B.C. Lions at Edmonton Oct. 12, 2019 - Game Day Thread

[Lion Guy]

Why go shotgun on second and one? White lost 11 yards.

This is a good analogy of the season.

How can you lose 11 on second and 1???

Again, Jarious fricken Jackson.

[yukonlion]

Jackson's play calling was brutal to help an inexperience QB who doesnt have a lot of talent, but he 2nd a 1 play white shouldve stuck his head on there and got whatever... if he gets nothing its3 and 1. I recall a live mike game when reilly called a run play and reminded the RB "we only need one" to make sure hey didnt dance around... that was whites fault,

[Sir Purrcival]

Well, that as they say is that. What many had predicted happening to Reilly earlier in the season with the pummeling he was taking finally came to pass making it a complete set for starting QB's at the beginning of the season being injured for part of or all of the remaining season. Nicholls, Harris, Masolli, Collaros, Mitchell, Pipkin, Davis...We all get the idea. The big difference in some of these cases? Credible backups. No fault to our BU but you have to play some to be ready if called upon. There were a plethora of games this year where O'Brien could have played in garbage time but we persisted in keeping in O'Reilly till the bitter end. Another misjudgment by the coaching staff? Maybe. OReilly is one of those play every down types like Calvillo was and in the end, it has taken years for the Als to finally emerge from there hall of QB mirrors. I hope that going forward, the Lions continue to search for and develop QB's responsibly and not put all their eggs in one basket. We now have 2 mean nothing games to finish off this horrible season and then hopefully there will be some solid reflection on what went wrong and positive steps to rectify.

[BC 1988]

Well, that as they say is that. What many had predicted happening to Reilly earlier in the season with the pummeling he was taking finally came to pass making it a complete set for starting QB's at the beginning of the season being injured for part of or all of the remaining season. Nicholls, Harris, Masolli, Collaros, Mitchell, Pipkin, Davis...We all get the idea. The big difference in some of these cases? Credible backups. No fault to our BU but you have to play some to be ready if called upon. There were a plethora of games this year where O'Brien could have played in garbage time but we persisted in keeping in O'Reilly till the bitter end. Another misjudgment by the coaching staff? Maybe. OReilly is one of those play every down types like Calvillo was and in the end, it has taken years for the Als to finally emerge from there hall of QB mirrors. I hope that going forward, the Lions continue to search for and develop QB's responsibly and not put all their eggs in one basket. We now have 2 mean nothing games to finish off this horrible season and then hopefully there will be some solid reflection on what went wrong and positive steps to rectify.

Fully agree. This is the purrfect eulogy for a lost season. (That didn't have to be this way). In a way it's a good thing Reilly ' s season ended this way (playoffs were already a pipe dream ). Management will not be able to avoid the fact that it is the most stupid strategy to expect the last starter standing to make it out unscathed. We will the see the folly of that in the last two home games. (Not to mention " the Butler's " completely ineffective outing today in a winnable game.)

[TheLionKing]

We now know what O'Brien cannot do. Let's find out what Kramer can do in the next game.

[Lion Guy]

We now know what O'Brien cannot do. Let's find out what Kramer can do in the next game.

Yes. Thank you

[Dusty]

We now know what O'Brien cannot do. Let's find out what Kramer can do in the next game.

Yes. Thank you

Not that I'm sold on him but I like the concept of O'Brien starting the next game. I think that it is time to see what he can do with a week's amount of first team reps in practice. Basing his future play on being thrown into the starters role based on little first team practice like he did today does not seem right to me. He can only get better.... or not.

There is no doubt that we need to have capable back up waiting in the wings and it may indeed be Kramer. He looked good in the late stage of the last pre-season game. I would start him in this season's final game after a weeks amount of first team practice reps. The fact that it would be an encore performance against the Stamps puts icing on the cake.

[KnowItAll]

aw c'mon, yall gots to be more positive. Its not like the lions got shut out ehh.

[Luck1sOnOurSid3]

Well, that as they say is that. What many had predicted happening to Reilly earlier in the season with the pummeling he was taking finally came to pass making it a complete set for starting QB's at the beginning of the season being injured for part of or all of the remaining season. Nicholls, Harris, Masolli, Collaros, Mitchell, Pipkin, Davis...We all get the idea. The big difference in some of these cases? Credible backups. No fault to our BU but you have to play some to be ready if called upon. There were a plethora of games this year where O'Brien could have played in garbage time but we persisted in keeping in O'Reilly till the bitter end. Another misjudgment by the coaching staff? Maybe. OReilly is one of those play every down types like Calvillo was and in the end, it has taken years for the Als to finally emerge from there hall of QB mirrors. I hope that going forward, the Lions continue to search for and develop QB's responsibly and not put all their eggs in one basket. We now have 2 mean nothing games to finish off this horrible season and then hopefully there will be some solid reflection on what went wrong and positive steps to rectify.

Fully agree. This is the purrfect eulogy for a lost season. (That didn't have to be this way). In a way it's a good thing Reilly ' s season ended this way (playoffs were already a pipe dream ). Management will not be able to avoid the fact that it is the most stupid strategy to expect the last starter standing to make it out unscathed. We will the see the folly of that in the last two home games. (Not to mention " the Butler's " completely ineffective outing today in a winnable game.)

I think you make a lot of valid points, but I can’t say management’s strategy was stupid. Reilly is one of the most durable QBs in the league and had not missed a game the last two seasons for the Esks. Also, we have not seen Danny with a full week prep with number ones. He might be a gamer. He will have the rest of the season to prove his salt.

[don corleone]

Watching the game with MR going down made me think the one guy the Lions have missed all year has been Travis Lulay. As much for his leadership as for his play.

Would have been no one better to come off the bench and will go as far to say Reilly was a minimal upgrade over Lulay at QB and that's not slagging Reilly. Happy for TL that he didn't have to take another 50 sacks. Perhaps he will find comfort in that. Pretty sure he could still get a $360,000 plus deal if he was looking for it.

Less critical now that the Lions have now been eliminated but they also could have been leading the west and suddenly be looking at Danny OBrien as their starter. Lots of things to think about in an sms world.

Wishing a happy Thanksgiving to all. Thankful that my world includes time for CFL football.

[Hambone]

I think you make a lot of valid points, but I can’t say management’s strategy was stupid. Reilly is one of the most durable QBs in the league and had not missed a game the last two seasons for the Esks. Also, we have not seen Danny with a full week prep with number ones. He might be a gamer. He will have the rest of the season to prove his salt.

When teams have QBs the likes of Reilly or Mitchell they rarely consider injuries as a "strategy". If they have QBs like that they expect them to be available every game and plan accordingly. They won't be doling out reps to a backup unless they are in a blowout, have already locked up not just a playoff spot but a home playoff game or their starter has suffered a serious injury. If those things don't happen the backup doesn't play, period.

Saturday's start was Reilly's 77th or 78th consecutive going back to his last injury that caused him to miss a start. The last time Reilly missed a start due to injury was in the first half of the 2015 season. When Bo Levi Mitchell missed his next start after getting hurt versus BC in Week 3 it broke a streak of 75 straight starts. He did miss 3 games over that time but each one was when Dickenson or Hufnagel opted to give him the night off in the final game of the season.

From 2004 thru to the end of the 2015 season Henry Burris suited up for 212 of 216 games and missed only 8 starts out of the 212 games played. Damon Allen played 7 years in BC. If I recall he joined shortly after the season began. He played 14 games in 1996 starting 13. Over the final 6 seasons and 108 games of his Lions career he played and started in 106 of them. From 1995 thru 2004 Danny McManus missed only 8 games out of 180. He would still suit up for 18 in 2005 but at the age of 40 he wound up splitting time with Khari Jones and Marcus Brady. In 13 seasons after Tracy Ham left Anthony Calvillo missed only 8 games and 16 starts out of 234. Several of those missed starts were due to being rested for the season finale as Montreal typically had long secured the 1st round bye.

[maxlion]

Playing O'Brien over Kraemer next week would be the right move. Kraemer has never dressed for a regular season game in professional football. Bringing him along slowly is better for his development. Maybe give him a few set plays to get his feet wet. The season is lost anyways.

O'Brien is a true survivor. By my calculation, next week will the 100th game in which he has taken a snap (*edit: this is wrong. Maybe dressed, not taken a snap). His last touchdown pass was in October 2014. He has thrown 5 interceptions since then. He has 2 career rushing tds. I'm not sure that any player has managed to stick around for so long while doing so little.

But now it is his chance to shine!

[Hambone]

I agree Max. O'Brien should and will get the start but I expect there will be plans for Kraemer to get some reps in both of the final 2 games.

I don't believe O'Brien has a future with BC beyond this year. Kraemer should get elevated to #2 next year but he still has to earn it. There will be other QBs in camp who will be competing with him. Conceivably there could be a veteran in that mix.

One thing to keep in mind is that unless the league reverses course teams will only be allowed to dress 2 QBs in 2020. It may be interesting to see how teams work with that. Nobody will have the luxury of suiting up a #3 development type who has no experience. They will have to either gamble on one at #2 or leave him on the PR like Kraemer this year.

[BC 1988]

Yes, Reilly has had an iron man durability record (all the while taking a huge amount of punishment with his playing style--earning all those "toughest player" votes). Does anyone wonder why EDM decided to let him go at age 34?

BC gets the most expensive player at age 34, then casually spends half a season seeing if they can set the most sacks allowed record (instead of trying to set the least sacks allowed record around their prized acquisition). Reilly is allowed by coaching staff to stay in games, even while visibly limping around in pain.

On June 9th, they acquired a so-called backup QB whose claim to fame is seeing the least action for the most games dressed (apart from being a holder for the kicker). I agree with others who think O'Brien should start the final 2 games--cue the blowouts and dispel the notion BC even had a backup ready to step in.

[Hambone]

Does anyone wonder why EDM decided to let him go at age 34?

Edmonton was willing to match BC's contract offer of at least $200K more than his expired deal. That totally contradicts any thoughts that they "decided to let him go" for any reason other than they couldn't justify going any higher. Given Reilly's personal situation with Seattle home, young kids and wife having a very good job herself based out of Seattle he likely still signs in BC even if the Esks offer is higher. When one thinks about it BC got the proverbial home town discount at $2.9M over 4 years. Scary eh?