When I look back and recall the way the Lions turned their season around last year and when I looked at the signings during the off season and see the weapons the Lions have on the roster I was very confident in expecting the Lions to dominate the 2012 season. Remember what the Esks did from '78 through '82? I was fully expecting the Lions to roll over the opposition this year but that is not happening. Yes, they are 6 and 2 but I'm looking at the last 3 games the Lions have played. Sure, the Lions won all three games but it is how they won those games. They struggled in Toronto. For three quarters of the game only 2 points separated the two teams at 9 to 11. Scoring only 11 points in three-quarters of a game against a team like Toronto bothers me. Forward to the game against the Roughriders last week. The Lions were almost shut down the first half of the game. Yes, they eventually won but not in convincing fashion. Fast forward to their most recent game. Again, it took the Lions almost a half game to get on the board. That is a lot of offence with nothing to show for it.
Either I'm grossly under estimating the opposition or the Lions offence is not as strong and powerful as I had first thought. The defence has been playing excellent of late but a team only needs to be ahead by one point to win the game. The job of the D is to keep the opposition from running away with the game where it is out of reach. The D is doing a masterful job.....so far.
The Lions O in my opinion is not playing to its potential yet......or is it? Sometimes I get the feeling that the Lions are going to self-destruct and go into a tail spin of consecutive losses. It has happened before. Before the season began I felt the Lions were unbeatable given the roster they put together. In the last 3 games, the Lions could have been beaten by the Argos, The Roughriders and the Bombers. Thankfully they were not.
Although BC fans may prefer to see blowout victories, that isn't always possible. Afterall, there is some parity in a small league. BC offense seems to play down to the level of the competition and do the minimum to win games. Offensive philosophy is mostly about taking what opponent defense allows. But more rushing and less passing produce fewer yards and points.
I agree...It's incredibly frustrating to see an offensive lineup struggle so much, including Travis Lulay. If it wasn't for Blue Bomber penalties last night, he would have thrown at least 5 interceptions.
I've always wondered how well Lulay sees the entire field as in how quickly he can find an open receiver after his first read isn't. When you have receivers like Simon and Bruce on your team and they're 13th and 16th in receiving, something isn't right. Lulay is incredibly composed, makes few errors, very mobile, etc. so I shouldn't complain too much.
I need a new Lions' jersey to replace my Dickenson one (now that was a drop back passer who could see the field!) and just can't pull the trigger on a Lulay one yet!
The Lions offense is underperforming for sure. It is a combination of a few issues which I will outline.
1- Very Weak physical O line- In particular VALLI and REID who are not strong to block blitzers-- O line is not physical.
2- Lulay is not improving and is a system QB who is very safe with the football but can only make easy simple throws. Notice how LULAY cannot throw deep off a 3 or 5 step drop. He takes way too long to make his reads and is poor at understanding the CFL game. Lulay has hidden these deficiencies by running a lot, that way he makes plays with his feet.
Lulay is a great leader, is really a good runner, is safe with the football, however I must ask you Beaglehound what would LULAY be doing if he was on SASK or WInnipeg or the Argos? Lulay is not able to strech the field at all, he pretty much can only throw 15 yards or shorter. I think teams understand that now, and can just cover all the short routes. When is the last time LULAY has went deep to anyone and completed it? EVery LULAY deep pass is a result of him running and breaking out of the pocket. He is not making any improvements at all in his 2nd season. He sets his feet in the pocket and is not fast enough to make a decision- He seems to need an extra 1.5 seconds every snap, instead of doing a PRE SNAP read like Calvillo does.
I really believe that MIKE REILLY will be the QB for the LIons soon. I just think that even though the LIONS won the GREY CUP last season it was a case of timing and the fact that the CFL was and is very weak at the QB position. Winnipeg who couldnt win a game the 2nd half of the season last year and this season was their opponent in the GREY CUP. That was perhaps the weakest GREY cup team in years. The LIons DEFENSE was so good last year vs the RAYS and BURRIS's of the league all LULAY had to do was not screw it up.
All the plays are scripted for LULAY and every throw is safe and short. He cannot stretch the field, he just does not know how to throw fast. He is really slow.
Mike REILLY I believe is more confident and more of a thrower than LULAY-- LULAY is basically a running back at QB, once he realized his biggest weapon was his legs he was very effective. However teams know he will run and he cant throw deep either--
Losing to SASKATCHEWAN and also losing to EDMONTON and now MONTREAL also were all on LULAY, he had chances to win those games and couldnt get it done--
The LIONS defense is also highly overrated, they are the poorest tackling secondary in the CFL for sure, and Im not sold on the safety MUAMBA.
I have one or two concerns regarding Travis Lulay Gridiron but I don't think you give him enough credit. As far as last year's Grey Cup win is concerned the Lions were fully deserving of the championship given the fact that at 1-6 they were resurrected up from the ashes. Lulay was at the helm in every one of those games. Lulay outplayed the opposing QBs game in and game out. They would have beaten any opposing team in the Grey Cup.
In my opinion the Lions O line is suspect. It was last year as well. They do not appear to be giving the QB enough time. It would be interesting if O'Reilly were in there or for that matter Calvillo. I'm not convinced they would fair any better.
As far as throwing the deep ball is concerned I've seen Lulay throw deep passes and be right on the money but the receiver dropped very catchable balls. It isn''t always the QB's fault if the DB is covering the receiver like a blanket or when the receiver drops a catchable ball.
I will admit that Lulay doesn't seem to see all of his options when passing. I've seen guys wide open with no coverage to be seen and still Lulay throws into two man coverage.
Re: his scrambling ability......
It is great that he a scrambler and does not always get sacked. It is great that if no one is open that he can convert a potential loss of yardage into a first down. This keeps the D honest and the linebackers playing shallow just in case.
O'Reilly looked very good in the pre-season but for now Lulay is the right choice.
Given your habit of changing opinion like the wind direction, I haven’t bothered to comment on the majority of your statements, which will almost certainly prove incorrect but I do agree with your concern on Muamba. Seems to have good hands and good instincts for where to go BUT he has shown terrible tackling habits - NOT “wrapping up” as they say but simply trying to knock guys down with his body and not using his arms. He isn’t big enough for that and it is simply BAD tackling technique.