We lost the battle of the trenches. We could not put pressure on Masoli and if I am seeing straight, we did not come close to regularly threatening him with a sack ( I think we managed one). When Hammy ran the ball we looked rather porous.  Our vaunted front 7 looked rather "below average" as defences go. On the other side of the ball, we were not giving Streveler that extra second to find a receiver finally shaking coverage. He was under constant pressure that led to 10 straight 2 and outs. Neufeld was not making the same holes that Travis Bond was famous for. We could mount no sustained running attack, even with Andrew Harris busting a gut.

Ritchie's defensive back placement sucked. There is no other word for it. His umbrella, as usual, was too deep and Masoli feasted on multiple open receivers underneath. By way of contrast Hamilton played our receivers quite tight. Streveler did not have time for his receivers to work their way open. Ritchie's bend- don't-break defence was a feast for the Tiger Cats.

Maurice Leggett has no business returning kickoffs, unless we want to be regularly scrimmaging at the 20 yard line instead of the 35 or 40. That experiment has failed and it made a significant difference to field position.

Streveler was "tempered" instead of being allowed to lead. He does not need training wheels. He is an improviser that can make things happen. Instead he was left inside of Lapo's tightly controlled offence. Let the "stars" shine... PLEASE See how he did in the last couple drives (albeit against a prevent defence). I believe he could have done same thing in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

We can influence Lapo and replace Ritchie. But why we lost the battle of the trenches: I am not sure. Was it scheme? Was it attitude or overconfidence? Was it personnel? Coaching?  I don't have the slightest idea except that I keep hearing how talented we are. That talent didn't show up tonight.

Maybe we came in overconfident and resting on our laurels, not waking up until it was too late.

We are certainly outclassed by Hamilton. I tip my hat to them, but tonight only.
 

8 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

It’s week 4. The Grey Cup is a long way off.  Our starting QB hasn’t played a snap.  There’s no need to jump in a noose after every loss.

Not even remotely close to what my post was about.

11 hours ago, Old Bomber Fan said:

I believe it has been said for over 3 years now that Hall's defense is outdated in the CFL. MOS said after last year that he was going to be more involved in the defense....is he and if he is what has changed? In my opinion nothing much. In two games against worthy opponents, we have been torched for over 480 yards in each. The other game, against Montreal, well I can't really count that one but will give credit that we stopped them to a respectable number. Point being made is we have been told we have a better group of DBs who have been brought in and those who remain have a year of experience under their belts. The results are the same; open receivers, too soft coverages, broken coverages, poor tackling, little pressure and the list goes on. Is it the talent or the system the talent is playing in? Seems to me if we have better talent and are still getting burned, it must be the system. So if it is the system why hasn't MOS changed it as he said he would? If it is the system why hasn't Hall recognized that after 3 years and corrected it.

On another note, while the game was not great in the first half, we were nonetheless in the game. Hamilton made adjustments and I can only suggest we didn't because they clobbered us in the third quarter! This again is a very similar scenario from last year, no adjustments at half time and other teams making them that resulted then and now to disaster in the third quarter.

Is it player ability, is it player mentality or is it coaching? I'll leave that answer up to you for judgement.

On the offense, LaPo does not, will not or cannot stretch the field. His mentality is to throw short or at best medium routes and hope for YAC yards. This has not changed since he was here first as an OC many moons ago. He, as many have stated, overthinks things and that results to a stifling offense which is easily defended....see third and fourth quarter results. Most great coaches utilize the strengths of their individual players and minimize their weaknesses. I look at Adams and Bowman, two receivers who do not like going over the middle or crossing routes but are more adept at deep patterns. What are they being asked to do....run crossing patterns. They are not going to catch or for that matter make any great effort to catch a somewhat catchable ball....they do not want to get clocked! So utilizing the strengths of your players rates a failing grade for LaPo yet again. 

Then there is our rookie QB. While I like him and like him a lot, and after only 3 games, I think he has a fundamental flaw unless of course it is LaPo doing his thing again. I don't think he can throw a long ball. I don't think his mechanics will permit him to throw a 30 or 40 yard ball. Interestingly every time he has thrown long with success it has been the receiver either coming back to the ball or the defender falling down. What ever happened to throwing to a spot? Ever notice that our receivers are seldom in full stride catching a ball but rather are stationary? Just my observation.

So I guess we now know where we stand with our rookie QB and new players. We frankly are no further ahead that where we were last year, not that the final standing from last year were anything to sneeze about. Expectations and the rhetoric was we were going to be so much better with the new talent etc and here we stand, 1-2 with a defense that continues to allow tons of yards and points and an offense that when needed fails to execute for whatever reason.

Now I know there will be those who say it is only game 3 and you are right......but beware in the two games where we played quality teams we were beaten badly. And as someone else has said we won't win anything with a Hall defense. Hope I am wrong but it sure looks similar to last year.

You are out to lunch to blame Streveler for anything...and about his arm put your glasses on.

If you read then I would suggest you read again....I am not blaming Streveler for anything. What I said was I'm not sure he has the arm strength to throw the ball downfield. When he attempts it he is normally under throwing the receiver....review the games for proof. I like the guy and hope he can throw the long ball....he just hasn't shown it yet. On another note when someone posts something you oppose, which is their right to post and your right to oppose, perhaps it would be civil to respond in a less than demeaning manner? It only downgrades your character. Oh and by the way I do wear glasses and they are clean so I can see, but thanks for the tip.

9 hours ago, Old Bomber Fan said:

If you read then I would suggest you read again....I am not blaming Streveler for anything. What I said was I'm not sure he has the arm strength to throw the ball downfield. When he attempts it he is normally under throwing the receiver....review the games for proof. I like the guy and hope he can throw the long ball....he just hasn't shown it yet. On another note when someone posts something you oppose, which is their right to post and your right to oppose, perhaps it would be civil to respond in a less than demeaning manner? It only downgrades your character. Oh and by the way I do wear glasses and they are clean so I can see, but thanks for the tip.

sensitive are we?

I think he's got plenty of arm strength to throw downfield, I think he's just under thrown some balls because he's a rookie and he's misjudging how far you gotta throw some of them. 

Hamilton's offence sure picked on the rookie #36 Sayles and was very, very successful in beating him up. That was a real weak point in the defense last week. Yes he had an interception early on but man was he getting targeted a lot out there. Seems the throws mostly went to the side where he and Leggit were. Makes sense though. Why wouldn't Masoli go for the weakest link.  

the bombers also wanted them to throw the out all night, you clearly heard O'Shea telling them to do that. It was just all part of a piss poor game plan on defense. 

Gameplaning was poor, intensity was lacking, a lot of vets did not play well, we had the rawest of rooks at QB, 60+yd FG attempts, no real adjustments made, all nite.....

Good news is that there is plenty of room to go up from that.....against the Lions.