Lions at Redblacks June 30, 2022

[Hambone]

Hatcher was playing the slot position, vacated by Burnham's injury and he sure delivered.

While Lucky did not get many touches, with his speed he has to be accounted for by the D on every play and as such Lucky makes a great decoy. He can also be very effective on short passes followed by YAC. It is a long season and with a small guy like Lucky it is not a bad outcome for him to have some low contact games, while still making an important contribution.

That is true re: Lucky. They like to use him on those short routes in the flat where the idea is to get him the ball quick then let him YAC the rest. If the D gives him the attention needed there it only stands to reason things should open up for the rest of the receivers.

[Hambone]

Second INT, almost a pick-6

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned one aspect of that almost pick-6 that being Rourke's speed and pursuit tracking Hunter down. It was like you may have picked me but you ain't scoring!

It reminded me of Lulay. I was at a game in Commonwealth early in his career when he threw a pick over by the sidelines to TJ Hill. First thought is there goes 6. Nobody is catching him. Wait a minute. Here comes Travis. Lulay caught him to negate what looked like a sure TD.

[David]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned one aspect of that almost pick-6 that being Rourke's speed and pursuit tracking Hunter down. It was like you may have picked me but you ain't scoring!

Any idea why he seemed so incensed when the tackled the guy out of bounds? He made some motion or signal with his arm to the ref.


DH

[Hambone]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned one aspect of that almost pick-6 that being Rourke's speed and pursuit tracking Hunter down. It was like you may have picked me but you ain't scoring!

Any idea why he seemed so incensed when the tackled the guy out of bounds? He made some motion or signal with his arm to the ref.


DH

Other than thinking there was some illegal contact or DPI on Pearson maybe he was just mad at himself for making the throw and venting as a result. I don't recall the end of the play. There were some Ottawa players in the immediate vicinity when he was making the play on Hunter. Was there maybe an attempted block by a REDBLACKS player he thought was cheap or blindsided?

[David]

BTW, why didn't Campbell call a timeout before the end of the half? We had enough time (with a timeout) to march a drive. He redeemed himself on the Lucky challenge but I have my doubts about him sometimes...

I wonder if Lapo will be on a short leash in Ottawa. Two weeks to prepare for our defense and they had virtually no sustained drives and TDs that weren't gifted through turnovers or penalties. Credit to our D of course, but I thought Lapo was the genius playcaller? Great OC but HC? Not so much.

DH

[B.C.FAN]

BTW, why didn't Campbell call a timeout before the end of the half? We had enough time (with a timeout) to march a drive. He redeemed himself on the Lucky challenge but I have my doubts about him sometimes...

Not sure which series you’re referencing. The Lions got the ball at their own 32 yard line with 10 seconds left in the half. There was just enough time for Rourke to take a knee twice.

[Dusty]

Hatcher was playing the slot position, vacated by Burnham's injury and he sure delivered.

While Lucky did not get many touches, with his speed he has to be accounted for by the D on every play and as such Lucky makes a great decoy. He can also be very effective on short passes followed by YAC. It is a long season and with a small guy like Lucky it is not a bad outcome for him to have some low contact games, while still making an important contribution.

That is true re: Lucky. They like to use him on those short routes in the flat where the idea is to get him the ball quick then let him YAC the rest. If the D gives him the attention needed there it only stands to reason things should open up for the rest of the receivers.

I think that Lucky was mainly a decoy with those short crossing / out routes. He continued to limp when he was moving into position or coming back to the huddle. Yes, he needs to be covered, but on many plays, he opened up the intermediate or long routes by keeping his cover guy towards the LOS. His ankle injury likely kept him out of the return game as well.

[Dusty]

BTW, why didn't Campbell call a timeout before the end of the half? We had enough time (with a timeout) to march a drive. He redeemed himself on the Lucky challenge but I have my doubts about him sometimes...

DH

Didn't Campbell lose a challenge and a timeout in the first half???? or was that in game 2....

[Hambone]

BTW, why didn't Campbell call a timeout before the end of the half? We had enough time (with a timeout) to march a drive. He redeemed himself on the Lucky challenge but I have my doubts about him sometimes...

Not sure which series you’re referencing. The Lions got the ball at their own 32 yard line with 10 seconds left in the half. There was just enough time for Rourke to take a knee twice.

Yup. 10 seconds to go 40 yards for a crack at a long FG. As the old saying goes sometimes discretion is the better part of velour.

[David]

BTW, why didn't Campbell call a timeout before the end of the half? We had enough time (with a timeout) to march a drive. He redeemed himself on the Lucky challenge but I have my doubts about him sometimes...

Not sure which series you’re referencing. The Lions got the ball at their own 32 yard line with 10 seconds left in the half. There was just enough time for Rourke to take a knee twice.

On Ottawa's stalled drive before the half, on 3rd down, Campbell should have called a timeout instead of letting them run the clock down. Even Dunigan commented on this. Leone's punt gave us the ball (and a no-yards call if I recall correctly) with not-terrible field position and a chance to drive. But only seconds left on the clock. We just seemed too content with the lead and played it conservatively.


DH

[OV:54-40]

Decent crowd at Lansdowne last night, but still plenty of empty seats - do they even announce attendance for CFL games now ?

Not that much Lions' gear being sported - a few tees & caps, and I saw a Cam Wake jersey off in the distance; I wore my Lions 94 Grey Cup Champs cap - being the night before Canada Day and all, to celebrate a great, historic Canadian sports moment ;o)

[B.C.FAN]

Decent crowd at Lansdowne last night, but still plenty of empty seats - do they even announce attendance for CFL games now ?

Attendance is listed in the box scores on cfl.ca: 20,132

[Hambone]

On Ottawa's stalled drive before the half, on 3rd down, Campbell should have called a timeout instead of letting them run the clock down. Even Dunigan commented on this. Leone's punt gave us the ball (and a no-yards call if I recall correctly) with not-terrible field position and a chance to drive. But only seconds left on the clock. We just seemed too content with the lead and played it conservatively.


DH

Ah. That makes more sense. I was thinking in terms of after the punt although one can't count on the no yards call. That got them the ball at their 32 instead of the 17. I guess on the flip side had they called the TO and not gotten the NY they'd be deep in their own zone with something like 35 seconds to get 55 yards yards into long FG range. They would have to pass to pull that off. With Ottawa still having their TO left it's entirely possible a 2 and out would have BC kicking the ball back to Ottawa with 15 to 20 seconds left from deep in their own zone.

[David]

- Next Saturday is going to be fun. After the Toronto game, and a bit of a reality check after the opener, no outlandish guess on the attendance but just hoping it exceeds 20,000.

I think we should be able to achieve that SammyGreene.

* It's a 3-0 team and a high-powered offense going up against the Grey Cup champs and their stingy D. The storyline has been written.

* Winnipeg is a much bigger draw than Toronto.

* They have 9 days to sell this game. True, they had two weeks for the Argo game, but the club was only 1-0 and Rourke hadn't really become a national story.

* The 4:00pm start will attract families and those living beyond the Metro region. Hoping that it's not too sunny and warm out like today.

* A new promotion in which consumers can purchase tickets for all 7 remaining home games for $129.00 which is a wallet-friendly $18.42 per game. Curious to see if this will move the needle.

The only negative is that A LOT of Lower Mainland sports fans will be traveling down to Seattle that weekend for the Blue Jays-Mariner series.

We've seen the two extremes. I think we're going to see attendance closer to the 2nd game than the first, but something close to a 50% increase from the Argo game (to 20-21K) should be seen as a win (as the season ticket base is low). Baby steps.


DH

[Hambone]

They should do much better David. 3-0 instead of 1-0. The club is proving to be playing the most exciting football by any team in recent memory. Rourke is getting to be a known commodity. Bombers are a historically better draw. Could be a battle of the undefeated for 1st. And the 4pm start should enable folks from farther afield to bring their families without having to spend $300+ minimum for a hotel room. That 7 game ticket offer is really just an extension of the previous 8 game offer adjusted down for 1 less game. But at 3-0 it should look a heckuva lot more attractive. Hard to guess on the Jays factor. I only like to watch them when they're losing. But they do have impact. Where I sat in 241 from 2011-2016ish the two guys behind me never missed a game except for when the Jays were in Seattle.

I just want to see progress at the turnstiles. I want to see the graph trending upwards.