The Good the Bad and the Ugly

[LXTSN]

I do think right now our biggest offensive struggle is play-calling.
We seem to have zero motion or creativity so far this season.

[markf]

"You could tell by the stunned look on Wallace's face that he didn't know he had to report. Unbelievablely poor coaching, you always make sure the guy knows he has to report I hear it from the benches all the timed when they re sending a guy in, the bombers can't do?this?!?!"

More likely he was told about reporting, and forgot.

Stunned look.... Maybe regretting the mistake?

[dd]

"You could tell by the stunned look on Wallace's face that he didn't know he had to report. Unbelievablely poor coaching, you always make sure the guy knows he has to report I hear it from the benches all the timed when they re sending a guy in, the bombers can't do?this?!?!"

More likely he was told about reporting, and forgot.

Stunned look.... Maybe regretting the mistake?

No doubt he did. Generally the jumbo tight ends are depth players and are all excited to get the chance to play and come in all amped up, I've seen it a hundred times, in fact when I see an ineglible player who forgot to report lined up as an end, I ask him if he's to report as eligible and he'd say oh ya, then I'd yell out '#61 has reported as eligible' to prevent the chintzy foul', obviously the pro refs don't do this, but should ...I just thought being a pro player he d be over that, but obviously not. Welcome to the CFL Mr Wallace!!

[theaardvark]

I do think right now our biggest offensive struggle is play-calling.
We seem to have zero motion or creativity so far this season.

Most "fancy" plays require time for them to develop.

Flea flickers, jet sweeps take time. Double reverse would get us pinned 10 yards deeper. 

The "send Demski int the pile" is a play I think is designed to take advantage of DL coming upfield in a hurry...

[TecnoGenius]

Saw the photo of the "no end" call play, they had 6 on the oline, and one wide out.  Definitely not a "no end" call.  Eye in the sky should have caught that.

Ya, and the long delay in calling it means the refs were discussing on the field and command were discussing it to ensure he didn't report... to avoid the WPG@CGY NE debacle from a few years ago.

So here's a question: why don't we task a water boy (or two) on our sidelines or up in the booth with Buck with some binoculars to watch every single "lining up" stage to ensure the both ends check in.  It's easy to see as the ends are supposed to point to the ref/line.  If they fail to do that the water boy can have it called down to Zach's helmet some new codeword and he can not do his "start motion" signal, but instead call out/signal to the ends to report, or someone can take a TO.

Sure, this happens maybe once a season for us, but it is avoidable if you task some minimum wage guys with the job.  What's it worth?  Well, in this case it's worth 1st down at a critical juncture.  Players are going to have brain-toots sometimes.

And yes: IP = Illegal Procedure.  I'm not typing out 17 letters for that penalty every time!

[dd]

The end only has to report once per series and only has to report if he has an ineligible number. So if I'm a player with a number between 50-79, I need to report. You don't need anyone checking on this, the bonehead coming into the game has to go to the umpire and tell him he's reporting. It's not that hard and that fact a pro football player 'forgot' to report tells me where his heads at. To make it really simple for the simple rotation players who can't figure this mystery out just give him an eligible number like they do with fullbacks . For Pete's  sake, and we have to think why we can't win football games. It's like Johnson the receiver waggling down the line of scrimmage offside. Let's try playing the game to win instead of being bumbling twits!!

[TecnoGenius]

The end only has to report once per series and only has to report if he has an ineligible number.

I'm not sure this is true.  Remember the previous WPG@CGY no-end fiasco where we were robbed of a much-needed win around 5 years ago where the CFL had to apologize and a ref was fired?  (I'm still livid about it: no forgiveness, no mercy!)

Ya, that was a WR wide out (Darvin?) who did check in (caught on film) and they said he didn't check in.  He didn't have an ineligible number.  And he had to check in.  In fact, you can see wide out WRs doing the "check in" hand signal almost every play.  They wouldn't do it if it wasn't required.

Maybe I'm confusing two different things though... checking in to mean "I'm on the line as an end, right?" vs "I'm telling you I'm eligible even though I'm a hoggie".  You guys can tell me if there's a difference.

But the penalty wasn't "ineligible player" (or something to that effect), it was "IP no end".  In fact, wouldn't any "ineligible player" penalty only be called if the ball was thrown to him?

I also have never heard the "only once per series" thing.  Maybe others can clarify.

As for "players should know this", ya sure, but I bet the league as a whole sees 8-15 "no end" penalties per season: about one every 2 weeks, which I'm pretty sure of because I always have a big huge laugh at the incompetent team screwing up!  I know WPG sees around 1 a season by itself, and we're pretty disciplined.  So I still stand by my idea of putting a water boy on the task, as what do you have to lose?

[dd]

There is a difference. The ends should always check with the linesman if they are on the LOS, that is NOT checking in. Checking in is reporting to the Umpire that you checking in as an eligible reciever so he can then turn and inform the defense of this. 2 totally different things. totally.

A reciever not checking if he's on the line, is a poor practice/lazy. Believe me, the linesmen want to work with the recievers to make sure you're on the LOS, but they aren't going to beg you to check with them. don't check and you're off, that's on you not the linesman. And the Darvin Adams blunder was more on Adams than the linesman. I recall the play, the waved his hand at the linesman but wasn't watching or listening to the linesman, and he wasn't on the line, boom, no end call, aint the linesman's fault it was Adams's fault all the way, as there is no linesman who will tell you you're on the line and then hit you with a flag because you weren't. just doesn't happen.

[LXTSN]

Most "fancy" plays require time for them to develop.

Flea flickers, jet sweeps take time. Double reverse would get us pinned 10 yards deeper. 

The "send Demski int the pile" is a play I think is designed to take advantage of DL coming upfield in a hurry...

They've had enough time to work through plays at this point in the season. I'm not suggesting trick plays necessarily.

There's a ton of ways you can mix it up. Play-action, motion through the backfield, screens.... It doesn't have to be that complicated but they should have more in their bag than just run up the middle or drop back to pass. We need some quick-hitter plays to keep the defence spread out. We're making it too easy on them right now.

[blue_gold_84]

They've had enough time to work through plays at this point in the season. I'm not suggesting trick plays necessarily.

There's a ton of ways you can mix it up. Play-action, motion through the backfield, screens.... It doesn't have to be that complicated but they should have more in their bag than just run up the middle or drop back to pass. We need some quick-hitter plays to keep the defence spread out. We're making it too easy on them right now.

Does Pierce even know what that is?

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

They've had enough time to work through plays at this point in the season. I'm not suggesting trick plays necessarily.

There's a ton of ways you can mix it up. Play-action, motion through the backfield, screens.... It doesn't have to be that complicated but they should have more in their bag than just run up the middle or drop back to pass. We need some quick-hitter plays to keep the defence spread out. We're making it too easy on them right now.

Both Bailey and Grant gone, that's two players that knew the depth of the playbook in regard to jet-sweeps and other running plays that could extend their knowledge over multiple years without having to start from scratch which saves time.  With rookie replacements Buck has to pare it back to the basics or start using Woli on jet-sweeps which would be a contradiction.  Maybe Lucky can take over jet-sweeps.

[DM83]

The change in personnel every week would hamper deception type plays.
Collaros missing throws is mostly on Collaros. However, that's couple big plays that were missed. He certainly has made a. Umber of throws that the lousy receivers McManus has sent to the team really are not worth keeping. I mean face it, when we as a viewer, hope the guy catches it, it's seems more like amateur football.

I am sure the coaches  are hoping guys don't screw up on alignment and procedure penalties.  If you are goin with the idea the guys are amped up, and nervous, ...that seems pretty naive.  These guys have played in big high school and university programs. In reality, if a player is jumping offsides, they should not play anywhere.  Once, well, that's your one oooops, more than that, the stage is too big for the poor guy. 

Not reporting is severe.  I mean if you have to report you go straight to the ref. Face to face get his acknowledgement, and then the huddle.

[dd]

The change in personnel every week would hamper deception type plays.
Collaros missing throws is mostly on Collaros. However, that's couple big plays that were missed. He certainly has made a. Umber of throws that the lousy receivers McManus has sent to the team really are not worth keeping. I mean face it, when we as a viewer, hope the guy catches it, it's seems more like amateur football.

I am sure the coaches  are hoping guys don't screw up on alignment and procedure penalties.  If you are goin with the idea the guys are amped up, and nervous, ...that seems pretty naive.  These guys have played in big high school and university programs. In reality, if a player is jumping offsides, they should not play anywhere.  Once, well, that's your one oooops, more than that, the stage is too big for the poor guy. 

Not reporting is severe.  I mean if you have to report you go straight to the ref. Face to face get his acknowledgement, and then the huddle.

The player not reporting blows me away. You do this in high school, let alone university football, and this guy comes in in a pro game and pulls the bonehead move, really, where do we get these guys from, mars??!!

[LXTSN]

The player not reporting blows me away. You do this in high school, let alone university football, and this guy comes in in a pro game and pulls the bonehead move, really, where do we get these guys from, mars??!!

It's a rookie mistake, but sometimes that's the best way to learn.

[theaardvark]

The player not reporting blows me away. You do this in high school, let alone university football, and this guy comes in in a pro game and pulls the bonehead move, really, where do we get these guys from, mars??!!

Not giving him an excuse, but c'mon man.  He's a raw rookie, and there are a hundred things he has going through his mind as he comes in.  He hasn't built that "muscle memory" that comes with time that you go through a bunch of actions pre-snap, post snap, etc...

And yes, its a mistake, but also a learning experience, and one that will be hard to forget.