SEASON STARTS WITH A BANG
Lions and Eskimos give the paying customers their money’s worth
Wally Buono, you sense, isn’t big on corporate messaging or branding strategies or any of the other blah, blah of modern communications, but, in the run-up to his team’s season-opener, the old Lion drilled home the same point with clarity and consistency.
We want to play fast, play physical and play smart, Buono iterated again and again as he outlined his team’s identity for 2017.
To that end, Buono altered his lineup to reflect his mantra and, Saturday night, the Lions were certainly bigger and faster than the team that was bounced by Calgary in the Western final seven months ago.
As for the smarts, well, it would seem the Lions might need some work in the fine art of staying out of their own way.
“It was a tough one,” said receiver Nick Moore. “We were shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Their wounds, in fact, were largely self-inflicted.
In the first game of 2017, the Lions displayed many of the attributes promised by the head coach but they also contributed mightily to their own demise.
In front of a so-so crowd of 19,175, they allowed a 76-yard completion to Brandon Zylstra in the dying seconds, setting up the game-winning field by Sean Whyte on the game’s last play after the Lions had tied the game with a late touchdown of their own.
The Leos also had 151 yards worth of plays called back by penalties, including a 90-yard punt return for a touchdown by Chris Rainey, handed the visiting Edmonton Eskimos three points on a first-half turnover and lost three points of their own when kicker Ty Long hit the upright. Long also missed the go-ahead convert after Travis Lulay had tied the game late in the fourth quarter, capping off a spirited Lions’ comeback which, in end, meant nothing.
OK, maybe they weren’t the most venal of football sins, but throw in an Eskimos team that was fast, physical AND smart, and it was enough to send the Lions to a 30-27 defeat.
On the Esks’ second possession of the game, Rainey busted loose on a 90-yard punt return which, stop us if this sounds familiar for the Canadian Football League, was called back by an illegal block.
Later in the opening quarter, the Lions had 61 yards’ worth offensive plays wiped out by two holding calls on Antonio Johnson. Throw in a Jonathon Jennings fumble which led to an Esks’ field goal and Long hitting the post, and the Lions trailed 13-5 at the end of the half.
The home team would gain some traction in the second half as Jennings, who threw for 104 puny yards in the first half, engineered a couple of lengthy scoring drives in the third quarter which ended with field goals.
But the Eskimos, as always, are a disciplined, professional outfit, and when the Lions closed to 13-11, Mike Reilly responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive keyed by a 44-yard run by John White which led 13-yard touchdown pass to Vidal Hazleton.
The Lions made things interesting early in the fourth quarter when Jeremiah Johnson bolted 13 yards for a touchdown after Chandler Fenner recovered a fumbled punt deep in Esks’ territory.
And made things really interesting after the Esks responded with another touchdown.
In the last minute, Jennings broke containment and speared Moore with a 52-yard strike, setting up Lulay’s touchdown.
But it Reilly would have the final say on the field, while Buono would likely have something to add off of it in the locker-room.