There really should have been two prominent storylines to our victory against the Evil Empire on Friday night. The first storyline, the courageous play of Buck Pierce has received a lot of press and tons of positive comments on Lionbackers and those were very deserved. However, the second storyline has recieved less press, in fact hardly any, and that is the lack of protection for our quarterbacks in Chap's offence.Toppy Vann wrote:Cam Cole, the Dean of deans in sports column writing had an interesting take on the hits that Buck Pierce took and those taken by Dave Dickenson when here as QB. He says these are items that might grow up to be columns. For Buck Pierce's sake I hope so as the hits he took should be an embarrassment to the coaching staff who waited 3 quarters of the game to be done before making the changes that exploited the Esks defensive weakness with their safety on the BC Lion line of scrimmage with no attempt to block the guy. If players are assets and QBs even more valuable assets why did it take so long to respond what so clearly was happening.
I know they can call in the reporters and show film that suggests that Pierce didn't see some open guy thus got hit full out but that begs another question. If you see after a full quarter that your QB is playing great but missing this open guy and taking too many hits, why not adjust the blocking to take account of this with two backs and get that safety back in position or run some plays that take advantage of that big hole back there?? Lions waited until the 3rd Q to respond. I think they should be embarrassed as it is either pretty poor coaching in a game situation of wanton neglect of the health of their valuable asset. All I have heard is that is the pro game and they are sending the helmet hit to Buck's chin in to the CFL for review.
Is there not some help line for beaten up QBs that the QB can call if his coach doesn't protect him properly? Sheesh, kids can call the help line number on the back of transit buses when they are not protected. There is even legislation requiring protection for kids, the mentally challenged and endangered species.
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Monday, October 20, 2008
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news ... 15aa9aa7d6
"Which of the B.C. Lions' offensive linemen was it who said that quarterback sacks were the most overrated statistic in football?
Doesn't matter. Whoever it was, he's right.
The blockers were about three-quarters of the way to getting QB Buck Pierce killed Friday night in Edmonton, and the Lions still won the game, from which we can draw two conclusions: (a) all those Dave Dickenson concussions were no fluke and (b) Pierce is still injury-prone, he's just refusing to leave the field now.
But really. Did you ever see a guy with a bad shoulder, bad ankle and bells ringing in his ears get punished like that, and keep on getting up?
It was positively Duniganesque. If not Favrean. "
Buck Pierce played with courage. That comes from his competitive spirit, his courage and his unbelievable desire to win that game, after what he considered the most disappointing game of his career the game before. He took that loss on his shoulders, even though he was under constant pressure in that previous game and also was hit and sacked too often. He also assumed the leadership role in putting it on his shoulders to get a win in Commonwealth Stadium.
That competitive spirit and courage was also displayed with a backdrop of the knowledge that a Leo quarterback coming out of a game may not get back in there for a long while. There is always at talented quarterback ready for the opportunity. Dickenson went down in 2004 and Printers won an MOP and wouldn't accept a backup role after. In 2006 Dickenson went down again and Buck Pierce played so well that Wally wanted to give him reps in the Grey Cup game. In 2007, Buck went down for good in Game 7 and hardly saw the field again, after Jarious took over for eleven games and played a prominent role in our record setting 14 win season. Buck got hurt in Game 1 this season and Jarious took over until the Montreal game. Jarious hurt his pinkie and Buck played so well he became our starter. These background scenarios add to our quarterbacks not wanting to leave the field unless they have to be dragged off.
Finally quarterback play for their teammates. There is a code of toughness amongst football players and quarterbacks, who are so much tougher than they are often given credit for and who know their teamates are often counting on them, will reach deep within themselves to not let them down.
Buck's performance on Friday night is in line with a string of heroic performances during the past number of years by our quarterbacks. Dickenson often played so hurt, so bashed up so often, it was often unbelievable to see the punishment he took and see him keep getting back up and delivering in the face of the rush again. Casey Printers played with such a horrible turf toe in 2004 that his teamates couldn't stand watching him get the needle. His performance against Montreal in 2005, when he couldn't lift his arm and yet went in for a final drive, implored by his teamates was an impressive performance. It's almost easy, with the passage of time, to forget that Buck Pierce played so hurt for 3 of his 4 games last season, with so many injuries, that he probably shouldn't have even been dressed.
However, the second storyline really needs to be PROTECTION for our quarterbacks. Our Leos, under Chapdelaine in 2005 and 2006 gave up the most sacks in the league. That stat doesn't even count the pressures and hits after delivering the football that Dickenson, Printers, and Pierce received during those two seasons. Last year was different. Yes, two quarterbacks got hurt but our protection was so much better under Kruck/Dorazio. We led the league in giving up the least amount of sacks until the final game of the season. Our running game and our scheme protected our quarterback so much better. It's also easy to overlook the unbelievable hits that Jarious Jackson took early this season. The only reason that he wasn't hurt was his 235 pound solid body was able to absorb some of those hellacious hits. This season we're about middle of the pack, in terms of giving up quarterback sacks. That was aided by a good long string of games that Buck wasn't touched as he moved our offence into a a high percentage passing offence.
However, teams are now strategizing against us, much the way they schemed Dickenson and Chap in the past. Knowing that Buck prefers the intermediate passing game and Chap likes to keep his quarterback in the pocket, they are blitzing, mostly up the middle, and jumping the intermediate routes. They know we screen rarely, quarterback draw rarely, and can get away from the running attack. They are challenging us to throw the deep ball. We're going to see more of it.
A second factor that defenses know is that Wally will play an injured quarterback, as long as he can walk, if he is playing well. Dickenson was often rushed back from injury (and of course he wanted to play) and Buck lost 11 games last season because Wally chose to keep playing him while he was injured from head to toe. Wally pressured Printers to play when he couldn't even practice throwing the football with an overhand throw. It's good that Wally doesn't believe in babying quarterbacks but he also goes over the edge too, risking them to further injury. He played Dickenson with a separted shoulder in a playoff game, when he was in Calgary.
In 2005, when the press and media, who usually give Wally close to a free ride, due to his record, jumped all over him when they saw Dickenson being pounded into pulp, found Wally's response surprising--"That's why we have four quarterbacks" was his response". Of course I anticipate posters responding by talking about Wally's successful record with quarterbacks. However, Wally doesn't coach quarterbacks. What Wally does is have a system that provides his first three quarterbacks lots of reps each practice, which is different than most teams. He also facilitates a mental toughness in his quarterbacks. His offensive coordinators and quarterback coaches work with the quarterbacks. Flutie said Hufnagel was an outstanding coach in terms of being ahead in the x and o's and offensive schemes. He didn't say that about Wally nor would he. Wally is more of a CEO style of Head Coach, who gives his coordinators the lead in terms of scheme and play calling, although Wally does involve himself with the defense at times.
However, at times Chapdelaine's offence does give me lots of concern, in terms of his schemes in context of his protection of his quarterbacks. Add in Wally's penchant for playing quarterbacks, even when hurting badly, and it's a recipe for serious quarterback injury. Posters can talk about the refs not calling enough flags on quarterback hits but the real heart of the problem is that our offensive scheme makes our quarterbacks often vulnerable. If you don't believe that you only had to look at the naked quarterback bootlegs of 2005 that got our quarterbacks killed evey time. However, we wouldn't stop running the play. Or you can even look at a receiver like Clermont, who has almost been killed running crossing routes but we have continued on with him running that play against underneath zone.
Dave Dickenson paid a heavy price for playing in Chapdelaine's scheme as did Printers. Right now Buck is paying that price. I really would like us to focus on protecting Buck Pierce much better. Jarious is older and may only be around for a couple of years at best. If we can do a better job of protecting a young Buck we can have him for a lot of years. I really don't want to see him become a Dave Dickenson, a quarterback with courage but who took such a toll in injuries that he still has some possible challenges ahead of him. Buck has been injured a lot. Some of that was Buck needing to get down and slide or not take unnecessary hits. On a couple of occasions he was hit late. However, most of the beating that Buck has taken the past couple of games has been due to scheme. They've blitzed him and worked hard at taking away his first read, forcing him to hold the ball longer. When hurt and left in the game, it's been a bloodscent for the defense, who have loaded up and really come after him.
We have ways to combat a blitz. There are dumps, hot reads, screens, swing screens, hitch screens, tosses, and double tight end sets to provide maximum protection. We need to provide Buck with more anti-blitz plays when a defense plays us like Edmonton did and Saskatchewan and Calgary likely will in the future (only smarter..they won't have 8 men in the box most of the game).
We have to make it more of a priority to protect our quarterback rather than rely on his courage to keep on playing hurt. We don't want to go into the playoffs with a rusty quarterback, like we did in 2004, 2005, and more than a half of 2007. We want our starter healthy and ready to play in the playoffs by ensuring that he is able to play those games prior to the playoffs. We need to make sure we do that for the next couple of games. Buck was courageous last Friday night but we may have also been fortunate that he wasn't hurt worse. He missed practice today to get the swelling down and things look positive for him to start against Toronto. Hopefully we can ensure that he doesn't have to be so courageous for that game.
