Disappointing season or masterful rebuild?
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 5:39 pm
There has been much disappointment, anger, finger-pointing and blaming handed out by Lionbackers all year long with Buono and of course Chapdelaine being the usual villians. Buono has been accused at times of having lost it both in terms of coaching and personnel assessment. However as I sit back and reflect on the Lions' freshly finished regular season I'm finding less to be disappointed in and more to be pleased about with the Lions.
Only time will tell but I think what we've seen is a masterful rebuild of the BC Lions all in one season. The Lions have slowly been getting older every year over the past 3 or 4. I think the one year where Buono stood pat making few offseason changes set them back a couple of years. Normally you like to tinker and turn over a certain portion of the roster to integrate more youth. Take a year off from that process and eventually you have to take a big hit to make up for lost time. If BC was going to try making a run at the Grey Cup in 2011 it was time for them to go into the shop for a major overhaul. In undertaking this overhaul I believe management knew there would be bumps and inconsistency along the way. That should not be totally expected with so many rookies and young players added all at once. I expect inconsistent play was something Wally knew he's have to put up with as the team took time to gel but I don't think he ever envisioned being 1-6 entering the bye week.
Even if the Eskimos prevail and knock BC out I see far more positives coming out of this season than negatives. Despite the major overhaul we finished at 8-10, same record as last year. The CFL always is a tale of two seasons, pre-Labour Day and post-Labour Day. Pre-Labour Day BC was 1-7. Starting with the Labour Day visit to Montreal they've been 7-3 since. In my eyes the 1-7 portion of the record is very much part of the price a team has to pay when making so many changes. The 7-3 is a reflection of the talent assembled and an indicator of what we can expect moving forward. Sometimes you have to take one step back before you can take 2 forward. The first half of the season was that step back. More often than not that one step back while rebuilding takes a couple of years. BC might have pulled it off in half a season.
I took a look at the depth chart for today's game. What did I see? 4 rookies; 9 starters 26 and under; a sophomore starting QB; a 23 year old receiver who was the star of the game; a 22 year old starting left tackle. The short side secondary was manned by 23 & 24 year old rookies. Then I looked at the backups. Among them Jesse Newman was the grizzled veteran at 28. George is 27. Davis is 26. Messam and Mitchell are 25. The other 11 are 23 or 24. Over on the 9 game DL are the likes of Lee and Geathers at 23 & 24. All 9 players on the PR are 25 and under. Over the past season or two this team has morphed from a veteran-laden crew to one loaded with youth who should only get better and get better quickly.
In many ways I think many Lion fans have been so caught up with the poor start in the standings they've failed to see the transformation of this team. Yes maybe the roster moves could have been less drastic. However I think such a tact might have helped secure a playoff spot we'd be no further ahead in making an inevitable rebuild. It could've led to 2 steps backwards next year instead of 1 back this year and 2 ahead next year. That management has rebuilt this club with young, hungry, talented players who could be the nucleus for years to come AND still came out of it 8-10 (playoff spot yet to be determined) I think warrants a lot more recognition than has been granted so far.
When I look at this roster loaded with young talent I come away thinking that the season actually has been a success despite the losing record. When I start thinking about how good this team can be in the future I find it much easier to accept what happened in the first half of the season.
Only time will tell but I think what we've seen is a masterful rebuild of the BC Lions all in one season. The Lions have slowly been getting older every year over the past 3 or 4. I think the one year where Buono stood pat making few offseason changes set them back a couple of years. Normally you like to tinker and turn over a certain portion of the roster to integrate more youth. Take a year off from that process and eventually you have to take a big hit to make up for lost time. If BC was going to try making a run at the Grey Cup in 2011 it was time for them to go into the shop for a major overhaul. In undertaking this overhaul I believe management knew there would be bumps and inconsistency along the way. That should not be totally expected with so many rookies and young players added all at once. I expect inconsistent play was something Wally knew he's have to put up with as the team took time to gel but I don't think he ever envisioned being 1-6 entering the bye week.
Even if the Eskimos prevail and knock BC out I see far more positives coming out of this season than negatives. Despite the major overhaul we finished at 8-10, same record as last year. The CFL always is a tale of two seasons, pre-Labour Day and post-Labour Day. Pre-Labour Day BC was 1-7. Starting with the Labour Day visit to Montreal they've been 7-3 since. In my eyes the 1-7 portion of the record is very much part of the price a team has to pay when making so many changes. The 7-3 is a reflection of the talent assembled and an indicator of what we can expect moving forward. Sometimes you have to take one step back before you can take 2 forward. The first half of the season was that step back. More often than not that one step back while rebuilding takes a couple of years. BC might have pulled it off in half a season.
I took a look at the depth chart for today's game. What did I see? 4 rookies; 9 starters 26 and under; a sophomore starting QB; a 23 year old receiver who was the star of the game; a 22 year old starting left tackle. The short side secondary was manned by 23 & 24 year old rookies. Then I looked at the backups. Among them Jesse Newman was the grizzled veteran at 28. George is 27. Davis is 26. Messam and Mitchell are 25. The other 11 are 23 or 24. Over on the 9 game DL are the likes of Lee and Geathers at 23 & 24. All 9 players on the PR are 25 and under. Over the past season or two this team has morphed from a veteran-laden crew to one loaded with youth who should only get better and get better quickly.
In many ways I think many Lion fans have been so caught up with the poor start in the standings they've failed to see the transformation of this team. Yes maybe the roster moves could have been less drastic. However I think such a tact might have helped secure a playoff spot we'd be no further ahead in making an inevitable rebuild. It could've led to 2 steps backwards next year instead of 1 back this year and 2 ahead next year. That management has rebuilt this club with young, hungry, talented players who could be the nucleus for years to come AND still came out of it 8-10 (playoff spot yet to be determined) I think warrants a lot more recognition than has been granted so far.
When I look at this roster loaded with young talent I come away thinking that the season actually has been a success despite the losing record. When I start thinking about how good this team can be in the future I find it much easier to accept what happened in the first half of the season.