LIONS COACH CLAYBROOKS GETS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
The B.C. Lions are still two games from the end of a lost season, but the post-mortems are well underway.
On Saturday, minutes after the Lions lost in Edmonton and were eliminated from the CFL playoff chase and QB Mike Reilly was gone with a broken left wrist, GM Ed Hervey praised rookie head coach DeVone Claybrooks for the job he did this season under trying circumstances.
“We were the only team that changed our entire roster with a new coaching staff, with a rookie coach and all while trying to establish a culture and continuity,” said Hervey.
“Early in the season there were a lot of trying times, but the season waits for no one. And I think he has done an excellent job.”
Claybrooks said the season was a learning experience and he had support from Hervey even after the team bottomed out at 1-10.
“We were hanging together. There was no finger-pointing,” said Claybrooks.
“When it’s like that, eventually you figure you will get it right. You trust the scheme and your players. He said, ‘I got your back, we’re going to ride this thing out.’”
The Eskimos, who took a whopping 14 penalties against B.C. on Saturday, won’t be well served by their trademark lack of discipline in a playoff game.
They’re likely the crossover team and would head to Montreal for the East Division semifinal. The Als have taken just 133 penalties this year, 49 fewer than the Eskimos, and have surrendered 1,158 yards, 365 fewer than Edmonton.
That drew the attention of a few Eskimos, including kicker Sean Whyte.
“I’ve been preaching all year that our discipline has to be better. Even (Saturday), I think the score didn’t have to be that close. Our discipline has to be better and we have to play four quarters, especially against teams like Montreal and Hamilton, who don’t take penalties.”
Saskatchewan defensive end Charleston Hughes had a quiet outing against Calgary last week with just two tackles and no sacks. He still leads the CFL with 15 sacks, three better than Hamilton’s Ja’Gared Davis.
With three games to play, Hughes can obviously reach his pre-season goal of 20.
The record for single-season sacks is 26.5, set by the late James (Quick) Parker in 1984 with the B.C. Lions.
It appears there will be player combines in seven countries during a busy off-season on the CFL 2.0 front.
Combines have already been announced for Mexico City; Paris; Florence, Italy; and Bristol, England. It’s believed the other three will be held in Finland, Germany and Japan.
Players from each of those events will attend the international combine set for Toronto in March with an international draft to follow, as well as the usual Canadian college draft.
The league will be hiring a director of global scouting to oversee the burgeoning player-evaluation workload. British American Football Association officials said their combine in Bristol is open to “elite performers” between the ages of 22 and 29 and players must meet “minimum standards” that will be released soon.
To help international players meet those standards and perform at their best at the combines, the league has produced an instructional video and a threemonth training program.
The CFL’s trade deadline came and went on Oct. 9 with exactly one swap: QB Zach Collaros moved from Toronto to Winnipeg. At least one GM thinks the lack of movement has everything to do with the timing of the deadline and he plans to raise the issue with the CFL.
He suggested moving the deadline from a Wednesday back to a Monday. That would give a traded player a better chance at playing for his new team that week.
They said it:
■“You don’t claim to have all the answers as the head coach. I tell my players all the time, I’m never going to tell you a lie. If I don’t have the answer, I’m going to find out and I’m going to get back to you.” — Claybrooks on the importance of honesty.
■“The mental reps I got last year and the fact that, when my number was called last year, whether it was scrub time or the game against Montreal when we had the playoffs locked up, I was out there playing confident and having fun, not putting too much pressure on myself and just playing football, going out there to do what I’ve been doing since I was a kid.” — Hamilton QB Dane Evans on his success this year.