Lions toothless offence results in another Empire Field loss.
Earlier this week, Lion centre Angus Reid noted on his Twitter feed that he had never lost to the Montreal Alouettes at home over the course of the ten years of his career. He can no longer make that statement after the Lions fell to the Als this evening at Empire Field to fall to 1-2 on the young season before heading East for a road tussle against the Toronto Argonauts.
If there are bright points for the Lions to pick out of tonight’s 16-12 debacle, they would be the solid defensive performances turned in by veteran Korey Banks and newcomer Solomon Elimimian, and Jamal Robertson’s 15-yard touchdown catch just before the end of the first half; with an honourable mention to the security staff for effectively breaking through a breakdown in coverage to corral the rogue streaker after Robertson’s fumble was covered by Damane Duckett near midfield with about two minutes left in the third quarter.
As a whole, the Lions defence performed reasonably enough, keeping the Alouettes from being able to crow after punching the ball into the end zone, with only Als’ kicker Damon Duval managing to register points for a Montreal team which had tallied 84 through the first two weeks of the season. Duval registered four field goals and a pair of rouges, but failed to connect on two more, missing wide (left, I think) from forty yards and ringing one off the uprights from forty-seven. Montreal’s other points came on a safety conceded by Paul McCallum in the first half.
Duval would add the final points after ringing the uprights yet again, banking one in off of the left post the likes of which are more frequently seen from the Sedin brothers in Vancouver.
That wasn’t the only resemblance to a Canucks’ game in the evening. The first quarter closed with a score more fitting a hockey tally, with the Lions’ trailing 4-2 after the frame on Duval’s first field goal and single. He also conceded a safety touch after the Lions successfully held the Als to a three-and-out after McCallum successfully angled a punt deep which Montreal’s Tim Maypray took out of bounds at the six-yard-line.
McCallum would return the two points early in the second quarter, with Casey Printers’ TD toss to Robertson rounding out the scoring in the opening half. The Lions seemed to be sleepwalking through the half until the final drive, with Geroy Simon making three of his five catches for 55 yards.
Statistically, the Lions looked better with the ball in the second half, but were still unable to mount significant sustained drives. The offensive line looked shaky at best throughout the game. Even though they only yielded a single sack, the Alouettes were able to pressure Printers regularly. Perhaps due to the line’s rocky performance, the Lions almost completely abdicated the running game, managing only seven yards on the ground on nine rushes.
Printers didn’t have a bad game, even though he was knocked around quite a bit. He ended up with 253 yards on the night, going 20-for-40, with the highlights coming on the touchdown and a scrambly 23-yard completion to Derick Armstrong down to the Montreal 14-yard line. After stalling, the drive would culminate in the McCallum field goal which would prove the final points on the evening for the Lions.
Quick Hits:
The “Beer snake” phenomenon hit Empire Field Saturday, and security forces and police were quick to snuff it out. Seriously Lions fans we can come up with something better than that. The beer cups raining down on fans were uncalled for and kudos for the PNE for the way they handled it despite the repeated attempts…The pre game tailgate parties were great once again and more fans and families seem to be catching on to the fun proving that tailgaters are not the evil, riot causing entity that opposing groups made them out to be.
