What a treat of a game to watch, in terms of our Leos performance..I'm still savoring it. This was a game in which we could have come out flat, travelling east, coming off a big win last week against Calgary. Instead, we looked very motivated as well as very well prepared.
Here are my post game thoughts.
THE GOOD
OFFENCE
In my Keys to the Game I wrote that the Hamilton defense provided our offence with an opportunity for a break out game. It certainly was. The combination of our offensive line providing Lulay with a lot of time to throw on many plays (and when they didn't Lulay did a great job of buying time with his mobility), our receivers being wide open, and Lulay finding our receivers time and time again with accurate throws thrown with zip and confidence made this a dominating performance.
We went into this game knowing that Hamilton had the worst pass defense in the league and took full advantage. Lulay threw for 243 yards in the first half alone, completed 16 our of 20 passes in the first half for 243 yards, and was 10.11 on second down conversions, aided by two Hamilton offside penalties. It was an offensive clinic as Chap, Lulay, and our receivers exploited every weakness in the Hamilton secondary and our offensive line picked up a lot of Hamilton blitzes successfully.
Lulay's performance was outstanding and as has been mentioned in other posts, he played with a heavy heart with the loss of his grandmother, he played coming off the flu the past week, and he continued in the game while having to shake off a painful hit to the shoulder area. It was as impressive a first half performance by a quarterback in the CFL as I've ever seen and WCJ has every reason to gloat and hammer his points regarding Lulay's performance.
Lulay is at his best when he gets everyone involved, as is our offence. and on our first two drives of the game everyone had touched the football and made plays. But credit also has to be given to Chapdelaine, for calling a brilliant game and I saw nuances in his play calling last night, as well as the sophistication, that makes him by far the best offensive coordinator in the league right now.
For myself, personally, it was so gratifying to see Courtney Taylor play so well. I loved him coming out of training camp and I'm so happy that he was able to get the opportunity to show his stuff. The catch that Courtney Taylor made in the end zone, which didn't count due to a Valli holding penalty, was incredible. I'm also really happy to see Nick Moore continue to play so well..he is so smooth and fluid. I never lost faith in him, even when he was taken out of the lineup earlier this season. As for Ernest Jackson, well we didn't go to him much but he made a nice catch early in the first quarter, he created a long pass interference penalty, ran the reverse well, blocked inside well on some pass plays, and his speed, lke Keirrie Johnson's in the game before, played an important role in creating space for the underneath stuff.
When we went with Moore and Taylor at slotback for the Calgary game, due to the injuries to Simon and Aralnd I wrote that I believed this was the lineup that would provide Lulay with what he needed....to not feel the pressure to throw to Simon, even when covered and to have more speed in the slots in order to burn defenses that decided to play us with tight coverage. Moore and Taylor have given us that vertifcal element in the slots that has changed the dynamic of our passing attack.
Kudos to Andrew Harris, who got his 20 touches and had another impressive performance.. the way he is able to get open in the passing game (and the way we are using him by not just having him run swing passes to the flat), his patience in the running game (and kudos to Kelly Bates for this as well) and the way Harris fights off tackles and makes plays is something special.
DEFENCE
When a defense loses its two dominating inside tackles in Khalif Mitchell and Eric Taylor and plays as well as our defense did in this game is a credit to our depth and our scouting. Shivers and Buono have done a great job in this area over the past two seasons. The best example was when we ran used a three man rush and it was a competition between Keron and Westerman as to whom would sack Burris first. Brandon Jordan had another solid game in relief. Anton McKenize, Adam Bighill, Reddick, and Sol E. all had very good games.
Dante Marsh did a great job of covering Williams and Banks and Phillips were very good at covering the Tabbies slot receivers for most of the game.
We held Hamilton to a field goal for three quarters. Hamilton didn't get a first down in the third quarter of the game. Once again dominating defense played a huge role in another victory.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Brown had two excellent returns in this game, with his long second half return setting up a touchdown. He may lack breakaway speed but he is very skillful return guy with excellent hands and once he gets an opening can make big plays and he showed that again against Hamilton.
THE BAD
This was a game in which it was difficult to find any weaknesses in our game. However, even with an outstanding performance there are always areas for improvement. A few include:
Paul McCallum continues to be inconsistent in his punting game and its hard to understand why because its not a distance problemm, which could be related to age but rather a technique/concentration problem. However, McCallum continues to be very solid in his field goal kicking.
Dean Valli continues to make bonehead plays each and every game..with either his procedure calls or his holding calls. With the amount of staring time he has enjoyed with our Leos he should be better.
We allowed Hamilton a long kick return in the fourth quarter that was slack coverage on our part. It didn't matter in this game but its not something we can afford in a close one.
Glenn Suitor, of any CFL media guy, makes me crazy and there were times watching the game that I wanted to jump into the television set and kick his #&@. i never comment on media guys but this is an exception. Suitor is so biased against our Leos. He tried to make the Courtney Taylor interference call dubious. He made a dubious interterference call against us look like it was something more. He tired to turn the hit on Iannuzzi into something accidental. And he plain gets it wrong so often that I feel like dancing on his face.
THE UGLY
The hit on Iannuzzi was ugly, with Iannuzzi in a very vulnerable position and was unnecessary for Webb to make the play. It was reckless. If Mitchell can get two games for torquing on an offensive lineman's arm this play should be even more severely punished but it won't be, even though it was much more dangerous. Here is to hoping that Innauzzi is ok...and he remembered the entire incident, which is a positive omen. Iannuzzi has really played well since we decided to use him as a sterter and here is to hoping for a speedy recovery for him.
WRAP
This was a game in which our coaching and our talent was on full display. It was also a game that exemplified the standard of play that is expected of each player by our coaching staff and the players for each other. We were hustling and going all out until the final whistle in a game that was decided much earlier.
This was a game to really get our offence on a roll as we go down the final stretch and that's what happened and it will only benefit us, in terms of confidence. We also showed that we could lose star players and keep on rolling and even play better.
Its a very good time to be a B.C. Lions fan!!
"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)
