I'm sure, given the eternal optimists on this Forum who think the Lions (similar to the coaches and some players on the Lions) are just "playing possum", haven't "gelled as a team" yet, are saving their best for a divisional semi-final ON THE ROAD and, overall, really "haven't played all that badly this season, that my subject line alone will have some thinking that I'm either "out to lunch" and/or being overly pessimistic. Sadly, much like the current attitude of the Lions, that couldn't be further from the truth...
First, I forget who mentioned it on this Forum, but I was told that "I must be a riot after a Lions loss if I reacted the way I did after that, YET ANOTHER, nail-biter win against Hamilton last week which FORTUNATELY resulted in a win. I'll answer that in saying that my points about the Lions are REGARDLESS of their record. If that particular Forum poster had noticed, I had also mentioend that the Lions have YET this season to convincingly beat even one team. Even the "last place Edmonton" games were close if you remember. No, the Lions, if you really look at this team and the direction they're going in right now, are like a wounded cat looking for some solution to their open cuts. Not that I'm a vet, but I'd like to suggest some things that could act like a "salve" for the wounds. Perhaps Chapdelaine, Dorazio, Benevides, Stubler and even Wally are reading this. If not, maybe someone might pass these thoughts along to them as my "common sense" thoughts don't appear to be making much sense to supposed "professional" assistant coaches...
OFFENSIVE ISSUE: It's a no-brainer that the easy way to defeat the BC Lions offensive line is to blitz and blitz strong up the middle (forgetting about Olafioye and Archibald). Andrew Harris feels overwhelmed to constantly be blocking the masses coming after Lulay (read the Sunday Province article about him) and knows he could be better used elsewhere in the offense.
MY QUICK SOLUTION: Lulay has proven himself to be able to throw on the run. As it stands right now, Lions should be using SLIDE PROTECTION with the offensive line more exclusively, have Lulay sprint out more, and give him the green light to include more throw-backs across the formation (like other CFL teams successfully run) to go with the Slide Protection. That protection could slide either left or right. This year's Lions' offensive statistics will show the Lions are far more successful when Lulay sprints out compared to him picking himself off the turf. Speaking of that...
LIONS SOLUTION: Bring in Buck Pierce (nickname: "Plate Glass"). Hmmmm...Correct me if I'm wrong but if a healthy, younger Travis Lulay continues to "shake the cobwebs" off taking play-after-play of being pummelled to the ground, how will a quarterback, who arguably is one big hit away from being PUT IN THE HOSPITAL with a serious, life-threatening CONCUSSION, going to function in this offensive line scheme which Matt Dunigan called an "All-Out Sieve" on national television Saturday afternoon (If you don't like the sieve reference, "Swiss Cheese" could also be a fitting motto for them). I understand and agree with Wally that changes are needed...but honestly, HOW MANY ACTUAL PLAYS are you going to get from Buck. If Wally thinks this will "inspire" Travis, I'm sure Travis is well aware of Buck's fragile state.
OFFENSIVE ISSUE AND SOLUTION: Duane Forde's lovely telestrations about Hamilton's offensive schemes put Chapdelaine to SHAME. Hamilton, VERY SMARTLY, utilized the Canadian rules that you can have UNLIMITED motion in the offensive backfield. At one time, Chapdelaine use to utilize this and even called it a "waggle". On one telestration, Hamilton simply had a receiver on a post, one on an out and one on a deep corner route. Seems simple...right?? Well, a so-called flag football play like that seemed to bamboozle the Lions defence and they ended up leaving Ellingson WIDE OPEN. Didn't see any of these plays from Jacques and certainly didn't see any of them telestrated by Forde. Regardless, what happened to all of the pre-snap ASSORTED motion?? Time to return to this.
DEFENSIVE ISSUE: Lions CAN'T or don't seem to be concerned with "wrapping up" and TACKLING right now. Why is that? Seems Wally is peeved about this to the tune that he's threatening to make changes based on the Lions "I don't to be bothered with" being aggressive and tackling right now. They should watch the game tape from yesterday and how the Blue Bombers beat the snot out of Darian Durant yesterday. They should watch it over and over. Now that's aggression and that's a willingness to play football. Why haven't we seen any of this from the Lions??
RESPECT ISSUE: The fact that CJ Gable, Hamilton running back, CONSISTENTLY looked to catapult himself, play after play, over Lions defenders shows that he do not respect Lions defenders. You can bet Montreal will be doing that this week. Nice to know that other teams do not respect the Lions defense anymore. Marsh, Phillips, Banks...are you reading this? Take note. Conversely, on offense, Hamilton decided to actually pick up our QB and "fireman carry" him. Good thing he didn't get body-slammed on the play. Again, no respect for us on offense either.
I could go on and on and on but, this team is a wounded cat and someone needs to stop this bleeding soon. No vet seems to be in sight and I don't see the bleeding stopping this week either against Montreal.