Leos/Eskimos Post Game Thoughts

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Blitz
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In reflecting on our Leos season opener loss at home to the Eskimos, with a little over 19,000 in attendance, both the loss and the way our Leos played this game, is not going to put more bums in the seats for our next home contest.

Our Leos lost a game they deserved to lose. With some time to sleep on the disappointment, these are my post game thoughts. I've read the post game comments on the game thread and have incorporated some of those comments.

THE GOOD

On offence, in this game, our Leos came out wanting to run the football, as they should have. Our Leos led the CFL in rushing last season and when we run the football well, we usually win.

Jeremiah Johnson ran the football 14 times for 92 yards and a 6.6 yard average. Jennings, mostly running out of necessity rather than design, added 5 carries for 32 yards (6.4 yd. average). Overall we rushed for 130 yards in this game, which should have been enough to create a balanced offensive attack, help with pass protection, and open up our passing game. However, that didn't happen.

There were some spectacular throws in this game by Jennings. His throw to the sidelines, while under heavy heat, and dropping the football just over the defenders hands, was a thing of beauty. His deep throw to Nick Moore, in the fourth quarter, while throwing off his back foot and off-balance, running to his left and under pressure, was incredible.

Nick Moore was our go to receiver in this game. He led our Leos in both receptions (5) and reception yardage (98 yds), aided by his 62 yard catch in the fourth quarter. Burnham and Jeremiah Johnson had four receptions, while Iannuzzi, Manny, and Rainey all chipped in with 3 catches each.

Hunter Steward had a very good game at the left tackle spot and we are so fortunate to have a National be able to start at this most challenging offensive line position. Foucault had a solid game at left guard overall.

David Menard made a great play on defense, from his rotational defensive end spot behind Craig Roh, while Roh had our only quarterback sack of the game.

Chris Rainy ran a punt return for over 90 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter. The play was called back on a stupid Adrian Clarke push from behind but it was a spectacular return by Rainey, showing his speed and athleticism and instinctual running ability.

Ty Long hit four of five field goal attempts. More on his field goal miss and convert miss later. He also made a good tackle. Long punted 7 times for 338 yards, an impressive 48.3 yd. average, but he missed a couple of placement punts that went for singles instead.

Awe led the way on special teams with two downfield tackles and Chandler Fenner recovered a fumbled punt but there was not a lot of good play behind either.

THE BAD

Going into the 2017 season, there was a lot of hype about the signing of Chris Williams, the second full season of Jennings as a Leo starter (Jennings threw for the third most yards ever for a Leo quarterback last year), the return of Bryan Burnham, and Jeremiah Johnson and Chris Rainey leading our running attack.

But championship offences are usually anchored by strong offensive lines. The offensive game is mostly won in the trenches and with good pass protection. Bo Levi looks like a much better quarterback than he really is because he gets incredible protection.

I was opposed to the Olifioye trade. Olifioye would have looked very good and been a difference maker last night at right tackle. Free agent signings Buddy Jackson are on the roster and costing us money as are all the depth players we have on the so called injury list, on top of all of our practice roster players. We could have found the money to keep Olifioye and should have.

But given that we didn't, once again, we've tinkered with our offensive line in ways we shouldn't have. Kirby Fabian started the 2015 season at left guard. Last season, we moved Fabian back to right guard. Vaillencourt started the first two games at right guard in 2016 before getting injured and Fabian started the rest of the way.

It made more sense to me to move Fabian to left guard for this season and start Vailencourt at right guard. Faucault was supposed to come in and provide depth at tackle. But the whole thing was designed to have Faucault become a starter and make the trade look good. Therefore we moved Vaillencourt to left guard, a side of the line he has never played so Faucault could beat him out.

The offensive lineup we should have right now is Steward at left tackle, Faucault at left guard, Husband at center, Vaillencourt at right guard, and Palmer, when he is healthy again, at right tackle.

Kirby Fabian and Antonio Johnson had horrible games. The reality is that we are undersized and undertalented at right guard and right tackle, as we were last season. Fabian is 300 pounds, Antonio Johnson is listed at a generous 305 pounds, and Palmer is 290 pounds. Wally wanted to go cheap at right tackle and last night's result showed what cheap means.

Antonio Johnson took two bad penalties that hurt and Fabian was beaten badly on pass rushes. Jennings was sacked 5 times and under duress most of the game.

There are only two ways to shut down our very talented offence. One is to take away the deep ball. The second way is to pressure Jennings. For most of the game, Edmonton did both. We had 3 points at the half. No matter how good a quarterback is, its very difficult to perform consistently at a high level under severe duress due to poor pass protection.

Jennings did well to complete 65% of his passes for 260 yards, considering the heat he experienced, the times he avoided being sacked, the times he had to run for his life, and the difficulty of the throws he had to make. With Edmonton focused on taking away our long ball and getting so much pressure on Jennings, combined with the poor design of our short passing game, it was a tough night for our offence.

Jennings also fumbled as he attempted to escape heat by running up the middle and was stripped of the football. Odell Willis ate Antonio Johnson for 2 sacks. If not for Jennings escapability, the five sacks Jennings had to give up could easily have been ten sacks.

Defensively, we were also very bad at times in this game. We gave up 104 yards on the ground to John White on 17 carries. White had a 6.1 yd. average. But even worse, we gave up many big plays in the air on defense. Most believed our revamped secondary, going into training camp, was going to result in better pass defence this season.

Initially that secondary was going to comprised of Yell and Parker at corner, Lee and Gaitor at halfback, and Clarke at safety, with McDonald giving Clarke push. Purifoy spent most of training camp and the exhibition season at his familiar nickel spot and looked great there.

But Wally wanted to reward Chandler Fenner, playing backup nickel and who Buono believed was one of his best two defensive backs at training camp. So, he gave Fenner the starting nickel spot and moved Purifoy to free safety. But the change was only made this past week.

Buono also moved Thompson to field corner, a new position for him, partly through training camp. As others, as B.C. Fan have commented, it would have made more sense to begin this season with Clarke at safety, Purifoy at nickel. It also would have made more sense to start Parker at corner, where he played so well last year when given the opportunity.

if we wanted to make the changes we made for last night's game, we could have eased them in with more practice time and some rotational game reps. A season home opener is not the place for experimentation and little practice playing together. Wally may think he can walk on water and do whatever, and it will turn out well, but that is not reality.

THE UGLY

Adrian Clarke's penalty, that negated Rainey's punt return touchdown was inexcusable. When you are a special team specialist, you don't push a defender down in the back with your hands, in front of an official.

We gave up 152 yards on penalties in this game.

We passed for 104 yards in the first half and went into the second half with only 3 points on the board.

Prior to the home opener, Wally's manta has been to play fast, to play physical, and to play smart. We didn't play fast or physical and we were certainly were not smart. We were outcoached and outplayed.

Giving up 420 yards of yardage on defense was ugly and we were fortunate not to give up more than 30 points. The broken coverage and confusion on pass defense, especially allowing Zylstar to get in behind us with time running out on the clock was also inexcusable. Zylstra (7 catches for 152 yards) and Williams (4 catches for 110 yds) ate our defense alive.

But not to be undone by the bad play of the right side of our offensive line and the bad play of our secondary, our special teams also got into the act.
Long's 48.3 yd. punt average resulted in a 29.9 yd. net average. That meant we gave up an average of more than 18 yards per punt return for the game.

Long missed a pressure convert attempt that could have been a difference maker had our defense not fallen apart on the last Edmonton drive of the game.

Our kickoff coverage was even worse, allowing Ladarius Perkins to return one for 64 yards and Chris Edwards to return another for 43 yards.

WRAP

Not an impressive way to start a season. We made it exciting in the end but we were not only outplayed in all three areas of the game but we also looked bad at times on offence, defense, and special teams.

Hype for the 2017 season has turned to reality. There is no need for alarm, This is a very talented, young, fast, deep Leo team. Calgery lost its first game of last season and never lost again in the regular season. Hopefully this was a game that was a wakeup call for Wally, who made too many positional changes late in training camp and also just before this game.

Khari Jones and Mark Washington/Dan Dorazio also need to return to the drawing board and make adjustments, both personell wise and strategy wise. On offence we need better pass protection and a better designed short game. On defense we need a better pass rush, we need to relook at our secondary personell, and with the defensive backs we have, we need to change up more and get out of so much zone defense.

Last season, our Leos kickoff coverage was terrible and not much has changed, when looking at our season opener.

|I should be an interesting practice week before Toronto.
"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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During the pre season games the run blocking was good, pass blocking bad, DBs gave up too many long completions, KR/PR coverage was horrible. Nothing changed from pre season to the start of the regular season.
Blitz
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Patterns continue unless correction actions are made Dano T.

Here is an interesting comment in Lowell Ullrich's column today

Reilly said the Eskimos were waiting for the right moment to torch Thompson. “That was a play that had a great opportunity to be successful if they gave us the right coverage,” he said. “Every time we called a deep shot we hit most of them. If you’re calling them every play it’s not going to work but (Edmonton coaches) had confidence it would work.

Edmonton knew, if they got a certain coverage, on that last drive, that they could beat Thompson and make the long throw successfully. Edmonton coaches had seen the weakness and were waiting for the right opportunity to take advantage. In other words they were 'sitting on the play' and knew the deep ball play would even work in the last minute of the game. That shows how poor our defensive strategies often are.
"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)
Blitz
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In doing some reading on line, there are some who think we should rush Waters back.

I didn't think Long had a bad game for his first outing. He hit 4/5 field goals with his miss hitting the goal post. He had one convert blocked. He averaged over 48 yards per punt. He was only a field goal kicker in college and yes, he didn't coffin corner a couple but got a bad bounce on one of them.

My only real criticism would be his missed convert towards the end of the game. He is taking that hard but for a first game as a pro, he didn't look shaky at all. I'm not being as tough on him as others may be.

However, Kirby Fabian has been with our Leos for three seasons now and Antonio Johnson started for most of last season. They needed to play a lot better.

I advocated for Vaillencourt for Fabian for most of last season and I worried about our right tackle spot last year, when I wanted us to start Steward at left tackle and Olifioye at right tackel (and have been more worried about our right tackle spot since we traded Olifioye). We can only hope that Powell will be better than Johnson when he returns.

As for our receiving crew, I really didn't see them create a lot of space for Jennings to throw to them. Jennings had to make tough throws into tight windows. There are also some who are saying that Iannuzzi, now in the outside slot position, is getting the opportunity that he did not get on the outside and his last exhibition game and his 3 catches for 45 yards against Edmonton prove that.

Iannuzzi is going to get his receptions playing outside slot as defenses focus on Manny and Burnham. But Adekolu had five receptions in his first game as a receiver last season to lead the way. Adekolu is a tall target with a long wing span. He could easily have caught those three receptions as well.

Give me great speed (like Shaq) or give me a big target (like Adekolu) and I'm much happier.

As for our defense, all off-season, like so many off-seasons before, Mark Washington has promised us aggressive defense. Wally has insisted on more turnovers and more aggressive play from our defense for 2017.

One sack, not enough pressure, no interceptions or fumble recoveries, and giving up 430 yards of defense is same old.
"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)
Blitz
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Its interesting to have a really good close look at why our Leos continue with the same patterns. Last seaon our defense gave up a ton of big tplays.

Edmonton had been talking about setting up the long pass play to Zykstra all week prior to the game and during the game. It was based on certain of our Leos zone coverage vulnerabilities, which obviously expose a weakness to be exploited.

“What was really cool about it is we’d been talking about that play during the week and then throughout the course of the game,” said Reilly. “We were just waiting.

“It wasn’t anything super tricky, but we knew given certain zone coverages that they could give us, we were going to have a good chance of having it pop.”

Lions head coach and general manager Wally Buono was blunt in his assessment of the game’s turning point after his team had fought back.
“We just blew a coverage,” he said. “These are things you practise over and over and over.”

However, Wally simply blames it on the players and a blown coverage, as one could predict.

That is why things don't improve. Instead of Mark Washington fixing the vulnerability, it is simply written off, blamng the players and not the type of zone coverage being utilized and its apparent weakness to the deep ball, even when we knew the Eskimos would likely attempt a deep throw, with time running out on the clock.
"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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WestCoastJoe
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About U.S. politics, someone said Trump was playing checkers and Comey was playing chess.

Same thing with our coaching philosophy. The Eskimo staff saw a tendency/vulnerability in our secondary. But we did not know it ourselves. We did not scout ourselves. We did not prep our corner and DB. We were unaware of the tendency. Our guys got distracted, and Zylstra blew by. This is the kind of detailed planning that goes on with staffs that ''play chess.'' We roll out the same old, and focus on execution. ''We blew the coverage,'' says Wally. True enough, but we put our guys out there on an island, unprepared.

We have been there and done that forever. Inadquate, unsophisticated game planning. Narrow-minded, old-school focus on execution.

Just IMO. Others will see it differently, and defend the status quo.

......

Old theme: are we seeing backsliding and confusion in the O Line? Kirby Fabien looked like Dean Valli. Hey I blocked my guy; I will grade well; now I can watch. Oops. Charles Vaillancourt looked like a potential all star at the start of last year. Oh yeah, wait until we fill his head with technique and assignment awareness. He will forget how to tie his shoelaces. Some guys can deal with it, obviously. Others get confused and lose all confidence.
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.
Blitz
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WestCoastJoe wrote:
Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:18 pm
About U.S. politics, someone said Trump was playing checkers and Comey was playing chess.

Same thing with our coaching philosophy. The Eskimo staff saw a tendency/vulnerability in our secondary. But we did not know it ourselves. We did not scout ourselves. We did not prep our corner and DB. We were unaware of the tendency. Our guys got distracted, and Zylstra blew by. This is the kind of detailed planning that goes on with staffs that ''play chess.'' We roll out the same old, and focus on execution. ''We blew the coverage,'' says Wally. True enough, but we put our guys out there on an island unprepared.

We have been there and done that forever. Inadquate, unsophisticated game planning. Narrow-minded old school focus on execution.

Just IMO. Others will see it differently, and defend the status quo.

......

Old theme: are we seeing backsliding and confusion in the O Line? Kirby Fabien looked like Dean Valli. Hey I blocked my guy, I will grade well, now I can watch. Oops. Charles Vaillancourt looked like a potential all star at the start of last year. Oh yeah, wait until we fill his head with technique and assignment awareness. He will forget how to tie his shoelaces. Some guys can deal with it, obviously. Others get confused and lose all confidence.

Loved the analogy of checkers and chess WCJ. You only need to look back at what the Bombers and Stamps saw in terms of the vulnerabilities of our zone defenses in last year's playoffs. Unless we fix them, we can expect the pattern to continue.

I also completely agree with you on Vaillencourt.

I just watched Ricky Ray have his best game as a pro, in terms of passing yardage. He just threw for 506 yards against the Argos, completing 32 of his 42 passes.

Was the difference from last year to this game a matter of execution. Nope. It was a matter of executing Marc Trestmann's offence. He was hired late in the off-season and took over an offence that finished 8th in passing yards last season. Its amazing the difference coaching can make.

I just imagine what Trestmann could so with the weapons we have here in B.C.
"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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What has Shaq Johnson done to deserve to be starting lineup ? He dropped a very catchable ball on the sidelines.
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Blitz wrote:
Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:22 pm

I just imagine what Trestmann could so with the weapons we have here in B.C.
In one of my most pleasant dreams, Marc Trestman is our GM/HC..... and then I awake.....
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cromartie
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Dusty wrote:
Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:51 pm

In one of my most pleasant dreams, Marc Trestman is our GM/HC..... and then I awake.....
And realize he's been a failure his entire career unless Jim Popp has come with him.

Stop it.
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WestCoastJoe
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Another thing, Blitz.

We can credit the Esks for detailed game planning. But ... they spilled the beans after. No point telling the enemy you have read their mail. Keep the secret, the Ultra Secret. No matter though. Wally and our staff won't believe it. They will attribute it to execution, a blown coverage. Not they fooled us. Not they scouted us. Amazingly, in WW I and II, some defence officials felt it was wrong to read the enemy's mail or coded messages.

When I was a mid-teenager, I was coaching even younger teens. A father of one of the boys was an ex-Leo. He convinced us to put in a simple, strong ground game, with his design. After early success, then getting stuffed, opposing players spilled the beans. They knew where our big running back was going. We could tell. Sometimes they were shouting. LOL One of them bragged and told us. We changed it up, with some deception, with success. Of course, there was Jimmy Brown in the NFL. Sam Huff, Hall of Fame LB, of the Giants, said they knew where he was going pre snap. Didn't matter. Brown was unstoppable. But that is rare, rare, rare. I think we know which philosophy Wally shares. To me it seems like a conceit. They will not stop us. Or ... We will out execute them. We will be more physical. Comin' at ya. No tricks. Stop us, beat us, if you can.

Add Maas to the list of modern day coaches in the CFL. Our players are going into battle with outdated plans.

Amazingly, some of them will figure out how to make things work anyway. Like Jennings. Beat the rush. Find a receiver. He is in tight cover. No time. Off balance, on the run, throw a dart into a tiny window. Any QB could do it, right?

O Line. Keep it simple in your own mind. Our guys do best in run blocking, angle blocking. Instinctive. Hogs slant right or left. Pound, run over any enemy in your way. Instinctive. Pass blocking schemes and techniques can be much more complicated. Will it take time? Some teams get it installed faster, ready for opening day. You can see it in the clarity, confidence and cohesion of their play.
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.
Blitz
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WestCoastJoe wrote:
Sun Jun 25, 2017 6:00 pm
Another thing, Blitz.

We can credit the Esks for detailed game planning. But ... they spilled the beans after. No point telling the enemy you have read their mail. Keep the secret, the Ultra Secret. No matter though. Wally and our staff won't believe it. They will attribute it to execution, a blown coverage. Not they fooled us. Not they scouted us. Amazingly, in WW I and II, some defence officials felt it was wrong to read the enemy's mail or coded messages.

When I was a mid-teenager, I was coaching even younger teens. A father of one of the boys was an ex-Leo. He convinced us to put in a simple, strong ground game, with his design. After early success, then getting stuffed, opposing players spilled the beans. They knew where our big running back was going. We could tell. Sometimes they were shouting. LOL One of them bragged and told us. We changed it up, with some deception, with success. Of course, there was Jimmy Brown in the NFL. Sam Huff, Hall of Fame LB, of the Giants, said they knew where he was going pre snap. Didn't matter. Brown was unstoppable. But that is rare, rare, rare. I think we know which philosophy Wally shares. To me it seems like a conceit. They will not stop us. Or ... We will out execute them. We will be more physical.

Add Maas to the list of modern day coaches in the CFL. Our players are going into battle with outdated plans.

Amazingly, some of them will figure out how to make things work anyway. Like Jennings. Beat the rush. Find a receiver. He is in tight cover. No time. Off balance, on the run, throw a dart into a tiny window. Any QB could do it, right?

O Line. Keep it simple in your own mind. Our guys do best in run blocking, angle blocking. Instinctive. Hogs slant right or left. Pound, run over any enemy in your way. Instinctive. Pass blocking schemes and techniques can be much more complicated. Will it take time? Some teams get it installed faster, ready for opening day. You can see it in the clarity, confidence and cohesion of their play.
We both believe the same things WCJ.

They have huddles to keep plays a secret from the opposition.

Football is tactical, the most tactical team sport of them all. Secrecy and deception are integral.

If Wally had been leading D Day, he would not have kept it a secret and just believed our soldiers needed to execute on the beaches of Normandy.

Thankfully D Day was a surprise to the Germans. Had it not been a surprise we may not have won the war.

T. Bone Pickens said "I have always believed that it's important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure" Ragen said "Surprise can be a powerful tool" and that is especially true for football.

I've always liked the quote of Brad Field, who said "For those trying to protect the past, it is a way of retaining power, status, a way a life, predictability, comfort, control, and a bunch of other things like that. It is a struggle against the inevitability of change".

Ricky Ray threw for for over 500 yards today with new players in his offence and a new offensive system that was just installed in just over a couple of weeks of training camp in Toronto.

Jonathan Jennings threw for about half of those yards, with an offensive system he knew very well from last season, familiarity with his Head Coach and offensive coordinator, and with all his three major receiving weapons from last season in the starting lineup. He had four of his five lineman from last season pass blocking and Johnson, Lumbala, and Rainey as familiar complimentary assets.

Our offence should have gone into 2017 as a well oiled machine. It didn't. Our defense was so talented that personell decisions were very difficult coming out of training camp and we are hiding a number of those close calls who didn't make the starting lineup on the injury reserve list. Yet our defense looked confused in the secondary at times, as they did many times last season (and the season before and so on).

Couldn't blame this loss on a Jennings interception so where is Wally going to place blame for this loss. Perhaps on Anthony Thompson but he had no deep help. Maybe on Purifoy?

But there is no question that Edmonton did not see it as a personell matchup to exploit but rather a certain zone defence they believed was vulnerable to the deep ball.

I accept, with this coaching regime, that we are going to be outstrategized in most football games. I just want us to not be outstrategized too badly.
"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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WestCoastJoe
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I like those quotes, Blitz.

Points well made.

The most pleasant surprise I could have this season is if Wally made the big adaptation. Modern day football. Detailed game planning, fresh, against each opponent's tendencies. Self scouting in detail. Deception. I am sure Mark and Khari can do it. Turn them loose.

Another faint hope: aggressive, attacking defence.

Another faint hope. OL that show their natural talent, intelligence and pedigree. Confidence. Not remade players in someone's design, preoccupied with minutiae of new technique, confidence gone. These guys were highly rated and successful in college for good reason. They were not, and are not, no talent bums.

A coach, or parent, can take a basketball shooter, a baseball pitcher, a boxer, a golfer, an O Lineman, and overload them to the point that they lose confidence, over-coached. If the athletes trust the coach, and if the coach tries to remake them as he wishes, the athletes can be messed up quickly.

In a discussion, Jack Nicklaus once said: "If you want to mess up a golfer, ask him where the head of his club is at the top of the backswing." Some coaches try to remake athletes. Break them down. Rebuild them in the design favoured by the coach. Many of us have seen it in sports.

Not saying it happens on the Lions, but when athletes come out of college with confidence and credentials, and lose it over time in the pros, one wonders. When they seem to regress. When they seem confused. And it happens repeatedly. Different athletes respond in different ways to different coaches. What works for some might not work for others. Can we get it going? Sure. We have seen it before.

Henry Jordan of the Packers said Lombardi "treated them all the same, like dogs." But it wasn't true. Some athletes, like Jerry Kramer, could prosper under hard, verbal criticism. He certainly didn't like it, it hurt, but he needed pushing. It gave him doubts, but then praise from Lombardi would fill him up, ready to go. Others, like Bart Starr, would not do well with that approach. They got different treatment.

But so many awards, et cetera. IMO all we have to do is watch the play, with the sum total of our experience. Could anybody on here do better? Not saying that. Not saying it is easy. Can we observe and evaluate? Sure. That is a big part of pro sports. The arm chair quarterbacks watch the players and coaches, those that go for the glory, and become targets for judgment.

It is what it is, and we love the Lions.

Just IMO ...
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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I was wondering what game you were watching with those punt return numbers come from WCJ because I didn't recall coverage being bad. I gather they came from CFL.ca where they don't make sense. EE's returner was credited with 3 returns for 24 yds and an 8 yd average. Game log shows first return was 19. After that it was 5 and 0 on the muffed punt. Tack on one 42 yarder kicked OB and that amounts to 4 "returns" for 24 yds with the Esks opting to concede singles on the other 3. There of course were the 3 singles. The only blemish really was the 19 yarder. Upon review I think what they did (or do) is count the spotting of the ball at the 35 after the rouges against the punter's net. Add 105 for the 3 rouges to the 24 actual return yards and divide by 7 punts and you get the 18.4 average "return". That is not in any way an acurate reflection on punt coverage.
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Hambone wrote:
Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:52 am
I was wondering what game you were watching with those punt return numbers come from WCJ because I didn't recall coverage being bad. I gather they came from CFL.ca where they don't make sense. EE's returner was credited with 3 returns for 24 yds and an 8 yd average. Game log shows first return was 19. After that it was 5 and 0 on the muffed punt. Tack on one 42 yarder kicked OB and that amounts to 4 "returns" for 24 yds with the Esks opting to concede singles on the other 3. There of course were the 3 singles. The only blemish really was the 19 yarder. Upon review I think what they did (or do) is count the spotting of the ball at the 35 after the rouges against the punter's net. Add 105 for the 3 rouges to the 24 actual return yards and divide by 7 punts and you get the 18.4 average "return". That is not in any way an acurate reflection on punt coverage.
You got the wrong guy, Hambone. I've made no comments on punt returns.

I will make one now. Chris Rainey might be the best, most exciting punt returner I have ever seen.
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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