Eskimos 33 - Lions 6 -- Post-Game Comments

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WestCoastJoe
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Hervey cut, released, et cetera ...

Jennings.

Lulay.

Fajardo.

Arceneaux.

Collins.

Posey.

Johnson 24.

Sutton.

But he kept Jarious Jackson.

We can run the ball. But we have huge issues in pass protection.

I guess Ed thought Burnham, Carter and 3 NAT receivers would give us a top level receiving corps.

I guess Ed thought Jarious Jackson could provide a top level offensive system. Jarious has not shown any knowledge of how to attack a blitz-happy defence. Our offence ignored the run in games 1 and 2. Play calls? Reilly choices? Why does Reilly insist on playing every down on offence? Why does Claybrooks allow it?

It seems Ed thought Willis, Boesen and Allen would give us good play at DE. LBs? DBs? Stubler's system? Breakdowns. Long passes, missed tackles. It is a leaky, unreliable defence.

More important than these issues, imo, is the lack of direction and leadership on the team. There is no winning spirit. They are confused. Mental mistakes. Penalties. Breakdowns. This is a coaching issue, imo. It's like the students know the teacher will not really get after them. Do they fear film sessions? Are all the films getting burned?

It all went south, from the first game. Strange. Because Ed seemed to show good judgment of personnel previously. He showed good judgment of coaches with Jones and Maas.

He seemed to have a vendetta against Jennings. He seems to want to poach all kinds of Edmonton players. Is he going to throw someone under the bus? These are all his guys now. What is going on with Steward? If he is dinged, why is he suiting up? Did they downgrade their estimation of his talent? Many questions. Few answers available, it seems.

Any hopes for success on the football field? Braley was completely loyal to Wally. It might not be the same for Ed Hervey.
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Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

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B.C.FAN
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Reilly and Claybrooks blame it all on execution. I blame it on coaching, especially on offence and special teams. They’re just not prepared.

On defence Stubler and Claybrooks are trying to train the players not to play instinctively or chase the ball. I don’t pretend to understand their system but it seems to be prone to too many breakdowns at critical times.
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cromartie
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Well, this seems like a good year to get back into my exercise routine. At the rate things are going, we're headed for a 4-14 season and a coordinator thrown under the bus to save face at some point during a lost season.

It feels like, oh, 1998, you know?

There is talent here. Don't kid yourself. I think the roster turnover was largely necessary.

But the coaching staff isn't working. Clearly Jarious hasn't replaced whatever was stolen on his laptop last season. I've seen enough of his offense that I'd pull the plug. now, honestly.
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Lion Guy
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I will ask again this week; how does Jarious Jackson still have a job?
Blitz
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It was a disheartening loss last night to the Eskimos. As Leo fans, most of us came into this season with some renewed optimism.

We had a new and established quarterback who had previously been an MOP, a whole bunch of free agent signings on offence, and a new Head Coach who was considered, at the time of his hiring, as the best CFL candidate available.

But there was also cause for concern.

The number of rookie assistant coaches combined with Jarious Jackson remaining as Offensive Coordinator brought question marks. (I personally believed that Reilly would not have signed with our Leos unless Jackson had been given the order to revise the offence. I was very mistaken). The high roster turnover, for the second season in a row was also a concern.

It appeared as if Hervey's priorities, roster wise, were to jettison as many Leo players as possible and to sign as many ex Eskimo players as possible. (I was surprised that Hervey did not attempt to steal the Eskimos mascot). Even more worrisome was that Hervey seemed to spend most of our SMS money on offence.

Reilly was expensive but for Hervey to sign a right guard for $250,000 as well as spend some big bucks on free agents such as Duron Carter raised eyebrows while Leo fans knew that defensively we would be counting on an aging Odell Willis as our main pass rusher with no complimentary piece in sight.

Hervey did not attempt to sign some key defensive players who had played so well for us such as 2018 leading defensive tackler Bo Lokombo, leading sacker Shawn Lemon, and leading interceptor Winston Rose.

This 2019 Leos football team is mostly comprised of players who have not played together in the past while being led by a group of mostly rookie coaches.

Its also a Leos team where most of the money was put into creating an exciting and high scoring offence while going cheap (except for backup linebacker Adam Konar and halfback Aaron Grymes) in cobbling together a defense. However, with Jarious Jackson remaining as offensive coordinator, our offence has been anything but high scoring or exciting.

In last nights game, our no name defense held the Eskimos to just 122 yards in total offence but the sacks and penalties that took place on offence killed our field position game. Our Lions offence only had 102 yds of total offence in the first half. We had one first quarter field goal and one fourth quarter field goal for 6 offensive points and 0 touchdowns in this home contest.

Mike Reilly had 157 passing yds. for the entire game, with one interception and one fumble due to a strip sack. White had 53 rushing yards on 11 carries. Reilly was sacked 5 times. Bryan Burnham had 69 pass reception yds. Duron Carter was second in receiving yards with 27 yds. off 7 targets. So much for Jarious Jackson's 'get the football to our receivers in space' passing attack.

Our offensive line also had a miserable game. Not all of the Eskimos pressure was due to poor offensive line play. The Eskimos often lined up an extra man in the box to take away a potential RPO run while also using that extra defender to rush the quarterback at times. Jackson's offensive has no conceptual ability to exploit the blitz.

But one has to seriously question why our Leos so called brain trust chose to move our offensive line personnel two games ago, coming off our best offensive game of the season. Two games ago, our offensive line had an excellent game with Steward at left guard and Foucault at right tackle. So, what did we do? We moved Boyko back to right tackle, Foucault to left guard, and Steward to the bench. It's a disaster.

Defenses (other than Toronto's) know how to play our offence. After all, they've been doing it successfully since the start of last season and Jarious Jackson's scheme makes it so easy to do so.

So we need a plan. Here are two choices. The first choice is titled "Last Year's Plan and the second choice is titled Make a New Plan Stan (Ed, Devone)

LAST YEAR'S PLAN

1. Have Jarious Jackson state Reilly is not smart enough to quarterback Jarious Jackson's offence

2. Have Devone blow up at Reilly on two occasions on the sidelines in front of the TSN cameras and fans

3. Have Devone state Mike Reilly has to read defenses quicker and get the football out of his hands quicker.

4. Have Ed Hervey state that Mike Reilly needs to spend more time at the practice facility learning Jackson's offence.

5. Have Ed and the coaching staff whisper to the press that Reilly is not playing up to snuff as a quarterback and blame him for our offensive troubles.

6. By continuing to focus on our quarterback 'not making plays' ensure the fan base sees the problem as a quarterback problem only. Hopefully fans will buy into the Kool Aid, believe that our quarterback has having a 'deer in the headlights syndrome, and is mostly responsible for our high sack total.

7. Continue to promote Jarious Jackson as an innovative and brilliant offensive coordinator with great leadership skills and the only problem with our offensive scheme as being a lack of execution and an inability to 'make plays'.

MAKE A NEW PLAN STAN (ED, DEVONE)

1. FIRE JARIOUS JACKSON OR AT LEAST ORDER HIM TO CHANGE HIS OFFENCE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON

After 25 games, three quarterbacks named Lulay, Jennings, and Reilly, the obvious cannot be hidden anymore - Jarious Jackson's offensive scheme sucks. Receivers are not open, the offensive line can't protect the quarterback, and the quarterback often looks hesitant or has no one to throw the football to. Jackon's offence has mostly been a disaster since Game 1 of last season.

Its time to end the blame game and put the finger where it belongs.


2. ITS MORE THAN TIME TO THROW AWAY PLUG AND PLAY OFFENCES

From Wally's Simpified Spread to Jackson's RPO offence its time to say goodbye to 'plug and play' and instead design an offence around our talent.

Bryan Burnham is a deep intermediate possession receiver. That is mainly how he should be used. Shaq Johnson is a very quick receiver who would excel at quick crossing patterns. Durant and Cottoy are big body receivers who can catch footballs over the middle as well as run slant and curl patterns. Mike Reilly is a mobile quarterback who can both pass and run.

Its time to design a passing attack around our strengths. In the run game we have a big aggressive offensive line.

Its time to get back to a pre-snap running attack with some diversity and allow our offensive linemen to play a style that suits them. We also need to attack the edges with our running game. You can't live in a diet of inside run plays and nothing else.

3. ITS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO DURON CARTER

Duron Carter should not have been signed by Hervey. He couldn't get it done in Riderville or Toronto. If Hervey wanted to move away from Manny and Posey he had better choices out there as free agents. Forget about Carter's personality or antics. The fact is that he is just not good enough to play the role as a key receiver.


Obviously, more change than above in Make a New Plan Stan (Ed, Devone) is required but with 4 losses now in 5 games, our Leos have to start somewhere.

Mike Reilly believes the talent is here. Perhaps so on offence, with some offensive line personnel shifting and a new receiver to replace Carter. But on defense, personal change is needed. We desperately need a pass rusher, as stud linebacker, and a shut down corner desperately.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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Lion Guy
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There is nothing more pathetic than loud annoying music, a loud annoying announcer and some silly thing on a scoreboard trying to get fans into the game whenever we are down by 20 some odd points with no hope in sight.

Fans in my section were yelling to just shut up already.
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cromartie
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ITS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO DURON CARTER

Going to disagree with this one. He may be redundant in light of other signings, but he's a more than willing downfield and inline blocker and can be a significant workhorse in the right offense, both as an intermediate target and as a component to a properly designed run game. The problem is the offense moreso than Carter.
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Lion Guy
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Well done Blitz.

We better see some firings, releases, change whatever before next week. This team has no fire, no intensity.

The team is boring, the stadium is boring, the stadium in-game experience is pathetic....why do I attend and not just sit at home on my couch with a reasonably priced beer again?
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Lion Guy
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cromartie wrote:
Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:54 am
ITS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO DURON CARTER

Going to disagree with this one. He may be redundant in light of other signings, but he's a more than willing downfield and inline blocker and can be a significant workhorse in the right offense, both as an intermediate target and as a component to a properly designed run game. The problem is the offense moreso than Carter.
Sorry, but I will disagree. He can't get open. He's not that good. We would get a lot more from Ernest Jackson than this bum. We let Posey walk for this wanna be gangsta? Pathetic.
montana
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Blitz is right on, I'm thinkin'. One thing to add to that - we gotta fire the offensive line coach, Bryan Chiu. Clearly, he can't cut it. He has a good group to work with, but they're not even close to performing adequately. Gotta look to the coach when that's happening.
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Toppy Vann
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cromartie wrote:
Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:54 am
ITS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO DURON CARTER

Going to disagree with this one. He may be redundant in light of other signings, but he's a more than willing downfield and inline blocker and can be a significant workhorse in the right offense, both as an intermediate target and as a component to a properly designed run game. The problem is the offense moreso than Carter.
Exactly. Problem is the structure of the offence and lack of creativity.

Anyone hear Duron Carter post game? Check that out. He may have said it more humbly but his words echoed the coaches and the QB and Lulay who was on 1040 post game. There was one attempt to get him some open field catches but it was late in the freaking half much like finally see a screen.

Carter is more closely covered and you can see on some plays he's deeper than the guy behind him who is the target and hasn't turned - and that is no different than what I saw in their practice - it's the design of this offence passing schemes.

The young Lamar Hunt sure hurt last night as did the freaking kicker who didn't get a kickoff fast enough and took a delay of game penalty.

Bottom Line is PASS PLAYS TAKE TOO LONG TO DEVELOP given:

1. too few adjustments in blocking like the FB Mackie inserted into the game. Too bad they don't use two RBs.

2. Reilly rarely moves out of the pocket making him an easy target to find for the Esks pass rush.

Suitor froze one Lions passing play and by the time Reilly was under pressure only the short REC crossing just past the LOS was open. This is consistent.

It's the design and the play of the O-Line that is hurting combined with the vanilla play calling.

DEFENCE:

Missed tackles has to be addressed as some 5 players had easy shots and simply failed to stop one TD.

COACHING:

Yes, lots of rookie coaches and my sense is that they've yet to have an impact. Can't comment on the OL coach as he's been around - other than to say why did they move from the OL that actually played well.

What I don't grasp is how Devone Claybrooks hasn't sat down with the OC and their coaches and challenge the schemes, play calling and entire structure and use of the offensive talent they have. It sounds like he focused on the DEF but I don't grasp why they haven't got more done to make changes.

Jarius needs to be forced to listen and get input as coaches like Nik Lewis, Drew Tate and Bryan Chiu know how offensive play calling works and surely they see the issues here.
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I knew we were doomed when the kicker got a delay of game penalty after coming off a break, only positive thing about last night is my pvr has multiple FF options
TheLionKing
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Lion Guy wrote:
Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:49 am
There is nothing more pathetic than loud annoying music, a loud annoying announcer and some silly thing on a scoreboard trying to get fans into the game whenever we are down by 20 some odd points with no hope in sight.

Fans in my section were yelling to just shut up already.
Hear, Hear ! Don't know what you call it but it's not music they're playing. It's noise. Let's have some real Rock n' Roll
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cromartie
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Toppy Vann wrote:
Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:12 am
cromartie wrote:
Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:54 am
ITS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO DURON CARTER

Going to disagree with this one. He may be redundant in light of other signings, but he's a more than willing downfield and inline blocker and can be a significant workhorse in the right offense, both as an intermediate target and as a component to a properly designed run game. The problem is the offense moreso than Carter.
Exactly. Problem is the structure of the offence and lack of creativity.

Anyone hear Duron Carter post game? Check that out. He may have said it more humbly but his words echoed the coaches and the QB and Lulay who was on 1040 post game. There was one attempt to get him some open field catches but it was late in the freaking half much like finally see a screen.

Carter is more closely covered and you can see on some plays he's deeper than the guy behind him who is the target and hasn't turned - and that is no different than what I saw in their practice - it's the design of this offence passing schemes.

The young Lamar Hunt sure hurt last night as did the freaking kicker who didn't get a kickoff fast enough and took a delay of game penalty.

Bottom Line is PASS PLAYS TAKE TOO LONG TO DEVELOP given:

1. too few adjustments in blocking like the FB Mackie inserted into the game. Too bad they don't use two RBs.

2. Reilly rarely moves out of the pocket making him an easy target to find for the Esks pass rush.

Suitor froze one Lions passing play and by the time Reilly was under pressure only the short REC crossing just past the LOS was open. This is consistent.

It's the design and the play of the O-Line that is hurting combined with the vanilla play calling.

DEFENCE:

Missed tackles has to be addressed as some 5 players had easy shots and simply failed to stop one TD.

COACHING:

Yes, lots of rookie coaches and my sense is that they've yet to have an impact. Can't comment on the OL coach as he's been around - other than to say why did they move from the OL that actually played well.

What I don't grasp is how Devone Claybrooks hasn't sat down with the OC and their coaches and challenge the schemes, play calling and entire structure and use of the offensive talent they have. It sounds like he focused on the DEF but I don't grasp why they haven't got more done to make changes.

Jarius needs to be forced to listen and get input as coaches like Nik Lewis, Drew Tate and Bryan Chiu know how offensive play calling works and surely they see the issues here.
I'll add one more thing to this I noticed last week, and this is on Reilly; he has to do a better job with his head and eyes. Whether that's the burden of learning a new scheme or just a limitation, he isn't looking off defenders and that's murder on a passing game that takes a long time to develop.

If you want to make the argument that there are less expensive versions of what Carter does out there, that fine, but if you don't like Carter because of his personality, that's on you, not him. Unlike the perception of the diva WR, he's willingly engaged when he's not the intended receiver and he busts his behind blocking downfield. That's effort at that position. I'd aim your ire elsewhere.

The issue, sometimes, is less about "listening" to coaches than it is adjusting in game. We've had OCs in the past who could develop a solid game plan with no ability to adjust on the fly; here we have the worst of both worlds; a coach that can neither come up with a good game plan nor adjust on the fly.

Typically, defensive coordinators promoted to head coaches want to turn the offense over to an OC and not be involved. That was probably the thought process here (along with the extra year on JJs contract). It's clear it isn't working and, frankly, it isn't going to.
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When a team is 1-4 and playing as lousy as our Leos are playing right now, of course there is blame to throw around in a lot of directions, from offensive line to receiver play to quarterback play to offensive scheme, etc.

NOT GOING DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

But I am not going down a rabbit hole on this one, just as in the past, I refused to go down Wally's relentless rabbit hole of constantly blaming players for lack of execution or not making 'plays',

Quite simply, Mike Reilly has been an MOP and his play over the past three years especially proves that he is an elite CFL quarterback. Brian Burnham has more than proven his worth as a go to receiver. While I am not enamored with Duron Carter as a receiver, he has proven in the past to be competent enough to have two 1,000 yd. seasons.

Joel Figuroa is an elite tackle, Suhk Chung over four seasons in Winnipeg established a reputation as a technically sound run and pass blocker while playing with an edge and Hunter Steward, another high draft choice has played both left tackle and left guard for our Leos at a high level. Both Foucault and Boyko were signed by NFL clubs for their talent.

The fact that we keep wanting to play National offensive lineman as Steward and Faucault as guards when they are natural tackles is another issue.

While we had two excellent running backs in Jeremiah Johnson and Tyrell Sutton (who was hailed as a future playoff wonder by Hervey and Buono last season) were both not wanted back but White, when healthy, has also proven to be a quality tailback.

In other words, this is less of a problem of talent and more of a problem of offensive scheme and play calling than anything else by far. Too many players have 'sucked' in Jarious Jackson's offence in B.C. since he arrived, that did not play a brand of football that 'sucked', until they began playing in Jackson's scheme.

When things fall apart, players play also erodes but this is primarily not a personnel issue on offence and to think that it is to be deluded,.

The finger needs to be pointed where accountability needs to be taking place.

CHECK YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of stupidity. Its a line we've heard many times. So why do unstupid men keep doing it?

Wally Buono was no Rhodes scholar or a brilliant football strategist (to say the least) but he certainly did not achieve his level of success by being an idiot. So, why did he continue to try to use the inside zone read running play on second and short and have it stuffed time and time again and then blame the players.

The simple answer is ego. Ego can get in the way of common sense. Common sense says 'change something that has proven time and again NOT to work. However, the old unhealthy ego defense mechanism of blame gets in the way (along with the notion that there could not be anything wrong with MY scheme or play call).

FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOURSELF

Its easy for me to understand Jarious Jackson's thinking (at least to a certain point). As a young basketball coach, I drew up an offence that I absolutely thought was brilliant and loved. Only problem is that on paper it looked brilliant but on the court it didn't work.

For 3 basketball seasons in a row, I began each each season with that scheme, blamed the players when it didn't work, and changed to something different that matched my players strengths around mid-season (and worked).

However, I had a difficult time giving up my 'brilliant scheme'. I actually looked at the dam thng a few years back and the scheme still looked great to me on paper but was never meant to do anything other than to remain on paper. Had my ego continued to get in the way during those 3 seasons, each season would have continued to experience unnecessary challenges.

ONE 'BEST' WAY CAN LEAD TO VERY BAD THINKING

Bill Billichick will go down as the greatest coach in NFL history when he retires. He's often given that distinction now. He is considered aloof and arrogant by some. But he actually has a very healthy ego because he is always willing to learn, to change, to adapt, to utilize his players strengths and exploits the opposition weaknesses

In other words, he uses a 'contingency' model of leadership. However too many coaches use a "One Best Way" approach and the best way is THEIR way. And of course, a whole ton of ego can be involved in THEIR WAY and looking in the mirror doesn't get contemplated.

Take Jarious Jackson. He obviously believes, no matter how much proof there is otherwise, that his RPO themed offence, with touches of West Coast and Spread is a superior offence. The only issue is the players are just not 'executing' it. Jennings couldn't, Lulay couldn't and now Reilly can't.

SACRIFICED ON THE ALTER

A lot of players have been sacrificed on the alter of Jarious Jackson's ego, in terms of our offensive scheme. Travis Lulay, Jonathan Jennings, Jeremiah Johnson, and Chris Rainey all spent time in the doghouse due to their 'inability' to execute Jarious Jackson's offence..

In fact, all of our offensive players and our entire Leos team suffered last season due to Jarious Jackson's scheme. I suffered and you suffered and all Leos fans suffered due to Jackson's rigidity and ego,

Wally Buono's miserable final season as a Head Coach was in part due to being tied to Jackson's offence. Davone Claybrooks lack of early coaching success, in part, is being tied to Jarious Jackson's offensive scheme. If Ed Hervey keeps supporting Jarious Jackson, he may also find himself out of a job due to his drinking the Jackson RPO offence.

HOW ABOUT SOME COMMON SENSE FOR A CHANGE

Its moRe than time for these 'pros' to check their egos at the door, re-introduce that time proven concept called common sense back into the equation, and get this team turned around.

Six measly offensive points at home is more than proof, after 24 games of mostly incompetent offensive scheming and play calling and the worst playoff loss in Leos history last year to say goodbye to something that doesn't work and start implementing something that does.

Because, pretty soon, is this doesn't happen, there is going to be nobody to watch it.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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