Former mates come back to haunt Lions
Ex-players come back to haunt b.c. as bombers romp to 41-19 victory
Wally Buono is peering through the looking glass, and he’s afraid of what might be staring back at him. It might just be the truth. A 41-19 loss will do that to a coach. The second-guessing, the 20/20 hindsight and the Sunday morning quarterbacking — because Saturday’s loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers was so disquieting, it wasn’t something that would wait until Monday. There was a plane full of insomniac Lions mentally dissecting it into the early hours Sunday morning.
“Players, coaches, we all have to share in the responsibility. At the end of it, you got to look yourself in the mirror, and if this is who we are ...” Buono said, pausing to exhale.
“Then that’s a tough thing,” he said quietly.
And it’s a tough place to be, questioning your team’s identity with just three games under the belt. But that’s where the Lions are. So far this season, Buono’s team squeaked by the East’s last-place team and made two .500 teams look like world-beaters.
On Saturday, the Bombers blitzed to a 28-3 lead at Investor’s Group Field before the second quarter was in the books, then stretched that advantage to 41-13 before a garbage time touchdown by B.C. quarterback Cody Fajardo made the score, well, not completely terrible.
Buono saw Jonathon Jennings, his starting quarterback, throw for 105 yards — his lowest career total as a starter. The fourth-year pivot sprayed passes all over the field, going 15-of-24, but more critically was picked off twice by former teammate Adam Bighill, who romped boisterously into the end zone on a fourth-quarter 56-yard pick-six.
“I’m going to get out there and make some moves and score, make a few people miss,” the five-foot-10, 230-pound Bombers linebacker said of out-legging the Lions to the end zone.
“A running back back in the day, and still love to carry the ball. So I’m going to do something special with it.”
Bighill took care not to rub salt in the wounds post-game, nor during a game that turned feisty with several scrums, penalty flags and grappling matches as the score soared out of reach for the visitors.
“I think it’s bragging rights for the week. It’s a game I obviously had circled on my calendar from all the relationships I had back there, and I’m sure they feel the same way about me,” said Bighill, who left the Lions for a one-year stint with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints prior to last season.
“There really wasn’t a lot of trash talk. There’s mutual respect. Manny (Arceneaux) is always going to say a little something, but that’s Manny and I love him for it. So, at the end of the day, it’s a ton of fun out there against those guys.”
To be clear, the fun was grossly one-sided.
Whether it was Winnipeg running
It’s a game I obviously had circled on my calendar from all the relationships I had back there.
back Andrew Harris — another former Lion come back to haunt his team — taking a wildcat snap 43 yards upfield en route to 101 yards rushing in the first half, or Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols finishing the game with nary a stain on his uniform in his first action back from a knee injury, it was strictly the home team yukking it up.
The Lions gave up 359 yards of offence — an improvement over the 517 surrendered to Edmonton — but all the talk this week will be about Jennings’ status. Travis Lulay is waiting in the wings, reportedly all but recovered from the knee injury that ended his season last year. The 10-year vet, who dressed as the No. 3 Saturday night, racked up 1,693 yards and 10 touchdowns in the six games he did play in 2017.
Lulay ’s apparent timeless talent has put the pressure on his good friend Jennings, who, in his last four games, has thrown for 145, 183, 199 and 105 yards. He has just two touchdowns, both coming against Montreal, while being intercepted six times.
“You have to go back and watch what was going on. Did the receivers run the right routes? … There’s more to it than just the quarterback,” said Buono, adding no decision on the starter’s job will be made until much later this week.
“We’ll take a good look at that … and then we’ll do what we have to do. I think our primary concern is our football team. It starts from me, down to the coaches, down to the players. … There’s reasons why we’re not executing … but you have to share part of the burden.”