So Game thoughts ?

[Esks4ever]

Losing Ray blows.

With Ray we would have won.


I'm not ready to pull the plug on this season yet. Lose next game - and well its pretty much over...


I think Lefors is better than we saw tonight. Lefors is a lefty and Ray is a righty. Its a different look for the recievers when you have a lefty come in for a righty.

Umm i'll think of more.. right now i'm drunk and i wont have any specific comments because I ddin't have my glasses on me

[esks4life]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

I don't know if we would have won with Ray in there. Toronto's D gives us fits.

Excellent game by Ebell.

Oline, sucked.

Fleming, sucked.

Lefors, will be better with a full week of practice. Might be a good thing if a lefty is in there. Might not be as predictable.

Tompkins, one of his better games. Made some nice moves.

Special teams, finally a blocked punt. Good job.

Crowd, meh...31k according to TSN. Looked like less.

D, played decent. Made the score respectable. If Bishop wasn't the scrambling type, we register a few sacks.

[Wilkie12]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

Chappy was asking for it right up to Ray going down. The Argos were loading up almost every play with someone getting a straight shot to the QB but the 5 and 6 receiver sets continued. Ray was sensing and seeing the blitz and was getting the ball off. Finally, a play to the right was called with no back-side protection and BINGO.

[Hugoagogo]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

Losing Ricky hurt, although I thought the D stepped it up for most of the game, and under normal circumstances gave our offence enough chances.

I gotta believe that Lefors will have a better performance next time around. He throws a nice ball and just needs to get up to speed.

[Sgt. Nuke]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

31K for the crowd? What was up with that? Looked EMPTY the whole game on TV.

[TenToes]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

Game thoughts...

Ebell looked good once Edmonton committed to the run.

Esks D was solid. Argos weren't able to get anything going. They gave the offense an opportunity to win the game tonight. With Ray in there, I'm sure the Esks would have won.

Lefors played pretty good in my opinion. He seems to be quite elusive. He had a lot of pressure coming at him from a very good defence. I'm loking forward to watching him next week with a full week of practice under his belt as the starter.

O-line's performance was good and bad. Good in run situations but poor in pass protection. Having said that, the Argos were bringing a lot of heat. I think the Esks made some good adjustments by going to the double tight ends, too late however. One thing I thought was foolish was seeing Jason Tucker in there with the blocking. This guy needs to be out running patterns, he's top 5 receiver in the league (despite a subpar year for him, I know injuries).

Special teams came up big when the Argos had a chance to pin the Esks deep in their own end. Sloppy protection by the Argos. Also, I haven't seen all of the Esks games this year but I think TNT did alright. Was it an improvement over his general performances this year?

The non-call at the goaline was questionable. In real time I thought it was a penalty but with the replay it was very close. That would have been huge for the Esks and Lefors. He would have had some confidence and the Esks would have finally got the TD they've been looking for for the past two games.

Finally, the Maciocia decision to gamble on 3rd and two. This came right on the heels of the blocked punt I believe, and the Esks had the opportunity to pin the Argos deep. This would have been a huge swing in the field position battle. The Esks were potentially deep in their own end had the punt not been blocked, and then could have moved the Argos all the way down the field.

Get well soon Ricky Ray.

[Numberz]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

QBs-Ray probably done for a few weeks, he heals quickly so hopefully we can get him back by the end of the season. I expect LeFors to improve. He looks composed in the pocket, showed some good movement, but needs to get help from the o-line and needs to make better decisions. He will improve though, it was a difficult situation for him.

RBs-Ebell looked great, good blocking, picked up a lot of blitzes. And put in the second efforts to make things happen. I'm convinced that he should be our guy for many years to come. McCarty showed some good runs too, it was nice to see.

WRs-Bad decision on the blocking assignments. Tucker should not be in there, and Kamau should, but he missed it every time. Just whiffed on the block and looked completely useless. Don't know what the point of it was. That said, Kamau was playing with the broken thumb and put in a great effort out there. I saw some opportunities for you to light some DBs up on the some plays kp8, take those opportunites. Gaylor had a decent game, I think that he should work downfield more though. He tries hard for the YACs but never really seems to break anything. Our receivers need to step up here. LeFors will be in tough and they need to get open quickly.

OL-brutal night. They had a great first half but looked lost in the second. Bakker left the middle open too many times and they weren't really communicating and getting their assignments. Ebell picked up blitzers all night, but 2 or 3 were getting through on every play. We need more communication, especially between the centre and guards.

DL-I'm happy with the performance. Cheatwood is getting a good push and Braidwood is getting in the backfield a lot. We missed Brown in the middle but Warner is playing great. They need to keep this up, it's helping all aspects of our D.

LBs-Good for the most part but they need to hit their gaps harder and not allow so many big runs. They had good coverage though. Need to improve tackling.

DBs-Great night, Flowers slipped a few times and it cost us, but Morgan, Samuels, Goss, and LaRose played great.. Our defence is really playing great and if our offence goes dead then I have confidence that our D can keep us in games. Again though, need to work on wrapping up.

ST-Fleming was off and on, those short ones cost us. Our return teams had better blocking which was good to see, and we had more imagination. Good to see the teams getting turnovers. Hollis and Bertrand were noticeable out there.

When it's all said and done, I know a lot of people are giving hope with Ricky's injury, but this team is more than just Ricky right now. This defence is among the best in the league at this point, and they are fun to watch. Our o-line needs to play better, and our receivers need to get healthy and get open. If they can do thatm I truly believe that LeFors can do enough to win us some games. We need to make some big adjustments to counter what Toronto's D did to us tonight on the line, and if we do that, we can still win next week, and we can still get to the playoffs...Our D will keep us competitive in our remaining games. Don't lose hope.

[Esks4ever]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

31K for the crowd? What was up with that? Looked EMPTY the whole game on TV.

it felt empty.. i would say 28k tops

[Sgt. Nuke]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

What's with that? Something else going on tonight in Edmonton?

[Esks4ever]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

What's with that? Something else going on tonight in Edmonton?

lots and lots of fairweather bandwagoners

[esks4life]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

lots and lots of fairweather bandwagoners

Diesel...

[Hammer24]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

Once Ray went down this one was over despite the valiant efforts of the Eskimo defence and special teams to make the big plays to keep the team in the game. D and ST continued to give the offence pretty good field position but they were unable to do anything with it. In fairness to LeFlors there is nothing that plays into the hands of a Rich Stubler defence like a green QB. Stubler defences tend to react like sharks to chum when a rookie comes in at pivot. They came in with different looks and rush packages and generally gave LeFlors no chance to find a rythym.

As for Ray I think he's likely done for the regular season. Unlike Burris who injured his non-throwing shoulder Ray's separation is in his throwing shoulder. Unless it's the mildest of separations and he's the fastest of healers I'm thinking a minimum of 4 weeks. The schedule is doing Edmonton no favours. After tonight they go back to Toronto then play a home and home versus BC. If Ray can have a speedy recovery and be back in 28 days he'll return just in time to play the Riders in the final Eskimo home game. It doesn't bode well at all.

[Numberz]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

Here's a thought, if we lose the next 2-3 games and Ray says he is good to go...do we just put him on the shelf? I know it's way down the road, but I don't want Ray coming back if we're mathematically eliminated with only 2 games left in the year.

That said, I still think we'll be in the playoff hunt in 2-3 weeks and hope that Ray can be available to give us that added push.

[Opus]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

game thoughts?

oh I dunno.......how about:




I could seriously lace into a profanity streak like nobodies buisness right now.....and the real kicker is that it's all our own doing.

y'know it doesn't matter how many damn times we rip the hair out of our skulls, put up threads about not runnning the damn ball, yell it out in the stands.......the braintrust of this offense is just too smart for us.

We hand the ball off to Ebell 3 times in the first quarter......1 time in the second.......hmmm, when did Ricky get smoked? Oh right, second quarter......on a second and 4 play......damn, passing on a sure running down will really teach those Argos something. We're way too smart and cute to do things the traditional way. We're so smart, we'll roll out our QB and pass for the first down.

Well, one halfback blitz later and we're now without arguably the leagues best player for the forseeable future.

Silver lining time: LeFors is a talented guy, I only hope that with first string reps he'll be able to learn and do enough to stake us enough wins to get past an Akili Smith led Cowtown squad.

As well, we have NO CHOICE now, but to rely on the run game some more. What is pathetic is that we had to lose Ricky to do it.

The rest, yeah....our defense had another strong outing. Gaylor had a good game, too bad we never got him the ball when he was getting behind those Argo defenders......KP, had an off night IMO.....dropped a few really important balls, but I'm sure he'll bounce back. Maybe we should get the ball to Tucker a bit more too? Nah, we're to smart for that - I mean throwing to him 3 or 4 times a game must be enough right?

JMFC.....

[Esk Reporter]

Re: So Game thoughts ?

Well, one halfback blitz later and we're now without arguably the leagues best player for the forseeable future.

Actually...that was a LB that came on the blitz. He started out in the box and then moved outside of the DE just prior to the snap. Still...it is a hard pill to swallow, that is for sure.

Maybe we should get the ball to Tucker a bit more too? Nah, we're to smart for that - I mean throwing to him 3 or 4 times a game must be enough right?

JMFC.....

Of course...because Stubler would not done anything with his gameplan to try and keep Tucker from being a factor, now would he??? Ray just missed Tucker on one long pass in the endzone, had an arguable PI on another and had hime drop (???) one. Besides, he still does not look healthy to me out there...