Yesterday we told you about the release of RB/KR Ian Smart, and today Lowell Ullrich of the Province reports that two more players were released and one retired.
DB Lavar Glover and DL Nautyn McKay-Loescher were were also released and the club announced linebaker Jojuan Armour has retired.
Ullrich also seems to concur with the report from Arash Madani from Sportsnet this week that the Lions are close to signing Riall Johnson away from the Montreal Alouettes.
The search for replacements also begins this weekend in Miami as the Lions will hold the first of their off-season free agent camps.
After four seasons with the BC Lions, Lions running back and kick returner Ian Smart was released by the club as we learned from Ian himself on Twitter.
“@BCLionsDen yeah its official I am no longer a Lion…you were great to me for 4 yrs and I wanna say thank you..”Bless”
and
“…they had other plans and wanna go in a different direction..its the business.”
Ian’s greatest moment as a Lion came in the 2006 Grey Cup game when he ran in a 25 yard touchdown to help the Lions win the championship. He was a special teams leader, winning the John Agro Special Teams Award, awarded to the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams player in 2007.
In 2003, Smart attended New York Jets training camp but joined NFL Europe’s now-defunct Scottish Claymores as a running back. He played 4 games with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004. He was on the Buccaneers’s practice roster during the 2005 season. He joined the Lions in 2006 and replaced Aaron Lockett as the Lions’s kick returner during that season.
We’d like to thank Ian on behalf of Lions fans for four great seasons, and wish him all the best in his future football travels.
Sometimes you give someone a second chance in life, and they make the most of it. How ironic then that the BC Lions made the most of their second chance against the team that gave it to them just a week ago.
Casey Printers returned to Hamilton for the first time since being released by the Ticats this past off -season and guided the Lions to a 34-27 overtime victory, ensuring the Lions will play for the right to play the Montreal Alouettes next week with a birth in the Grey Cup game on the line.
Printers led the Lions going 24 for 35 for 360 yards and 1 TD, while rushing for another himself. His pocket presence was outstanding on the day and he avoided any major mistakes. Geroy Simon (5 catches, 111 yards) and Emmanuel Arceneaux (6 catches for 120) were Printers’ main targets but the Leos also mixed in dashes of Martell Mallet and the fresh legs of Ian Smart to produce a very solid offensive game plan.
On defense, the Lions silenced their critics who said they couldn’t stop the run, as they held the Ticats to just 36 yards rushing all game, and just 34 to DeAndra’ Cobb who torched them for 267 yards in two games earlier this year. The Lions racked up five sacks on the day, three to Brent Johnson and the other two going to Outstanding Canadian finalist Rickey Foley.
The game was largely a defensive battle but the Lions controlled possession, especially in the first quarter where they had the ball for 10:57 second of the half. Unable to convert in the red zone, the Lions settled for field goals before Printers rushed for his touchdown in the 2nd quarter, giving the Lions a 16-6 lead at the half.
Hamilton had their own problems in the redzone adding a field goal to cut the lead to 16-9, but with 5:55 left in the third they hit pay dirt on a spectacular catch by Dave Stala that tied the game on the extra point, and the Ticats looked to be swinging momentum in their favour, but the Lions would respond on the next drive, with key receptions by Ryan Grice-Mullen and O’Niel Wilson and a pass interference call in the endzone that set up a 1 yard Rolly Lumbala touchdown to restore a seven point advantage for the Lions.
After the Ticats punted on their next possession, they had the Lions backed up 2nd and 15 on their own 8 yard line, Printers hit Emmanuel Arceneaux for a 49 pass to keep the drive alive and give the Lions excellent field position. They added a couple more big Acreneaux receptions to keep the drive going to begin the 4th quarter but the drive ended with a Paul McCallum fielg goal to give the Lions the ten point lead, and things started to look good. McCallum added a single before the Ticats drove and cut the lead to 8 points after a Nick Setta field goal.
The Lions got the ball back with 2:09 left but couldn’t sustain a drive, and had to punt giving the Ticats the chance to drive for the tying score with 1:32 left. And drive they would, with big completions to Arland Bruce, Chris Bauman, Marquay McDaniel before finally capping the drive with a touchdown pass to Stala and a 2 point convert to McDaniel to tie the game at 27-27.
The Lions had 22 seconds to work with and appeared to have worked themselves into position to win the game on a field goal after a completion to Geroy Simon inside the Hamilton 20, but the Lions were flagged for procedure on the play, the seventh such penalty of the game against the Lions and the game ended up in overtime, much to the chagrin of Lions fans.
The Lions lost the coin toss and the Ticats elected to start the extra session on defense. The Lions had been throwing all game and on the first play fropm the Ticat 35 yard line in overtime, they caught the Ticats off guard handing off to Martell Mallet who ripped off a 27 yard run to set the Lions up first and goal. On the next play Printers found Ian Smart who dove for the endzone and broke the plane, giving the Lions a 34-27 lead and forcing the Ticats to try and match their touchdown.
Glenn and company couldn’t get the job done, first on a hand-off to Cobb that went nowhere and then Brent Johnson then sacked Glenn, setting up a 3rd and 19 that fell harmlessly incomplete and the Lions had punched their ticket to Montreal next week.
The BC Lions returned to the practice field Monday after another loss on their record, and some new faces on the field. With holiday Monday and a beautiful day to take in practice, I ventured down to the Surrey training facility to check out our lethargic Lions.
New faces in town
As was rumored Sunday by @littlemissCFL on Twitter, and posted on BCLionsden.ca, the Lions announced the signing of linebacker JoJuan Armour on Monday, as well as that of former Edmonton Eskimo running back A.J. Harris and defensive end James Edwards. All three players were at practice and it was instantly recognized that Armour was immediately taking on a starting role with the team. The physical Armour, who started his CFL career with the BC Lions, was taking all of the first team reps in Javy Glatt’s middle linebacker position, while Glatt watched from the sidelines. This move was later confirmed by Armour who told the Team 1040 that he was assuming the middle linebacker position.
When asked about the move Glatt told the Team 1040:
“When you lose games, people lose their jobs and they picked me – I’m the guy that takes it and I’ve just got to stay positive about it and help the guys as much as I can, and if I’m here, I’m here, and if not, we’ll deal with that when we get to it. Basically, I was told I’m not athletic enough and I’m a liability in some things. That’s what happens when you lose. A lot of things come out that are negative and you just have to deal with it.”
Glatt can hardly take all the blame for the team’s defensive woes. The defensive line has been at fault as well, and there are questions about the scheme of the defense itself. But the fact remains that something had to change, and the with the Lions giving up an average of 150 yards rushing per game,the middle linebacker position was a good place to start.
Wally Buono explained it this way:
“Well, we’re not replacing Javy, we’re just changing his responsibilities. Part of (the move) was trying to get a spark into this football team. I’m not going to go into issues. At the end of the day, you’ve got to be able to function and we just wanted to make sure we address a situation that wasn’t good. We didn’t stop the run in the past two weeks and for us to be better as a football club, we have to do that.”
There was no scheme change, with Armour and McKenzie being joined by Korey Banks in certain situations as the nickleback. It will remain to be seen how much the scheme itself has to do with the Lions lack of success with the run, now that Armour is in the mix.
A.J. Harris didn’t seem to have as much of a prominent role at Monday’s practice, and Martell Mallett seemed to be taking all the first team reps, with Darren Toney and Ryan Grice-Mullen returning punts. According to Lowell Ullrich, Buono confirmed that Harris is here for the time being as insurance behind Mallett, and because Ian Smart was due to have surgery today on his banged up knee. With an average of 5.6 yards per carry last season for the Eskimos and good hands coming out of the backfield, it was not a bad insurance policy to take a chance on.
A quiet bunch
I’ve attended a few Lions practices over the last few years, and one thing was noticeable off the bat at this one, there wasn’t a lot of talking going on. Korey Banks quipped “We still have fans? Really, we still have fans?”, as he jogged out to the practice field, but the usual banter amongst players was muted at best.
Wally involved
Wally Buono took a much more hands on approach in today’s practice, particularly on special teams drills where he was fairly vocal. Buono’s style is usually to sit back and let his coaches run the practice, but obviously desperate times call for a more involved role from the boss.
Logan Watch:
For those still dreaming of the return of Stefan Logan here is an update on his quest to make the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Monday’s Practice Photo Gallery:
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Wally Buono has begun to address injuries and deficiencies arising from Friday’s loss in Saskatchewan. The club has finalized a deal with running back Tyler Ebell, who should be on the field when practice resumes on Monday.
The Lions have also signed a new offensive tackle, Daren Heerspink, out of Bellingham, Wash. The 6’6′ 315 Heerspink was recently waived by the St, Louis Rams. Heerspink also spent time on the practice roster of the Miami Dolphins. It’s unlikely he’ll see any action this week, but he does provide a backup tackle for the Lions, which they lacked heading into the season.
Lowell Ullrich has more information on both of these developments on his blog, and also sheds some light on the injury status of both Ian Smart and Emmanuel Arceneaux.
Buono is also reassessing the linebacker situation after Jamall Johnson decided Hamilton was a better fit for his career and signed with the Ticats. He met with CFL veteran Reggie Hunt in Regina, but told Mike Beamish of the Vancouver Sun it was more of a courtesy meeting at this point, and that bringing in another linebacker was not necessarily as given.
(Regina, SK) The BC Lions were in a generous mood Friday night, and handed the Saskatchewan Roughriders a 28-24 victory at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field on Friday.
Buck Pierce fumbled four times and threw two interceptions under constant pressure from a Rider defense that was seemingly having it’s way with BC’s new look offensive line, which often seemed confused with picking up the blitz giving Pierce little time to look down field allowing 9 sacks. Walter Stith showed that he is a work in progress replacing Rob Murphy, while Dean Valli also had a tough game at times. These deficiencies will need to be addressed or Buck Pierce will end up on the injured list in no time.
The Lions picked up key injuries as well, the most concerning being to running back/kick returner Ian Smart. Smart pulled up lame on a carry and looked to have popped a groin the way his body language was suggesting. Promising newcomer Emmanuel Arceneaux, who had a TD catch on the night, left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. The Lions got big scare came when Omar Morgan rolled up on the leg of Geroy Simon, bending the star receiver’s leg in a way it shouldn’t bend. Simon laid on the turf grabbing his leg but walked off under his own weight and thankfully returned to finish the game.
The loss of Smart left the return game in shambles and Darren Toney looked lost filling in for the CFL’s former special teams player of the year.
On a promising note the Lions defense looked pretty decent at times. Ryan Phillips picked off two Darian Durant passes and took one back for a touchdown, and the front four got decent pressure most of the night, registering three sacks and would have had a bunch more had Durant not been so agile and thrown the ball away on other occasions. Javier Glatt had a strong game for the Lions at linebacker, and Korey Banks looks as though there will be some exciting moments coming from him at his new nickleback position.
The Riders didn’t do themselves a lot of favours trying to win the game. They added turnovers of their own, and almost gave the Lions the win in the dying moments when Ryan Grice-Mullen was wide open deep but dropped the ball. Durant went 18-32 for 313 yards, 0 TD’s and 3 interceptions. 154 of those yards were to star Weston Dressler who served notice to the league he is quickly becoming the premier receiver in the CFL.
Footnotes:
- The Lions have lost out on the Jamall Johnson sweepstakes as the former Lions linebacker signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Sad that an NFL tryout costs the Lions a good player, who may have had a bigger role here had he not left. The Lions apparently exchanged contract numbers with Reggie Hunt while in Regina, and will now explore the possibility of adding him or JoJuan Armour.
- With the injury to Ian Smart the rumored signing of RB Tyler Ebell could be finalized this week, or perhaps junior star Andrew Harris will dress. Martell Mallet had some promising carries, and looks to be a similar type of runner as Joe Smith.
- Former Lion Jason Clermont finished the night with 1 catch for 9 yards, while former Rider Anton McKenzie registered 6 tackles, 1 sack and a forced fumble.
- If Emmanuel Arceneaux can’t go Friday, we’ll likely see the other promising receiver in camp, Terence Scott get his chance to shine.
- Lowell Ullrich has more in a nice video blog he composed after the game in Regina. You can view it here.
