This season is not going anything like my expectations for our precious Blue.

15 first downs in the 4th quarter... wow! 4 complete quarters this time.

We might have just learned how to be a winner .... we certainly have a chance to build momentum in the next few games: we play Ottawa, Hamilton, Edmonton, Montreal, Regina and Regina between now and September 9.

Have we created a Frankenstein?

Defense is the problem but I keep on hearing an offense that keeps on scoring 40 points without turning the ball over get the blunt of the blame..

1 minute ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Defense is the problem but I keep on hearing an offense that keeps on scoring 40 points without turning the ball over get the blunt of the blame..

I could not agree more. And only 7 of tonight's points were due to a turnover by the D. O looks shaky at times, but overall some impressive drives against a tough D 

Arent lots of games high scoring. Turns out the BS PI calls actually do lead to more points. 

2 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Arent lots of games high scoring. Turns out the BS PI calls actually do lead to more points. 

And roughing the passer.

when your missing your starting WIL/SAM/HB we should expect the D to get lit up from time to time. That said I think we have a few rookie keepers on D,  Walker continues to impress, Alexander has been pretty solid and Jeffcoat.   What did we finish with 5 sacks tonight?

8 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Defense is the problem but I keep on hearing an offense that keeps on scoring 40 points without turning the ball over get the blunt of the blame..

Nailed it. It's like people think if we don't score a TD on every drive our O sucks. 41 points with our top receiver out for most of the game. 

Maybe when fans see other offenses moving at will against us they think our offence should be able to do the same thing against actual defenses. Our D line is the only reason why we were even in this game thanks to their sacks, and I say "in the game" when we give up 40 points. 

10 yard hooks/curls every play are guaranteed first downs against us, as seen by every team we've played. 

1 minute ago, O2L said:

10 yard hooks/curls every play are guaranteed first downs against us, as seen by every team we've played. 

Soft Zone D. Play 5 yards off. 

16 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Defense is the problem but I keep on hearing an offense that keeps on scoring 40 points without turning the ball over get the blunt of the blame..

under 100 yards passing in the first half will do that. 

The problem is not 1 dimensional. Both sides of the ball play half a game a week. The pass coverage is too soft, we give up huge runs at bad times. We blitz to very low effect. Our lbs are also pretty banged up and have 2 rookies in the secondary starting. On off we go long periods of time with out moving the ball, often look lost when the quick pass isnt there and struggle to complete deep passes. We forget about the run too long and are un creative with run plays. etc. 6th in passing yards 5th in rush yards. 6th in turn overs too. We have put up a ton of points, but weve also seen points from all over the place, have the same amount of picks as the 2nd and 3rd highest totals in the league. The bottom 5 teams in picks in the league combine for 1 more pick then us. 

The half a game of play and playing miserable football when we dont have momentum is heavily a coaching factor.  Offense isnt just scoring, you have to move the yard sticks and keep your D off the field so they can play better too. Its a top down, both sides and coaching issue. No 1 move fixes this team. 

Just now, wbbfan said:

under 100 yards passing in the first half will do that. 

The problem is not 1 dimensional. Both sides of the ball play half a game a week. The pass coverage is too soft, we give up huge runs at bad times. We blitz to very low effect. Our lbs are also pretty banged up and have 2 rookies in the secondary starting. On off we go long periods of time with out moving the ball, often look lost when the quick pass isnt there and struggle to complete deep passes. We forget about the run too long and are un creative with run plays. etc. 6th in passing yards 5th in rush yards. 6th in turn overs too. We have put up a ton of points, but weve also seen points from all over the place, have the same amount of picks as the 2nd and 3rd highest totals in the league. The bottom 5 teams in picks in the league combine for 1 more pick then us. 

The half a game of play and playing miserable football when we dont have momentum is heavily a coaching factor.  Offense isnt just scoring, you have to move the yard sticks and keep your D off the field so they can play better too. Its a top down, both sides and coaching issue. No 1 move fixes this team. 

The problem in the first half was 8/12 passing. The defense in the bend and break defense tends to allow a lot of long drives that keeps our offense off the field. 

We also need a real middle linebacker. Not a slow footed tackle missing ghost.

More than capable offense. Lousy bend and break defense. That about sums it up.

7 hours ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

We also need a real middle linebacker. Not a slow footed tackle missing ghost.

I thought he was ok when Moe and Wild were playing. Fans were happy with him for a few games.

Last night there seemed to be a fair number of views of him trotting up to the pile after the whistle last night, and chasing plays.

generally speaking I don't think ball carriers fear the impact of the Hurl that much.

He won't be coming out, Mike/Hall  appear to like him a lot as our middle linebacker

I got a kick out of Lankford making some good plays at receiver. next man up did his job well.

 

Edited July 28, 20178 yr by Mark F

1 hour ago, Mark F said:

I thought he was ok when Moe and Wild were playing. Fans were happy with him for a few games.

Last night there seemed to be a fair number of views of him trotting up to the pile after the whistle last night, and chasing plays.

generally speaking I don't think ball carriers fear the impact of the Hurl that much.

He won't be coming out, Mike/Hall  appear to like him a lot as our middle linebacker

I got a kick out of Lankford making some good plays at receiver. next man up did his job well.

 

Not to defend Hurl too much because he has definitely struggled without Leggett and Wild in the lineup, but is he playing a little out of position to help cover for the newer guys and opening up holes in the D where there otherwise wouldn't be any?  Not that that helps us much, but just curious if maybe that's part of the struggle right now.

Tissue like zone D and shoddy tackling.......bad combination.  

We actually have some good athletes in the back.....but playing 6 yds of the receivers, in all situations.....is not going to translate into a lot of "playmaking"

5 minutes ago, do or die said:

Tissue like zone D and shoddy tackling.......bad combination.  

We actually have some good athletes in the back.....but playing 6 yds of the receivers, in all situations.....is not going to translate into a lot of "playmaking"

Absolutely agree with that... how many clean, uncontested,10 yard throws on 2nd down was Durant able to make in that game?  You have to know that on 2nd down they are looking for Nik Lewis... the D played it right on Montreal's first drive to get the INT, but basically forgot that that is the play Mtl will make 90% of the time in that situation and just let it happen.

9 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

And roughing the passer.

Im no expert but on the Nichols one, replays clearly showed the Als player grab Nichols right shoulder pad and place his right hand on Nichols chest and pushed him.  Even on the reverse replay, you can see Nichols shoulder pad move from the shove.  Maybe weak, but as the ref said, he called the ball gone and the player pushed him anyway.

The crazy part is that without the penalty help the Als had nothing going early on. They're 2 and out and punting if Corney doesn't get his hand in the face of the D-lineman, that sell job on the PI in the endzone was none too impressive either. This D gives up a lot of yards, but they also don't do themselves any favours when they get to taking penalties to extend drives when they do have a team stopped. 

As far as the offense goes, they are feast or famine it seems. They either go 2 and out or they march and score. That is a problem too cause if you punt from your own end a few times the field position battle and score easily goes against you. Can you imagine if this team could avoid a bunch of the 2 and outs? 

13 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Im no expert but on the Nichols one, replays clearly showed the Als player grab Nichols right shoulder pad and place his right hand on Nichols chest and pushed him.  Even on the reverse replay, you can see Nichols shoulder pad move from the shove.  Maybe weak, but as the ref said, he called the ball gone and the player pushed him anyway.

Even though it looked like a weak call, I love the fact that you could clearly hear the Ref. calling out "ball gone, ball gone!" But, he no listen. Suffer the consequences baby!

Yeah that one was clearly a bit of a shove. Soft call, but they call the soft ones all the time now so it's a penalty as the CFL has determined. 

Credit Nichols, who demonstrated some acting chops, there....

18 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Yeah that one was clearly a bit of a shove. Soft call, but they call the soft ones all the time now so it's a penalty as the CFL has determined. 

If you watch the players left hand on Nichols right shoulder, he definitely gave him a bit of a push, which he didn't have to do.

9 hours ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

The problem in the first half was 8/12 passing. The defense in the bend and break defense tends to allow a lot of long drives that keeps our offense off the field. 

The offense can alleviate that by putting together some drives!

1 minute ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

If you watch the players left hand on Nichols right shoulder, he definitely gave him a bit of a push, which he didn't have to do.

Plus Bradbury was yelling at him that the ball was gone so he basically gave the little shove under the scrutiny of the ref, which is quite dumb.

it was an embellish but after the phantom call the Bomber defense had on Durant when he was hit simontanioualy of releasing the ball and we still got called, and the weird no call when Nichols got face masked on the play and the command centre didn't over turn it, I think we were due for one.