Johnson and Lions want back in hunt
Running back believes B.C. can still turn this season around and make playoffs
In some respects, this didn’t have the feel of a typical bye week.
Sure, there was time to rest and refresh the body. But the B.C. Lions entered their second week off of the season on a sour note after a last-second loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sept. 22, which provided yet another setback to the local CFL team’s playoff hopes.
One can’t help but wonder how that plays on the psyche when there is an extended time to think about it before returning to work.
The Lions, who sit fifth in the West Division heading into Saturday’s tilt with the Ottawa Redblacks at B.C. Place Stadium, have five games left in which to salvage their season and make the playoffs, either as the third-place team in the division or as the crossover team into the East.
The relative cushion of a 5-2 start in the summer is no longer, as B.C.’s record has dropped to 6-7, putting them two points back of fourthplace Edmonton and third-place Saskatchewan.
“I can only speak personally — I had a hard time not thinking about football,” running back Jeremiah Johnson said. “Seeing all the other teams’ success … that put me on edge because I know we’ve got a great group of guys on offence and defence, and it’s all about putting it together and making a great story.
“Social media is involved and you see the scenarios and you see all the scenarios for other teams and you don’t see your team in those scenarios. It’s all about, what can we do to separate ourselves? What can we do to get back into this? And I just think if we just stay the course, win all five of these football games and have that mindset, that it’s not over yet.” Count Johnson as an optimist. At the age of 30, he’s in the midst of a career season with 752 yards rushing, which is good enough for third in the league. He needs only 57 yards rushing to set a new single-season CFL career best in that category, which seems likely to happen this weekend. He has also emerged as a dangerous threat in the passing game during his second season in B.C., with 410 yards receiving and three touchdowns through the air.
He’s quick to point out, too, that this is the furthest he’s gone into a season without any significant injuries. That should bode well for a Lions team that finds itself in the trailing position in what has become a sprint for the playoffs.
Johnson has been productive, averaging 5.9 yards per carry and 12.4 yards per catch, and his place as a focal point in the offence is espe- cially important now.
Against the Ticats, the Lions fell short in the red zone and that was costly. The offence, however, did put up 480 yards, including 135 along the ground during a much-improved second half. Johnson had 91 of those yards and also led the team in receiving.
“A lot of it had to do with the fact we got our running game going,” head coach Wally Buono said, noting that makes other elements of the offence that much better.
“When the leaves turn colours, football starts to be played the old-fashioned way, which is you hand it off and try to get first downs,” Buono said.
The Lions have followed suit with the changing foliage, with Johnson running the ball 42 times combined over the last three games. In the three games before that — versus Saskatchewan, Calgary and Ottawa — he had just 17 combined rushes.
That total can likely be attributed to game flow in the CFL, trailing and then having to adjust the game plan, which may focus less on the run in order to quickly erase a deficit.
Johnson isn’t so much worried about how many times he gets his hands on the ball, but what he does when quarterback Jonathon Jennings does hand off.
“They don’t want the run game to prevail,” Johnson said of opposing defences. “I know from being a defensive player back in the day, if a team is running on you, your seat gets hot.
“I think that (offensive coordinator Khari Jones) has a great grasp on when to call the right plays and I think that if we stay on our path, with what we started with, we’ll be OK.”