Riders 37 Lions 13 – What more can we say?
The good news for the BC Lions may be that they won’t lose next week.
Of course, that’s only certain because they don’t return to action until the 27th against the West leading Calgary Stampeders.
Again, the story of the Leos’ loss strikes up a familiar refrain: too many penalties, a porous offensive line, turnovers at particularly inopportune moments, and an anaemic offense which was unable to reliably move the ball for much of the game- and unable to capitalize on the few chances where they did get a little wind in their sails.
If it weren’t for Yonus Davis and his 51-yard touchdown run on the first offensive play of the third quarter for the Lions, the sole tallies for the Lions in the 37-13 loss would have been a pair of Paul McCallum field goals in the opening frame.
It gets harder and harder as the loss skein stretches to find new bright spots. Davis has to be one. Not only did he score the only BC major, but he led the team in rushing yardage, tying with Jamal Robertson with 84 yards on the ground. Davis also had a strong night on special teams, logging 133 yards in kick returns and an additional 28 in punt returns.
Ryan Phillips continued his statistically unlikely domination of Darian Durant, picking off two passes and raising his career total to 13 of his 24 interceptions coming from Durant throws, according to the TSN broadcast.
The bright spots end there. After looking good in relief last week against Calgary, Jarious Jackson was, well, as ineffective as anyone else at pivot behind the Lions O-line this year. Worse, although he had success on longer routes last week against the Stamps, he didn’t have a completion of twenty or more yards until after the game was out of reach, and ended up 18 of 31 for 194 yards and two interceptions against what had been the league’s least effective pass defence. He also absorbed five sacks.
Thirteen accepted penalties against the Lions handed the Riders 144 yards worth of field position. This sloppy execution is bad enough were it to happen to a team otherwise executing (Sasketchewan was flagged 14 times for 125 yards), but particularly when the offensive unit can’t give the defence time to catch their collective breaths it leads to vulnerabilities and poor field position.
It will be interesting to see what the bye week does to the Lions personnel, particularly as NFL teams get through their first two weeks of exhibitions and may be sending some players packing; and plenty of questions which might be answered. Could there be diamonds in the rough to bolster the shaky offensive line? Might the continued stagnation finally force the Lions organization to part ways with offensive coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine?
Time will tell, but it’s getting harder and harder for the orange-and-black faithful to watch the drubbings week after week.
Quick Hits:
Many comments on the post-game show indicated that the Lions didn’t try and go deep often. Well, it’s tough to go deep when you’re quarterback is running for his life. Routes can’t develop, the QB can’t check off his receivers, and the whole play breaks down. Is it safe to say Darian Durant has arrived? The Rider QB looks to be easily the best in the league. His passes are crisp and accurate and when his blocking breaks down he just runs for the first down…One could also say the same for the Rider receivers, who constantly get open on 2nd and long. Adny Fantuz leads the CFL with 16 2nd down catches for first downs.
