GM Hervey hopes to make Lions roar again
Ed Hervey already has an answer to the Vancouver housing crunch. He’ll just set up a cot in his office. “Yeah, I’ve slept in the office before,” laughed the new general manager of the B.C. Lions.
That problem down. There’s plenty left. Hervey is taking on the task of helping the Lions back into the CFL playoffs, which they missed last season following a 7-11 campaign left them on the outside looking in at the post-season for the first time in 20 years.
B.C. looked like a contender to begin the season, a 5-2 start drowned by a 2-9 finish to the year, including a five-game slide that washed away all hopes of a playoff berth.
The Lions, despite the record, actually had respectable numbers on both sides of the ball.
The defence was mid-pack in yards allowed, though it did lead the league in batted balls.
The offence put up 393 yards per game, fourth overall, as was the time of possession. But their points total (26.1 ppg) was better than only the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes.
A lot of that can be traced to the 39 turnovers the offence posted, worst in the CFL by a long shot, as was the 49 sacks allowed.
A porous offensive line is where Hervey is going to begin his retooling process, followed by the defensive line.
“I believe, when I look at this team, that the roster is solid, has solid players on it,” he said.
“There were a few games this year that were close, that if they’d won them, they could have made the post-season. Moving forward, it just needs a few tweaks here and there.
“I believe in both quarterbacks,” he added of Jon Jennings and Travis Lulay, both of whom are returning.
“When it comes to the defensive line, you want to be able to control the line of scrimmage. You want to be able to physically stop the run, first and foremost, and you want to be able to get to the other team’s quarterback.”
It makes sense that Hervey would start his evaluation of the team at its core. The lines are the backbone of a team, traditionally, and as he says, he’s “not here to reinvent the wheel.”
His goal is to find prototypical football players. The grit guys, the guys with the right attitude, the ones who buy into the team-first mentality.
He did it in Edmonton, when he took another 7-11 team and transformed it into a Grey Cup champion within three years. It didn’t happen right away; a 4-14 first season in 2013 was followed by a 12-6 campaign and loss in the West Division Final, then a 14-4 2015 season that culminated in a 26-20 win over the Ottawa Redblacks in the Grey Cup.
His departure from Edmonton was sudden, and controversial. The Esks claimed “philosophical differences” and an inability to come to contract extension terms as their reasons for his ouster. Apparently, winning wasn’t enough.
That’s not the case with the Lions. Winning is Wally Buono’s No. 1 concern.
Hervey’s, too.
Their similar outlooks are the reason why they’re willing to operate in a strange power structure where Hervey will oversee the coach, who actually is his boss.