Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
While some look at the B.C. Lions 32-15 win over the Calgary Stampeders Friday night at BC Place as somewhat unattractive, I’ll choose to see the beauty in it.
My background in football is on the defensive side of the ball, so when a defensive unit comes up with four turnovers and scores touchdowns on two of them you can see why I look at the Lions performance on defense as a work of art.
The Lions offense? We will get to that later.
The victory over the Stampeders was on a night where the Lions defense was good…and lucky.
After a 15-yard field goal by Sean Whyte had given the Lions a 12-8 lead early in the fourth quarter, the Stampeders got the ball back.
Calgary had some momentum having stopped the Lions in the red zone and that momentum grew on the following drive. After the Stampeders elected to scrimmage at their own 40-yard line, quarterback Jake Maier hit Jalen Philpot for a 19-yard gain and then Marken Michel for a 13-yard pickup. Suddenly, the Stamps had a first-and-ten at the B.C. 38-yard line.
On the next play, Meier was intercepted by Lions defensive end Mathieu Betts, who turned on the jets and raced to the end zone with a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown.
It was an example of some great athleticism by Betts, who caught the attempted checkdown pass at the line of scrimmage.
At first glance, both this agent and Lions color analyst Giulio Caravatta thought that Betts was in the midst of a twist up front but we were wrong.
Bumping into Betts leaving the building, I asked about the play and he said he had actually blown his assignment. Betts had lined up on the right side of the line of scrimmage and then was washed down the line to the other side. He just reacted when he saw Maier throwing.
Better to be lucky than good sometimes.
That play gave the Leos an 18-8 lead. On the next series, Lions linebacker T.J. Lee batted down a lateral pass then scooped up the football and returned it 27-yards for another major to give B.C. a 25-8 lead, basically ending any chance the Stamps had in pulling off their first road win of the season and snapping a six-game winless drought.
The B.C. defense, which came into the game with a CFL-low 9 interceptions, came up with three against Calgary and created four turnovers in the contest.
When the Lions needed a spark, their defense gave it to them.
The performance by the Lions offense, however, put a damper on the night.
The Lions red zone issues continued with the offense going 0-for-4 in converting opportunities inside the opposition’s 20 into touchdowns. That lowered their season average to 48% (25/52) which ranks 8th in the CFL.
Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke and company managed only 269 yards of total offense and did not find the end zone as they settled for six field goals from Whyte.
“We have to be better in the red zone. In my life, I don’t think I’ve ever played a game where we won and we never scored an offensive touchdown. I’m not going to lie, it feels very, very odd right now. I’m grateful that we won because it’s hard to win in this league, but man, I feel like we didn’t deserve it,” Rourke told us on the CKNW 980 post-game show.
Lions head coach Rick Campbell was relieved with the win which saw his team snap a two-game losing skid, but knows there is room for improvement.
“There’s a ton of things that we can get better at but it’s better to do that when you win,” Campbell told us on the post-game show.
The first half was a concern for Campbell as the Lions looked tight in going into the locker room with Calgary leading 7-6.
“We have to get over that. If we are nervous about playing in close games…all of them are going to be close from here on out, so I hope we keep learning and growing from tonight,” he told us afterwards.
The second-half performance by the defense was a huge positive as the Lions outscored the Stampeders 26-8 in the final 30 minutes of play and gave Campbell and the Lions something to build on.
“We talked at halftime about getting used to playing in close games and about getting excited to go out and have an opportunity to win a close game. We made some big plays obviously in the second half to win the game,” he noted.
Now they have to do it in Regina on Friday versus the Saskatchewan Roughriders if they want to have any chance of hosting the Western Semi-Final on November 2nd.
OVERTIME
* The Lions clinched a playoff spot on Saturday when Edmonton lost to Saskatchewan 28-24. The Lions (8-8) travel to Regina to play the Roughriders (8-7-1) on Friday (4 p.m. CKNW 980; Sher E Punjab Radio 600; TSN). A Saskatchewan win would clinch second place with the Lions returning on Nov. 2 for the Western Division Semi-Final. A Lions win would mean a B.C. win against Montreal on Oct. 19 or a Saskatchewan loss against Calgary on Oct. 26 would clinch second place with the Riders coming to Vancouver on Nov. 2.
* Lee was quick to point out in his post-game press conference that he may have made some history with his touchdown. “I’m pretty sure I’m the first person to score a touchdown wearing a Guardian Cap (in the CFL),” he noted. The cap is a padded, soft-shell layer worn over the traditional helmet designed to reduce concussions. It’s used by a lot of players in practice but only by a small percentage in games thus far.
* There is some hope that receiver Jevon Cottoy (ankle) and fullback David Mackie (hamstring) will be able to play against the Riders. The absence of the two multi-talented players means the offense has to bring in different personnel groupings which is a tell. “You’re bang on,” Rourke responded when the subject was broached post-game. “Those guys are unbelievably important to us. Their value has no end. It’s times like these when they’re injured that we feel how valuable they are. They also provide a huge boost for our special teams.”
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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