Lulay, Chapdelaine and the offence ...

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/footb ... story.html

Blocker’s role a frustrating one for Andrew Harris

Lions running back is used to getting the ball in space to defeat the blitz, not be Lulay’s personal protector

By Lowell Ullrich, The ProvinceSeptember 8, 2013

B.C. Lions running back Andrew Harris has a pass knocked away by Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Simoni Lawrence during first half

CFL action in Guelph, Ont., on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dave Chidley

Photograph by: Dave Chidley , THE CANADIAN PRESS

GUELPH, Ont. — The maturation of the player who is focal point of the B.C. Lions offensive attack took another step when Andrew Harris was asked to assess what has happened to his output in the last month of the CFL season.

It wasn’t an easy discussion.

The player who started the season with three 100-yard rushing performances in his first five games has forced to becoming part of the protection plan for quarterback Travis Lulay.

There are other ways to keep the franchise player upright, but the Lions have elected instead to make Harris a blocker when the blitz pressure came as it did throughout much of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 37-29 win Saturday.

Harris knows it is different, and though he was careful not to throw darts at offensive co-ordinator Jacques Chapdelaine and his scheme, it was impossible not to detect his frustration.

It comes from the fact after a five-game stretch in which Harris had averaged 80.6 yards on the ground he started play Saturday with a 42.3 average nightly performance, with three fewer carries to boot, over the last four contests.

It’s demoralizing, and Harris let it show just a little after the latest setback.

“There’s a point in time where I feel I’m out there going through the motions as a blocker,” Harris said. “I understand that. But it’s a lot whole different than it was at the start of the season.

“I haven’t had a worse four-game spurt in my life. I don’t know if they (Lions coaches) think I can’t do it. I feel if I get an opportunity in space I do well. It’s just not as often as it has been.”

There are a variety of ways to defeat blitzing defences, but for the most part, the Lions have elected to keep Harris in to block, though they continued to use two-back sets with Rolly Lumbala and Tim Brown, too.

“Every team gets blitzed, but they find ways to get their backs the ball. If I look back at the season, I felt I was more of a focal point of the offence,” Harris said. “I don’t know if it’s something I’m doing, but for whatever reason it’s not happening.”

Harris suggested after the last time the Lions were steamrolled in Montreal that the Lions needed to dictate offensively. They didn’t do anything of the sort Saturday, and as such the season is starting to have a much different feel.

B.C. is now 1-4 on the road. The Lions were 5-4 last year. They also were 7-1 against the East Division during the 2012 season. They’re 3-3 against the East this year, and it is going to probably cost them a home playoff game.

Coach Mike Benevides said the Lions aren’t purposely going away from Harris, who has only averaged seven carries in his last three outings and had a season-low 10 yards from five rushes Saturday.

“He made more plays in the second half when he was more of a receiver,” said Benevides of Harris, who had three catches for 33 yards.

But Harris was suggesting he could do more but isn’t getting the chance.

“Let them blitz. We have to have answers. Every team has answers,” he said . “You can make it seem negative. You can make it a positive. If they’re blitzing seven people there’s got to be someone open.”

They weren’t open long enough Saturday and as a result the Lions have the same problem to fix they had two weeks ago, plus have one frustrated young back on their hands too.

[WestCoastJoe]

GUELPH, Ont. — The maturation of the player who is focal point of the B.C. Lions offensive attack took another step when Andrew Harris was asked to assess what has happened to his output in the last month of the CFL season.

It wasn’t an easy discussion.

The player who started the season with three 100-yard rushing performances in his first five games has forced to becoming part of the protection plan for quarterback Travis Lulay.

Teams adjusted to our QB and our RB. And that was it. We were stuck. Couldn't adjust back. Then the real blitzing started. Yikes. Almost unfair, but this is pro football. Take no prisoners.

There are other ways to keep the franchise player upright, but the Lions have elected instead to make Harris a blocker when the blitz pressure came as it did throughout much of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 37-29 win Saturday.

Harris knows it is different, and though he was careful not to throw darts at offensive co-ordinator Jacques Chapdelaine and his scheme, it was impossible not to detect his frustration.

throw darts at offensive co-ordinator Jacques Chapdelaine and his scheme

Frustration? One can understand that.

It comes from the fact after a five-game stretch in which Harris had averaged 80.6 yards on the ground he started play Saturday with a 42.3 average nightly performance, with three fewer carries to boot, over the last four contests.

It’s demoralizing, and Harris let it show just a little after the latest setback.

“There’s a point in time where I feel I’m out there going through the motions as a blocker,” Harris said. “I understand that. But it’s a lot whole different than it was at the start of the season.

“I haven’t had a worse four-game spurt in my life. I don’t know if they (Lions coaches) think I can’t do it. I feel if I get an opportunity in space I do well. It’s just not as often as it has been.”

Looks like Benevides didn't get to him in time after the latest debacle. Harris vented a bit.

There are a variety of ways to defeat blitzing defences, but for the most part, the Lions have elected to keep Harris in to block, though they continued to use two-back sets with Rolly Lumbala and Tim Brown, too.

A variety of ways to defeat the blitz. Hmmm ... Seems like quite a few we don't try to use. Let's go into a shell. How about QB under centre? Go right after those smallish, quick Alouette defenders. Run right at them. Quick pass them from under centre. And all the other stuff discussed endlessly on this site.

“Every team gets blitzed, but they find ways to get their backs the ball. If I look back at the season, I felt I was more of a focal point of the offence,” Harris said. “I don’t know if it’s something I’m doing, but for whatever reason it’s not happening.”

"find ways to get their backs the ball"

The house is on fire. The ship is sinking. The plan is not adequate to the task. JC had no answers other than to turtle a bit, and bring in more blockers. Go for 8 blockers, with 1 QB, 1 RB, and 2 receivers? A tight, little pack.

Harris suggested after the last time the Lions were steamrolled in Montreal that the Lions needed to dictate offensively. They didn’t do anything of the sort Saturday, and as such the season is starting to have a much different feel.

"steamrolled"

Yup. And then those darn TiCats took a page from the those darn Alouettes and brought a zillion guys on the blitz. Well, quite a few anyway.

Coach Mike Benevides said the Lions aren’t purposely going away from Harris, who has only averaged seven carries in his last three outings and had a season-low 10 yards from five rushes Saturday.

Of course not. They are putting out fires.

10 yards on 5 carries. In some kind of alternate universe, I would like to see Cornish or Sheets try to run in our offence.

“He made more plays in the second half when he was more of a receiver,” said Benevides of Harris, who had three catches for 33 yards.

But Harris was suggesting he could do more but isn’t getting the chance.

“Let them blitz. We have to have answers. Every team has answers,” he said . “You can make it seem negative. You can make it a positive. If they’re blitzing seven people there’s got to be someone open.”

"We have to have answers."

Oh yes. But none forthcoming so far. Except I suppose execution. It looks good in the playbook.

"If they’re blitzing seven people there’s got to be someone open.”

One would think so. Hot reads?

They weren’t open long enough Saturday and as a result the Lions have the same problem to fix they had two weeks ago, plus have one frustrated young back on their hands too.

Well, for a football team, the coaches and management sure don't like these kind of complaints in the media. But, if it can direct attention to solving the problem, I say whaddayagonna do?

Did Harris do wrong? Good question. Did he sound a warning about how bad this team could be if we continue down this path?

It would be hard to believe that when we face Montreal once again that we are unprepared for the all out blitz. There must be some good stuff in that huge playbook of JC's. Did that section get lost when the laptop was stolen a few years back?

[WestCoastJoe]

Complacency. Heads in the sand. Out coached. No answers. Wally is letting it be known that he is not happy. But does he have the answers this time? Can his coaches, his students, keep up with the Xs and Os in the rapidly evolving CFL?
........................................

Some of the competition ...

John Hufnagel. All American Quarterback at Penn State. Drafted by the NFL. Played 3 years there. And 12 more in the CFL. With the Stampeders, as the OC, he coached Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia.

In the NFL he was a QB coach and an OC. He coached Peyton Manning, Mark Brunell, Tom Brady and Eli Manning.

Can we compete in the Xs and Os department with this guy? He beat us 8 times in a row when he joined the league as a HC. We finally adapted a bit and swung it the other way for a while.

Dave Dickenson has a heckuva resume as a player, a quarterback.

Scott Milanovich. Played as a quarterback for 5 teams, including a stint with the Buccaneers. Has coached with 5 pro teams.

Kent Austin. Played QB for Mississippi. Academic All-American. Drafted by the NFL. Stayed two seasons. MVP of the 1989 Grey Cup. Played quarterback for 10 years in the CFL.

George Cortez has coached with 10 different teams.

What did Marc Trestman bring to the CFL? College quarterback. 2 Grey Cups. Coached 12 teams. College. NFL. CFL. OC in many places.

This is the competition in the Xs and Os department for offences in the CFL. A quarterback driven league. A league where IMO offence usually dominates the defence. 300 yard passing games all over the place. Dynamic running games.

DCs in the CFL might not be as glittering a collection, but these guys have to devise defences to stop high powered offences. As much as I respect Rich Stubler, his defences show some vulnerabilty, both to the run and the pass, as well as at game end.

The level of coaching in the CFL is rising fast. Adapt or die. Great for the league. Not so great for teams that don't really want to adapt, that emphasize execution over schemes.

We can talk about players: Harris. Valli. Kabongo. LaRose. Lulay. Archibald. Moore. Norman. Jordan. On and on. But it seems to me there is a bigger problem. Coaching. The long term ones that are here have Wally's loyalty. But not all of his coaches get that loyalty. Steve Buratto. Steff Kruck. Jamie Baresi. Travis Moore. Wallly's coaches work their tails off. But the level of competition is getting just nasty.

[DanoT]

The best answer for the blitz is with a different OC. It won't happen this season, but a change in O thinking is long over due.

Lions won't likely host a playoff game and with their away game record against what will be a heavily blitzing opponent on a cold day in November in Regina or Calgary, well we all know what the result will be.

[Blitz]

“Every team gets blitzed, but they find ways to get their backs the ball. If I look back at the season, I felt I was more of a focal point of the offence,” Harris said. “I don’t know if it’s something I’m doing, but for whatever reason it’s not happening.”

Um...lets see if other teams get their back the football more. Going into Saturday's Hamilton game Harris had 36 receptions. Gable of Hamilton was second with 23 receptions, Jon Cornish had 22 receptions, and Cory Sheets had 19 receptions. The list drops off from there.

In terms of running the football, going into the weekend, the Riders have used Cory Sheets a lot more than any team has used their back for the run game. Jon Cornish was second in terms of rushing attempts with 125 and Harris was third with 113 attempts. Simpson of Winnipeg had 108 rushing attempts and then there was a drop off with Hugh Charles having 68 attempts and the great Kent Austin has used Gable to rush the football 54 times. All of them have a higher yards per rush average than Harris.

Harris was third in combined yards with 902 so far this season while second place in combined yards went to Jon Cornish with 985 yds. Harris has been used less lately and when we have used him to rush the football it has not been effective. However, overall, I wouldn`t say all these other great offensive minds around the league are using their running back more often than we are, outside of Sheets in Regina.

I thought MLF had a concept worth looking at when he said that we should line up Harris in the slot. When Harris said that when defenses blitz 7 someone has to be open.... you would expect so. But even though I have never been much of the empty backfield formation of a spread offence, but if we lined up Harris in the slot and went empty backfield, they would only have 5 defenders when full out blitzing and we would have 6 receivers lined up. We would have to determine who was hot and that should be easy. One would not be covered in man and someone would have to be wide open against zone. The big question is getting the open receiver the football in time or not.

I also believe that Andrew Harris is starting to get into dangerous territory and may need to get quiet really quickly. He started the season off with his good riddance public comment about Khalif, which was unwise to say the least about a former teammate, he has showed his frustration with arm waving during football games, he went public with his comments after the Montreal game, and he is still expressing his frustration publically.

In the Hamilton game, some of Harris' receptions went to Nick Moore, who had (count em) 11 receptions and Courtney Taylor with 7 receptions. Harris and Gore had 3 receptions and then Arsenault only had 1 reception. I don't read any comments from Arsenault that he should have been used more often in the game, as our leading receiver this season. Hamilton focused on taking away Arsenault deep and I thought we should have gone to him more on underneath stuff, with Hamilton playing him the way they did but obviously that defensive strategy opened things up more for Moore and Taylor.

Harris might be wiser to try to show something special with his few running attempts, even if the blocking is not there, improve his pass blocking (which needs improvement) and continue to be a soldier rather than whining that he is no longer the focal point of the offence or complain that he is being used too much as a blocker. That may have been true recently but over the past 2 1/2 seasons he has been and I doubt the Lions plan to change that in the future unless Buono and Company begin to get frustrated with him.

I found it interesting that Wally stated he is not happy with his team, stated that he may be making more personnel changes, and the first move he makes is to bring in an experienced CFL backup in Buck Pierce.

One thing for sure. If Wally is unhappy, the first move he has usually made is a change in personnel, in some way to send a message. However, rather than messages I believe, as many others do on Lionbackers, is that we need a few changes to our lineup. We are not good enough right now in the interior of our offensive line and the loss of Fabian has showed. Even more so, there are two key changes that need to be made on our defense. One of those changes has to be in our defensive line and the second in our defensive backfield, where we could actually use two changes.

The focus has been on our offence but our defense has also stunk too often on the road. Our defense was awful against Calgary in the season opener and have also been less than impressive on the road against Toronto, Montreal, and Hamilton.

[DanoT]

I think Harris as an offensive output leader may be trying too hard to be a team leader and he is better at the former than the latter.

As Blitz suggests, Harris should close his mouth and just play football. With the arrival of Buck Pierce the Lions get a natural leader who probably won't see the field that much but will be great on the sidelines, in the locker room, and in the community.

I do think Harris needs to be used more on screen passes or as a decoy and not so much as a blocker. Against Hamilton the Lions had a play where they faked a run to Brown, then tossed a short pass to Harris that went IIRC for a first down. In typical Chaps fashion we did not see that play again even though it worked well and should have been run until the Cats made an adjustment to stop the play.

[WestCoastJoe]

Bring on Montreal.

Bring the heat.

Let's see if we have adapted. We will know very soon once the game starts. If the blitz is backed off, it will be like: Where did it go? Where are all those guys lined up like Gap 8 at the LOS? Where are all those guys in the box?

But if the two and outs continue, if the blitz keeps coming, we will know that we have not figured it out yet.

I do believe Jacques Chapdelaine can coach against the blitz. It seems to me the question is if he wants to, or if he wants it to be a case of running his offence without acknowledging the blitz, without wrapping his game plan around it. It seems as if he wants his players to execute his plays to such a degree that it doesn't matter what the defence does. How else to explain the lack of adaptation to an all out blitz from the Montreal debacle, then the less aggressive blitz of the first TiCat game, allowing us to win, to the amped up, ferocious all out blitz of the TiCats in game 2? Is there some arrogance there, some stubbornness?

Our team has a number of issues. This thread is about the offence. But we also have personnel issues. Defensive issues. Morale issues. Players saying things to the media that the staff will not like. Benny has tried to counsel Harris about keeping quiet. It didn't work this time. Bench him? Cut him? That would be interesting. It would take a millisecond for another team to pick him up. This kid has the heart of a champion. Can we not get him in an offence that shows the calibre of our players?

The Grey Cup of 2011 almost seems like a mirage. But it happened. With these guys. With a crisis that year as well. A big time crisis for Chapdelaine. Under intense pressure, he adapted that year. Since then teams have taken away Lulay's mobility. And they have keyed on Harris. That slammed our offence to a standstill. To Gridlock. We have had a helluva time running our offence, with 8 men attacking our LOS. Time to adapt. Time to find those elusive answers. Or maybe the answers are right there. We just have to use them.

Benny has said we have to hit that nail on the head, anti blitz preparation. I think we can do it. And we will know very soon once our offence takes the field.

Bring on the Alouettes. Bring the heat. If we are prepared, it will be like: Hey, what was all the fuss about? They tried to blitz. We forced them to back off, and a normal football game broke out. If we don't force them to back off, it will look once again like professional coaching versus poor amateur coaching.

[Blitz]

I think Harris as an offensive output leader may be trying too hard to be a team leader and he is better at the former than the latter.

As Blitz suggests, Harris should close his mouth and just play football. With the arrival of Buck Pierce the Lions get a natural leader who probably won't see the field that much but will be great on the sidelines, in the locker room, and in the community.

I do think Harris needs to be used more on screen passes or as a decoy and not so much as a blocker. Against Hamilton the Lions had a play where they faked a run to Brown, then tossed a short pass to Harris that went IIRC for a first down. In typical Chaps fashion we did not see that play again even though it worked well and should have been run until the Cats made an adjustment to stop the play.

I believe, to a certain degree, that Harris is a victim of his own success. I was thrilled when Harris was inserted as our starting tailback (I believe around Game 7 of 2011 but correct me if I'm wrong). We not only went on our long winning streak but we capped the season off with a Grey Cup victory...and Harris was named the Top Canadian in the game.

In 2012 Harris was the feature player in our offence. He led the CFL in yards from scrimmage with 1830 yards. He was third in the CFL in rushing and he was our leading receiver in terms of catches with 75 receptions and he was second in receiving yardage. Simon had 54 catches for us last season and Bruce had 43.

Perhaps we used Harris too often. He was our main anti-blitz weapon. Lulay looked for Harris often in the passing ame and when teams blitzed Lulay looked to Harris as his preferred choice. Lulay also ran the football 65 times last season for 477 yds., often breaking down a defense with his legs.

So the recipe has been simple for opposing defenses. Shut down Harris as our leading weapon offensively and don't allow Lulay to beat them with his legs. Defenses in 2012 often put an extra defender in the box, tried to give Harris special attention as a receiver, and spied Lulay. It had success at times but it was not enough to really hold down these two excellent athletes.

So, the defensive strategy changed even more so this season. Montreal brought a full out blitz against us and we looked awful. Hamilton played us a little more conservatively in the first game this season but they put a lot of players in the box last game and blitzed us with 6 or 7 players. The strategy is the blitz serves as both a run blitz and a pass blitz while ensuring Harris is covered quickly out of the backfield. The blitz is brought from both inside (right up the middle) and outside (mostly to Lulay's right hand side)

There are really only two major strategies our Lions can use to pass the football. Those strategies are to either go 1) maximum protection, meaning having as many blockers as blitzers) or going spread offence (which means there will be more blitzers than blockers but a receiver should be open. Defenses can either zone blitz or go man defense, with that many people pass rushing the quarterback. If the defense goes zone there are just too many open areas if we go spread. If they go man, its tough coverage to employ and to a receivers advantage. The defense is gambling that they can get to the quarterback before he can release the football, either hitting him as he throws, having great pressure in his face, or sacking him.

What have our Leos tried to do, scheme wise? We have tried to use multiple formations against the blitz at times during games. We have brought in an extra blocker on the line and used Lumbala and Harris to block. We have gone spread offence and slipped Harris out of the backfield. We have gone spread and kept Harris in to block. We have gone split back and used both backs to block. We have gone split back and kept one back in to block and released Harris.

We have also tried to move the launch point for Lulay. Dispite the negativity I read, we semi-roll or boot or sprint out Lulay more than any team bootlegs or sprints out their quarterback. Calgary does not bootleg their quarterback often nor does Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, or Hamilton. Hamilton did not roll out or spring out Burris hardly at all against our blitz. However, its much more difficult to sprint our or roll out when a defense sends an all out blitz because they are taking away the outside with a blitzer.

So, for those who are criticizing the scheme, the answers are more difficult. One answer has been to run the football more but with 8 players in the box and so many players blitzing, its been obvious that Harris has no holes to run to. One possible solution would be to pitch the football to him on a few quick tosses to the left side of our offence, the place where we have seen the least blitzing. We booted Lulay to the left side of our offence and we may also need to do that a few more times.

Other than those concepts, perhaps we should go empty backfield on occasion, as MLF suggested and get six receivers out in the pattern but Lulay will have to find the open man as soon as the football hits his hands and get it out, with an empty backfield.

One way we could attack the blitz is the way that Burratto attacked it in 2004. He lined up two tight ends and two backs but he also threw to them as well as using them as blockers in max protection. Unfortunately we don't have a receiver like Clermont who could line up as a tight end and also be released to catch the football. Lumbala, as a fullback, is also not an effective receiver, if we released him. So, when we go maximum protection, using a lineman as a tight end and Lumbala as a fullback, the defense doesn't worry about them and can provide better pass coverage in our max protection formation.

The best solution, even though I have read sarcastic comments regarding this is to go hot with quick slants, quick outs, quick crosses, quick seam patterns etc. Certainly a screen package that does not feature Harris but instead sets up other players for slip screens, bubble screens, etc. would help. Lumbala and Brown, when he is in split backs, as well as a slotback backside blocking, would be better screen weapons. Another strategy is to throw to a receiver in motion.

Better anti-blitz pickup would help also. There is no excuse for a player coming wide open up the middle against the blitz. That's what you take away first. Its how Lulay got hit the most in Hamilton and its inexcusable.

Montreal will be bringing it. We're going to continue to get practice against a lot of blizing defenses. Its another round of heat coming. It will be interesting to see how we prepare for and play against it this week.

[mattykicks]

I'm a BC Lions fan living in Saskatoon. Used to live in New West. Watch the games on T.V a lot.

The issue with the Offence to me seems purely a product of a weak Offensive Line. Harris is a great RB. But the o-line can't make any decent holes for him. And Lulay has no time to make decisons because he is constantly being hurried. This is why Lulay can't throw deep. It's not because of a weak arm. It's because he physically doesn't have enough time to allow his receivers to get down field.

I question why you bring back Buck Pierce. If I were the lions, I would have tried to acquire one or two Big O-lineman instead. The Pierce thing doesn't make much sense. Without better play from the O-line, Pierce, lulay, or Tom Brady would have a tough time.

JC can OVERCOMD this problem by using more screen plays, shovel passes and options to draw in the D-line, and move the play away from them, or ahead of them.

But make no mistake. From my chair, BCs Achilles heal is the o-line.

[WestCoastJoe]

Excellent comments as our team struggles to solve the offensive woes.
...........

IMO ...

Coaching. #1 issue. Along with all the other issues. Personnel. Now morale is an issue.

2011 Grey Cup champions.

2012 Not.

2013 Not a contender so far.

Defensive adaptations against our offence have not been countered. Gridlock.

And now we have this other nemesis: all out blitzing.

It hardly seems fair. Well we cannot expect any teams to go easy on us. No mercy rule in the pros.
...........

I would suggest our offensive coaching has not been up to the level of Hufnagel/Dickenson, Milanovich, Austin or even Cortez. Their resumes are diverse and extensive. What they played. Where they played. Where they have coached.

Defensively IMO our coaching can compete, with some vulnerability.

Offensively IMO we can compete, if we adapt effectively at the pace of our competitors. IMO we have not done that. IMO we have focused too much on execution, regardless of what the defence is doing. IMO we have been slow to adapt our schemes, game to game.

Let's start with the anti blitz. #1 coaching issue. That is the fire we have to put out. I would suggest that it was not solved in the last game. Hamilton pulled back, with a big lead, and we took advantage, when our talent had time to function, giving the TiCats a scare at the end. And the anti blitz was certainly not solved in the Montreal game, although everybody here had concerns about it going in.

If we are to solve the all out blitz, we will see quick passes just over the LOS, where the LBs have vacated. And we may even see the QB under centre. Go right after the defence. QB draws. Quick hitters to Harris.

If we solve the all out blitz, we will see the LBs moved back to normal depth.

Bring on Montreal. Bring the heat.

[Solar Max]

If we are to solve the all out blitz, we will see quick passes just over the LOS, where the LBs have vacated. And we may even see the QB under centre. Go right after the defence. QB draws. Quick hitters to Harris.

If we solve the all out blitz, we will see the LBs moved back to normal depth.

Bring on Montreal. Bring the heat.

You do realize that we're speaking of Jacques Chapdelaine here, the galaxy's most stubborn OC?

Change comes slowly and reluctantly to Jacques.

The force is weak with that one.

[notahomer]

Who cares about success running the ball, IMO? If we aren't starting 2nd and 14 due to another sack due a pass, I consider a run for a no gain a success. Just giving our O-line a chance to do some SMASHING instead of being the Smashed. Anyway, its obvious that the Lions are not going to be able to do what they WANT to do using the current scheme/players. Lulay is going to continue getting whacked until our offence starts burning the blitz.

To quote one Rod Black "OH MY GOODNESS, that was a helluva shot Lulay just took"........

Interesting to heard Buono's take. The guys are walking off the field. I hear where he's coming from but its not necessarily all on the players, IMO. If I was asked to bake a chocolate cake without chocolate, I'd probably walk off the field too. Or if I was asked to make chickensalad out of ...... never mind.........!

[Blitz]

Who cares about success running the ball, IMO? If we aren't starting 2nd and 14 due to another sack due a pass, I consider a run for a no gain a success. Just giving our O-line a chance to do some SMASHING instead of being the Smashed. Anyway, its obvious that the Lions are not going to be able to do what they WANT to do using the current scheme/players. Lulay is going to continue getting whacked until our offence starts burning the blitz.

To quote one Rod Black "OH MY GOODNESS, that was a helluva shot Lulay just took"........

Interesting to heard Buono's take. The guys are walking off the field. I hear where he's coming from but its not necessarily all on the players, IMO. If I was asked to bake a chocolate cake without chocolate, I'd probably walk off the field too. Or if I was asked to make chickensalad out of ...... never mind.........!

If I had to eat chocolate cake without the chocolate I would at least prefer than rather than the substitute chicken salad.

I find myself wishing in futility that we could line up Lyle Green and Jason Clermont as tight ends in our power formation. We could use them to block on some downs and then chip block and quickly slip into the short middle where the linebackers are vacating due to the blitz. However, instead we have Baboulas and Lumbala. I also find myself dreaming that we had a Millington type of fullback. Millington was the best player I ever saw run the screen play.

I'm not so sure that running Harris a lot on first down, when there are 8 players in the box is the best strategy, when there are so many players in the box but I do agree with you that running makes offensive lineman more aggressive. Harris getting stuffed at the line and looking at second and 10 Is not a great situation but I do agree that its better than second and 17. Lulay only got sacked 3 times last game. I do agree that we have to run him at times though.

What would be better would be a quick short pass to set up second and four. That would put the defense in a tougher bind. We need to be productive on first down. Second and long, whether due to a stuffed run, an incomplete pass, or a sack just gets a blitizing defense salivating.

[WestCoastJoe]

I'm a BC Lions fan living in Saskatoon. Used to live in New West. Watch the games on T.V a lot.

The issue with the Offence to me seems purely a product of a weak Offensive Line. Harris is a great RB. But the o-line can't make any decent holes for him. And Lulay has no time to make decisons because he is constantly being hurried. This is why Lulay can't throw deep. It's not because of a weak arm. It's because he physically doesn't have enough time to allow his receivers to get down field.

I question why you bring back Buck Pierce. If I were the lions, I would have tried to acquire one or two Big O-lineman instead. The Pierce thing doesn't make much sense. Without better play from the O-line, Pierce, lulay, or Tom Brady would have a tough time.

JC can OVERCOMD this problem by using more screen plays, shovel passes and options to draw in the D-line, and move the play away from them, or ahead of them.

But make no mistake. From my chair, BCs Achilles heal is the o-line.

Welcome to the site.

[WestCoastJoe]

If we are to solve the all out blitz, we will see quick passes just over the LOS, where the LBs have vacated. And we may even see the QB under centre. Go right after the defence. QB draws. Quick hitters to Harris.

If we solve the all out blitz, we will see the LBs moved back to normal depth.

Bring on Montreal. Bring the heat.

You do realize that we're speaking of Jacques Chapdelaine here, the galaxy's most stubborn OC?

Change comes slowly and reluctantly to Jacques.

The force is weak with that one.