Lions lament mental miscues in road loss to resilient Redblacks
NEXT GAME
OTTAWA Contrary to popular belief, the 29-25 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday didn’t come down to one player or one play or even a series of injures that further depleted a banged-up B.C. Lions team.
But there will be some head scratching over a time-count violation that took away a chance to go for a late fourth-quarter touchdown and kill some additional time off the game clock.
With the clock inside of 21/2 minutes and the Redblacks and Lions tied 22-22, B.C. had the ball on the Ottawa 12-yard line, thanks largely to a 78-yard connection between quarterback Travis Lulay and receiver Emmanuel (Manny) Arceneaux.
But one down later, with the play in and Lulay behind centre, the Lions were flagged for a timecount violation — resulting in a loss of down. Lulay thought he got the play off on time, the CFL referee disagreed — and the Lions were forced to settle for a Ty Long field goal.
Cue the Redblacks’ winning touchdown drive, which went 80 yards and ended in a William Powell touchdown plunge. The Lions got the ball back with 45 seconds left, but three consecutive incompletions sealed the deal.
Asked what more the team needed to do after a solid offensive performance — Lulay completed 19-of-32 passes for 325 yards, Arceneaux had five catches for 152 yards and Brandon Rutley had 17 carries for 91 yards before an injury knocked him out of the game — Lions’ coach Wally Buono said: “I don’t think punching it in was the problem. We had too many dropped balls.
“And at a critical time, we get a time count. Not only do you lose the down, you lose an opportunity to go for seven (points). We moved the ball all the way down, we get a time count. In critical games, you can’t get in that position and lose your down. We did.”
There was also a huge fumble by receiver Bryan Burnham when the ball was knocked out of his hands by Antoine Pruneau and recovered by the Redblacks at their 31-yard line early in the fourth quarter.
Give credit to Ottawa for being
resilient, but the Lions did enough good things to win.
“We weren’t consistent enough, we played really well in spurts,” said Lulay. “They had to earn that win, they had to put a long drive together. No one said it’s easy, a lot of these games come down to the wire. They just made a handful more plays than we did late in the game.
“We battled. Look we’re on the road, we’re up by three with less than two minutes to play, you’ll take that most times.”
Then there were the injuries. Offensive lineman Jovan Olafioye (knee) left the game early. Rutley was forced out with a knee injury. Dynamic returner Chris Rainey was also forced to the sidelines for a bit( with ice on his ankle at one point).
Said Lulay: “Brandon was really finding the rhythm in the third quarter. Rainey’s a dynamic guy. If he’s banged up, that not only affects our return game, but also in the backfield. Rainey gutted it out.”
Asked about the injuries, Buono said: “Hopefully none of them are serious.”
The Lions, now with a 2-3 record, will have a bye week before travelling to Calgary to face the Stampeders.
Said Lulay: “Did we play perfect on offence? No. We did some good things, we had some dynamic plays.
“But what you’re going to remember is the plays you have to be better at. That’s how you have to approach it.”
Saturday, Aug. 4
B.C. Lions at Calgary Stampeders
6 p.m., McMahon Stadium, TSN, TSN 1040 AM