Leos at Home to Edmonton - A Huge Game and Game Day Thread

[Blitz]

The stage has been set and the bright lights will soon be turned on. Its our B.C. Lions vs. the Edmonton Eskimos in a very, very important match.

The time is now for our Leos to rock and roll, bang a gong and get it on, and rumble in the jungle.

The dew is on the pumpkin, so on offence there can be no more dinkin’ and dunkin’, so Leos, go on the attack and get out there and kick some ass.

Or, in place of all that, go out there and ‘execute’’ and be ‘accountable’.

Hey, anyone notice Wally nor anyone else has rarely muttered the word ‘execute’ for weeks now. For some strange reason, the most used word in Leo Land for so long has disappeared).

THE TREND IS YOUR FRIEND

Until last weekend, the Eskimos were two teams going in different directions.

Last weekend, the Eskimos ended a three-game losing streak and a run of six losses in their last eight to return to .500 and gave themselves a chance to avoid being the odd team out in the three-team playoff race to save face in the CFL West.

In the meantime, with our win in Calgary, our Leos won their 5th game in their last 6 outings. Travis Lulay was back as our starting quarterback against Calgary. Coincidently, the last time our Leos had won a game with Lulay at quarterback was back on August 9th, when our Leos defeated the Eskimos at home.

Since that win over the Eskimos, with Lulay at the controls, our Lulay-led Leos lost their next two games. Lulay was injured in the first and second quarter of his next two games, with Jennings coming in off the bench to help us win those contests.

Our Jennings led Leos won 3 of our next 4 contests and then Lulay came back in last week as our starter, when we defeated the Stamps.

Wins help a quarterback because it tends to take some of pressure off him for the next game. That is a good thing as Lulay leads our offence against Edmonton.

PLAYOFF BERTH ON THE LINE

Edmonton comes into this game at 8-8 while our Leos, virtue of our win over the Stampeders last weekend have an 8-7 record.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are 9-7 and won the season series between our Leos and themselves so a tie in points in the regular season standings would give them a playoff berth.

If our Leos defeat the Eskimos on Saturday night at home, our Leos are in the driver’s seat.

But a loss to the Eskimos would give the Eskimos the season series, and like Winnipeg, should both our Leos and the Eskimos finish the regular season tied in points, they would advance.

THE ESKIMOS ARE COMING OFF AN IMPORTANT VICTORY

Last weekend, Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly looked like his MOP version again. Fighting the flu and throwing up all night in the shower before the game, Reilly threw for 369 yards and a touchdown. Bryant Mitchell was his favorite target, putting up incredible numbers: 13 receptions, 190 receiving yards, and a touchdown.

Going into the Ottawa game last weekend, Mike Reilly missed the walk through and there was a fear the Eskimos would lose a fourth straight and the seventh of their last nine, effectively eliminating themselves from the playoffs.

But it was Reilly who played his guts out, instead of puking them out, who led the Eskimos to a 34-16 win over the Ottawa Red Blacks.

What happened? What was the difference? Pass protection, a running game, and offensive adaptions. In ‘Eskimo Land’ the press/media have the insight to realize a lack of production from their offence is not just blamed on the quarterback position.

Reilly’s numbers had been awful in the Eskimos three previous losses, with bad passing percentage numbers, low passing yards, and in his previous outing before his victory over Ottawa, Reilly threw 3 interceptions, one of which was a fourth quarter Pick 6 that was key to the Eskimos loss.

The Eskimos hadn’t scored a touchdown in 152 minutes and 21 seconds, hadn’t scored a point in the fourth quarter in four games, had taken too many penalties, turned the ball over a dozen times in the previous three games and had given up five sacks the last time out

But there were no ‘can’t read a defense anymore’, ‘not getting rid of the football quick enough’, ‘not getting competent quarterbacking comments from press/media/fans or coaching staff in Edmonton. They look a little deeper and wider look at things.

Against Ottawa, Reilly completed 81.6 per cent of his passes for 369 yards, and rushed for 72 yds.

WHAT HAS EDMONTON DONE TO GET THINGS TURNED AROUND?

First, Maas and Benevedes took a good look at themselves (accountability) and stated they were going to make some an adaption to their coaching styles, realizing that their overly emotional and often angry behaviors on the sidelines were not role modelling poise. Their behaviors were impacting their players discipline on the field.

Secondly, Maas made some adjustments to their offence, including a decision to get back to running the football, instead of expecting Reilly to ‘make plays’ no matter the obstacles.

Thirdly, the Eskimos inserted Tommie Drahiem at left tackle and Matt O’Donnell returned to his normal right guard position. The result was that the Eskimos offensive line returned from being a major mess to giving Reilly protection.

The result- instead of Reilly giving up a spectacular number of sacks and throwing a spectacular number of interceptions, he didn’t throw a single interception or get sacked even once against Ottawa. Instead the Eskimos offence scored four touchdowns and Reilly had a spectacular game.

THE RETURN OF (SOME) COMMON SENSE

In the meantime, while the Eskimos were keeping their playoff hopes alive with their victory, our Leos picked up their second road victory of the season, defeating the Stamps at home.

Observing our Leos coaching strategies for too many games this season, (and too often in past seasons too) was like an obituary for the death of Common Sense.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by Common Sense’s relatives: Reason, Perspective, Wisdom, and Accountability.

But Lack of Common Sense was alive and well, appearing as Blame, Rigidity, Throwing Players Under the Bus, and Kool Aid.

It has never been common sense to play almost an almost exclusive passive zone vanilla defense for the past almost 6 seasons. Its why our defense has been embarrassingly dissected and shredded since 2013 in playoff games, including giving up 50 points in a playoff game to Montreal, 24 points in a playoff first half to the Bombers, and 32 points in a playoff first half to Calgary, amongst other embarrassments.

When Ed Hervey went out this season and brought in some aggressive defensive backs who were excellent man cover defenders, it was not common sense to continue to play passive zone defense, but we did.

ADOPTING THE RIDERS SCHEME WAS NOT COMMON SENSE

It also was also not common sense to bring Saskatchewan’s dismal RPO offensive scheme here to B.C. , especially with the style of quarterback’s we had here in Travis Lulay and Jonathan Jennings - trained Spread quarterbacks who had no experience in college or pro with post-snap reads. Nor are either the style of quarterback to utilize for an RPO offence.

Last week, the Rider’s RPO schemed offence didn’t score a single point in their 31-0 loss to Winnipeg. Rob Vanstone, who covers the Riders for the Regina Leader Post wrote Vanstone wrote the following:

The Roughriders, 16 games and just 22 touchdowns into the regular season, simply do not have a clue. This is hardly a news flash. The alleged offence, such a liability all season, reached a nadir on Saturday’s

Collaros’ preferred target was Taylor Loffler, who happens to play safety for the Blue Bombers. Early in the second quarter, Loffler and wide receiver Shaq Evans had caught an equal number of Collaros’ passes (two).

The Roughriders’ offensive arsenal also included the patented one-yard pass on second-and-four and (cue trumpets) the five-yard throw when 10 yards were required to move the chains. Punt. Punt.

On a brighter note, neither of those passes was intercepted, so the cacophony of cheers should begin now. Enough merriment. Once the final gun mercifully sounded, the Roughriders’ offensive-touchdown drought had mushroomed to 145 minutes 30 seconds — or, nearly 2 ½ games.

The CFL is, by nature, oriented toward the offence. Someone has neglected to inform the Roughriders, who are plagued by a lack of ingenuity on the offensive side of the football.

The Roughriders did not advance any further than Winnipeg’s 40-yard line. Maybe, just maybe, Saturday’s letdown should have been as predictable as the Roughriders’ offence — which has now been held without a touchdown in one-quarter of the team’s games this season.The pass protection had more leaks than the White House.

The “coaching” was merely a rumor, as offensive coordinator Stephen McAdoo and associates were unable to find a way to beat the Bombers’ blitzes.

Now that is sports reporting and sports journalism and not Kool Aid. And by the way, the Riders offence has scored more points than our offence.

SOUND FAMILIAR?

Sound familiar? Not if you are reading Ed Willes in our sports section. You won’t have read anything like Vanstone’s wrote, no matter how lousy our offensive scheme has been this season.

How lousy has our offence been in 2018 so far? Our offence is 7th in the CFL in points scored, 7th in passing yards, 6th in rushing (we moved up due to our last 2 games), 7th in rushing touchdowns, and only Edmonton has turned the football over more times. The Riders offence has even been better.

Both Travis Lulay and Jonathan Jennings, overall, have actually done an amazing job of quarterbacking our Leos this season, considering the deficient scheme they have been given to attempt to execute.

Its also important to be looking at both Lulay and Jennings because, as a fan, one knows we are only a play away from the other one having to come into a game and help get us a win.

Unlike Rob Vanstone in Regina, Ed Willes covers our Leos differently, in what has an appearance of an altered state of reality or being on our Leos payroll.

THE FOG OF WAR

McNanamara wrote in "The Fog of War":

"Belief and seeing are both often wrong. We see what we want to believe."

For Willes, the only issue that has plagued our offence has been Jonathan Jennings and he has given us that Kool Aid time and again, while playing his role in the facilitation of throwing Jonathan Jennings under the bus (along with Rainey and Johnson in his own ways too).

From Willes, there has been hardly a sniff of criticism or analysis of our offensive scheme but only the scapegoating of Jennings, or ensuring he was not doing Jeremiah Johnson or Chris Rainey any favors, or just sympathy for Jarious Jackson losing his playbook.

Here is but one example of Willes apparent altered state of reality and Kool Aid dumping. Prior to our Calgary game, Willes wrote:

When Lulay has played this season, he’s given the team a spark…

Huh? We’ve won 3 games with Lulay as our starting quarterback. He hasn’t been able to give us a spark because it was mostly impossible for him to spark our RPO offence.

We won 5 games with Jennings, two of which he came into in the first quarter and second quarter, after Lulay got injured. His stats are slightly worse than Lulay’s overall, but he has been better in pass percentage and running with the football.

Here is some more reality for Ed Willes. Travis Lulay has one of the worst passing percentages in the CFL with a 60.6% completion rate. (Zack Collarus has a 60.5% completion rate). Travis Lulay has an 88.3 quarterback efficiency average, well below top CFL quarterbacks this season.

Jonathan Jennings has an 84.8 passing efficiency (3.5 QE points lower than Lulay), which is in Matt Nichols territory and is much better than Collaros and no one in their home provinces is saying that they are not CFL caliber quarterbacks, as Willes did regarding Jennings.

Lulay has a 62.2 quarterback efficiency while Jennings has a 58.8 quarterback efficiency (3.3 pts difference).

Both Lulay and Jennings are much more talented than those stats.

I have no idea if Ed Willes has been too quick off the mark, in terms of the legalization of marijuana or not, but it seems as if he was smoking something when he says Jennings has not given us competent CFL quarterbacking, because by Willes standard, Lulay has barely given us competent CFL quarterbacking either.

The reality is neither have shone but their talent has been often evident. Overall, Lulay has given us slightly better quarterbacking but neither have been able to light up our offence very often in terms of passing because it is impossible for either to be able to on a consistent basis.

Houdini could not free himself from the chains that have tied down both Lulay and Jennings so far this season.

Both Lulay and Jennings had the opportunity to play to their potential when not in RPO. Lulay’s best games have come off pass plays from non-RPO.

Jennings led us to two late 4th quarter touchdown drives, including the miracle finish against Hamilton came off non-RPO. On Jennings last two drives of that game, including his last 7 passes for that final 7 play game tying drive and the 2-point convert, not a single play was an RPO play. Travis Lulay’s 3 big pass plays against Calgary came off non-RPO and he had time to throw deep on those plays.

WHAT TRULY SPARKS OUR OFFENCE AND OUR LEOS TEAM?

Common Sense has been resurrected, to a certain degree, of late for our Leos offence.

What truly sparks our offence? Its not who is playing quarterback, for the most part.

What sparks our offence is running the football on pre-snap prescriptive running plays with pre-determined prescriptive run blocking. Our receivers run blocking on running plays also helps.

With that, common Sense has been resurrected, to a certain degree, of late for our Leos offence. We ran the football 19 times in our win over Toronto and 22 times against Calgary. Jeremiah Johnson ran for 126 yds. against Toronto. Its not who is our running back, no matter what style of running back we insert, that is most important.

Our commitment to the run, combined with running plays that are solely designed pre-snap running plays, is what allowed us to run the football better the last two contests.

That also sets up more time to throw the football, which leads to big passing plays, rather than 4-yard outs and 4-yard hook or stop patterns to Bryan Burnham on second and six.

Utilizing the tailback to pick up blitzes rather than running fake misdirection handoffs also gives our quarterback more time to throw and make plays, rather than having to throw the football in less than one second after the fake, while being hit and buried.

Wally has been poised on the sidelines of late, not blowIng up at Lulay or anyone else but winning has also helped with his sideline demeanor.Buono he has also amazingly done a good job of game management, for the most part, of late. Gotta give him credit.

But common sense for our Leos is not made a complete comeback
Buono, was cursing on the sidelines last game, after the play in which he inserted Fajardo on second and short and Sutton was stuffed, and we had to punt.

I almost felt sorry for Buono, who thought that a powerful north-south runner would finally give us success on second and short believing that Fajardo, Johnson, Rainey, and Lumbala just ‘couldn’t get it done’. Buono is not just experiencing tunnel vision or just being too being rigid when it comes to second and short. Its much, much worse.

Tunnel vision would be a compliment. It’s ‘looking through a straw’ vision. His ego will not allow him to give up and change his strategy for second and short, because then he would have to admit, even to himself, that what he has been doing for such a long time, has been in error. It appears to be a serious thinking handicap with no end in sight.

A simple but wise thing to do in life is: "Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning".

But this is staring to look like the potential of a 2011 season all over again and Buono has especially allowed a major change for our defensive scheme this season and has increased is risk/reward ratio and both have been important to our winning ways over our past 6 games.

Ed Hervey has hopefully gotten back to doing what he does amazingly well and that is bring in talent. Hopefully he has decided to not do any future interviews with Ed Willes.

‘Frank honesty’, as he likes to call it, was in definite conflict with any sense of emotional intelligence, empathy, and wisdom. Best for Ed stick with what he does best and does very, very well.

DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE

What truly sparks our Leos team is our defense, and especially over the last number of games. Our defense is sparked, no matter who is playing quarterback.

We’ve won 5 of our last 6 games, mostly on the back of our defense, except for Hamilton games, when our defense did not play well enough because we mostly played zone. Why? Because Hamilton ran quads and isolation plays on the boundary side and attacked the flats. Washington reverted to zone due to Hamilton's strategy.

When we have played man to man defense, behind a ferocious pass rush, we’ve played championship caliber defensive football.

When we’ve slipped back to the past and played passive zone defense, such as on the occasion when we decided to go zone to protect a lead, or when Hamilton used a lot of quad receiver formation and then exploited our weakside, we’ve looked less than average.

Against Calgary, we only scored two second half field goals. Travis Lulay only completed 14 passes (53.8%) for 193 yds and threw an interception that led to a Calgary touchdown. Our running game won it for us and that also gave Lulay the time to make 3 key deep throws in the first half of the game.

But those stats are not a Lulay issue. They are a passing game design issue, which is a still a problem, even when we are not in RPO.

But mostly our defense won it for us. Our special teams won it for us.

Anthony Parker helped win it for us by either ignoring or forgetting about Wally’s goal of running punts back up the gut and taking off wide before racing 74 yds downfield. Long’s punting and field goal kicking also won it for us. That also sparks us.

The reality is that neither of our quarterbacks can give our offence the passing attack we would love to see, until Jarious designs some pass plays that will give our quarterback and receivers the pass play design that will enable them to get separation.

OUR LAST GAME VS. EDMONTON

If any sports writer attempts to turn Saturday’s game into a Lulay-Reilly contest, it will be a sad commentary. Lulay has a very different offensive scheme to execute vs Reilly. Both will be playing against very different defenses.

The last time these two teams played, both Lulay and Reilly started and went all the way. Our Leos won the game at home 31-23. In that game, we were overdosing on RPO and had very little in the way of a running game.

Lulay only completed 16 passes in that game, only completing 55.2% of his passes, for 239 yds. with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Trevon Vann started that game as our tailback and he only ran 8 times for 38 yds. Our leading receiver was Kevin Elliot and Manny Arceneaux only had 1 catch in that game for 39 yds.

Wow, Elliot and Manny. Seems like a long time ago.

STRATEGY TO BEAT THE ESKIMOS

Beating the Eskimos will take more than just ‘playing harder’, ‘wanting it more’, ‘making more plays’, ‘executing’, ‘accountability’ and the rest. Lulay can’t do it all by himself on offence nor can Jennings, should Lulay get hurt again. Winning this game will also require sound strategy, a good game plan, and in-game adjustments, if necessary.

MIKEY LIKES IT

Mike Benevedes is a Wally mentored defensive coordinator. Therefore, he likes to use a passive zone, soft corner defense, while attempted to get pressure from his front four and blitzing rarely.

That is the purrfect recipe for Travis Lulay, who can read a defense very well and go through his progressions skillfully to find the open receiver. If given time to throw he can dissect a defense, using all his receivers.

But the last time Lulay was playing quarterback against the Eskimos on August 9th, even though we won, our offence has its struggles as Lulay was forced to execute a lot of RPO.

Mike Benevedes, although Wally trained, has also been influenced by Rich Stubler. Benevedes had his defenders playing man at times against our RPO and when he didn’t, he had his defenders playing tighter than usual.

We also didn’t’ run the football enough or very well in that last contest against Edmonton. Benevedes front four was able to get good pressure on Lulay on pass plays. Therefore, Benevedes defense was able to shut down our offence to 2 field goals in the second half of that game.

Therefore the recipe is 1) Run the football often and well. That will help with pass protection, when we do pass, keeping Benevedes defensive line off-balance and

2) pass the football off pre-snap play action, forming a pocket for Lulay (in other words no RPO) and we also need to:

3) incorporate the type of pass route combinations on pass plays that work against zone (flooding with more receivers than defenders) and using layered routes and

4) use man type combination patterns (rub routes, bunch formations, crossing patterns, isolation patterns against man defense and

5) use pre-snap motion to determine zone or man defense (rather than waggling).


WE GOTTA DO WHAT WE DO BEST ON DEFENSE

The Eskimos will attempt to do what they did against Ottawa. The got back to running the football. They got back to pass protection, rather than letting Reilly be a duck in a shooting gallery, which led to him taking sacks and throwing way too many interceptions. The sacks and interceptions stopped against Ottawa.

We need to play man defense. It enables us to be aggressive. It also helps to shut down the run, with so many defenders near the line of scrimmage. If we can shut down Gable, it will force Reilly to only be a passer and that will allow our defensive line to get pressure on Reilly.

Even as good as Reilly is, he was not able to perform well under duress. No quarterback can

I couldn’t believe that Dickenson did not go quad receivers to one side, in our win against Calgary. He never tried to take us out of man defense and that was a major mistake on his part. (You can bet that both Hufnagel and himself realize that and will not do it again).

If Maas is smart, he will try to get us out of man defense. If we go zone too much, we’ll have issues because we almost always do, while playing zone, unless our defensive line can get to the quarterback quickly and often.

WRAP

This is a Lions team that has turned this season around, mostly because of our defense. Our defense struggled, for the most part, early in the season but its been the best defense in the CFL for a while now. Our solid special teams have also contributed to our success.

Lulay and Jennings have both had their special moments on offence and made plays. But throwing purrfect longer passes to receivers who are well covered and having them make plays on the football, as Burnham and Shaq did last game is not the best strategy.

Why? Because they won’t always be able to come up with those incredible catches nor should they be expected to.

This is a game in which our Leos offence can really add to the mix of our success. We didn’t run much RPO against Calgary but when we did, most of the time, it was a disaster.

Let our players do what they do best and give them the tools and remove the reins that tie them down and make playing football more difficult than it should.

This could turn out to be a most memorable season. But first we gotta win this game.

Go Leos!!!

[SammyGreene]

Great read as usual Blitz. Accurately hitting so many nails on the head.

3rd Down Radio was interesting last night. Both Farhan and Guilio said that the adjustments and personnel moves (including 3 internationals on the o-line) the Eskimos made last week has let the "genie out of the bottle" again with Reilly and unlike, say Matt Nicholls, he is far more consistent and dangerous when put in a position to succeed.
They expect the Eskimos offence to be firing on all cylinders again on Friday night to the point neither would predict the outcome of the game. As a somewhat pro-Lions show (especially Guilio) that indirectly tells me they are leaning towards Edmonton but just didn't want to say it.

It also tells me they don't have a whole lot of faith in the Lions offence if, for example, it is going to take scoring 30 points to win. As you pointed out, it took a big game in relief from Jennings to pull out that miracle win over Hamilton in what was an off-night for the defence playing a lot of vanilla zone coverage.

I still think it's going to take a balanced attack and a plus-300 yard passing game for Lulay or Jennings to get the job done over the next 3 weeks and facing the league's best QB on Friday might suggest it would be the best time to do it.

[Toppy Vann]

Blitz:

Anthony Parker helped win it for us by either ignoring or forgetting about Wally’s goal of running punts back up the gut and taking off wide before racing 74 yds downfield. Long’s punting and field goal kicking also won it for us. That also sparks us.

I haven't gone back to replay this since the game but I thought it was an uncharacteristic CALLED return to the wide side versus what clearly must be a Wally dictate - stay only in the blocking channel which seemed to be handcuffing (frustrating) Rainey. I can hear the conversation with the ST coach recalling how HAM lost a GC game on a wide kick return as someone was holding.

It sure seemed to me that Rainey could have been named ConstRainey given how he seemed not to be running to the wide side at all and how they'd make him run straight up the gut on offence. He should more of a Brandon Banks player.

Ed Willes - is not a football beat reporter like LU or Beamish were. Willis is more of a columnist who writes great stories based on his perceptions and interviews. He's also not one to challenge Wally or he'll be in film study and backing down lol. I'd love to see Blitz with Wally on film study as he understands this stuff. Ed Willes can be excused for not.

When Kruck-Dorazio were co-OCS BC had exciting run packages and to some extent you see that in Ottawa's play book as Jamie E was coaching with BC around that time (IIRC).

[Dusty]

On the Parker return, I recall seeing Reinbold on the sideline all smiles and rather enthusiastically congratulating Parker which led me to believe it was called. Certainly it caught Calgary flat-footed and surprised me as well.

[WestCoastJoe]

Great read, Blitz, as always. Keep up the good work.

On the Parker return, I recall seeing Reinbold on the sideline all smiles and rather enthusiastically congratulating Parker which led me to believe it was called. Certainly it caught Calgary flat-footed and surprised me as well.

We know Reinebold studies the tape. At a workshop I saw him break down tendencies. And, given permission, he will adjust his game plan according to any minute tendencies, alignments, assignments and weaknesses he perceives in the opponent.

I think he also has enough credentials that he can push against Wally's preferences to a degree. We are lucky to have him.

This game would seem to be pretty much the season. I know our players will once again demonstrate their amazing spirit. I hope our game plans are worthy of that spirit.

In other words, bag the RPO and go with a modified Spread offence, heavy on the run, heavy on pocket pass protection, moving pocket, modified, customised routes and some QB runs. On defence, mix it up; go with MTM and frequent, disguised blitzes. Go with detailed, customized attacks on STs.

Just IMO ...

[Lion Guy]

Thank you blitz.

My feelings towards the Lions and their coaching will never change; that said I will be there Friday cheering them on straining my vocal chords hoping for a victory.

Go Lions.

[Blitz]

On the Parker return, I recall seeing Reinbold on the sideline all smiles and rather enthusiastically congratulating Parker which led me to believe it was called. Certainly it caught Calgary flat-footed and surprised me as well.

I've looked at Parker's huge punt return over and over again, Dusty, and it was not a designed wide return. But unless you look at the tape over and over again, it certainly can appear that it was a called wide return.

There is no attempt to set up the picket fence nor for our defenders to initially block the Calgary defenders to the inside to set up a wide return.

Parker catches the punt on the boundary side to our right. Calgary only has two defenders approaching Parker as he receives the punt. The Calgary defender (gunner) with contain on the boundary side is being blocked to the outiside for an 'up the gut' return.

The Calgary defender (gunner) with contain responsibility to the wide side is beating our blocker. Our blocker is inside of him, which means he is positioned to block for an inside return.

The second wave of Calgary defenders (wings) covering the punt are all coming down the middle. They are the 'forcers' and 'trackers' for punt coverage.

There are 5 of them and they are slow getting downfield. Two are coming down the middle completely free. The Calgary defender closest to the boundary side is being blocked outside for an up the gut punt return.

Two Calgary defenders are coming down the middle and have beaten our blockers. Two other Calgary defenders are free and unblocked.

The first Calgary defender (gunner) to the wideside of the play takes a path to Parker, that is a bit too sharp and not a great contain angle

Watson attempts to block this first wideside Calgary defender (gunner) to the outside, which means that it was an up the gut designed return and not a pre-designed wide return.

However, even though Watson attempts to block this Calgary gunner to the outside, Parker sees the angle of the Calgary wide side gunner and breaks it to the outside, giving up ground to do so - even though Watson is attempting to block the Calgary wide side gunner to the outside, so that Parker can run it up the gut.

In fact, Watson, who was being beaten by the Calgary wide side gunner, hustles to get an inside position.

Parker slightly dips it back, giving up close to 5 yds, while doing so, and then breaks outside and down the far sideline, picking up blocks along the way, that can make it appear as if our Leos had a picket fence called.

The key to the play is Parker maing the decision to break the play to the outside, while giving up ground. He just did that because it felt natural to do so as he saw the Calgary outside gunner a bit inside.

Giving up ground, while running wide on a punt return, is sacrilegious to Wally, who wants field position on punt returns first and foremost.

I couldn't see Wally going for a wideside return anyway. He didn't want Rainey running wide so why would he set that up for Parker. I could see Rainey going nuts if we'd set up a wide return for Parker, when Rainey is not allowed to run wide.

You wont' see Rainey giving up ground and running a punt wide against Edmonton. He has been conditioned not to do so and 'knows better'.

Reinbold is an excellent special teams coach and he was happy to see the huge return and also to see his punt return blockers, when they saw Parker take it wide and turn the corner, and adjusted their positioning.

But Parker only needs two key blocks downfield, after he has already run the punt back about 40 yds. without needing a block, as he has outrun every Calgary defender.

One block, later downfield, looks like its from Dyshawn Davis and the second one is by Shaq Johnson. Those blocks allow Parker to run another 35 yards or so.

Of course, Parker did not get any hell for running it wide. Why? Because it was successful.

But if he had been tackled for a 5 yard loss, well, then things would have been different. He'd be hearing his name from Wally, on the radio talk show, and it would not be flattering.

Thankfully, Parker decided to run it wide, instead of following Wally's directive for 'running 'er up the gut. It was a big punt return that gave us the football at the Calgary 4 yd. line.

We scored a touchdown. Without Parker's big punt return, very good chance we don't win that game.

Now, if our tailback ignores Wally's directive to run 'er up the gut, on second and short, and goes off-tackle instead, well more good things could happen.

[Dusty]

On the Parker return, I recall seeing Reinbold on the sideline all smiles and rather enthusiastically congratulating Parker which led me to believe it was called. Certainly it caught Calgary flat-footed and surprised me as well.

I've looked at Parker's huge punt return over and over again, Dusty, and it was not a designed wide return. But unless you look at the tape over and over again, it certainly can appear that it was a called wide return.

There is no attempt to set up the picket fence nor for our defenders to initially block the Calgary defenders to the inside to set up a wide return.

The key to the play is Parker maing the decision to break the play to the outside, while giving up ground. He just did that because it felt natural to do so as he saw the Calgary outside gunner a bit inside.

Giving up ground, while running wide on a punt return, is sacrilegious to Wally, who wants field position on punt returns first and foremost.

You wont' see Rainey giving up ground and running a punt wide against Edmonton. He has been conditioned not to do so and 'knows better'.

Reinbold is an excellent special teams coach and he was happy to see the huge return and also to see his punt return blockers, when they saw Parker take it wide and turn the corner, and adjusted their positioning.

Of course, Parker did not get any hell for running it wide. Why? Because it was successful.

Thanks for the detailed analysis, Blitz, and please excuse my edits.

What you described is a Calgary cover team operating on the belief that ALL BC Lions punt returns WILL be "up the gut" . The only successful punt return was one that surprised them because it was different and totally unexpected. What would happen on Friday if the very first Edmonton punt was a running a punt wide return? It might put some uncertainty into the cover team. Sort of like a deep pass on the first play from scrimmage. In today's CFL, the same-old, same-old does not cut it.

Bringing in Reinbold with all his creativity and then refusing to let him use it is very wasteful and doomed.

[Figaro]

"Bringing in Reinbold with all his creativity and then refusing to let him use it is very wasteful and doomed."

Dusty, I couldn't agree more. When I heard of the Reinbold hiring I was over the moon - what he could accomplish with our return team and our returner Rainey had me dreaming of ST touchdowns. And now Rainey benched for two games!! What a waste of creativity and talent.

There is no play in football that gets everyone out of their seats cheering more than a long punt or kickoff return for a touchdown.

It is different from the long pass that usually consists of two players: the receiver and defender - the return involves everyone on each team all at once in a charge from either end of the field. The return seems to build more slowly as the returner catches the ball, in a moment sizes up his blockers' successes and failures and then makes that quick first decisive move, beats a man then turns on the jets.

By this time we are starting to believe this might be it and begin to rise as one from our seats. Often there is a block that sends a defender hurtling into the benches, As the returner begins to get free and moves into daylight leaving an ever-growing trail of would-be tacklers and clears his last man, our rising voices reach a deafening crescendo as one massive cheer as we begin to realize that success is a straight sprint away.

We are left high fiving each other and dancing in the aisles.

Or there is up the gut for two yards.

What a waste. We could have had many more of those magic uplifting moments.

[B.C.FAN]

According to the depth chart at bclions.com, Jordan Herdman starts at middle linebacker, backed up by rookie international Lee Bennett, who is added from the practice roster in place of Frederic Chagnon, who moves to the 1-game injured list. Micah Awe is listed third on the depth chart but will likely be scratched, along with Jeremiah Johnson.

[Figaro]

Keys to beating Edmonton.

Show up to play - none of that behavior from that Hamilton debacle. In our last 5 wins we have not allowed our opponent to score in the first quarter, in that Hamilton loss we were down 20-0 after the first 15 minutes.

Offense?

I don't really care who starts at QB - I believe if you listen to the team that they have confidence in either QB. What is important is to have a game plan that gives either QB a chance at success.

Run the ball - not only Sutton and JJ24 like running the ball, but do you see the faces on the linemen as they return to the huddle after a good run? Second and short is not a bad place to live.

Throw the ball to Burnham more. He has had 8 games where he has caught 3 or fewer passes! Give him assignments that will get him separation. I think he was targetted 4 times in our last game - check out how many times the star receiver for all other teams is targetted per game - I think we would be last in that category as well. Us eShaq's speed to spread the field.

Don't be predictable.

Defense?

Play hard man to man - I like the aggressive coverage of our DB's - we may get beat now and then, but we come out on top if we let them play in-your-face. This means the D-line will get pressure on Reilly.

We don't need to knock him down - but the pressure will take him off his game. I remember us doing that to McManus when he played for Hamilton - he would always toss us the ball once or twice in the game.

At linebacker, I say start Herdman back in the middle - stud. I would use him on run blitzes and spy on CJ Gable. Herdman is our best linebacker against the run. In the 41-22 loss in June, Gable ran all over us for over 160 yards - in our win in August, he ran for around 50. Not rocket science folks.

Take away the run game puts that pressure on Reilly - Ottawa didn't do this and paid dearly. Bo Lokombo (75 tackles, 4 sacks, 2 INT's) has moved up to the top of my chart as our best defensive player, although Coleman (55 tackles, 7 sacks and 2INT's) and TJ (74 tackles and 3 INT's) are giving him a push.

Special Teams.

Time to make them special - let Rainey loose and cut down on penalties.

If we play hard aggressive, unpredictable football from the opening whistle we will win.

I hold our coaches accountable - we have the talent, but do we have the game plan?

[TheLionKing]

I would like to see an effective running game. Ball control; don't let Reilly get his hand on the football.

[Blitz]

Offense?

I don't really care who starts at QB - I believe if you listen to the team that they have confidence in either QB. What is important is to have a game plan that gives either QB a chance at success.

Run the ball - not only Sutton and JJ24 like running the ball, but do you see the faces on the linemen as they return to the huddle after a good run? Second and short is not a bad place to live.

Throw the ball to Burnham more. He has had 8 games where he has caught 3 or fewer passes! Give him assignments that will get him separation. I think he was targetted 4 times in our last game - check out how many times the star receiver for all other teams is targetted per game - I think we would be last in that category as well. Us eShaq's speed to spread the field.

If we play hard aggressive, unpredictable football from the opening whistle we will win.

I hold our coaches accountable - we have the talent, but do we have the game plan?

Figaro

This game would seem to be pretty much the season. I know our players will once again demonstrate their amazing spirit. I hope our game plans are worthy of that spirit.

In other words, bag the RPO and go with a modified Spread offence, heavy on the run, heavy on pocket pass protection, moving pocket, modified, customised routes and some QB runs. On defence, mix it up; go with MTM and frequent, disguised blitzes. Go with detailed, customized attacks on STs.

WCJ

I've really enjoyed reading all the posts so far on this game. Really good analysis and insightful stuff.

I didn't quote your entire posts above Figaro and WCJ. Both posts contained key aspects of what will be required for us to win.

On offence, I have no doubt that we are going to be giving Edmonton a big dose of Sutton. I feel sorry for Jeremiah Johnson, who carried the football 19 times for 118 yds. (6.2 yd. average) in what could be his last game as a Lion. I'm the loyal type and Jeremiah's performance should not have lost him his job.

But in Sutton (22 caries for 108 yds, 4.8 yd. average) in his first game last week, we have a north-south powerful runner. I'm not surprised that we will go with Sutton the rest of the way. The way that both Hervey and Buono raved about him after the trade, I knew that was coming. No question thought that Sutton is a good one.

I kinda chuckled Figaro, when you wrote: "Second and short is not a bad place to live'. On almost every football team that is true, except for our Leos.

What would be better is second and 'shorter' but not short. If we're 2nd and short, Wally will send in the short yardage team and no player, not even Sutton last week, can get a first down on our 'up the gut' running play more than 50% of the time. Fajardo, Johnson, Rainey, Lumbala, and Sutton have all been stuffed. Same scenario for season after season now.

We're bettter off passing on second and short. I like second and four, because we don't send in the short yardage team.

I would love to see us run the zone read early and have Lulay keep it and run outside. Even if he does it once early in the game, it will help stop Edmonton's ends from crashing down on our inside run plays.

Like you Figaro, I don't think there is a significant difference at quarterback. But hopefully Lulay can go all the way. I know we'll get his best, within the confines of the tools he will be given.

There is nothing more frustrating at times than watching a Buono coached team because I know that the talent is always being restricted by scheme, whether its simplified offence or restricted punt returns.

As Figaro wrote: "What a waste. We could be having so many more magical moments"

But the good of this season, has been to be able to watch our defense not stuck in passive zone, (as for so many seasons in the past) for a lot of games.

This game is going to be based upon what our 7th ranked offence can do against a Benevedes 7th ranked defense.

This game is also going to be based upon Edmonton's 4th ranked offence can do agaisnt our 5th ranked defense. However, those rankings have been impacted by Edmonton's mid-season offensive slump until they defeated Ottawa last week and our defensive poor showing at the start of the year, when we played passive zone.

The reality is that Edmonton's offence and our Leos defense can both play outstanding football.

The key to Edmonton's defense is getting a consistent, effective pass rush from their front four. They are very good at getting to the quarterback and that hides a lot of Benevedes scheme deficiencies. The key to our offensive game plan will be to run the football effectively and protect Lulay. Running the football well will play an important role in doing so.

I agree with you Fajardo, that in a big game especially, we will need to look for Burnham more often. He is a big play receiver and a clutch performer. Shaq is dangerous too.

We all know how badly Reilly had played in his last 3 games, before the Ottawa win. His protection was awful until Edmonton made offensive line changes for his last game. Sacks, interceptions were in abundance.

Here in B.C. too many fans think that a quarterback is supposed to be able to overcome a bad scheme and poor protection. They seem to understand that pressure makes opposition quarterbacks play poorly and cough up the football but they don't apply the same reasoning to our quarterback play.

In big games, especially, defense is the key to victory and special teams can also be a difference maker. (great that Rainey is back in the lineup).

In our five previous wins, our Lions’ defense has collected 21 sacks, nine interceptions and created five fumbles. Very impressive stuff.

Our defense leads the CFL with 21 interceptions and is fourth with 40 sacks, just three behind Edmonton and Saskatchewan and they have played more games. Our Lions are also fourth in the league with 99 points off turnovers.

Winston Rose and Anthony Orange have five interceptions each, leaving them in a league-leading four-way tie. Defensive end Shawn Lemon, obtained in our July trade from Toronto, has 10 sacks, third best in the league while Willis is tied with three other plays at fourth.

The key to this game on defense, is stop the run, pressure, and man defense. If Maas forces us into zone, Reilly can pick our defense apart if given time to throw.

Edmonton's offence looked good again against Ottawa because they ran the football again and ran it effectively. So we gotta stop their run and also get pressure on Reilly.

I anticipate we will bltiz Reilly a lot in this game from the linebacker postiion, with Lokombo, Herdman, and Foster all getting opportunities to do so. In effect, that will give us both a run blitz and a pass blitz.

Game planning and play calling will be so important for this game.

Its going to be exciting and there is so much on the line.

[B.C.FAN]

The Lions have tweeted out a new depth chart which shows Jeremiah Johnson ahead of Chris Rainey as the rotational running back. That’s likely a mistake as Rainey is still listed as the punt and kick returner. Both are on the roster.

[David]

I hope he didn't hear it from the Lions, as their estimates tend to be a little off, but still encouraging.




DH