Bombers 30 - Lions 17 Post Game Stats and Comments

[TheLionKing]

Lions once again resorted to their 2 and out passing after the 1st quarter. They abandoned the running game. They had absolutely nothing to counter the Bomber pass rush. No screens, no rollouts. One draw play late in the game. Just pathetic playcalling by the Sham Wow guy masquerading as an Offensive Coordinator. Various Jackson was his usual self that we've seen in the past; overthrowing wide open receivers, throwing the football at the foot of the receivers, gunning the football when he should put a little air under it. Wonder which team's rejects Wally is bringing in this week.

[B.C.FAN]

Now ONE POINT to show for the Lions work in the 3rd quarter of the last FOUR games combined. This time it was part of nine straight 2 and out possessions. A complete embarrassment.

Proving once again Chapdelaine is totally incapable of making meaningful adjustments at half time.

The third quarter hasn't been great offensively for the Lions (nor for most teams other than the Bombers and Stamps) this year, but you can't blame the offence for this one. The Bombers took the opening kickoff in the third quarter and drove for a TD. On the first Lions' offensive play, Andrew Harris fumbled and turned the ball over. After two B.C. running plays, including a draw play that lost 6 yards, the Bombers scored another TD for a 27-10 lead. The Lions were out of it before they even attempted their first pass of the third quarter.

Five times in seven games, the Lions have kicked off to start the third quarter. On three of those five occasions, the opposition has taken the third-quarer kickoff and driven for a touchdown that led to victory. The Lions gave up a league worst 53 points in the third quarter through the first six weeks of the season, before giving up 17 third-quarter points in this game. That's where games are being lost.

[WestCoastJoe]

The third quarter hasn't been great offensively for the Lions (nor for most teams other than the Bombers and Stamps) this year, but you can't blame the offence for this one. The Bombers took the opening kickoff in the third quarter and drove for a TD. On the first Lions' offensive play, Andrew Harris fumbled and turned the ball over. After two B.C. running plays, including a draw play that lost 6 yards, the Bombers scored another TD for a 27-10 lead. The Lions were out of it before they even attempted their first pass of the third quarter.

Five times in seven games, the Lions have klicked off to start the third quarter. On three of those five occasions, the opposition has taken the third-quarer kickoff and driven for a touchdown that led to victory. The Lions gave up a league worst 53 points through the first six weeks of the season, before giving up 17 third-quarter points in this game. That's where games are being lost.

Point well made.

I would say, however, that for team with a losing culture, it just leaks out in different places.

Wally bragged recently about how few penalties his team had taken, how the coaches had really emphasized it. Well that aspect leaked out this game.

Penalties. Turnovers. Drops. Bad throws. Arland getting in Geroy's way, so that Geroy knocks the ball out of Harris' hands. Missed tackles. It leaks out somewhere.

Does this team have a losing culture? 1 win, 6 losses. Different leaks. I would say it does have a losing culture.

Wally brought in Arland Bruce. It quieted some critics for while. What distraction can Wally find for this week?

[CatsEyes]

Fantuz?

[Blitz]

We just have to face the fact that our Leos are a badly coached football team. The dropped passes, the miscues, and the lack of execution comes down to coaching. When you've only scored a point in the third quarter in your last number of football games, obviously half time adjustments by our coaching staff are another of many weaknesses.

Here are a few post -game thoughts

~I thought Chap gave us a couple of well-coached offensive series to begin the game. We used motion and formation and misdirection well and gave Lulay some high percentage plays to utilize. However, as the game wore on, our offence bogged down as anticipated.

~quarterbacks do not get better but more robotic the longer they play for Chap and Lulay is no exception. However, its becoming more obvious each game that Lulay does not have good accuracy on many of his throws, which are often behind receivers. Lulay may be a hard worker, intelligent, have character, etc. but he is not improving as he should be. Lulay threw for only 103 yards in three quarters. He's 5-11 as a starter. However, the problem is much deeper than Lulay...who had two new receivers to throw to as well as executing the running game with a different combination of feature running backs.

~Jarious Jackson looked like a quarterback who had only played one game early last season and had seen very little action. He was also under duress the entire foruth quarter. Still he threw a touchdown and got us 7 points in a quarter and we only had 10 in three quarters with Lulay. However, right now neither Lulay or Jackson look like the answer but I'm not sure any quarterback is the answer in Chap's offence. If we couldn't get it done with Dickenson duruing the playoffs in 2004, 2005, and 2007 with Dickenson and superior talent, we're not going to get it done with anyone else.

~the interior of our offensive line is not good enough. Olifoye and Archibald are the two best tackles in the league but Reid and Valli are not getting it done in the interior of our offensive line. I hope, that when Hameister Rees returns, we use Newman and Rees at guard and either move Valli back to center or give Baboulas or Andrew Jones a shot at center later in the season. We should trade for one in the off-season.

~the defense played very well to start the game and we wasted performances by MItchell, Williams, Reddick, Dennis, and Eliminian.

~offensively we had dropitis again with Simon and Peterson the main culprits. The number of dropped balls by receivers is an indication of a lack of sharpness and focus. Dropped passes have been plaguing us for too long and between Lulay's lack of accuracy and dropped balls by receivers are a reflection of an offence that lacks crispness and focus and that comes down to coaching.

~Harris peeled off a 69 yard touchdown burst that was painful to watch being called back. However, when you have Geroy Simon running into your running back by being late in motion and a lack of timing with your quarterback and his running backs it shows that we were not prepared well enough to insert Harris and Brown as our feature backs, although I agreed with the decision.

~Johnson didn't hurt us at wide receiver but why put another new receiver into the mix when you are already inserting Arland Bruce into the lineup after only 3 practices. You also insert another new player on offence when you are making another change in your offensive backfield. This was not the time to do that.

~the turnovers in the first half may have changed momentum in the first half but they did not lose us the game. It was only 10-13 at half time and we had survived the turnovers well. We lost the game when we didn't get a first down in the third quarter and looked awful on both sides of the football.

~I look around the league and I see Baresi as the offensive coordinator in Winnipeg running a balanced offence. I see Kruck doing a great job in Edmonton. I see Dickenson as the offensive coordinator in Calgary. You have to ask yourself why Burratto, Baresi and Kruck were let go and Chap and Dorazio have been here to run the show. You also have to ask yoruself why we need two offensive line coaches in Dorazio and Kelly Bates.

~We could have hired Stubler as our defensive coordinator and we didn't. We could have stayed with Kruck as our offensive coordinator after 2007 but instead we hired a fired Chap from Edmonton as a couple of receivers wanted the pass happy Chap back from his disaster in Edmonton. We could have hired Dickenson as our offensive coordinator for the 2010 season. We could have hired Tim Burke, who had led the Montreal Alouttes defense to two Grey Cups in his 3 seasons there, during the off-season (he wanted a new challenge) but we didn't.

~You have to ask why last season we went with an offensive line mis-experiment, you have to ask why we went with a 3-4 defense to begin this season (we looked better in the 4-3 last night) and you have to ask why we began this season with 4 receivers who had never caught a pro pass. There are so many questions to ask.

Right now you have no chemistry on our Leos football team. You have a Players Council of vets who can make personell decisions. You have a coaching staff struggling with schemes and personell decisions. You have Wallly grasping at straws and making so many changes it feels like we're stil in the exhibition season.

~We're a poorly coached team period. We are not executing, no matter who we put in the lineup. We're a team in crisis, fragile, frustrated, looking over our shoulders, afraid to make mistakes and therefore making more of them. You have Chap signalling in plays when every other offensive coordinator is sending them in wirelessly, you have Benevedes so hyped up that its like watching a first year junior bantam coach in action, you have the mad scientist Dorazio standing beside his new coaching partner Kelly Bates, who is suited up in pads, and you have Wally yelling at players and refs and coaches all game, interfering with the defense as per usual, and not having a clue as to what to do to right this ship.

WRAP

Right now this is the Bad News Bears coaching staff playing around with the chess board without any answers except to blame players and cut players and bring in new players. They are in desperation mode. Don't expect anything to get better in a hurry!

[SammyGreene]

I also don't think having team president Skulsky on the sidelines every game frowning over Wally shoulder is helpful.

Skulsky is looking more and more like a former Canwest head honcho who got a sweet buyout and is now living out his ultimate fantasy as football fan with the best view in the house. I kind of got it last year as he said he was trying to learn more about the football side of operations (maybe he should go to the visitors sidelines then ). But now 2 years running and especially for home games where the club president is better served overseeing the fan experience and corporate sponsors.

Seriously, how much more does he need to see up close and personal that changes are needed.

[bc49]

We could have hired Stubler as our defensive coordinator and we didn't. We could have stayed with Kruck as our offensive coordinator after 2007 but instead we hired a fired Chap from Edmonton as a couple of receivers wanted the pass happy Chap back from his disaster in Edmonton. We could have hired Dickenson as our offensive coordinator for the 2010 season. We could have hired Tim Burke, who had led the Montreal Alouttes defense to two Grey Cups in his 3 seasons there, during the off-season (he wanted a new challenge) but we didn't.

We (by we I mean Mr. Braley) could have brought in Eric Tillman and the house cleaning would have been epic. Not only would the current team be improved (both players and coaches) but the scouting and recruiting would have benefited. Agree Tillman might not as be as good of a talent hawk as Obie but compared to Wally and Shivers, a HUGE upgrade.

[Blitz]

We could have hired Stubler as our defensive coordinator and we didn't. We could have stayed with Kruck as our offensive coordinator after 2007 but instead we hired a fired Chap from Edmonton as a couple of receivers wanted the pass happy Chap back from his disaster in Edmonton. We could have hired Dickenson as our offensive coordinator for the 2010 season. We could have hired Tim Burke, who had led the Montreal Alouttes defense to two Grey Cups in his 3 seasons there, during the off-season (he wanted a new challenge) but we didn't.

We (by we I mean Mr. Braley) could have brought in Eric Tillman and the house cleaning would have been epic. Not only would the current team be improved (both players and coaches) but the scouting and recruiting would have benefited. Agree Tillman might not as be as good of a talent hawk as Obie but compared to Wally and Shivers, a HUGE upgrade.

Without question bc49.

We don't even have an American scout and are relying on the semi-retired Shivers making phone calls from his swimming pool in Vegas.

When we had Obie here, he had Richard Wade as his top scout and Wade has discoverd players who were not on the radar screen as Aaron Hunt and Cameron Wake. Same situation in Calgary where he found players like Nik Lewis and also brought Obie some good players in Hamilton.

We should be looking at a guy like Wade as our future personell guy......Shivers is coasting now in his semi-retirement years. At least hiring Wade to work with Shivers would pay some dividends in terms of NFL cuts etc. We really should have signed Marquise Charles (Utah State) a player with exceptional man cover skills at CB or HB during the off-season and for some reason didn't.

Coaching, player personell, scouting, offensive and defense schemes are the heart of the problem in terms of what ails us...and continously cutting players, blaming players, changing players, picking up other team's castoffs is not going to change the most significant of our problems.

[West Coast Blue Fan]

Richard Wade IS working with the Lions as the Western Regional Scout.

I'm guessing that's not Western Canada, so we do have an American scout. He's one of the best in the biz, but he can only bring in the talent, along with Roy Shivers. It's up to the coaches and GM to assess it and then to give them the opportunity to "execute".

Edit: Marquise Charles wasn't signed in the off season as he was under contract to the Spokane Shock of the AFL. He's been available for any team since the end of July when the Shock were eliminated

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Nice+ ... story.html

Nice start ends in misery for B.C. Lions

By Lowell Ullrich, The Province August 13, 2011

So much for that idea, Wally Buono.

The coach/GM of the B.C. Lions thought enough of the development of two of his young players in the offensive backfield to put the running game in the hands of rookie Tim Brown and sophomore Andrew Harris.

But the two couldn't hold on to the ball often and at times it seemed like noone else on the CFL team could either. The Lions fumbled four times and had six turnovers in all, making it easy for the 6-1 Winnipeg Blue Bombers to post a 30-17 win at Empire Field Saturday.

Thinking the Lions would not lose a step without Jamal Robertson, Buono made the 34-year-old veteran a healthy scratch for the first time in his B.C. stay. Robertson may not need to worry about sitting again.

Brown and Harris combined for three fumbles, effectively setting the Bombers up for 10 points in the first half. The other newcomer in the B.C. lineup, Arland Bruce, fumbled too.

In desperation, Wally is making many player changes. Chemistry is a mess.

2 new receivers. 2 new featured running backs.
..........

It goes back to the start of the year, when we started 4 new receivers, without one CFL catch between them. A head shaker.

And that goes back to last year, when we did not make any effort to get live reps for two young talents, Shawn Gore and Akeem Foster. D'oh.
...........

Can't stay still. Gotta make changes. "Change some players," is the cry from Wally Buono.

[TheLionKing]

Excellent summary Blitz. I share your view on the sad state of the Lions.

[WestCoastJoe]

Excellent summary Blitz. I share your view on the sad state of the Lions.

Survival. Hunker down. Hang in. Let the storm blow over. Sacrifice a player here and there. Distract the media from time to time. And we get through it. Sure helps to have that lifetime contract. Yikes, without it.

What might happen is: the natural professional instincts of the players will finally kick in, as they did last year, and the players will figure out how to make the schemes and play calling work. It is not ideal. And it is getting it done, in spite of the coaching.

One is tempted to ask oneself, "How did Wally ever think that Jacques Chapdelaine and Mike Benevides could be top level coordinators in the CFL?" Well, I guess they say the right things to Wally. They parrot a lot of stuff back. They have lots of Xs and Os ideas. They are comfortable for Wally. And it is kind of easy for Wally to think that he has had success with them. But that success actually had little to do with them. Wally had amazingly talented teams up to about 2008, when the league caaught up to his talent level. Dave Ritchie fixed Wally's defence. Steve Buratto got his offence started here in B.C. And Dave Dickenson and Casey Printers (and even Jarious Jackson and Buck Pierce and Travis Lulay), with their own unique skills made the offence work.

Lulay must have been thinking at times: "Gheez, Jacques, can you just tell me the play on the wireless? I am so distracted right now, guys are dropping passes, we are fumbling the ball, I am out of rhythm on some of my throws, and it is hard to concentrate on the hand signals. It is making me crazy."

[notahomer]

... Just pathetic playcalling by the Sham Wow guy masquerading as an Offensive Coordinator. ...

Hey at least the Sham Wow guy made a nice over the shoulder toss into the kitchen sink........

[WestCoastJoe]

Any post game comments from the radio guys, or words of wisdom from Wally?

I hear Lalji said it was the worst offensive performance he has seen in the last 10 years.

I expect Giulio and Rick Ball would be careful in their comments.