Calgary at B.C. Nov. 2, 2019 - Game Day Thread

[Toppy Vann]

On the Stamps TD to W, the Lions go with a 3 man front - no rush- and two big gains for a TD.
As well as the DEF played put that 3 man decision on the Coaching staff.

Put the OFF going with Danny O'Brien for the entire first half and then expecting Bridge to W in the 2nd half on piss poor coaching decision making.

The fans deserved better than O'Brien when everyone in the CFL knows he's only there as he's the pick of Mike Reilly as back up.

[JohnnyMusso]

Lions played better than I thought. I missed the first half and watched the second. Bridge played really well and should earn him a contract for next year. Way better than O'Brien who should be let go.

Well this bad season ends, but Lions played hard to the end.

[yukonlion]

Unfortunately we had a good nucleus last year too, Hervey dumped most of them. I feel it wasnt money that forced him to let them go, just brought in his own sub par presonnel...

[Ballistic Bob]

Anyone notice the clock running while Calgary was kicking the convert. It went from 3:06 to 2:56. I didn't think the clock ran during a convert try. BB

[SammyGreene]

0-10 against division opponents. My goodness.

[Ballistic Bob]

The score flattered Calgary. Lions were playing with two backups.BB

[yukonlion]

O Line was good against a depleted Calgary Line, OBrien had a ton of time but still couldnt find anyone. Run play calls were pedestrian though

[Toppy Vann]

Anyone notice the clock running while Calgary was kicking the convert. It went from 3:06 to 2:56. I didn't think the clock ran during a convert try. BB

Missed that but have it on PVR so will go back and check it.

Heard Duron Carter on 1040 doing an interview post game.

Farhan asked what he said to Brandon Bridge before he entered the game. Said that everyone knows the big plays he's capable of but told him relax and keep it simple. Said he'd have been "crispier" if they had more reps and not the bye week. Farhan said that earlier too.

Some interesting comments like on his own situation in response to the statement that this Lions team held together despite the situation.

Carter responded that he has had 8 HC's in 7 CFL seasons and this is the first team he's been on in the CFL where at the end of the season it was building up, not tearing down and thanked his now HC.

Also said how much he liked coming to work every day (I saw that in the practices I took in) and how transparent it was here in BC with no one talking behind your back.

His comments speak to the culture in some teams and we know MTL was a gong show back then - Khari has turned that around. Chris Jones always started his years in Regina with too much drama and now Dickenson settled that drama fest down.

Liked some of the play tonight..

[TurfGuy]

O Line was good against a depleted Calgary Line, OBrien had a ton of time but still couldnt find anyone. Run play calls were pedestrian though

Agreed. It was refreshing to see zero penalties from this unit, and QB that wasn’t scrambling. I was impressed with how Knevel played tonight. I didn’t see anyone beat him on the left side. Its a shame he got buried behind a blundering Boyko. In his rookie season he showed us glimpses of what he is made of, and tonight he proved his deserves to play in this league.

[Pistrinus]

Knevel played well

[TheLionKing]

Calgary did not look sharp. If they play like tonight against Winnipeg next week they'll be packing up like the Lions

[TheLionKing]

Knevel played well

Agreed

[B.C.FAN]

The Lions’ game plan seemed to be to feed the ball to John White on first down until he got his 1,000 yards, and hope that Danny O’Brien could squeeze out a first down pass on second down. It was ugly. The Stamps stuffed the A gap and held White to 44yards on 17 carries, an average of 2.6 yards a carry. O’Brien was no better, passing for just 60 yards in 35 minutes of play.

Brandon Bridge brought the offence to life in the second half and had a chance to bring the Lions back for a victory until he locked in on former teammate Duron Carter and threw his second pick of the game in the final minute.
I’d much rather see Bridge come back next year as Mike Reilly’s backup instead of O’Brien.

I was happy to see Brian Burnham have another solid night after a slow first half. He finished with 7 catches for 91 yards and a TD, and finished the season as the league’s second leading receiver with 1,492 yards, just 58 yards behind Brandon Banks.

Once again the Lions did a good job of frustrating Calgary’s passing attack for most of the game despite getting little pressure on Bo Levi Mitchell. Generating a pass rush remains a problem heading into next season. Odell Willis won’t be part of the solution.

The Stamps didn’t generate much pressure either. I was happy to see David Knevel play well at left tackle. The Stamps tried to overload his side and use spin moves to get pressure and he played perfectly. For some reason, fans have seemed to have higher opinion of Knevel than the coaches all season. This should earn him a chance at a starting position next year, ideally with Peter Godber starting at centre. Godber was used mainly as a tight end in short yardage plays but at least he got to see some live action after spending most of the season on the 6-game injured list.

[David]

* From the sartorial critique department: the black pants were worn for the first time at home tonight and looked very impressive! Certainly much better than orange on orange.

* The first half was very hard to watch. Run for 2-3 yards, then watch O'Brien go through his progressions and hit his check downs for 5-6 yards, leaving us with 3rd and short. Rince. Repeat. Many balls skipped the turf despite being given the best pass pro we've seen all season! So yes please, more of Brandon Bridge next season as #13's understudy. Regrettably, time to move on from Danny.

* I'd also part ways with Odell. Love his leadership and passion but he's not as quick as he used to be, so he often cheats by trying to time his "jump" at the LOS with the snap count, frequently going offside in the process. Way too often.

* Something to look forward to next year: Watching the progress of Cottoy, Haynes, Gamboa, Godber, and Knevel. Farhan said on the pre-game that DK admitted being frustrated at times this year. Said Chu did not like him (he preferred his vets) and they were expecting bigger things from him. But he was never really given the chance! I thought he looked rock-solid at LT today, giving the club some interesting options for 2020.

* Attendance: 20,210. Impressive given the transit strike (true, drivers have not yet walked off the job, but there's been that "threat" of service disruption). I know 4 people who did not use their Season Tickets tonight. So no, there wasn't 20K in the building but it was a lively and YOUNG crowd tonight for a mean-nothing game.


DH

[DanoT]

Bridge played pretty well, but he is such a sandlot, improvising type player that I have always wondered about his ability to read defenses. Anyone have an opinion?