Leos/Argos Post-Game Thoughts!

[B.C.FAN]

Andre Sedeghian and Alexis Bwenge were on the field together at the end as running back and fullback, respectively. Sadeghian impresses me with his quicknessn and balance. I don't know if he'll ever get to touch the ball this year in a meaningful situation, but I like what he brings.

[sj-roc]

Also, I did get a chuckle of the long 'Pinball Wizard' track Laughing (played during a challenge/stoppage of some kind).

I didn't make the connection then, but I thought the in-house DJ played horrible music tonight. Mostly just bland, nameless, faceless rock music during most of the TV timeouts that did nothing to inspire the crowd. C'mon guy, it was Ladies Night tonight, not Wayne and Garth's basement stoner party. Play something to get the crowd jacked and the ladies in a good mood; something tried and true like Black Box's "Strike It Up" to name just one of 1,000 possible tunes. One of the few wise selections that worked was "Surfin' USA" while the crowd started the wave. But "If I Could Turn Back Time" by Cher? That kind of crap just helps drive the crowd to the exits with nearly a full quarter to go!

I figured that was a take on all the recent eastern whining about how late the games start out here, but even so, there's tons of other time related songs they could have used instead.

[Belize City Lion]

But "If I Could Turn Back Time" by Cher? That kind of crap just helps drive the crowd to the exits with nearly a full quarter to go!

I think it was the last 4 or 5 minutes of the game and the PA music guy played a few tunes in a row that had something to do with time... Turn Back Time, The Longest Time, and some other song I can't remember. I guess it made sense to him, but I couldn't figure out what sort of message he was sending. Maybe it was a shot at Damon Allen's age?

Overall I thought it was a great game by the Lions. They could have used JC82 a bit more as he was often wide open in the middle. I still don't get why they go to Rogers so much. He's OK, but he's not consistent enough to warrant all the balls they throw his way. Geroy's fumble, a few penalties, and some really bad officiating kept the Lions from adding at least another 14 points to the tally. So the 40-7 score actually flatters the Argos. Our D was championship calibre yet again. I'm surprised Pinball left Bishop in for the entire game considering how easily and often we were getting to him and knocking him on his butt. What a special treat to see Brent Johnston score a touch down. And finally, the turnover where Banks punch the ball lose and Philips caught it and nearly scored a TD was one of the greatest defensive plays ever!

[Canuck_4_Life]

Our defense definitely seemed to have their swagger back.

Wasn't it Washington punching the ball out to Phillips? I mixed that up after the game. Miles and Banks both had "clean" INTs. Marsh is only a couple weeks away from returning, moving everyone back to where they should be. Marsh and Glover on the corners, Phillips and Banks at HB, Miles at FS and Washington at NK.

[lionsfan60]

Receivers dropped balls....Bishop over throwing and underthrowing his targets...Ian Smart gets stuffed...JJ just "managed" the game...Hey, wake up Vancouver.....your team just destroyed the Argos, moved into sole possesion of first place!! Does anything else matter? Stop picking apart their effort and for once be satisified with the results! We could have the Argos team or the Hamilton Team. We could have Casey Printers at QB instead of JJ (anyone watch that debut of his?).

This team is in first place.....and everyone else is looking up. We had a great game, and we won a game that we had to have. The greenies got their butts kicked and will be ripe for the picking next week. We have managed a 7-3-1 record with all of the adversity we have had. Be happy about where we are right now....I am.

[Rammer]

Our defense definitely seemed to have their swagger back.

Wasn't it Washington punching the ball out to Phillips? I mixed that up after the game. Miles and Banks both had "clean" INTs. Marsh is only a couple weeks away from returning, moving everyone back to where they should be. Marsh and Glover on the corners, Phillips and Banks at HB, Miles at FS and Washington at NK.

It was Washington that popped the ball out, caught that on the highlights last night.

As for the Phillips experiment, he didn't seem to adjust to the ball very well last night and his hands aren't exactly laced with glue. He may consider trying to play DB, as him and Phillips seem to have similar ability in running and catching.

[joesports]

We had a good game overall. I think one of the most important things is we are starting to get our momentum back and we are getting HEALTHY again. We are coming into 2 important games in the WEST. We have Sask next week and I'm sure they will be licking their wounds from their game against Calgary. We need to derail their "West Final and Grey Cup" plans as soon as possible. Then we have Calgary to beat up on. We need to come out and play some big games and remind them of who the Defending Grey Cup Champions are!

Its nice to see some of our guys getting their "Groove" back. I'm so happy that Geroy had a decent game but I miss seeing . I hope his game is coming back and his injuries don't get any worse.

I'm also happy to see JC have a good game. This guys always amazes me with not only his catching(tough luck in the end zone) and his ability to hit guys. I was watching him warming up at the start of the game making one handed grabs from JJack. Hopefully it won't get too ugly when he goes to Regina next week. I'm sure the fans are still hurt he extended his contract with us.

I think TW said it best after the game on the radio, "we need to come out and show we can play 60 minutes". The D played a good game and its good to see them Dominate Toronto and I'm sure they will just get better as we go forward. We need to go after Kerry Joseph early and often. Same with Burris. If we can dominte their o-lines then we should be able to create some opportunities for our "ball hawks".

GO LIONS!!!

[Blitz]

We have managed a 7-3-1 record with all of the adversity we have had. Be happy about where we are right now....I am.

I am too lionsfan60 and will be even happier when I get that tshirt in the mail!!!!

I don't look at a quarterback's passing percentage as the most important factor in his play. The fact is that it was only Jarious fourth start as a Leo and only his fourth start in four years to boot. Jarious showed poise in the pocket, scrambled very effectively, made some big throws, got some pass interference calls, had a lot of footballs dropped on him again (if Simon doesn't fumble and Clermont makes that catch we would have scored over 50 points against an Argo defense that is anything but shabby! While our offence took advantage of a lot of turnovers the fact is that our offence played well and Jarious played well.

What I really like about Jarious is that he is willing to go deep against the blitz and that scares the #@&# out of defensive coordinators and he is not throwing interceptions. For a quarterback in his fourth CFL start I'm very pleased with his progress.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that we needed to find a way to get Rodgers the football to take advantage of his potential running ability. I recommended that we integrate him more into our offence, use him on quick hitch passes, put him in motion and throw to him on a swing screen pattern. It was gratifying to see our Leos start to do that at practice this week, introducing Rodgers to both of those plays. We threw the hitch screen to Rodgers in the football game and while he didn't break it...it showed the ability of our offensive coordinators to keep trying to adapt to our offensive strengths. We threw five completions to Rodgers for 35 yards and by throwing to him we opened things up more for our other receivers.

However, while it makes sense and while Rodgers is an athlete he still has a long way to go... and I have to admit that I haven't seen one of those insightful flashes that make me believe yet, either on offence or special teams.... and he still drops too many footballs. I could be wrong and hope I am!! I saw that insightful flash in Rob Murphy in his second game last season and wrote about it, when Murphy still wasn't on the radar screen. I saw it in Nautyn McKay-Lauscher when he was stuck early and often behind Wilson. I saw it in Cameron Wake on his third day of training camp. I saw it in Javy Glatt when he was stuck deep on the depth chart. I saw it all last season in Ryan Phillips and was p.o'd all last season when we had him stuck at nickelback. I saw it in Jamal Johnson in his first practice when he joined our Leos mid-season a couple of years ago. I realy see it in Ricky Foley!!

I never thought I would see it in Crawford but I did last night. When Crawford ran downfield for that punt and Hardy held him with both hands firmly grabbing his sweater I saw Crawford fight, rip, uppercut with such an intensity on a downfield punt coverage that... even though Hardy took him down I knew that this skinny kid is going to be good one day. It may seem like not much of a meaningful play but it showed the fire that burns inside. He needs to get more meat and muscle on his bones but he's fast and he's intense and one day he'll be good.

As for all the whining about Eastern teams having to adjust to West Coast time I'll put it simply. Would you rather sleep in and play a game at 10 p.m. rather than 7 p.m. like Eastern teams to when they come West to B.C. or would you rather play at 10 a.m., when you are used to playing at 7:30 p.m. and travel East. Any idiot could figure out, that it's much easier for Eastern teams to adjust to going West than the other way around but some of these television commentators are a asleep at the switch anyway.

As for Toronto playing a bad game we made their offence look bad with pressure. I believed coming into this game it is the key to our defense as it always is. We put consistent pressure on Bishop and got it from our front four, took away their run, and that's when our ballhawking defense comes alive and our blitzes are most effective. Give Ritchie pressure and he can do so much more with his play calling. Bishop was undefeated at quarterback this season, coming into this game, but huge pressure can make an excellent quarterback look bad, especially with a ball hawking defense!!

As for the criticism of Kruck/Dorazio, whom I've supported from Day 1 (except a bad game plan against Saskatchewan last time) we're 7-3-1 and in first place, in spite of having to use three different quarterbacks. They were smart to turn us into more of a running team, with the Wrecking Crew and Joe Smith on our roster, even though they took some early criticism from a couple of Leos players and a number of fans (plus the running game helps big time when you keep having quarterbacks injured)

They are attempting to use all our strengths from inserting Lyle Green in there to using Ian Smart. "Smash Ball" is looking more effective than "Chap Ball" and once we can get our receivers to stop dropping footballs and a quarterback in there who can play a number of games in a row...our offence is only going to get better!! We have the ability to completely wear defenses down when we bring our A game and demoralize them.

[WestCoastJoe]

Ed Willes of the Province

PLAYER OF THE GAME

B.C. RETURNER IAN SMART

Smart had two big run-backs, the first a 56 yarder in the second quarter that put the ball inside Argos territory. It led to B.C.'s first touchdown on a Smith plunge. The second runback was a third-quarter 36-yard kickoff return that gave the Lions the ball at midfield after the Argos finally scored a touchdown. Smart ensured the Lions kept their momentum going.

Ian Smart has been dynamite for the Lions all year.

CFL Special Teams Player of the year, in addition to his many contributions on Offense.

Jim Popp doesn't admit many mistakes, but he does admit letting Smart go was Dumb.

[WestCoastJoe]

Jarious showed poise in the pocket, scrambled very effectively, made some big throws, got some pass interference calls, had a lot of footballs dropped on him again (if Simon doesn't fumble and Clermont makes that catch we would have scored over 50 points against an Argo defense that is anything but shabby! While our offence took advantage of a lot of turnovers the fact is that our offence played well and Jarious played well.

What I really like about Jarious is that he is willing to go deep against the blitz and that scares the #@&# out of defensive coordinators and he is not throwing interceptions. For a quarterback in his fourth CFL start I'm very pleased with his progress.

I realy see it in Ricky Foley!!

One of the absolute highlights of the year for me is the development of Jarious Jackson. He is very steady, plays very smart, has a rocket arm and great escapability.

I liked how Wally Buono almost jumped down the reporter's throat when he asked who starts next game. It has to be Jarious Jackson. Once Wally starts to believe in someone, it must fill the player with confidence. I see that dynamic now between Wally and Jarious. It took a while.

Go, Jarious. You are finally getting some opportunity and recognition. Your patience, dedication and hard work are being rewarded.

A lot of us have been waiting for Ricky Foley to bust out. We have that one lionbacker who is so p'd off at the coaches for not using him more. Well, maybe Foley's time is coming. He really does not have a lot of experience to draw on, mostly natural, physical talent. But Foley might be ready to contribute big time.

[Blitz]

One of the absolute highlights of the year for me is the development of Jarious Jackson. He is very steady, plays very smart, has a rocket arm and great escapability.

I liked how Wally Buono almost jumped down the reporter's throat when he asked who starts next game. It has to be Jarious Jackson. Once Wally starts to believe in someone, it must fill the player with confidence. I see that dynamic now between Wally and Jarious. It took a while.

Go, Jarious. You are finally getting some opportunity and recognition. Your patience, dedication and hard work are being rewarded.

A lot of us have been waiting for Ricky Foley to bust out. We have that one lionbacker who is so p'd off at the coaches for not using him more. Well, maybe Foley's time is coming. He really does not have a lot of experience to draw on, mostly natural, physical talent. But Foley might be ready to contribute big time.

I've always believed in Jarious and still do! I also love Buck and when Dickenson's days are over I hope that it's Buck and Jarious leading this team. I also wish our Leos would sign Jarious now to an extension!!

However, Jarious should start against Regina and Buck should back up! It's a big game and Buck is rusty. Jarious is in the flow, we're coming off a win, and Jarious is playing well overall. Buck will be in there leading us in the future but the time to start him is not next week. We need to get Buck some reps without thrusting him into the starting position right away.

As for Ricky Foley I still want to see him rotated in there. Wake is playing very well but we can still give Wake and perhaps even more so...Brent Johnson a breather in certain situations and develop Foley. Whenever he has been in there Foley has looked good. His play on special teams also shows that he is working very hard for that opportunity and deserves it! It would make our defense even better and get everyone feeling part of it. I don't see any significant drop off and a lot more advantages to getting Foley some game reps at defensive end.

[Belize City Lion]

It was Washington... thanks for the correction!

[CatsEyes]

Wally wanted the Lions to make more big plays and several defenders really stepped up...like T. Williams with 5 tackles and fumble recovery; C. Wake with 3 tackles, 2 sacks and a forced fumble; but K. Banks hit the grandslam with a tackle, a sack, an interception, a forced fumble and also knocked down a pass when he leaped 3 feet in the air while blitzing to bat down a surprised Bishop's pass.

Sounds great! Too bad we can't see it again. 8)