Lions 23 - TiCats 21, Post Game Stats and Comments

[ziggy]

Thank God field goals really do count!

[smphantom]

Otis Floyd cheers on Edmonton while getting heckled by some Lions:

http://watch.tsn.ca/#clip371559

[Blitz]

I wouldn't get all too wild about this game suddenly turning Chapdelaine into Trestman or Lulay into Cavillo.

What I did like was that we challenged the firld vertically, with three big plays to Arsenault and 3 big plays to Black. Outside of that it was mostly dumps to Robertson (11 passes to Robertson in all)

However, we had only scored 14 points going intot he fourth quarter and our defence held the Riders off the scoreboard in the second half...the real key to our victory today.

If we had not screwed around with our offensive line from the start of training camp until well past mid-season and we had released the tailback (instead of using him as a blocker, which we've mostly done for a number of seasons now) to provide an safety valve against the blitz or when protection broke down, we wouldn't havve been in this situation in the first place.

Now, we have to hope and pray the Riders win and we'll know the outcome in 3 hours. Sure hoping that the Riders can come up with a big game.

[West Coast Blue Fan]

its Arceneaux........all season long with Arsenault. Not. Even. Close

[hwgill]

Yes, we won, and I have to admit I am surprised. But, we won in spite of Chap, not because of. Our offence STILL couldn't get the ball in to the endzone on a regular basis. Way too many two and outs, way to many dumps to Robertson that went for 1 or 2 if we were lucky. Yes, Robertson got a couple of good gains on them, but when you do that many, odds are, one or two are going to go for good gains.

Arceneaux, wow, great catches. Black too made some nice ones. PJ was non-existent, and so was Geroy. Paul nailed the FG's when we needed them which was nice to see. Lulay played well considering how he is hampered by Chap's system. Great yardage, but like Edmonton the last few years, Ray got lots of yards, but they could never finish drives, that was the Lions today. The Lions were lucky to win. The dumb penalties by Floyd allowed us to get that last score, it had nothing to do with the effectiveness of the Lions O.

Defense over all played well enough, but they need to step it up if they make it to the playoffs if they want to have any chance at getting past the Riders.

I wonder what happened to the return teams today, neither Davis nor Harris were able to get anything. Was it lack of blocking, or was it that the Ti-Cat kick teams were just playing so well. I don't know, but if they make it to the Western Semi, the return teams are going to have to get much better, back to what they were in the previous weeks.

D-line needs to play better too, not a single sack today...that just isn't good enough, not enough pressure on the QB. However, we did hold the Ti-Cat run, and that was good to see.

O-line, what the hell? Lulay was sacked 4 times, and hurried on almost every play. That really isn't good enough. The receivers have to get better at getting open too, way to often that Lulay had to dump it off to Robertson because his receivers were covered.

The play calling was horrible, not even close to having enough plays that stretched the D. Thankfully, most of those calls worked, and we scored a couple of times because of them.

However, all in all the Leos did enough to win this game, but what they did is not enough to get past The Riders or Stamps, and really not enough to get past the Als.

Printers is long gone, and is not the issue, Chap is the issue, and I will be calling for his removal even if we manage to get to the Grey Cup and win it. Chap is useless, and needs to go, and if Buono doesn't see that and get rid of him, than Buono needs to go too. Buono says he's not an X's and O's coach...after 21 years coaching, you would think he would have learned to become an X's and O's guy.

Yeah, you'd think that people would figure out how to spell his name correctly...lol

[Gerry]

It was a big win for us...huge..although it looked dismal for a while.

Our offence did not get the big plays from our special teams that they are used to. However, we did hit Arsenault for three big yardage plays that were very important. The last one wasn't a catch but we got lucky with replay.

Offensively, we struggled a lot, until the fourth quarter. The key drive was when we got our big break off two rough plays on the quarterback which really allowed us to bring the game close.

We finished the season with 8 wins and 10 losses. Printers got four of those wins for us as our starting quarterback and Lulay picked up his fourth win as our starter this season by beating Hamilton today. I was almost ready for us to insert Jarious Jackson into the game with 8 minutes left but that was when our offence really got moving again, aided by those key penalties and the long throw to Arsenault.

The defense came up big on the final drive and we got our victory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure what Printers has to do with this post game thread for a game in which he did not play, but since you brought his record up, I'll take exception to the 4 wins you credit him with.

Week 1 against Edmonton, yes.

Week 10 against Montreal, yes.

Week 11 against Toronto, yes.

That's only 3 by my count.

If you credit the week 13 win in Calgary as a "win" for CP simply because he started the game, you're guilty of twisting the facts to suit your prejudice.

I suppose you also blame the OT loss in the Peg on Lulay because he started that game.

I know Pauser likes to use the "wins as a starter" stat to build up CP, but you actually said "got 4 of those wins for us", and that's just taking it a bit too far.

[donefron]

You know considering we just won a huge game to get into the playoffs, there seems to be a lot of people looking for negatives to hilight. Especially after a 1-7 start and most everyone writing them off, they showed the heart to turn around their season as well as making this fan proud of their never say die attitude. For a minute their I thought I was on CDC with people whining even after a win. Lighten up people the bandwagon is pointed in the right direction, let's hope for the best & enjoy the wild ride. 8-10 to the big dance has been done before so instead of analysing all the fun out of it, let's just appreciate the fact that we have a team full of bright young players with a great future. When they were 1-7 most thought the season was lost, now everyone starts back at 0 & winners take all, so good luck boys you're fans are proud of you.

PS it wouldn't hurt if you showed up at practice to let them know how proud you are !

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

What a Game WHAT A WIN!!! AND WERE IN THE FREAKIN PLAYOFFS!!!!! WOOOO!!! good work boys!

[joe kapp22]

its Arceneaux........all season long with Arsenault. Not. Even. Close

Have to be honest here, I just write Manny A, the neaux part of his last name hurts my fingers to type.

anywho, wow, down to the last game and the last play before we put the EE in the rearview, and we had to win against the Riders, twice, to get here.

Hats off to the team, they are not graceful to watch but they get the job done.

Lulay was tremendously clutch today, 400 yds passing in a must win game, where the TiCats had taken away his running the ball, Travis Lulay came up huge when it really mattered.

[B.C.FAN]

For those who have been asking for years for a deep threat to complement Geroy, the Lions now have two of them: Arceneaux and Black. This offence is peaking at the right time.

[WestCoastJoe]

For those who have been asking for years for a deep threat to complement Geroy, the Lions now have two of them: Arceneaux and Black. This offence is peaking at the right time.

It's true.

Manny looked so good today. Just vacuuming in the ball. And he is so big and athletic.

Black looks like he could be a good one too.

I would say Roy Shivers is back on his game, after perhaps a slow start coming out of semi-retirement.

About that rush end though ... Dunno what they didn't like about Brandon Sharpe? Geathers seems to have po ten tial.

[Sir Purrcival]

Estatic about the win and well deserved it was.

In order to garner more success however, the OLine needs to be better. Too much pressure on our QB.

The RUN Game today was awful. How many times do we have to get stuffed going straight up the middle in a game before old Chaps thinks to try a pitch or option or maybe even a flea flicker to get them a little confused.

No matter what happens now, I won't be really confident until Chaps is gone. He just doesn't seem to be able to make adjustments on the fly.

Good to see Lambala get the ball a couple of times today. And Wilson who I have been critical of also contributed too.

We were also a bit lucky today. Somebody must have greased the Cats gloves in the second half the way the receivers were dropping the ball. I think there were at least 5.

[Rammer]

Okay, happy with the result, so I don't want to be too negative but....

CHAPDELAINE - If you are still on this team next year, I am giving up my season tickets. Two questions:

How many times do you have to throw the ball 15 yards wide to Jamal Robertson to see him make a 2 or 3 yard gain before you realize that this play doesn't work?

How many times do you have to face 2nd and long and throw the ball on a 1 yard out?

I was absolutely DYING to see them stretch the field more. The most frustrating play that a team can run is when they don't even give themselves a chance. If it is 2nd and 10, throw the ball at LEAST 10 yards! This isn't brain surgery! The play calling was so bloody conservative in the first half I felt like they were trying to lose. It's almost like the Lions win in spite of their offensive coordinator.

Other negatives: The offensive line was brutal almost the entirety of the game. Lulay is lucky he didn't get hurt out there.

Defense: played great for the most part but someone needs to teach them how to defend a screen pass. They also got some help when Hamilton made quite a few drops in the second half.

Referees: Otis Floyd has back to back unnecessary roughness penalties on Lulay, the second one a totally needless tackle out of bounds and he doesn't get tossed out? What's a guy gotta do to get ejected from a game? Big blown call by the refs on that one.

Keron Williams: you have been the biggest bust on the Lions this year and your idiotic unnecessary roughness penalty at the end of the game nearly cost us the season. if it had, you'd be out of a job. You may still be considering your performance this year.

I realize I'm dumping a lot of negatives here, but I feel some times like the Lions make it tough to love them. They showed a better amount of discipline today (Williams notwithstanding) than they have for most of the season so I'm glad they got the result. Let's hope the comeback can be completed tonight.

I agree with most of your post Big Time, but did you see the penalty call on Keron? Jimenez comes in late and pushes him a few yards back and Keron retaliates with a push that basically stands Jimenez up straight, nothing more and he gets the flag. That was a weak call at that point of the game.

Thanks Otis Floyd, you helped get the Lions 3 points of which we only required 2 of to take this game out of your hands.

Now my biggest complaint about the Lions here is the INT that the safety got. Geroy, you simply can't try and catch those passes off your hip, you have to slow down a step and go up and take it away from the underneath coverage. There is noway that Lulay should have an INT on his stat sheet, this 'smooth' looking receiving doesn't result in many long plays for Geroy. In fact it is several times this season that it has either cost the Lions a reception or on a couple of occasions an INT. Time for you to step up and a small wonder why the QB's aren't going to you after that effort.

[joe kapp22]

Okay, happy with the result, so I don't want to be too negative but....

CHAPDELAINE - If you are still on this team next year, I am giving up my season tickets. Two questions:

How many times do you have to throw the ball 15 yards wide to Jamal Robertson to see him make a 2 or 3 yard gain before you realize that this play doesn't work?

How many times do you have to face 2nd and long and throw the ball on a 1 yard out?

I was absolutely DYING to see them stretch the field more. The most frustrating play that a team can run is when they don't even give themselves a chance. If it is 2nd and 10, throw the ball at LEAST 10 yards! This isn't brain surgery! The play calling was so bloody conservative in the first half I felt like they were trying to lose. It's almost like the Lions win in spite of their offensive coordinator.

Other negatives: The offensive line was brutal almost the entirety of the game. Lulay is lucky he didn't get hurt out there.

Defense: played great for the most part but someone needs to teach them how to defend a screen pass. They also got some help when Hamilton made quite a few drops in the second half.

Referees: Otis Floyd has back to back unnecessary roughness penalties on Lulay, the second one a totally needless tackle out of bounds and he doesn't get tossed out? What's a guy gotta do to get ejected from a game? Big blown call by the refs on that one.

Keron Williams: you have been the biggest bust on the Lions this year and your idiotic unnecessary roughness penalty at the end of the game nearly cost us the season. if it had, you'd be out of a job. You may still be considering your performance this year.

I realize I'm dumping a lot of negatives here, but I feel some times like the Lions make it tough to love them. They showed a better amount of discipline today (Williams notwithstanding) than they have for most of the season so I'm glad they got the result. Let's hope the comeback can be completed tonight.

I agree with most of your post Big Time, but did you see the penalty call on Keron? Jimenez comes in late and pushes him a few yards back and Keron retaliates with a push that basically stands Jimenez up straight, nothing more and he gets the flag. That was a weak call at that point of the game.

Thanks Otis Floyd, you helped get the Lions 3 points of which we only required 2 of to take this game out of your hands.

Now my biggest complaint about the Lions here is the INT that the safety got. Geroy, you simply can't try and catch those passes off your hip, you have to slow down a step and go up and take it away from the underneath coverage. There is noway that Lulay should have an INT on his stat sheet, this 'smooth' looking receiving doesn't result in many long plays for Geroy. In fact it is several times this season that it has either cost the Lions a reception or on a couple of occasions an INT. Time for you to step up and a small wonder why the QB's aren't going to you after that effort.

Fairness to Geroy, Lulay botched that throw, Geroy was going to catch it at hip level which allowed Barker to undercut the pass and intercept it, if Lulay had thrown it further downfield Geroy would have had open sailing into the endzone, the Safety would have been underneath him and Geroy had beaten the corner back as he was trailing behind him.

[TheLionKing]

Otis Floyd cheers on Edmonton while getting heckled by some Lions:

http://watch.tsn.ca/#clip371559

Poor Otis, he must be feeling down tonight. Two losses in one day.