The Lions will have new starters at seven positions when they come off a bye week to take on the Ticats Saturday in Hamilton.
As previously reported by Ed Willes, four of the five offensive line positions have been shuffled since the Lions' last game against Saskatchewan. David Foucault moves from right tackle to left guard, Phillip Norman moves from right guard to start his first game at centre, Sukh Chungh returns from injury at right guard and former Calgary practice roster lineman Justin Renfrow becomes the latest player to try out at right tackle.
On defence, the biggest changes are at linebacker, where Maleki Harris moves from the weak side to the middle in place of Jordan Herdman-Reed, who has been placed on the one-game injured list with a quad bruise and knee stiffness. Isaiah Guzylak-Messam, who tried out at cornerback and safety in training camp before being moved to backup linebacker, takes over the starting weakside position from Harris.
The final change to the starting lineup is at defensive end, where Charles White moves ahead of Korey Toomer.
Altogether, there are six changes to the Lions' 45-man roster. RB Brandon Rutley, DB Josh Woodman and OL David Knevel join Herdman-Reed on the injured list. WR Gerardo Alvarez and C Andrew Peirson move to the practice roster. RB Wayne Moore and LB Adam Konar are activated from the injured list as backups. WR Fernando Richarte and LB Kevin Haynes are activated from the practice roster as backups.
Lions' depth chart and roster
Edited to correct that Renfrow came from Calgary, not Edmonton.
Lions at Ticats Aug. 10, 2019 - Game Day Thread
Moderator: Team Captains
We were incredibly weak against the run vs Saskatchewan, so even with some of the Tiger-Cat backs injured (Irons and Erlington) and 27-year-old Cameron Marshall starting, I would expect Hamilton to follow the same recipe. Rider O-linemen were getting to the second level with ease two weeks ago and washing out our LBs. I am not confident going into the game with an inexperienced weakside LB.
What happened to Brandon Rutley? This is a major blow, although I like Wayne Moore a lot and his presence should help, if nothing else than for special teams.
Once again, Claudell Louis is on the outs. Junior Luke did not provide much penetration last game but I guess we are somewhat handcuffed by the ratio, with 3 Internationals along the O-line.
DH
What happened to Brandon Rutley? This is a major blow, although I like Wayne Moore a lot and his presence should help, if nothing else than for special teams.
Once again, Claudell Louis is on the outs. Junior Luke did not provide much penetration last game but I guess we are somewhat handcuffed by the ratio, with 3 Internationals along the O-line.
DH
Roar, You Lions, Roar
We play poorly in Hamilton regardless so I have little hope for today; not that it matters anyway as we can't catch whoever finishes 4th. Season done at the beginning of August. Should wonders for attendance in this fragile market.
Hiring Hervey was poorly thought out. I don't know how much Wally had influence on that but his decisions the last few years were questionable at best. Stayed well past his best before date and now we suffer.
This team offers very little hope right now. Look at the defence. That is a semi pro line up.
We let Rose, Orange, Elimimian, Lemon, Lokombo etc walk. Look at how well others that were here are playing. Roh, Bighill, Purafoy, Gaitor, Fenner the list goes on. That's just bad, bad, bad front office management. We have zero pass rush. Zero. We can't blitz, we can't tackle, we can't play the run and we can't cover. Other than that....
On offence what the hell was wrong with Jeremiah Johnson? All he did was gain yards for us and score TDs. We bring in Sutton, bench JJ and he flops. So we cut them both lose for other cast offs. Incompetence. Duron Carter? Lol. I remember looking at the receivers list from TC and thinking man is that this. Looks like I was right, and I know nothing. How can Hervey not see that!?? The O Line just needs to go. For whatever reason they are the wrong mix together, or Chiu has no idea what he is doing.
And of course Jarious "Stunned" Jackson. I remember back to last year..... I sit right behind the Lions bench. Lulay is out with the Offence and Jackson is sitting alone on the bench looking at his iPad. Everyone around me was saying WTF is he doing? We have the ball!!! He needs to go, and I mean the day after this dismal season ends along with Hervery and the rest of them. I would rather we start again because what we have now is embarrassing.
Hiring Hervey was poorly thought out. I don't know how much Wally had influence on that but his decisions the last few years were questionable at best. Stayed well past his best before date and now we suffer.
This team offers very little hope right now. Look at the defence. That is a semi pro line up.
We let Rose, Orange, Elimimian, Lemon, Lokombo etc walk. Look at how well others that were here are playing. Roh, Bighill, Purafoy, Gaitor, Fenner the list goes on. That's just bad, bad, bad front office management. We have zero pass rush. Zero. We can't blitz, we can't tackle, we can't play the run and we can't cover. Other than that....
On offence what the hell was wrong with Jeremiah Johnson? All he did was gain yards for us and score TDs. We bring in Sutton, bench JJ and he flops. So we cut them both lose for other cast offs. Incompetence. Duron Carter? Lol. I remember looking at the receivers list from TC and thinking man is that this. Looks like I was right, and I know nothing. How can Hervey not see that!?? The O Line just needs to go. For whatever reason they are the wrong mix together, or Chiu has no idea what he is doing.
And of course Jarious "Stunned" Jackson. I remember back to last year..... I sit right behind the Lions bench. Lulay is out with the Offence and Jackson is sitting alone on the bench looking at his iPad. Everyone around me was saying WTF is he doing? We have the ball!!! He needs to go, and I mean the day after this dismal season ends along with Hervery and the rest of them. I would rather we start again because what we have now is embarrassing.
It's normally safe to assume if we get a new player, he's from Edmonton
- SammyGreene
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We begin the season with an apparent abundance of national talent (an almost unheard of 10 starters) to having to be creative to come up with the minimum 7 by week 8.
At the bye week, clearly they believe the root of the team's offensive problems lies in the offensive line so there is no choice but to go with 3 Americans. O-line was never this bad a year ago with 4 of the 5 starters still with the team so where or who is the problem?
Meanwhile, the defensive front 7 the Lions are rolling out for this game is about as weak as I can recall, dating back to the 1990s and I hope I'm not insulting that era. We have been spoiled with some exceptional linebackers over the last couple of decades — Simpson, Kidd, Floyd, Bighill, Solly.
Harris, Edwards and a converted national DB/safety. Yikes. I continue to say how can the Lions be so high on Harris when Claybrooks barely used him in Calgary? Wouldn't Toomer be a better option?
And Louis has fallen completely to practice roster status in favour of Luke even though the Riders dominated the Lions defensive front.
To suggest both lines are underperforming under Bryan Chiu and Chris Ellis would be a mild understatement.
At the bye week, clearly they believe the root of the team's offensive problems lies in the offensive line so there is no choice but to go with 3 Americans. O-line was never this bad a year ago with 4 of the 5 starters still with the team so where or who is the problem?
Meanwhile, the defensive front 7 the Lions are rolling out for this game is about as weak as I can recall, dating back to the 1990s and I hope I'm not insulting that era. We have been spoiled with some exceptional linebackers over the last couple of decades — Simpson, Kidd, Floyd, Bighill, Solly.
Harris, Edwards and a converted national DB/safety. Yikes. I continue to say how can the Lions be so high on Harris when Claybrooks barely used him in Calgary? Wouldn't Toomer be a better option?
And Louis has fallen completely to practice roster status in favour of Luke even though the Riders dominated the Lions defensive front.
To suggest both lines are underperforming under Bryan Chiu and Chris Ellis would be a mild understatement.
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Just because you guys are going with 3 Americans on your Oline doesn't mean it's going to be an improvement. The Tiger-Cats have one of the best Dlines in the League. How Foucault is starting over Steward is beyond me? Why Knevel was never given a chance at RT.SammyGreene wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 8:54 amWe begin the season with an apparent abundance of national talent (an almost unheard of 10 starters) to having to be creative to come up with the minimum 7 by week 8.
At the bye week, clearly they believe the root of the team's offensive problems lies in the offensive line so there is no choice but to go with 3 Americans. O-line was never this bad a year ago with 4 of the 5 starters still with the team so where or who is the problem?
Meanwhile, the defensive front 7 the Lions are rolling out for this game is about as weak as I can recall, dating back to the 1990s and I hope I'm not insulting that era. We have been spoiled with some exceptional linebackers over the last couple of decades — Simpson, Kidd, Floyd, Bighill, Solly.
Harris, Edwards and a converted national DB/safety. Yikes. I continue to say how can the Lions be so high on Harris when Claybrooks barely used him in Calgary? Wouldn't Toomer be a better option?
And Louis has fallen completely to practice roster status in favour of Luke even though the Riders dominated the Lions defensive front.
To suggest both lines are underperforming under Bryan Chiu and Chris Ellis would be a mild understatement.
Someone may correct me if I am mistaken, but I recall that the last time that we regularly started 3 Americans on the oline was 2015, when Dorazio was in Saskatchewan and we were woefully thin in National oline talent. The next year, Dorazio came back, Stewart played a full year, Husband switched to centre, and since then our oline depth and talent has been pretty solid. Losing Husband hurts quite a bit because we don't have a starting calibre centre, although Peirson filled in well last year. And Vaillancourt, who was being groomed as a centre, is gone too. And none of our nationals seems to be able to cut it as tackles. We probably needed to go after a centre in free agency, rather than an all-star guard.
Yes, I think you're right. If I recall, 2015 is when Tedford was coaching (he would prefer to go all Americans if he could, lol). I think it was Olyfioye and Draheim at tackle and Jason-something at centre. I just remember talking to him at an event and he was from Long Island NY where I used to live. He had a thick NY accent.
DH
Roar, You Lions, Roar
Jason Foster started all 18 regular season games and the West Semi Final loss to Calgary at centre in 2015. He was released in the following offseason as the Lions changed their ratio to compensate for the loss of national RB Andrew Harris.David wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 2:07 pmYes, I think you're right. If I recall, 2015 is when Tedford was coaching (he would prefer to go all Americans if he could, lol). I think it was Olyfioye and Draheim at tackle and Jason-something at centre. I just remember talking to him at an event and he was from Long Island NY where I used to live. He had a thick NY accent.
DH
Ahhh yes, Jason Foster. Not a particularly remarkable year from what I recall. Not sure why we needed to go International other than what I mentioned, Tedford's preference for them.
DH
DH
Roar, You Lions, Roar
- swervynmerv
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I couldn’t do it. Swore I wasn’t going to watch the game but they sucked me in. Haven’t missed a lot of games in 40 years so it’s a hard habit to break. Hope I’m not banging my head against the wall in 10 minutes.
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Well here we go again Banks wide open for a touchdown