Post-Game Thoughts

[earl2]

1. RR is clutch. He has a boatload of poise, and he on his TD he looked like Damon Allen running with the ball...

2. KP made a few nice catches, but ALL NIGHT LONG he was sacrificing his body making nice blocks. This guy is selfless, and IMO is the newest in a long line of great Eskimos receivers who personify class, talent and the ability to put the team first. Stamps and Mann had great games as well.

3.O-line was effective (Kabongo deserved a penalty for his block on Blackman..) and opened some really nice holes for...

4....Whitlock. Great game. Nothing else to say.

5. D-line did a great job of containing and pressuring Hank.

6. LB/DB's were OK. Too many YAC given up, but for the most part they kept the plays in front of them. Playing the Stamps you're going to give up points, but they did a good enough job that RR had a chance to win it late, and that's all you can ask for in a game like this.

7. Richie Hall should have gone for the FG instead of gambling in the 3rd qtr. But winners don't have to explain themselves.

8. That game was fun to watch. I was on my feet for pretty much the entire 4th qtr screaming at my TV. Great job Esks!

[Numberz]

Aug. 13 Game Notes

Wow, what a game. Almost a huge disappointment, I don't like giving up as much as we did on defense, but what a game!

Every once in a while Ray has a game where he starts running and diving for extra yardage. This was one of those games. It excites the team and it motivates everyone, you can tell. That TD run was great. Never giving up, never backing down.

Whitlock had a great game tonight. He's another guy that keeps going. Off balance, but keeps falling forward. The thing I liked most about his game tonight is that the o-line wasn't opening up holes for trucks to drive through. There were average sized holes, the o-line held their blocks at the point of attack...but Whitlock was decisive, and I think this is why he had a better night, his best so far. He attacked the line and made his move once he got through.

Great night by McCarty. Oiler, come and tell me we don't have a power back. For as stupid as the run out of shotgun draw was on 3rd and 2, McCarty was a beast. He wasn't going down...and it wasn't just falling forward for the first down, but keeping the pad level low, keeping the feet pumping, and always wanting more.

Great catch by Rector on the 2nd and long down near the endzone. I love how this kid goes for anything. The star of the day for the receivers was Stamps though. It's always good when Stamps owns the day against the Stamps. That last TD reminded me of Tucker last season, week 2 against Calgary. He started a bit slowly, but he practices hard and brings his A game to practice. Guys like that aren't bad players, and when they have a slump, it doesn't last for long.

Fiaconni had a sub-par performance IMO. Especially on our toss plays when he had to pull on block. I don't like the design of that play though, I'd much rather have the guard pull, but we already have the tackle pulling, so pulling the right guard would leave lanes open for penetration, and the left guard probably won't get there in time. Perhaps it would be better to have a crack block and just pull the right guard. Koch got sledded a few times, but overall, the o-line gave Ray good time. The tackles did a good job of washing out the ends, who were rushing upfield with no regard for collapsing the pocket. Our offense did a good job of recognizing that, and Ray did a good job of stepping up in the pocket and buying himself a few more seconds.

Overall, I like what our offense did tonight. Not just the numbers and the 38 pts...but how they did it. The commentators mentioned Strasser, and this looks to have been a great move for the team. Our movement has been a lot better. At the beginning of the season, and the last years, we have been reluctant to move our receivers sideways before the snap. It wreaks havoc against our secondary, and finally we are doing it to others' secondaries. I hope it continues.

Ok, that was the good...now for the defense.

Xzavie Jackson filled in adequately. I liked his pursuit once the ball was past the LoS. He was chasing down short passes all night. Romero also had a good night. Caused lots of disruption in the middle. Our DEs were not bad, but they didn't do a whole lot either. I attribute this to Calgary good use of lateral motion along with the run fakes. Peach was left on an island a few times and it was hard for him to make the right play.

Restelli had a bad night. He was out of a position more than a few times, not just on the TD and the few times that were pointed out by the commentators, but in the passing game as well. He was too close to the middle which left the slots open again. This could be because we often use a LB close to the LoS to blitz or watch Reynolds. Some here think we don;t blitz enough....we blitz, we just don't blitz effectively. Kitwana is getting more time, which I like because it gives us a better rotation. However, our LBs don't seem to be getting there on the blitzes. Onatalu was a beast for us last year in that regards, we don't have someone like that when Mo Lloyd is out of the line-up.

I know some here are going to call out Buhl, and so I'm going to have to defend him. He is tackling a lot better than he has been. Not just making the tackle, but coming in under control and showing good form. He was in good position on both of the Copeland catches, he just didn't make a play on the ball. Copeland gave some subtle push-offs which helped that. We gave up too many yards to Lewis and Copeland though, it goes without saying. They used motion well with Lewis. Buhl struggles with crossing over and starting the play in motion, which is why I don't like him at the strong half position. That position is the one we swing over. Keyes struggled too though, they were picking on him. I would prefer to see B-Rob in there. A positive note for a secondary, Goss was great, he was in good position and a play on the ball every time. Until the last drive, I'd say Buhl had a pretty good night as well.

Tristan Jackson had a great night. Honestly, coming into the season I was expecting Winston October v.3.0. A few good years and then burn out. Action Jackson keeps going, has great nights like this, some off nights...but oddly consistent for a gamebreaker of his calibre.

I want Scott Gordon back. Malveaux is playing better and I think it will all come together once Gordon gets back and familiar with the other guys.

Next up is Hamilton. Again. Big win tonight, hopefully we can ride the momentum. We have a week off so hopefully we can get healthy. Don't go underestimating how much injuries are holding this team back right now. Comiskey, Gordon, Lloyd, Taylor, Lumsden, Lenny, and I have to think B-Rob isn't full go. I;d be mad if he was healthy and was sitting out. He was dressed tonight. He was phenomenal in camp and has the element that I think this secondary is missing.

[Numberz]

Re: Post-Game Thoughts

All receivers were blocking well. Nowacki on Ray's run....Stamps on the Mann screens. Rector whenever we ran with him in the game...

[Numberz]

Re: Aug. 13 Game Notes

I'd also like to mention that one of my favourite plays of the night was a short dump off to Whitlock of the offensive left side. 30 yards downfield Bertrand was running with his hands stretched out and looking over his inside shoulder. The defender was booking it to keep up with him.

[jadeddog]

Re: Post-Game Thoughts

many, many nagatives from this game... some positives as well

positives first

1. RR is clutch and doesn't get rattled... ray has been ye olde ray these past 4 weeks, i hope he keeps it up
2. the Oline actually opened a lot of holes, but i don't think we should get too excited as the stamps are not known for their run defence
3. receivers didn't drop any balls that i can think of.... stamps is turning into a big-game player
4. whitlock ran with some purpose (although he still pussee-foots it WAY too much for my liking)
5. dline had pretty good push all game long
6. jackson is probable the best returner in the CFL right now

negatives
1. i've been saying it for a while and its still true: we have, BY FAR, the worst group of DBs in the entire league.... buhl is a complete and utter embarassment to the uniform
2. our defensive play calling took until the 4th quarter to figure out that pressure was the way to stop the "fake inside handoff, pass to the flat" play that the stamps ran for 65% of their plays.... its pretty sad that such a simple play was lighting our defence up so badly
3. whitlock needs to learn how to run in traffic.... every time he goes into an area with defenders, he only has one hand covering the ball .... time and time again he does this, it almost cost us the game
4. we ran a shotgun formation TWICE when in 3rd and short... simply pathetic ... doesn't give your back a chance in hell of making the play ... which brings me to #5....
5. whitlock is not an every down back.... our backs needs to be used situationally and mccarty needs more touches period... whitlock should not be expected to get us tough yardage, hes simply not capable of it... this falls on the OC
6. why isn't commie playing?
7. gordon can't comeback fast enough as richardson had another bad game
8. why didn't we have a returner in the endzone at the end of the 1st half? there was no need for the stamps to get that extra point
9. we dropped two more "for sure" interceptions.... again, our DBs are laughably bad, and there isn't much hope for improvement for the rest of the year

we were exceptionally lucky to win this game... if we play like this again next time against hamilton we're gonna get destroyed

[PDO]

Re: Post-Game Thoughts

This is a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE win headed into the bye week.

Ricky Ray, Freddy Stamps and T-Jax were unbelievable tonight. Great games by all of them.

I think the lack of picks is getting into a few guys heads, as a guy like Goss normally doesn't drop the balls that he's getting a shot at.

PERFECT time for the bye week, as this should be ample for us to get three KEY cogs back in:

Mo Lloyd, 'Lil Commie and Scott Gordon.

LB, C and S have been hurting us for most of the season, and having a real safety back there should REALLY help the DB's with proper help from over the top. Ray also looks a bit beat up (despite a STELLAR performance), and the time off should do a world of good for him.

[North East J]

Re: Aug. 13 Game Notes

and Jonte Buhl should never suit up for the Esks again.....

[Sgt. Nuke]

Re: Aug. 13 Game Notes

Do we need two of these threads?

[PDO]

Re: Aug. 13 Game Notes

I prefer Earl's thread as he doesn't say good things about Buhl...

[North East J]

Re: Post-Game Thoughts

....I was at the game - incredible. I will agree with the worst db's comment, but Buhl is awful. I can't stand watching hm get burned time and time again.....

[Muley69]

Re: Aug. 13 Game Notes

Linebackers did NOT have a good game, IMO...

And no surprise you are defending Buhl, Numberz...lol, we'd expect nothing less.

[Oiler]

Re: Aug. 13 Game Notes

Esks have to get their pass defence working in order to have a legit shot at the Cup. They were fortunate that the kick return game and offence saved them,

[Muley69]

Re: Post-Game Thoughts

8. why didn't we have a returner in the endzone at the end of the 1st half? there was no need for the stamps to get that extra point

I wish I was listening to the post game show because surely this would be brought up...

I think the returner just miffed it and forgot to head on the field...but a heads up player to STAY OFF and NOT take the penalty which would have caused a penalty and made it a shorter FG kick.

(Either that...or we were trying hard for the block. I didn't count the number on the line).

[earl2]

Re: Aug. 13 Game Notes

Do we need two of these threads?

I'd merge the threads but Ang hasn't taught me that yet.That's next weeks lesson in my "Moderating For Dummies" class.

[Sgt. Nuke]

Re: Aug. 13 Game Notes

Is that class to teach the mods to be dummies?