2021 (??) CFL Season

[GCn20]

4 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Simple answer would be that LaPo isn't a qb. He doesn't talk their language or knows truly what they go through or see on the field as he was a receiver in college. Jacques Chapdelaine was the same. He was never a qb but a slot at SFU & in the CFL. Buck & Dickenson know what a qb needs to succeed. LaPo may think he does as well but he doesn't.

I somewhat agree with this. I think the biggest difference between Lapo and Buck is that Buck, being a former QB, knows that sometimes you gotta let your QB trust his own eyes and take his shots. Lapo's play designs are brilliant but he is sometimes too rigid and conservative in how he allows his QBs to run them. We saw that a ton with Nichols, primary read then safety valve rinse and repeat. It was effective because we had the league's absolute best safety valve but in Ottawa he doesn't have a mule like Harris that can give him 150 yds from scrimmage a game on check downs. Buck trusts his QBs and allows Zac to improvise, Lapo had his QBs chuck the ball away at the first sign of trouble. Same kind of play books...different philosophies.

[Brandon]

I do want to remind everyone on how much more the offense opened up during LaPo's tenure when they had Streveler and Collaros playing.   I think A LOT of the issues was Nichols being terrified of holding the ball and making more then one read and then safety valve dump off.  

Lapo's issues more so were trying to be to cute at many times throughout the game and also being to cute with Streveler in his 2nd season playing with us. 

 

[blue_gold_84]

The offense never platooned Nichols and Streveler at any point during the 2019 season prior to the former's season-ending injury. Streveler was deployed in a backup/third down role at that time while Nichols was playing well at the beginning of that season.

Whether that's an LaPolice or not is irrelevant at this point, IMO. But I think it's fair to say he relied predominantly on Harris as the feature of the offense for the four seasons he was here as OC, with the passing game taking a back seat way more often than not.

[GCn20]

3 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

The offense never platooned Nichols and Streveler at any point during the 2019 season prior to the former's season-ending injury. Streveler was deployed in a backup/third down role at that time while Nichols was playing well at the beginning of that season.

Whether that's an LaPolice or not is irrelevant at this point, IMO. But I think it's fair to say he relied predominantly on Harris as the feature of the offense for the four seasons he was here as OC, with the passing game taking a back seat way more often than not.

I agree but there were a lot of touches that Harris got simply by virtue of being the check down as well. That's not on Lapo though that relies on your QB's read of the situation.

[blue_gold_84]

13 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

I agree but there were a lot of touches that Harris got simply by virtue of being the check down as well. That's not on Lapo though that relies on your QB's read of the situation.

He's an excellent dual threat tailback and I think any QB would want to maximize having him at his disposal. The 2019 Grey Cup was a great example of that.

I just think it's fair to say Harris was, at least from 2016 through 2019, the straw that stirred the offense's drink, regardless of who was behind centre. That could be a knock on LaPolice's mantra as an OC in that it was a somewhat one dimensional system, but it resulted in more success than not.
This season's been markedly different for a handful of reasons: a new and arguably more balanced system under Pierce (I'd say his experience as a QB plays a major role), Harris' injury troubles (his awareness in the backfield is second to none), the sophomore success of Lawler and Bailey (their progression has been huge), and Collaros getting a full TC here (he looks more like the gunslinger of old), as well as his ability to extend plays using his feet (something Nichols couldn't do in his last two seasons here).

Edited October 28, 2021 by blue_gold_84

[Arnold_Palmer]

There seems to be a lot of Lapo slander. I mean we know he’s not a perfect coach. But he is a good coach and he helped transform our offense and our team in general. Remember our team was 5-13 the season before Lapo came to the Bombers. He wasn’t the only reason obviously but was a part of the re emergence of our football team becoming respectable and I thought down the stretch in 2019 once we had Collaros he had some of his best play calling. Was a little conservative? Sure, is a good head coach? Well that’s yet to be determined but maybe not but he certainly had a huge impact on our team winning the grey cup in 2019.

[Jpan85]

In the CFL OC are judged by the passing game but I feel like he looked at what he had at his disposal, a huge physical O-line and a hall of fame back and built the offense around that. No other team was close to the Bombers in times they ran ball. Defense around the league have been built to stop pass first getting small and quicker Bombers went big physical wear you down. Get 6-7 yards on first down running the ball on second down. Even if you are a yard short you got Streveler the line to to move the chains. 

[Geebrr]

Ohhh I see. They actually didn't want first place anyway:

https://3downnation.com/2021/10/28/roughriders-losing-out-on-first-place-could-be-blessing-in-disguise/

Sure as **** were not saying that in 2019. Interesting.

[Geebrr]

I honestly hate everything about that poverty franchise.

[Brandon]

42 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

I agree but there were a lot of touches that Harris got simply by virtue of being the check down as well. That's not on Lapo though that relies on your QB's read of the situation.

In 2018 it was very obvious that it was Nichols because Strev would come in and throw darts 10 - 20 yards down field and suddenly the receivers were seeing balls come towards them and making plays and the team could go vertical.  

2019 was more of the same... we had receivers running routes but if the first read wasn't wide open he immediately went to the checkdown.  You rarely if never saw him extend plays and/or make plays on the run.  This is why in the play offs people went crazy for Zach because he would scramble and buy some time and then throw the ball to whoever was open regardless if it was a designed play.  

[JCon]

34 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

Ohhh I see. They actually didn't want first place anyway:

https://3downnation.com/2021/10/28/roughriders-losing-out-on-first-place-could-be-blessing-in-disguise/

Sure as **** were not saying that in 2019. Interesting.

Counter point: 

"When you start the year you have a one-in-nine chance of winning a Grey Cup," Fajardo said. "Then you clinch a playoff spot and have a one-in-six chance.

"Then you want to get the first-round bye where you have a one-in-four chance. Our goal is to be a one-in-four chance team clinching with a bye week because I've been on the positive side of that where you get that week off and get to prepare and get healthy for the last playoff push."

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/toronto-argonauts-saskatchewan-roughriders-week-16-1.5301695

[bearpants]

37 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

Ohhh I see. They actually didn't want first place anyway:

https://3downnation.com/2021/10/28/roughriders-losing-out-on-first-place-could-be-blessing-in-disguise/

Sure as **** were not saying that in 2019. Interesting.

 I really hope the "writers" at 3DN don't get paid for whatever this is...

[Geebrr]

6 minutes ago, JCon said:

Counter point: 

"When you start the year you have a one-in-nine chance of winning a Grey Cup," Fajardo said. "Then you clinch a playoff spot and have a one-in-six chance.

"Then you want to get the first-round bye where you have a one-in-four chance. Our goal is to be a one-in-four chance team clinching with a bye week because I've been on the positive side of that where you get that week off and get to prepare and get healthy for the last playoff push."

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/toronto-argonauts-saskatchewan-roughriders-week-16-1.5301695

The Bombers have never really said that hosting the WF was one of their goals.

They will play anywhere, any time, against any body.

Source: 2019 

 

[Arnold_Palmer]

2 minutes ago, bearpants said:

 I really hope the "writers" at 3DN don't get paid for whatever this is...

That’s an awful article. Even if they win 42 percent of the time that’s close to a 50 percent chance of playing for the Grey cup opposed to having to win two games to make it to the Grey cup. If you look at those odds from purely just a statistical view that’s a 25 percent chance to make it to the Grey Cup. 

[bearpants]

just another reason to not cheer for a Bombers/Riders west final... I really hope Sask loses the WSF and then someone asks "how important do you think the bye is?"...

[Geebrr]

5 minutes ago, bearpants said:

 I really hope the "writers" at 3DN don't get paid for whatever this is...

You mean you don't care about the numerous articles covering topics such as what kind of foods Faj likes to eat? 

[JCon]

4 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

That’s an awful article. Even if they win 42 percent of the time that’s close to a 50 percent chance of playing for the Grey cup opposed to having to win two games to make it to the Grey cup. If you look at those odds from purely just a statistical view that’s a 25 percent chance to make it to the Grey Cup. 

This is the same "writer" that wrote, on July 19th, 2019:  This jury still has plenty of deliberating to do before reaching a verdict on Cody Fajardo or the 2019 Saskatchewan Roughriders.

https://3downnation.com/2019/07/20/jury-still-out-on-fajardo-riders-after-stampeders-shellackin/

And wrote: But yet somehow, now that Cody Fajardo has signed on the dotted line, the future looks and feels a whole brighter for the Riders.

Even though we all saw it coming from miles away.

On October 23rd, 2019. https://3downnation.com/2019/10/23/the-riders-reward-cody-fajardo-for-rescuing-the-franchise-identity/

Edited October 28, 2021 by JCon

[Geebrr]

3 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

That’s an awful article. Even if they win 42 percent of the time that’s close to a 50 percent chance of playing for the Grey cup opposed to having to win two games to make it to the Grey cup. If you look at those odds from purely just a statistical view that’s a 25 percent chance to make it to the Grey Cup. 

John Hodge actually did a reasonably interesting article that focused on much more recent history and the whole league  looking at the impact of clinching with 3 games left on the schedule:

 

https://3downnation.com/2021/10/27/heres-how-cfl-teams-have-fared-historically-after-clinching-first-place-early/

"Since 2000, eleven CFL teams have had to play three or more regular season games after clinching the top spot in their division. They went a combined 21-19 in these meaningless games, after which ten of these teams reached the Grey Cup with a combined record of 5-5."

[Arnold_Palmer]

Just now, Geebrr said:

John Hodge actually did a reasonably interesting article that focused on much more recent history and the whole league  looking at the impact of clinching with 3 games left on the schedule:

 

https://3downnation.com/2021/10/27/heres-how-cfl-teams-have-fared-historically-after-clinching-first-place-early/

"Since 2000, eleven CFL teams have had to play three or more regular season games after clinching the top spot in their division. They went a combined 21-19 in these meaningless games, after which ten of these teams reached the Grey Cup with a combined record of 5-5."

I just read that article. Much more reasonable and interesting. 

[Geebrr]

Teams went 10/11 advancing to the Cup. The only team not to was Montreal.

The West went 3/3 in the West Final and 2-1 in the GC with Calgary losing in OT to Ottawa.

[HardCoreBlue]

17 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Does no one remember when O’Shea hired lapo all the talk from lapo about wanting more say on the players he had on offense? He basically implied Mack didn't give him the input he wanted when he was head coach here and he didn't want to go through that again. (More evidence of his arrogance) so he clearly got some more saying Ottawa and it doesn't look good on him. 

Lapo has some definite strengths. But he also has some weaknesses that hold him back as a coach. 

The only potential one is Darian Durant but I'm not totally sure on his early story with the riders.

Ahh I fondly remember him as a Bomber said no one ever.

[blue_gold_84]

[Bigblue204]

If they can pull off a W this week, that could be real good news for Lucky and his chances at a playoff cheque.

[Geebrr]

Since 2010 (the previous 10 seasons in order) for the team finishing 1st in the West:

2010 -Calgary - choked in the West Final

2011- BC- won the Grey Cup

2012- BC- lost in the West Final

2013 - sask- won the grey cup abusing the salary cap

2014 - Calgary- won the Grey Cup

2015- Edmonton - won the Grey Cup

2016- Calgary lost in the Grey Cup

2017- Calgary lost in the Grey Cup

2018- Calgary won the Grey Cup

2019- sask lost the West Final to a far superior team

Summary:  7-3 in the West Final

                     5-2 in the Grey Cup. 

 

I like hosting the West Final.

* Did this fairly quickly so please correct if there are errors

Edited October 28, 2021 by Geebrr
Corrected 2010

[JCon]

CFL is boring now, says long time Rider scrub... oops, I mean "scribe". 

https://leaderpost.com/sports/football/cfl/saskatchewan-roughriders/rob-vanstone-all-is-not-swell-in-the-once-exciting-cfl

I have loved the Canadian Football League for 50 years, which makes the following sentence unpleasant to write — and, in all likelihood, to read. Canadian professional football has become an eyesore. The games are seldom compelling or entertaining. There is a somniferous sameness to the product, a problem that has also afflicted the NHL. Does every CFL team have the same playbook? It certainly appears that way. Defensive co-ordinators are unbending in their resolve to bend, but not break. As a result, what should be — and what used to be — a wide-open game has become a festival of hitch screens, slow-developing handoffs from the shotgun formation, and punts. The amateur game is alive and well, as evidenced by some recent shootouts in the Regina Intercollegiate Football League , Prairie Football Conference and Canada West, but the pros are ruining it for everyone.