Riders name Chapdelaine new Offensive Coordinator

The Place for BC Lion Discussion. A forum for Lions fans to talk and chat about our team.
Discussion, News, Information and Speculation regarding the BC Lions and the CFL.
Prowl, Growl and Roar!

Moderator: Team Captains

User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

Report: Chapdelaine to become Riders' OC

CFL.ca Staff

REGINA -- It appears that Jacques Chapdelaine will become the Saskatchewan Roughriders' new Offensive Coordinator.

According to Jamie Nye of the The Green Zone, Chapdelaine is set to become the Offensive Coordinator for the Riders, but mentions that nothing has been signed yet.

Chapdelaine, 53, takes over the offensive reins after the Riders chose not to renew George Cortez's contact at the end of the 2014 season.

This would be Chapdelaine's fourth offensive coordinator position in the CFL, his last coming in 2013 with the BC Lions.
Best wishes to Jacques. Always gracious and accessible to the fans, in my experience. :thup:
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
notahomer
Hall of Famer
Posts: 6258
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2002 12:09 pm
Location: Vancouver

WestCoastJoe wrote:Best wishes to Jacques. Always gracious and accessible to the fans, in my experience. :thup:
Thats how I see it too... I've griped a bit about his designs but certainly respect the person. What worries me now is he going to design some fearsome offence that will terrorize the CFL for years to come? Well, at least if he does, all the other teams will soon be able to see whats working and copy it...... :wink:
South Pender
Legend
Posts: 2779
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:24 am
Location: Vancouver weekdays; Gulf Islands on weekends

notahomer wrote:What worries me now is he going to design some fearsome offence that will terrorize the CFL for years to come?
Yeah...geez, wouldn't that be a richly-ironic twist of fate--Chaps coming into BC Place and killing the Lions with a well-designed and executed offensive game plan. :wink:
User avatar
Toppy Vann
Hall of Famer
Posts: 9789
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2005 12:56 pm

South Pender wrote:
notahomer wrote:What worries me now is he going to design some fearsome offence that will terrorize the CFL for years to come?
Yeah...geez, wouldn't that be a richly-ironic twist of fate--Chaps coming into BC Place and killing the Lions with a well-designed and executed offensive game plan. :wink:
Or Durant sulking as he has to learn new hand signals every game and they struggle as Durant plays poorly to get an OC change.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
TheLionKing
Hall of Famer
Posts: 25103
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
Location: Vancouver

Would be a nice Christmas present if Chamblin would hire Chuck McMann and Dan Dorazio too.
leo4life
All Star
Posts: 385
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:15 pm
Location: vancouver

Will Dorazio & Mcmann be back? They should have been gone with Benny
User avatar
cromartie
Hall of Famer
Posts: 5005
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2002 2:31 pm
Location: Cleveland, usually

South Pender wrote:
notahomer wrote:What worries me now is he going to design some fearsome offence that will terrorize the CFL for years to come?
Yeah...geez, wouldn't that be a richly-ironic twist of fate--Chaps coming into BC Place and killing the Lions with a well-designed and executed offensive game plan. :wink:
His well designed game plans have killed the Lions for years. Why change now?
South Pender
Legend
Posts: 2779
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:24 am
Location: Vancouver weekdays; Gulf Islands on weekends

cromartie wrote:His well designed game plans have killed the Lions for years. Why change now?
LOL. And here it was looking as if Chaps' rep was being rehabilitated on this forum....
User avatar
cromartie
Hall of Famer
Posts: 5005
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2002 2:31 pm
Location: Cleveland, usually

South Pender wrote:
cromartie wrote:His well designed game plans have killed the Lions for years. Why change now?
LOL. And here it was looking as if Chaps' rep was being rehabilitated on this forum....
Some of us have longer memories than others.
User avatar
MexicoLionFan
Legend
Posts: 2051
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:10 pm

There is no questioning JC's abilities as a CFL offensive mind, none at all...the problem with Chapdelaine in BC was that he was given charge over only a PART of BCs offence, not the whole thing, which is a FUBAR and rests on Wally's shoulders...

For any of you out there that have built a playbook, you know that the first thing you do is to create a specific formation...then out of that formation various series...from those series you build your plays. And ANY play, passing or running starts with the OLine and the blocking, THEN you draw up where the "skilled" players go. Chaps had to superimpose his system on top of an OLine that couldn't function consistently at anything, and no one seemed to know exactly what to do on any given down. When JC was put with his back to the wall by Wally (twice) he took charge of the blocking schemes for the new formations and series that he drew up, these offences became the best in the league.

I completely understand Cro's (and others) frustration at JC...my huge frustration with JC was always his STUBBORNESS where he continued to run the SAME SERIES without any changes from the OLine...it got our QBs killed. Now, who's fault was that? JC for his pigheadedness, Dorazio for his complete incompetence or Wally for CREATING this imbalance and disharmonious situation? I vote Wally!

With a strong Offensive Line and an ability to control the blocking schemes, JC could easily have the most formidable offensive system in the CFL by week 9...and to an extent, I hope that he achieves it because it will help to point the finger back at the real problem with the BC Lions since 2008, which has been Wally Buono and his "old boys club" mentality!
"Condemnation Without Investigation is the height of ignorance."

Albert Einstein
Blitz
Team Captain
Posts: 9094
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:44 am

MexicoLionFan wrote:There is no questioning JC's abilities as a CFL offensive mind, none at all...the problem with Chapdelaine in BC was that he was given charge over only a PART of BCs offence, not the whole thing, which is a FUBAR and rests on Wally's shoulders...

For any of you out there that have built a playbook, you know that the first thing you do is to create a specific formation...then out of that formation various series...from those series you build your plays. And ANY play, passing or running starts with the OLine and the blocking, THEN you draw up where the "skilled" players go. Chaps had to superimpose his system on top of an OLine that couldn't function consistently at anything, and no one seemed to know exactly what to do on any given down. When JC was put with his back to the wall by Wally (twice) he took charge of the blocking schemes for the new formations and series that he drew up, these offences became the best in the league.

I completely understand Cro's (and others) frustration at JC...my huge frustration with JC was always his STUBBORNESS where he continued to run the SAME SERIES without any changes from the OLine...it got our QBs killed. Now, who's fault was that? JC for his pigheadedness, Dorazio for his complete incompetence or Wally for CREATING this imbalance and disharmonious situation? I vote Wally!

With a strong Offensive Line and an ability to control the blocking schemes, JC could easily have the most formidable offensive system in the CFL by week 9...and to an extent, I hope that he achieves it because it will help to point the finger back at the real problem with the BC Lions since 2008, which has been Wally Buono and his "old boys club" mentality!
Chap or Dorazio ran the spread offence here from 2005 to early 2011. . The spread offence during that time was the offence that just about every offensive coordinator in the CFL used. The only exception was in 2007, when, with Huff as consultant, Kruck as the play caller, and Kruck and Dorazio as co-offensive coordinators we ran both a two back set and the spread single back set. Dorazio was our offensive coordinator in 2008 and 2009, with Chap as the receivers coach and play caller but we still ran the spread.

Our spread offence from 2005-2011 was not an inferior scheme nor were our plays poorly designed. In fact most of the plays we ran during those years were the standard types of plays that were run out of almost every spread offence. Just like the West Coast Offence or the Pro Offence, it is a 'system'. Cavillo quarterbacked a spread offence in Montreal, Durrant in Saskatchewn, Ray in Edmonton, etc. There wasn't a CFL team in the CFL that wasn't running the spread during those seasons.

My major complaints were 1) we were using a spread offence (ChapBall) when it's due date was past 2) We had the fortune of having mobile quarterbacks in Printers, Pierce, Jackson, and Lulay (2010) and a different offensive system was better suited to their mobility and talents 3) our offensive line was not good enough and the spread offence, without a good offensive line gets your quarterback killed 4) the spread offence is very vulnerable to blitizing defenses and we got blitzed a lot because a) we had difficulty with stunts and b) the blitz helped take away the mobility of our quarterbacks and 5) we did not have good anti-blitz strategies (which is typical of most spread offences which relies on quick quarterback reads in the passing attack and 6) the spread is very limiting in the running game.

When Chap changed his offence, after a slow start in 2011, and went more to a pro offence with power formations, using much more motion and misdirection, his scheme, I felt was ahead of the curve in the CFL. I have no idea why Chap changed his offence. I used to think that Chap was a spread devotee...that it was all that he knew because he, like Cortez before him, had been inculcated into that system in Calgary. However, it was obvious this season, with Chap gone, we moved back to the spread offence, big time, using the old Calgary play book, including the six receiver set, this season. Therfore, I believe it was the offence that Wally wanted Chap to run here in B.C.

Under Wally, the spread offence is the only offence that has been used since the days of Hufnagel and Tedford in Calgary. Cortez ran the spread, Chap ran the spread in Calgary, Chap took over from Burratto, who was not a spread offensive coach, and ran the spread. This season Jones ran the spread. The only exceptions to the spread offence were in 2007, when we ran a hybrid pro and spread offence and 2011-2012, when Chap went more pro offence, with some spread aspects. In 2013, we tended back at times to more of a spread offence but finished the season using more pro offence, with more power sets. Chap gets blamed for that but when I analyze it, it seems more and more that its the offence that Wally wants. We got rid of Chap and in 2014 Jones ran the old Calgary playbook more than any time in our last 10 seasons or more.

Chamblin is not an idiot. He wanted Cortez gone and he wanted Chap as his OC. Chamblin has won a Grey Cup early in his tenure as a first time HC. He obviously likes the scheme that Chap ran against him and knew how difficult it was to defend or he wouldn't be hiring him and especially knowing that it would likely be a less popular choice that 'smilin Paul', who is likeable.

I was very unhappy that we were a spread offence from 2005 to early 2011 and unhappy with Chap for using that offence. But that does not mean that I have to be unhappy with him forever, because he did. When he changed our offence in 2011, I was much happier and thought that his offence, with its pro offence elements, was what was needed in the CFL. Most CFL teams are still in the spread offence. Most have better offensive line play, apparently better offensive line coaching, and are better at picking up stunts.

When I looked at other CFL offences the past few seasons I didn't see better schemes in their passing attacks. I saw mostly pocket passing out of the spread offence, with the traditional mix of crossing patterns and vertical passing and layered routes. I didn't see a ton of anti-bltiz plays or screens or anything special. What I did see was that most CFL teams offensive lines gave their quarterbacks more time to throw than we did. I didn't see most CFL teams rolling out their quarterbacks more than we did. In fact, we ran more designed roll outs for Lulay more in 2011 and 2012 than any CFL quarterback.

What innovative offensive systems did we see this year? Calgary was mostly in the spread but they run the football so well out of it with their offensive line blocking. Same for Edmonton. Toronto runs the spread offence as does Hamilton and Montreal. Cortez was in the spread offence all season in Saskatchewan, as he always is, and when the Riders won the Grey Cup with Cortez, they ran the football so well because their offensive line blocked so well and because they also had a tailback who was an excellent runner - they couldn't duplicate that this season out of the spread, before Durrant got hurt.

When Chap goes to Riderville, he will bring a scheme that is much more advantageous than most CFL teams have. Calgary is so good, not because of scheme, but because they run block and run the football so well that it sets up great play action and because Huf and Dickenson are running some innovative things out of the spread offence. Edmonton has improved offensively for the same reasons. Other than those two teams, its the same old, same old offensively. Some offences are just executing better or blocking better.

A big reason that I'm excited about Tedford is because he abandoned the spread and went pro offence (California has gone back to the spread with their new HC) and I believe that a multi-formational offence with a pro offence base, rather than the spread, is the way to go right now, as defenses have more than adjusted well to the spread. Offence was down again in the CFL this season, as defenses continue to innovate and most offences are still stuck in the spread and are stale.

Watching New England and Seattle in the NFL abandon their base spread offences of the past and go more pro offence has reinforced that premise.

Continuing to beat on Chap for old transgressions may alleviate some old angst. I haven't forgotten my old feelings of frustration about our offensive scheme under him from 2005 to early 2011. But I also believe he was told to run the spread and he had an unusual situation in that Dorazio was his boss for two seasons, Dorazio got to design and coach the run game, and Dorazio was not his hiring but Wally's. I very highly doubt that if Chap had wanted a new offensive line coach, he would have gotten his way.

Its been a unique situation here in B.C. under Wally dating back to 2004, when Wally put Burratto in the booth towards the end of the season and had Chap call the plays on the sidelines, while Printers was enjoying a great first year as a starter and had such a good relationship with Burratto. It was unique to have two co-offensive coordinators in 2007. It was unique to have Dorazio as our offensive coordinator in 2008 and 2009, while Chap called the plays.

It was unique to have our offensive line coach design the run game and coach it, while Chap in the past or Jones this season called the plays. It was unique to have Wally be in charge of the short yardage team every season, when he had no offensive experience - usually that is the role of the OC. It was unique this season after Benevedes chose not to gamble on third and one twice in a game this year and then have Dorazio tell him to gamble on third and three later in the game. Very confusing stuff.

But confusion has often been the name of the game in the Buono era. We;ve had a lot of confusion regarding who would be the starting quarterback too often over the years, from the Dickenson/Printers fiasco that Wally mostly created, from the 2004 Grey Cup decision to the 2005 "who will be the starting quarterback and only named to the team on the day of the game to offering Priinters a starters contract, with Dickenson still here in 2005, to using Pierce during the 2006 Grey Cup game to the Pierce/Jackson juggling to bringing Printers back and then siging him as our starter. We've had more confusing game calls than I can ever remember during the Buono era, from punting from the opposition 35 yard line to turning down more third and one's that is logical.

Its been a successful era generally, in the Buono era, with ups and downs, lots of playoff losses, two Grey Cup wins since 2003,since he arrived. We did not have a lot of winning seasons in our Leos history so we've been appreciative, mostly based upon the fact that we were mostly used to watching losing teams. But there have also been a lot of things happen here over the past 11 years that have not been usual....its just become our normal.

I have no idea how the Tedford era will turn out but right now I have a sense of confidence that a lot of confusion will begin to leave our Leos organization and especially if he gets to hire his own staff.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
User avatar
squishy35
Legend
Posts: 1782
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2004 1:53 pm
Location: Kamloops, B.C.

Personally, I would love to see some big inside receivers developed under Tedford's reign.... (ala tight end formation of the Harry Holt and Rick Ellis last ran by Vic Rapp). Linebackers are sacrificing size for speed in the spread offence defensive formations it seems. I am curious to see where Tedford directs his future coaching staff.
User avatar
Toppy Vann
Hall of Famer
Posts: 9789
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2005 12:56 pm

The only time that the OL coach was in synch with the play caller was with Kruck as co-OC. Then JC returned and with the REC playing a bizarre role during the years of the powerful players council Kruck was undermined and subsequently gone. Since then the backups haven't been as ready as they were with DD, CP, BP and JJ (injured most of 200% from pre-season). No QB coach of note.

The non rehiring of Kruck for a a stronger coach after his good and loyal service speaks volumes about how Wally views his disposable assets.

Durant and Chapdelaine strikes me as a worse mix than Ricky Ray and JC. We know what Durant did with the even more abrasive Doug Berry and his short term HC - Greg Marshall.

While blitz has shown how the reincarnate JC has run the BC offense well I wonder how much the problems were with the lack of coherence with the OL coach.

If it were an orchestra it'd be like having the violinists under the Concert Master and a second performer from the second violinists in charge of half of those players plus accountable to the Conductor. The sound might not be in synch if they interpret the composer's work differently.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

http://www.riderville.com/

Riders Name Chapdelaine Offensive Co-ordinator 2014-12-19 00:00:00
The Saskatchewan Roughriders today announced the hiring of Jacques Chapdelaine as offensive co-ordinator.

The veteran coach has spent 13 seasons coaching in the Canadian Football League after originally entering as special teams co-ordinator and receivers coach with the Calgary Stampeders in 2001. The next season Chapdelaine was named as the Stamps offensive co-ordinator.

The 53-year-old went on to spend ten of the next 11 seasons (2003-2006, 2008-2013) with the BC Lions including six years as offensive co-ordinator. He spent the 2007 season with the Edmonton Eskimos as assistant head coach and offensive co-ordinator.

Through eight seasons as the head signal caller, Chapdelaine’s teams have compiled a 79-64-1 record, playing in four division finals, winning two grey Cups.

Chapdelaine joins the Green and White after spending last year as head coach at his alma mater Simon Fraser University in the NCAA’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference. As a player, Chapdelaine starred with the SFU Clan in the 1980’s before moving on to a seven year career in the CFL making stops in BC, Montreal, Hamilton and Calgary.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
Post Reply