKER 5 0 0 0
S. EMRY 4 0 0 0
J. BROWN 4 0 0 0
W. OSAISAI 4 0 0 0
V. JENKINS 3 2 0 0
D. ANDERSON 3 0 0 0
K. INGRAM 2 0 0 0
K. HEBERT 2 0 0 0
A. CASH 1 0 0 1
J. BOWMAN 1 0 0 0
B. BOWLING 1 0 0 0

[WestCoastJoe]

I'm outta here.

Back later to read the critiques of Lulay, and how he has to do this and do that, et cetera.

[lion24]

This game was a little frustrating, at times I thought the Lions were lucky to be in the game and then made some key plays at other times. I thought this was one of the poorest defensive performance this season with the tackling, lack of pressure on Calvillo and some gambles, especially Muamba, that didn't pay off. I can let this one go a bit with the road games and travel etc. but I am concerned with pass protection and the lack of adjusting (coaching?) to the defensive pressure. The biggest frustration was the 3 chances to score at the end of the game and Lulay just running for his life again. How about handing the ball off on first just in case Harris can run it in???

[cromartie]

I have multiple complaints.

Valli. Another tough night from Archibald. Not giving the line help in the 2nd half when it was obvious it was needed. Probably should have run more. A good game plan but a limited capacity to adjust. Rolling Travis away from the pressure, a staple of the game plan in the opening week win over Winnipeg, needs to once again be a staple of the game plan, because Travis cannot get a clean pocket.

Special Teams played well, aside from Brown's decision to bring out the field goal. So that's something, I guess. Difficult to evaluate the secondary when the pass rush isn't getting there. Defense adjusted well at halftime to the underneath/screen/run game.

That said, this is what games in Montreal look like every year, so it's difficult to get disappointed. We'll see what next week brings, I suppose.

[Blitz]

Cavillo doesn;t get touched because he gets rid of it fast...why do you think we went with a 3 man pass rush most of the time...because there is no sense blitzing him.

Still, I agree with you regarding our blocking...we did a poor job of picking up stunts and loops too often. Loved the screen pass to Harris in the late stages but wish we would have run more screens earlier.

We ignored Earnest Jackson again...which was unfortunate...he is a big target and could have been a guy to go to down near the goal line.

Tough loss...but we had our chances. We had very good field position a lot in the second half. Brown made a couple of key runs to get us two field goals.

Not sure why Benevedes did not let McCallum kick a field goal in the 4th quarter from the Montreal 46 yard line..he had kicked one from the same spot successfully earlier in the game. We also blew another field goal attempt with an illegal substitution before McCallum shanked the punt.

It was a battle out there. Montreal blitzed us like hell as anticipated. We dropped a lot of people into coverage which was the best strategy for us against Cavillo.

Looking forward to the return match at home next weekend.

[Belize City Lion]

Can't fault Lulay one bit tonight. He looked poised and was effective when he (rarely) got the protection he needed. Watching him run for his life time after time was like watching DD circa 2005. Only difference is that Lulay seems like he can take hit after hit.

The running game seemed to get more effective as the game wore on. Harris showed a few glimpses of the guy in 2011 who bounced off the first and second attempts to tackle him.

Bruce was money. Loved seeing PJack make a huge catch. Starting to get a bit concerned about PM.

Other than a major penalty early I don't think I heard Kahlif Mitchell's name mentioned. Defense needs to get a few more licks on AC next week.

All in all, a very entertaining game.

[cromartie]

Cavillo doesn;t get touched because he gets rid of it fast...why do you think we went with a 3 man pass rush most of the time...because there is no sense blitzing him.

I'll disagree. The Als spent 3/4ths of the game with a tight end who stayed in to block. This did the following things:

1) It gave Calvillo more time to throw. And because of that:
2) He was able to exploit holes in the zone beyond 15 yards. That's not a throw you make "getting rid of it fast" relatively speaking.
3) In the first half, because we rushed four and dropped eight, and because Calvillo had time, and blocking, as a result, the Als were able to use the underneath game effectively.

Now, defensively we adjusted in the second half by keeping Banks at home as a spy out of the backfield. But being four against six for most of the game is what prevented us from getting pressure which prevented us from forcing Calvillo to throw earlier than he wanted to, putting our secondary in exploitable positions (and it wasn't the best decision making night on their part either).

Correspondingly, we didn't help out our line nearly enough. Archibald was beaten badly on the last series of the first half. Valli can't stop a twist to save his life. In those circumstances, you roll Lulay away from that pressure, cut the field in half, or run into the pressure, because though the pass blocking was bad, the run blocking was good.

Four major fouls and a penalty differential of 11-2 didn't help matters.

After all that, to only lose by five, I suppose, is not as terrible as it could have been.

[SammyGreene]

Highly entertaining game with Lions one play away from winning a thriller.

Gutsy effort by Lulay while under immense pressure for much of the night. Loved his one 4th quarter run where he is turning the corner and giving instructions to Ford to pick up blocks as he put his head down and got the first down. Our receivers (cough cough Akeem Foster) could learn from his determination for extra yards.

Valli is really struggling right now. What a time to get his blocking assignment messed up and leave his guy unblocked to get right in Lulay's face and force him to throw off his back foot to Bruce.
Als offensive line was terrific. Least effective I have seen our front 7 look all season. Tough night for Bighill who will have nightmares of Brandon Whittaker dancing by him in his sleep.


Thought we didn't take advantage of Brown's two big returns to start the second half. Both drives began inside the Als 40 and only 2 FGs to show for it.

[cromartie]

I think sj-roc tracks starting field position (I did not) but I'm betting this game had our best non turnover generated average starting field position of the season.

[South Pender]

I could only catch the second half. Geroy was out by then. What was the nature of his injury?

[cromartie]

I could only catch the second half. Geroy was out by then. What was the nature of his injury?

Hamstring.

[South Pender]

I could only catch the second half. Geroy was out by then. What was the nature of his injury?

Hamstring.

Any indication of the severity?

[B.C.FAN]

That was a great game between the two best teams in the league. The Lions came up a play short on the road. It sets up a fantastic rematch at B.C. Place next week.

The Alouettes' offensive game plan was to attack the Lions' zone defence where it is most vulnerable, with short passes on the outside. They succeeded by overloading the wide side of the field with four receivers against three defenders or three receivers against two defenders and throwing wide receiver screens to their playmakers, S.J. Green and Brandon Whitaker. The only way to stop that play is for a B.C. defender to fight through a block and they coudn't do it. Brian Bratton also made some great grabs on short seam routes inside before Calvillo opened it up with two longer passes on the game-winning drive, one of which was misplayed by Cauchy Muamba in coverage.

The Alouettes won the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. They gave Calvillo the two seconds he needed to get rid of the ball and they converted several clutch second down plays on the ground for first downs or touchdowns, something that few teams have been able to accomplish against B.C.'s front seven.

Travis Lulay and Arland Bruce had strong games for the Lions but the Alouettes were in Lulay's face all night with linebackers and DBs and the Lions didn't do enough to counter the blitz. Andrew Harris had 112 yards from scrimmage on 13 touches but should have been used more on screen passes and dump-offs.

The advantage the second game of a home-and-home series usually goes to the team that lost the first game. The Lions can see clearly why they lost and take corrective measures. Full credit goes to Marc Trestman an Anthony Calvillo for this one. It will be tough for them to pull off back-to-back wins.