Lions at Redblacks Aug. 28, 2021

[B.C.FAN]

The Lions' list of walking wounded is growing heading into head coach Rick Campbell's Week 4 homecoming in Ottawa on Saturday. According to the team's official injury report, Lemar Durant (knee) and Joel Figueroa (calf) did not practise Tuesday. Ten others, including guard Hunter Stewart (head), running backs Shaq Cooper (hamstring) and James Butler (ankle), linebacker Bo Lokombo (hamstring) and DBs T.J. Lee (calf), Garry Peters (hamstring) and Anthony Thompson (knee) were limited in practice. Ryker Mathews, who has been out with a head injury for the past two games and is on the 6-game injured list, is not listed on the report.

https://www.bclions.com/injuryreport/

[B.C.FAN]

According to the league’s official injury reports, Hunter Steward and J.R. Tavai were full participants in Wednesday’s practice and Lemar Durant was a limited participant after sitting out on Tuesday but T.J. Lee did not participate after being limited the previous day. Joel Figueroa sat out for the second straight day with his calf injury.

https://www.cfl.ca/2021/08/24/bc-ottawa ... ts-aug-24/

[B.C.FAN]

The Lions will likely go into Saturday’s game without both of their starting tackles. Joel Figueroa is listed as doubtful after not practising Thursday for a third straight day. Ryker Mathews is already on the 6-game injured list. DBs T.J. Lee and Anthony Thompson and QB Michael Reilly are listed as questionable.

Ten Ottawa players didn’t practise Thursday, including veteran DBs Abdul Kanneh and Sherrod Baltimore.

https://www.cfl.ca/2021/08/24/bc-ottawa ... ts-aug-24/

[David]

I would rather the Leos go into the game with a healthy left tackle than a hobbling Fig. That doesn't make much sense to me. A lot of deft footwork is required to play the position and a calf injury is likely to comprise that (and prolong the injury). If he's questionable to play Saturday, we may as well go into the game with Knevel and hope for the best.

Can 6-game injured players not come off the IL early? Not saying Mathews is ready, but if he were, could he not be activated?


DH

[B.C.FAN]

Can 6-game injured players not come off the IL early? Not saying Mathews is ready, but if he were, could he not be activated?


DH

Players can be removed early from the 6-game injured list but IIRC players on the list aren’t eligible to practise during the first 4 weeks. Mathews was just placed on the 6-game list last week.

[Gridiron Ernie]

I c&p'd this from the cfldb.ca website: B.C.FAN is correct of course...
"Players added to the 6-game injured list have their salaries excluded from the salary cap for the duration they are on the list. Teams may remove two players who has been on the 6-game injured list for seven games or more without penalty. Teams may remove an unlimited number of players from the 6-game injured list before their 6-game period is completed. If they do so, the player's salary while on the injured list retroactively counts against the salary cap. See Article 14.02 (pages 43-44) of the CBA for full details. Prior to 2014, a 9-game injured list was used and teams were limited to removing 2 players per season from the list early, but this was changed to a 6-game list in the 2014 CBA."
"See Article 14.02 (pages 43-44) of the CBA for full details": (I didn't bother going to this source, but B.C.FAN's comment concerning practices will likely be confirmed therein.)

[Hambone]

Can 6-game injured players not come off the IL early? Not saying Mathews is ready, but if he were, could he not be activated?


DH

Players can be removed early from the 6-game injured list but IIRC players on the list aren’t eligible to practise during the first 4 weeks. Mathews was just placed on the 6-game list last week.

Players on the 6G cannot begin practicing until after the 5th game has been played. That gives them 2 weeks of practice; the week prior to the 6th game plus the week prior to the game they return to play in. To answer the other question yes players can be pulled from the 6G early but I believe their salary retroactively gets applied to the SMS.

[Islander]

Taking a look at the Injury reports today, things seems little more hopeful. Lemar Durant was a full participant, after being a limited one yesterday. Also, TJ Lee was back to being limited after being DNP. Fig is till DNP, and I would agree that he should be held out, not only to give him the rest he needs, but to give Knevel some reps. We're only going to have depth at the position if we give our 2nd teamers some minutes.

Having said that, I really hope a full practice week with the current construction of our O-line:
Knevel, Steward, Godber, Chungh, Perkins,

can produce some better results. They were the single biggest reason, IMO, that the Lions lost the game last week. Reilly was visibly frustrated with them in the first half, and there were some killer holding calls throughout the game.

Against a solid defensive team like Ottawa, we really do need to be more polished on offence. We can't expect the D to be out there on the field all game and hold it together one more week.

Also, I really noticed our lack of movement when it comes to the pocket with Reilly behind centre. It makes it especially challenging for an embattled O-line if the majority of your plays are straight-up 3 step drops.

Just my two cents worth

[SammyGreene]

Wonder if it’s Knevel that gets the start or American Broxton jumps ahead of him from the practice roster.

Feels like a trap game which is weird for a team that is 1-2 and didn’t look good last week. So much focus on Ottawa’s woeful offence thru 2 games but Nichols isn’t exactly facing a vaunted pass rush.
RedBlacks defence will be a handful for a patched up oline that was overwhelmed last week.

[B.C.FAN]

Wonder if it’s Knevel that gets the start or American Broxton jumps ahead of him from the practice roster.

Feels like a trap game which is weird for a team that is 1-2 and didn’t look good last week. So much focus on Ottawa’s woeful offence thru 2 games but Nichols isn’t exactly facing a vaunted pass rush.
RedBlacks defence will be a handful for a patched up oline that was overwhelmed last week.

Broxton in fact will start at left tackle in place of Figueroa, who moves to the injured list. The only other change to the starting lineup is Tim Bonner at defensive tackle in place of Ufomba Kamalu, who also moves to the 1-game injured list.

Here’s the team’s official depth chart and roster for the game:
https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/w ... Ottawa.pdf

The Redblacks have placed veteran DBs Abdul Kanneh and Sherrod Baltimore on the 6-game injured list. The early key to the game seems to be whether B.C.’s injury-depleted offensive line will give an injured Michael Reilly the time to exploit Ottawa’s injury-depleted secondary.

https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/w ... -Chart.pdf

[David]

Let's keep in mind that, yes, Ottawa's offense has struggled. But they've played against two pretty good defenses in Edmonton and Saskatchewan. You saw how much trouble Reilly had moving the ball against the Elks.

Don't sleep on a Paul LaPolice designed offense, no matter how many weapons they're missing tomorrow. And Mike Benevides really seems to have his troops fired up on the other side of the ball.


DH

[Hambone]

Ottawa's defence has been stingy when it comes to giving up TDs. 35 points surrendered over 2 games; 1 TD and 9 FGs.

[BC 1988]

Let's keep in mind that, yes, Ottawa's offense has struggled. But they've played against two pretty good defenses in Edmonton and Saskatchewan. You saw how much trouble Reilly had moving the ball against the Elks.

Don't sleep on a Paul LaPolice designed offense, no matter how many weapons they're missing tomorrow. And Mike Benevides really seems to have his troops fired up on the other side of the ball.


DH

When Reilly got hit hard in the opening series vs EDM last week, he got up slowly and they were asking him on the bench afterwards if he was ok to continue. He did, but should have sat for awhile. I had to laugh later on when the TSN camera caught Rourke standing on the sidelines, twirling a football on his fingertips (instead of getting into the game).

Yes, I think Benevides will be ready. This could be like the infamous 2014 7-5 game in OTT
https://www.cfl.ca/games/2032/bc-lions- ... 5#boxscore
Or it could (more unlikely) be like this:
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/ ... -1.5292968

[SammyGreene]

70 percent chance of rain throughout the game. Hope Reilly’s elbow can hold up and there is some production on the ground.

[Belize City Lion]

Is this a "must win" game for BC? I say yes, but also the rematch in 2 weeks, because if the Lions are going to make the playoffs they will probably need all 4 points from Ottawa. Toronto, Montreal, and now Hamilton all look good enough to prevent a cross-over this year. The schedule maker gave BC a gift with two games against Ottawa, now they need to take advantage of it.