Shaky start, solid finish for Lions
QB Jennings pilots efficient offence and revamped pass rush keeps heat on Als throughout opener
It’s ironic that the Montreal Alouettes’ charter plane didn’t have enough fuel to make the flight to Vancouver on Friday. The visitors ran out of gas early at B.C. Place Stadium on Saturday night.
The Als scored all 10 of their points in the first quarter Saturday, but were held off the scoreboard the rest of the way by a B.C. defence that bent but didn’t break, leading the Lions to the 22-10 win in their CFL season- and homeopener.
B.C.’s offence only managed nine first-half points despite a hot start from quarterback Jonathon Jennings, but put up 10 fourth-quarter points to send the crowd of 20,182 home happy.
The game’s slow start was understandable, given the turnover on the roster.
There were 33 new players and 11 new starters in the lineup for B.C. from last season — four on offence, seven on defence — giving the team an older, more experienced lineup than 2017.
Of the 89 veterans who went to new CFL teams in the off-season, a quarter of them — 23 — ended up in B.C.
Jennings was 20-of-24 for 183 yards, hitting Shaq Johnson for a 35-yard scoring strike and Cory Watson for an 18-yard major while completing passes to seven different receivers.
Johnson led the way with 46 receiving yards, while running back Jeremiah Johnson had 52 yards rushing, including some solid late-game runs to help run down the clock.
Kicker Ty Long had field goals of 30 and 27 yards, along with two rouges.
Montreal’s Drew Willy, the 13th quarterback the Als have used since Anthony Calvillo, was 22-of-32 for 266 yards and an interception. Here’s what else we learned:
ON TARGET
There were plenty of questions about team performance coming into the season, but there was just one individual one: how would Jennings respond?
The 25-year-old quarterback threw 19 interceptions last season to 16 touchdowns, and comes into the season facing massive pressure to prove he can be a consistent and bonafide starter.
The Lions pivot came out on fire, completing 10 straight passes for 98 yards and a touchdown before intentionally firing the ball into the ground on a second-quarter play, expecting a flag for pass interference on running back Chris Rainey. It didn’t come and went into the books as an incompletion.
Most of his passes were short or intermediate routes, but he caught the Als ball-watching on his first-quarter touchdown. He twitched in the direction of Bryan Burnham on an underneath route, and when the defence bit, hit a streaking Shaq Johnson for a 35-yard touchdown.
Jennings also did damage with his legs, picking up a team-high 57 yards on nine carries, including a 21-yard scamper on a designed run in the first quarter.
PRESSURE COOKER
The Lions had 28 sacks last season, only three more than Montreal’s league-low of 25, and their 95 QB pressures was just two more than the leaguelow of 93 by Hamilton.
B.C. brought in Gabe Knapton and Odell Willis to address their defensive line issues — the two had 118 career sacks between them coming into the game — and they delivered.
Willis got to Drew Willy as the Als were threatening in the red zone in the first quar- ter, pulling him down on a second-and-seven play to limit Montreal to a field goal. His 90th career sack put him into a tie for 14th all-time in the CFL.
Knapton, Junior Luke and Bo Lokombo also had first-quarter sacks, as the Lions finished the game with five.
B.C. had issues stopping the Als’ interior runs early on — Montreal’s Tyrell Sutton was a workhorse on his team’s first scoring drive, including a stretch of six straight runs for 30 yards — but the defence tightened up as the game went on, holding them to 78 rushing yards overall.
The Lions were the thirdbest team against the run last year, averaging 84.3 yards rush yards against, while Montreal was the third-best (95.4).
SOFT START FOR SECONDARY
It took some time for the Lions’ DBs to settle into the game, getting beaten twice for big plays in the opening half, including one 57-yarder to former Lion Chris Williams, a play that ended with a fumble-recovery touchdown for the Als.
B.J. Cunningham got behind the defence for a 52-yard score three players earlier, but the major was negated on a holding penalty. Later in the first quarter, Earnest Jackson blew by defender Marcell Young off the line of scrimmage, going for 54 yards to the Lions’ 20, but a Willis sack forced the Als to settle for a field goal.
They settled down after that — newcomer Garry Peters picked Willy off late in the fourth quarter, leading to Watson’s touchdown — and held Montreal to 266 yards passing.
BEST TACKLE
A pants-less streaker in a Jennings jersey interrupted play in the first quarter, running various routes around the team’s huddles and playing to the crowd. But B.C.’s Young tired of the play, laying down the best hit of the game on the streaker — who stayed down, momentarily motionless as security descended — to cheers and applause from the crowd.