Time to get the regular season underway...

 

1 minute ago, Fatty Liver said:

Could be Kolo is the best snapper of the 3, anytime they switch Centers snaps seem to go haywire quickly, which pisses off #1 Zach.

He also gets pissed when he's sacked, so...

24 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Gotta like how our dl matches up against their ol. Honestly I look at that lions roster and go meh. 

Yeah their roster is not as good as it was the last couple years - partially due to injury like us.  Their receiving core isn't what it was, the DL took a hit and their OL is beat up (and not great to begin with).  I feel more hopeful about this game after looking at their depth chart.

5 hours ago, Atomic said:

Guess there was a lot of premature whining about Chris Smith not getting on the roster 

Yup, Fair is fair. 
With that, let’s see how they use him this week if Brady is in fact out. 

Honestly, I see a win. BCs lineup isn’t super impressive, I feel we actually match up pretty well against them. 
I don’t really see a position group of theirs that will win out on a lot of consecutive plays. 
 

I mean, our OL kind of scares me until they show otherwise but I feel more confident about this game than the previous 2. 

Edited June 20, 20241 yr by JohnnyAbonny
Ol fat thumbs

29 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

Could be Kolo is the best snapper of the 3, anytime they switch Centers snaps seem to go haywire quickly, which pisses off #1 Zach.

Eli was one of the best centres in all of d1. He was a legit first round nfl prospect. Dobson is fully competent in snapping. 
 Also, the pistol is heavily used which is not terrible demanding on the centre for snapping. 
 

 

2 hours ago, bigg jay said:

Lions depth chart for tomorrow:

They rotate a lot of guys through but I'd be trying to isolate Schoen on Rene/Lokombo as much as possible.

42 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

Could be Kolo is the best snapper of the 3, anytime they switch Centers snaps seem to go haywire quickly, which pisses off #1 Zach.

Pretty sure Eli can snap just fine..been doing it at a high level...forever 

Guys pegged to go in the top 2..3 rounds of NFL draft...possibly 1st as a center don't have snap issues

4 hours ago, bluedawg said:

He's had what, two targets so far? Jury still out to me on Wilson. Mitchell hasn't had any time to play WR at all really in that time. 

Think Pokey Wilson clearly showed a lot in camp to be the Week 1 starter but I agree, I wonder if he doesn't do well this week if we'll see Josh Johnson there instead

Not going to get targets when most of the time you run your route and then stare into the backfield while the QB is scrambling.

3 hours ago, Booch said:

Shouldn't even be in the equation...dress a guy who is ready to go, and usefull....typical Osh....let the dude rest and put Samson in the lineup...whom should have been in there before Hubert....Why dress a guy who may be limited at best...or get things tweaked and sit all game...or risk further injury?....just plain stupid and Osh just Oshin' as usual

 

They can swap a GTD out up to an hour before kickoff.

10 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Not going to get targets when most of the time you run your route and then stare into the backfield while the QB is scrambling.

They can swap a GTD out up to an hour before kickoff.

true....but if it's touch and go as it is....let the guy sit and heal that extra week...1 extra day in the grand scheme does nothing...why risk it

3 minutes ago, Booch said:

true....but if it's touch and go as it is....let the guy sit and heal that extra week...1 extra day in the grand scheme does nothing...why risk it

Agreed. Why risk it? It's not like RBs need healthy legs or anything.

Concerned that Smith may still be hampered by injury, otherwise it makes more sense to give him and Augustine duties at RB and rest Brady. Rather have Brady fully recovered and ready to dominate while learning what Smith can do in the offense.

41 minutes ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

Yup, Fair is fair. 
With that, let’s see how they use him this week if Brady is in fact out. 

Honestly, I see a win. BCs lineup isn’t super impressive, I feel we actually match up pretty well against them. 
I don’t really see a position group of theirs that will win out on a lot of consecutive plays. 
 

I mean, our OL kind of scares me until they show otherwise but I feel more confident about this game than the previous 2. 

3 newcomers in the secondary vs. V.A. and their explosive passing attack may be hard to keep up with if the Bomber offence stutters and stalls.  Not hard to recall Dominic Rhymes getting within 5 yards of the endzone in the WF last season on botched coverage.

I like the lineup except for the OL staying the same

Just now, rebusrankin said:

I like the lineup except for the OL staying the same

agree...Best we could have put out with who we have an injuries.....Tweak that oline....swap out Wilson if for anything to see what Johnson could do....and that could almost be optimal at this point

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

I like the lineup except for the OL staying the same

How do we know Eli would be an upgrade? 

Kolo and the whole line has struggled, true. But there has long been a lot of love for Eli on this board.

is he dominating during his reps?

 

10 hours ago, wbbfan said:

He was excellent on the broad cast. He really she be in the booth full time. 
 

Is that the new pff? Haven’t heard any thing about them. I’m distrustful of home made stat accumulators in the cfl. It’s way too easy to have bad values. 
 For instance Kramdi had 7 tackles, which can be good or bad for a Sam. 

I think it's been around a couple of years.  They probably take into account where the tackles were made, coverage, etc.

 

The day of the hard hitting safety isn't over.

Katsantonis, Dequoy, Dalke, Greene are all hard hitting.

46 minutes ago, TommyClements said:

How do we know Eli would be an upgrade? 

Kolo and the whole line has struggled, true. But there has long been a lot of love for Eli on this board.

is he dominating during his reps?

 

He's for sure a mauler when he comes in on heavy packages. He also oozes potential and has for years... he had consistently high PFF scores in college which firmly landed him on the Rimington Trophy watchlist for 2 years running before his career was derailed by a knee injury.

Ironically, many posters here can't stand PFF, but some of those same posters will gladly point to Eli's Rimington nod as irrefutable evidence of his skill (even though Rimington watchlists are basically just the top 40 PFF scores).

All that said, at least in in my eyes, Kola has set the bar between "average-at-best" and "not very good". Surely Eli could hurdle that bar... and if not, why did we sign to to a 3 year deal back in 2023? Eli should get the chance to finally show what he can do in a starter's role.

Edited June 20, 20241 yr by MOBomberFan

52 minutes ago, TommyClements said:

How do we know Eli would be an upgrade? 

Kolo and the whole line has struggled, true. But there has long been a lot of love for Eli on this board.

is he dominating during his reps?

 

He has consistently as well as when he’s started. Eli, is a beast blocking any one on one. Kola, can’t navigate switches twists stunts blitzes and can’t block one on one. If you watch game footage going back to last year every team lines up a guy in 0 tech to bull rush him and he gets folded back into the pocket. Look at his first good chunk of games no one was playing nose on him with regularity. Teams that don’t use the nose/30 do it specifically against us to tremendous effect. 

9 minutes ago, MOBomberFan said:

He's for sure a mauler when he comes in on heavy packages. He also oozes potential and has for years... he had consistently high PFF scores in college which firmly landed him on the Rimington Trophy watchlist for 2 years running before his career was derailed by a knee injury.

Ironically, many posters here can't stand PFF, but some of those same posters will gladly point to Eli's Rimington nod as irrefutable evidence of his skill (even though Rimington watchlists are basically just the top 40 PFF scores).

All that said, at least in in my eyes, Kola has set the bar between "average-at-best" and "not very good". Surely Eli could hurdle that bar... and if not, why did we sign to to a 3 year deal back in 2023? Eli should get the chance to finally show what he can do in a starter's role.

Pff stats are specifically bad for centres especially in none nose situations. It’s better for guards and tackles vs 40 fronts. But it is a low quality tool. It’s worst for dbs, lbers, Cs, nose tackles, and mixed use wrs like woli and Demski. 

11 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Pff stats are specifically bad for centres especially in none nose situations. It’s better for guards and tackles vs 40 fronts. But it is a low quality tool. It’s worst for dbs, lbers, Cs, nose tackles, and mixed use wrs like woli and Demski. 

In other words, the Rimington Trophy watchlist is a specifically bad watchlist.

25 minutes ago, MOBomberFan said:

In other words, the Rimington Trophy watchlist is a specifically bad watchlist.

Nope, that’s a false equivalency. because the Rimington isn’t based by any means solely on pff type stats. The Rimington was designed by a great linemen to fill the gap for centres. He was the top ranked centre going into the year for two years till his injury. 
 Centres are one of the hard positions to rate on paper but one of the easier ones to rate by watching. 

Edited June 21, 20241 yr by wbbfan

I’m just grasping at straws because I can’t for the life of me figure out why Eli isn’t starting. 
 

Is it possible his knee’s destroyed and he’s only good for a few plays a game? 
 

Pure speculation. 
 

16 minutes ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

I’m just grasping at straws because I can’t for the life of me figure out why Eli isn’t starting. 
 

Is it possible his knee’s destroyed and he’s only good for a few plays a game? 
 

Pure speculation. 
 

It’s possible that he can’t read a D as well as kolo I suppose. I mean grasping. Kolo cdn school kinda knows the gimmick. Maybe Eli taking time to pick that up. It appears the center is responsible for a few things. 

Edited June 21, 20241 yr by Goalie

25 minutes ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

I’m just grasping at straws because I can’t for the life of me figure out why Eli isn’t starting. 
 

Is it possible his knee’s destroyed and he’s only good for a few plays a game? 
 

Pure speculation. 
 

At that point we wouldn’t use him in short yardage imo. 
 

9 minutes ago, Goalie said:

It’s possible that he can’t read a D as well as kolo I suppose. I mean grasping. Kolo cdn school kinda knows the gimmick. Maybe Eli taking time to pick that up. It appears the center is responsible for a few things. 

We’ve seen Eli at C, he’s damn good. Kola can’t read or act on the Ds alignment worth a damn. 
 I think it’s just mos loves kola, who is already pretty old while Eli is 28. He’s just one of those guys for mos. 

Coaches bias....plain and simple

And some of Kolos calls are pretty clear wrong...and I sure Eli is more than capable in picking things up...especially after 3 yrs now.

I don't use PPF as any means as a basis for an assessment of any player position...nor does any talent evaluation person..and he's not hurt or injured...he's basically stuck behind the offensive equivalent of Thomas...teachers pet...daddy's favorite...whatever you wanna call it.

Kolo is technically awful...isn't good post anything but the initial block..and even then is continually over powered...and is undersized...and only time you like that in a center is when they are more athletic and able to move quicker...which he is not..Eli is probably our most athletic lineman we have buy you would never know it as he doesn't get to show it..but you can see it on jumbo and short yardage plays if you actually watch him

It's worth bearing in mind that before covid he was ahead of gray on the depth chart... and gray started for this team. That's one reason. The other is that when he does in come for plays he is a body mover.

16 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

It's worth bearing in mind that before covid he was ahead of gray on the depth chart... and gray started for this team. That's one reason. The other is that when he does in come for plays he is a body mover.

If we started Eli over gray we’d have had no back up C though.