Coach Buono answers to GM Buono - Cam Cole

[WestCoastJoe]

Coach Buono, meet GM Buono: Lions must straighten things out

Win or lose Sunday, it's been a very disappointing season for Leos

By Cam Cole, Vancouver Sun November 13, 2009

'All our jobs are at stake, mine and everybody else's,' says B.C. Lions GM and head coach Wally Buono. 'When you lose sight of that, you lose your edge, and maybe that's what's happened with some of the veterans here. If they're not getting the job done, I've got to take notice.'

Sunday could put off the meeting for a week, but whether the B.C. Lions win or lose the Eastern semifinal in Hamilton, the head coach is going to have to sit down with the general manager and get some things straight before another winter is allowed to pass.

A mirror could be involved, considering the coach and the GM are both Wally Buono.

The coach might ask, for instance, how come three linebackers who used to belong to the Lions are starting Sunday for the Tiger-Cats, and playing better football than the guys the GM decided to keep?

The GM might ask why, with so much experience on that side of the ball — not only on-field but with an old linebacker at head coach, a coordinator, Mike Benevides, who seemed to have all the answers a year ago, and a 26-year CFL veteran line coach in Mike Roach — the Lions' defence is ranked last in the Canadian Football League?

The coach might ask, in a year in which every team has a sophisticated running game and many have taken liberties with the Lions' run defence, how come the GM didn't find a high-impact middle linebacker who could put a halt to this nonsense?

"That's an old cliche. Who's a stud middle linebacker in this league?" Buono said Friday.

"It's the guys up front. It's everybody. They don't need to be bigger, they just need to be better. Anton [McKenzie] is 230, JoJuan [Armour] is 230. Saskatchewan plays with a DB, [185-pound Tad] Kornegay, and Sean Lucas, who's 205 pounds. There's no rhyme or reason. If you do what you're supposed to do within the scheme, you'll keep the run to a minimum.

"When you're supposed to be in the B gap, and you're in the A gap, you're going to get screwed."

The GM might ask the coach if he's sure it's the players and not the scheme? And if it is the players, and they're making grievous mental and/or physical errors over and over again — illegal procedure penalties, offsides, filling the wrong run gaps — who is responsible for preparing those players?

"The schemes are all the same," Buono said. "Why do you guys think it's magic?"

Maybe the internal conversation will wait until the season is officially buried. But the questions are already there, and for the players — if not for Buono, who isn't going anywhere — a great deal is at stake in what could be the closing act of a very disappointing season.

Don't think they don't know it.

"The way I look at it, you got mortgages, kids, family, careers — all of the above is on the line right now. So if that doesn't motivate you as an individual, to protect your assets … ," said Korey Banks, one of the B.C. defence's few playmakers.

"The worst thing for a team is when you're not winning, there's disarray. I've been part of that in Ottawa, where it seems like I saw 200 guys come through that locker room. You got to play every game like your job is on the line, because it is."

Buono doesn't read the papers, he says, so perhaps he really hasn't seen comments from unnamed players who blame the lack of a true middle linebacker, or the defensive system, for the problems in stopping the run. He thinks it's a cop-out, and it all comes down to discipline and executing assignments properly.

Armour, for one, knows he can be better. Like everyone else, he was awful last Friday in the humiliating loss to Edmonton.

"We've got some veteran guys, including myself, who start in a gap and end up jumping out of that gap, thinking they're going to help the team by making that play, where in reality you're hurting the team because that gap you vacated is now open," he said. "We've just got guys who've tried to do extra, when extra is not needed."

If run defence were the only problem, it might be easier to fix. But the secondary has been vulnerable to big plays, too. It's an all-around illness.

Buono says it all stems from the revolving door of injured quarterbacks. Inconsistent offence equals tired defence.

"Without quarterbacking, it all compounds. You ever notice who covers all the kicks? It's defensive guys. If you're on the field too long, what do you think happens?" he said.

By the end of Friday's fiasco, he said, his team was like a cellphone with a dead battery.

"You use it, and use it and use it, and then it dies on you," he said.

So you plug it in overnight, and it starts working again. Working toward Sunday, presumably.

But if it doesn't work then …

"Some of the younger guys might worry about [job security], I don't," said Armour. "Win or lose, I'm going to be in the same position come training camp, fighting for my job. My goal is to win this game, nothing beyond that. No Eastern final, no future contracts, none of that stuff happens if we don't get this done."

On that, at least, Buono is in full agreement.

"All our jobs are at stake, mine and everybody else's," he said. "When you lose sight of that, you lose your edge, and maybe that's what's happened with some of the veterans here. If they're not getting the job done, I've got to take notice.

"So what's at stake, for all of us? You can take a season that's been frustrating and maybe alleviate some of the frustration, some of the disappointment. Is it going to save somebody's job? You know what, maybe it will. Maybe it will.

"Or maybe it will just [reinforce] what you already know."

Flip a coin, I say. There's just no telling, with this team.

[WestCoastJoe]

'All our jobs are at stake, mine and everybody else's,' says B.C. Lions GM and head coach Wally Buono. 'When you lose sight of that, you lose your edge, and maybe that's what's happened with some of the veterans here. If they're not getting the job done, I've got to take notice.'

Somehow I think Wally's jobs are not at stake. Braley makes changes even slower than Buono.

The coach might ask, for instance, how come three linebackers who used to belong to the Lions are starting Sunday for the Tiger-Cats, and playing better football than the guys the GM decided to keep?

Ouch. Markeith Knowlton, Jamall Johnson, Otis Floyd. 3 good ones.

The GM might ask why, with so much experience on that side of the ball — not only on-field but with an old linebacker at head coach, a coordinator, Mike Benevides, who seemed to have all the answers a year ago, and a 26-year CFL veteran line coach in Mike Roach — the Lions' defence is ranked last in the Canadian Football League?

Execution is Wally's answer.

The coach might ask, in a year in which every team has a sophisticated running game and many have taken liberties with the Lions' run defence, how come the GM didn't find a high-impact middle linebacker who could put a halt to this nonsense?

"That's an old cliche. Who's a stud middle linebacker in this league?" Buono said Friday.

"It's the guys up front. It's everybody. ... If you do what you're supposed to do within the scheme, you'll keep the run to a minimum.

Execution, he says. Within the scheme.

"When you're supposed to be in the B gap, and you're in the A gap, you're going to get screwed."

I think the opposition also knows which gaps the Lions are supposed to be in.

The GM might ask the coach if he's sure it's the players and not the scheme? And if it is the players, and they're making grievous mental and/or physical errors over and over again — illegal procedure penalties, offsides, filling the wrong run gaps — who is responsible for preparing those players?

"The schemes are all the same," Buono said. "Why do you guys think it's magic?"

I don't think the schemes are all the same. Not only do some teams use different schemes, but they have a more aggressive philosophy in how they use the schemes and weapons.

Buono doesn't read the papers, he says, so perhaps he really hasn't seen comments from unnamed players who blame the lack of a true middle linebacker, or the defensive system, for the problems in stopping the run. He thinks it's a cop-out, and it all comes down to discipline and executing assignments properly.

Execution, he says. Could predictability be a problem?

Buono says it all stems from the revolving door of injured quarterbacks. Inconsistent offence equals tired defence.

"Without quarterbacking, it all compounds. You ever notice who covers all the kicks? It's defensive guys. If you're on the field too long, what do you think happens?" he said.

Can't get off the field? For sure, your players will be tired.

"All our jobs are at stake, mine and everybody else's," he said. "When you lose sight of that, you lose your edge, and maybe that's what's happened with some of the veterans here. If they're not getting the job done, I've got to take notice.

"So what's at stake, for all of us? You can take a season that's been frustrating and maybe alleviate some of the frustration, some of the disappointment. Is it going to save somebody's job? You know what, maybe it will. Maybe it will.

"Or maybe it will just [reinforce] what you already know."

Well, there is a chance to salvage something from a frustrating season. Hamilton has figured out a few things since O'Billovich took over the team. We will soon see if the Lions have figured out how to stop the run and the pass. We have seen signs of hope for the offence. Our biggest concern would have to be the defence.

[Rammer]

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Out of the three LB'ers for Hamilton, I wasn't expecting as much from Floyd as he has given, otherwise I shook my head at both the departure of Knowlton and watching JJ jump ship was the most difficult. Perhaps Floyd's limited success last season was indicative of the Lions D problems this season, he wasn't given the opportunity to exploit his game under Benevides D.

[Lionheart]

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Perhaps Floyd's limited success last season was indicative of the Lions D problems this season, he wasn't given the opportunity to exploit his game under Benevides D.

Bingo. I'm wondering if this is not the case.

[Hambone]

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Out of the three LB'ers for Hamilton, I wasn't expecting as much from Floyd as he has given, otherwise I shook my head at both the departure of Knowlton and watching JJ jump ship was the most difficult. Perhaps Floyd's limited success last season was indicative of the Lions D problems this season, he wasn't given the opportunity to exploit his game under Benevides D.

One can't go harping too much on the past. Each of them left under different circumstances and there was much more to the situations than simply keeping the players.

Knowlton was a simple offseason trade two years ago. The draft pick that became Rolly Lumbala was the return for Markeith.

Floyd was a combination of age and SMS factors. That he played as well as he did this year isn't surprising and probably wasn't to Buono either. But in making that decision he has to be thinking how much longer would Floyd be capable of playing at a reasonably high level. 1 year? 2 years? And of course the other question would be what other player(s) would have to be jettisoned instead of Otis to be able to take the SMS hit Floyd would command. As it was Korey Banks effectively moved up into Floyd's old spot under a slightly different scheme and I don't think anybody will would say he was a failure.

Jamall Johnson left for a shot at the NFL and when he came back he put himself into classic free agent mode with two or three teams bidding for his services. By the sounds of the money he was demanding a BC signing would not have come without SMS repercussions impacting other parts of the roster.

[B.C.FAN]

The coach might ask, in a year in which every team has a sophisticated running game and many have taken liberties with the Lions' run defence, how come the GM didn't find a high-impact middle linebacker who could put a halt to this nonsense?

"That's an old cliche. Who's a stud middle linebacker in this league?" Buono said Friday.

He has a point there. There are no more stud middle linebackers. The six linebackers named to the East and West Division all-star teams include two outside linebackers and four converted defensive backs who play tweeners. You could add Korey Banks to the number of tweeners. He plays a similar role, although he was named to the all-star team as a DB.

[TheLionKing]

It ultimately comes back to the coaches. If the players are not in their proper gaps, why not ? Why are the coaches tolerating that ? Get someone in who can execute the schemes.

[Rammer]

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Out of the three LB'ers for Hamilton, I wasn't expecting as much from Floyd as he has given, otherwise I shook my head at both the departure of Knowlton and watching JJ jump ship was the most difficult. Perhaps Floyd's limited success last season was indicative of the Lions D problems this season, he wasn't given the opportunity to exploit his game under Benevides D.

One can't go harping too much on the past. Each of them left under different circumstances and there was much more to the situations than simply keeping the players.

Knowlton was a simple offseason trade two years ago. The draft pick that became Rolly Lumbala was the return for Markeith.

Floyd was a combination of age and SMS factors. That he played as well as he did this year isn't surprising and probably wasn't to Buono either. But in making that decision he has to be thinking how much longer would Floyd be capable of playing at a reasonably high level. 1 year? 2 years? And of course the other question would be what other player(s) would have to be jettisoned instead of Otis to be able to take the SMS hit Floyd would command. As it was Korey Banks effectively moved up into Floyd's old spot under a slightly different scheme and I don't think anybody will would say he was a failure.

Jamall Johnson left for a shot at the NFL and when he came back he put himself into classic free agent mode with two or three teams bidding for his services. By the sounds of the money he was demanding a BC signing would not have come without SMS repercussions impacting other parts of the roster.

I would think that Jamall Johnson situation isn't as you are stipulating. The reason that we got about his choice of destination was he wanted to be a starter, something that Wally didn't think that we required. Funny, it was about 3 games or so later that Armour was picked up, same impact or more in that case as JJ towards our SMS. That was a pure boneheaded decision on Wally's part, and if have watched JJ, he is what our D needs, a sure tackler. As for Floyd, no worries as you suggest, his best days are behind him, but his energy is also lacking for the Lions, although Armour does provide a measure of this for us. Knowlton wasn't the worst hit to our team, we were deep on the D side of things at that time, but seeing how nicely he could fill our tweener LB/HB, I am not sure that the Lumbala is fair trade for Knowlton in hindsight.

[WestCoastJoe]

I would think that Jamall Johnson situation isn't as you are stipulating. The reason that we got about his choice of destination was he wanted to be a starter, something that Wally didn't think that we required. Funny, it was about 3 games or so later that Armour was picked up, same impact or more in that case as JJ towards our SMS. That was a pure boneheaded decision on Wally's part, and if have watched JJ, he is what our D needs, a sure tackler. As for Floyd, no worries as you suggest, his best days are behind him, but his energy is also lacking for the Lions, although Armour does provide a measure of this for us. Knowlton wasn't the worst hit to our team, we were deep on the D side of things at that time, but seeing how nicely he could fill our tweener LB/HB, I am not sure that the Lumbala is fair trade for Knowlton in hindsight.

Wally's defenders and apologists won't like it, but he has a very public job, Head Coach of a professional team representing the province. And along with that highly paid position comes the second-guessing, backseat driving, armchair quarterbacking and criticism.

With that in mind then, about Knowlton, and Floyd and Johnson ...

Wally has said publicly how, over the years, he has not been able to find the right candidate for the tweener spot. Well, it seems he had one: Markeith Knowlton. Banks is certainly very good too, but is much more the size of a DB. Knowton is about 25 pounds heavier. And I agree with Rammer that Knowlton wasn't the biggest loss. Nor was Floyd, who had slipped in his last year with us.

But Jamall Johnson was a major loss. And he was greatly under-utilized in his time here. It wasn't until Wally changed his view about the LB personnel that he went and got Armour. IMO and that of many others here, Johnson would have been the ideal candidate for MLB with the Lions, and he was available, and he wanted to come here. He is a bit of a tweener too, but definitely CFL linebacker size. Played safety in college. Can run like the wind. Hits a ton. Has a real nose for the ball. A rather major mis-judgment and decision IMO regarding personnel by Wally.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

One can't go harping too much on the past. Each of them left under different circumstances and there was much more to the situations than simply keeping the players.

Knowlton was a simple offseason trade two years ago. The draft pick that became Rolly Lumbala was the return for Markeith.

Lumbala is a good special teams player but mostly a waste of space anywhere else. Knowlton never showed much here, though arguably he never had much of a chance to. Call that a draw.

Floyd was a combination of age and SMS factors. That he played as well as he did this year isn't surprising and probably wasn't to Buono either. But in making that decision he has to be thinking how much longer would Floyd be capable of playing at a reasonably high level. 1 year? 2 years? And of course the other question would be what other player(s) would have to be jettisoned instead of Otis to be able to take the SMS hit Floyd would command. As it was Korey Banks effectively moved up into Floyd's old spot under a slightly different scheme and I don't think anybody will would say he was a failure.

Clermont, Williams, and Bates were shown the door along with Floyd last off-season. Only Floyd has done anything of note this season. Bates was cut by Winnipeg, Williams was too IIRC, and Clermont has been a healthy scratch for several games. Score that 3-1 in Wally's favour.

Jamall Johnson left for a shot at the NFL and when he came back he put himself into classic free agent mode with two or three teams bidding for his services. By the sounds of the money he was demanding a BC signing would not have come without SMS repercussions impacting other parts of the roster.

Count that one as a big loss. But did we even stand a chance at him when he came back?

[Blitz]

Of course we had a chance at Jamal Johnson. He wanted to come back but he wanted to be a starter and Wally still wanted him as a role player/special teamer and Jamal had done that too long in B.C. Wally was still stuck on Javy Glatt and thought that jettisoning Otis Floyd for Anton McKenzie was an upgrade. I had no problems with that concept, as McKenzie was younger and an all-star.

However, Jamal Johnson, my fave defensive player, never got much of a chance. He created a huge buzz at his first ever Leo practice with his new teammates due to his speed and hitting ability. He obviously had tons of talent and whenever he played he made an impact but he was stuck as a role player here in B.C.

I'm happy for Jamal and disappointed for our Leos. The players we let go at the end of last year made sense. There were a lot of Clermont fans who really didn't see that he was hurting us at slotback with his lack of speed. However, we really would be a much better defensive team with Jamal rather than Armour, and there is no question we made a huge mistake, not only in not offering Jamal a starters position when he returned from the NFL but really not giving him the opportunity he deserved in B.C.

In the meantime O'Billovich is doing a lot of things right in Hamilton and knew to sign Jamal. Obie is really missed here in B.C. We haven't brought in the same talent since he left.

[hwgill]

Too bad we couldn't have dumped Glatt for Jamall, THAT would have been a huge upgrade.

[Hambone]

Re: Johnson timing can be a huge factor. He wasn't released by Tampa Bay until after the 1st CFL exhibition game. When you've spent a whole training camp working on a new 4-2-6 scheme with existing personnel it's very difficult to bring somebody like Johnson, an import, into the mix under his terms of being a starter. Under his terms there were 3 options. Obviously removing MacKenzie their biggest offseason FA signing was not one of them. That left either tossing the scheme that they'd been designing and working on all offseason and through camp by inserting Johnson and moving Banks back to the secondary or making the MLB switch which would have ratio implications elsewhere in the lineup. Of course the Lions did wind up making that move later but I don't think that's the sort of change a club wants to make 3/4 of the way through the preseason. Usually by that time teams will try to go continue down the path they've started on to see if it produces the expected results. IMHO signing Johnson under his terms would've forced too many changes in direction at a critical point in the preseason. If he'd been willing to come in at a lesser role to see what happens he'd probably be wearing white and orange today and perhaps starting.

[bclions16]

Of course we had a chance at Jamal Johnson. He wanted to come back but he wanted to be a starter and Wally still wanted him as a role player/special teamer and Jamal had done that too long in B.C. Wally was still stuck on Javy Glatt and thought that jettisoning Otis Floyd for Anton McKenzie was an upgrade. I had no problems with that concept, as McKenzie was younger and an all-star.

However, Jamal Johnson, my fave defensive player, never got much of a chance. He created a huge buzz at his first ever Leo practice with his new teammates due to his speed and hitting ability. He obviously had tons of talent and whenever he played he made an impact but he was stuck as a role player here in B.C.

I'm happy for Jamal and disappointed for our Leos. The players we let go at the end of last year made sense. There were a lot of Clermont fans who really didn't see that he was hurting us at slotback with his lack of speed. However, we really would be a much better defensive team with Jamal rather than Armour, and there is no question we made a huge mistake, not only in not offering Jamal a starters position when he returned from the NFL but really not giving him the opportunity he deserved in B.C.

In the meantime O'Billovich is doing a lot of things right in Hamilton and knew to sign Jamal. Obie is really missed here in B.C. We haven't brought in the same talent since he left.

Of course as a fan, we'll make more wrong calls than the pro football executives do (especially compared to the winningest coach ever) but no one is keeping score on us. It is unreasonable to always highlight what some people may see as an error in judgment and not recognize that "there is no question" that our coach and GM has a record better then anyone in the league at assembling talent. And when you gather that much talent, you cant keep all of it, and the law of averages will dictate that you might even miss out on some.

I think I'm becoming almost as repetitive in my point as I've criticized you and some other in making your points. However I still see far more good than bad with our coach/gm and suspect you only want to see the bad.

[Lionut]

Wally is right about defensive systems. Most of them are very similar. Defence is 10% scheme, 90% attitude and fundamentals. Even at the pro level, you rarely get beat because you were in the wrong defense. When you get beat, it is almost always because someone was more fundamentally sound than you were, and beat your @$$ in a one-on-one match-up. Last week, for instance, when Edmonton was delivering that nasty beatdown with the running game, there was nothing magic about it -- that was just simple zone running plays, and were getting our lunch eaten at the point of attack.