Lions 36 - Stampeders 31 Post Game Stats and Comments

[Rammer]

I really do believe if we play in the East, if we cross over, if we make the playoffs, we can make at least as much noise as we did in 09.

Forget the East. I want the West; go into Riderville and punch them in the face, do the same (again) in Cowtown, then win the GC in front of Mr. Braley's other fans.

IIRC the Lions visit to Regina for a WDSF has proven to be a very nice touch in the two opportunities, both large wins by the Lions. This despite the Lions "not being able to play in the cold weather of November in Regina".

[joe kapp22]

I really do believe if we play in the East, if we cross over, if we make the playoffs, we can make at least as much noise as we did in 09.

Forget the East. I want the West; go into Riderville and punch them in the face, do the same (again) in Cowtown, then win the GC in front of Mr. Braley's other fans.

IIRC the Lions visit to Regina for a WDSF has proven to be a very nice touch in the two opportunities, both large wins by the Lions. This despite the Lions "not being able to play in the cold weather of November in Regina".

Well, I'm not concerned about the Cold, because by now, we have won where we were not "supposed" to win, and lost were we were "supposed" to win.

I just happen to believe we match up better with teams in the East.

I'm not worried about Cleo Lemon, and I'm not concerned by the TiCats running game, as for the Alo's, the strength of our D is the back 8 anyway.

Now teams that can do both, the D just has so much youth on it, that they will give us problems imho.

[Sir Purrcival]

Well, I wouldn't have given a snowballs chance in hell but I guess that is why they play the games. Credit where credit it due. But luck was a factor tonight and we still saw some stupidness in the penalty department (read Anton McKenzie: How I Took a 3rd Down and Made It a 1st. Confessions of a Moron by Random House) but as mentioned above, tomorrows games got a little bit more interesting.

[Rammer]

Well, I wouldn't have given a snowballs chance in hell but I guess that is why they play the games. Credit where credit it due. But luck was a factor tonight and we still saw some stupidness in the penalty department (read Anton McKenzie: How I Took a 3rd Down and Made It a 1st. Confessions of a Moron by Random House) but as mentioned above, tomorrows games got a little bit more interesting.

The way that McKenzie reacted and the way that Henry went down, I have to wonder if HB didn't enhance that with a nice drop to draw the flag. It would be interesting to know exactly what went down on that play.

The funniest one though in the game was HB patting up Elimimian, Sol-E pushed Burris away telling to get away you Bra wearing pansey QB. HB then started mouthing off to Sol-E, but only to his back as Sol-E doesn't have the time of day for HB. To me that was an indicator that the Lions were beginning to get the idea that they don't have to get caught up with the opposition when they try to provoke the Lions into penalties. Then there was the Phillips penalty after the fact, just as I thought the D was growing up.

[Rammer]

I was just re-watching the game and the offside against the Lions that looked like a procedure was exactly that, a procedure. Bad call, and then that is followed up by the McKenzie roughing the passer out of bounds. HB was diving on that one to get the call the second time I viewed it, just look at the play viewed from behind, noway Henry gets dislodged from his feet like that be a shoulder push.

[David]

The funniest one though in the game was HB patting up Elimimian, Sol-E pushed Burris away telling to get away you Bra wearing pansey QB. HB then started mouthing off to Sol-E, but only to his back as Sol-E doesn't have the time of day for HB. To me that was an indicator that the Lions were beginning to get the idea that they don't have to get caught up with the opposition when they try to provoke the Lions into penalties.

That was one of the highlights tonight for me too. Like "get the **** away from me." Burris is so annoying when he makes like, a 12 yard run followed by the gay hook slide, then jumps up with that gap toothed grin and pats the defenders on the helmet and back. And he does it every game, the patronizing bastard. At least tonight we didn't have to watch the little horsey gallop he does in the end-zone.

He looked absolutely incredulous when Solly shoved him and told him to beat it. That was priceless.

DH

[Sir Purrcival]

I wouldn't doubt that HB embellished that sideline play for a second much like Lewis laid on his back like a wriggling worm when Banks gave him a little shove, but Mckenzie should know better and in essence, his lameness continued a drive that eventually led to a touchdown. This team isn't good enough to give away advanatage when they have it. After the two previous games and how penalties contributed to those endings, you might think that every player to a man might have figured out that they can not afford to give away any more gifts. Mckenzie should have sat on the bench for that one for awhile.

On a brighter note, I thought Crawford, played better tonight. He made a couple of timely hits. He still looks a bit like a deer in the headlights but maybe there is some more seasoning to come.

[lion24]

It was great to see a win but let's be honest they basically almost pissed another game away and would have until Franklin played the ball as if it was a grenade. There is a lot of good young talent on this team that can be built on but if the team is going to get better in the following years they will need to learn to finish games better and display a lot more discipline. I would like to see only those on defence next year that WANT to tackle, I have almost had enough of Phillips not wanting to engage in a tackle and easily getting blocked down the field

[Rodu]

I thought Hyland had a good game considering it's his first start at corner in the CFL. But I see his future at safety for us.

Key stat could be that drop by the wide open Franklin in the end zone. Hopefully it comes back to haunt them

[Blitz]

What an exciting game!!

For a while it looked like we were going to blow a 20-0 lead but we came back and won a close one..a nice way to win for our Leos team that needed to learn how to win a close one. A few post-game thoughts:

OFFENCE:

Calgary played a lot of matchup man defense, as they usually do, in a league where most teams play a lot of zone, However, when you play man to man on the wide CFL field, your defense needs to get pressure on the quarterback..because its hard for a defensive back to cover man for any length of time. We were able to exploit Calgary's man defense, when we had time to throw.

I thought the key to this game for our offence was the play of our offensive line. Overall, they did a great job of pass blocking. There were times that Lulay had 5 seconds back there as our line did a great job of picking up stunts and protecting. Our offensive line, with the same linup now for a few games, is playing like a unit. Jovan is protecting our quarterbacks blind side at left tackle. Sherko, back at guard, had a great game.

A second key to the game was using Robertson as an outlet on swing passes out of the backield. A number of us were calling for this play from the start of the season as part of an anti-blitz package but it took almost 2/3 of the season until Chap figured out keeping the tailback in almost every play to block on passing downs was counter-productve. Releasing Robertson on swing passes adds a dimension to our offence and allows our quarterback to get rid of the football for positive yardage when the opposition rush is effective.

Lulay played a good game. He threw for 255 yards. What impresed me was his desire to go long. He had mostly been a dink and dunk quarterback so far this seaosn but with time to throw and Calgary in man defense he hti Black and Arsenault on deep throws and showed a willingness to go vertical. Lulay coughed up the football a couple of times, but overall he played a solid game. Lulay's running ability is deceptive and effective. He made some key runs again this game and will soon be spyed by opposition defenses.

Our offence also was given very good field position most of the game., Playing on a short field makes a huge difference.

DEFENSE

This was a game of two halves. We stil really lack a great pass rush and it hurts our defense, which went into this game as the best pass defense in the leauge. Burris either had too much time or was able to extend plays and that broke our defense down at times.

Stanley Franks made some key plays in this game. David Hyland impressed again, playing corner this time, for his first time. He looked like a veteran out there, not a raw CFL rookie. Tad Crawford made a couple of mistakes but he played so much better than he has previously. He was more aggressive, made a couple of big hits, and looked much more comfortable than he had played previously.

Our defense made key turnovers, including a goal line turnover by Franke in the first quarter, created a fumble that led to ta touchdown, including a game winning last stand. Barrin Miles work with our seconday is paying dividends. Miles work was obvious on the sidelines, as he caoched with intensity.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Andrew Harris gave us some huge returns to give us great feild position and scoring opportunities in this game before Yanus Davis got untracked for a couple of huge plays at a key time in the game. Davis recorded back-to-back punt returns of 46 and 49 yards, and both led to McCallum treys — from 27 and 33 yards — to enable us to pull ahead and record our second win in Calgary this season.

Our downfeild coverage was excelent and McCalllum has been unconsicous out there this season. McCalllum went 5/5 on field goals, as he continued his field goal proficiency.

WRAP

This was a huge win for us, going into Calgary, a team playing to clinch first place. Last night our talent, which has been obvious for a long while now, was able to shine. This could have been another game that we blew a huge lead but we came through at crunch time, something our Leos team, from coaches to players, needed to learn how to do.

[Blue In BC]

So, Lulay was starting to grow on me, but is it just me, or can he not see down field? Every pass I can remember was to the flat to Robertson. It was either to Robertson or run with it.

And another thing, was I the only one who saw Calgary receivers jump the snap on their running starts? I saw it on Lewis' TD, and towards the end. At least they caught it once, but come on.

It's not unusual for a QB in his early career starting to do that. They seem to be able to complete the very short and the very long passes. Everything else takes a bit longer to get really comfortable as they learn to read defenses better and faster.

What surprises me is that teams allow QB's to take those outlet passes as easily as they do.

[Hambone]

A couple of observations:

Defensive undisciplined penalties - is Dave Ritchie on the coaching staff? The Leos' penchant for committing fouls like that of McKenzie and several others over the past 3 or 4 games was always a hallmark of a Ritchie team.

McKenzie's penalty - some are trying to say it might not have been warranted? Whether Burris embellished it a bit or not is irrelevant. Burris was already at least 2 yards beyond OB. McKenzie did give him a push. That will draw a flag each and every time. You have to be smarter than that. Don't give the zebra an excuse to throw the hanky.

Arjei Franklin - if BC makes the playoffs I'm sending you a Christmas card. BC totally blew the coverage leaving him wide open by 10 yards. Burris hit him right in the hands. Stamp fans must think Kamau Peterson, Stampeder version is back in town.

Travis Lulay - I'm getting to like this kid. While the Printers' camp may disagree I see a young QB who makes good decisions. He seems to know when to roll out of the pocket or when to step up into it. He's not afraid to throw the ball away or tuck it and run when nothing is there. Somebody complained about him not looking downfield enough. Well he hit Arceneaux for 74. He overthrew him on a couple more occasions. On the pick intended for Black, another deep ball, that was simply one hell of an athletic play by the DB to take the ball away. If Travis throws that ball 48.5 yards instead of 48 it's a BC TD. The important thing I saw in all of those deep plays was he was making the right read and decision. They were deep balls on single coverage with the receiver having a step on the defender. On all the swing passes to Robertson I think those were a sign of a QB going through his reads. First read? Not there. Second read? Not there. Get the ball off to Robertson in the flat which was available all game long and they were usually picking up 6 to 8 yards. Very nice job of delivering the ball perfectly hitting Robertson in stride. He never had to stop or break stride to adjust to the ball. Just reading back through this comment in Lulay I see all the basic fundamentals I expect to see in my quarterback. Unfortunately for Casey it was too rare an occasion that he exercised the same sort of sound judgement Lulay has displayed. CP's play seemed to have degenerated to running around in circles in the pocket, usually head down, bouncing off his own OL or pass-rushers like a pinball before flailing the ball downfield into coverage in hopes that something good MIGHT happen. Like any young QB Travis needs to work protecting the ball but at least he tends to tuck it in as opposed to carrying it like a loaf of bread. On the fumble return for TD that was just a great play by Hughes to punch the ball free.

[Blue In BC]

I was just re-watching the game and the offside against the Lions that looked like a procedure was exactly that, a procedure. Bad call, and then that is followed up by the McKenzie roughing the passer out of bounds. HB was diving on that one to get the call the second time I viewed it, just look at the play viewed from behind, noway Henry gets dislodged from his feet like that be a shoulder push.

Did it matter? He was clearly out of bounds when he was hit.

[Toppy Vann]

No question about the call on Anton McKenzie. It was as clear cut a penalty as you will ever see.

Not sure why Wally has let team discipline slip so bad this year. That could have cost them another game. When players are playing for themselves and not the team that stuff happens if they know their are no consequences. Wally has to tighten this up for next year. This year looks lost as far as discipline goes.

Lulay started great with that opening read off the blitz. There is no way Calgary could have saw that coming with a Chap coached offence. I suspect that Dickinson could write the Chappy script of plays from the opening to the plays for each down and distance and he'd get 98% right.

It was a good and surprising win.

[In Ur Face]

I have to say ....We were very lucky ....As Lulay is still growing as a QB.... We need to have a running game that was lacking very baddly.
If we cant run this ball down these teams throats. We need more screen plays and roll outs ....Lulay is getting better with time. Hope he's
ok as I saw him limping at the end of the game. Davis is a beast! Why didnt we use Massem to run the ball ....Where is Gore. Will we even
see him touch this ball this season. Black is really starting to be a impact as a reciever for us. I said it in the beginning to put him in ...and
bench Wilson. Glad the evidence is showing. For all you who said no.