Clearly changes are needed as I did have some major concerns early in the season about this years LIONS squad--- Its not that the LIONS were really that great, its more about the fact that the rest of the CFL is fairly weak as there is basically 2 to 3 good teams and then 5 fairly weak teams---
The Lions were able to achieve a decent record this season but they were far from impressive---
The changes I would focus on in this order of importance would be the following---
1- O LINE-- Clearly we need 1 to 2 solid athletic O lineman-- The Valli's and KABONGOS are just not good enough to get the job done-- Also REID is getting older, so we need to replace him also-- We need to get more athletic and have better guys on our O line-
2- Secondary- Banks and Phillips and Muamba to me are the weak links-- Banks is just too old now, he cannot cover other teams slotbacks- Phillips is also too old- Muamba is clearly the worst safety in the CFL- MUAMBA Is not a CFL level player-
Josh BELL was good when he played, but I am not sure why he never saw the field-
There was no coverage breakdowns in the final, it was more of a case that if the LIONS front 4 dont get immediate pressure on the opposing QB, our secondary is a ZONE coverage team and receivers will get open easily if we dont sack the opposing qb- What happened vs CGY is that our pass rush was stymied which resulted in our pathetic secondary getting exposed-
3- Geroy SIMON- Clearly no need to pay this guy his 150,000 considering he is not even one of the top 3 receivers on our team- GORE, TAYLOR, MOORE, and JACKSON are all much better than SIMON_ SIMON Is finished my friends- HE is nothing anymore and needs to hang the cleats up instead of trying to milk the LIONS for more money- You cant help us GEROY at 38 years old and you are declining rapidly.
4-DEVELOPMENT of TRAVIS LULAY-- For me I would make next years training camp an OPEN COMPETITION for the starters job with LULAY vs MIKE REILLY-- I am not saying that REILLY is better or that he should be the starter-- However I feel that REILLY has shown enough that he should get a chance to win the starting job---
-For me I saw a regression of TRAVIS LULAY this season-- He is very slow in his reads and his progressions-- For me what is really a cause for concern is the fact that TRAVIS LULAY hangs on to the ball way too long in passing downs-- If you look at CGY's young QB BO LEVI MITCHELL the way he fires the ball out with a quick release is amazing-- LULAY is nothing more than a running back playing QB-- He is a game manager---- The home games vs EDMONTON and then in the playoffs vs CGY and vs SASK in regular season show us that when we rely on LULAY passing the ball to win, we just dont win the game- LULAY has no t improved at all in passing the balll--
Whether that is CHAPELAINES fault or LULAYs it is cause for conern- I saw REILLY take more chances and push the ball deeper downfield- with LULAY he seems to have mastered the DINK and DUNK offense-- He rarely throws a receiver open, which means he throws to an open area where a receiver is going to end up-- To me LULAY is very poor at anticipating routes, he really cannot anticipate and move defenders with his eyes---
The LIONS offense overall is not using any of its weapons-- THE CFL is a passing league- We need the next RICKY RAY, I dont thikn LULAY is that guy- We did win the GREY CUP with LULAY but that was the defense that won us the CUP--
Also I would replace MACALUM, you simply cannot punt the ball 30 yards in crucial games, it doesent work-- He needs to retire or just kick fgoals for us, and we need a good punter who can punt 45 yards legit---
I would also sack KHALIF MITCHELL as he will be a problem child and guys like him are only good for 1 season because they lose focus really fast------