The talent on offence seems like one more loss like this and they will be in open revolt. Cardiac Kid
A few players went public before the bye week and even Travis said the 'staff' needed to take a look at things.
But a win against Montreal quieted thngs down. Johnson expressed his frustration after the game.
Rainey must be completely frustrated. We don't know how to utilize him on offence, other than hand off to him on the inside zone read, throw a quick pass to him in the flat, or line him up as a slotback and give him a curl pattern.
Rainey also has the worst punt return average in the league. Yes, that is Chris Rainey with the worst punt return average in the league and its been that way all season so far. He is averaging 7.9 yds. per return. Calgary is averaging 17.5 yds. per return. Last year, before Wally got involved in the punt return game, Chris Rainey led the CFL in punt return average.
There are some key stats which reflect why our offence is 6th in scoring in the CFL while our defense is ranked 6th in the CFL also.
Those stats are:
1. We've given up the most sacks in the CFL.
2. We've turned the football over the most in the CFL
3. We're 8th in sacking opposing quarterbacks.
A team can have tremendous talent in the so called skilled positions but if you are not a very good team on the offensive and defensive line, those skills are often negated.
Jonathan Jennings has had a tough season so far. But Travis Lulay had a tough season in 2015 and that was not just because of his shoulder. Lulay did not look like the same quarterback of 2011 or 2012, in terms of poise and composure. In 2015 Lulay completed 62% of his passes and threw 10 interceptions and only 12 touchdowns, with a miserable quarterback average of 84.4.
Injuries, constant pressure avoiding the rush, hits, sacks, constantly having to 'make plays' while defenses know what is coming, eventually wears a Leos starting quarterback down. Put Bo Levi Mitchell in a Leos uniform and his results would be very different. He'd have suffered many more injuries, his receivers would be covered like blankets when he played good teams, and he would spend most games on his butt or running for his life.
Wally has only ever been as good as his assistants and the people around him. In Calgary he had Hufnagel, Cortez, Shivers, and a pocket full of money to pay players like Flutie a million dollars a season. Wally came to B.C. and he had Ackles and O'Billovich and Ackles went out and got Dickenson for Wally's first season. From 2005-2007 Wally had Dave Ritchie coaching the defense and his defense was the key to our 2006 Grey Cup season.
But since 2007, there has been not been an Ackles or an O'Billovich or a Ritchie and the results have shown up just as they did in Wally's last two seasons in Calgary when he didn't have a Hufnagel or a Shivers or a Flutie, Garcia or Dickenson and his team went 8-10 and then went 6-12 the following season and missed the playoffs.
But it was Wally's choice to have Khari Jones coach the offence and Mark Washington to coach the defense and to bring back Dorazio to coach the offensive line. It was also Wally's decision to return as HC. I think he allowed that 2011 season to cloud his judgment. There had been a chorus of calls to step down as HC after the 2010 season. He would have been wise to stay retired from the sidelines (and from the cherry picker as well).
We could still sneak into the playoffs and then who knows what could happen. But the trend is not our friend. The bye week didn't result in any significant changes to our strategies (but the why would one ever think that would happen anyway, when everything is an 'execution problem' when things go wrong.
I'd day its back to the drawing board but we never go back to the drawing board. Our predictablilty is a factor in our interception rage, as is the pass rush. Against good defensive coordinators our receivers are covered like blankets and they jump our routes. Jennings first interception involved the defender running Burnham's route ahead of him.
But predictability has been a problem for a long time for our Leos. Its cost us a lot of playoff games. Claybrooks, who learned under Stubler, changes his defense up against different offences. Washington gives us the same old, each game. Sometimes It works but often it doesn't.
On offence, its even worse. The fact that our offence has put up so many yards of offence this season is a tribute to our talent and not our scheme. Its our talent that allows a Lulay or a Jennings to escape and 'make a play' or its a Burnham or Manny making a great catch or a Rainey or a Jeremiah Johnson making a great play or its a pancake block by a Steward opening a hole. But we don't fool anyone. The element of surprise, crucial to an offence is not there.
Doing the same old thing and expecting a different result is the definition of stupid. But there are a lot of people who do the same dum things in life over and over again.
Often, they are not stupid people. But they think they are always right and they are black and white thinkers. Their egos also don't enable them to believe that a different way might be better.
That type of thinking with our coaching staff is the biggest issue our Leos face - more than blocking, tackling, quarterbacking, pass rushing etc. There is more than one way of doing things but if you are locked into one way of playing football, no matter what your personnel is, this is the result.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)