The Stamps had no excuses as our Leos destroyed Calgary’s game plan of running the football and dropping nine into coverage on defense. By getting the lead back in the first quarter and eventually getting Calgary to pass the football more, we turned the game into mostly a passing contest and that was to our advantage.
Here are some post game thoughts. I look forward to reading your thoughts on this playoff contest.
FOR BETTER
THE GREAT VERNON ADAMS
Before this playoff game, a big question was whether we would see the good Vernon Adams or the bad Vernon Adams. In this contest we saw the great Vernon Adams and except for the opening drive of the second half, Adams played great all game. The Stamps lined up with four or five on the line and then only rushed three to begin the game. It was a strategy that had worked well in the last contest, but Adams was unfazed.
He was decisive and took what was there, cutting up the Stamps defense like he was carving an apple. Before the game, I posted that Adams needed to stop dancing in the pocket like Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and instead step up into the gap on either side of the nose tackle and that is exactly what he did. Adams not only threw bullets, but his running was also a key to our offence. Adams ran fast and hard and with passion and made some key plays with his legs. He even picked up a first down on a 1st and 20, after the zebras had called a phantom holding call on us.
It was an exceptional performance. Adams was 28-of-39 passes for 413 yards ran seven times for 54 yards, passed for two touchdowns, and ran for three more. There was a time in the off-season when it seemed that Nathan Rourke would not ever be adequately replaced. Rourke threw for 331 yards in last year’s semi-final against Calgary. But Big Play V.A. showed yesterday he has an incredible arm too and can win when it matters most.
How good was Adams in this game? The last time a CFL QB reached 400 yards in the playoffs came back in 2017, when Trevor Harris did so for the Ottawa Redblacks.
Our Leos finally made a needed adjustment and used Adams on short yardage plays rather than Davis. It was a necessary move for this year’s playoffs and hopefully will be addressed in the off-season.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The Stamps came out firing deep throws and two pass coverage breakdowns in coverage early led to a quick Calgary touchdown. How two B.C. defenders could both choose to cover Markel while leaving Beggleton completely free to begin a game is beyond me. Down 7-0, when we fumbled, giving Calgary great field position, it was more than concerning. When Calgary began marching again, it appeared that the best outcome would be a field goal and a 10-0 deficit but a 14-0 deficit also loomed.
Gary Peters interception was a momentum changer. We drove the field for a touchdown, held Calgary and scored again. We had momentum and never looked back.
THE SHARPEST KNIFE CUTS DEEPEST
Our Leos receiving corps is made up of some very sharp knives that can dissect a defense. Rhymes is a silky smooth, tall receiver with excellent hands. Alexander Hollins runs great routes. Jevon Cottoy is a tall target whose hands are like powerful vacuum cleaners for any football thrown in his area and he is a tough runner after making a catch. MacInnis is another big target who can make the 50/50 catch at opportune times.
But when he is on, Kevin Hatcher is the sharpest knife in the set and yesterday he showed it. Hatcher did not play in the last contest against Calgary. Yesterday, Hatcher showed how much of a difference maker he is. Hatcher was almost a one man show. He caught 9 passes for an amazing in nine 195 yards and a touchdown. With Hatcher exploiting every possible open seam in Calgary’s zone defense and Cottoy operating as a key weapon underneath, the Lions passing attack flourished. Rhymes only had two catches Hollins had some drops, and Whitehead never saw the field.
But it didn’t matter. Hatcher and Cottoy’s receptions, along with with Adams timely and impressive runs as well as his five dump offs to Mizzell for over 50 yards ensured the Stamps defense was eaten up and spit out. Dickenson tried to adjust in game to our passing attack but had no answer to our Leos well-designed and well executed passing attack.
WOW, NOW THAT IS LINEBACKER PLAY
When Ben Hladk was injured on Gary Peter’s first quarter interception, it forced Ryan Phillips to move Woods into the middle linebacker position, insert Lokombo into the weakside linebacker spot, and rotate in Varga. After Calgary scored early, they were 0-for-2 in the red zone, had an average drive length of 21 yards — with none longer than 51 — as they could only manage five field Rene Parades goals until Begelton scored with less than two minutes remaining.
The Stampeders were 6-16 on second down conversions at one point until deep into the fourth quarter. There were a lot of reasons for that mostly sound defensive performance but top of that list was the play of Josh Woods at middle linebacker. He was all over the field. His run defense and pass defence were both amazing as was his pursuit to the football, his ability read a play, and his impressive tackling.
Hladk will be available for the Bombers. The question is “Will our Leos go back to Hladk in the middle, with Woods outside, as they started this contest or will they switch things up. Its an intriguing question based on Woods play at middle linebacker in this contest.
FOR WORSE
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING
After giving up a quick touchdown, Peters interception., a quick stop by our defense, and two impressive Leo offensive drives for touchdowns had us up 14-7, momentum on our side, and the crowd totally into the game. Our defense forced a Calgary punt and what do we do? We take a roughing the punter penalty, give Calgary the football back, they kick a field goal, and are back into the game. The play could have turned into a much more critical play if the contest had remained close. Benevedes is our special teams coach who should have his players having much more situational awareness.
THE SMOKE IS BACK BUT…
Leos fans were told that Tuquan (Where This is Smoke There is No Fire) Mizzell was healthy, had been nicked up for weeks, and was roaring to go. Well spare me the anticipation and excitement. Mizzell carried the football 11 times for 28 yards. Take away his one 8 yard run, and he averaged less than 2 yards per carry. Our offensive line ranked 6th in run blocking but Calgary’s defense ranked 6th against the run. Surely, with the Stamps desperately in pass rush mode on every play, with a 3 man front for a good chunk of the game. Mizzell should be able to find a hole. That is the main task of a tailback when an offensive line zone blocks the inside zone read or the stretch play.
But nope, he has an amazing knack of running straight into a tackler. Even in the open field. Mizzell has an amazing ability to make a sharp cut into and not away from a tackler. Mizzell was more decisive on screens and dump offs in this game but still, in open field, he chops his feet after a reception, with no one around. He is not a pro calibre running back..that is a simple and easy observation to make.
We tried everything - direct snap to Mizzell, the option play with Adams pitching to Mizzell and yet a big nothing was the result.
INEXCUSABLE
Our defense came into this contest knowing only one Calgary receiver finished in the CFL Top 20 – Reggie Beggleton. With the crowd and the Leos team amped after Joshua Archibald;s hit on the opening kickoff, what do T..J. Lee and Rugamba do but both cover Markel while leaving Beggleton free downfield for a 43 yard strike. Inexcusable.
The play, which led to a quick Calgary opening touchdown, trigged all my bad memories of our Leos coming out flat in too many home playoff games in the Buono and Benevedes era. Thankfully the game turned around quickly in our favor. Still, we did not double cover Beggleton in this contest as we should have. Beggleton was Calgary's main threat in the contest and we did not make that as difficult a Calgary option as we should have.
JUST PUNT THE DANG BALL
Stefan Flintoff punted three times for 90 yards – a 30 yard punt average in a playoff game with two bad shanks. That is not playoff punting. It needs to get fixed before we play on the frozen tundra in Winnipeg.
PREDATORY BEHAVIOR
You are only as good as your weakest link is an important notion in team sport. Predators are skilled at picking out the slowest or the weakest member of the herd. Good offensive coordinators are predators and in this contest, they quickly picked out our weak spot in pass defence – Mike Jones and went after him as often as possible.
PERGATORY
We got our short yardage game fixed for the West Semi-Final. We really need to fix these things this week before playing Winnipeg
1. Running game. When an offence is trying to run out the clock and they are passing, knowing how futile it is to give the football to their starting tailback, a serious adjustment must be made. Why not insert Mackie into the game for this situation? Why not insert him into the tailback spot during the game in a rotational role. What do you have to lose with Mizzell gaining less than 2 yards on almost every carry.
Stupid is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We have enough of a body of work from Mizzell on inside zone reads, outside zone reads, counters, draws, quick pitches, direct snaps, option plays to figure out he is not going to get it done.
2. Cornerback. The Bombers are already looking at tape. They are already licking their lips and preparing to exploit either Mike Jones or Bagayoko. Jones looked slow and overwhelmed. We have no one on the practice roster who can step in. It’s a dilemma with no easy answer.
WRAP
While there are things to work on and improve, our Leos offence was dynamic and our Lions defense showed much improvement against the run . However, to beat the Bombers we will need all three units to play their best football of the season.
We have a chance to play in the Grey Cup game. We only need one win. Its CFL playoff football in November. It doesn’t get more exciting.
