2024 season Week 2

[B.C.FAN]

Winnipeg starts the season 0-2 after losing 23-19 in Ottawa Thursday.

[TheLionKing]

Torrential downpour and lightning. Glad we have a dome stadium.

[David]

I could see the Bombers pulling that one out after the lightning delay, the way Collaros was methodically marching his team down the field. The Redblacks are still learning how to win but I though they were the better team on the night and deserved the W.

The biggest difference for the Bombers is, thus far, their Oline isn't as effective as years past. Ottawa defenders were constantly in Collaros's face. They looked ineffective against the run as well, with the Redblacks picking up 129 rushing yards on 21 carries.


DH

[SammyGreene]

Lions need to take of business tomorrow to ensure it’s not a battle of 0-2 Western “powerhouses” next Thursday in Winnipeg.

[don corleone]

Last thing the Lions need now is to start thinking about Winnipeg. Two more sleeps for that.

Truly hard to believe how it rains in Ottawa. Year after year we see it. I can only conclude that it must be a warm rain for the people in attendance not to be wearing more layers. It's kind of a leveler on the field. We don't really get 2 hours or more of driving rain in our area. No doubt the gardens are green.

No disrespect to Dru Brown but I would have used more Dustin Crum when the heavy rain was coming down. Fun to see the Bombers insist on going back out but at least they tried. Hard to grade performance but I also thought Dom Rhymes looked good. All in it was a good 2 points for the franchise.

Picking Edmonton tonight.

[David]

Not quite sold yet on the Hamilton Ti-Cats, but the other three East (formerly Least) Division teams look rock-solid.

Argos impressed me the most but teams will have more film on Dukes. Also, hard to imagine clubs not creating more strategies than we did to combat the Argos' aggressive pass rush. Als look very good as expected (great defence) but Ottawa 6-gamed their two starting corners and the Bombers really didn't generate much offence.

It's going to be a great year!


DH

[TheLionKing]

Edmonton drops to 0-2 with a 23-20 loss to the Alouettes. How much longer Chris Jones remain as coach ?

[tedbear]

Not long if he keeps making dumb decisions like he did tonight. Going for nearly 2 yards on 3rd down with 11 minutes left was more risk than reward. Even if they had made it they were still at mid field and would have to drive 55 yards for the score. Punting and pinning them deep was they play. Then on the missed field goal Purifoy running it out with a 4 point lead was one of the dumbest things I have seen. The point meant nothing but the 40 plus yards of field gained would have given them great field position.

Two stupid decisions cost them 100 yards nearly a whole football field. Those are both on the coach. Then later on MBT driving the ball down the field with quick hitters, decides to go long and takes a hit and forces one down the field for an interception.

Three instances where they tried to force something when they did not need to. Coach needs to read the game and make decisions that will help his team win. Tonight he did not.

[SammyGreene]

Not long if he keeps making dumb decisions like he did tonight. Going for nearly 2 yards on 3rd down with 11 minutes left was more risk than reward. Even if they had made it they were still at mid field and would have to drive 55 yards for the score. Punting and pinning them deep was they play. Then on the missed field goal Purifoy running it out with a 4 point lead was one of the dumbest things I have seen. The point meant nothing but the 40 plus yards of field gained would have given them great field position.

Two stupid decisions cost them 100 yards nearly a whole football field. Those are both on the coach. Then later on MBT driving the ball down the field with quick hitters, decides to go long and takes a hit and forces one down the field for an interception.

Three instances where they tried to force something when they did not need to. Coach needs to read the game and make decisions that will help his team win. Tonight he did not.

You nailed TedBear. Just so many self inflicted wounds. Throw in a massive drop by Mitchell that could have been the go ahead TD. What was Purifoy thinking running the miss FG out of the end zone with a 4 point deficit and why wasn’t it Leake doing the return.

The sparse crowd chanting for Ford during game 2 of the Bethel-Thompson era. Just ugly. Not that BT is terrible but the decision not to make Ford #1 on the final year of his rookie contract and use all that extra cap room on other FAs (like BC did in 2022 with Rourke) is just bizzare.

[TheLionKing]

Saskatchewan scores a touchdown with 43 seconds remaining to tie the game 30-30 against Hamilton. On the first play following the kickoff the football deflected off Tim White's hand and intercepted. Riders win 33-30 on a field goal on the last play of the game.

[B.C.FAN]

That was a complete meltdown by Hamilton, blowing a 10-point lead and giving up 13 points late in the fourth quarter, including 10 points in the final minute. Tim White, the league’s leading receiver last year, was the goat, dropping a potential TD pass for the second straight week and letting a ball bounce off his hands for a Saskatchewan interception that set up the winning field goal. The Riders go to 2-0 on the strength of two improbable comebacks while Hamilton bumbles their way to 0-2.

[Toppy Vann]

That was a complete meltdown by Hamilton, blowing a 10-point lead and giving up 13 points late in the fourth quarter, including 10 points in the final minute. Tim White, the league’s leading receiver last year, was the goat, dropping a potential TD pass for the second straight week and letting a ball bounce off his hands for a Saskatchewan interception that set up the winning field goal. The Riders go to 2-0 on the strength of two improbable comebacks while Hamilton bumbles their way to 0-2.

It was great game to watch and the Ticats have to find a way to run the football as Butler had to get most of his yards off catches. Didn't see the game stats yet but that pass to White that he lost to a Riders INT belied the problem of Butler not able to run. Milanovich post game said he needs to fix that as that was a brutal way to lose with BLM playing like he was Zach Collaros.

BLM was quoted in game that his HC said he had to change how he played to be his starter and if he did it, he could play for as long as he wants in the CFL. It looked like BLM is moving like Collaros and it's working.

That third Q was weak for BLM and he started missing targets. He might have got overly amped up.

AJ Ouelette like possibly William Stanback will have a tough time getting 1000 yards in their team's systems.
Butler couldn't run last night but Milanovich is accepting the blame as OC for that.

Marcus Sayles had a rough night with a rookie next to him - torching it was. Should he have put in the line up that fast with the player beside him with little experience. He got torched on both sides of the field.

The jury is out on Corey Mace as a HC when it comes to making changes along with their lack of discipline.
These new HCs who want to be DC's and OC's don't always work out and in big games some bad decisions occur or good ones missed as they're distracted. Dinwiddie blowing the GC game is a case in point.

That’s not the only thing hanging over the coach. Last week, the Riders signed defensive back Marcus Sayles after he was released by the B.C. Lions. It was a rough night for Sayles and for the secondary as a whole, as Ticats QB Bo Levi Mitchell torched the Riders’ defence for several explosive plays.

It could have been much worse if Hamilton’s Tim White hadn’t dropped so many passes, including on the interception that led to Brett Lauther’s game-winning kick.

The defence wasn’t an issue against Edmonton last week, was a change in the secondary necessary? Was Sayles comfortable enough with the defence? When something isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

The helmet coming off Reavis for Sask with the fumble flowing into his body was the right call and the weirdest play I've seen like that. It would have given the Ticats at least a decent FG attempt if not for that. It's like the deliberate going out of bounds rule that doesn't allow a player to come in and make a play rule. It's black and white and not discretionary.

That wasn't the only Riders helmet that flew off in that game either.

https://3downnation.com/2024/06/16/the- ... -hamilton/

[Hambone]

It was great game to watch and the Ticats have to find a way to run the football as Butler had to get most of his yards off catches. Didn't see the game stats yet but that pass to White that he lost to a Riders INT belied the problem of Butler not able to run. Milanovich post game said he needs to fix that as that was a brutal way to lose with BLM playing like he was Zach Collaros.

Use as a receiver has been a big part of Butler's game going back to his start with BC. I think that's because he's very effective as a target coming out of the backfield. Last year he led all CFL tailbacks with 61 catches on 78 targets for 527 yards including 462 YAC. That was in addition to 235 carries for 1116 yards. That's 1643 yards from scrimmage on 295 touches. For the record Mizzell was 2nd with 41 catches and Oliviera 3rd with 38.

When it comes to receiving Butler also gets used differently than Oliviera who gets targeted roughly once for every 6 rushes. Butler gets targeted like an extension of the running game, or forward handoff, whereas Oliviera's averge targets are farther downfield which leads to a higher overall average/catch. With BC in 2022 Butler's average target was 0.7 yards downfield compared to Oliviera at 4.7 yards. I did see the stats pack for 2023 but can't find it on the internet anywhere now. Last year with Hamilton Butler's targets were again 3 or 4 yards closer to the LOS than Oliviera's.