Lions 26 - RedBlacks 14, Post-Game Stats and Comments

[WestCoastJoe]

First half.

I've never seen a Mark Washington defence putting so much pressure on the QB.  Blitzes.  Dominant personnel with Willis, Lemon and Coleman.  Fun to watch. 4 sacks in the half.  Huge pressure on Harris.

It looks like Campbell has some head hunters.  Dirty hit on Lulay to the chin.  Dirty hit on Burnham, knocks his helmet off as he goes to the ground already tackled.  I thought Wally could have challenged the hit on Lulay. 

O Line getting whipped.  No offence as a result. 

Punt block.  Attempted trick play on 3rd and five.

Weird game.  Husband hurt on play 1.  Wild intensity.  Weird seeing Wally going to shake the hand of Rainey pre-game.  Rainey looked awkward.

Second Half.

Davis in for Harris.  Pick by Lokombo.  Jennings to Collins.  Good short yardage plunge.  TD Jennings to Burnham.  Attaway Jon.  Respect for Manny by Burnie with the celebration.  16-1 BC.

T.J. Lee all over the field.  Mark W keeping the heat on.  My hunch is that Mark convinced Wally that it was time to turn it loose.

Mark W taking the heat off a bit.  Better not stay with that.  3rd and 1.  Nice run by Powell.  Run game working.  3rd and 2 at the goal line.  TD to Sinopoli.  2 guys wide open.  10 plays.  16-8. 

Ottawa moving the ball.  Mark W had taken off the heat.  16-8 at end of Q3.

Jet sweep held up by Willis, Foster with good tackle.  Sack by Willis.  FG 16-11 BC.

JJ to RC 1st.  JJ to Shaq.  TV for 5.  JJ to Shaq.  Jennings throwing darts.  Shaq drops a beautiful throw at the goal line.  FG 19-11.

9:33 left. Herdman tackle.  Ellingson. BC 49.  1st.  BC 40.  Mark W not backing off, still bringing the heat.  3rd and 3.  Lions jumping routes.  6:17 left. Challenge.  Close call.  1st.  Wally checking with Mark for the play.  2nd.  Good pressure. FG 19-14.

JJ24 nice run.  1st.  4:09 left.  Fajardo 1st.  JJ pass 1st. 2:48 left. Pass to Burnham incomplete, but penalty on the far side. 1st. Wow. 2:17 left. JJ24 to the 7, with a great block by Mackie. No gain. 2nd. JJ24 TD. Figueroa paving the way. 26-14 BC.

Jennings. Throwing darts.

Collins over 100 yards.

1:37 left. BC still bringing heat. Good. More heat. Excellent. I am shocked. Mark sold it to Wally, I expect. More heat. Awesome. Harris drilled. Harris hit again. Never seen it like this with Mark W.

Sack by Willis.

Very hard-fought win. Outstanding defensive pressure. Kudos to Mark W for the game plan and calls. Maybe his best ever.

It was a head knocker. IMO Ottawa's defence plays borderline dirty, even without Hebert. Two head shots seen, one to Lulay's chin, and one knocking off Burnham's helmet.

[WestCoastJoe]

Very physical game.

Willis and Lemon looking awesome. Coleman also.

Foster.

Awe.

Herdman.

Barnett

Orange.

Rose.

Lokombo.

McLennan.

Lee.

Figueroa.

Lulay and Jennings withstanding the heat.

Proud of Jennings.

Collins.

Burnham.

JJ24 awesome. Such a pro. A leader. Plays with fire and exuberance. Like Andrew Harris and Walter Payton, he is as durable as a Tonka Toy.

Jenninings was calm, even while facing huge pressure. Ottawa's defence was almost as tough as ours. Our receivers tend to not get much or any separation. Posey should help there. Glad to see Collins break out. JJ to Shaq so close at the goal line. Beautiful throw. If Travis can play, Jonathon can continue to regain confidence, watching. I thought he was very good in relief.

Mark W's game plan and play calls. Blitzing right out of the tunnel. Jumping routes. Holding nothing back.

Ed Hervey's astute work bringing in talent.

Any personnel needs at this time? Not that I can see, with DeVier Posey on board. High level talent everywhere. Defence strong in all three areas, DL, LB and DBs. QBs. Receivers good. RBs good. OL talented imo.

That was defence that this football fan loves. Attack. Attack. Attack. Ottawa was befuddled. Pressure from the get-go to the end. Mark W let them run. Huge change in philosophy on defence? I suspect, with our football lives on the line, Mark convinced Wally to turn loose the dogs of war. It was a pleasure to see.

Offence still struggling.

STs aggressively going after punts. 3rd and 5 fake admirable in its intent, but not well executed.

[BC 1988]

Sun Sep 15 , 2013 vs MTL
Fri Sep 5, 2014 at OTT
Thu Sep 3, 2015 at MTL
Fri Sep 8, 2017 vs MTL
Fri Sep 7, 2018 vs OTT

You'd think someone would tell TL14 to stay away from games in September vs MTL or OTT .

[WestCoastJoe]

https://www.cfl.ca/games/2512/ottawa-re ... s/#preview

ROARING DEFENCE LEADS LIONS TO VICTORY OVER REDBLACKS

CFL.CA STAFF

VANCOUVER – The BC Lions snapped a two-game losing skid, but may have paid a heavy price in the process, losing their starting centre and quarterback to injury, as they defeated the Ottawa REDBLACKS 26-14 on Friday night.

Jonathon Jennings completed 10/12 passes with a touchdown in relief of Lulay, while receiver Ricky Collins Jr. recorded his first 100 yard receiving game, setting a new career high with 10 catches for 105 yards.

Odell Willis led the way for the BC Lions defence with three sacks, as they created problems for the REDBLACKS all night long, recording six total sacks and forcing three interceptions as Ottawa’s quarterbacks found no room to work for much of the game.

It was a rough start for the Lions, as starting C Cody Husband went down with a knee injury just eight seconds into the game, followed by QB Travis Lulay suffering an eye injury after a sack on the ensuing play. Husband did not return.

Lulay would return on the following BC drive, and appeared to suffer no damage to his vision as he wasted no time before finding Ricky Collins in the end zone for a Lionstouchdown.

The Lions defence made a big play of their own later in the first quarter, as DB Winston Rose took advantage of an an off-balance throw from Harris and grabbed it for an easy interception. Despite strong starting field position, an unsuccessful fake field goal attempt left the Lions without any points on the drive.

Both defences were tenacious in the opening frame, combining for three quarterback sacks and giving Lulay and Harris very little time to breathe under centre.

A punt single from Richie Leone got the REDBLACKS on the board early in the second quarter.

With Husband out of the game for the Lions, Lulay struggled to get on the same page as his backup centre, stifling the BC offence.

Lions DB Anthony Orange nearly had an easy pick-six after perfectly predicting a WR screen, but just couldn’t hold onto the ball and settled for a knockdown. But it wouldn’t be long before the Lions defence capitalized again, as DB Alex Thompson picked off Harris for the second time of the half.

The injury bug plagued the Lions following the interception as Lulay went down again, this time with a head injury after a collision with two Ottawa defenders. Lulay entered the concussion protocol following the hit and did not return to the game.

QB Jonathon Jennings took over for Lulay at pivot for the Lions.

A field goal from BC K Ty Long extended the home team’s lead to nine heading into the half.

The Lions D was the story of the first half, recording four sacks and three turnovers and holding the REDBLACKS offence to just a single point.

The start of the second half saw a change at QB for the REDBLACKS, as Dominique Davis took over for Harris under centre. Unfortunately for Ottawa, the change in process led to the same results, as Davis saw his second pass attempt picked off by LB Bo Lokombo, deep in REDBLACKS territory.

With a short field in front of him Jennings made no mistakes, gaining a first down before finding Bryan Burnham in the end zone. Jennings’ two-point convert pass attempt to Collins was no good, and the Lions led by 15.

After a two-and-out with Davis at the helm, the REDBLACKS brought Harris back into the game for their next drive. Starting at the BC 45 after an illegal punt, Harris got back into his groove, finding Diontae Spencer for a 12-yard gain before leaning on RB William Powell, who accounted for six of the next seven plays as Ottawa marched down to the goal line.

Down 15 points late in the third quarter and facing 3rd and two, REDBLACKS HC Rick Campbell put his trust in his quarterback, and Harris did not disappoint, finding WR Brad Sinopoli all alone in the back of the end zone for the touchdown. K Lewis Ward’s convert narrowed the BC lead to just eight.

Ward would chip away at the BC lead even further with a field goal on the REDBLACKS following drive, as the momentum seemed to have flipped from the first half.

Long and Ward would trade field goals late in the fourth quarter.

Jennings and the Lions took over at their own 35-yard line and took their time on their final drive of the game, killing the clock with plenty of run plays and short passes. Shortly after the three-minute warning RB Jeremiah Johnson broke free for a 33-yard gain down the right sideline, putting the Lions inside the 10-yard line.

Just two plays later, Johnson would cap off the drive himself with a six-yard scamper into the end zone, putting the Lions up 12 with under two minutes remaining in the game, a lead which would prove enough for the win.

[yukonlion]

awesome d... thought we still would be way better with rainey in our O... Oline pretty weak ..kudos to lulay and jennings for their quick reads,,,, should have used johnson more in the 3rd i thought he proved that late in the 4th....

[JohnnyMusso]

Great win for the Lions tonight. Jennings got the job done tonight and best game defence has played all year. Willis was a beast tonight. But decision to dress Van instead of Rainey was a poor one. Van was ineffective returning kicks and if Buono is smart he will dress Rainey next week.

As for the injuries, Lulay looks ok and I think sitting him out was done more as a precaution. I think he will be back next week.

But losing Husband is a big blow to their team. Greaves struggled at centre and needs to be a lot better next week if he is the starting centre.

Lions keep their playoff hopes alive and hoping for a Riders win tomorrow.

[JohnnyMusso]

I think Ellliot will be the odd man out when Posey ready. Collins stepped it up big time tonight and played his best game of the season.

[TheLionKing]

Game ball . Condolences to Rolly, family and friends

https://www.bclions.com/2018/09/07/game ... vs-ottawa/

[TheLionKing]

Post game Buono

https://www.bclions.com/2018/09/07/post ... h-buono-2/

[B.C.FAN]

That was another gutsy, character home win led by an aggressive defence, along with a key punt block to open the scoring. The defence rattled the Redblacks from the outset and made them work for everything they got. They seem to get better every game. Let's hope they can start playing this way on the road.

The offence suffered a huge blow on the first play of the game when Cody Husband injured his leg and was taken to hospital. Chris Greaves was terrible as his replacement, despite having taken many reps at centre in the first half of the season. His snaps were erratic and the middle of the O-line was a sieve. The Lions couldn't open holes for the run game and couldn't give Travis Lulay time to pass.

I was afraid the game would slip away after Lulay was hurt but Jonathon Jennings was outstanding in relief. He threw one bad pass into double coverage and was lucky that it sailed incomplete. He was a bit late on the 2-point convert throw to Collins, making him wait for the pass outside the goal line, but he was on target for all 10 other passes, including one catchable pass to Shaq Johnson at the goal line that ended up being the only other incompletion that he threw as he finished 10 of 12. That game likely did a lot to rebuild Jennings' confidence and to re-establish fans' confidence in him.

The offence is still struggling in Jarious Jackson's offence but it did enough to close out the victory on an upbeat note with 16 second-half points. Ricky Collins was the leader of the offence, with 10 catches for 105 yards. Collins took a lot of criticism after the Saskatchewan game for dropping 2 passes, and he owned it, but he stepped up this game. And if you believe Derek Taylor's stats, those 2 passes against Saskatchewan were the only ones he has dropped this year.

The good news after the game was that Travis Lulay passed concussion protocol and expects to be back next week. No matter what happens the rest of the way, the Lions can be confident in knowing that they have 2 QBs who can play.

Travon Van had a terrible game in place of Chris Rainey, failing to attack the ball on punt returns and failing to attack the hole. His punt return numbers were almost identical to Rainey's numbers from this last game. Rainey had 5 returns for 26 yards and a long return of 9 yards. Van had 5 returns for 28 yards and a long return of 9 yards. The difference is that Rainey had 4 punt returns for 125 yards against Saskatchewan for an average of 31.3 yards while Van had 2 returns tonight for 40 yards for an average of 20 yards. According to the TSN 1040 postgame show, Rainey is still in the doghouse with position coaches for not being prepared on offence, not knowing his assignments and not lining up correctly. Has he learned a lesson from his benching? Can the Lions bring him back primarily as a returner and stop rotating him at running back? The latter scenario would be my preference. Jeremiah Johnson would likely welcome the extra reps.

Lots of kudos across the board to the defence. Everyone stepped up. That was fun to watch.

Special teams standouts were Mitch Barnett with a crucial punt block to set up the only TD of the first half, along with an ST tackle, and to Jordan Herdman, who led with 3 ST tackles. And a special shout out to special teams captain Rolly Lumbala, who flew in from Calgary to play tonight, two days after the death of his father.

[Huge Talent]

Way to go and get that W boys.

One comment. And not to be negative after a win, but.... It was the kind of game that we seemed to have at the half. Good teams turn these types of games into blowouts. You know what I mean. When you're physically a step up at home and the scoreboard is also in your favor by 2 scores.

Naturally it became a close game until we iced it late.

Good on the boys for battling. A must win, indeed!

HT

[TheLionKing]

Positives:

- outstanding performance by the defence. 6 sacks, 3 interception and a blocked punt. It's been years a Lion defence has been this dominant. Defence could have had a couple more interceptions especially Anthony Orange.

- good relief by Jonathan Jennings. Liked the way he got the ball away quickly. His passes were crisp

- good discipline. Very few penalties

- good bounce back game by the receivers

Negatives:

- special teams giving up good field position to Ottawa all night

- Travon Van was ineffectual on returns

- Chris Greaves' snaps were all over the place throwing the quarterback's timing off.

- only 17,000 fans bothered to show.

[David]

Very proud of Jonathon's effort after all of the criticism he faced early in the season (part of which I attribute to the newness of the offence, and partly due to getting too worked up about his failures....largely brought about his uncertainty with his playbook!). However, today he looked decisive and accurate. Perhaps coming on in relief is ideal for his psyche. He's not expected to carry the load, just help out, so there is no real pressure to perform.

The main reason for the 180-degree turnaround on defence appears to be from 1) the pressure that's now being consistently applied 2) chemistry in the defensive backfield that wasn't there early in the season and 3) improved tackling.

This is shaping up to be one of the better defences in the league. We have solid depth to be rotating in some excellent players to keep everyone fresh. Despite all the "2 and outs" on O, the D was still getting consistent pressure on Redblack quarterbacks throughout.


DH

[B.C.FAN]

I neglected to mention that the Lions' first 16 points were set up by turnovers, including the blocked punt. Pressure leads to turnovers, which leads to points, which leads to wins.

[Pistrinus]

nice win , but execution by the offence really poor , abysmal in the first half , average in 2nd half