Lions at Montreal Sept 6, 2019 - Post-game stats and thoughts

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B.C.FAN
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This time the Lions didn't kill themselves with late-game turnovers and special-teams blunders. Instead it was a slow, painful death resulting from an inability of the B.C. offence to to capitalize on their red-zone opportunities. The Lions won the turnover battle 4-2 and had a 9-minute advantage in time of possession but could only find the end zone once. They twice got inside the Montreal 20 yard line in the second half but settled for Sergio Castillo field goals both times. The Als got into the red zone three times and scored TDs each time. That was the difference in the game.

The offensive line showed improvement under Kelly Bates and handled almost everything the Als threw at them except for a couple of John Bowman sacks, the second coming on a three-man rush in the final minute to all but seal the Lions' fate.

Bryan Burnham had another strong game in a losing effort with 8 catches on 8 targets for 129 yards and a 40-yard TD, bringing his season total to 848 yards, second only to Brandon Banks of Hamilton. Brandon Rutley added 102 yards from scrimmage but there wasn't much production from anyone else in the lineup. Duron Carter was second on the team in receiving with 5 catches on 9 targets for 32 yards. His longest catch was only 10 yards. On the season Carter has 43 catches on 72 targets (59%), a total that is especially disappointing given that many of his targets are near the line of scrimmage. His average catch is career-low 8.4 yards, his longest is 32 yards and he has yet to score a touchdown. Of the 30 receivers ahead of him in yardage, only Winnipeg RB Andrew Harris a lower average per catch.
JohnnyMusso
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Seems all the fans are losing interest in the Lions. I am the first comment after BC Fan. What can you say? Another loss and Lions fall to 1 and 10. Most of us expect the Lions to lose every week.

Question tonight I ask is why Hervey released Bo L? Another bad mistake.
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yukonlion
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many lions released and other free agents brought in (linebackers and DBs) yet all the ones he let go are starters... Probably didnt have to pay more than the free agents he signed. Even more frustrating is the radio team just told someone that Lokombo went from his failed NFL try out right to montrael. He played here last year for crying out loud!!! even the radio guys are last place..
TheLionKing
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You don't win games by settling for field goals instead of touchdowns. As to the offensive line, one should temper their enthusiasm as the Alouettes' defensive line is not one of the league's elite.
ziggy
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So who is next? Special teams coach? Are we working our way up through the coaching roster? If we have good personnel and are still losing it’s on the coaches? If we have poor personnel or team composition it’s on the GM! But we seem to have to work our way up through the coaching ranks prior to making that decision, so let’s fire another assistant. Scheme or execution?
Last edited by ziggy on Fri Sep 06, 2019 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
cms22
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that game was ok, but of course it's a 1-10 team so it's very frustrating.

a few thoughts on the game and a few on the outlook for the future.

haven't seen/heard it mentioned anywhere so far, but i thought an absolute killer play was in 2nd half when montreal had a second and longish, swung it out to tailback, he picked nice gain but was effectively tackled 3 or 4 yards short of the first down and then two seconds later he's busting it 10 yards further...... at that moment, i knew we'd lose. probably the odds were 70% we'd lose before that play anyway.

what are the rules on lokombo putting his hands towards the face of the receiver? it's a very confusing, inconsistently applied rule i think. glen suitor didn't seem to know and he's a so-called expert.. on one hand, lokombo had his hands up like that to distract the receiver (penalty) but he wasn't that close to receiver (so maybe no penalty)... anyway, we need to know the rules. cuthbert saying not challenging saves the challenge for later (with 4 minutes left in game LOL)

was shocked myself at poor knowledge of lion's post game radio show. i knew boyko went to UNLV and that lokombo was here last year.


as for the team,

this team needs alot of work. alot of talk about the offense, specifically the o-line. we have alot of offensive talent that isn't that old in general.. i'm guessing the OC is a huge problem, and cutting carter and maybe going to simonise as a 4th canadian WR (might have to shift assignments)

.... ON DEFENSE, WE ARE A MESS. and not sure how many good players we have, other than shawn lemon who we chose not to sign in the off-season, not sure we have one player another team would highly covet.

our canadian talent is actually quite good. good receivers and in theory good OL. that could get us to 5 or 6 of our 7 canadian.

so shockingly, american talent is where our problems lie. semi-repetitive, but on D especially.

there was a thread about hervey being extended. doesn't bother me that much if it's one year. get a new GM with new ownership, when that happens..... BUT A BIG CONCERN is that we are generally producing this shipwreck season without developing new talent.

i think hervey should have kept some players who were playing well here. not so much leadership but continuity. we turned over the roster 2 years in a row to lead to this predicament............ i'm not sure if you took a bunch of top CFL players and threw them together that they'd be the best team in the league. you need continuity.

i saw this in winnipeg with mike kelly, but when you do things your own way aggressively like kelly did and hervey has done here you get very little empathy when things don't work out
cms22
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this repitition from my long comment but here goes,

our front 7 seems very shaky and will need a major overhaul....... what do people think of our DB's? every other unit on the team, i think i have a good feel but not that one.

had a good chuckle. was that dom termansen snuffing out our reverse on a kickoff return? to be clear, i'm not laughing at dom but at us.
maxlion
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Missed the game, but glad to see the resurgence of interest and excitement in Montreal, and especially happy for Vernon Adams and Khari Jones. They have had their share of adversity and finally now are coming into their own. Also, seems like Kavis Reed managed to find some decent talent during his time as GM.

Lots of the blame ultimately falls on Hervey's shoulders for the disaster in BC. Coaching choices. US recruitment. Free agent signings. I like Hervey, but not sure if he can pull the team out of this mess. Lots of questions.
maxlion
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Interesting quote from Kirk Penton's The Insider's Say:
Why’s Duron (Carter) still here? Because our GM doesn’t listen to us.
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David
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First the game, then the game experience.

* Lots of chances to win this thing. We generally moved the ball up and down the field very well (Als did not show a lot of pressure packages or overload). But you can't settle for field goals when the other team manages to score touchdowns.

* Protection was good. Reilly chose to hang onto the ball on the first sack (coverage). On the second late in the game, it appeared as though Bowman looped around and found an open gap for a free shot.

* Montreal's tackling is very good. They don't miss tackles like we did last night, allowing Stanback to bounce off for some fairly big gains. Overall, the defence was good, the offence was good but again, after 60 mins nothing to show for it. It's been the same for much of the season. We seem to be risk-averse when it matters. We need a better push up front as Willis is almost completely ineffective now.


* Great atmosphere at PM Stadium. We had excellent seats on the 45-yard line (opposite the benches). Music exceptional throughout. Cheerleaders far superior (have both a dance team and co-ed acrobatic cheer squad but the guys are not really noticed - just to launch and catch the females).

* Loved the tarps they have put up. Not noticeable and everyone packed in tight. Felt like more than 17K. Crowd is a mixture of ages....maybe slightly fewer kids than we get but many more 20s and 30s than we see at BCP.

* Hard benches not much of a treat but you don't really notice it after a while due to the great atmosphere.

* One big scoreboard on the north end (small one on the south end) shows the replays but not on every play. No stats! BCP has huge advantage here. However, I feel BCP/Lions have become too reliant on our centrepiece. All they do is show crowd shots but no creative short videos or images.


DH :cool:
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Reggiemac
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Critical mistakes at key points cost us again. I, too, am happy for Adams and Jones, The Als needed this turnaround badly and its good for the league. I also wonder if Reillys big contract has interfered with the way his team plays for him. Its obvious that the als play for Jones and Adams. Maybe some resentment here with Reilly not earning his paycheque.
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yukonlion
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I'm a little more pessimistic on this game. The team was not engaged for the first half until the lat edrive which took and amazing throw and catch by reilly burnham, and the end zone pick slipped out of Adams hand other wise peters was beat. good third quarter but no tds and then no plays by O or D in the fourth... also losing field position on every punt... just not good enough, and tired of Claybrooks cliche speeches and interviews. other teams with back ups in change their offenses to best use their abilties, JJ tries to fit everyone into his "amazing" sysytem. he makes everyone look bad. Topped by herveys poor evaluation of talent and refusal to admit his mistakes its an obvious trainwreck. LOts of wrong choices this and we need changes, even the argos are imrpoving.... i think admin cap is perhaps preventing more changes, but you lose more money losing than at least attempting to improve. Still... go lions!!!
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aklawitter
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comical
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Toppy Vann
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Nice report from David on the Montreal game experience. From the TV shots, it appears that fans are really into it.

Check out the Jacque Chapdelaine offence that he's using in TOR and the TDs from that win over the RBs.

Their QB inconsistency has been an issue but note what JC's offence does that Jarius Jackson's doesn't do:

> Argos stretch the field and will go downfield.

> Plays not only cross the middle but go sideline to sideline with more screens also.

By forcing a DEF to believe that deep ball might happen in this formation and having to protect from the width of the field it makes LBs and DBs play more carefully.

Plays are made to REC who are more open.

BC OFF has too much behind, on and too close to the LOS. Results in DEF able to play what's right in front of them. Reilly said they needed to dink and dunk vs MTL to beat them. Fine but you also need to stretch the DEF from sideline and deep to keep them on their toes.

Jarius and his OFF structure, play calling and lack of innovation combined with the QB love of this is going to make this a long season.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
Dusty
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Toppy, it already seems like a VERY long season.... It will be a relief when it finally ends... The start of a new season, with all its built-in positivity, cannot come along soon enough to me.
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