I know all the talk is how our offense sucks compared to BC and how we haven't played that new-look BC team.. but..
The second win against BC was between 24-11 and 36-1 BC wins. Does that mean we have played the new Lions team? Not necessarily, but it's some evidence that they were already on the right track when we beat them.
Even though BC was off to just a 2-5 start, Travis Lulay was averaging ~290 passing yards per game in the five games against teams other than the Bombers. Against Winnipeg, he threw for 298 yards in two games. We already know how our defense was able to stop Geroy and Bruce. Ironically.. I wonder - if Suber didn't completely shut down Bruce in Week 1, would he have found his game in Hamilton and not be in BC right now? It's funny how things work.
BC's offense averaged ~369 yards per game during the regular season. Our offense, in the seven games with Chris Garrett at RB, is averaging ~377 yards per game.
Our offense isn't build to rack up points, it's built to rack up time of possession. Though it sure isn't dominant, when our offense plays well, the other team doesn't see the ball often, and that allows our defense to be well rested when it does have to get out there. The Hamilton game was a perfect example of that. Yeah, we only scored 19 points, but we had the ball for 39 minutes. It may have been 19 points, but it looked pretty dominant while watching it. Garrett has been such a huge revelation for us.
Gonna be a long week.. let's send Doug Brown and Canad Inns Stadium out the right way!
It sure is going to be a long week with a majority of the CFL fans going for the upper dog.
Personally I think it can be done. I think our defense has a real chance at muting their offense. I'm with you 100% on the time of possession thing. If we can keep the ball for most of the game, like we did on Sunday, their highly touted offense won't be on the field.
What I liked about Garrett was he didn't run the ball up the middle every play. It was quite refreshing. Getting a defensive lineman (Vega) to go for a TD pass was quite unexpected by everyone I'm sure. The other thing I noticed was the defensive ends starting on one side of the ball and sweeping around back to come around the other side of the ball. I didn't get it recorded on the PVR to analyze better but that's what it looked like. It was a bit slow but new.
This tells me they're evolving, shaking things up a bit, trying new things, and just might have some new tricks up their sleeves. Looking forward to seeing more. :cowboy:
The crowd noise is going to be a real challenge for the Bombers ontop of what is already a very solid Lions team. It's going to take a flawless game by the Bombers, and probably a little luck/bounce for them to pull it off.
A loud home crowd in the dome will make it quite a lot more challenging than their game at empire field earlier this year. That and Buono's experience give the Leo's an edge heading in IMO. I think the lions record to finish the season is a bit misleading. Since their last game vs the bombers, they have gone 10-1 but you have 3 wins vs the Eskies who had a winning record but take away their 5-0 start were actually 6-7 the rest of the year, and 2 wins each against the riders and argos. Their only loss was about a month ago to the Ticats who put up a 42-10 win on them. The bombers were able to essentially shut down any lions rush attack and season long their run game hasn't been spectacular. BC doesn't really rely on it to win games anyway and as long as they shut down harris/brown/whomever else runs the ball early the Lions will mostly abandon the run game. Lulay has been much better the 2nd half of the season than the first, but however poised and composed he's looked he can still be beaten. The bomber secondary really matches up well vs the leos even if Stewart is out. I'll take Hef/Jovo/Suber over Simon/Bruce/Gore. As long as the bomber rush can push the Lions oline, which has improved since earlier in the season IMO, and get pressure on Lulay, the secondary will be able to keep their receivers in check. Second key to the game is if the bombers offense can handle the crowd noise and limit mistakes, specifically penalties. If the pass rush is working and the O can overcome the lions home field advantage, the bombers will have a good day.
Wins and losses count more than yards, time of possession and points. In the 2 wins against BC, Winnipeg was hot and BC cold. Now BC is hot and Winnipeg is cold. Losing 7 of 11 previous games doesn't exactly inspire confidence in consistency of Winnipeg.
It should go without saying, but yards and time of possession lead to more points for you and less points for them and that is how you get wins and losses.
They lost four of those games to Toronto and Saskatchewan. That doesn't say anything other than they can be guilty of playing to the level of their opponents. Against BC, that would be a good thing.
They also lost one of those games on a controversial QB sneak, while using a backup QB, and one of those games because they were down to a 4th string QB and no RB. Some people here would have you believe they lost those games by 40. Fact is, both of those games were probably better performances than ANY other team in the league, including BC, would've done in the same circumstances.
The "cold" finish - that is, remaining competitive under difficult circumstances in many of those games - meant absolutely nothing, and it was very clear to see with their East Final performance.
Winnipeg has scored 19 points in the last two Grey Cups. In 2001, the Bombers lost 27-19 to Calgary. In 2007, they lost 23-19 to Saskatchewan. Bottom line for Sunday: They need to score more or less than 19 points.