2016 Grey Cup Game Day Thread

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Sir Purrcival
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BC 1988 wrote:I watched the GC at home with my closest friend (who sometimes goes with me to Lions games). This was the 2nd year in a row after watching the '14 GC at Firefighters Club in Metrotown (which wasn't bad , they had it on their biggest screen, but of course there was a lot of NFL on the other screens. Getting 55" with surround at home makes that my preference now (even if I watch a game at the stadium, I'll usually re-watch the pvr).

As far as the game went, it was right up there among the most entertaining (pretty rare to see OT). Highlights for me were the look of frustration on BLM; CGY never had the lead, something they are unaccustomed to; I agree with BB that choosing to defend 1st in OT was a weird strategy.
It's not really that weird, more an issue of philosophy. If you go second, you know what you have to do to win the game or stay in the game. If your opponent goes first and scores a TD, you are going 3 down ball. You don't have a choice. Whereas if you go first and get stopped short, you know you are kicking a FG and hoping that your D can hold the opposition to the same. In the minds of many, it is preferable for your O to control your fate. BLM and Messam both said the same thing about their last minute drive that fell short in regulation. They would rather have had the ball themselves on that 2nd down. Bringing in their 3rd stringer on that play, now that was a weird call.
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B.C.FAN
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Does this sound familiar? Calgary players cited coaching decisions, turnovers, lack of execution and lack of energy for their loss in the Grey Cup.

Bo Levi Mitchell:
“I don’t know how we didn’t win,” said Mitchell, named the league’s Most Outstanding Player earlier in the week. “We had it won.

“I was about to celebrate. I thought the game was over.”

Trailing by three points, with 40 second remaining in the game, Calgary had driven to the Ottawa two-yard line. Score a touchdown and the Stampeders would win their second CFL championship in three years.

Facing second-and-goal, head coach Dave Dickenson decided Stampeder backup quarterback Andrew Buckley should try to run the ball around the end. Buckley had scored a touchdown on a similar play earlier in the game. But this time Ottawa defensive back Abdul Kanneh made a shoe-string tackle which resulted in Buckley losing a yard.

“The ball has to be in my hands or (running back Jerome) Messam’s,” said Mitchell. “That’s how I feel.

“It’s not wrong for what he called. It’s a good call. It’s something we have seen in film. We thought it would work. They have a solid D line. It’s not to say, even if we would have handed it off, that we would have got it. At that moment, I thought he game was over.”
“Too many mistakes were made, starting with me,” said Mitchell. “Turning the ball over, taking too many shots and it wasn’t there.
“You have to give Ottawa credit. They came out motivated, they came out with more energy than we had. They were competing. We just didn’t execute.”
DaVaris Daniels:
“I think Ottawa came out with a chip on their shoulder, playing an underdog role,” said Daniels, who finished the night with seven catches for 89 yards and one rushing touchdown. “They kind of fed off that. They had a lot of juice early.”
Jim Morris article

I had to laugh at Mitchell's comment that "we had it won." Yes, the Stamps could have won with a late touchdown but they never led in the game and were outcoached and outplayed from the outset.
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Gridiron Ernie
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Yeah, B.C.FAN, I found myself picking up on that so-familiar lingo too... (lack of execution / lack of energy etc), and wondered with a wry smile if it's just part of the general lexicon within the game and around the league, and reflects the way (rightly or wrongly) the players and coaches tend to see things and express themselves (at least in the cliche-ridden heat of the moment or immediate aftermath).

I dunno' if 'comforting' is quite the right word for me to choose here, but I find it interesting at least to realize such thought/talk is not at all unique to our Leos' domain. There's some small comfort in that I guess.

But surely when players and coaches cool down and collect their thoughts and go into analytical mode (be it at half-time, or between games, or in training camp, or in the off-season as is now the case) the comprehension goes beyond that a good bit. Here's hoping! And I do believe it will. Some important characters with the Lions organization are indeed stubborn and frustratingly slow to budge, but I don't see them as idiots. They better not be, if they want to seriously imagine being the ones holding high that ol' Grey Cup next year. That would be "lack of execution/energy" on a whole other level.
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DanoT
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TheLionKing wrote:Since the Grey Cup will be held in our nation's capital next year, I have a feeling that Burris will be back for one more year......assuming the RedBlacks want him back.
This past season Burris was paid starters wages and Harris got back up type money. Next year it switches so I would imagine that the Redblacks want Burris back but will he start or be the backup? TC competition at QB for Redblacks, perhaps?
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From the CFLhorsemen site :
It's the biggest choke job in the history of the CFL. A 15 win team losing to a crappy 8 win team from the East that wouldn't even have made the playoffs in the Western Division. Starting QB has his worst day of the season with 3 interceptions, defense with their worst game of the season doing an impression of butter being carved by a hot knife. Despite all this the team still had victory within it's grasp until the head coach decided to put the cherry on top of the choke job by putting the Grey Cup in the hands of his 3rd string QB.

Thanks Bo for stinking up the joint. Thanks DeVone for not preparing your guys to play. Thanks Dave for your Pete Carroll impression. Hope you guys all enjoyed awards night because that's the only hardware that separates the 2016 Stampeders from the 2016 last place Argos team. I hope you all enjoy the offseason as you can pat yourselves on the back for letting your fans down once again when it counts.

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2016 Calgary Stampeders;

CHOKERS

I myself enjoyed this game very much. Nice seeing BLM all discombobulated . And a Stamps team out coached or is that out-executed? Came out unprepared for the biggest game of the year and could not recover. Lost to a 8 win regular season team that would not have been in the playoffs if they were in the west.
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Robbie
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The game in its entirety.
[video][/video]
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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KnowItAll
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Robbie wrote:The game in its entirety.
[video][/video]
I just have one question...was that girl speaking English???
Every day that passes is one you can't get back
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Robbie
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Speaking of Grey Cup upsets, obviously another one took place exactly 30 years ago today on Sunday, November 30, 1986. It was the second time that BC Place hosted the Grey Cup. The 9-8-1 Tiger-Cats easily manhandled the 13-4-1 Eskimos.
[video][/video]

What did the Tiger-Cats have that the defending Grey Cup champions Lions did not have when they played them seven days earlier? Maybe determination on the part of the Tiger-Cats as after losing the previous two Grey Cups in the last two seasons.
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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Hambone
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Sir Purrcival wrote:
BC 1988 wrote:I watched the GC at home with my closest friend (who sometimes goes with me to Lions games). This was the 2nd year in a row after watching the '14 GC at Firefighters Club in Metrotown (which wasn't bad , they had it on their biggest screen, but of course there was a lot of NFL on the other screens. Getting 55" with surround at home makes that my preference now (even if I watch a game at the stadium, I'll usually re-watch the pvr).

As far as the game went, it was right up there among the most entertaining (pretty rare to see OT). Highlights for me were the look of frustration on BLM; CGY never had the lead, something they are unaccustomed to; I agree with BB that choosing to defend 1st in OT was a weird strategy.
It's not really that weird, more an issue of philosophy. If you go second, you know what you have to do to win the game or stay in the game. If your opponent goes first and scores a TD, you are going 3 down ball. You don't have a choice. Whereas if you go first and get stopped short, you know you are kicking a FG and hoping that your D can hold the opposition to the same. In the minds of many, it is preferable for your O to control your fate. BLM and Messam both said the same thing about their last minute drive that fell short in regulation. They would rather have had the ball themselves on that 2nd down. Bringing in their 3rd stringer on that play, now that was a weird call.
I think when shootout OTs first came to be it was almost a 50/50 split on preference for taking the ball or defending first. Now I think almost without exception the team winning the toss will opt to put their opponents on offence first. Get the ball first an you're operating in 2 down offence. Get the ball 2nd and you can operate in 2 down offence to tie a FG or 3 down offence if a TD is needed.
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B.C.FAN
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Hambone wrote:I think when shootout OTs first came to be it was almost a 50/50 split on preference for taking the ball or defending first. Now I think almost without exception the team winning the toss will opt to put their opponents on offence first. Get the ball first an you're operating in 2 down offence. Get the ball 2nd and you can operate in 2 down offence to tie a FG or 3 down offence if a TD is needed.
NCAA football has had similar overtime rules for 20 years. In one analysis I found of 156 OT game between 2008 and 2013, the team that started on defence (and went on offence second) won 61.5% of OT games.

Analyzing College Football Overtimes
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Robbie
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Hambone wrote:I think when shootout OTs first came to be it was almost a 50/50 split on preference for taking the ball or defending first. Now I think almost without exception the team winning the toss will opt to put their opponents on offence first. Get the ball first an you're operating in 2 down offence. Get the ball 2nd and you can operate in 2 down offence to tie a FG or 3 down offence if a TD is needed.
NCAA football has had similar overtime rules for 20 years. In one analysis I found of 156 OT game between 2008 and 2013, the team that started on defence (and went on offence second) won 61.5% of OT games.
I don't know what the CFL statistics are but even though it's logical enough that the team with the second possession has more options, I don't think there's a notable correlation that the team with the second possession has a great chance of winning. There are notable and memorable overtime games in which the team with the first possession eventually won the game. While the team with the second possession has more options, there's more pressure imposed on to them if the opponent scored already on their possession and sometimes they are prone to make mistakes.

In the Lions OT loss in Calgary, the Stampeders scored a field goal and the Lions decided to go for the win by attempting to pass, and resulted in a turnover and loss. And I've stated countless times that in the 2004 WDF while the Lions eventually won, it could have just as easily been a loss as it was an extremely risky decision to have Duncan O'Mahony attempt a 40-yard field goal on 2nd down with the Lions down a point as a miss would have immediately meant a loss as it would have been brought out of the end zone.

And of course, the two last Grey Cup overtime which used the current format is used resulted in a win for the team that had the first possession. In the 2005 GC the Eskimos had first possession in the 2nd overtime and could only manage a field goal for a 3 point lead and that should have given the Alouettes the driver's seat to win with a TD or at least a tie with a FG, but it looks like pressure allowed them to make mistakes with the most fatal one being Calvillo committing an illegal forward pass and the Eskimos did their job to take away the opportunity to even tie the game.
[video][/video]
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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Robbie wrote:
And of course, the two last Grey Cup overtime which used the current format is used resulted in a win for the team that had the first possession. In the 2005 GC the Eskimos had first possession in the 2nd overtime and could only manage a field goal for a 3 point lead and that should have given the Alouettes the driver's seat to win with a TD or at least a tie with a FG, but it looks like pressure allowed them to make mistakes with the most fatal one being Calvillo committing an illegal forward pass and the Eskimos did their job to take away the opportunity to even tie the game.
I liked how the ref still felt the need to announce the No Yards call (declined of course) on Montreal after AC made that last desperate quick kick, while the Esks and fans were already all over the field celebrating.
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KnowItAll
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Coast Mountain Lion wrote:
Robbie wrote:
And of course, the two last Grey Cup overtime which used the current format is used resulted in a win for the team that had the first possession. In the 2005 GC the Eskimos had first possession in the 2nd overtime and could only manage a field goal for a 3 point lead and that should have given the Alouettes the driver's seat to win with a TD or at least a tie with a FG, but it looks like pressure allowed them to make mistakes with the most fatal one being Calvillo committing an illegal forward pass and the Eskimos did their job to take away the opportunity to even tie the game.
I liked how the ref still felt the need to announce the No Yards call (declined of course) on Montreal after AC made that last desperate quick kick, while the Esks and fans were already all over the field celebrating.
I like refs who follow the letter of the law regardless of game situation.
Every day that passes is one you can't get back
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