The Edmonton Eskimos are taking the 2011 CFL Season by storm. A perfect 4-0 record to start the season has everyone talking. Rookie Head Coach Kavis Reed has gotten the very best out of his players, and offensive coordinator Marcus Crandell has helped rejuvenate quarterback Ricky Ray’s career and taken him out of the dark days of Kevin Strasser. While we have only played four weeks in the season, and the Eskimos will eventually lose some games, it still proves one thing when it comes to the CFL, and that is, it’s an unpredictable field.

While Strasser is now off ruining an offence in Oregon City, coaching prep league, former CFL quarterback Marcus Crandell has taken the reigns and ran with them. For the first time since the 2008 season, Ricky Ray looks comfortable back in the pocket and it has showed in his play. Throughout the first four weeks of the season, Ray has thrown for 1,231 yards along with eight touchdowns and just a single interception. An interception he had not thrown until this past week in a 24-19 win over the Calgary Stampeders. It has been a great start to a season that Ray desperately needed to have to show that he is still worth every penny the Eskimos will pay him for.

The Eskimos play host to the Toronto Argonauts on Friday night, and while the Argos haven’t exactly impressed anybody in four weeks, it will provide a test for Ray and the Eskimos offence. In 11 previous meetings against the Argonauts, Ray has thrown for just over 2,700 yards with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions, and no multi-touchdown games.

While the Eskimos are the pinnacle team in the Canadian Football League right now, getting equally as much talk is the struggling BC Lions. The Lions are off to statistically their worst start to a season since 1996, although that could still be argued depending on how their next four games go. Last season the team started off the year with a record of 1-7 before winning their second game on Labour Day weekend.

In four weeks, Lions starting running back Jamal Robertson has seen the ball just 21 times on hand-offs out of the backfield. 14 of those 21 hand-offs came in the club’s last game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Robertson accounted for 72 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the 39-31 loss to the Tiger-Cats. It’s almost as if running the ball actually worked. But, how could that be possible after only giving a player seven carries in the first three games of the season? Ponder that one.

Other than their Week 3 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos where they scored just 17 points, the BC Lions have had no issues in putting up points on the board. They have scored the third most points in the CFL throughout the first four weeks, trailing the division leading Edmonton Eskimos, as well as the Montreal Alouettes. The issue of course lies in points allowed, where the Lions have given up 136 of them. Still not enough for the top spot in that category however, as the Roughriders have allowed 138 points. But, they have a win. The Lions do not. So, what exactly is the remedy for a BC Lions win in 2011?

Perhaps it’s the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Buck Pierce is coming off quite possibly his very best game as a CFL quarterback after coming from behind to beat the Toronto Argonauts 33-24 last week. Outside of that game, the Bombers have shown no flashes of being a force on offence. However, when you watch the Bombers play, there is something to be concerned about, and that is their outstanding pass rush. While the Lions have had no real issues in protecting Travis Lulay, having allowed just five sacks so far in 2011, they will have to be on their toes on Thursday in Winnipeg. The Bombers possess the league’s leading sack master in Odell Willis, and throughout the first four weeks he is on pace to break an all-time record with 27 sacks.

To grab their first win of the season, the Lions will need to disrupt Buck Pierce early and often and force him into making mistakes and not letting him get into a groove. This game will have some extra emotion in it, after Blue Bombers defensive line and assistant head coach Richard Harris passed away earlier in the week after being rushed to hospital. Harris spent time with the BC Lions as well, holding the team’s defensive line coaching position for four seasons, and coaching under Wally Buono for his final two years with the Lions in 2003 and 2004.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are finally into the win column in 2011. After upsetting the Montreal Alouettes on the road in Week 4, the Riders appear to have kicked off their 2011 season. And just in time too. The Riders now have two games at home against the Calgary Stampeders, with a road game splitting up the two meetings in Vancouver next Friday against the Lions. The good news about being 1-3 for the Riders is that only one of those losses came against a West Division team. That being a loss to the Edmonton Eskimos back in the first week of the season.

Through three games, it was drop back and pass mode for Ricky Ray, Anthony Calvillo and Kevin Glenn, as the three quarterbacks tore up the Riders defence with ease. Finally something changed in the gameplan of defensive coordinator Richie Hall, and they were able to pressure Calvillo into some early bad throws. So much so, that they even knocked the 18 year pivot out of the game, forcing back-up Adrian McPherson to come in for the remainder of the game. While injuries are not fun to see happen, it was a breath of fresh air for the Riders defence to be able to put the heat on a quarterback.

Much like the genius plan for Jamal Robertson to finally see the ball more than three times in a game, it was Darian Durant who kept the Riders offence going at times by using his legs to run the ball. Something that had been a rare feat throughout the first three games played. After rushing for just 40 yards in three weeks, Durant took off seven times in the game, accounting for 71 yards along the way. Again, like Chapdelaine in BC, we aren’t exactly sure what light clicked on in Doug Berry’s head that made it a priority to get Durant moving around. In two years as the team’s starter, Durant ran the ball 140 times for 1,119 yards.

This week, the Riders welcome the bitter rival. Henry Burris and the Calgary Stampeders are in town, and whenever these two teams get together for a game, everyone gets fired up. They have played in the past two West Division Final games, with the Riders being the victors in both games, and the Stamps know that in order to get back to the Grey Cup, they are going to have to shed the demon that has been the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The Stamps come into this game struggling on all accounts offensively. Henry Burris has looked off and nowhere near the form that made him the 2010 CFL’s Most Outstanding Player. Running back Joffrey Reynolds has seen the ball just 35 times, which is the second fewest carries for a starting running back, next to the Lions Jamal Robertson. Reynolds has already been vocal about wanting to get the ball more, and infact did this past week against the Eskimos. One more carry than the previous game, a 21-20 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Hey, one is more, right? After carrying the ball 12 times in the opening week loss to the Toronto Argonauts, Reynolds has not had double digits in carries since. He has also not recorded over 50 yards on the ground since that game. It has instead been back-up running back Jon Cornish who has made the early season plays out of the backfield. Cornish has one rushing touchdown to go with two receiving touchdowns, including a highlight reel play against the Eskimos where he avoided tacklers and dove to reach across the goal line for the touchdown.

The Stamps and Riders wrap up Week 5 on Saturday night in Regina.

Follow Tyler Bieber on Twitter @CFLDaily for a wide range of CFL related news.

Apologies to Vanya Tucherov for the late posting of this recap. I was without internet for a few days while I moved. It may be old news now but as we attempt to be your fan blog for BC Lions coverage, it still needs to be posted.

After a lacklustre first half which saw the Calgary Stampeders score a last second touchdown to take a 7-6 edge into the locker room, the BC Lions came out and went toe-to-toe with the Stamps, with the Lions tallying four second half touchdowns to Calgary’s three and a pair of Rene Parades field goals, leaving the visitors to take the 34-32 victory over the Leos at Empire Field.

While the first half last week in Montreal saw the BC secondary victimized, this week, neither side could get the offense untracked, resulting in an ugly, sloppy display from both sides with Travis Lulay only managing three completions for 25 total yards passing, with the rushing attack equally anaemic, mustering a total of 17 yards- two rushing losses and a Lulay keeper for 19 yards. Lions receivers dropped five passes in the half, and Lulay missed several of them on mid- to long-range seam routes.

The second half, both offenses made adjustments, while the defences suddenly became inept. The half opened with Henry Burris leading the Stamps down the field, and capped with a Burris to Jon Cornish touchdown. Not to be outdone, Lulay and his recievers started to find ways to hook up, finding non-import reciever Akeem Foster with the 54-yard strike for the major to bring the Lions back to within one after the McCallum conversion.

Burris would bring Calgary right back to tally another TD, this time finding Landan Talley from 16 yards out to stretch the lead back to eight points. Matching the Stamps drive for drive, Lulay brought the Lions back to match, sharing the load between Andrew Harris and Shawn Gore, with Gore doing the honours from eleven yards out.

Not to be outdone, it was Burris again, taking only three plays to take Calgary back to paydirt, connecting with Nik Lewis on a 61-yard strike to restore the lead at eight to close out the third quarter.

Opening the fourth, the Lion offense missed a step, going two-and-out on their opening possession, but the defence got good pressure on Burris and got the ball back following a pair of Joffrey Reynolds runs. Lulay found Geroy Simon for 30 yards on the first play of the ensuing possession, then S. J. Black for another eight down to the Calgary 17 yard line. Jamal Robertson carried for three yards, and Tim Brown took the ball in from six yards out on what looked like a broken option pitch play. The Lions went for the two-point conversion, but missed, with a Lulay pass falling just off the fingertips of Jamal Robertson.

Stanley Franks would snare the third interception of Burris on the first play from scrimmage after the touchdown, but the Lions would prove unable to capitalize, going two-and-out again.

Although the Lions special teams unit managed to hold the Stamps deep in their own end on the ensuing punt, the run defence would look a little suspect, giving up a 19 yard gallop to Cornish, followed by Burris completions of fifteen yards apiece to Romby Bryant and Talley before another pair of runs by Larry Taylor and Cornish again would set up the first of Parades’ field goals to stretch the lead back to five points.

Lulay would get victimized for the second time on the evening, with Keon Raymond snagging the errant pass and returning it 24 yards before being brought down by Jon Hameister-Ries. The defence would hold, with Aaron Hunt coming up with the big sack on Burris on second-and-two from the 14, forcing the Stamps to settle for another field goal and an eight point edge with just over two minutes remaining.

The Lions weren’t ready to surrender the field yet in front of the opening night crowd at Empire, with Lulay hitting Dobson Collins for a 45 yard gain, followed by quick strikes to Gore and Simon of eleven and ten yards respectively to take the ball inside the Calgary 10. After an illegal contact flag on Calgary’s Robert McCune, Lulay took the ball in himself from five yards out, diving to break the plane of the end zone on a scramble to his right, bringing the Lions back to within two points with just over a minute remaining.

When the attempted conversion was dropped Geroy Simon, it looked as if the night might be over, but fate showed that there is a reason games are played until the final gun regardless of how bleak the outcome may seem. With fifty-nine seconds remaining and no timeouts available, it looked as if the Stampeders would just run out the clock- but Burris handoff to Reynolds on first down was about eighteen inches too high, resulting in a loose ball recovered by the Lions Solomon Elimimian at the BC 49 with 55 ticks left. A run, an incompletion, and two short passes later, the Lions had moved to the Calgary 48, but a final incompletion left them facing third-and-8 there, down two points. Paul McCallum came on to attempt the 55-yard field goal into the wind, but left it short and to the right, and keeping the confines of Empire Field not so friendly to the homestanding Lions, who now drop to 3-7 at the facility.

Quick Hits:

• No one stands out as exceptional on the offensive side of the ball. Travis Lulay’s line for the evening: 17 of 39 for 279 yards and 2 TDs, but also a pair of interceptions. He was also the only Lion to carry the ball more than three times or net more than ten yards, carrying four times for 28 yards and a touchdown.
• Among the receiving corps, Shawn Gore shows the benefits of the tutelage he’s been getting from Superman, catching seven balls for 96 yards, while Andrew Harris and Akeem Foster made their solitary catches count, each earning a major- Foster from 54 yards, Harris from 11.
• On the defensive side, defensive tackle Eric Taylor led the way with eight tackles and a sack, while Solomon Elimimian had five and was credited with the fumble recovery which made the last-ditch McCallum try possible. Adam Leonard and Dante Marsh also had fumble recoveries; while Marsh, Ryan Phillips and Stanley Franks had interceptions on the night and Aaron Hunt had the other sack. Special teams were not as strong as last week, yielding over two hundred return yards- 150 to Talley on five kick returns.
• This week the Lions travel to Edmonton to take on the Eskimos on Saturday. Edmonton, is the surprise of the early CFL season and the hottest team in the west, defeating Saskatchewan and Hamilton to open their season 2-0.

BCLionsDen.ca is thrilled to welcome Tyler Bieber to our group of bloggers. Tyler is a really bright football fan who is a mastermind with stats in addition to possessing a great passion and knowledge of the game. Tyler will be writing a column for the site entitled Eye On The West and after as wild week one to kick off the 2011 CFL season,we present his first contribution

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It was an opening week unlike any other in the CFL’s West Division. The Edmonton Eskimos were the only team to come up with a win in the opening week, as they beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders in dominating fashion, 42-28. It was the first time since the 2004 season that so few teams in the West won a Week 1 game. Infact, in that 2004 season, none of the West Division teams won a game in the first week.

They proved to be the storm after the storm. After a slight delay due to a prairie hailstorm, Eskimos Head Coach Kavis Reed said it best when TSN showed his pre-game speech. “No one will see you coming”, said Reed to his team just before kickoff. Certainly none of the 30,000 fans at Mosaic Stadium dawning the green and white could have envisioned a worse start for their Roughriders. Following a two and out on their first possession, the Eskimos rattled off five straight scoring drives, adding three touchdowns and two field goals. They lead 27-10 late in the first half, before Darian Durant found a rhythm with his offence and brought it within seven points at the half.

That was as close as the Riders would get, as the Eskimos outscored them 15-7 in the second half. Eskimos receiver Jason Barnes had two touchdown receptions on his first two catches in the first quarter to really stun the Riders. Ricky Ray had three touchdown passes, and never had to feel overly pressured, thanks in part to his offensive line. The Eskimos allowed just one sack from Riders LB Barrin Simpson, and despite about eight hits in total on Ray, the veteran pivot never batted an eye on the way to the big win.

The Riders were without Chris McKenzie at the halfback position, and Tad Kornegay at the cornerback position, and it showed. John Eubanks replaced McKenzie, and on two occasions was not even close to covering his man for two Edmonton touchdowns. Quarterback Darian Durant was at one point 15/16 passing with a touchdown, but ended up going 12/21 thereafter, with two interceptions. It wasn’t exactly the start that new head coach Greg Marshall had envisioned, and it does not get any easier for the club, as they host the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday. The Eskimos will play in their home opener in Week 2, hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on the second half of a Saturday doubleheader.

The BC Lions and Montreal Alouettes played the first of their season opening/ending series on Thursday, kicking off the 2011 season. It seemed that the Lions played this game as if it was the entire 2010 season combined in one game. A slow start, a bruising start, they then found some momentum, and nearly got a win. The Lions got down quickly, 24-3, and managed to get it to 27-10 at the half. After some key halftime adjustments, the team outscored the Alouettes 16-3 in the second half, coming up one drive short of stealing a win in Montreal, losing 30-26.

Lions quarterback Travis Lulay threw 45 passes in the game, completing 26 of them. They had no time to establish a ground game, as after getting down at the half, Lions running back Jamal Robertson finished with just one carry for 12 yards. Defensive end Keron Williams had a strong game, despite only recording three tackles in the game, he was constantly after Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo, accounting for three QB hurries in the game. Hurries are defined as pressuring a quarterback to throw a ball too early, forcing him out of the pocket, or drawing a holding penalty.

When you play the BC Lions, you get the oldest receiver in the game, Geroy Simon. Still one of the top ten receivers in the game, Simon passed the retired Terry Vaughn for fourth place on the all-time receiving yards list with his first reception on Thursday. Simon will chase down Darren Flutie (3rd), Allen Pitts (2nd) and finally Milt Stegall for the all-time record. Simon entered the season just over 1400 yards away from passing Stegall, so it is unlikely that he will make the record in 2011, however if he has games like Week One, where he had 115 yards, he just may do it.

The Calgary Stampeders had Canada Day fireworks. Just… they never came out. The Stamps sat and waited until the fourth quarter to get their offence going, and while they did end up taking the lead late in the game, it was too little too late. After getting down 17-6 on a two yard run by Toronto Argonauts running back Cory Boyd, the Stamps fired off a quick 10 play, 76 yard drive to get the game within three points. After an Argos two and out, the Stamps got the ball back with tremendous field position, and capitalized once again, with a 5 play, 50 yard drive and a 21-17 lead with 4:39 left in the game.

Argonauts quarterback Cleo Lemon battled back on the next drive, getting the team in field goal range, and Noel Prefontaine made it 21-20 with 2:21 to go. The ball back in the hands of Henry Burris for the Stamps, the team went two and out after Argos LB Jordan Younger stopped receiver Arjei Franklin short of a first down. An 8-yard punt return from Byron Parker, followed by 7 play, 38 yard drive by Cleo Lemon set up a chance for Prefontaine from 43 yards. The Argos veteran kicker split the uprights, and that was that for the Stamps. A shocking week one loss at the hands of the Toronto Argonauts, a team that had not won at McMahon Stadium since Canada Day 2005.

You could argue between the Eskimos big win, the Riders big loss, the Stamps stunning loss, and the Lions slow first half which the most shocking performance was in the West, but at the end of the day, just one team sits with a win on the board, and that is the Edmonton Eskimos. It’s only one week, but it’s always good to know that you’re in control, and yes, while the Eskimos will likely have that lead last only a couple of weeks, their win still showed us that in the CFL, anything can happen.

In Week two, the BC Lions have their home opener against the Calgary Stampeders on Friday night, and you can already do the math for yourself. Both teams lost in week one, and so this will be a battle between two teams trying to avoid a 0-2 start to the season. The Saskatchewan Roughriders will host the defending Champion Montreal Alouettes, in a sure test for the green and white. Like either the Stamps or Lions, they could be in danger of a 0-2 start as well. The Eskimos will close out the week hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in what should be an interesting clash. Both teams performed the opposite of how most thought they would in the opening week. The Tiger-Cats were brutal in a home loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the Eskimos were brilliant in a road win at Saskatchewan.

Each week, I will pick out the top West Division players of the week for Offence, Defence, Canadian, and Special Teams. In Week 1, the top offensive player was Eskimos receiver Jason Barnes. Barnes scored touchdowns on his first two receptions of the game, on the way to a 5 catch, 104 yard performance and the two touchdowns. Defensively, it was Eskimos linebacker Rod Davis who had a sack on the Riders first play of the game, and had four tackles and a forced fumble to boot. Davis terrorized Riders QB Darian Durant, hitting the pivot twice, and adding two hurries. The Top Canadian for week one is a kicker, and that is Lions kicker/punter Paul McCallum. McCallum had four field goals in a loss against Montreal, and had a 44.2 yard punt average with a long of 56 yards. Staying with the Lions, kick returner Tim Brown is the special teams player of the week, with 182 kick and punt return yards, including a 97 yard touchdown.

For more from Tyler, visit his website: http://www.cfldaily.ca and follow him on Twitter @CFLDaily

The CFL has lost one of it’s best Canadian receivers of the last 10 years, as former BC Lions and current Calgary Stampeder Ryan Thelwell announced his retirement today.

Thelwell played most of his career with the BC Lions and won a Grey Cup with the team in 2006. The native of Montego Bay,  Jamaica moved to London, Ontario at the age of 4 and played college football at the University of Minnesota. Thelwell was drafted by the San Fransisco 49er’s in the 7th round of the 1998 NFL draft. The NFL’s loss was the CFL’s gain, ad Thelwell became “Mr. Automatic” for the BC Lions and their fans. Thelwell was a division all-star  in 2004 and 2005 and became known for his great catch and run move that he used to get key first down at big times in a game.

After the 2006 championship season with the Lions, Thelwell left as a free agent to become a member of the Calgary Stampeders, where he won a second title in 2008 with the Stampeders. In 2009 Thelwell suffered an achilles injury which he battled back from to play one last year in 2010.

“It has been an honour to be a part of the Canadian Football League and to have had the opportunity to represent two great organizations,” said Thelwell. “I never would have dreamt that professional football would’ve had such an impact on my life, but it has allowed me to develop friendships that will remain with me for the rest of my life. I really want to say thank you to everyone who helped me along this journey.”  Thewell said.

Thelwell’s infectious smile and classy nature made him a fan favourite on and off the field and a popular teammate in both BC and Calgary.

On behalf of Lions and CFL fans everywhere, we thank Ryan for his years of service to the league and wish him all the best in the next phase of his life.

Calgary Stampeders Press Release.

Vanya Tucherov – BCLionsDen.ca

The BC Lions’ venture into McMahon Stadium to do battle with the CFL-leading Calgary Stampeders was fraught with many of the same horrors which have plagued the Lions all season – sloppy execution, shaky play from the offensive line and turnovers, but, as a direct result of a resolute defence and some stellar special teams play, the result was a 29-10 triumph over the Stampeders.

The game started well for the Leos as Yonus Davis took the opening kickoff 73 yards and Geroy Simon caught an eighteen yard strike from Casey Printers. Suddenly the Lions had the ball at the twelve yard line looking to make an emphatic statement early in the game. Instead of punctuating the statement with the exclamation mark that a touchdown would have been, after two Casey Printers overthrows of Simon, Paul McCallum came on to draw first blood with the field goal.

Henry Burris would take two plays to throw his first interception of the game, finding Dante Marsh to give the Orange and Black the ball again in Calgary territory.

Second verse, almost the same as the first. This time, the chosen receiver was Paris Jackson, who caught a seven yard hitch and was then overthrown on second and three, leading to McCallum’s second of the game, this one from forty-two yards, and the Lions were up 6-0 less than five minutes into the game; but with the feeling that perhaps it should have at least been 10-0.

Given the way the year has gone, it was hard to stay positive. Watching the Twitter feed of Lions’ fans talking about the game, there was more than a little fatalism, as viewers wondered how long it’d take for the failure to convert the majors to come back to haunt the Leos.

The Stamps weren’t getting anything established with the ball either, which led to generally positive field position for the Lions on both sides of the ball. A pair of punts later, the Lions D held the red and white to a two-and-out down in the shadows of their own goalposts, and Yonus Davis’ twenty-nine yard return of Burke Dales’ punt from the Calgary ten netted twenty-six yards and gave the Lions a third possession in Stampeders’ territory. Like the previous two, though, this one stalled quickly and ended up with a third McCallum field goal on the board, rounding out the scoring in the first frame with the Lions out to the 9-0 edge.

When Printers fumbled at the Lions’ thirteen on the team’s second snap of the second quarter, the collective groan seemed to be that the tide was about to turn with the Stamps this time having excellent field position. The groan grew in timbre when Burris found Romby Bryant to move the ball down to the one-yard line. Two rush attempts later- and two times Calgary players were credited with recovering the ball after putting it on the carpet- the Lions had taken ten of those twelve yards back, and forced Rob Maver and the kicking team onto the field for the Stamps. Maver banged his attempt off of the top of the right upright, and suddenly, the Lions weren’t the only team leaving points on the field.

Three non-descript possessions and ensuing punts later, the Stampeders were deep in their own end again when Burris made another mistake, throwing an interception to Korey Banks and giving the Lions possession at the Calgary six-yard line after Banks’ pick was initially returned into the end zone for an apparent touchdown- which was overturned after Calgary coach John Hufnagel challenged the ruling on the field.

Again, the Lions would fail to capitalize on the gift. Tearrius George would break through the BC line and tally the sack on Printers, knocking the ball loose in the process. George would also come up with the recovery, and more potential points were orphaned. Printers would be benched for the balance of the evening, winding up four of nine for 62 yards, but losing two of three fumbles and often overthrowing his receivers badly on the incompletions.

Travis Lulay wouldn’t have an exceptional evening on in relief, winding up five-of-twelve for only eighty-five yards, but would manage to guide BC into McCallum field goal range on the final two possessions of the half, aided in the first by a 27-yard pass interference penalty on Calgary’s Brandon Smith and in the second by an unnecessary roughness flag against Brandon Browner as the Lions took a 15-0 lead to the locker room at the half.

Receiving to open the second half, the Stampeders moved the ball downfield, but the Lion defence stiffened and forced the Stamps to settle for a twenty-yarder from Maver to break the shutout bid.

Andrew Harris took the ensuing kickoff twenty-six yards to give the Lions a first down at their own 41 yard line, but the offense could only muster a single first down before kicking the ball back to Calgary, but pinning them at their own 4 yard line.

The Stampeders would take to the ground and gain the first down on a Drew Tate plunge on third-and-one from their own thirteen. Burris would break loose on the next play for twenty-eight yards, but lost the ball at the end of his run, with Dante Marsh pouncing on the loose ball at the Calgary 42.

The offense would move the ball, racking up two first downs- one by penalty, but would again bog down and settle for McCallum’s sixth of the night from 28 yards to run the score to 18-3. The BC defence would flex its muscle again, breaking up a Burris pass attempt to Romby Bryant and following it with a huge sack by Solomon Elimimian for a loss of 26, leading to Burke Dales conceding the safety on 3rd and 42.

Yonus Davis would come within a shoelace of breaking another return on the free kick, bringing it back 58 yards to the Calgary 32 moments before the end of the third quarter. McCallum’s magic would miss this time, registering just the single point.

Drew Tate would come in to relieve Burris, whose stat line would read an uncharacteristic 11 of 26 for 136 yards, two interceptions and a lost fumble. McCallum would have a rare miss- hitting the right upright from 38 yards after the teams swapped two-and-outs.

After more offensive stagnation, McCallum would tally another rouge on a 61-yard punt with under four minutes remaining. Calgary would use a minute and fifty seconds of that before turning the ball over on downs as Tate was unable to connect with Ken-Yon Rambo on third and sixteen from midfield.

Jamal Robertson would provide one of the few bright spots for the Lions offense, breaking loose for the touchdown with a gallop from there. The conversion made the score 29-3 with 1:45 remaining. Calgary would get a late touchdown, Tate finding Landan Talley from twelve yards out, but it was far too late as the Lions locked up the win.

Game Stats

Quick Hits:

• Yonus Davis had two kick returns for 131 yards and seven punt returns for 108.
• Jamal Robertson’s 140 yards rushing amount to seven fewer than Printers and Lulay managed through the air.
• Paris Jackson and Geroy Simon each had three catches for 69 and 55 yards respectively.
• Solomon Elimimian led the defence with ten tackles and a sack. Keron Williams and Anthony Reddick also added sacks, while Dante Marsh and Korey Banks had interceptions.

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.

Game Stats

Jann Shreve for BCLionsDen.ca

I title this after a corny line from an even cornier fighting movie (aptly named Fighting) to segue to a corny CFL melee between the Stampeders and Eskimos.

Now, anybody who saw the game or just the clip can see most of what happened.  The news today says that the league will be investigating and is likely to release word Tuesday on any possible disciplinary action. It will take more than one pair of eyes and a couple looks of the game film to fully assess who did what and what punishment will be deemed appropriate by the league in conjunction to whatever separate punishment the team can impose (if any further action is even needed).

For starters, the one who took the pushing up a notch, going to what looked like the aid of Andre Talbot, was Tremayne Kirkland who threw a punch on Brandon Browner.  However it is most interesting to me is that only one other person that I’ve talked to about this fight noticed the knee drops that Mike Labinjo was putting on Talbot before he tried to carry him by the face mask like a lunchbox.  Watch the clip online, it even pauses the clip to highlight the face mask grab –after the knee drops. Go ahead.  Watch it again.  I’ll wait.

http://watch.tsn.ca/cfl-news-and-highlights/clip337149#clip337149

There’s no getting around the fact that several players are going to/should miss games as a result.  That much can’t be changed, taken back or justified as it’s stance of the league not to condone any unsportsmanlike or objectionable conduct (in referee speak).  It’s easy to say that Kirkland should get the bulk of the fines and suspensions but that would be wrong.  The officiating offices have a big chance to get this right after taking increasing criticism about how pass interference is being called (or not called).  The officials and league offices stand to lose a great deal of credibility if they don’t get this one right.

Based on the footage that aired, and granted I was just a TV viewer, but looked at the fight again and again, Mike Labinjo (even though he’s ordinarily a good guy who just happened to have lost his head this one time) should be dealt the biggest punishment.  Talbot didn’t stand a chance against him no matter to what extent he may or may not have started it and he could have been been badly hurt.  Kirkland should be equally fined for the punch but I can’t justify him getting punished more than Labinjo.  Kirkland got tossed from the game, Labinjo did not. The rest of the guys involved, in the clip anyways, only appear to be pushing, I saw no deliberate kicks so I would even say (with my Commissioner cap on), that the rest of the guys involved get one to three games suspension, max.  It gets the message across that fighting won’t be tolerated and at the same time won’t cost guys significant time.

So far this season, the players have been well behaved.  Even reputed hot head Rob Murphy hasn’t managed go get into trouble on the field and in 2008 he tried to twist Jason Goss’ head off like a beer cap.  No pressure on those conducting the investigation but recent issues in the CFL such as the Ti-Cats becoming the Quebec City Tigre-Chats and the vacant GM spot in Edmonton and their struggles on field, not to mention B.C’s trouble winning and monitoring player tweets, it’s important they get this one exactly right.

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.

Game Stats

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.

On a night when the BC Lions had the chance to treat their fans by earning a playoff berth, the Calgary Stampeders instead played a cruel trick, stealing the victory 28-26 as time expired with a last-second field goal by Sandro DeAngelis, dropping the Lions to 8-9 and into a third-place tie with the Edmonton Eskimos. The Esks come to BC Place on Friday to close out the regular season.

Again it was run defence which would plague the Lions, who yielded over a hundred yards rushing to Calgary’s Joffrey Reynolds, most critically a twenty-nine yard gallop to set up the DeAngelis game-winner.

With a minute and thirty-five seconds remaining on the clock, it looked good for the Lions, taking a 26-25 lead on a huge, 46-yard toss from Casey Printers to a wide open Paris Jackson.

Unfortunately for the Lions, that was about a dozen seconds too many to have left Henry Burris and the Stampeders. Even so, with a different bounce, it might have been enough for the win, as Anton McKenzie took Burris to the turf and knocked the ball away from the Stamps’ QB. Burris was able to recover, though, and on the following play connected with Jermaine Copeland to sustain the drive and set the stage for the Reynolds run and DeAngelis field goal.

The Lions would come out roaring, holding the Stampeders to a two-and-out on the first series of the game and then moving down the field powered by a pair to Printers-to Emmanuel Arceneaux passes- for seven and then sixty yards- to set up the A.J. Harris one yard run for the major.

After the ensuing kickoff, Calgary was again held to two-and-out, and the Lions would move the ball courtesy of another deep throw from Casey Printers, this time to Paris Jackson for thirty-five yards, down to the Calgary 36. The drive would stall there, though, and the Lions would settle for the first of four Paul McCallum field goals to take the early 10-0 edge.

The quarter would close with Calgary getting on the scoreboard, with two completions from Burris to Rob Cote for twenty-eight yards apiece setting the stage for Burris to take the ball in from the one.

With Burris having seemingly found his stride, it was the Lions’ turn for the offense to stagnate. going two-and-out to kick the ball back to the Stampeders. This time, Burris spread the ball around, completing passes to Copeland, Cote,and finally a fifty-three yarder to Romby Bryant to take the ball down to the BC 8. Two plays later, Burris found Nik Lewis in the end zone to make it 14-10, Calgary.

Ryan Grice-Mullen would take the ensuing kickoff seventy-three yards to give the Lions excellent field position, but they’d end up settling for McCallum’s second of the evening, this one from twenty-six yards out.

The Lions would yield a single before closing out the half with another McCallum field goal to take a 16-15 lead to the locker room at the half.

The first twelve minutes of the third quarter would pass without scoring, until McCallum capitalized from twenty-six yards to stretch the lead to four, where it would remain going into the final frame. After Burke Dales found the coffin corner, pinning the Lions at their own seven. After a Printers scramble got the Lions out of the shadow of their own goal posts, a sack would put them right back in them, and McCallum yielded the safety touch.

Burris would go deep again, completing a fifty-three yarder to Bryant before he fumbled, losing the ball to Tad Crawford after Darren Toney knocked it out. The offense was unable to capitalize, though, moving the ball twenty-one yards before kicking it back to Calgary.

Burris moved the Stampeders again, finding Lewis for twenty-three before scrambling for five. Reynolds would carry the ball twice for a combined thirty yards setting up Burris’ second rushing TD from a yard out to put the visitors up by six. with just over six minutes to play. Neither team would mount much of a threat until the three-minute warning.

Then it was Printers’ turn to answer Burris’ fireworks, driving the Lions eighty-six yards for the go-ahead touchdown, capped with the toss to Jackson for the score.

The offense definitely suffers from the absence of Martell Mallett, running for only 67 yards on thirteen attempts, four of those Printers scrambles for a net of 41. Printers’ passing numbers were a respectable 22 of 35 for 337 yards and a touchdown- eight to Geroy Simon for 103 yards, five to Arceneaux for 110 and three for 91 to Jackson. He also threw one interception.

The Lions defence held Burris to 17-of-31, but yielded 306 yards through the air and 140 on the ground. McKenzie, Ricky Foley and Korey Banks all notched sacks for the Lions.

Well, anyone who thinks the Lions get special favours from the officials in the league can look at Friday’s game against the Calgary Stampeders to see that just isn’t the case.

As is so often the case in sports, you get breaks and you have them go against you as well. On Friday night a critical 3rd quarter play that went against the Lions changed the course of the game, and set the Stampeders up for a 27-18 victory at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.

With the score tied at 17-17 the Stamps had the ball and quarterback Henry Burris launched a pass that was “caught” by Nik Lewis. The ball popped out when Lewis made contact with ground. CFL rules say the receiver must survive contact with the ground for a pass to be complete. The ball popped out on contact with the ground and was snatched out of the air by Barron Miles and the ruling on the field was an interception. The Stamps challenged the play and the league officials ruled Lewis made the catch and was down by contact. The Stamps scored the go ahead touchdown on the following play and the Lions never recovered.

Bad penalties, missed receivers, and continually finding themselves in 2nd and long did the Lions in in the second half, wasting what was looking to be their best effort of the season.

Both Martell Mallett and Joffrey Reynolds had big nights on the ground, but it was the Stamps defense that buckled down in the second half. A 4th quarter Buck Pierce interception pretty much sealed the deal.

Reynolds finished the night with 157 yards rushing, once again exposing the Lions weak run stopping defense, which has been an issue all season. The Lions special teams also failed them once again. After opening the scoring on an impressive drive early in the second quarter on a Martell Mallett 25 yard touchdown run the Lions surrendered a 75 yard return on the kickoff, transferring whatever momentum they had built up back to the Stamps, who would score four plays later on a seven yard Henry Burris run.

“Demetris Summers’ kickoff return gave us some momentum,” Stampeders coach John Hufnagel said. “We scored some points on that. Then when B.C. scored we were able to answer. Every time they scored, we answered.”

Buck Pierce had a decent night for the Lions, but the crucial interception in the fourth sealed the Lions fate. Then with the Lions driving and needing four yards to keep the drive alive late in the game, Pierce through a ball in the dirt to Martell Mallett with Paris Jackson wide open on a deeper route.

The loss dropped the Lions to 5-7 on the season, and any hopes of challenging for the division are starting to fade. They’ll need help from other teams for that to happen, and they’ll have to help themselves starting next week when the Saskatchewan Roughriders pay a visit to BC Place. The Lions are looking more and more like they’ll be slotting into a cross over spot in the east if they hope to get to Calgary in November.

Quick hits:

• Martell Mallett: 15 carries, 136 yards and 1 TD
• Buck Pierce: 17 for 27 236 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.
• The Stampeders honoured Wally Buono before the game.
• Nose Tackle Steve Williams made his Lions debut and was quickly dubbed “Little T” by those of us watching the game, because of his last name and his resemblance of former Lions great Tyrone Williams.