Lions at Als - Post Game Comments

[WestCoastJoe]

Nice game. Some good offence. Some good defence.

JJ 300+

JJ24 some hard earned yards.

Manny, Shawn and Bryan very productive.

Sacks and pressure by MW's D.

We look pretty good.

Jennings continues to look amazing.

3:08 left. 35-18 BC.

I gotta say --> Based on the energy., talent and productivity of the team thus far, this has been one ot Wally"s best years here. Noteworthy have been the adjustments the old fox has made and allowed.

[swervynmerv]

Lots and lots of positives for the Lions right now. Could easily be 5-1 or 6-0.

For the most part, the play of our offensive line has been solid and much better than the past three seasons and a big part of the improved play of our offence.

[Dusty]

Lots and lots of positives for the Lions right now. Could easily be 5-1 or 6-0.

For the most part, the play of our offensive line has been solid and much better than the past three seasons and a big part of the improved play of our offence.

Kinda scary that we gave away a game to Toronto, and Calgary stole one last week.... WoW! Much better play this year compared to the last few years...

To my eyes, Leone was lining up wrong on those FG that he missed.... and there was one that was going wide and just curved back between the upright at the last second. I think that he could look at the end zone camera view of his kicks and see that he was kicking from a poor starting angle.

Is there a reason that crossing routes are not often called? Perhaps the O-line blocking does not shift DL to the outside??

Good game to watch... the fumble return for a TD was a turning point for sure!

[CardiacKid]

Have yet to check the stats but Jeremiah Johnson was solid and protected the ball. He got excellent production on first down carries.

Not to knock Anthony Allen who has been a solid contributor as well but I prefer Johnson as the feature back. I became a fan of his while watching his contributions to the RedBlacks last year; he got overshadowed by the Big 4 receivers and Henry Burris but his insertion into the RedBlack lineup was a key part of kicking their season up a notch to taking the East.

I know some folks prefer Allen to Johnson but it is a nice predicament to have the two to choose from......

[Blitz]

Nice game. Some good offence. Some good defence.

JJ 300+

JJ24 some hard earned yards.

Manny, Shawn and Bryan very productive.

Sacks and pressure by MW's D.

We look pretty good.

Jennings continues to look amazing.

3:08 left. 35-18 BC.

Our Leos responded from a very tough loss to Calgary, dealt with a very short practice week, replaced a number of injured players, and went into Montreal and came away with an important victory.

A few thoughts:

OFFENCE

Jonathan Jennings completed 27 of 32 passes (84% completion rate) and responded with poise after last weeks loss. He was aggressive, threw darts under a lot of pressure at times, read quickly, released the football quickly, and made a lot of excellent reads. Had his receiver's not dropped 3 footballs Jennings completion rate would have been well over 90% for this game.

Jennings showed early in this game, that he was still going to be aggressive, after the Calgary loss. On his first pass of the game, he threw deep to Burnham, showing the Montreal secondary that the deep threat was still in his arsenal.

The only changes on offence for this game was that Buono started O'Neil at left guard in place of Hunter Steward and Johnson in place of Allen. That change of guard move made our offensive line even smaller (Husband -307, Fabian -305, O'Neil -300, Johnson- 305, and Olifoye -325). O'Neil had two holding calls in the game and was replaced by Steward later in the second half.

Our offensive line didn't open huge holes but Jeremiah Johnson hit the line quickly - he was stopped at times but he also had some good slashing gains, as well as a nice pass and run play. Johnson had 15 carries for 74 yards (4.95 yds. per carry) Johnson also had two receptions for 40 yards.

However, our running game blocking, in terms of opening big holes, has not been impressive since Vaillencourt went out of the lineup and needs to improve. We also picked up too many holding calls.

Jennings used all of his receivers -Arsenault, Gore, Burnham, Boldewijn, Iannuzzi (who dropped an easy one), Johnson, and Rainey, as he distributed the football very well.

Jennings, with this performance, has increased his passing percentage to 64.5% and his quarterback efficiency average to 97.1. His last three games have shown that he has all the tools and can make all the throws.

We missed a lot of opportunities for touchdowns on offence but scored enough points to win going away. Leone kicked 5 field goals but there were opportuniites to score more touchdowns. With the lead in the fourth quarter, Jennings drove our Lions 79 yards, eating up the clock, for a late game-clinching field goal by Richie Leone to lock the game away.

I question the type of plays we are running on 2 point converts with Lulay coming in cold. If we are just going to play pitch and catch, we should leave Jennings in there. We're trying to involve Lulay but it needs to work.

Wally continued his penchant for dubious challenges in this game. The CFL's winningest coach also has a record of some more than curious decisions during football games in his career. But he gets the main things right - this Leo team is better on defence and with Jennings at quarterback, its an offence that is hard to contain.

Our red zone offence struggled at times and we were forced to kick field goals. But overall, mostly due to Jennings, our offence dealt with the Montreal blitz with quick, pin point passing. But we did open up the play book a little more in this game and it was helpful. Jennings had his third 300 yd. plus passing game in a row (331 yds. in this game), his best percentage passing game, and he was poised, calm, and focused. Few CFL quarterbacks, with limited experience, have ever shown that type of poise, in the face of a blitzing defence.

DEFENCE

Our defence struggled early, which was unusual, but played an excellent second half to play an important role in the victory. Westerman had a solid game and two quarterback sacks.

I really thought our injury replacements played a very good game. Hudson looked good off the edge and Bryant Turner Jr. had two sacks. More impressive were Anthony Gaitor, who looked confident playing his first game and he also caused a fumble (leading to a field goal) and Stephen Clarke, playing his second game this season looked excellent again at short side half back.

We played a lot of two deep safety with Fraser and Thompson playing deep.

Our defense sacked Glenn six times and created two fumbles.

Purifoy's fumble return for a touchdown was the play of the game. It was 23-17 with a minute and a half left in the third. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Purifoy took advantage of a Corbin Louks fumble, caused by Ronnie Yell, taking it 42 yards to the end zone.

Puriofoy looked outstanding and continues to impress at nickel. He not only returned a fumble for a touchdown but he almost had an interception which would have been a second score.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Montreal did a good job on their punt and kickoff coverage. They focused all week on it and it paid dividends. Leone missed one field goal but overall was steady for us. Montreal's kicker struggled all game and it really hurt Montreal and helped us significantly.

Leone hit 5 of 7 field goal attempts. He only punted twice In the game.

Jason Aragki is only four downfield tackles away from becoming the all-time CFL leader in that category and he deserves recognition.

WRAP

Our Leos remain in the hunt for first place in the West. Winning a road game, travelling back East, with a short turnaround, playing their third road game in a row, coming off a tough loss, and dealing with some key injuries, showed the depth and resiliency of this 2016 team so far.

[Qman]

PASSING
PLAYER CP/AT % YDS TD INT LG
JENNINGS, Jonathon 27/32 84.4% 331 1 1 49
LULAY, Travis 0/1 0.0% 0 0 1 0

RUSHING
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG LG TD
JOHNSON, Jeremiah 15 74 4.9 13 1
RAINEY, Chris 3 12 4.0 6 0
JENNINGS, Jonathon 4 5 1.2 2 0
ARCENEAUX, Emmanuel 1 -3 -3.0 -3 0

RECEIVING
PLAYER REC YDS AVG LG TD
BURNHAM, Bryan 5 89 17.8 49 0
ARCENEAUX, Emmanuel 7 70 10.0 18 1
GORE, Shawn 6 58 9.7 29 0
JOHNSON, Jeremiah 2 40 20.0 32 0
IANNUZZI, Marco 2 35 17.5 25 0
RAINEY, Chris 2 24 12.0 17 0
BOLDEWIJN, Geraldo 3 15 5.0 10 0

FIELD GOALS
PLAYER FGA FG LG S YDS FG MISS
LEONE, Richie 7 5 46 2 134 46, 41

PUNT RETURNS
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LG TD
IANNUZZI, Marco 1 5 5.0 5 0
RAINEY, Chris 1 2 2.0 2 0

KICKOFF RETURNS
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LG TD
MURRAY-LAWRENCE, Shaquille 2 36 18.0 24 0
RAINEY, Chris 1 25 25.0 25 0

FG MISSED RETURNS
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LG TD

PUNTING
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LG S NET AVG
LEONE, Richie 2 96 48.0 54 0 72 36.0

KICKOFFS
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LG S
LEONE, Richie 6 410 68.3 79 0

DEFENCE
PLAYER DT ST QS INT FR FF
BIGHILL, Adam 6 0 0 0 0 0
PURIFOY, Loucheiz 5 0 0 0 1 0
ELIMIMIAN, Solomon 4 0 0 0 0 0
TURNER, Bryant 4 0 2 0 0 0
WESTERMAN, Jabar 3 0 2 0 0 0
CLARKE, Steven 3 0 0 0 0 0
YELL, Ronnie 2 0 0 0 0 1
THOMPSON, Anthony 2 0 0 0 0 0
IANNUZZI, Marco 1 0 0 0 0 0
PHILLIPS, Ryan 1 1 0 0 0 0
ARCENEAUX, Emmanuel 1 0 0 0 0 0
BAZZIE, Alex 1 0 1 0 1 0
HUDSON, Andrew 1 0 1 0 0 0
FORDE, Maxx 1 0 0 0 0 0
KANKOLONGO, Nehemie 0 1 0 0 0 0
ONTKO, Cameron 0 1 0 0 0 0
BOLDEWIJN, Geraldo 0 0 0 0 1 0
ARAKGI, Jason 0 1 0 0 0 0
O'HALLORAN, Nathan 0 1 0 0 0 0
LOKOMBO, Bo 0 1 0 0 0 0

[TheLionKing]

If the Lions had capitalize on some of those field goals, they would have beaten the Als by 30 points.

[zeppo]

For the most part, the play of our offensive line has been solid and much better than the past three seasons and a big part of the improved play of our offence.

IMO, the pass blocking has been Ok. Jennings' mobility and quick release are significant factors in the reduced number of sacks
compared to some seasons past.
Run blocking has been poor, especially in short yardage situations. Once again, our line couldn't move the defence back a yard
at the goal line in the fourth quarter. Just not good enough.

[Alputt]

Just finished the game, had to PVR with the early kick-off.

I thought it was a good performance by the Lions, perhaps not as dominant as I had hoped against MTL but I am happy for the win. Certainly a few lucky breaks from the Al's, Bede punting for -10 yards!!!

Not sure what was scripted for Lulay on the 2 point conversions... An INT and a sack?

Really noticed Burnham and Gore, Jennings and Arceneaux had good games, Johnson worked with what he had, on D Westerman and Purifoy...

Nice one! Looking forward to the homecoming vs a licking their wounds Tiger-Cats!

[zeppo]

I question the type of plays we are running on 2 point converts with Lulay coming in cold. If we are just going to play pitch and catch, we should leave Jennings in there. We're trying to involve Lulay but it needs to work.

I question Lulay being used on two point conversions at all. WTF was Wally thinking? If Jennings is going to be left in to run quarterback sneaks, there is no logical reason to take him
out for two point converts.

Wally continued his penchant for dubious challenges in this game.

What is he now? One for ten? Challenging "roughing the passer" on a running play was just stupid.

Purifoy's fumble return for a touchdown was the play of the game. It was 23-17 with a minute and a half left in the third. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Purifoy took advantage of a Corbin Louks fumble, caused by Ronnie Yell, taking it 42 yards to the end zone.

Puriofoy looked outstanding and continues to impress at nickel. He not only returned a fumble for a touchdown but he almost had an interception which would have been a second score.

I agree. What a great off-season signing. His touchdown run was brilliant, especially the little stutter step at about the five yard line which allowed
a blocker time to eliminate the last potential Montreal tackler.

[Alputt]

Oh I just remembered the Manny Show moment. Doing some sort of bird dance after his TD catch? Classic.

[yukonlion]

although funny, his angry bird could have awoken a sleeping giant.... though i think it inspired an OC against montreal...

[CardiacKid]

although funny, his angry bird could have awoken a sleeping giant.... though i think it inspired an OC against montreal...

Yeah...don't give Kyries Hebert any excuse to play any more physical than he usually does. He can play on the edge and while maybe not a dirty player, he can put guys on the IR pretty quick.

As for Wally and his poor record with challenges, maybe he needs to start wearing a headset?!?

[David]

I wouldn't rule out a cagey coach like Wally was just looking to give his defense a rest on that challenge, after a quick 2 and out by the offense. Even the ref seemed confused when he came back and simply said, "the ruling on the field stands" (without actually identifying what the challenge was!), lol.


DH

[maxlion]

I wouldn't rule out a cagey coach like Wally was just looking to give his defense a rest on that challenge, after a quick 2 and out by the offense. Even the ref seemed confused when he came back and simply said, "the ruling on the field stands" (without actually identifying what the challenge was!), lol.


DH

My guess is that he was making a point about protecting the QB. It was an obvious headshot that should have been called but wasn't challengable. Ironically, if it had been ruled a fumble, Wally almost certainly would have won the challenge, in which case it would have been Lions ball 1st down from the 1.