7/7/2007 11:51:54 PM
B.C. Vs Edmonton #1
Needless to say, it was a long trip back. After a showing like that you have a long time to think about what went wrong, why it went wrong, how much of it was your fault, and what you would change if you had it to do over again. I’ve always found it interesting, how many things you can find that occur throughout the course of a game that you can trace back to your own play. It’s our nature to be critical of ourselves and to expect greatness from ourselves on each and every play, we don’t live with shame very well, and embarrassment doesn’t take to easily either. I play through the game in its entirety in my mind several times from the stadium back to the hotel and then from the hotel to the airport, airport to meetings. Each time I’m playing the scenarios out, I’m trying to decide if there was more that I could do on each play for it to be as successful as possible. Could I have broken that tackle? Was that the best angle to take on that route? Would a different hand placement have helped me catch that ball in stride versus slowing for it? All of these questions and more are raised, debated and then ultimately answered on film and through our grade out sheets issued by our position coaches.
The film itself is a wonderful tool because it both humbles you as a player and gives you new hope at the same time. Even on your best day where you’re riding high because of your performance the day before, the tape will reveal some things that you could have done better. And when you feel like all is lost and you were outplayed or outmatched, the eye in the sky shows signs that you are closer to success than you thought previously. This game was no different, it wasn’t as bad as it felt but it certainly wasn’t where it needs to be in order to get a win in a place like Vancouver.
In the first half it felt as if we were dominant, and able to do whatever we wanted on the field, yet due to penalties and lapses in concentration we were not able to maximize our opportunities into major scores and that hurt us in the long run. Against a quality team like the B.C. Lions, the volume of mistakes that we made was simply too much for us to overcome. At home perhaps, but not on the road…on the road you need as close to perfection as is humanly possible with all of the other outlying factors playing in. In the second half I felt that the penalties we were inflicting upon ourselves seemed to take some of the wind out of our sails and prevented us from playing loose.
I can’t take anything away from the Lions because like I said, I’ve never seen a true champion lay down and let you take anything from him, and they certainly didn’t either. They played the game efficiently, and capitalized on our mistakes. That being said, I definitely look forward to playing them again.
On to the new task at hand, Winnipeg. If I recall correctly… we seem to have unfinished business. ©

KP8