Lions Prepare for Argos

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Blitz
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Its a short week to get ready for our next game against the Argos on Thursday evening.

A few starters were injured in the Hamilton game. Rainey left the game with bruised ribs and his status for Hamilton is not known at this point. Brooks had to leave the field with an ankle injury but may be able to go on Thursday. However, Jerimiah Johnson, who was replaced by Murray-Lawrence in the Hamilton game, may have to sit out this one out. If that is the case, Anthony Allan will get the start at tailback. Allen lost out to Johnson at training camp but they are two different style of runners.

Allen is a pure power back. He weights somewhere around 225-228 pounds. He was drafted in the NFL draft in the seventh round by the Baltimore Ravens and played a role as their third back there before being cut. Allen was also the CFL's second leading rusher for the Saskatchewan Riders, in his first season in Riderland, when he replacd Korey Sheets.

Allen runs with power, has a low center of gravity, and keeps his legs moving while going forward. He didn't fumble once, in four seasons, during his college days. He's not a back who tends to deke people when he gets into the second layer but instead usually keeps his head down to get extra yards.

Certainly it will be a different style of running back carrying the rock against Toronto, should Allen get the opportunity and it will be interesting to see how a power back performs in our offence.
"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)
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DanoT
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Blitz, you mentioned that Allen didn't fumble during his college career, but didn't he get benched last year by the Riders for fumbling?

Also, anyone know what injury Johnson has got?
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B.C.FAN
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DanoT wrote:Blitz, you mentioned that Allen didn't fumble during his college career, but didn't he get benched last year by the Riders for fumbling?

Also, anyone know what injury Johnson has got?
Johnson's right ankle buckled as he tried to plant it just before being hit in Hamilton. The injury could be seen on TV. He rode the bike afterwards on the sideline but the extent of the injury wasn't known.

Mike Beamish has more on that and other injuries sustained in the Hamilton game here.
Blitz
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Don't know the answer Dano T.

The Argos come into this game having scored the second most points in the CFL, with 50. Our Leos are third in points scored with 48. The Argos have passed for 481 yards while our Leos have passed for 476 yards over the first two games of the season. Ray has thrown 4 touchdown passes to lead the CFL to date while our Leos have one passing touchdown.

A key stat so far this season is that our Leos lead the CFL in time of possession and rushing yards. The play of our defense and our ability to mount some long drives have both been a key to our victories.

Toronto has given up the most sacks (tied with Winnipeg) and are 8th in rushing, with only 67 yards to date.

So, with Toronto not rushing the football a lot and giving up a lot of sacks, a key to this game will be getting pressure on Ray and forcing him to dump off, which he has a huge tendency to do, while playing tight coverage. Shut down the Argo passing attack and we should win this game. Toronto's Hazelton has been Ray's favorite target in his first two games.

The Argos chose to go with Ricky Ray as their main pivot and lost Trevor Harris who is lighting things up in Ottawa. Ray is wily, very experienced, and he has seen every coverage possible.

Stubler will no doubt be attempting to use a lot of different looks in an attempt to disguise coverages to create false reads for Jennings.

The Argos have just traded for Shawn Lemon, giving up offensive lineman Matt Sewell, backup quarterback Mitchell Gale, and a 2018 conditional pick. Lemon is familiar with Stublers' style of defence.

An intriguing matchup!
"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)
Qman
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We all know Ricky very experienced and has seen every defence you can throw at him. Usually just goes to the first open guy which is usually the check down guy, and tries not to force the throws, takes the path of least restistance.
This is purrrfect guy to play in MW defence.
Plus they can't run the ball, which has been our problem on D last few years.
If we get pressure, even better.

Can't see them scoring more than 20pts on us.
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David
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DanoT wrote:Blitz, you mentioned that Allen didn't fumble during his college career, but didn't he get benched last year by the Riders for fumbling?
Yes, ironically Allen fell out of favour with Riders' HC Chamblin early in the 2015 season for some ill-timed fumbles (and was subsequently benched) but I don't think anyone questioned his rushing ability.

I am very happy with Jeremiah Johnson but it didn't seem that Anthony Allen really got a fair shot at training camp, at least not in live action. It might have something to do with a perceived lack of versatility (blocking or catching the ball out of the backfield?), but Murray-Lawrence can always be inserted as a change-of-direction runner.


DH :cool:
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CardiacKid
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DanoT wrote:Blitz, you mentioned that Allen didn't fumble during his college career, but didn't he get benched last year by the Riders for fumbling?
I believe Allen did get benched at one point but he, along with some other players, were the victim of Corey Chamblin going off the deep end last year. He could very well have fumbled ONCE and been benched....Chamblin went really weird in the head last year, attempting to impose "order" or send some sort of weird message to his players. More likely it was a case of attempting to divert attention away from his mishandling of the team onto his players.

IMO any previous "misdemeanours" under the Chamblin-led Riders I think should be expunged from the record. (Clarification: misdemeanours on the football field....not the usual BS of a criminal nature that seems to happen in Regina with guys like Taj Smith, etc.)

Ricky Ray looked better this past weekend in comparison to the home-opener but still looked rusty; not the typical Ricky Ray but that is to be expected. Brandon Whittaker had a far, far better overall game in Regina; probably the biggest improvement came in his blocking and protecting Ray. His running and pass catching also were better so I wouldn't discount his potential impact on the game.
The Argo's defence is apparently still in the process of getting acclimatized to the Stubler-style but again, I saw an improvement this week in comparison to the opening week. Corey Greenwood was very active at linebacker and their defensive line showed gains, in particular the new signings of Hall and Hickman. But they were playing against a Rider offence that is a work in progress; probably not the best team to use as the indicator of how well your defence is playing.
Blitz
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When you look at the stats of our win over Hamilton, it wasn't as much a one sided victory as it appeared to be. Offensively , we put up 355 yards to Hamilton's 297 yards.

The keys to the victory were 1) turnovers 2) time of possession 3) the run game (127 yds. rushing vs. Hamilton's 47 yds), sacks at key times (B.C. 4 sacks, Hamilton 1 sack), 9 defensive two and outs, and penalties. Hamilton had 13 penalties in the game while we had 7 penalties.

Those types of stats are usually difference makers. Running the football successfully, time of possession (time consuming drives which keeps our defense off the field and defensive two and outs) turnovers, sacks, and keeping costly penalties down are stats that often lead to victory.

Special team returns in our first two games and excellent downfield coverage against Hamilton have also been important factors.

I don't think we've been as dominant offensively as it seems to start this season. Offensively, in the CFL, we're third in points scored, 6th in passing, 1st in rushing, and 4th, in terms of protecting our quarterback from sacks.

Defensively, though, we've given up the least amount of points, are tied for 1st in quarterback sacks (7 in our first 2 games), lead the CFL in interceptions with 2 and also lead the league in forced fumbles (4).

We also lead the CFL in punt return average.

Outside of the initial issues of pass blocking and special team blocking in the first half of our season opener, we've played sound, physical, disciplined football and kept our intensity and focus for four quarters.

Running the football successfully on offence, key drives at key times, shutting down the run, getting pressure on the opposing quarterback, creating defensive turnovers and getting key stops at key times, and some excellent punt returns have all been part of the winning scenario.
"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)
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Sir Purrcival
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100% agree with the above but what we need to see is how much of a drop off we have now thar a few pieces are knicked
If we are as things it seemed in pre-season where Calgary 's 2nd and third stringers were much better than ours, then we may be in trouble
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Johnson has been very impressive after not knowing much about him. However, looking forward to seeing Anthony Allen who will be the Lions first starting power back since the days of Joe Smith.

Could this be Jennings' breakout game? Masoli and Durant both threw for over 300 yards against Stubler's defence.
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SammyGreene wrote:Johnson has been very impressive after not knowing much about him. However, looking forward to seeing Anthony Allen who will be the Lions first starting power back since the days of Joe Smith.

Could this be Jennings' breakout game? Masoli and Durant both threw for over 300 yards against Stubler's defence.
That is a thing the Stubler defence is known for , giving up lots of yardage . They call it' bend but don't break ' defence . I just think of it as not very good defence . ' Bend but not break' is a nice way to spin it though . Give up lots of first downs in smaller chunks and hope your own offence can do it in bigger chunks . Works when your offence plays lights out , not so much when your offence does not. , or the game is on the line and you need an out right stoppage . I'm happy Stubler found a job , somewhere else .
Blitz
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SammyGreene wrote:Johnson has been very impressive after not knowing much about him. However, looking forward to seeing Anthony Allen who will be the Lions first starting power back since the days of Joe Smith.

Could this be Jennings' breakout game? Masoli and Durant both threw for over 300 yards against Stubler's defence.
Looks like our Leos will likely go with Anthony Allen for the game against Toronto. At 228 pounds he is definitely a power back who prefers a smash mouth style of running. The power back went out of vogue when the spread formation came into vogue. Spread offences prefer the cut back style of back who can hit a hole quickly and then beat a linebacker with a move.

Stubler has had some very good defenses over his coaching career. He had excellent defenses in Toronto during his first stint there and his 2012 defense in B.C. led the CFL in most categories and set many records. Hufnagel quickly snapped him up when Wally let him go in B.C. and Dickenson wanted to keep him as his DC. Stublers' defense had an excellent second half in their last victory and should be improving. The addition of Lemon, who is familiar with Stubler's defensive style, should also help and make it more difficult to play against.

The Power Rankings just came out and our Leos are rated fourth, behind Ottawa, Edmonton, and Calgary. Certainly Mike Benevedes defense had better play much better in Edmonton than their first game, when they gave up more than 500 yards.

Brooks didn't practice on Monday but hopefully he will be ready to go by Thursday. He is such a key to our defense.
"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)
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Hopefully that "power ranking" provides some bulletin board material to motivate the Lions. How do you explain the Lions being ranked behind 1-1 Calgary when it was BC who beat them and their only victory came against the worst team in the league? Or being ranked behind Edmonton who has yet to win a game? And then you have this week's opponent jumping up 2 spots after their only win of the season coming against a very bad Saskatchewan team? Anyway, it's probably all for the best because getting over confident after two weeks would be a very bad thing for the Lions.

I too am interested to see what Jennings and Jones do against Toronto's defence. So far this season the Lions strategy has been "take what they give you". It's worked very well, but it is not the sexiest style of football either. So now that they are facing Stubler's "bend don't break" defence will we see a much more exciting offensive attack? They may not put up 50 points, but we may see a lot more big pass plays this week.

As for Ricky Ray, this game may prove whether he really did get his groove back last week or not. He lit up the Riders and was a drastically better QB than in week one. But I have to think MW's guys are licking their chops at the opportunity to make a statement against one of the so called elite QBs in the CFL.

I know it's only week 3, and people tend not to get too excited about eastern opponents, but I think this is a really big game for the Lions.
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I'm a Rider fan. I'm new to Lionbackers; not here to troll, just figured I'd add my two cents about Anthony Allen since I watched him play every game the past two years.

Fumbling has been a major issue both years. Even in 2014 when he finished 2nd in the league in rushing, he got benched in favour of Will Ford and Hugh Charles. Chamblin was way too quick with the hook and may have destroyed his confidence, but it was still a legit problem. Allen is an upright runner, and he got stripped fairly often trying to churn ahead for extra yards. 4 fumbles in 2014, and 4 fumbles last year in limited touches.

Allen is amazing at yards after contract, consistently turning a 3 yard run into a 6 or 7 yard run. But he has bad hands, drops passes out of the backfield, not really a big play threat, doesn't make guys miss. A big reason he fell out of favour last year was because the Riders' ratio was a mess, so we played Messam to keep an extra international receiver in. Plus our defense was awful so we were playing from behind all the time, and Messam was a better receiver. If Allen can overcome his fumbling issue, he could be a great back for you guys since you have an excellent defense and play more of a ball-control offense. He's the type of guy where you look down at the scoresheet and he put up 13 carries for 80 yards, without breaking a single run longer than 10.
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WestCoastJoe
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Blitz wrote: Looks like our Leos will likely go with Anthony Allen for the game against Toronto. At 228 pounds he is definitely a power back who prefers a smash mouth style of running. The power back went out of vogue when the spread formation came into vogue. Spread offences prefer the cut back style of back who can hit a hole quickly and then beat a linebacker with a move.

Stubler has had some very good defenses over his coaching career. He had excellent defenses in Toronto during his first stint there and his 2012 defense in B.C. led the CFL in most categories and set many records. Hufnagel quickly snapped him up when Wally let him go in B.C. and Dickenson wanted to keep him as his DC. Stublers' defense had an excellent second half in their last victory and should be improving. The addition of Lemon, who is familiar with Stubler's defensive style, should also help and make it more difficult to play against.

The Power Rankings just came out and our Leos are rated fourth, behind Ottawa, Edmonton, and Calgary. Certainly Mike Benevedes defense had better play much better in Edmonton than their first game, when they gave up more than 500 yards.

Brooks didn't practice on Monday but hopefully he will be ready to go by Thursday. He is such a key to our defense.
If Ricky Ray is on his game, he will test our defence. Quick reads. Timely release. Uses the whole field. We need to pressure him.

Stubler's defence will no doubt play better than they have been.

Good test for us. Be interesting to see how Allen does carrying the rock behind our hogs.

In Edmonton ... Benny is a great guy. Not so sure he is a great DC. He used to talk about aggressive defence, but it seems to me we didn't see that from him as DC.

As we noted re Kent Austin, Blitz, coaching is not for the faint of heart. A tough gig. Lots of guys eat too much. Junk food also.
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.
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