What changes, if any, would you like to see for next year?

[ziggy]

I think our troubles run deeper than personnel at LB ... And I suspect a large part of it is dysfunction between Buono and Benevides. Does Benevides have autonomy? I doubt it. Should he have autonomy? Your call. If he doesn't deserve autonomy, then he should not be DC. As I have said, I suspect we do not even know Benevides own philosophy on defence. IMO ...

Ding ding, we have a winner.

A great head coach delegates and not micromanages; hires the right coaches and lets them do their jobs. Wally's plate is full as is, with the HC/GM hats, without getting involved in situational playcalling; save for maybe the go-for-it versus punt/FG option on fourth downs.

Take the reigns off your co-ordinators WB.

Just a question, do we know that Wally"micromanages" or has "reigns" on his co-ordinators?

[WestCoastJoe]

I think our troubles run deeper than personnel at LB ... And I suspect a large part of it is dysfunction between Buono and Benevides. Does Benevides have autonomy? I doubt it. Should he have autonomy? Your call. If he doesn't deserve autonomy, then he should not be DC. As I have said, I suspect we do not even know Benevides own philosophy on defence. IMO ...

Ding ding, we have a winner.

A great head coach delegates and not micromanages; hires the right coaches and lets them do their jobs. Wally's plate is full as is, with the HC/GM hats, without getting involved in situational playcalling; save for maybe the go-for-it versus punt/FG option on fourth downs.

Take the reigns off your co-ordinators WB.

Just a question, do we know that Wally"micromanages" or has "reigns" on his co-ordinators?

It comes down to whether or not Benevides has autonomy. I expect that Dave Ritchie designed and called the D as an expression of his philosophy. I suspect that Benevides delivers a defence much more in line with Buono's own preferences.

I have not used the term micromanages, nor did I use the term about having the "reins" on his DC. I would think it shows more in terms of an interference during games, during timeouts, in terms of the defensive play calls we make, and in terms of an overall defensive philosophy that is ultra conservative. Protect against the long ball above all else. This is shown in the depth of the drops.

Late in the year, more things were tried, but IMO we do not blitz enough or well. We tend to be stationary on the D Line pre snap. We tend to not overload the LOS pre snap. We tend to not blitz our DBs and safety, et cetera. Perhaps some observers think our D is aggressive. I don't. I think it is very passive, very stationary, choosing to hang back, playing not to lose, not attacking at every opportunity, very conservative.

Does our DC have autonomy? After observing the team these 7 years, it seems to me our style of defence is a representation of what Wally wants. Wally is very vocal when Benevides talks with a player or players during timeouts. There seems to be some difference in what is being communcated resulting in confusion.

Hard evidence of a lack of autonomy for Benevides? No. But what I have seen over the years gives me this impression.

I don't think Benevides has much autonomy, even though this has not been verbalized as such publicly. I see a lot of interference with play calls during games, especially at crucial times, and then we see confusion in the D. This is especially so at the end of games, and during 2 point converts. When I see his close involvement in this manner I then think that the student, Benevides, is delivering what the mentor, Buono, wants philosophically.

There has been no acknowledgement of this in the words of WB. In fact I have seen no discussion of the philosophy of either of the men. I am going by what we see on the field, both in the plays and in the by-play on the sidelines. If one would put it into words, would Wally say: "Attack, attack, always attack." Or would he say: "Protect against the long ball. Let them make mistakes as they try to go the length of the field."

Do you have any doubt that Benevides is delivering the defensive philosophy that Buono wants? I get the impression that Buono's shadow is so big with Benevides that we don't know what Benevides's own philosophy might be. For all we know, he might prefer to be as aggressive as Don Matthews was.

Well, he is the Head Coach, one might say. He has the right to be actively involved with the "field generalship" of the team. True. But IMO he is then acting as the DC. Some HCs do act as their own OC. I expect Dave Ritchie as HC made sure his defence represented what he wanted. But I see confusion with our D. I see dysfunction. So I wonder about the level of autonomy of the DC.

Whether what we see is the defence of Benevides or of Buono, IMO it is not good enough.

[ove]

The OF surely needs an overhaul, we lost far too many close games due to our inability
to put points on the board, it is still true,if you outscore your opponent you win the game.
I'm far from convinced that printers can do the job, 1 win in 4 starts is not very good, I think just about any of our QB could have done as well if they were healthy. we also need one or two better receivers able to get open. Buck Pierce? I have questions as to why our best receiver is invisible to him for 2/3 of the season , seeing the games only on TV makes it a bit hard to really understand what really is happening on the field, so maybe there is a good reason for not getting the ball to our best bet. What is the point of having 3 or 4 Qbs when the last two on the list is so ill prepared?
The DF needs to be more consistent, in some games they are very good , the blowouts they just mailed in, so a bit of tweaking and they will do as long as the OF can keep them of the field and score some points

[Hawkballer 14]

1 win in 4 starts

:cough: Yo Pauser, you notice that about your boy? :cough:

[David]

1 win in 4 starts

:cough: Yo Pauser, you notice that about your boy? :cough:

And those 4 losses were Printers' fault....how???

One could argue the OT interception cost us the Rider game, but if not for a defensive meltdown late, the "W" was ours. CP carried the offense on his shoulders that day and put us in a position to win that game.

DH

[Lionheart]

David, sometimes facts get in the way.

[Spud387]

1 win in 4 starts

:cough: Yo Pauser, you notice that about your boy? :cough:

And those 4 losses were Printers' fault....how???

One could argue the OT interception cost us the Rider game, but if not for a defensive meltdown late, the "W" was ours. CP carried the offense on his shoulders that day and put us in a position to win that game.

DH

Ok fine, if Printers is 1-3 (I can't really blame him for the Edmonton loss) yet is still holier than tho

Then what about all the bashing Pierce & Jackson took for their records this year??? Right...
Taking in to account who started each game and played most of it (the 3 games where BP went out really early are accredited to JJ & Lulay)
Buck was 4W - 4L
Jarious was 3W - 3L
Lulay was 1W - 0L
Printers was 1W - 3L
If ppl on this forum are going to say Printers is 1-3 and played well and should be excused for that, think of our other QBs people... if they were .500 and our D has been just as atrocious all year, then hold them to the same standard.

(I excluded our final regular season game as Printers came out early, Buck was too hurt to be even playing and Zac came in in a bad situation)

I am not saying Printers DID NOT play well, I am saying if he lost and yet is still praised, think of how ppl on this forum treated our other QBs when we lost...

[David]

1 win in 4 starts

And those 4 losses were Printers' fault....how???

One could argue the OT interception cost us the Rider game, but if not for a defensive meltdown late, the "W" was ours. CP carried the offense on his shoulders that day and put us in a position to win that game.

DH

Ok fine, if Printers is 1-3 (I can't really blame him for the Edmonton loss) yet is still holier than tho

Then what about all the bashing Pierce & Jackson took for their records this year??? Right...
Taking in to account who started each game and played most of it (the 3 games where BP went out really early are accredited to JJ & Lulay)
Buck was 4W - 4L
Jarious was 3W - 3L
Lulay was 1W - 0L
Printers was 1W - 3L
If you are going to say Printers is 1-3 and played well and should be excused for that, think of our other QBs people... if they were .500 and our D has been just as atrocious all year, then hold them to the same standard.

(I excluded our final regular season game as Printers came out early, Buck was too hurt to be even playing and Zac came in in a bad situation)

I am not saying Printers DID NOT play well, I am saying if he lost and yet is still praised, think of how you (ppl on this forum) treated our other QBs when we lost...

Simple. I didn't criticize them either.

[Spud387]

Simple. I didn't criticize them either.

I missed that, I thought I got all of the "you"'s and added a "ppl on this forum" to them. fixed the post.

[Blitz]

Changes for next season:

Offensive Cuts: Gryce-Mullen gone as receiver, remains on special teams
Buck Pierce

Defensive Changes: Brent Johnson moved to tackle, role player,
Aaron Hunt cut
Anton McKenzie cut
Armour cut
Miles cut
Toney cut

Special Teams: McCalllum only as field goal kicker
Whyte is our punter/kickoffs
Gryce-Mullen punt/kickoff returner
Ian Smart cut

Questions: Will Wally bring back Angus Reid or make the move to Valli at center...I think he'll bring back Angus for another season. I think he'll cut Glover, and make the move to Whyte and cut McCallum but I would keep McCallum as our field goal kicker. He kicked 19 in a row. I disaagred with the move to Whyte for one game and thought it was unwise.

[ziggy]

I still wonder if we can afford to keep J.J.? He must be itching to get a starting job and he's pretty high priced insurance if he is to stay on only as a backup. If Lulay can play, I think we may need to take a chance and make him number two, then use JJ's money elsewhere. As it stands, we must be using a much larger portion of our SMS on QB's compared to other teams?

[bclions16]

Defensive Changes:
Aaron Hunt cut...

Can we just cut his gut?

[Spud387]

The problem with all these cuts is, you have to have someone better to replace them with... I don;t see that happening

[TheLionKing]

The problem with all these cuts is, you have to have someone better to replace them with... I don;t see that happening

Concur

[WestCoastJoe]

The problem with all these cuts is, you have to have someone better to replace them with... I don;t see that happening

Concur

I agree that it is pointless to make a great number of player changes. IMO we would see the same flaws in the performance of the team.

IMO it is schemes and coaching philosophy that need the most fixing. Update the play book and improve the game planning. Be more of an attacking team, especially on D.

Oh, I've said that before. I repeat myself. I'm predictable. Ah, but the Lions repeat themselves too, and are just a bit predictable.

Perhaps I will do an about-face and sing the praises of the current regime, led by the greatest coach in the history of the CFL.

Everything is unfolding as it ought. Just keep the faith. Be patient. It's just a rough spell until the bread and butter stuff starts working again.

Well Wally certainly has been the greatest coach in the history of the CFL. And he, led and inspired by Bobby Ackles, has brought respectability to a franchise that was floundering. But there is evidence that the level of coaching in the CFL has risen to new heights, that coaches such as Trestman, Hufnagel, Austin and Miller have brought about this evolution, and that Wally has not changed or adapted.

Wally leaves most of the X and O's stuff to his assistants. He needs to make sure that they adapt to the times, and he needs to give them the autonomy to put their own ideas into practice. (His ideas, IMO, are more old school.) If they can't do that, he needs to bring in new people with fresh ideas and energy. If he won't allow that adaptation, that change, then IMO our team will continue its slide down the slippery slope.

In my opinion ...