Quote:
Originally Posted by CoryB
Admittedly I do not know a lot about kicking. Never been a kicker myself. My daughter though wanted to play keeper in soccer and not having someone to work with her I spent time practicing her kicks with her. Sure soccer is a little different as the ball is pretty uniform. Over the years though I learned she had figured out how to adjust her contact with the ball to influence the kick. Over time she got fairly consistent with her kicking. And over time I learned to read a lot about how the ball is in the air after being kicked.
Based on all that I can tell you that even outside of crunch situations Legghio is fairly inconsistent in his kicks. It is almost as if he hasn't developed the level of awareness of how to influence the kick with his foot. And that comes from spending the season watching him, not just one game. Sure kicking at the level he does takes skill but it is the refinement of that skill that is missing.
As for the Grey Cup loss and all the dynasty talk before the game, people seem to have gotten very foggy memories of last year's Grey Cup game where the Bombers got taken to overtime and were on the verge of losing the game before an unlikely interception won them the game. This whole seasons was a lot of extremely close games that the Bombers pulled out of the fire to secure a win. Sure there was injuries, etc in the Grey Cup but this went beyond that though. It doesn't take away though Collaros, Jeffcoat and Jeferson are all likely future Hall of Fame players.
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I wouldn't say they were on the verge of losing the game. The Bombers were winning by 8 points so the best Hamilton would have done was tie the game assuming they could even complete the 2-point convert (50-50 at best).
Legghio costs the Bombers yardage on his kickoffs. He would kick the ball to the Toronto 15 or 20 yard line and the Argos would return the ball to the 45 or so. Meanwhile, the Argos kicker would kick the ball to the Bombers 5 yard line or goal line and the Bombers would often only return the ball to around the 30 yard line. Losing that much field position over the course of the game is costly.
Buck's play-calling wasn't very good either. Besides the obvious brutal call to put in Prokop and have him pass an underthrown ball to be intercepted (after Legghio had run the ball 13 yards on the previous play no less), it appeared Buck was content with sticking to slower developing plays for intermediate passes despite the fact Collaros was facing tremendous pressure in the second half. He should have mixed in some quick hitters (screens, short pass to the flats) where Zach would just take a few steps back and release the ball.
I also thought it was a bad call to go with the pass on second and 5 prior to the blocked field goal. Besides the fact that the Bombers would have likely moved the ball at least few yards closer - possibly 5 or more yards setting up a first down and more plays afterwards to increase the chances of a successful field goal - the incomplete pass resulted in 50 seconds remaining on the clock. Even if they Bombers had completed the field goal, the Argos would have the ball at the 40 yard line and would have had 45 seconds or so to get the ball in field goal range. Likely time for 6 or so plays to move the ball 35 - 40 yards for a mid-range field goal.
Turning point for me was the missed tackle for a sack and 20 yard run by Kelly on second and 15 with 5:30 left in the game. If the sack was made, the Argos are out of field goal range and are forced to punt. Completely changes the playcalling and I think the Bombers get enough first downs and burn off enough clock to prevent the Argos from kicking 2 field goals in the final minutes of the game. I don't see Kelly marching the Argos down the field for a TD.
Losing Jeffcoat partway through the game definitely hurt and I don't think that Kelly is able to pull off that 15 yard run if he is in there.
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