Tim Burke's Defence ... where have we seen this before?

[iso_55]

Well if you want to do a historical analysis of a body of work include his successful years with other teams. What are your expectations for a defence when time of possession dictates that the defence is on the field for an unbalanced extra 15 min. a game?

Burke opened his big mouth again this week leading up to the game & took another swipe at his former players but took no responsibility at all for his ineptness as a head coach here & how he really quit on the team. After the seventh or eighth game last season he just mailed it in. Took no responsibility for anything. He deserves all the crap being thrown at him. Just like Mike Kelly does.

[pigseye]

Not good enough to play man and not experienced enough switch off in a zone, very familiar indeed.

[M.O.A.B.]

 

Well if you want to do a historical analysis of a body of work include his successful years with other teams. What are your expectations for a defence when time of possession dictates that the defence is on the field for an unbalanced extra 15 min. a game?

Burke opened his big mouth again this week leading up to the game & took another swipe at his former players but took no responsibility at all for his ineptness as a head coach here & how he really quit on the team. After the seventh or eighth game last season he just mailed it in. Took no responsibility for anything. He deserves all the crap being thrown at him. Just like Mike Kelly does.

 

 

I actually didn't think of that. That probably was the bulletin board item yesterday.

[Armchair GM]

Interesting how emotions always seem to override objectivity. How many of those stupid penalties did Burke take? Do you really expect a laced with CFL inexperienced players that have had little or no time playing together to all of a sudden jelly into a cohesive unit? Seriously? Credit to the Bombers and their outstanding preparation and performance, but do we expect that Burke defence to perform like that for the duration of the season?

 

Just ask him, he'll tell you. 

 

I can hear the interview already "We had what we thought was a great game plan, and we went out there and didn't execute.  The guys were taking bad penalties... that's not in the game plan or the scheme.  I can't get the pressure for you, or cover guys for you either."

 

It's that "refreshing honesty with the media" that a few posters on here just adored about Timmy. 

[iso_55]

Too bad they didn't score 50 on his defense. 

[do or die]

Well Burke would take a little less heat round here.....if he could just finally stop already...... with that ole concened spectator/innocent victim stuff.   But alas, it appears he cannot......

 

Meanwhile.....I simply refuse to take anything back I have said about him as a HC.....or for that matter, anything about Kelly, Lapo, Dr. Jeff, Mr Rodgers, etc.

[Karl Havoc]

To those who want objectivity, here are some defensive stats by rank in the league from two seasons:

Season 1:

1st in fewest 1st downs allowed

1st in total yards against

3rd in rushing yards against

1st in passing yards against

1st in yards allowed per pass

1st in fewest passes against

1st in interceptions

3rd in points allowed

1st in sacks

 

Season 2:

6th in yards allowed

6th in rushing yards allowed

8th in yards allowed per pass

6th in yards passing allowed (with fewest pass attempts against)

8th in interceptions

7th in points allowed

8th in passing tds allowed

(and to show that I'm not just cherry picking all of the worst stats, 1st in yards allowed per rush, 4th in % completed passing, 3rd in passing 1st downs allowed)

 

As I'm sure you can tell where this is going, Season 1 is Bombers 2011 season, Season 2 is Bombers 2012 season. Both with Burke as D-coordinator and pretty much the same starting defence! So, either all of the players got worse, Burke lost it as a coordinator, or most likely, both. He can't complain about the players there. But he sure complained about the offence and how he didn't know much about offence as a head coach, but never addressed why the defence all of a sudden took a huge downturn, even though that's his supposed area of expertise. Add in the fact that his defences and team (when HC) have been completely undisciplined, then, yes, we can say that he is not necessarily a good d coordinator anymore. Do I expect the Argos to play like that the whole season? No. Do I expect them to be good? Based on the last couple of years of Burke's D, no.

 

As for continuing to "pick" on him, well, since last year was one of the worst Bombers seasons in history, and since I had way more fun last night than I had during ANY game last year (I went to every home game last year), and since he opened his mouth again this week and didn't take any responsibility for the atrocity that was last year, then as fans, we have every right to complain about him and that he is one of the, if not the worst coaches in our team's history.

 

Rant over (even though I know this was directed at only a couple of people)

[JuranBoldenRules]

Don't blame Burke.  He didn't really want the job and they don't have enough talent.

[Goalie]

Like him or not and i'll admit, i liked burke. I liked burke the DC.. i didn't like burke the head coach.. fact is and i'll take in to account reinbold had 2 seasons and burke only 1 and a half but Burke only had 1 more win than Jeff did.

 

Burke was terrible, i'm sure there is some truth to what he said, i wish he would have come out and said something along the lines of "what did you expect me to do, my hands were tied, our GM refused to bring in players or make trades, was i a good head coach? no, some elements were out of my control though". I could actually live with that because from an outsiders perspective, that did seem to be the case last season. But he didn't say that... instead of throwing just one guy under the bus (mack) he basically threw the whole organization under and took no blame himself. 

[USABomberfan]

Let's all remember something, Burke is not Toronto's head coach, and even though Millanovich doesn't run the defense, he certainly is going to get involved and be pulling things to try and help Burke get it fixed, count on it.

 

We've often said before, when an offense like Montreal's has a new man at the helm like Troy Smith, there's going to be struggles and the O there is not going to look like the O of old, and so it goes for the Toronto defense as well.  All those new bodies out there and without players like Evan McCullough and others who've been anchor points in the past, this is what has happened to start with.  I don't see them giving up 45 points a game week in and week out, certainly not against some of their weaker East conference brethren, although Ottawa may give them fits.

 

But that being said, I was laughing at Burke last night, and I very much believe his defenses over the years have been largely dependent on personnel on the field, more so than effective schemes.  Think about it.  His best year with us, 2011, Doug Brown was here leading the pack.  I really think his presence on the field along with Coach Harris (RIP) who I think was huge in giving that team cohesion to begin with, was what helped Burke's defenses play great in those days.  They significantly dropped off in the next 2 years.  Granted our offense getting worse had a lot to do with that as well, but I have seen defensive geniuses fall off before.  Greg Marshall certainly saw the game pass him by by the end of last year, and such may be happening with Burke after a bad year of head coaching as well.

[blitzmore]

Interesting how emotions always seem to override objectivity. How many of those stupid penalties did Burke take? Do you really expect a laced with CFL inexperienced players that have had little or no time playing together to all of a sudden jelly into a cohesive unit? Seriously? Credit to the Bombers and their outstanding preparation and performance, but do we expect that Burke defence to perform like that for the duration of the season?

pretty much