BC Lions Football :: BCLionsDen.ca

  • Home
  • Pawdcasts
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • CFPN
    • BCLionsDen (Apple Music)
    • Horsemen Radio
    • Eskimo Empire Podcast
    • Piffles Podcast
    • Blue Bomber Talk
    • Podskee Wee Wee
    • Alouettes Flightdeck
    • 2 and Out CFL Podcast
    • Rouge Radio
    • Rouge White and Blue
    • Tokyo Unofficial CFL Podcast
  • BC Lions Official
    • 20218 Schedule
    • Current Roster
    • Transactions
You are here: Home / Archives for Anton McKenzie

Lions lose two good ones in McKenzie and Archibald

March 28, 2014 By Brian Wawryshyn

740x300_archibald
Photo: BCLions.com

As Lowell Ullrich pointed out on the The Fifth Quarter, the Lions took another hit to the depth of their leadership group with the retirement of Ben Archibald and the release of LB Anton McKenzie.

There is a re-tooling happening in BC, and it looks as though the Lions are looking to become a younger more aggressive team in 2014. To be sure there is still plenty of leadership in the Lions locker room after today’s losses, but when you throw Korey Banks and Angus Reid into the discussion, you can see why some are concerned.

Reid certainly feels the loss of Archibald will be a big one for the club, tweeting;

I'm not sure #BClions fans really realize what a HUGE loss @BenArchibald65 retirement really is. Both on and off the field. #leader #truePro

— Angus Reid (@angusreid64) March 28, 2014

The Lions do have some young talent coming on the offensive line which received a boost when 2013 draft pick Hunter Steward signed with the team. Kirby Fabien looked fantastic before his injury last season and the Lions will hope he comes back 100% for training camp. They’re also talking to the agent for 2010 draft pick Danny Watkins, who isn’t sure he wants to play football any more after toiling for a couple of seasons in the NFL.

But it’s going to have to be up to Jovan Olafioye, Dean Valli and Patrick Kabongo to be the leaders and guide the youth of a new look offensive line. Matt Norman enters his third season with the Lions and must have absorbed a ton of experience in 2013. There is no reason to expect he won’t continue to improve as the heir apparent to Angus Reid.

McKenzie’s loss will also be felt. The consummate team player, McKenzie was a solid option for the Lions in many situations. His play down the stretch in 2011 was outstanding and he was a big part of the playoffs that year. The writing was on the wall though and with Adam Bighill and Solomon Elimimian in the lineup and the addition of Jamall Johnson, the Lions can afford to go with a younger option to bring along.

While some are suggesting that the Lions may feel these departures when it comes to leadership, the fact is there are players ready to assume that role. Dante Marsh, Ryan Philips, Shawn Gore, Travis Lulay, Khreem Smith, Paul McCallum, Adam Bighill, Andrew Harris are all still here among others. One only has to point a young player in the direction of Marsh or Bighill to see what being a professional entails.

Leadership shouldn’t be an issue and as always, the decisions of Wally Buono will be judged in November. He usually gets pretty decent grades.

Filed Under: Den Talk, Featured, News Tagged With: Angus Reid, Anton McKenzie, BC Lions, BCLionsDen.ca, Ben Archibald, Brian Wawryshyn, CFL, Korey Banks, The Fifth Quarter, Wally Buono

Lions turnover win to Riders

July 4, 2009 By Brian Wawryshyn

(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.

Filed Under: Featured, Game Recaps Tagged With: Anton McKenzie, Buck Pierce, Darren Toney, Emmanuel Arceneaux, Geroy Simon, Ian Smart, Jason Clermont, Javy Glatt, Korey Banks, Lowell Ullrich, Rob Murphy, Ryan Phillips, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Walter Stith

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Sponsor: RenfrowFootball.com

https://bclionsden.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/RPReplay_Final1575410753.mp4

Sponsor: Metal Rocks

Metal Rocks

Advertisement

Great CFL Resources

  • CFL Database
  • CanadaFootballChat.com

CFL West Fan Sites

  • BCLionsDen.ca
  • Horsemen Radio
  • Eskimo Empire Podcast.com
  • Piffles Podcast

CFL East Fan Sites

  • Friends of the Argonauts
  • Alouettes Flightdeck
  • Redblacks Fan Facebook Page
  • Podskee Wee Wee
Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 BCLionsDen.ca ยท BCLionsDen.ca is an independent fan site and is not affiliated with the BC Lions Football club, the Canadian Football League or its partners.