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From the Stands – Lions 29 Ticats 26

September 6, 2013 By Brian Wawryshyn

Courtney Taylor reaches for the endzone against Hamilton Photo: lfpress.com

With last week’s game against the Alouettes setting off alarm bells amongst fans, the BC Lions returned to work Friday against a formidable Hamilton Tiger-Cats club and sent 30,564 fans home happy with a hard-fought 29-26 over their feline cousins. Here’s how I saw the game, from the stands.

Offence

We have to start here, because clearly the offence was the biggest concern coming out of last week’s loss. Travis Lulay threw for 359 yards and likely would have upwards of 500 had it not been for some dropped passes, most notably a deep strike to Manny Arceneaux that was dropped and would have resulted in six points. He also missed a wide open Courtney Taylor that might have gone for a touchdown as well. You can’t blame Jacques Chapdelaine for that, folks. In fact the Lions offensive coordinator moved Lulay around a lot against the Cats, rolling him outside the pocket more often.

It was nice to see Marco Iannuzzi have a strong game with Shawn Gore contributing once again as well. Gore had a pretty strong game in Montreal, and the Lions will need continued contributions from their Canadian receivers in the second half of the season. I still wonder however why Paris Jackson isn’t used in more situations than catching onside kicks.

Arceneaux made amends for his earlier drop with a beautiful catch and run that answered a Ticats touchdown. It looked like Arceneaux slow played a Ticats defender before changing gears and blowing past him on the sideline.

The Lions didn’t address all their problems however. The running game still needs improvement but that should improve if the Lions can continue to make strides in their passing game. Lulay was sacked just once on the evening behind much better protection from the offensive line. When Hamilton did blitz the Lions handled it much better and were able to neutralize it.

One thing the Lions will need to find is the killer instinct to put a game away. It would have likely been a moot point had the Lions capitalized on the missed chances I mentioned above, but they are letting teams hang around with penalties and mistakes, like Thomas DeMarco’s fumble on third and short.

Defence

The Lions had five sacks on the night and did get some pressure on Henry Burris, but the veteran Hamilton pivot was 29-36 on the night, and when he did get protection he fired lasers to open receivers. But for the most part the Lions defenders kept the ball in front of them, and didn’t really allow the big play to do any damage.

There should be concern about last-minute drives in back to back games, but for an offence like Hamilton’s who had been rolling pretty good the last three weeks it’s pretty hard to find much fault with the performance of the defence.

Nice to see Dante Marsh pick up a key (albeit Korey Banks aided) interception at a key time in the game, after being the victim on last week’s Hail-Mary.

With Solomon Elimimian out of the game the Lions didn’t really miss a beat. Hamilton is not a team that runs the ball a lot. We’ll see if they throw more of that in next week if the Lions linebacker can’t go.

Atmosphere

I was pleasantly surprised to see the largest crowd of the season Friday night, especially with a traditionally lower draw like the Ticats as the opponent and the fact it was the start of the last long weekend of the summer. Slowly but surely fans are starting to understand the football culture and it will be great to see that continue to grow with big divisional games still to come on the home schedule.

The roof was open and you could feel the start of the cool crisp air that indicates the arrival of fall. How nice would it be to experience a few cool crisp nights this October and November?

The Lions Gemstone Grill and Family sections were once again well populated and it’s encouraging to see more and more orange in the stands.

Fan without HD will be pleased to know that this was the last of the five games the Lions will blackout this season.

What were your thoughts on the game? Did the Lions do enough to make you forget the previous week? Do you have more confidence in the offence after last night? I’d love to hear your comments, so post them here. You can also follow me on twitter, @BCLionsDen.

From The Couch – Alouettes 39, Lions 38

August 28, 2013 By Brian Wawryshyn

Travis Lulay was under heat all game long from the Montreal defence. (Photo Vancouver Sun)The BC Lions had all facets of their game fail them in a last second 39-38 loss to the Montreal Alouettes. Pick your poison the Lions found a way to drink it. As a fan, frustration best describes this game for me, and here’s how I saw it, from the couch.

Offence

Heard that term enough tonight? The Lions lived it for most of the night against the Als and if it wasn’t their inability to gain meaningful yards off first down, it was penalties backing them up.

The Alouettes just lined up across the line of scrimmage and blitzed regularly and the Lions seemed to have no solution to the constant barrage from the Als defence leaving them in a hole and in bad field position for much of the second half.

As a fan I felt a lot of frustration tonight and I sensed that with Travis Lulay maybe feeling a little as well. There were drives where Lulay was getting hit on every play or was instantly running for his life. There were time count issues with the loud crowd.

Andrew Harris wasn’t effective (with what little touches he had) and when that happens the Lions offence just grinds to a halt.

There was frustration with play calls, like a 3rd and 1 hand off to Harris two yards deep and a parallel run to the line of scrimmage. Frustration with a sweep to Arceneaux that went nowhere because the Als simply had it contained from the get go.

There was frustration with the fact for every good thing that happened to the Lions it would be followed with a breakdown resulting in a bad thing.

With the midway point coming next week, it’s a troublesome sign that the offence hasn’t made much progress since week one. Something has to change heading into the game against Hamilton, because the current schemes are not working and haven’t been for much of the season.

Defence

The defence picked up six turnovers on the night, but the Lions offence didn’t take enough advantage of them, often just returning the defence to the field after another 2 and out. The defence was on the field way to much in the 2nd half and could have sued for non-support.

Despite the four interceptions by the defence, Tanner Marsh started to find a groove against a defensive unit that had to be getting tired. He was aided by great field position and fantastic protection for most of the night, especially on the 57-yard pass that set up the winning field goal. When protection did breakdown, he ran with the ball, something his veteran counterpart couldn’t seem to do.

Nine times out of ten the Lions win that game tonight with the opponent backed up to their own 5-yard line and any support from the offence. Dante Marsh had good position on Deslauriers on the Hail Mary but looked to try to adjust to the ball at one point and lost a step to the much taller Als receiver. Tanner Marsh had all day to wait for his man to get downfield and his throw was perfect.

Bitten by Bruce

The Lions gave up 167 yards to their former teammate Arland Bruce III who had a spectacular game for the Als. The veteran was even savvy enough to get down on the final drive after a catch, a valuable second that gave the Als the win at the end. Former Lions Jerome Messam and Sean Whyte also stuck daggers into the hearts of their former team.

The Good

Despite all the bad things that happened there were some positives on the night. Shawn Gore had his best game in a while with two touchdowns.

Tim Brown’s special teams groove is back, it’s just too bad the cover teams disappeared in the meantime.

The Ugly

Part of being a fan is having an opinion and feeling the emotions of a big win or a loss. It’s that roller-coaster we all love to ride each week. But judging by some of the comments I saw tonight, a few people out there really need to learn how to be respectful fans. There is no need for personal insults and name calling. Passion and emotion is one thing, insulting someone, usually behind a keyboard is another thing completely and certainly doesn’t make you a good fan in my books.

Where Do They Go From Here?

I said after the game that it was a fitting end to the game. The Alouettes were the better team in the 2nd half and were full value for the win. The talent on the Lions is there and it’s going to have to be a group effort to right the ship. Whether that is a roster shakeup or a change in schemes, if the Lions offence doesn’t get things figured out we’re likely in for more frustration in the 2nd half of the season.

With big games coming up against Western opponents there is still time to fix it, but time is running out.

I would love to hear your comments on the game, and feel free to hit me up on Twitter @BCLionsDen to talk Lions football.

From the Stands – Lions 26 Stampeders 22

August 22, 2013 By Brian Wawryshyn

The BC Lions needed to make a statement against a big West Division rival and Saturday night at BC Place their defence did just that keeping Jon Cornish in check and in the process delivered their biggest win of the season to date. Here’s how I saw it, From the Stands.

The Uniforms

I’ll be honest; when the Lions first came out I wasn’t sure about the new uniforms. The helmets with the matte black gun metal look were outstanding, but the numbers on the jerseys were hard to make out. But as the game went on they started to grow on me. After the game, seeing them on TV and in photos, they look very slick. They have a very mean look to them, and judging by comments on social media and the fact they sold out of them at the stadium last night, fans approve.

If the Lions are going to wear this edition more often, the helmets are going to need to be touched up a lot by Kato and crew. At the end of the game Adam Bighill’s helmet looked like it was in bad need of some bodywork.

I see a purchase in my near future.

The Defence

Heading into the game the Lions defence was going to have to play a huge role if the Lions wanted a chance to win against the Stampeders. They did just that, getting good pressure on Kevin Glenn all game, forcing him to hurry his throws on several occasions. They were only credited with one sack on the night but could have had others had Glenn not thrown the ball at the turf at the last second. I thought Khreem Smith had another strong outing for the Lions, and to me he’s been the most consistent player on the Lions defensive line this season.

The secondary did a great job in coverage as well, with the Lions throwing a new wrinkle at the Stampeders by playing more man coverage versus zone. It worked as they held Glenn to under 200 yards passing and didn’t allow the big play to hurt them all night.

Special Teams

The Lions finally had a good night on special teams as Tim Brown electrified the crowd with a huge kickoff return immediately following a Stampeder touchdown. Coverage on teams has been decent all season and that continued Saturday as the Lions kept the always dangerous Larry Taylor in check. I thought Jason Arakgi had an outstanding game on cover teams.

Offence

The Lions did enough to win this game on offence, but they can probably thank the defence for that. The opening drive of the game was impressive, the club’s best start to a game this season. Andrew Harris was held to just 56 hard running yards on the ground but added 61 through the air. However, after the first drive the Lions offence sputtered at times and it was a combination of receivers not getting open, some suspect play calls and poor decisions by Travis Lulay who was average on the night, throwing three interceptions.

The most puzzling decision was the need to go deep late in the game with the Lions up by two. Lulay underthrew his receiver resulting in a pick deep in the Stamps zone. The Lions defence stepped up and got a safety to give the Lions a four-point cushion. Even so, with that much time left on the clock, the offence would have been better off methodically working themselves downfield, taking time off the clock and at least getting a field goal at that point in the game.

On the post-game show questions were once again being raised about Lulay’s arm strength and the chance that his shoulder issue from last season could still be lingering. Only Lulay knows the answer to that question, but he has been underthrowing receivers often this year.

The Crowd

Just fewer than 30,000 fans enjoyed Saturday’s contest and it was the loudest I’ve heard BC Place in a long time. It seems the effort the club has been making to educate fans is starting to have an effect. There was one offensive wave (that turned into a defensive one following a video review process), but the fans had an impact late in the game and Kevin Glenn commented on it in his post-game media scrum. Here’s hoping as we go forward into the meat part of the schedule the crowds and the noise keep building.

Nik Lewis

Say what you want about the rivalry between the two clubs on the field but when Nik Lewis went down with that ugly leg break, Lions players immediately dropped to a knee and went into prayer. Lewis himself thanked BC players and fans on Twitter following the game for all the support and well wishes. We wish him a speedy recovery, because the league needs players of his calibre on the field.

What were your thoughts on the game? I would love to see your comments here. Enjoy your week everyone, and make sure to follow along on Twitter @BCLionsDen, and visit us on the website for our latest podcasts and blogs.

From The Stands: Lions 27 Bombers 20

August 9, 2013 By Brian Wawryshyn

It was the BC Day holiday and it was BC’s day on the field as they ground out a tough 27-20 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Here’s how I saw it, from the stands.

Tired Team?

I wouldn’t be surprised if to a man the players would say the bye week is coming at the perfect time. After travelling to Toronto and back, having a short week in which they only had two practices, and playing their second game in less than a week, the Lions had to scratch and claw their way to a win over the Bombers. It was a critical win, as the Lions couldn’t afford to fall another game behind the leaders in the West with another loss to an East Division team.

Offence

The Lions certainly came out with a purpose on the opening kickoff after the hit of the game by Solomon Elimimian gave them an early turnover and great field position to work with. But the Lions couldn’t advance the ball and settled for Paul McCallum field goal. In fact it took the Lions until the second quarter to solve their red zone woes when Travis Lulay found Shawn Gore in the end zone after a nice fake on the end around. Elimimian made his presence felt again picking off a deflected Justin Goltz pass and two plays later Lulay zipped a ball into Korey Williams who made a great catch for his first CFL TD.

Overall though the offence was average which wasn’t helped with the fact that the Bombers defence held Andrew Harris in check for most of the night. I thought the offensive line did a fairly decent job protecting Lulay for most of the night with Dean Valli stepping in for the injured Kirby Fabien.

There is lots of work to be done to get the unit firing on all cylinders.

Defence

It was the defence that should get most of the credit for the win. Turnovers had the Bombers in the game and Goltz looked decent in spurts. Chad Simpson and the Bombers offensive line had some success but the defence didn’t break often. After 16 points on the first half the Lions used good field position and their defence to hold the Bombers to four points in the second half.

Still, there should be more concerns about the lack of pressure from the Lions defensive line as the Lions head into the bye week. Lack of pressure has been a big reason why in back to back weeks young QBs have had some success against the Lions defence, although against the Bombers it had less of an impact. But the Lions didn’t give up the big play all night, and overall, it was a strong performance.

Anyone else know what Dante Marsh did to draw an unnecessary roughness penalty in the second quarter on the second Bombers touchdown? Just wondering, because I didn’t see it at the time, and the replays sure didn’t show anything.

Special Teams

We already talked about Elimimian’s big hit on special teams to start the game and the Lions did a good job of holding to the Bombers to modest returns on the night. Paul McCallum’s coffin corner punt was a thing of beauty and led to the Bombers giving up a key safety, but the veteran did miss two field goals from 45 yards leaving this blogger to wonder why they don’t send in Hugh O’Neill for anything over 40 yards. McCallum’s shank on the late punt that gave the Bombers a hope looked to be an early snap that he wasn’t expecting.

It should be interesting to see how the kicking game evolves as the season progresses, because 45 yarders are going to be needed down the stretch.

Twitter Fodder

Steve @TheSpecialist4: @ryan_4real21 Congrats on 150 consecutive games. All played with class, style and the right amount of flying around.

Indeed, all with the Lions as well.

Jamie Cartmell @SweetJimmyC: Dedicated to the end. Gonna miss ya @JacqBlack #BCLions #CFL pic.twitter.com/XY278wdaUe –

Lions communications director Jamie Cartmell on the departure of assistant Jacqueline Blackwell, who worked her last game last night after eight seasons. She has been a great friend to me as a blogger, and I wish her all the best in her new endeavours. She’s been a big part of building the Lions social media brand.

Jordan Ortillan @jortillan: I love this stadium. A shame there aren’t more people in it. #BCPlace #BCLions #CFL #football

A shame indeed, but I was surprised there were as many as there were. One of the most popular long weekends of the year for folks to get away, so just fewer than 27,000 was decent. I’m still confident crowds will approach 30,000 as we head towards Labour Day and play key Western Division opponents.

Enjoy the bye week everyone. Next up is a big Western Division match against the Calgary Stampeders, where we will get a real gauge of just how the Lions stack up against the West.

As always, we would love your comments on the game, either here or on Twitter @BCLionsDen.

From The Stands – Lions 31, Eskimos 21

July 25, 2013 By Brian Wawryshyn

With the perfect conditions of BC Place Stadium as the backdrop, we were treated to a much better game than our Edmonton friends were a week ago in monsoon-like conditions at Commonwealth. Fortunately for BC Lions fans, the end result was the same as the Lions beat the Eskimos and in the process locked up the season series between the teams.

Here is how I saw things, from the stands.

Eskimos

I thought the Eskimos would come to play, and I feel they lived up to that in a hard-fought first half that saw both teams have some success and make some mistakes. I thought Mike Reilly had a pretty good game and when he got decent protection from his offensive line, made some things happen.

Fred Stamps was a non-factor until late in the game, and if he’s not a focal point of the offence the Eskimos will struggle. Combine that fact with the Lions holding Hugh Charles to 50 yards on 11 carries and the experienced Lions were simply too much for the rebuilding Eskimos in the second half.

There was lots of talk about Reilly and a possible QB controversy in Edmonton after Jonathan Crompton led the Eskimos on an efficient late drive for touchdown, but I hope they give Mike more time. I think he’s a great character guy, and he’s played two games in horrid conditions with a young inexperienced team. The Eskimos have some nice pieces and I hope Mike gets a chance to develop with them.

Lions

The Lions started the game moving the ball pretty well, but with an interception and a couple of stalled drives could only manage to head to the room tied at the half. Once again, their adjustments at halftime paid immediate dividends as the Lions built a 24-10 lead.

Andrew Harris found the end zone three times and I was so impressed with his patience to hit holes throughout the night. Harris is emerging as a true leader on this team and as he goes, so go the Lions. We saw what happened when he was eliminated by the Stampeders in week one, so it’s great to see Harris being so involved and successful in the game plan.

A huge part that success has been the play of the offensive line of which heading into the season the Lions had questions, starting two young players and the 34-year-old Patrick Kabongo. Matt Norman is settling in nicely at centre, while Kirby Fabien has been very impressive in his first four pro games. Kabongo has rejuvenated his career and has been solid, meaning all three of these question marks to start the year have worked out pretty well for the Lions.

What can you say about Emmanuel Arceneaux? His 77 yard touchdown was a thing of beauty, evading a tackle and walking a tight rope to stay in bounds. His speed and size are so much to deal with for any DB that has to cover him. He’s third in the league in receiving and is averaging 26 yards per catch. With these young receivers and a dominant Harris, this Lions offence is only scratching the surface of what it could become this season.

On the last BCLionsDen.ca Pawdcast I talked about how I felt Khreem Smith was under-appreciated a little when people discussed the defensive line. He had a few sacks slip out of his hands last week in Edmonton but racked up two Saturday. He continually gets huge push from the line of scrimmage and creates pressure that often results in someone else getting a sack. It awesome to see him have an outstanding game and pick up two sacks in the process.

Dante Marsh led the team with eight tackles, including the 500th of his career, all with the Lions of course. He also got the award for hit of the night when he rocked Fred Stamps in the fourth quarter and on a night when the Lions were celebrating Wall of Fame inductions, you have to think Marsh will be finding his way to that wall someday, if not the ring of honour.

With 10 days off there is a good chance that the Lions will have Adam Bighill back when they take on the Argos, and for defence finding its groove again that’s a scary prospect for opposing teams.

On special teams, I liked the running of Tim Brown when he had time to do anything. Return blocking still seems to be an issue, and it didn’t help that 15 yard no yards calls were inexplicably being missed by the officials.

I was a little surprised to see Paul McCallum doing all the kicking, besides kickoffs, as word was there would be some sort of split duty between himself and Hugh O’Neill. McCallum performed well in his return and it will be interesting to see how things are handled as we move forward.

Wall of Fame

It was a great ceremony at halftime to induct Damon Allen and Don Matthews into the BC Lions Wall of Fame. I was glad to see Matthews in attendance because I wasn’t sure if he would be there due to his health issues. He provided my favourite part of the ceremony when he told Lions fans in attendance about how the stadium used to be filled with 50,000 fans and how it used to be the loudest stadium in the league. He then gave them the order to, “Make it happen again.” Well said coach, well said.

Atmosphere

Once again it was a beautiful night to have the roof open. The crowd of 26,623 was better than the opener, but it’s obvious that summer in Vancouver is a tough time to draw the casual fan. I know we will see larger and louder crowds as we go past Labour Day.

The offensive wave tried to get going, but it looks like some sections are getting the message as there were enough in the know to not let it come around the corner of the end zones. A quick look at the family section showed that it’s a popular idea and perhaps the Lions should look at expanding it if the demand is there.

Those are my thoughts from the stands, what were yours? Leave a comment or get me on Twitter, @BCLionsDen.

From the Stands – Lions 29 Ticats 26

From The Couch – Alouettes 39, Lions 38

From the Stands – Lions 26 Stampeders 22

From The Stands – Lions 31, Eskimos 21

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