LIONS 38 ALOUETTES 17
Ok, just maybe the football gods aligned everything in the football universe for the BC Lions to break their seven game losing streak Friday night in Montreal. The Alouettes, pretty much as sure a thing at home as you can get, were not only without quarterback Anthony Calvillo, but they were giving young QB Chris Leak his first professional start. The Lions of course were a desperate team heading into Quebec and needed to take advantage of the missing Calvillo. Take advantage they did.
Of course Chris Leak wasn’t the only QB in the game under the microscope. BC’s Casey Printers was under pressure to get this offence going after a sputtering injury filled start to the year. Both QB’s struggled getting their teams going early, with the clubs exchanging field goals early. McCallum added a single and another field goal to make the score 7-3 until late in the half when Casey Printers connected on two big plays to Paris Jackson. He then went to Geroy Simon in the endzone for the touchdown with :34 seconds remaining in the half and the Lions led by 11 at the break.
Second half adjustments and production have been a problem for the Lions this season, and fans were left wondering how the team would fair when the emerged from the locker room. The quarter started off ominously as both Korey Banks (Dislocated finger) and Dante Marsh (Seperated shoulder) had to leave the game, and Leak had some success moving the ball in their absence. However, his promising drive would end badly as he threw a deep floater over the middle that gave safety Tad Crawford his first interception of the year. Crawford returned the ball 40 yards to midfield, but the Lions failed to get a first down, setting up a Paul McCallum punt. But the wily veteran kicker had other ideas as he pulled the ball down and ran 11 yards for a first down. That play would turn out to be huge, as Jamall Robertson rumbled the ball into the redzone with carries of 7 and 33 yards to set up a Printers touchdown pass to rookie Steven Black, who was making his first start for the Lions in place of the injured Darius Passsmore.
From there the wheels fell off for the Alouettes. Both teams would punt on their next possessions but the next time the Als touched the ball Leak was picked off by Korey Banks who had returned the the game. Travis Lulay replaced Casey Printers who left with a leg injury that was reported as “cramping”. His departure was “precautionary” with the big lead. The Lions started at the Montreal 31 yard line and Lulay hit Jamal Lee for a nice gain before handing off to Yonus Davis who ran the ball in for the score. On the Als next possession, Leak fumbled on a strange play where he caught his leg in the turf, stumbled and fumbled the ball into the arms of Banks who took it to the endzone to give the Lions a 35-3 lead just like that.
The Lions were dealt another injury blow in the 4th quarter when centre Dean Valli was rolled on from behind and suffered a broken right leg.
Overall the Lions offence looked creative and much more aggressive than in past weeks. Steven Black had a nice game, and leader like Simon, Jackson, Printers, Banks stepped up to set the tone. The addition of Joe McGrath at right tackle seemed to help stabilize the offensive line, which will see another change next week with Reid plugging in for Valli and the possible addition of Jesse Newman that the club announced Saturday.
Casey Printers finished the game 14/28 passing for 235 yards 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The Lions were also more successful on the ground with Jamal Robertson pounding out 63 yards and Jerome Messam getting three late touches for 26.
Quick Hits:
- The Lions announced the acquisition of non-import offensive lineman Jesse Newman from the Calgary Stampeders today. The club will give up a 2nd round pick in the 2011 draft and a fourth round pick in the 2012 draft. Newman should be a welcome addition to the offensive line, and is also a native of BC.
- Initial reports from Dante Marsh, according to The Provinces Lowell Ullrich yesterday indicate that Marsh says he’ll be ready to play next week after separating his shoulder Friday.
- Lions 2nd round pick and recent Green Bay Packers cut Shawn Gore was in the crowd watching his potential future teammates. The two sides are rumoured to be making progress on a contract for the young Canadian receiver who was at the game to catch up with Jamal Lee, James Yurichuk and Dan McCullough.
- Martell Mallett, Ricky Foley, Stefan Logan were all released by their respective NFL teams, and all are hoping to either be picked up or offered practice roster spots. Former Saskatchewan Roughrider DL Stevie Baggs was also released by the Arizona Cardinals, and like the former Lions is awaiting word on waivers and a possible PR spot.
BC Lions fans showed up at Empire Field hoping the bye week had worked out the issues the team had seen compiling a 1-6 record to start the year. In the end it was the Calgary Stampeders who looked rested and fine tuned, as they easily defeated the home side by a score of 48-35. The score flattered the Lions who scored two late touchdowns in garbage time.
The game started ominously for the Lions after the defence held the Stamps to a field goal attempt. Rob Maver’s attempt was short but was fumbled by the Leos’ Yonus Davis and recovered by the Stamps on the Lions 9 yard line where Burris would run it in for an early touchdown.
The Lions did respond on the next series, thanks in part to a great 44 yard leaping catch by Emmanuel Arceneaux to put the Lions in great field position. After Jamal Robertson took it to the one, the Lions needed three chances to get the ball into the endzone, with Casey Printers eventually breaking the plane of the goalline, confirmed by video review.
The Lions would take the lead on a Paul McCallum field goal, but it would be their last lead of the game, as the Stampeders started to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, a common theme for the Lions this season. Henry Burris, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for one himself, did his best to keep the Lions in the game in the first half. After an Emmanuel Arceneaux fumble at midfield, Burris tossed the first of his three interceptions in the game, setting up a Paul McCallum field goal. Burris promptly threw another to Dante Marsh and a great catch at the 1 yard line by Simon set up a Jamal Robertson touchdown late in the half, closing the score to 24-20. The Stamps would get a field goal late, aided by a horse collar penalty assessed to Tad Crawford and the Lions were actually in the game at the half, down by just seven points.
It was the same old story in the second half as the Stampeders made some adjustments and the Lions couldn’t adjust. Burris worked underneath routes to John Cornish and Joffrey Reynolds at will. On one drive in the half it was all Cornish all the time, and the Lions were at their mercy. The Stamps built up a big lead before the Lions scored twice late.
Printers was under constant pressure in the second half as the Lions offensive line continued to struggle, particularly up the middle of the line. The resulting sputtering of the offence kept the defence on the field far too long and Burris and the Stamps seemed to move the ball at will as the defence wore down.
Burris completed 20 of 34 passes for 276 yards in the night to go with his 2 TD’s, 1 rushing TD and 3 interceptions on the night. His counterpart Printers finished the game completing 10 of 26 passes for 191 yards. The Lions finished the game with a paltry 44 yards rushing, while the Stamps rolled to 215.
Quick Hits:
A moment of concern came in third quarter when BC receiver Darius Passmore crashed into one of the advertising signs along the sideline, landing on the sign in his neck area. Reports indicated a cut to the neck area of the Lions rookie receiver. After being worked on for some time by medical staffs from both teams, Passmore was taken off the field by stretcher, and and gave the crowd the the thumbs up sign. He was taken to hospital for further treatment and evaluation, but was proclaimed in good shape by Wally Buono on the post game show.
The Lions now travel to Montreal for the Labour Day weekend. It’s been reported that Als’ quarterback Anthony Calvillo will not be ready to play and is still recovering from a bruised sternum.
Vanya Tucherov for BCLionsDen.ca
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.
By Vanya Tucherov for BCLionsDen.ca
In the end, it was the same old story for the BC Lions. Decent defence, ineffective offence and untimely penalties all meant yet another loss for the Leos and their frustrated fans.
For the first half, the Lions stayed neck-and-neck with the Calgary Stampeders, even closing out the first quarter with a 10-7 edge over the visiting Stamps; but in the end, Travis Lulay was again mostly ineffective running the BC offense as the Lions fell at Empire, dropping their fifth successive match to fall to 1-5 on the season, with a match-up coming on Thursday against the West leading Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Lulay’s lack of consistency with the sputtering offence led him to be yanked in favour of Jarious Jackson after the first Lions possession of the fourth quarter. Lulay’s statistical line was again less than scintillating- 15 of 28 for 159 yards and an interception, while absorbing four sacks. Jackson did a credible job in relief, moving the Lions reasonably well and taking a number of shots down the field, demonstrating that his shoulder has recovered well enough from off-season surgery to let him throw deep. In doing so, he’s probably also made a strong suggestion as to who should be the starting pivot against the Green Riders.
The rushing game again failed to provide a counterpoint for the struggling Lulay, putting up only 58 yards on fourteen attempts. Still, this was another case of another case where the Lions simply failed to be effective enough with the ball to win the game.
The defence did a largely respectable job again, holding Calgary to under 350 yards of total offence, even with the Stamps dominating time of possession. Jackson engineered a late touchdown capped by a one-yard plunge by Jamel Robertson- his second of the night to provide the final scoring, leaving the Lions a 27-22 deficit.
The jury may remain out on the outcome of the Korey Banks-Nik Lewis war of words. During the week, Lewis took a shot at the BC secondary, asking if they had anyone who tackled above the knees, prompting Banks to respond that Lewis was “an idiot.” Statistically, Banks left no positive impressions on the official ledger, not being credited with any tackles while being flagged once for illegal contact on a reciever; but Lewis was less than effective either, although he led the Stampeders’ receiving corps with five catches, but for a mere 44 yards. The Lions’ leading tacklers, tellingly, were in the secondary- safety Tad Crawford with seven tackles and Dante Marsh with four, tying him with defensive end Steve Williams for second spot.
With the short week, there isn’t much time for the Lions to get deeply philosophical over the loss. It’s clear a third of the way through the season that things are not firing on all cylinders for the offence, and although the defence hasn’t been strong enough to steal any victories, it has kept the team close in every game except for the week two implosion against the Riders in the opener at Empire- and even in that, the Lions yielded fourteen fewer points than the defending champion Alouettes had the week preceding in Regina.
If there is to be any hope in salvaging the season, the offense needs to be scoring some points and sustaining enough drives to keep the defenders off the field long enough to catch their collective breath. Execution will need to be better- fifty-eight yards in penalties is still too many to take; and the old coaching cliche of ‘everyone needs to step up their game’ will again ring true. The offence looked less befuddled with Jarious Jackson at the helm, and if he can give the unit a little swagger by being able to move the ball, there may remain hope that the tide can turn and the Lions can once again roar.
Quick Hits:
The win was the 8th straight for Calgary coach John Hufnagel over his former boss Wall Buono. Buono has yet to beat his former assistant head to head. Paris Jackson returned to the game after getting his bell rung on a route over the middle in the endzone. Jackson laid on the turf for a moment, and a Stamps player waved out the Lions training staff. Jackson got to his feet before they could arrive, but weaved and wobbled his way to the sideline.
Lightning never strikes twice? Tell that to the BC Lions who for the second straight game saw a win slip away in the fourth quarter against a team that they really could have buried in the CFL West. Instead, they now share a 1-4 record with the Edmonton Eskimos, and with the next four games on their schedules against CFL powers, have dug themselves a pretty deep hole.
This game was as sloppy as the rain-soaked turf at Commonwealth Stadium as the Edmonton Eskimos eked out a 28-25 win over the BC Lions as the Lions were again victimized late.
Late turnovers were the killer again, with Travis Lulay picked off by the Esk’s Chris Thompson on another ill-advised throw just before the three-minute warning completing a momentum shift. On the Lions’ ensuing possession, Lulay lost the ball on a questionable fumble, the ball being ruled to have come out of his hand before his arm started forward in a throwing motion. This thwarted a burgeoning drive which had seen the Lions go 55 yards in five plays and position themselves at least well enough for Paul McCallum to attempt a game tying field goal in the final minute.
As with the other losses, there were bright spots in this, with Yonas Davis ripping off an 88-yard kickoff return keyed by a Jason Arakgi block after the Lions forced Edmonton to concede a safety, lifting the Lions to a 25-21 edge with under eight minutes to play. Davis Sanchez had a 54-yard interception return for a touchdown very similar to the one BC gave up late against the Argos last week.
Sanchez was by far the defensive player of the game for the Lions, with the touchdown off of the interception and a game-high nine tackles. The running game was improved again, racking up 163 yards on nineteen carries, with Jamal Robertson accounting for 84 of those on eight carries, among them a sixty-nine yard gallop which keyed a ninety-nine yard, five play drive culminating in Lulay finding pay dirt from nine yards away just in time for an electrical storm to knock out power in the stadium and lead to an early halftime observance/weather delay lasting forty minutes, leaving the Lions with a 10-6 advantage.
Unfortunately for the Lions, the power came back on, and both the lights and the Eskimos proved resurgent. After emerging from the locker room, the balance of the first half ended harmlessly, with Noel Prefontaine attempting and missing a 49-yard field goal.
The power was back on for Edmonton, though. Their first possession of the third quarter culminated in a Prefontaine FG from thirty-five yards. Lulay’s first of two interceptions to Thompson gave the Eskimos the ball back at the BC 42, and three plays later Ricky Ray found Kelly Campbell in the end zone for the major to put the Lions down 16-10 at the nine minute mark of the third, and the tide had again turned against the visitors.
The Lions would sputter deep in their own end of the field and concede two more points after a two-and-out from their own seven. Edmonton was unable to sustain offence either, setting the stage for Sanchez’ pick-six to open the final frame. The two-point conversion attempt would fail, with Paris Jackson catching Lulay’s toss but being ruled down after falling at the two.
Prefontaine would tally another three, making it 21-16 early in the fourth, but it was clear that Edmonton was finding their wheels at the same time the Lions were struggling mightily to keep theirs from all coming off.
Paul McCallum saw his consecutive field goal streak snapped, missing wide right from forty-five yards at 9:50 of the fourth, and it was just one more ominous sign that things weren’t going to end on a positive note for the Lions.
The Lions now face the monumental task of digging themselves out of this deep hole. Their next four games are against CFL powerhouses and if they continue to falter, this season could be over by the midway point.
Quick Hits:
The win by the Eskimos was their 100th all-time versus the Lions with 53 of them at Commonwealth Stadium.
Quotable:
“You’re in field goal range. If it’s not there, you’ve got to be smarter. You’ve got to take a quick look and throw it. If you don’t…” – Wally Buono
“The reality of our offence is, we make too many mistakes and our quarterback is too inconsistent.” – Wally Buono
Another week, another Lion undefeated skein snapped.
The BC faithful can take some positives away from this game- Travis Lulay went 26 for 40, throwing for 330 yards in his first career start; the Lions had some success running the ball; and the Lion defence played a solid game for most of the evening.
When it comes right down to it, though, it’s another game which could have been a victory but which ended up in the loss column as the Lions fell to the Toronto Argonauts by a 24-20 margin.
Byron Parker of the Double Blue put the dagger in the Lions’ heart just after the three minute warning, returning his interception of a Lulay pass intended for O’Neil Wilson forty-one yards for the touchdown. The ensuing conversion proved the final score as the resurgent Boatmen took their third successive win.
Much of the story for this from the British Columbia perspective will come down to sloppy execution and missed opportunities. Defencive end Brent Johnson had a major in his hands, but couldn’t hold on to the pass from Jarious Jackson with a touch over two minutes remaining in the first corner. Fortunately enough for Coach Buono’s boys, Jamal Robertson took the ball in on the next play from a yard out to spot the Leos a 7-3 lead.
The Lions would begin driving again on their next possession, but another dropped pass would end the drive, forcing them to settle for a Paul McCallum field goal from 45 yards out and a 10-3 cushion. The Argos would answer with a drive of their own, but Grant Shaw would hit the upright on a forty-five yard attempt with 5:38 to play in the half.
Eight plays, eighty-five yards, and three minutes and forty-seven seconds later, Robertson would take the ball into the end zone from thirteen yards out to put the Lions ahead 17-3.
Before the end of the half, the Argonauts would answer, with Cleo Lemon finding Jermaine Copeland for a twenty-one yard touchdown. The Lions would take the 17-10 edge to the locker room at the half.
Neither offensive coordinator will take pride in the third quarter, as the game wallowed around in a sloppy quagmire of fumbles, dropped passes, penalties and all-around poor execution. The Lions could have put the game all but out of reach when Robertson lost the handle at the Toronto two-yard line. BC would get points out of it, but instead of the seven it could have been, they’d settle for two after the defence shook Lemon sufficiently to knock him out for a play after the fumble and Jason Boreham of the Argos conceded the safety rather than kick from his own end zone. Emmanuel Arceneaux dropped a sure touchdown pass as well in behind the Toronto defenders that saw the Lions come away with no points on that drive.
McCallum would punt for the rouge to open the fourth quarter, making it 20-10 in favor of the Lions at that point. Toronto would drive, only to be turned back when Davis Sanchez intercepted Lemon in the end zone, but the tide was turning in favour of the Boatmen. On their next possession, Lemon would find an import slotback with a classically Canadian name- Brandon Rideau- in the end zone to close the gap to 20-17 and increase the pressure on the stagnating Lion offense.
It was here that Lulay’s comparable lack of experience would come under the microscope. Rather than taking the time to look for the open reciever, he seemed to be fixating on a target. The offensive line contributed to his struggles, as the Argo pass rush was increasingly able to get to Lulay, not giving him time to find check-off targets, but in the end, it was enough to give Parker the opportunity to step in front of the ball and hand Toronto the lead.
Lulay would get picked again on the next possession, with Toronto’s Willie Pile coming up with a ball intended for Geroy Simon that left the Lions running short on time. They’d get one final crack at the end zone, though, but the 58-yard desperation heave for Derick Armstrong came up about two yards short of changing the outcome.
Quick Hits:
Just over 19,000 fans attended the game on a humid night in Toronto…Lions/Argos owner David Braley posed for a picture before the game with the respective coaches of each of his teams…Argos rookie Cory Boyd rushed for 148 yards on 19 carries, his third-straight 100-yard effort…Travis Lulay finished 26-of-39 passing for 315 yards and two interceptions. The Lions lost cornerback Dante Marsh to a groin injury, and were forced to shift players around in the secondary when Anthony Reddick was also nicked up.
By Vanya Tucherov: BCLionsDen.ca
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.
Saksatchewan 37 Lions 18
Brian Wawryshyn, BCLionsDen.caIt was the first regular season CFL game played outdoors in Vancouver since Nov. 6, 1982, and while the atmosphere for the return to Empire Stadium was outstanding, the Lions themselves showed they have a lot of work to do if they hope to contend with the big boys on the CFL’s west division.
BC had no answers for Saskatchewan’s defence who pressured the Lions quarterbacks at will, exposing an inexperienced offensive line that is going to have to get better if Casey Printers, Travis Lulay and Jarious Jackson want to finish this season on the active roster and not the injured list. Printers left the game just before the half as a result of a bruised or strained quad muscle trying to evade the pressure of Riders rookie Brent Hawkins.
The constant pressure rendered the Lions offense useless, with quarterbacks and receivers having no time to make reads or run their routes. The running game had flashes os success, but was otherwise ineffective with JamallRobertson netting just 54 yards on 10 carries. Withthe Riders offensive line firing on all cylinders, Durant was able to findreceivers seemingly at will on second down, and the green machine churned out 188 yards along the ground, 93 of them going to Wes Cates.
When the Lions weren’t allowing pressure, they were taking penalties. 16 all together on the night for 116 yards.
Withthe Lions defence on the field so much, they were worn down in the second half, and the Riders had no problem putting together drives to close out the game. Their defence sealed the deal with another blindside hit on Lulay who fumbled, giving the Riders an easy touchdown.
Slotback Geroy Simon was one of the lone bright spots for the Leos, scoring both Lions touchdowns on a 32-yard pass from Printers in the first quarter, then gave the faithful something to cheer for connecting with Lulay on a 92-yard play when the game was already decided.
Paul McCallum hit on a 16-yard field goal and added a 45-yard single, while also coming up short on a fake punt that exposed the kicker’s lack of blinding speed.
The Lions had few wrinkles in their offense to throw at the Riders, prompting Dean Valli to say in a Lowell Ullrich piece that “They know what we’re going to do.” That’s not a ringing endorsement of the offensive game plan that at this time of year, should have had the Riders guessing. The talents of Jamal Lee and Andrew Harris are sparingly used, and if these players are going to have an impact, the Lions have to give them chances to do so.
Once again the team had trouble stopping the run. Possibly a product of being worn out in the second half, but on the last couple Rider drives of the game, they ran the ball down the Lions throats.
Things won’t get any easier for the Lions as they next take the field on Friday, July 16th at 7:00pm versus the Grey Cup Champion Montreal Alouettes.
Quick Hits:
The game was a sellout, at 27,528 fans…The Lions Brent Johnson played in his 152nd consecutive game…The atmosphere at Empire Field was fantastic, the tailgate parties were outstanding and had little to no issues, but inside some work needs to be done to address the concession lines. Reports of 30 to 45 minutes in the beer lineups had fans thirsty and cranky, and there were no options for refreshments in the stands. Fans on the west side of the stadium who were baking in the sun in the first half had few options but to brave the lineups and miss large chunks of the game if they wanted anything. All part of the learning process that comes from a temporary facility, and hopefully all involved can work out some of the kinks in time for Friday.
On Sunday in Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium, the BC Lions kicked off their 2010 campaign the right way, riding the feet of Jamal Robertson and Paul McCallum to a 25-10 win over the Eskimos. The new Lion Robertson racked up 168 yards and the team’s only touchdown, while elder statesman McCallum kicked the conversion and six field goals to account for the team’s tallies.
Robertson and McCallum were far from the only bright spots for the Leos.
Newcomer Derick Armstrong led the recieving corps, catching six passes for 73 yards while Geroy Simon and Paris Jackson snagged four apiece for 59 and 58 years respectively. The Lion defence, though, were the difference in the game, holding the Esks in check for most of the game.
On the opening drive, Edmonton seemed to be testing rookie defensive back Stanley Franks, but a Korey Banks forced fumble snuffed out the Eskimos’ hopes to capitalize early– and seemed to serve to ignite the Lion defence. The Leo stalwarts would pressure Edmonton quarterback Rickey Ray, racking up five sacks on the night- two by Banks and one each by Anton McKenzie, Aaron Hunt and Solomon Elimimian.
Keron Williams would recover the Ray fumble forced by Banks on the opening drive, turning the Esks away at the one-yard line. Between the resolute stands of the Lion D and McCallum’s feet, the BC offense was afforded the opportunity to find its footing, with McCallum accounting for the only scoring on his first of the night, a 44-yard field goal in the expiring seconds of the opening frame.
McCallum would take the second tally as well, striking from fifty yards to spot the Lions a 6-0 cushion, which would grow to 13 with 6:35 remaining in the half on a 61-yard gallop for the major from Robertson, who was turned loose by a great block from Jon Hameister-Reis.
Edmonton would answer with just under two minutes remaining in the half, with Arkee Whitlock making it into the end zone from four yards out.
McCallum would respond with his third field goal of the evening in the last half minute of play, putting the score at the half at 16-7 in favour of the visitors.
If the Lion offense never got fully untracked in the game, it didn’t particularly matter, as the defence and special teams were up to the test. Five minutes into the third quarter, the Esks would tally three more points on a Noel Prefontaine field goal from thirty yards out, but that would be all the scoring Edmonton could muster. McCallum wasn’t done for the Lions, though, registering two more FGs in the quarter, from 28 and 18 yards, before capping the scoring with just under three and a half minutes remaining in the final frame to hand the Lions the final margin of victory.
