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Beamish picks the Leos.

Will we see an upbeat Leo team under Jennings? Possible.

Beyond that? Dunno ...

O. D. STs. Look for more of the same ultra conservative systems and play calling.

Why change? Thousands of reasons. All chronicled here. But I expect we will stay the course.

Our season is on the line. Our franchise seems to be on the edge of an abyss. Too extreme? I don't think so. But we have some players with pride and skill. They will give it their all. And football can be a game of breaks. Pretty much anything can happen in one game. Over a season, however, weaknesses in an organization will show.

Issues ... Weak, curious drafting. Recruiting. Systems. Chain of command within the staff. NFA Zone: No Free Agents Zone. DVZ. Discarded Veterans Zone. Cronyism. Et cetera ...

The next two games are the most important of the season. Lose them both and the Lions are in danger of finishing last overall. Win them both with Jonathon Jennings leading the offence and the future looks a lot brighter. The Riders are playing well and have confidence and some momentum. They'll probably be more pumped to play the Lions than the Stamps and Esks were in the past two weeks. I like what I've seen from the Lions in all three phases of the game lately. If they can get Harris re-established, they can play with anyone. But they'll have to be at their best this week.

B.C.FAN wrote:The next two games are the most important of the season. Lose them both and the Lions are in danger of finishing last overall. Win them both with Jonathon Jennings leading the offence and the future looks a lot brighter. The Riders are playing well and have confidence and some momentum. They'll probably be more pumped to play the Lions than the Stamps and Esks were in the past two weeks. I like what I've seen from the Lions in all three phases of the game lately. If they can get Harris re-established, they can play with anyone. But they'll have to be at their best this week.

Montreal got their butts kicked last night as Henry Burris set a CFL record for completions and completed something like 45 of his 54 passing attempts.

Our Leos still have a very good opportunity to finish 3rd in the West, in spite of this horrible season so far and also avoid the East crossover situation with Montreal struggling. Bet Jim Popp wishes he never went down to the sidelines again.

Our Leos have to beat out Winnipeg and Saskatchewan in the West, two other struggling teams. With Jennings at quarterback we have a quarterback with an arm who can make the accurate throw. He has a lot of poise for a rookie and our passing attack has been so much better with him at quarterback. However, he lacks experience and we'll need to give him the best situations to succeed.

The Riders offence slipped with their third string quarterback but Glenn is back at the helm of a well designed offence. The Riders defense has not played well at all this season but has improved recently.

The Riders will be amped. So should our Lions be....to be able to have a shot at the playoffs. Even though our offence has been 8th in the CFL and last in defense so far this season we still can be a playoff team. Hopefully we'll play with an inspired mindset.

There is no question that we have more talent than many fans assume. We played Calgary and Edmonton tough. But we are continuing to hamstring our players with our schemes and play calling. Hopefully this game our coaches will have a good game plan.

I will be coming to the game from Kamloops tomorrow. I am really looking forward to seeing Jennings in live action. Also hoping that the passing game opens up given Jennings' ability to scramble out of the pocket. I would love to see more creative blitzing on defence as well as Glenn traditionally makes forced errors when pressure is on him.

Great news for the Lions as Tommie Draheim, Austin Collie and Mic'hael Brooks return from injury to reclaim their starting positions against the Riders. The B.C. running game was at its best with Draheim at left tackle. On the defensive lne, Brooks and Zach Minter give the Lions their best chance to shut down the Saskatchewan rushing game. Jabar Westerman moves back to DE but will be backed up by Craig Roh. Alex Bazzie moves to the one-game injured list, where he'll be joined by SB Courtney Taylor. LB Casey Chin goes back to the practice roster.

Travis Lulay has not been activated. He moves to the one-game injured list, so Jennings will be backed up at QB by fellow rookies Greg McGhee and R.J. Archer.

B.C.FAN wrote:Great news for the Lions as Tommie Draheim, Austin Collie and Mic'hael Brooks return from injury to reclaim their starting positions against the Riders. The B.C. running game was at its best with Draheim at left tackle. On the defensive lne, Brooks and Zach Minter give the Lions their best chance to shut down the Saskatchewan rushing game. Jabar Westerman moves back to DE but will be backed up by Craig Roh. Alex Bazzie moves to the one-game injured list, where he'll be joined by SB Courtney Taylor. LB Casey Chin goes back to the practice roster.

Travis Lulay has not been activated. He moves to the one-game injured list, so Jennings will be backed up at QB by fellow rookies Greg McGhee and R.J. Archer.

All good news.

Forced to use Jennings.

Forced to have McGhee backup.

Draheim

Brooks & Minter

Thank God the mini-sized DT madness seems to be over.

Ditto the Beck at QB madness

King Lear snaps back to reality. At least temporarily. Likely temporary.

Yes, King Lear is Wally. Faulty, strange, curious decision making.

B.C.FAN wrote:Great news for the Lions as Tommie Draheim, Austin Collie and Mic'hael Brooks return from injury to reclaim their starting positions against the Riders. The B.C. running game was at its best with Draheim at left tackle. On the defensive lne, Brooks and Zach Minter give the Lions their best chance to shut down the Saskatchewan rushing game. Jabar Westerman moves back to DE but will be backed up by Craig Roh. Alex Bazzie moves to the one-game injured list, where he'll be joined by SB Courtney Taylor. LB Casey Chin goes back to the practice roster.

Travis Lulay has not been activated. He moves to the one-game injured list, so Jennings will be backed up at QB by fellow rookies Greg McGhee and R.J. Archer.

I hate that Westerman is back on the outside. Everything else looks good though.

Good to see Bazzie off the active roster. He hasn't done much this season.

WestCoastJoe wrote:

B.C.FAN wrote:Great news for the Lions as Tommie Draheim, Austin Collie and Mic'hael Brooks return from injury to reclaim their starting positions against the Riders. The B.C. running game was at its best with Draheim at left tackle. On the defensive lne, Brooks and Zach Minter give the Lions their best chance to shut down the Saskatchewan rushing game. Jabar Westerman moves back to DE but will be backed up by Craig Roh. Alex Bazzie moves to the one-game injured list, where he'll be joined by SB Courtney Taylor. LB Casey Chin goes back to the practice roster.

Travis Lulay has not been activated. He moves to the one-game injured list, so Jennings will be backed up at QB by fellow rookies Greg McGhee and R.J. Archer.

All good news.

Forced to use Jennings.

Forced to have McGhee backup.

Draheim

Brooks & Minter

Thank God the mini-sized DT madness seems to be over.

Ditto the Beck at QB madness

King Lear snaps back to reality. At least temporarily. Likely temporary.

Yes, King Lear is Wally. Faulty, strange, curious decision making.

Good thoughts everyone...I too don't like Westerman back outside Pauser, especially since in one game back inside he proved exactly where he belongs. As for Draheim Joe, I agree, two thumbs way up, his performance in the Lions first 5/6 games reminded me of Rob Murphy to an extent. Best tackle in a Lion's uni since Murph.

This is a lineup that we can win with.

I hope Draheim holds up. I would assume Aladenoye won't dress. If Draheim goes down once more, that means Foster goes to LT and Thorn plays centre. If Harris can't play the whole game, it'll be Shaque again, though I still feel there is a way to get Rainey into the game by shifting an import WR. But hopefully, Andrew makes it through. I had rib cartilage injuries when I still played hockey years ago and it was pretty uncomfortable. And that's beer league only.

By the by, if this is the beginning of the end for Alex Bazzie, then it'll simply be yet another case of why did it take so long..

By the by number two: Our number one pick is now on the one game injury list rather than the practice roster. Hmmm.. He notices Travis has returned, so he jogs over to congratulate him as does Bazzie and Courtenay Taylor. Somehow, the three get entangled and go down in a heap.. on top of Lulay, who just coming off the six game list, now has to go on the one game list.

You gotta wonder about all the manipulation CFL teams do. Why not just increase the rosters by four or five more guys?

Game Day Thread, unless someone gets ambitious and wants to start a separate thread. All good.

This was just a little preamble leading up to the game.

WestCoastJoe wrote:Game Day Thread, unless someone gets ambitious and wants to start a separate thread. All good.

This was just a little preamble leading up to the game.

That's the way I like to do it, with a little discussion of game-day rosters and game strategy, leading up to the game. I'm looking forward to attending my first Lions game in 10 weeks. There's nothing better than a Saturday home game, especially against the Riders. The sun is supposed to be shining and the roof is expected to be open, so I plan to dress for the evening chill, even though its an afternoon start.

I wouldn't put too much stock into Westerman being listed at DE on the depth chart. For example, Rainey is listed #3 at KR/PR...

Old Man of Steel Khreem Smith is seemingly entrenched at DE, even though both Roh and even Bazzie are better pass rushers.

Didn't Khreem Smith got an extension in the off season ? He must have some good pictures of Wally

I'm there tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing Jennings and Hawkins hook up.
If they can get their run game going too, they'll be just fine.