Lionbackers.com

Whaaaaa???????
http://3downnation.com/2016/10/31/canad ... gns-lions/

I know Leone has been erratic but 1 game left in regular season seems late to be doing this.

Great move by Wally. He can see how much McCallum has left at age 46, but the Lions have nothing to lose by signing him. I didn't think Wally would stand pat after last weeks performance and risk an early playoff exit on the erratic kicking leg of Leone.

Makes it easy as he's a national. Keep Leone for the punting duties and have McCallum kick. Great move.

B.C.FAN wrote:Great move by Wally. He can see how much McCallum has left at age 46, but the Lions have nothing to lose by signing him. I didn't think Wally would stand pat after last weeks performance and risk an early playoff exit on the erratic kicking leg of Leone.

Desperation move at this time, but necessary. A Nat FG kicker should have been brought in ages ago.

This is a hopeful move with one game left prior to the playoffs. If he is in shape to kick, then all is good.

It is not as if Paul needs to learn a playbook.

This fan supports this move, but suggests it, or a similar move, should have been made a number of games ago.

As noted, it could bring a sigh of relief to Leone.

One assumes Wally and Paul have talked about conditioning. Is Paul's leg in shape for FG kicking? If he has not been working out, I would expect some weakness and vulnerability in the old muscles.

McCallum was in Regina on Saturday. Maybe he made a beeline to Wally's earhole and made a pitch...

But in all seriousness, yes leaving 8 points off the board due to less than sterling kicking is not good. And they were very doable field goals. For next year keep Leone as the punter as he is lights out in that department but the place kicking experiment has obviously not worked out. His field goal percentage this year is around 10% less than last; the guy is going backwards despite the hiring of Don Sweet as a consultant.

Perhaps a Ronnie Pfeffer or Quinn Van Glyswick will become available in the off-season...

lol is this for real? Not a bad move either because Leone is missing a lot of the short gimme field goals and Mccallum still probably has a good enough leg for it.

A bit of a desperate move as Leone has regressed in his FG kicking this year. A good thing that McCallum is available but who comes off the roster to make room for him?

DanoT wrote:A bit of a desperate move as Leone has regressed in his FG kicking this year. A good thing that McCallum is available but who comes off the roster to make room for him?

My guess would be Nehemie Kankolongo, the fourth of four backup national linebackers. He is strictly a special teamer. He has six special-teams tackles and no defensive tackles.

The kicking issue had to be addressed heading into the playoffs. Even if McCallum is not placed on the active roster, Leone can hopefully get some advice from him in practice.

TheLionKing wrote:The kicking issue had to be addressed heading into the playoffs. Even if McCallum is not placed on the active roster, Leone can hopefully get some advice from him in practice.

I think whatever could happen will have a lot to do with how ill Leone was last week. Some scuttlebutt indicates he was sick enough that it was touch and go that he could even play in Regina. If there is truth to that then and he's gotten over whatever it was that ailed him I think he'll get the chance to redeem himself in practice and likely the game this week. If he kicks well then he'll be the guy in the playoffs. If McCallum's signing is more than a rumour (at this point the Lions haven't posted anything on their website and they're normally very quick to announce anything like this) I think it might be an insurance move more than anything else.

LU's latest article on McCallum's signing, along with the interview from 3 Down Radio

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040- ... t-1.597014

Catch Wally, McCallum, etc tonight (Monday) 7-9 on TSN1040

It is desperation time but its also so necessary. Leone has already lost us games this season. I posted the specific field goals he has missed in games that would have led to win. I won't repeat them except this example.

If Leone hadn't missed a field in the Bombers game in Winnipeg, we wouldn't have been gambling on third and one with Rainey at the end of the game. We would have been kicking a chip shot field goal being snapped at the six yard line of Winnipeg.

We can't afford to lose a playoff game due to an easy missed field goal or two.

McCalllum is the best percentage field goal kicker in Leos history. He has been deadly in the playoffs.

He's 46 years old and rusty as hell but I will trust him more to hit 30-35 yard field goals that Leone can't make.

This was a move that Wally needed to make mid-season. He waited far too long.

But better late than never.

Wow! Better late than never...

McCallum was also very good at directional punting. Not sure if he still has the leg, but if so he could perhaps do the punting/kicking from 50 yds in, with Leone's big leg punting/kicking the long ones where accuracy isn't as important? The next question would keeping Leone as one of our four designated internationals just to do the punting make sense...or would the Lions be better served to dress another international DL, RB or DB instead?

JohnHenry wrote:McCallum was also very good at directional punting. Not sure if he still has the leg, but if so he could perhaps do the punting/kicking from 50 yds in, with Leone's big leg punting/kicking the long ones where accuracy isn't as important? The next question would keeping Leone as one of our four designated internationals just to do the punting make sense...or would the Lions be better served to dress another international DL, RB or DB instead?

I'll answer that with another question. Would it make sense to give up 10 yards in possible field position on every punt and kickoff to get another DI on the field? McCallum hasn't handled regular punting duties since 2013 when he finished last in th league amongst regular punters with a 40.6 ave.