Non-Bomber Games - Week 1

[theaardvark]

They kept saying Jones stuck with Corndog because year 3 is where you see QB's bring it all together...

The other side to that coin is if you haven't brought it all together by year three... you are a bust.

The Riders are not that good that they made a "good" QB look bad.  They are OK, and made a bad QB look horrible.  One dime to Lewis who literally stole it from the DB, and other than that, bupkis.

Can FORD be the player?  Certainly not Locksley, and Dorge seems to have spent more time in transfer protocol than on the field in college...

Jones is in a hot mess.

[Jesse]

Cornelius threw for 202 yds  - 102 on one play then the rest of the game only 100. Eugene Lewis was talking how with the recievers they have, he didn't have to be perfect,,,but perfection is a long way off.
Dunbar 200k  7 yards

Mitchell 150k -5yds

Sask. defence did look very good , their front 4 is as good as any in the league and ran lots of blitzes. We'll have to be prepared.

5 QBs threw for 202 or less.

CoFaj and VAJ threw up 250+

Only Zach went over 300.

[bluebeard]

Early in the season and usually the D are way better then O.  Two observations.  Sask old line coach on offence is now the Oline coach of the Elk.  May say something or not.  All this will change next week but Sask has not lost a game this year ...2 Xgames and a road win.  The world is falling apart!  Should put more bums in seats as their team is having trouble selling tickets.

[theaardvark]

Did anyone else feel that the Bomber game, the Bombers were there to win, but in every other game, teams were trying not to lose?  You know what I mean?  Trying not to make the mistakes that stick with you, and taking weird chances and trick plays to make them stand out  in a good way?

The week was definitely a week of D making their presence felt, like every preseason and early season, D comes together faster.  But still, it was a weird feeling watching the games.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Did anyone else feel that the Bomber game, the Bombers were there to win, but in every other game, teams were trying not to lose?  You know what I mean?  Trying not to make the mistakes that stick with you, and taking weird chances and trick plays to make them stand out  in a good way?

The week was definitely a week of D making their presence felt, like every preseason and early season, D comes together faster.  But still, it was a weird feeling watching the games.

The Bombers and the Lions seem to be the only two teams executing well offensively, every other offence struggled to move the ball effectively.

[The Zipp]

One game, take a breath.  Bad start yes. A hear a lot of homer attitude in your post.  I like a balanced informed approach personally when assessing our competition.

I am a homer - no shame in that, when the Bombers stink I will say they stink... I have been a fan for over 40 years, been to 00's of games - I have seen some really stinky teams wearing Blue and Gold.  Right now our team has been playing great and I will enjoy that and my comparisons to other teams are based on the benchmark of the Bombers.

  It's up to Edmonton to show me they are better than that cause last night they stunk, so far Jones has shown himself to be vastly overrated and he is not able to build and manage a roster.  Maybe Corny will become better - I just see zero consistency with that guy.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I am a homer - no shame in that, when the Bombers stink I will say they stink... I have been a fan for over 40 years, been to 00's of games - I have seen some really stinky teams wearing Blue and Gold.  Right now our team has been playing great and I will enjoy that and my comparisons to other teams are based on the benchmark of the Bombers.

  It's up to Edmonton to show me they are better than that cause last night they stunk, so far Jones has shown himself to be vastly overrated and he is not able to build and manage a roster.  Maybe Corny will become better - I just see zero consistency with that guy.

Jones has 4 G.C. rings, won as HC with the Esks his last go round and was building the Riders up before he left.  I wouldn't sell him short.

[TecnoGenius]

it's close but #3 seems to line up offside. Refs usually catch that.  Unfortunate it seems a crucial miss on the officials' part.

He actually lined up fine.  It's that he moves before the snap, and by quite a bit.  Usually early movement into the NZ is flagged even more than a bad alignment.  It was pretty obvious.

I think he was off side too, but your jpg doesn't clearly show that. His feet, which you can't see, could still be on the line, not over.

The original live view shows his feet were not over the line at the snap.  But most of his body was, with his early movement.  So this depends on the definition of offside:

Offside at the snap: Team A players must be completely behind the line of scrimmage, except that the head, arms and hands of the centre and receivers may be in advance of the line of scrimmage.

Strangely, they don't define offside in terms of body parts at all for Team B.  So I guess the definition for Team A must apply to Team B?

If you look at goal line stands down the line the players are usually careful to have their helmets behind their fingers, and their fingers behind the line.  I'm pretty sure that if your head is egregious over the line, even though your fingers aren't, they can call offside on you.

Also consider the cases where Willie anticipates the snap and his body is partially offside at the snap.  He does this a lot.  They've called him offside a bunch of times when half his torso is over the line even though his feet aren't.

Maybe our ex-refs and players here can provide more light.

[TecnoGenius]

What happened to Locksley sweeping outside is why that play probably wouldn't work very often for Piggy, fast LB and DB's focused on cutting him down.

Except our OL/WR run/sweep blocking is better than EDMs, and Piggy is a bruiser who can mow down fast DBs.  Locksley is a lightweight, lanky WR-type.

It's still a massive risk, but it's not about winning that particular sneak, it's about opening up the space because D's have to plan for the possibility.  Same reason you have to jump over the pile once in a while.  You have to show them all options must be defended.

[TecnoGenius]

What was troubling was SSK was out-physicalling EDM, and in a massive way.  They were fired up and came to fight.  EDM was just trying to play a "must win" game on their tip-toes.  This is kind of ironic, because it's usually C.Jones that builds a "goon" roster and tries to lay a beating on opponents.

EDM's OL was losing the game all on their own.  Corny was doing well when given time, but that OL was always breaking down.  Weird, because EDM OL looks good on paper.  They need to straighten this out, or it'll be Mike Reilly-syndrome: great receivers but no time to use them.

Both teams looked pretty bad.  SSK seems to have more cohesion and better coaching, though.  If EDM had a real SY QB they likely win that game.  It's early going, but I still think EDM is more likely to end the season ahead of SSK.

At least all P1 fans get free tix next week!  (How does this hurt ST sales?  Why buy ST when you just buy your seat in week 1 and get it free all year because the team can't win?  I hope they are making plans to convert those freeloaders into STH at a discount once they finally do win.)

[blue_gold_84]

Jones has 4 G.C. rings, won as HC with the Esks his last go round and was building the Riders up before he left.  I wouldn't sell him short.

He bailed on the Riders shortly after signing an extension. He's only it for himself and hasn't done much in the last five years. He seems incapable of managing a roster and coaching a team simultaneously.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

What was troubling was SSK was out-physicalling EDM, and in a massive way.  They were fired up and came to fight.  EDM was just trying to play a "must win" game on their tip-toes.  This is kind of ironic, because it's usually C.Jones that builds a "goon" roster and tries to lay a beating on opponents.

EDM's OL was losing the game all on their own.  Corny was doing well when given time, but that OL was always breaking down.  Weird, because EDM OL looks good on paper.  They need to straighten this out, or it'll be Mike Reilly-syndrome: great receivers but no time to use them.

Both teams looked pretty bad.  SSK seems to have more cohesion and better coaching, though.  If EDM had a real SY QB they likely win that game.  It's early going, but I still think EDM is more likely to end the season ahead of SSK.

At least all P1 fans get free tix next week!  (How does this hurt ST sales?  Why buy ST when you just buy your seat in week 1 and get it free all year because the team can't win?  I hope they are making plans to convert those freeloaders into STH at a discount once they finally do win.)

Apparently the Riders were rotating 9 along their D-line to keep them fresh, I'm sure they'll employ the same strategy this week against the Bombers.  Zach will have to keep on his toes and move the ball quick.

[TecnoGenius]

Apparently the Riders were rotating 9 along their D-line to keep them fresh, I'm sure they'll employ the same strategy this week against the Bombers.  Zach will have to keep on his toes and move the ball quick.

Ya, lots of chatter on Riderfans about their DL rotation.  They kept thinking the SSK DL was going to "wear down" the static EDM OL.  I'm not sure it works that way.  I don't think OL get "worn down".

When OL suck, they get off the field and thus extra rest.  When DL suck they get to stay on the field and thus get more worn down.  Negative feedback loop for OL limits the damage.  Positive feedback loop for DL just makes things worse when TOP starts breaking bad.

Fresh DL is always a good thing, and WPG does it extensively (usually).  But I don't think OL "wearing down" later in the game is a thing.  Maybe those with more experience can chime in.

The upshot is SSK DL should be equally effective all game (at what level remains to be seen), so maybe clock-killing in the 4th becomes harder to do.  I'm not worried.  SSK DBs were looking pretty bad, so Zach can just chuck it down their throats.

[ModAdmin]

As we approach Week 2, there is this claim...

CFL Headlines
@CFL_Headlines
6h
Lions versus Elks: Battle of the two best receiving corps in the CFL? Dom Rhymes and Geno Lewis are the two best receivers in the CFL, and they just happen to be good friends. One will have a leg-up on the other after they meet Saturday https://theprovince.com/sports/football/cfl/bc-lions/lions-versus-elks-battle-of-the-two-best-receiving-corps-in-the-cfl
via @TheRealJJAdams

Really???

[dd]

Both are good receivers but neither team has the best receiving corps in the league, not even close. Ours is better than both of them combined