ROARING BACK?
Lions start getting healthy again just in time to meet Stampeders in Calgary, where they haven’t won in four years in the regular season
CALGARY — One star in. One star out.
It’s not exactly the kind of math the B.C. Lions want to subscribe to in trying to stop a four-year regular-season skid at McMahon Stadium.
But it’s where they stand heading into Saturday night’s tilt against the host Calgary Stampeders.
While top-shelf running back Jeremiah Johnson returns from injury to the Lions, teammate Solomon Elimimian — one of the CFL’s premier defenders — will not.
“He’s just such a good player,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson about Elimimian, who underwent wrist surgery in mid-July and is projected to be out until mid-September. “I thought (Jordan) Herdman’s done a nice job (filling in for Elimimian) though. Herdman’s a good football player, and he moves good side to side.
“But, obviously, you’re going to miss Soloman — he’s a great player. You just move on.”
Easy for Dickenson to say, really.
The Lions defence isn’t exactly stacked like that of the Stamps, which dominates pretty much every statistical category on that side of the ball.
And without middle linebacker Elimimian, the 2014 CFL most outstanding player, the defence is in much tougher than usual against the Stamps offence.
“If they’re able to change things up ratio-wise, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see different defensive linemen in the game, so we’re preparing for that,” Dickenson said. “Maybe they’ll make a change at other positions as well.”
The Stamps already know they’ll be seeing a key change in the Lions offence from one they’ve seen on film from their last game, a 29-25 loss in Week 6 to the host Ottawa Redblacks.
A wonky ankle kept Johnson from playing in the nation’s capital.
So he’ll try to get back on track against the Stamps in what’s already been a 222yard rushing season for the fifth-year star.
“He’s a really good running back,” said Stamps middle linebacker Alex Singleton. “Obviously he’s one of the top backs in the league — and he’s been tough against us all the time. So you’ve got to bring your hard hat to work this week.”
Travon Van also rejoins a Lions backfield that’s been in motion the past few weeks. Van, a fourth-year CFLer, sparkled in training camp and in pre-season before leaving the team to attend to family matters in San Diego. His mother, suffering from dialysis, needed a change in care facilities, so Van went there to take attend to the matter.
“It’s always interesting with Van,” Singleton said. “We played against each other in college, so there’s a little history going back and forth,” Singleton said. “But it’s always fun playing against those good backs.”
The Stamps, however, won’t have to contend with at least one of the Lions other contributing backs.
Brandon Rutley tore his ACL against the Redblacks two weeks ago after starter Chris Rainey left — and then was forced to return — with a banged-up ankle. Of course, Rainey’s up-in-the-air status could also affect the Lions special teams since the shifty veteran is tops in kick-return yardage, with 558 on 21 runbacks, and is among the best punt returners, with 255 yards on 20 runbacks.
No matter if it’s JohnsonVan or Johnson-Rainey combination, however, Singleton & Co. expect to see Trevor Lulay handing off the ball to the Lions running backs.
With two straight starts under his belt, the veteran quarterback is getting the majority of play ahead of struggling youngster Jonathan Jennings, and Lulay’s made the most of it with 651 yards passing and three touchdowns.
“I think Lulay is going to be the starter,” Singleton said. “But both quarterbacks have been playing over the last two years. Both are really good players. But whoever shows up, we’re going to play them and we’re going to be playing them hard.
“Really, we don’t care who comes here,” Singleton added. “We’ll play anybody who shows up here any Saturday. If we execute our gameplan and don’t make a lot of mistakes with our defence getting better every week, it’s about us and never about them.”