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The Manny Show Was Must See TV for the BC Lions

December 18, 2015 By Brian Wawryshyn

The ‘Manny Show’ is back for at least the next two seasons and the BC Lions couldn’t be happier to have the show airing at BC Place Stadium once again. When it came right down to it, it was must see TV for the Lions and their fans.

The team announced Thursday that Emmanuel Arceneaux, their leading receiver, had signed a two-year deal with the team, locking up the player who developed great chemistry with new starter Jonathan Jennings. Arceneaux was scheduled to become a free agent in February and there was some though by some, including myself that he may want to test the waters after seeing former teammates Nick Moore and Ernest Jackson cash in the last two seasons.

But GM and head coach Wally Buono realized the value of Arceneaux on and off the field and gave him a deal worthy of a top CFL receiver and team ambassador.

Arceneaux struggled along with the Lions offence early last season. With a new coaching staff and several new players, it took some time for things to gel. There was also an incident following a loss to Montreal where Arceneaux appeared to disrespect his opponent. But if you ask his teammates, that was just “Manny being Manny”, an intense competitor and someone who wants to help his team be the best it can be.

Arceneaux started to generate rave reviews once again with the arrival of Jennings and the young QB showed he wasn’t afraid to let the talented receiver go get the ball, something that wasn’t happening earlier in the 2015 campaign. Arceneaux had a stretch of games where he looked unstoppable, rag dolling defenders for extra yards and making clutch catches.

He finished the season with 76 receptions for 1151, the fourth best total in the league and yards and 9 receiving touchdowns, which was top three.

“Manny is an important part of our offence and leader in our dressing room,” said Buono. “This is a critical signing for the club heading into next season and I know our fans will be very happy to see him remain with the Lions.”

“There was only one place I wanted to play and that’s in BC for Wally and Lions fans,” said Arceneaux. “We’re going to be back in a big way in 2016 and I can’t wait to get started.”

Off the field Arceneaux is one of the Lions busiest ambassadors. He loves speaking to children and makes countless appearances around the community and the province on behalf of the Lions. This past season he developed a connection with Dylan, a young boy with Autism.

Arceneaux is a key piece to the Lions offence and it was vital that the team didn’t let another fan favourite leave. Especially considering the thoughts of many that Andrew Harris could be moving on when free agency opens in February. He’ll be counted on heavily on 2016, but there are few that work harder on and off the field.

Stay tuned, a new season of The Manny Show premiers in June and with co-star Jonathan Jennings, there could be an Emmy in the works.

Emmanuel Arceneaux Career Stats:

The BC Lions Den Pawdcast: Episode 68

October 29, 2015 By Brian Wawryshyn

The BC Lions Den Pawdcast: Farhan Lalji – TSN

How sweet it is to be podcasting after a big BC Lions win? Brian and Mojo bask in the glow of a Lions victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats that has the Leos post-season destiny in their own hands once again. Jonathan Jennings continues to impress and the team played well in all phases of the game for the first time this season.

TSN’s Farhan Lalji stops by to talk about the Lions, including the future of Andrew Harris and Travis Lulay.

Follow our guest::

Farhan Lalji: @FarhanLaljiTSN

This show was recorded on October 27th, 2015.

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A Few Reasons the BC Lions Will Make the Playoffs

October 25, 2015 By Brian Wawryshyn

Sports are full of examples of teams that have had that defining moment where the switch went on. Whether the BC Lions had that moment in a convincing 40-13 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats remains to be seen, but if this team get on a roll and makes the playoffs, you can certainly consider it one.

At the beginning of the year, we had former BC Lions offensive lineman Angus Reid on the Pawdcast who told us that he saw the BC Lions starting out slowly and getting better as the season went on. With 22 new faces and the youngest team in the league, it wasn’t hard to agree.

Over the past few weeks, the Lions have played some good football. A Winnipeg loss, combined with the Lions win on the weekend has put the Lions back in control of their own destiny. A win next week in Toronto would eliminate the Bombers, a Montreal loss combined with that win would see the Lions join the playoff dance for the 19^th straight season.

So there is work to be done, but in the spirit of looking at the positives, let’s take a look at some reasons the Lions will make the playoffs.

Jonathan Jennings

Cue the coronation, the Lions have found themselves a new quarterback. The poise and confidence that Jonathan Jennings displays at just 23 years old is impressive and has revived the Lions offence. As he continues to grow and get more experience, it should continue to improve not only in the passing game but in opening things up for Andrew Harris.

The Lions offence is no longer one dimensional, and Jennings has his receivers making plays for them by simply trusting in them to do so and getting the ball to them quickly and accurately. The resurgence of Manny Arceneaux and the contributions from Bryan Burnham, Lavelle Hawkins and Shawn Gore over the past few weeks have been key.

Jennings is going to make the odd rookie mistake, but the good far outweighs the bad and for the Lions and their fan base there is a lot to get excited about.

The Defence

The Lions defence was scorched by opposing defences early and often in 2015. It’s no coincidence that with more success on the offensive side of the ball, the defence has improved as well. In too many games this season they were on the field way too long.

The secondary is starting to gel under the leadership of Ryan Phillips as well as the strong showings of players like TJ Lee and Ronnie Yell who is starting to look more and more like long time Lion Dante Marsh every game.

The defensive line has found its groove led by newcomers Mic’hael Brooks, Zac Minter and Craig Roh. The Lions are rotating players in throughout the game and national David Menard continues to impress, while the Lions have moved up the sack total ladder in recent weeks, boding well for the team down the stretch.

Coaching

Some of you may disagree with this, but I think Jeff Tedford is on track to getting this team playing the way he wants them to play. There have been plenty of examples to dispute this theory, but in the end hindsight is 20/20 in the coaching profession.

But consider the fact that Tedford has been able to keep this team together through some very tough losses. There has been no finger pointing, no visible discord in the locker room and Friday’s performance against the Ticats showed that the players are behind their coaches.

Just as the start of the year was a learning curve for the new players, it was also the same for their new coach. The offence has become more aggressive under Jennings, and Tedford was brought in with the reputation of being a fast tempo, aggressive offensive coach. We’re now starting to see that as Jennings is able to go down field.

The Schedule

The Lions best chance to qualify for the post season is this week. The win against Hamilton was key, especially since the Alouettes won. Montreal now travels to Edmonton where the Eskimos are looking to clinch the CFL West and will be amped to do so at Commonwealth Stadium. The Lions travel to Toronto to take on an Argonauts team that is coming off back to back losses, but will be playing just their 4^th game of the year at home and will have Ricky Ray at quarterback. If the Lions win and Edmonton wins, the Lions are in.

The Lions made their own bed, but they still have a chance to make it to the dance. Ryan Phillips told his teammates after last week’s game that he’s never missed the playoffs in his career, and he doesn’t plan to start now.

If they do get in, you would think both Calgary and Edmonton, teams they played tough this season will be in for a tough fight in the Western Semi. The Lions are starting to roar, whether they get to eat or not, will be decided in the next two weeks.

Not so Special Performance Leaves the BC Lions in Tough

October 11, 2015 By Brian Wawryshyn

The BC Lions were in complete and total control of their game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Saturday evening at BC Place Stadium. The Lions were playing well on offence and defence, building a 23-6 lead by half-time, before their special teams performed a collapse that would let the Bombers back in the game.

A few morning after thoughts for your Thanksgiving Sunday reading.

Jennings Continues to Impress

Yes he threw two interceptions, but Jonathan Jennings was outstanding in the first half. There is still a lot of growth to occur, but you have to love the way he stands in there and delivers passes on a rope. It’s been a long time since the Lions have seen this type of talent at QB and fans should be very excited about the future.

There were of course, some blips. An intentional grounding call that should have been thrown out of bounds, an interception that was on Jennings and one that looked like some miscommunication between himself and Manny Arceneaux, and of course the Lions not being able to sustain drives in the second half.

I saw a tweet following the game that Jennings accomplishments should be ignored because the success has come against the Riders and Bombers. Funny that neither Mike Reilly nor Bo Levi Mitchell had the same success against the Bombers defence, who have played pretty well all season.

Let’s give the kid a little credit shall we?

The Manny Show

Earlier this season, both online and on our podcast I’ve had some criticism of the way Manny Arceneaux competed in some games. But over the last few weeks Manny has definitely elevated his game, whether it’s the change at QB or the result of more passes being thrown his way, he’s become a force to be reckoned with. His stiff arm of Demond Washington in the first half will be on the year’s best highlight reel package, and it’s good to see the Manny Show getting rave reviews once again.

Special Teams

Last week following the win over the Riders, special teams captain Jason Arakgi refused to give out a game ball, saying the squad’s performance simply wasn’t good enough. If the Lions had managed to win last night, that game ball would have been withheld again.

Two missed converts, a blocked punt, two turnovers and two fake punts allowed will not win you many football games, and quite frankly it lost this one for the Lions.

Something has happened to Richie Leone and he needs to get it figured out or the Lions may as well just use the talents of Jennings and go for two after touchdowns. The towering spiralling punts have disappeared as well and the Lions might want to give the ball to Anthony Fera next week who has been biding his time on the practice roster, and is a more natural field goal kicker than Leone. It worked for the Bombers this week with Lirim Hajrullahu relegated to punting only and newcomer Sergio Castillo going 5 of 5 on field goals, including a 41 yard winner. Whether the Lions have the ratio flexibility to dress two import kickers is another story.

Chuck McMann had better figure out the issues real quick because his job may depend on it.

The Officiating

I hate whining about officiating, and the Bombers certainly know what it’s like to have a game taken away by a botched call, but the blatant pick by the Bombers Troy Stoudemire on the game tying touchdown and the non-call is mind numbing. Just as they apologized to the Bombers for a bad call a few weeks ago, you would hope the league would at least acknowledge the fact their officiating crew blew another one Saturday night.

There was also the phantom holding call in the fourth quarter that eliminated a huge play from Jennings to Bryan Burnham.

This is the play-off stretch and fans and the teams expect that the officials will be on their game during a period where every point is crucial to teams battling for their lives. It’s simply not good enough and Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge needs to take a long hard look at improving this aspect of games not only for the fans, but especially for the players who work too hard to have their livelihood affected by ineptitude.

The Attendance

Another Lions home game, another crappy scheduling job for the Lions. With Thanksgiving weekend and the Canucks home opener across the street at the same time as the football game, another disappointing crowd was at BC Place. Last night’s result won’t do much to bring fans back, and this season combined with the last two at home have created a storm the Lions need to weather. Jennings certainly gives Lions fans hope for the future, but the team has a lot of work to do this off-season.

The Lions have not raised season ticket prices for next season but really a small decrease in price would have been a nice gesture. There is a cheaper season ticket available but at the same time, there is a lot more to be done. What you’re seeing at Lions game is the core group of fans with few outside that core coming to games.

The Final Four

The Lions really missed an opportunity to secure a play-off berth with this loss. They do have a game in hand on the Bombers, but they have to travel to Edmonton next week, come home to play Hamilton, go to Toronto to play the Argos before finishing at home against Calgary. The Bombers have a home and home with Ottawa and finish in Montreal.

Can they do it? We’ll soon find out, but they have certainly made it very hard on themselves.

The BC Lions Den Pawdcast: Episode 65

October 8, 2015 By Brian Wawryshyn

Brian and Mojo finally have some good stuff to talk about!

Following a big home BC Lions victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders that saw rookie quarterback Jonathan Jennings impress the home crowd we discuss the impressive performance of the pivot and other aspects of a game that put the Lions back in control of their own play-off destiny.

With another huge game coming up against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Darrin Bauming of TSN 1290 radio joins the show to talk about the Blue and Gold, who are coming off two tough home losses as they come to BC Place this week.

Follow our guests::

Darrin Bauming: @DarrinBauming

This show was recorded on October 6th, 2015.