UNABLE TO DELIVER KNOCKOUT PUNCH ON ROAD, LIONS AGAIN LICKING WOUNDS
The B.C. Lions advertised themselves as “road dogs” before the start of this CFL season and say this for them: They’ve got the dog part down pat through the first two months of their schedule.
Saturday evening in Toronto, the Lions ran their season’s road record to 0-5 with a 24-23 loss to the Grey Cup champion Argos, uncovering an innovative new method of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory along the way.
With the Lions driving for the potential game-winning score with just under a minute left in the fourth quarter, Manny Arceneaux fumbled in Toronto territory, the Argos’ Marcus Ball recovered, et voila, another non-victory away from B.C. Place Stadium.
“It came at the worst time in the game,” Arceneaux said in a deathly quite Lions’ lockerroom. “You’ve got to have basic fundamentals. It was a mistake and it came at a crucial moment. I have to protect the ball.”
He’d get no argument from Wally Buono.
“Manny doesn’t fumble, we kick the field goal and we’re talking about a big win,” said the Lions’ head coach.
Instead of another disappointing road show.
The Lions held a 20-10 lead late in the third quarter and a threepoint lead in the fourth quarter but through some combination of the Argos’ resilience, the defence’s inability to stop Argos’ QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson on second and long and an offence that produced just six second-half points, the Leos fell to 3-5 and are again in scramble mode.
“I didn’t think the game was slipping away, ever,” said Lions quarterback Travis Lulay.
Funny, the scoreboard told a different story.
Lulay was sharp in the first half, completing 10 of 17 passes for 150 yards with a 44-yard touchdown toss to Bryan Burnham, while directing a diverse offence that accounted for 221 net yards and a 17-10 lead.
The Lions stretched their advantage to 20-10 on Ty Long ’s 45-yard field goal, one of his three in the game, midway through the third but were outscored 14-3 over the final 20 minutes as Bethel-Thompson rallied his team.
The momentum changer was a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with Bethel-Thompson finding Anthony Coombs in the end zone.
On his next possession, he marched the Argos 87 yards on 12 plays, culminating in James Franklin’s one-yard quarterback sneak early in the fourth quarter.
In those two drives, BethelThompson converted on second-and-eight or more on five occasions.
“Not good enough,” said the Lions’ Shawn Lemon. “We have
to find a way to get off the field.”
The Lions found that way in the late going and seemed to finally catch a break when Ball picked off a tipped Lulay pass before fumbling the ball back to the Lions. Starting at his own 22, Lulay had just moved the Lions into Argos’ territory when Arceneaux’s fumble ended the drama.
“Look, he knows,” Lulay said of Arceneaux. “That guy works his ass off. There’s nothing I have to say to him other than ‘I love you’ and ‘I still believe in you.’ I’m going to keep throwing the ball his way.”
“Sometimes you can’t catch a break but that falls on us,” said Arceneaux. “We just had meltdowns at the wrong time. We have to play a cleaner brand of football.”
Still, Arceneaux’s gaffe was hardly the Lions’ only mistake in this affair. They took three procedure penalties on offence and a time-count violation as part of a larger pattern of self destruction that invariably shows up on the road.
They surrendered 91 rushing yards to James Wilder Jr. and another 49 in the passing game when the world knows Job No. 1 against the Argos is stopping Wilder. They also failed to generate pressure on BethelThompson when the game was on the line.
Lulay finished 21 of 34 for 285 yards, one TD and one pick, good but not great and it appears this team will need superior quarterbacking to make the playoffs.
Jeremiah Johnson chipped in with 60 yards on the ground and another 57 in the air but the Lions’ offence remains a grind-itout unit that’s lacking in explosiveness.
The defence, meanwhile, held the Argos to 24 points. Again, good but not great. “I didn’t sense the same intensity (as in their win over Edmonton last week),” said Buono.
“Procedures, dropped balls, offside. I mean, come on.
“Defensively we were OK, but when you see them push the pile and run for eight yards at a time it’s demoralizing. You’ve got to be more physical.”
Buono was asked if he’s encouraged because the Lions appear to be close to turning their season around.
“I think so, but who knows,” he answered. “We just have to get back to work. We don’t have much choice.”
But they do have a hole in which they find themselves.