Even though I live in BC, I will say that the Als are my favorite team and the Lions are my least favorite. That said, I look back on the history of Montreal’s trips to Vancouver and say that if the Als hold the Lions’ margin of victory to less than 10, it would be a resounding victory for them. The Lions are double psyched for this one, following last week’s loss to Hamilton and the last-second defeat in Montreal.
It should also be noted that I’m likely the only Als’ fan in the known universe who thinks the option pass by Green wasn’t such a bad call. Lavoie was open. The timing was just a second off the mark. So, feel free to accept that I’m out to lunch and my opinons should be taken with a shovel full of salt. :?
Timing was off and Green threw it on his back foot. It wasn't executed properly at all. I also question where they decided to use the play in terms of where they were on the field, the score and how much time was left in the game. If you call that play you want to make sure the pass will land between the 10 and goal line IMO. The whole thing was one big clusterfrack.
We're always open to opinions; we might not always agree with them, but as long as you're not professing your opinion as fact, you'll get along just fine with us. 
:thup:
Like Hfx, I think that it just wasn't a good point in the game to execute a play like that. I'll admit, I might not be saying the same thing if the play was successful, but I think that was putting too much faith in a play that you've never executed before at a critical stage in the game.
Assez singulier que cette rubrique s'appelle "The next game" et qu'on y parle déjà de la dernière partie. :twisted:
Je ne nourris pas beaucoup d'espoir pour cette partie. Les Lions se sont faits voler à Montréal et ont été giflés à Guelph, ils voudront se reprendre dans leur château-fort.
J'aimerais voir Marsh connaître un match avec au moins une demie solide. Que l'attaque puisse mener des séquences soutenues qui se terminent par des points, dont au moins deux touchés. Lorsque Marsh pourra transformer ses performances de 300 verges de gains par des pointages dans les 35 points, on pourra espérer qu'il est un candidat à la succession de Calvillo dans l'alignement, surtout s'il répète ses performances.
J'aimerais évidemment voir la défensive performer, mais sans être surtaxée, comme elle l'est plus souvent qu'à son tour. Le retour de Hebert (évoqué par RDS; remarquez que j'ai donné ma source!) pourrait aider en ce que la défensive pourrait bénéficier d'une rotation efficace chez les secondeurs avec Hebert et Brouillette en santé. Par ailleurs, nous aurons besoin d'une solide prestation de la tertiaire, tant en discipline qu'en couverture.
Mais le point le plus important est le travail de la ligne offensive. Depuis le début de la saison, c'est le point le plus faible de l'attaque. La protection est souvent bâclée et elle est sans constance pour que l'équipe pratique un jeu au sol efficace. Seul Whitaker a eu du succès de façon soutenue comme demi, sinon Messam lorsqu'il est venu en relève à Whitaker à Toronto. La ligne offensive ne fait pas le travail. Whitaker l'a fait bien paraître parce qu'il est un demi hors du commun, mais dès qu'il est sur le carreau, la ligne offensive n'est plus capable de quoi que ce soit.
Le mince espoir des Alouettes dans cette partie est que les Lions ont aussi beaucoup de problèmes à la ligne offensive. Ce sera donc vraisemblablement l'équipe qui donnera la meilleure protection à son quart qui l'emportera.
According to Herb on the Snap, we may be without Byron Parker and Cash against BC. Not that it matters, since it's BC Place, ergo, our annual west coast loss.
Popp says he never considered pulling Marsh in the previous game. Anyone still think he deserves to be HC after this season? Kid has played like two pro games and fluked his way into one of those wins and suddenly you're acting like he's a 10-year vet who plays the whole 60 minutes? Evidently, he couldn't see that sitting Marsh down could have helped us win the game and ALSO helped Marsh progress by giving him a chance to see the enemy D from the sidelines.
I give up on this season. Injuries can be overcome; coaching incompetence can't. We were outcoached in the Toronto loss, and we've been outcoached in most games this season. And our idiot HC is blathering on about how Marsh has won for us so he wanted to keep him in. Eight games remaining in the season and does anyone feel even remotely confident that the offense is progressing? Hey, guys, let's practice some more flea-flickers and then call them at ABSOLUTELY THE WRONG TIME in the game. :roll: :roll: :x :thdn:
Because you know, the best way to win with a young inexperienced QB is to abandon the run, fail to use the high-percentage screen and short passing game, and keep him trapped in the pocket instead of taking off on option runs, while allocating valuable practice time to working on goddamn effing flea-flickers. That's how you win with a 23-year-old. Yes. :roll: :roll:
1- It depends how ready Smith and Nicewander are. The deal with Smith was that he was here to learn our game this season. 2- Then there is the question of letting a young guy work through his problems. 3- Jim says the play calling in the second half was bad. So if the play calling is bad , pulling the QB out won't do anything for you. Jim was not a happy camper on the sidelines during the second half. I don't blame him but his decision has merit.
Your right but keep in mind that it is not Jim's responsability to call the plays on offense. That's Berry and Miller's responsabilities. I am sure Jim had a serious talk with those two. Go back and look at the dynamic between Berry and Popp after Green's failed pass...
On TSN 690 last night Popp was not against the call, just that it was not executed properly. Said Green (who he said can throw a ball 60 yards) did not set his feet properly and the receivers were not in the right position. Said the team had been practicing it for the last 5-6 weeks.
Als have signed a 6' 4" WR with some NFL experience, Roberto Wallace.
Richardson`s injury is a 12 month rehab, if he can make it back at all. And Brandon London has been a complete bust this season.
Too early to give up, the fat lady has not ever warmed up yet. Regarding pulling Marsh, it depends on how you feel about Neiswander and Smith. I've already expressed my pessimism about both and feel that Marsh has a superior skill set. Although he had a poor game, I still felt he gave us the best chance to win.
I would not qualify the coaching as ''incompetent'' nor do I think Popp deserves to be called an ''idiot'' HC. There are some good coaches on the staff (Nelson, Willis, Thorpe) and while there is little doubt that the Als were out coached by the Argos last week, the Argos were out coached by the Als when they faced off two weeks ago.
He was nicknamed Robert ''Ankle Weights'' Wallace by the coaches on Hard Knocks. Let's hope that nickname doesn't stick in the CFL. 
In other CFL news, Dwight Anderson and Taj Boyd have been arrested and charged with aggravated assault following a nightclub melee. Yikes.
As an HC, Popp is an idiot. I stand by that. Great GM in years past, but a total incompetent running the show on the sidelines. A competent HC would have taken the reins the second it became obvious in the second half that the playcalling wasn't up to snuff. But since he doesn't have the capability to intervene, he did nothing and we lost a game we could have and should have won. It's what happened in 2007, too, when Bellefeuille's offense tanked but Popp wasn't qualified to step in and fix it. When the HC is on record talking about how he wasn't happy with the playcalling days after the fact -- as if he's some passenger on the team instead of the guy whose job it is to oversee his coordinators and make sure that shiat gets corrected FAST, in-game -- then he's an idiot, in that capacity.
Our offense is dead last in the league and is quite frankly an embarrassment. Our coaches can't run the ball, can't devise a playbook to make us even minimally consistent, can't coach the players to protect the frackin football, and waste time on stupid gadget plays in practice (flea flicker) instead of focusing on what's important. That's incompetence plain and simple. Be clear: we're not a mediocre offense, or even garden-variety poor. Our offense is an absolute joke. Comparable offenses in the league have seen significant changes -- Crowton fired in Winnipeg, Sams relieved of playcalling duties in Edmonton. We demoted Miller but Berry has not been better. Again, incompetence is not an exaggeration.
Oh look, we signed an NFL reject! How fresh and exciting and proven to be successful. :roll:
Seriously, does Popp even know what scouting is anymore? Or does he just take a look at whatever NFL rejects are floating around and fly them in to keep his doors open for NFL jobs in the offseason?
This is Neiswander's third year in the league and at one point, he was ready enough for us to start him in a game. Now he's not even ready enough to come in for a couple of series to kickstart the offense? I don't buy it.
2- Then there is the question of letting a young guy work through his problems.I've said it before, and I'll say it again: sitting a young QB for a couple of series or even a quarter is [i]part[/i] of how you get him to work through his problems. Just like you need to get in his face occasionally to snap him out of it, you also need to sit him down and say, "Son, watch the game from the sidelines for a bit." Keeping a young QB in for the full 60 minutes when he was awful, flat-out ineffective, not only lost us a critical game (which is important -- we're not in training camp, we're still trying to win football games here) but also did nothing for his confidence. Marsh had given absolutely no sign of doing anything that game. His game was flatline, nothing. Bringing in Neiswander for even a series might have galvanized the offense exactly the way Marsh did when he came in for Neiswander against BC.
How many "serious talks" have to happen before we can admit that nobody on that coaching staff (with the exception of Rychleski and the defensive guys) has a clue about anything? It's the blind leading the blind. Incompetent assistants being overseen by an incompetent head coach.
I don't think Nicewander gives us a better chance to win. I can't wait to see Troy Smith but I'm ok with him learning the game properly.
Then why the frack is Neiswander even on our roster? He's supposed to be a pocket-passer, so you have to think the second-half playcalling would have favored his skill set more than Marsh's. And like I said, sitting Marsh down would have helped Marsh.
Pour revenir à la partie qui s'en vient, puisqu'il semble que ça soit le sujet de cette rubrique, si les Alouettes veulent la gagner, ils doivent avant tout stopper Harris et Brown. Il faudra une bonne pression sur Lulay, et ça pourrait même être possible d'y arrriver à 4 parce que la ligne offensive des Lions a des problèmes de protection.
En pouvant abandonner le blitz de temps en temps, ça permettrait de faire une meilleure couverture sur les receveurs et limiter les jeux. Évidemment, il faudra aussi trouver une réponse à la passe voilée et au jeu d'option, jeux dont les Lions pourraient se servir pour faire reculer la pression des Alouettes.
À l'attaque, bien... il faudra une attaque.
D'abord, il faut que Messam soit capable de gagner plus que 60 verges dans sa partie. À la grosseur qu'il fait, ou bien la ligne ouvre de gros trous, ou bien elle pousse la ligne pour permettre à Messam de prendre son erre d'aller avant de frapper dans le tas. On peut difficilement faire dans la dentelle avec Messam.
Marsh devra pouvoir compter sur une bonne répartition entre les jeux courts et les jeux moyens, et ne pas abandonner le long jeu non plus. L'attaque devrait prévoir des jeux au sol avec Marsh, histoire de tenir la défensive adverse dans un relatif respect. Je crois que c'est une erreur de vouloir faire de Marsh un passeur émérite à ce stade-ci de sa carrière. Il est jeune et mobile, c'est maintenant qu'il faut profiter de ces qualités. Lorsqu'il sera plus à l'aise sur le terrain, sa capacité de passer devrait s'améliorer d'elle-même. Bref, il faut diriger Marsh comme il est aujourd'hui, pas comme on voudrait qu'il soit à 34 ans.
Les couvertures sur les retours de Brown seront capitales.
À tous les pessimistes qui lancent la serviette, je dis ceci. Est-ce que les Alouettes ont de grandes chances de gagner la Coupe Grey? Non, les chances sont infimes. Mais est-ce une raison pour capituler complètement? Non plus. Les Alouettes sont en troisième position et pour l'instant, c'est tout ce que ça prend pour aller en demi-finale. La fin de calendrier des Alouettes comporte une partie contre les Roughriders, une contre Toronto, trois contre Hamilton et une contre Winnipeg. La fin de calendrier de Winnipeg comporte une partie contre les Lions, une contre les Stampeders, une contre les Timinous et deux contre Toronto. Les Alouettes conservent donc des chances honnêtes de se rendre aux éliminatoires et d'encore progresser jusque là. Est-ce que ça va arriver? Probablement pas. Mais tant que ces chances existent, je ne capitulerai pas sur le mince espoir que ça puisse arriver.
Mes attentes ne sont pas élevées, mais mes espoirs ne sont pas morts non plus.
Vous pouvez être réalistes et quand même choisir entre la vision des choses qui vous rend plus heureux ou celle qui vous vous fait passer de mauvais jours. Parce qu'en fin de compte, nous n'y pouvons pas grand chose.
Though the Lions have owned the Als whenever the Als roll into B.C. Place I think the Als have a good chance of knocking off the Lions this time around. The Als need only do one thing: Blitz. Blitz until they go out of their minds! The Lions O-Line is like swiss cheese, a sieve, porous, whatever. Lulay[Lions' QB] has been getting decked like crazy- before and after releasing the ball. The opposition is seldom called for roughing the passer, not because of non-calls or poor refereeing but because the linesmen are that close to sacking the QB...almost every time Lulay tries to pass! It is unbelievably frustrating to see this happen time and again.
The Als did this to the Lions in their last meeting in Montreal. They just have to do the same thing. Sure the Als won the last meeting on a hail mary pass resulting in a successful field goal with one second left on the clock BUT....
....the Als did it with a 3rd string QB still wet behind the ears and with several of their starting players out of the line-up. The Als won the game! Not the team that ought to have been the stronger team.
In my opinion the Lions should have been able to fly out of Montreal last meeting with 2 easy points. They didn't. They should have been able to knock off the Ti-Cats even though the Cats are coming on. They didn't! This is not because the Als or the Cats won fluke games. It is because the Lions' D cannot continue bailing out the Offence. It is because for the Lions to get 10 yards and a first down they have to do things they just don't seem capable of doing at this time.
If the Lions think they're going to win this Sunday afternoon because history dictates they will they can forget it. If Als fans think the Als have coaching problems they're not alone. The B.C. Lions coaching staff have yet to solve their O-Line problems. I do not exaggerate when I say that almost every time Lulay takes the snap there is a D linesman in his face. It is uncanny and Lions fans are just not used to seeing this happen time and again. And those rare times when Lulay has succeeded in escaping and getting the ball off, his receivers screw up by not catching very catchable balls. All the Alouettes D has to do is put pressure on Lulay to get rid of the ball. They don't even have to sack him. :roll:
Bottom line Als fans? Don't write this game off. The Als have a good chance of pulling it off if Marsh is half decent. I will be at the game and of course I'm hoping the Lions stick it to the Als but I'm not holding my breath on this one.
As an aside Als fans.... how is your team's injury recoveries coming along? Will some of players be back in the line-up this Sunday?
Well if you promise not to tell Benevides , aside from the players who missed last game - Whitaker, Hebert, etc., we will also be missing Byron Parker and DT Alan-Michael Cash. Cash apparently had elbow surgery today and is out indefinitely and will be replaced by former NFLer Scott Paxson. Parker will be replaced by Ed Gainey or Michael Carter.
As for the game itself, I`m sure the Als will give BC problems with their all out blitzing. But because of our inexperienced QBs and our inability to sustain drives and give the D some rest, I cannot see an Als victory.