Lions vs. Stamps Oct. 20, 2023

[TheLionKing]

At least Justin McInnis is having a good day in Keon Hatcher’s spot. He’s over 100 yards.

He's getting in good position to make catches, and fighting for yardage. They need to use him more.

A good offensive coordinator will do that but we're saddled with Jordan Myksymic

[cromartie]

Just wondering do we have defensive tackles?

No.And when the ones we did have got injured our front office failed to replace them.

[SammyGreene]

At least Justin McInnis is having a good day in Keon Hatcher’s spot. He’s over 100 yards.

He's getting in good position to make catches, and fighting for yardage. They need to use him more.

A good offensive coordinator will do that but we're saddled with Jordan Myksymic

McInnis should be starting next season with the Lions going back to 2 nationals at receiver IF they are fortunate enough to re-sign Cottoy.

No coincidence McInnis stepped into Hatcher's position where our QBs seem to go with their first reads a lot.

Meanwhile Rhymes in the last 3 games is rarely seeing the ball. Throw out the desperation last play 65-yard pass & run against the Bombers and his production has been minimal:
Wpg: 4-42 yds
Hamilton 2-5 yds
Calgary 2-15 yds
He has been targeted a grand total of 4 times in the last 2 games. Not exactly good value for a $200,000 receiver and Maksymic needs to figure out why in the next couple of weeks.

[Toppy Vann]

Fans might want to launch a Class Action Law Suit demanding our money back for that game based primarily on the conspiracy to defraud paying fans for the following:

1. both teams took knees with a record time on the clock. No doubt BC proposed it and the Stamps agreed.
Had I been Calgary, I'd have agreed to do that but do it so quick, BC had to repeat the 3 down kneeling process to run the clock out. That would have been fitting.
Or, Kick a FG on 1st down or punt a short one facing BC to take the ball back. Why not, that's was a mockery of the game.

2. Kicked a FG with 13 sec in the first half.

3. Refused to gamble on 3rd and 3 yet twice gambled on 3rd and 7 and were successful. The first 3rd and 7 worked but it was a great opportunity to get better field position.

4. Inserting Davis on short yardage despite having no record of prior success.

5. Betts foolish roughing the passer penalties.

6 DBs celebrating pass knockdowns while the Stamps were handing their asses to them.

7. Short yardage play failures and calls.



On a serious note, those coaches and those players should be on their knees not praying to their football gods but kneeling and prostrating themselves in front of this owner who has put his heart and soul and money into this franchise and these players and who deserved a full effort as the GM and HC promised. I was stuck on Skytrain with 3 season ticket owners who were basing their decision on how the Lions played last night before they decide to buy the playoff tickets.

When it seems more important to get stats for your players than actually play decently, there's something amiss with this culture.

That first series with hurry-up play led by Dane Evans was heartening yet his INTs hurt (one deflected) hurt big time. It also seemed his players were like herding cats in that period.

This team does not look like they're peaking for the playoffs.
Having said that, Stamps had more to play for and you can sort of expect an imperceptible collective let down in play by the Lions but that was not imperceptible. You can pick and point to specific failures.

[Blitz]

FOR BETTER OR WORSE.

It was an embarrassing loss for our Leos in a game they were predicted to win. Our Leos had beaten Calgary twice this season and our Leos also had twice as many victories as the Stamps this season.

There were many good reasons for our Leos to be motivated to play this game. It was our last regular season game, we were playing at home in front of a boisterous home crowd all decked out in Halloween orange and ready to celebrate a Leos victory. For Leos fans, this game was no treat but one could not blame them if they felt they had been tricked.

Vernon Adams said he really wanted to join the Leos quarterback 5,000 yd. passing in a season club. 5,000 yards is a commendable goal to achieve in a single season. An outstanding game by Adams also kept him in the hunt for CFL MOP for the season. Mathieu Betts, the CFL leading sack artist this season, also had the opportunity set a record for sacks by a Canadian in a single season.

The outcome could not have been more disappointing or concerning. Penalties, turnovers, undisciplined play, and a dismal performance by both our offence and our defense led to a 41-16 beatdown. Instead of Leos fans feeling excited about the playoffs, the humiliating loss not only took almost all the air out of the building. It also took away a lot of excitement about this Leos squad as it enters the playoffs.

Here are some post game thoughts.

FOR BETTER

A major reason for using the format of “For Better or Worse” and my old format “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was that the script forces one to look for areas of weakness to work on, even after a convincing victory and to also look for positives, after a humiliating loss.

Looking for ‘better” was not easy after this dismal performance but there were a few bright spots in the dark sky of Leo Land.

OUR CANADIAN RECEIVERS - IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER

The two stars of our offence in this contest were Justin McInnis, with 7 receptions for 108 yards and Jevon Cottoy, with five receptions for 64 yards. McInnis. We haven’t had this kind of Canadian receiver talent other than the good ol’ days when Jason Clermont and Ryan Thelwell lined up together and that special time of the 60’s when Sony Homer and Pat Claridge were double trouble for the opposition.

I have made this case before, during this season. Our Leos would be better off lining up McInnis in Lucky Whitehead’s spot and bringing in Whitehead for specific packages. These days, all Lucky Whitehead is usually good for is a 5 yard underneath pattern. As soon as he catches the football he hits the deck, rather than attempting to utilize his quick feet for YAC yards.

CAMPBELL GETS ONE RIGHT

Head Coach hasn’t appeared to be a very bright light bulb this season, in terms of throwing his flag to dispute an official’s call. In fact, he only had one overturned challenge call this season. Campbell not only doubled his success rate with his challenge for pass interference on Cameron Judge but it was also a wise choice to do so. With momentum in the Stamps favor, the challenge was not only successful but opportune.

Our Leos, who had been miserable on offence to that point, continued their drive to the Stamps one yard line. Campbell’s challenge call could have become the key determiner of the contest. While it did not turn out that way, Campbell deserves credit for getting this one right.

SOMETHING GOOD AFOOT

Sean Whyte and Stefan Flintoft were not key factors in this contest but once again they did their job. Going into the playoffs, having a field goal kicker and a punter that can be relied upon is a tremendous asset.

FOR WORSE

This contest illuminated all the issues our Leos team has that will prevent playoff success unless addressed.

RUN TO DARKNESS

The football term ‘run to daylight’ originated during the Lombardi era when Lombardi gave fullback Jim Taylor the freedom to bounce an inside running play to a different hole if the intended gap was plugged. Our Leos running attack could be described as ‘run to darkness’ because most often there is no hole for our ace back to bounce to. Making matters even worse, is that it does not seem to matter whether it’s a scatback like Smoke Mizzell at tailback or 225-pound Jaquan Hardy, both go down as easily as a ten pin, unable to break tackles for extra yardage. Its poor run blocking and poor tailback play.

HOW DID THAT FEEL?

Asking our defence to shut down the run is like asking an enema to be a solution for diarrhea. Diarrhea describes our run defense. It awful and it stinks! No we don’t have a huge defensive line. But this is more than just about size. Teams run inside and outside on us with ease.It’s a combination of bad defensive line play and linebacker play. Its undisciplined play, it’s a lack of gap cancellation, and its poor technique against the run.

Calgary ran the football against us like they were the neighborhood teen bully on Halloween taking candy away from a little kid. They did it with ease. Calgary rushed for 216 yards against us – yes, 213 yards. Jake Meir completed less than 50% of his passes for 123 yards (Calgary receivers had a couple of big drops) but that is all he needed.

Winnipeg and Toronto are playoff favorites because the run the football well and defend the run well. Calgary now becomes a tough playoff opponent because the are now running the football well and if they are our West semi-final opponent they are going to attempt to run the football up our butts again and that is more than a concern – its anxiety producing. Teams that can’t run and can’t stop the run in November are not usually holding up the Grey Cup at the Big Dance.

DANE WANES AND ADAMS SHAMES

Well, for those fans who lost perspective after Evans last minute heroics last game and believed he might be a better answer than Adams may have found some newfound awareness. Evans threw three interceptions and only averaged 6.3 yds per throw with more playing time than his last outing. There Is a reasons he is our second string quarterback.

However, for a quarterback with a goal of entrenching himself as an elite CFL quarterback, Vernon Adams play in this game showed that the book is still open on him. Adams can look like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning with more mobility for one half of play. He reads the defense well, throws darts, and his mobility is an asset.

The next half he can look like a third string quarterback with little CFL experience. When that happens, he lacks the ability to know when to throw or take off, his pocket presence is off, and he does not see the field. He will struggle badly against the blitz and be very hesitant and take sacks against a three man rush.

In our Leos long history. Oly Four B.C. Lion quarterbacks have thrown for over 5,000 yards in a season. They are Doug Flutie, Dave Dickenson, Casey Printers and Jonathan Jennings. We did not win the Grey Cup in any season in which our quarterback threw for over 5,000 yards (although Printers did not get the chance in 2004). A balanced attack is a much better offense than an offence that is a one dimensional passing offence.

Our one-dimensional offence relies much too much on Adams play and whether he is on or off for a game or within a game. Adams desire to hit the 5.000 yard mark was why Campbell started him. However, Adams, instead of showing the CFL and his teammates that he is an elite quarterback not only played his way out of any consideration of an MOP Award but his shameful performance has created doubt as we prepare for the playoffs.

PURGATORY

Rich Campbell and Jordan Maksymic are on the hot seat in purgatory this week and deserve to be. They also are honorees of the Wally Buono Incompetence Award for Short Yardage Play. One hoped that the long era of short yardage incompetence was behind us in recent years, after so many seasons of the Jumbo team under Wally being a bigger flop than elephant ears.

But Rich Campbell and Jordan Maksymic, bless their hearts, must be nostalgic. Why? Because this season they are on hell bent on a continuous Charlie Brown type scenario of Charlie attempting to kick the football and landing on his ass. For us, we keep throwing out Davis on third and short. It’s a role for a developmental quarterback who can run the football rather than a 34 year old third string quarterback who can’t run the football and has no future as a quarterback.

The question is why does do we keep doing it? Stupid is doing the same stupid thing over and over again and expecting a different result. In the movie Forest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does’.

TWO YARD TOMMY VS NO YARDS DAVIS (AND A FUMBLE)

The key play in this game that turned this game around was Davis failed attempt and fumble. If Davis scores, we have a close game and momentum. He fumbles, Calgary marches 101 yards, and it’s a 14 point turnaround. It was a knife to the heart for Davis to fumble and there is a sense, that if we score there, the outcome of the game could have been very different. Regardless, it was stupid not to have changed our strategy and personel before this game.

Other CFL teams bring in a short yardage quarterback who is tough to stop on short yardage. In this game Calgary had Two Yard Tommy, alias Wild Thing, when they needed short yardage success. All we have is NO YARD Davis and the gong show of short yardage incompetence. Davis is an analytics buster for short yardage play.

Lionbackers posters are dedicated and knowledgeable fans but they are not paid professional coaches. Yet many Lionbackers have warned, over and over again, that continuing to use Davis for short yardage was going to cause some serious pain. Imagine losing a playoff game because of this type of scenario

Oscar Wilde said “There is no sin except stupidity.” In the context of this quote, Campbell and Masydic remain in purgatory until its addressed.

WRAP

There is a lot of work to get done in short order if this season is to not turn into more disappointment than it should. A semi-final playoff loss looms unless we do.

[Sir Purrcival]

The most frustrating thing about what you so aptly illuminated is that there were many things where this didn't seem to be an issue last year. DDavis vs APipkin. IMO Pipkin was better at the sneak than Davis and yet he is gone this year.
Butler was that RB that you alluded to that could make people miss, find that hole because there is always a hole somewhere and could run through people. We let him go. We have probably the finest receiving core in the league overall. They should have let some of that go and kept the running game.
VA is VA. He has all the tools but sometimes I wonder about his awareness. The pocket is collapsing all around him but instead of throwing it away, or taking off, too often he just stands there while still looking for that big pass that ends up turning into a big sack.
We have an Oline that is marginal at best. Serviceable but not outstanding. So do we design plays that take the pressure off them? Run sweeps, quick passes, screen passes? Not as a rule. We are always looking for that middle distance pass which takes time to develop and often on 2nd and long because of the predictable failed run or sack on first down.
And then you get the stupid penalties. The Tuehema (sp?) calls were beyond inexcusable. The Lions had a stop on that play and it was thrown away by a selfish player. I will say the Betts Roughing call I thought was a crappy penalty. Don't know why it was called. It wasn't really wasn't a head shot, late or anything else. Just the Ref's getting it wrong again.
Some of this falls on the coaching. The O playbook isn't the only issue. I find the D formations way too generous. I don't see our DBacks pressing much at the line. They almost always seem 5-10 yards off. Makes sense on second and long but not 2nd and 4. Strictly pitch and catch stuff for opposition QB's and/or those RB's that seldom get first contact until 2-3 yards past the LOS. There was some commentary about Hladek going for a some tackle # club. Can't remember what the number was but that also says something about the the DLIne. Your middle LB is going to be busy but ideally, you don't him to be miles ahead on the tackles because that means that the ball is getting to the 2nd level way too much.
This game was a Halloween themed game. I think the Lions decided to dress up as a football team. For the most part, they seemed neither interested or competent with one or two exceptions. Now, I have never been a professional athlete but most talk a lot about pride and grit. This team showed neither of those qualities last night and frankly, as embarrassed as they should be, it wasn't as bad as the embarrassment I feel being a fan of this team right now. Every major challenge that they have faced this year, they haven't been up to the task. They looked hopeless in Toronto, squandered away their advantage against Winnipeg, lost games that they should have won and ultimately cost themselves a chance at the Western Final. I may be harsh but at every key point in the season where there has been a lot riding, they faced up to their challenge and couldn't get it done. Rather than being angry or more determined, they seem to have that "Meh" attitude which as a fan, I find maddening. I hold some small sliver of hope that perhaps they will finally get it and come out like hornets in the Semi-final but frankly, I have no idea which team will show up and neither does anyone else which is really the epitaph for this team.

[Alputt]

Well I hope we got all the looks we needed at the Stamps last night since they'll be back on Nov. 4.

[TheLionKing]

Dominique Davis' career with the Lions will mercifully end after the next game.

[Toppy Vann]

Short Yardage:

Dom Davis hasn't looked right on short plays for a long time this season. Don't know if it's a motivation thing or what.
Yet, there has been nothing done to fix the issue.

Pipkin had good success for the Riders this week - and they had lots of short yd plays for him - but he didn't do the same dumb thing over and over nor do most teams in the CFL. You will get stuffed at times BUT the Lions approach is so ridiculous it's finally catching up.

Sione Teuhema and Team Discipline:

The collective heads of the Lions weren't in this game it seems.

I watched the Sione Teuhema incidents on that play that got two objectionable conduct penalties and that led to the long TD when Calgary would have been forced to punt and two things stood out:

This is a guy who is 28 and has bounced all over leagues and is now wanted. He should like he's found a place he can be a starter, be wanted and make a living.

You'd think that he'd come across and act like those who were overlooked and had his same journey who when they interview with TSN etc it comes across as this is where they want to be and they're wanted here.

AJ Ouellette the Argos star RB who was a teammate of Nathan Rourke at Ohio University and got no big-time university offers nor drafted looks like a crazy man but speaks and acts like an intelligent, thoughtful person. He makes it clear this is the first pro place he's had a chance to make a difference. Other CFL players with that same background say the same thing and it shows in their play.

What perplexed me is that after the first part of this incident is that a teammate right behind him just watched before the punch!
Where's the leadership in this team?

[Hambone]

All I can say is I made a wise decision making this game the only home game I missed in 2023.

[Hambone]

Dominique Davis' career with the Lions will mercifully end after the next game.

At 6'3 235 Chase Brice has the size to be decent at that.

[David]

* It pains me to say this but we are the Detroit Lions of the CFL. People say we're good, the record reflects it, yet I'm not quite sold. Some teams (a growing list) just come along and expose all our warts.

* Bottom line, I don't care what's on the line. All or nothing. But the good teams don't get blown out. They may lose but not get blown away (the 3rd time this year we've lost by 20 or more points...IN ADDITION to the 17-point loss to Hamilton at home on Aug. 26).

* I am not sure why we stopped recruiting during the season to try to get better. We are not strong at guard and right tackle. Three running backs and mostly the same results. Can't get a good push on 3rd and short (incompetence by our short-yardage QB aside). I won't put all of our sacks on the Oline because VA tends to hang on too long sometimes, but I would love to know how many hurries he and Evans have faced.

* We don't get a good enough push at the defensive tackle position either. I love Ben Hladik but there is a reason why he's gone over 100 tackles for the season.

* It was a real head scratcher to go for a field goal with 13 seconds still left before halftime. It was a real insult to take consecutive knees with 1:38 still left on the clock, turning the ball over to the Stamps. People in my section were really pissed. The thanks we get for staying to the end.


DH

[OV:54-40]

Lions can hope that cry-baby/clown Dickenson abandons their ground game (with several good RBs to use) this coming West semi like he did in last year's play-off game. Stuff the run early and almost guaranteed the CFL offensive coaching default / same old mode comes into effect. Then it would be Jake Maier and his average at best passing arm trying to get the win.

[almo89]

Lions can hope that cry-baby/clown Dickenson abandons their ground game (with several good RBs to use) this coming West semi like he did in last year's play-off game. Stuff the run early and almost guaranteed the CFL offensive coaching default / same old mode comes into effect. Then it would be Jake Maier and his average at best passing arm trying to get the win.

The Lions will need to come out flying and get ahead which will force the Stamps to throw the ball more. If it's a close game, the Stamps will run it more and grind it out making it a disadvantage for the Lions.

[OV:54-40]

Lions can hope that cry-baby/clown Dickenson abandons their ground game (with several good RBs to use) this coming West semi like he did in last year's play-off game. Stuff the run early and almost guaranteed the CFL offensive coaching default / same old mode comes into effect. Then it would be Jake Maier and his average at best passing arm trying to get the win.

The Lions will need to come out flying and get ahead which will force the Stamps to throw the ball more. If it's a close game, the Stamps will run it more and grind it out making it a disadvantage for the Lions.

Even a 14-3 Lions lead by the 2nd quarter, and almost guaranteed Dickenson will give up on a ground game.