Oh, as a Lions’ fan, how sweet it is. The drought has ended.
This week, for the first time since the preseason, our boys in orange and black don’t have to walk off the field with the bitter dregs of defeat in their mouths. Also, this week, instead of getting the standard sports report write-up of the game [I did spend a few years writing sports desk a little over a decade and a half ago], you’re getting a fan’s report. If you want the other sort, I’m sure you can find the Sun or the Province, and either of them will have solid enough reportage describing the game.
But, like me, you’re fans. Chances are you were at the game, or watched it on television- whether on TSN, or for those of us stuck on the southern side of the border, the NFL Network, or listened to it on the radio.
It’s a win, and one which looks fairly decisive on the scoresheet. 24-11 looks solid- a two-score margin of victory, and breaking the winless streak feels pretty darn good. For that matter, up until the final few minutes of the first half we saw the Lions play the way the team did in the preseason and dominate the game.
Travis Lulay was pretty good for the first half of the match, and Geroy Simon had the sort of evening that recalls Superman in his prime, closing the night out with seven catches for 134 yards and a touchdown while setting up another one. Lulay ended up 18 for 27 for 257 yards with one interception coming on a bad read in the third quarter.
Jamal Robertson had ten carries for 56 yards; Tim Brown had a carry for a touchdown- set up by three successive Lulay to Simon passes.
Inside the three-minute mark of the first half, the Lions were looking like Empire emperors, keeping the Saskatchewan offense in check and moving the ball fairly regularly, and showing off a 20-3 edge. That final Rider possession of the half likely had some fans- myself included- a little uneasy. It was the one series where the defence showed some of the little mistakes which have plagued the team in the year to date, culminating in a Darian Durant to Chris Getzlaf major to cut the lead to 20-10.
Coming out to start the second half, neither side could establish much in their first possession, and the Leos moved the ball but stalled on their second, leading to Durant starting to march the Riders down the field for them to end up coming away empty handed when Eddie Johnson’s 35-yard attempt clanked off the upright. The visitors would have another crack at the scoreboard to close out the third quarter, but would settle for a single on another Johnson miss.
The fourth quarter was a chance for the Leo D to show its stuff, keeping Saskatchewan in check while the offence sputtered and failed to capitalize on a brilliant opportunity, managing only a Paul McCallum field goal after a shanked punt and ensuing no-yards penalty gave the Lions the ball inside the 30 yard line. A later punt rouge would round out the scoring.
It was a solid showing by the defence, and a good enough one by the offence to stake out the victory over a struggling opponent; and showed some promise. By and large, the errors which have plagued the team were kept to a minimum, the defence showed that they could pin their ears back and sustain pressure on one of the league’s most mobile passers.
Solomon Elimimian led the defence with a stunning twelve tackles and registered one of the three sacks absorbed by Durant, and he and Keron Williams rarely missed an opportunity to lay a big hit on anyone wearing green and white.
The defensive backfield wasn’t spectacular, but was solid enough, with newcomer Tad Kornegay showing he knew a bit of the Rider offense. More importantly, none of the d-backs were burned on long completions, not yielding a completion netting more than 21 yards nor getting victimized on penalties. The Lions only took three on the evening, and benefited from 12 flags being thrown against the Riders.
Next week, the Lions will face a stiffer challenge at home, as they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-1), who this week knocked off the previously undefeated Edmonton Eskimos in a battle of surprise Division leaders.
Quick Hits:
- A crowd of 25,238 took in the game. Just over a 1000 more than watched the Hamilton game. So much for half a stadium of green. There were Rider fans, but in very small pockets. Despite another debunking of “the myth” it’s always a good atmosphere when the Riders come to town.
- The crowd at last night’s game seemed to know the importance of it. They were more into the game then previous ones this year.
- The Lions had a moment of silence for the late Richard Harris before the game.
BC Lions fans woke up this with the knowledge that their team had qualified for the CFL’s 2nd season. They also rushed to the shower to wash whatever remnants of green were left on them.
It was a draining day for fans of the orange and black, as they had to sweat out a close 23-21 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Hamilton and then watch nervously as the Edmonton Eskimos battled the Saskatchewan Roughriders to determine their playoff fate. In the end it all worked out, but boy did the teams involved make it tough.
The Lions started slowly against their feline counterparts. Hamilton QB Kevin Glenn came out firing on all cylinders and his performance led his team to a 21-14 halftime lead. Coach Wally Buono said his team regained composure at halftime.
“We weren’t good in the first half,” said head coach Wally Buono. “We were a little bit lethargic on defence. We were not as into the game as maybe we would have thought. They regrouped at half time. They made some plays. We kind of won ugly again. But we won, right?”
It was ugly at times, but regroup they did. The Lions held Hamilton pointless in the second half; while Lulay went on to have easily his best game in the CFL. Despite one interception the improving Lions QB was 30 of 41 for 424 yards and one interception on the day, and made several big plays with Emmanuel Arceneaux being his favorite target. The Lions receiver had a huge game with two touchdowns and 164 yards on 8 catches, despite battling the flu.
To the surprise of many, the Tabbies left Kevin Glenn in the game in the 2nd half but he went cold thanks in large part to several dropped passes by his receivers and backs. On his one deep drive in the third quarter and threatening in the red zone, the Lions defence stepped up with a huge interception by rookie Anthony Reddick that snuffed the drive and kept critical points off the board.
The Lions themselves could only manage three field goals in the 2nd half, despite moving the ball, but it would be all they needed. They got critical points on one drive where former Lions Otis Floyd lost it for a series and took two unnecessary roughing penalties on Lulay that put the Lions in position to win the game in the 4th quarter.
“We just didn’t make enough plays,” said Glenn. “We had opportunities to make plays and put the game out of reach, or get some momentum and we didn’t.”
Despite the win, the Lions had to keep celebrations muted and nervously watch the Eskimos and Roughriders to learn their fate. After a less than impressive first half performance in the first half to make the Lions and their fans sweat, the Riders finally got on track in the 2nd half and gave the Lions playoff life.
Ironically, the Lions will now try and spoil the party in Regina next weekend, and with the team continuing to improve and having been in playoff mode the whole 2nd half of the season, it makes for an interesting matchup, particularly with the Riders struggling of late.
Any given Sunday right?
Quick Hits:
- The Lions were in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.
- Yonus Davis was kept in check by the Ticats 19 yards on two kick returns and just 13 yards on 6 punt returns.
- Stanley Franks had a tough time dealing with Maurice Mann, but led the team with 6 tackles.
- Emmanuel Arceneaux went over 1000 yards for the first time in his career.
Vanya Tucherov, BCLionsDen.ca
Should the BC Lions miss the playoffs this season, there will be a number of significant points during the season at which they can look back, but few would seem to encapsulate the year-that-could-have-been as neatly as Saturday’s loss at Empire to the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 35-31.
After three quarters, the Lions had the edge, leading 28-16, but were again unable to hold the lead as the clock counted down, tallying solely a Paul McCallum field goal in the closing frame while surrendering nineteen points to their feline foe.
As has been the case for entirely too much of this season, it was inopportune penalties, poor execution, and turnovers which led to the Leos’ lurching loss, as five BC turnovers in the second half opened the door with an invitation the Ti-Cats couldn’t refuse.
The fourth quarter opened with Hamilton driving the ball on the ground, with DeAndra Cobb registering 32 of his 155 yards on the possession which wrapped the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarters and culminated in a 37-yard field goal from Sandro DeAngelis. Casey Printers was intercepted on the ensuing possession, and two plays later Kevin Glenn connected with Maurice Mann from fifty-one yards out to close the score to 28-26.
In review, the CFL director of officials Tom Higgins has acknowledged a missed penalty call- an illegal block by Hamilton’s Peter Dyakowski on Anton McKenzie- which should have nullified the Mann touchdown, but just as hindsight is 20:20, excuses are for losers, and the Lions would proceed to lose the ball twice more, the key one coming on a Jerome Messam fumble deep in Lions territory leading to a Glenn to Chris Baumann touchdown. Sandro DeAngelis added another field goal to add the final insult to the reversal on the scoreboard, the latter coming with a mere forty-two seconds left in the game.
And, as has also become commonplace this year, no insult would be complete without the concomitant injury- this time a torn bicep which will shelve Lions’ defencive tackle Steve Williams for the remainder of the season and will put a big strain on the defensive line with injuries already to Aaron Hunt, Domini Pittman and Jeremy Geathers.
In the first half, the Lions’ offense looked to have continued the trend of the last two games, and the defence was at least workman-like, if not exceptional. Casey Printers was showing signs of his circa-2004 flair, distributing the ball to his recievers and backs, including an 11-yard touchdown toss to Geroy Simon in the first quarter and a forty-yard strike to Stephen Black to round out the scoring in the first half; with the tandem of Jerome Messam and Yonus Davis providing just enough of a ground attack to keep the Hamilton defenders from keying on the pass.
Unfortunately, with the rains picking up in the second half, the deluges seemed to wash away those reflections of days past. In the end, four sacks, two interceptions and three fumbles lost in conjunction with seventy-seven yards in penalties was to prove fatal, particularly with four of those five turnovers coming in the final sixteen minutes.
The loss was a tough one to take, with the Lions having the win in the palm of their hands. Their record dropped to 3-8 with their next game in Calgary against the division leading Stampeders, who will be in a surly mood after losing last week in Regina.
Quick Hits:
- Former Lion Jason Jiminez did little to endear himself to his old squad-mates, making an illegal and dangerous block from behind and at the knees on Brent Johnson. Jiminez also took a taunting penalty near the end of the first half.
- Jiminez wasn’t alone in the abuse factor, with Jeremy Gibbs flagged for running over Paul McCallum after the conversion to make the score 19-16. Former Lion Otis Floyd also got tempers incited, taunting the BC players during warmups.
- The season-ending loss of Steve Williams left the Lions with only three able-bodied defensive linemen dressed for the game.
- Look for a signing this week or for UBC alumus and home-grown talent Sean Ortiz or import defensive tackle Richard Jones to be activated from the practice roster.
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.
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
