Kierrie Johnson Archives | BC Lions Football

Ok this wasn’t exactly from the couch it was actually from the bar, fringe benefits of being a fan rather than an unbiased journalist. Some great CFL fans were in town from Montreal, and it was great to watch the game with them and a few others. It reminds you why you love this game and the fans that follow it.

It’s been awhile since I’ve had to blog about a loss, so here it goes.

Mistakes

Mistakes were the order of the day and the Lions were their own executioners on this day. Lulay, throwing into double coverage for a key interception, the veteran McCallum missing two field goals, and of course special teams allowing big returns again. Both defences battled hard and without those Lions mistakes the score is different. The Riders offence didn’t produce a lot, but as a team they made fewer mistakes and capitalized on the ones the Lions made.

Maintaining Focus

Losing this game wasn’t the worst thing in the world. The Lions last had won 14 of their last 15 heading into Regina, so a little wakeup call might do them some good. The talk of 18-0 can be thrown out the window and we can talk about 17-1. (I kid). Seriously though, sometimes a loss can refocus the troops and I expect the Lions to be hungry next week against Edmonton.

Offensive consistency

In addition to the special teams issues the Lions offence has yet to reach peak efficiency this season. One drive they look fantastic, the next few they look ordinary or sub-par. Injuries to the offensive line have likely impacted the running game to some degree, and if you listened to the pregame show you would have heard that in addition to Jesse Newman having a setback with his knee, Dean Valli may have had similar bad luck this past week.

Kierrie Johnson’s injury no doubt hurts, and you have to feel sorry for him after it looked like he may be on his way to a breakout year. The Lions do have some options to plug in with Ernest Jackson and Nick Moore each having good training camps and on the practice roster. There wasn’t much success for either Geroy Simon or Arland Bruce on the day and the Lions must find away to get those two more involved. The Lions appear to have dodged a bullet with the early reports that Simon dislocated a finger rather than breaking one.

With a good Edmonton defence in town next week, better consistency will be needed in all areas on offence.

No hoody, no win?

Just throwing this out there; Coach Benevides wasn’t wearing his trademark grey hoody…discuss.

Any coincidence?

Is it any coincidence that Paul McCallum has missed a few field goals and shanked a few punts this year with a new long snapper and a new field goal holder?

“The Clip”

The big play of the game was of course the missed McCallum field goal that lead to the Tristan Jackson return for a touchdown. By definition of the rule the block that sprung Jackson certainly could have been called a clip, but it was close. Even so, there were still 110 yards between Jackson and the end zone. Paul McCallum summed it up best on Twitter when he retweeted and commented on this submission:

“@Glenbuchat2: @BCLions @PaulMcCallum4 it was a blatant clip that sprung Jackson free. Should never have been a TD” If so it is what it is.

Tweets of the game

@ LadyApriil: Saskatchewan rough riders have the ugliest and scariest mascot ever… I’m pretty sure Lions eat gophers! #BCLions #Win3BC

Take that Rider fans!

@CanuckClay: Holy smokes! Was that Kierrie Johnson or Ben Johnson? What a great catch and run! @bclions #win3BC

Great question, too bad we’ll have to wait another 6-8 weeks to see more.

@geroysimon: Finger is good to go! I have 9 others that work fine. Making adjustments to win next week.

Well there you go; the silver lining in every cloud makes an appearance. I feel better already.

The BC Lions defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 36-1 Friday Night (Photo Perry Nelson: Edmonton Sun)

The BC Lions knew they had to take care of business tonight against a depleted Edmonton Eskimos squad at Commonwealth Stadium, and take care of business they did. The Lions rolled over the Eskimos picking up their 2nd win of the season. With the win the Lions moved into sole possession of 3rd place in the CFL west and regained the crossover spot from Toronto who also moved to 2-6 the night before.

Defence was the story, picking up four interceptions and 8 sacks on the night. Edmonton had no answer for the BC pass rush and without Ricky Ray had little time to get in sync with a makeshift group of receivers that included former Lions Ryan Grice-Mullen and recent cut Dobson Collins.

While the Eskimos offence was depleted with injuries their defence also struggled badly. Travis Lulay redeemed himself after poor outing against Winnipeg going 22 of 37 for 343 yards, 4 TD’s and one interception. The offence sputtered on it’s first couple of drives, but got rolling on a great 56 yard catch and run effort by Akeem Foster to put the Lions up 7-0. The Lions built up a 20-1 lead by the half with two Paul McCallum field goals and the first touchdown by Arland Bruce as a BC Lion.

Bruce had a great game in his second appearance as a Lion, racking up two touchdowns and 129 yards on 9 catches. Rookie Kierrie Johnson also had a strong game for the Lions. The small but speedy receiver is making the most of his chance to crack the lineup and 6 catches for 84 yards. Johnson would leave the game in the 3rd quarter however with what the team is calling a bruised shoulder.

The most impressive part of the win was the fact the Lions kept their foot on the throats of the Eskimos in the second half, keeping the pressure on Ray and moving the ball. Ray eventually gave way to Kerry Joseph who wasn’t much more effective than his predecessor. The Lions defensive line was in the backfield on almost every play and the secondary played with some swagger (sorry Winnipeg) once again.

The Lions now head into the bye week on a high and can really get themselves back in the playoff picture with string back to back efforts against the Toronto Argonauts.

Quick Hits:

The Eskimos have given up 18 sacks in the last three games, including eight to the Lions.
Geroy Simon passed Darren Flutie to move into 3rd place all-time in receiving yards. His 87th touchdown also ties Willie Flemming for the most in Lions history.
The game balls were awarded to Marco Iannuzi (Special Teams), Jacques Chapdelaine (Offence) and Mike Benevides (Defence).
Kudos to the Eskimos fans who donated over 109,000 pounds of food for the Purolator Tackle Hunger program, 5,000 more pounds than their Calgary rivals down the highway.

Game stats (CFL.ca)

Post game video blog (Lowell Ullrich, The Fifth Quarter)