Why We Lost

[TheSource]

12 hours ago, BigBlue said:

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.
 

It`s not all bad, Streveler is still a bright spot and he did well against a very good D, particularly when his receivers were getting blanket coverage because the Bomber O does not ever seem to be capable of developing any kind of a deep threat beyond 10 yards down field. The O line protection was decent but they did not open holes for Harris and without Harris being effective, that LaPolice offense is just not very good.

The  defense is what  it is. Whether it is personnel or coaching they are just a bottom third tier defence in the league as they have been now for the last 3 years or more. The front 7 is not bad, but not as good as some had hoped. In this game you cant blame them for not getting pressure because that is to be expected when constantly going up against a max protect scheme of 7 blockers. To beat Hamilton, you have to put tight coverage on the limited number of receivers they send out and then stick with those guys when the QB starts to scramble. Unfortunately, Bombers do not match up well with Hamilton because their secondary and linebacking corps are pretty atrocious at establishing any kind of tight coverage, even when the dbs and lbs outnumber the receivers by 2 to 1. It was pretty disappointing to watch all those passes being completed with 3 or 4 Bombers standing around the behind receivers over and over. When you let a team do that repeatedly and control the clock, it is very difficult for your offense to get going when they do not see the ball for every 7 to 10 minutes of game time.

The easy answer is to blame this totally on Hall, because in theory, that would be a quick fix to make the team competitive, however, I think it will take more than that to right the ship. Hall, Oshea, and Walters also have their fingerprints all over the mix of personnel they have selected on the defense. If you don't trust Halls judgement on the defensive scheme and playcalling, why would you trust his judgement on the selection of starting personnel? I really think it is a bit of both, and if the team makes the decision to move away from Hall then there is at least 3 more years of rebuilding ahead to get the right defensive personnel in place to go with a better coaching scheme.

 

Edited June 30, 2018 by TheSource

[17to85]

Hall got his lunch money stolen and the  he got stuffed in a locker. Just totally outcoached. Am I mistaken or was the first Hamilton punt not until 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter? It's ******* embarrassing. Not like they even made it hard on Hamilton. They didn't have to make any great plays, it was just a qb knew exactly where to go and got it here to a receiver with no one within 5-10 yards of him. As bad as he Jim Daley 2005 defense. First time I have ever truly been that down o  Hall but God damn that was a sorry excuse for a game plan.

[Mike]

That defensive showing was absolutely atrocious. You can’t blame the talent, that scheme was the exact wrong way to go about planning to defend Masoli and then to double down on it by sticking with it all game and refusing to adjust? 

 

GTFO Hall

[bustamente]

Sure seems that Hall overstayed his welcome by a year and somebody in the Bomber organization needs to correct this and quick.

[Mark F]

43 minutes ago, TheSource said:

It was pretty disappointing to watch all those passes being completed with 3 or 4 Bombers standing around the behind receivers over and over.

I saw this. Why is this happening? 

surrounded by bomber defenders nobody close enough to make a play. and then sometimes tackling air. 

pathetic.

I agree, it's not just R Hall. What's his boss doing while this mess is transpiring?

Why would the head coach allow the same defence, (that even I could see didn't work)  continue to be deployed?

Hard to fathom.

 

 

Edited June 30, 2018 by Mark F

[17to85]

Lapo wasn't fantastic either but really I blame this game entirely on Hall. Terrible game plan and it sucked the life out of the offence. Momentum is a real thing in sport and a defense that is happy to roll over and die just drains the life from everyone.

I am officially on the Ritchie Hall can GTFO bandwagon. Waste of a perfectly good front 7 the way he used them last night.

[Bigblue204]

2nd and 7 for hammy...all the dbs line up 10yrds off the line...on the snap, everyone drops back further!?!?! All of them!! Not one stayed up to defend the sticks! Masoli had 4 options for an easy 1st down. Wtf? Continued all game long.

[17to85]

DBS go back 15 yards entire front 7 on the line of scrimmage leave no one covering the 8 yard passes. What could possibly go wrong?

[ddanger]

I agree with several comments in this thread:

1. We lost the battle of the trenches. That's always a recipe for a loss.

2. Our defensive secondary was atrociously soft, and HALL did nothing to change the scheme. 

3. MASOLI and the hard-count definitely disrupted the blitzes we were trying.

And a question.....where can I get a ticket to get on the fire HALL bandwagon??

[TBURGESS]

This isn't a case of blaming the loss on any one group. We were soundly beaten on offense and defense. Special teams weren't that great either other than the fake punt.

[17to85]

1 minute ago, TBURGESS said:

Special teams weren't that great either other than the fake punt.

I disagree with this, special teams were good, we just didn't see them a lot returning kicks because Hamilton was always scoring and by the end of the game they had covered too many punts. Early on Hamilton wasn't doing **** on returns. 

[B-F-F-C]

 

 

Quote

And a question.....where can I get a ticket to get on the fire HALL bandwagon?? 

No ticket required.  Free rides this Canada Day long weekend.

Edited June 30, 2018 by B-F-F-C

[do or die]

Game planning was simply not good enough, in general.  Lack of adjustments, compounded the problem....

[TBURGESS]

27 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I disagree with this, special teams were good, we just didn't see them a lot returning kicks because Hamilton was always scoring and by the end of the game they had covered too many punts. Early on Hamilton wasn't doing **** on returns. 

Coverage was fine, but... We punted out of bounds and took a 10 yard penalty. O'Shea went for a 60 yard FG again. Our kick returns weren't good. 

[Zontar]

Hall is fair game, more than fair. But when does Oshea start taking some responsibility? 

Edited June 30, 2018 by Zontar

[Dr. Blue]

Don't forget we are starting 1 non-import on D. I expect a much better D with that ratio.

Two offseasons we have changed personnel on D and the result has been the same. It boils down to scheme.

[Tracker]

I strongly disagree that the loss was all on the defence- but 90% of it was. We've seen the same soft coverage for several years, and some on this forum have repeatedly said that its OK to give up 400 yards on defence game after game so long as you win. That thought was apparently predicated on the idea that the Bombers could outscore the opposition every time, but that has not proven to be true, and last night was a prime example. I think that Nichols would have suffered the same fate as Streveler, give or take a few yards. We got all kinds of hype about how dominant our four-import D-line would be, and how great our linebacking corps was, and the d-backs got lit up once again, and that's two of the last three games. Hall has shown that he cannot adapt or game plan well. Period, and I have said repeatedly that O'Shea will not fire Hall unless he is ordered to, and maybe not even then. O'Shea is a good guy and well-respected as a player's coach, but that is not enough to win consistently. I cannot believe with all the turnovers in defensive personnel that the fault lies at the feet of no one but Hall. If O'Shea is so blindly loyal that he cannot make the necessary changes, even with him micro-managing Hall, then his tenure has to be looked at.  It sickened me that when the Bombers were at the TiCat goal line right at the end of the game, the Ticats rushed 6 or 7 and yet EVERY damned Bomber receiver was covered. I've seen it too many times that when one part of the team folds consistently, its just a matter of time until the rest of the team starts just going through the motions- and that's what I saw in the offence at the last half of the game. And one last diatribe: Neufeld is inexcusably lost out there. He may have the size and talent to play the position, but waaay too often he seems to be looking for someone to either block or get in the way of.

Edited June 30, 2018 by Tracker

[Fatty Liver]

36 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

Coverage was fine, but... We punted out of bounds and took a 10 yard penalty. O'Shea went for a 60 yard FG again. Our kick returns weren't good. 

Unless there are other roster issues to deal with, I think it's clear that Lankford offers more consistency and has more break away potential than Moe as a K.R..

[SPuDS]

Leggett as a return man is a fail.

I've been a staunch defender of Hall up to this week.  I know we had some change up on the defense but we played so soft and so off the offensive players it was ridiculous.  I'm finally coming around to the concept that halls defenses are just outdated and easily beatable.  maybe he needs to take the same sabbatical that Lapo took to revitalize his game plans and concepts.. I dunno somethings gotta give.  watching Masoli make clean, completed pass after pass..  AND their running game chew us to shreds....

 

Incredibly demoralizing and disheartening.. tho didnt help they were on the field almost all damn game.

[HardCoreBlue]

4 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

Unless there are other roster issues to deal with, I think it's clear that Lankford offers more consistency and has more break away potential than Moe as a K.R..

Unfortunately he has trouble hanging on to the ball though. If he can clean that up with better ball security I'm all for inserting back into kick return

 

[blitzmore]

There is no way that Leggett should be returning anything. Bad coaching again.

Once a player has had an injury like his, they are never close to 100 percent until

the 2nd year, and some don't even get close to that. There are all sorts of studies to back that up.

This is just another example of bad coaching decisions,

[JuranBoldenRules]

3 hours ago, Dr. Blue said:

Don't forget we are starting 1 non-import on D. I expect a much better D with that ratio.

Two offseasons we have changed personnel on D and the result has been the same. It boils down to scheme.

Don't forget the 1 non-import on our D has evolved into a huge liability.  In terms of personnel, aside from scheme, that's the first change I'd make, and the result of that change would also be JSK being a DI and not a starter.  I'd move our NI starter on D to WIL, whether that's Loffler or a combination of guys taking that spot.  Loffler at safety is a handicap right now.

[Stickem]

I agree on Loffler....he looks lost and not half the effective player he was...Sophomore jinx was last year so that ain't it...Someone mentioned 'deep threat' ...was Adams playing ??? If he was I don't remember anything going his way or his name mentioned much...We have to have him involved 'big time' or it's a waste of valuable talent...Lot's of work to do and the first would be to sit Ritchie Hall down and lay it on the line...Either things change or someone else will have to take the reins like a combination of Mike O and Jordan Younger...Couldn't be much worse 

[Mark F]

defence held hamilton well in the first half. (watched it just now) the ole bend don't break stopped masoli at about the bomber ten in the last few seconds. few utter breakdowns in coverage. guys running free.

Hamilton Offence looked well prepared for whatever the Bomber D had. Did not really notice any plays by A Bighill, although I'm sure he made some.

and he got blocked out and kind of went the wrong way on ham first rushing TD. Don't know if he's done as much as we all expected, so far.

Masoli is really playing well. they got some pressure on him, but even under pressure his passes around ten yards are extremely accurate.

sideline passes, it looks like they are throwing to  a spot, receivers are at the spot, and he gets the ball right there. He  looks much better than Bo.

I think Ham. O line is pretty good. better than ours, which I don't think is as good as last year.... Streveler didn't have  much time. one play stood out left tackle got shoved right back into the steveler. had three ham guys chasing him right after he got the ball. 

Hamilton sure looks like the top team right now.

Guess we'll find out more when Nichols is back.

couldn't be bothered to watch the second half.

Edited June 30, 2018 by Mark F

[pigseye]

Hamilton is good, no one is taking anything away from them. But, a defence that can't get off the field has real big problems.

It would have been pretty simple to just rush 4 all night and, occasionally 3, dropping a DE into coverage just to mess Masoli up once in awhile. But that's not Hall's style, he lives and dies by the blitz, especially from the secondary, which leaves you exposed back there.

Hall clearly isn't flexible or we would have seen some progression of the defense in his time here. Only solution is to tie the can to him.