Lulay is not producing

[Sackmaster]

Travis needs some fear of being replaced or not starting. Are the backups so poor that we continue to see second half krap? Zero offense and either overthrown/underthrown footballs when it really counts by Lulay like consecutive games where the 3rd down gamble should have been completed. Also Tedford should have kept Tim Brown he is a better kick receiver than anybody we have now. Hufnagel is no fool, he picked him up. And Washington is too passive with his defensive philosophy. We need to send more people more often in 2nd and long. Imho our biggest shortcomming is at quarterback. We need to look at someone else,we are likely sask. is worsethan us.

[zeppo]

And Washington is too passive with his defensive philosophy. We need to send more people more often in 2nd and long

The Lions blitzed more often last night than in any of their previous four games. Were you happy with the result?

[DanoT]

Travis needs some fear of being replaced or not starting. Are the backups so poor that we continue to see second half krap? Zero offense and either overthrown/underthrown footballs when it really counts by Lulay like consecutive games where the 3rd down gamble should have been completed. Also Tedford should have kept Tim Brown he is a better kick receiver than anybody we have now. Hufnagel is no fool, he picked him up. And Washington is too passive with his defensive philosophy. We need to send more people more often in 2nd and long. Imho our biggest shortcomming is at quarterback. We need to look at someone else,we are likely sask. is worsethan us.

Due to inept scheming/coaching, DEs, DTs, LBs playing other than their natural positions, as well as inexperienced players, I would say that the Lions on D are likely worse than the Riders. Statistics back that up.

On O the Riders are also out producing the Lions.

Since the Lions are playing the Esks next we will be able to gauge where they are by how much the Esks beat them by versus how the Esks beat the Riders earlier today.

[Sackmaster]

The blitz was not the problem. Unless ofcourse you like to see Drew W completing 2nd/20yds. in a 3 man rush zone defense? The issue is the secondary got confused and beat. And I for one would rather us not be at the bottom of the league in sacks and purolator stats. Again Lulay and the offense scoring virtually zero points after the 1st quarter is the main reasons for back to back losses . The eskimos rush the passer constantly and they are doing just fine.

[Hambone]

I think what's been concerning me most about Lulay is his accuracy and touch. He laid that one ball in to Harris beautifully for a TD but all too often he's missing the target on deep balls not to mention that easy 3rd down pitch and catch to Harris last game. The deep ball thing has been something he's struggled with since Day 1. What have there been though? Maybe 6 times already this year he's had a wide open target streaking down the field and overthrown the receiver by a good 5 yards. Just a little more air under the ball Travis!!

[Blitz]

I think what's been concerning me most about Lulay is his accuracy and touch. He laid that one ball in to Harris beautifully for a TD but all too often he's missing the target on deep balls not to mention that easy 3rd down pitch and catch to Harris last game. The deep ball thing has been something he's struggled with since Day 1. What have there been though? Maybe 6 times already this year he's had a wide open target streaking down the field and overthrown the receiver by a good 5 yards. Just a little more air under the ball Travis!!

According to Lowell Ullrich Lulay's shoulder is not an issue. It certainly was not an issue in the Riders game in which he completed 33 passes and had a great quarterback efficiency rating. Travis has never been a great long ball quarterback and we are going with a more vertical passing attack this season. He has had troubles with his accuracy in the past when throwing from the pocket but it was hard to know if he was not stepping into this throws or throwing off his back foot too often in the pocket due to defensive pressure or due to mechanics. This season Lulay has had ample time to throw...in fact he has mostly had great pass protection. Lulay also often throws a fluttery intermediate pass and often throws behind his receivers a little. He is not a quarterback who can throw a tight spiral into a tight window consistently - never has been.

However, Lulay has always been a very good quarterback when throwing on the move. He throws off his front foot that way. He has always been excellent at finding Andrew Harris in the passing game and throwing him touch passes. Lulay is excellent off the scramble, where he can buy time to find a more wide open receiver. He is an excellent double threat quarterback.

Lulay is not a spread formation quarterback. Neither was Casey Printers or Buck Pierce. Dave Dickenson was a spread offence pocket passer as a Leo, as were Anthony Cavillo and Danny McMannus on other teams.

Travis Lulay struggled in his starts as a Leo in 2010, when we were in the spread. In 2011 and 2012, when we went to a lot more pro formation sets, misdirection play action, more semi-boots and sprint outs, Lulay excelled most of the time, especially when our running game was going.

This season I was excited because Tedford was not only known as an excellent quarterback coach but he was also going to bring in a pro set offence, using an H Back concept. I was worried that Cortez was a spread formation offensive coordinator who did not use a lot of motion or move the pocket for his quarterbacks. Malone, I knew would do a good job with our offensive line and he has.

Sadly, we have mostly been in the spread offence this season and the H Back/Tight End has mostly been used as a slotback rather than an H Back who goes in motion, lead blocks, lines up tight as well as wide, and is matched up against a linebacker due to formation/motion.

Sadly, we also have not allowed Lulay to use his strengths, other than allowing him to take off on the read option. Even more sadly, we have not used misdirection play action, when our running game has set that up well. Give Lulay some good primary pass calls from the pocket coming off motion and mix in misdirection play action, semi-boots, and semi-sprint outs, which enable some scramble opportunities and Lulay's strengths will come through. He throws his best spiral that way, his mechanics are sound when he does that, and he can also take off or extend plays. Lulay is at his most accurate when throwing off movement or on the run.

Perhaps Lulay can be turned into a pocket passing spread formation quarterback with excellent mechanics in that role but that has not been his strength in the past and its like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Why not let him do what he does best in the passing attack.

Our running attack looks good this year, we've run some very good running plays in terms of design and blocking. But our passing attack doesn't look much different than the one Khari Jones ran last year (except for a big body receiver lined up at slot). It rarely uses motion, doesn't move recievers around much to create ideal mathups, and is too vertical in design for Lulay or our style of receivers. We need more of a mix of a lateral and vertical passing attack.

I really thought, even though Cortez was a spread offence devotee, that he had used a pro set under Tedford in California and Tedford would innovate us out of the spread offence of last season and really do something different and innovative out of the pro set with an H Back.

Hasn't happened. There is enough blame to go around, from Lulay's lack of accuracy in most games and our receivers having struggles at times. But this is deeper. We're also asking them to do something that is not Lulay or our receivers strengths and we are not taking advantage of the set ups our running attack is providing.

[WestCoastJoe]

Who knows what is in the mind of Wally Buono?

2 wins and 3 losses.

Perhaps he is thinkiing: "Hey, in 2011 we went 0 and 5 with my preferred systems, and we won the Grey Cup. We are much better off this year. We have a healthy Lulay again. We have a very, very, very sharp DC, who has been a protege of mine for years. He has absorbed all of my Xs and Os mastery. We have a nice version of the spread offence. What more could we want?"

And could it come to pass? LOL Who knows? He is certainly a survivor. And he is certainly loyal to his preferred systems. And of course we know he is loyal to long time assistants. That is to some long time assistants.

[Toppy Vann]

Blitz certainly nails it with the details.

Where Travis was not working it was when they were forcing all the balls downfield vertically. Also, I don't get the sense that this group of receivers other than Harris the dual threat who gets the ball on runs is threatening - not the way they're being used. To me Travis was forcing it and it looked like he was just following orders versus actually believed this is the way to run a game.

The Lions had an early bye (game 1) and the rust should have been off these guys by now. But schemes are an issue in how they're used.

When Travis was killing with the zone option it was due to nothing being adjusted for but we knew that wouldn't last a season but that game they were huge gains. Where to next.

[Blitz]

Who knows what is in the mind of Wally Buono?

2 wins and 3 losses.

Perhaps he is thinkiing: "Hey, in 2011 we went 0 and 5 with my preferred systems, and we won the Grey Cup. We are much better off this year. We have a healthy Lulay again. We have a very, very, very sharp DC, who has been a protege of mine for years. He has absorbed all of my Xs and Os mastery. We have a nice version of the spread offence. What more could we want?"

And could it come to pass? LOL Who knows? He is certainly a survivor. And he is certainly loyal to his preferred systems. And of course we know he is loyal to long time assistants. That is to some long time assistants.

Your post encapsulates the big picture of the situation past and present WCJ!

Where Travis was not working it was when they were forcing all the balls downfield vertically. Also, I don't get the sense that this group of receivers other than Harris the dual threat who gets the ball on runs is threatening - not the way they're being used. Toppy Vann

Couldn't agree more. I have always believed that you beat the blitz by throwing into the area the blitzer is coming from, you use screens and dump offs and hot reads, and you also scare the daylights out of blitzing defenses when you attack the defense vertically. However, we don't have the speed receivers to take on the blitz with the deep throw (except for Arsenault, who they anticipate the only receiver we can get open deep and Lulay is not usually a good deep ball thrower.

The problem is not just the deep ball though. We are using a lot of vertical style patterns when defenses are not blitzing...eg: seam patterns, curl patterns, deeper post and corner patterns, etc. and we are attempting to throw longer developing routes into zone coverage. Often we are throwing into double team coverage.

Why we are throwing a hitch screen to a possession receiver who is not a YAC receiver is beyond me. Worst of all, we have a huge athletic tight end in Leonard lined up in the wide slot and throwing intermediate patterns to him is more beyond me. We should be lining him up tight more often, having him brush block and then go over the middle for shorter patterns, sending him in motion and getting him one on one with a linebacker, using him with an against the flow tight end screen or setting him up for a hitch screen.

Cortez and Tedford need to take a look at how tight ends are utilized in pro sets in the NFL. Why we are using a tight end in a spread offence is beyond my comprehension. The tight end or the hybrid H Back/Tight End is not used in a spread offence. A pure H Back is a flex back who can lead block for the run, who is a 'move' guy who lines up tight, in motion, and spread out. Maybe our coaches need to look at some old tape of the Washington Redskins when they used an H Back or how the Cardinals use their H Backs or how the Patriots use their tight ends.

This is starting to drive me crazy!!