ANY MOMENTUM LIONS HAD DIDN’T MAKE TRIP TO HAMILTON
Not much for quarterback Jennings to say about 40-10 loss except ‘we got whupped’
In the aftermath of their inspirational win the previous week, the B.C. Lions spoke confidently about the momentum they’d established; about how they’d use their overtime victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a springboard to great things.
Turned out that momentum didn’t travel with the Lions to Steeltown on Saturday. A lot of pain and suffering did, however, in an embarrassing 40-10 loss in front of 23,623 Hamilton fans.
Here’s what we learned from watching the Lions get pounded in The Hammer:
LIONS’ OFFENCE NOT UP TO SCRATCH
On their first possession, the Tiger-Cats marched the ball 88 yards on eight plays before Jeremiah Masoli hit Luke Tasker for a 13-yard touchdown.
On the Lions’ first play from scrimmage, B.C. quarterback Jonathon Jennings served up a room-service 29-yard pick-six to the Ticats’ Don Unamba.
At that point, the contest should have been stopped for humanitarian reasons but the CFL had Tim Hortons Field reserved for the night.
That just left the game to play out to its inevitable and depressing conclusion.
A week after they coughed up an eight-point lead to the Lions in the final nine seconds of regulation time, the Ticats enacted a grisly revenge on their home field.
Masoli threw for three touchdowns in the first half when the Tabbies were building a 30-3 lead. He finished the game with just 189 passing yards, mostly because he was bored in the second half.
Running back John White IV finished with 107 rushing yards, 83 of which came in the first half. Receiver Brandon Banks caught nine passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Both came in the first half.
The Lions, meanwhile, rolled over and played dead after the first two possessions.
While Masoli and his colleagues were moving the ball at will, Jennings threw for 146 puny yards and three interceptions, including another pick-six to Mike Daly before he was yanked for Cody Fajardo late in the third quarter.
Jennings was also sacked four times and, for comedic effect, had one snap fly over his head in the shotgun.
Fajardo found Shaq Johnson for a 13-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, the Lions’ only major on the day.
“Each game is separate,” Jennings said. “Nothing from last week carries over. You’ve just got to go out there and play. We got whupped. There were a couple of bad decisions on my part. They came to play.”
“I mean s--t, deal with it and move on,” said defensive end Odell Willis. “We’ve just got to get back to work. We’ve got to wake up tomorrow and figure out how we can beat Toronto (at home next weekend). I’ve still got my boys and we’re going to rock.”
DANCING WITH THE SCARS
Maybe the Lions should be more selective about where they rock.
The Tiger-Cats took great insult with the Lions’ ritual of dancing at midfield during Friday’s walk-through. The Lions were in the vicinity of the Tiger-Cats’ logo, which the Hamiltonians took as a sign of great disrespect.
“That’s not the kind of stuff I’d promote,” said Lions head coach Wally Buono.
“Unfortunately, I was doing TSN or that probably would have never occurred. If that’s what the difference was I don’t think we’re dancing again.
“Football is a funny game. Motivation comes from a lot of things. I’ve always felt if you’re going to do something like that, you’ve got to back it up. I don’t think there was any intent but they were way more physical than we were.”
LULAY HINTS HE EXPECTS TO BE READY SOON
This is interesting, at least a lot more interesting than what took place on the field in Hamilton.
While Jennings struggled through a dismal outing, Travis Lulay dressed as the Lions’ thirdstring quarterback. Lulay separated his left shoulder against Montreal two weeks ago but said he could play, in an emergency.
“I feel good about where I am after two weeks,” Lulay said.
As to where he’ll be in another two weeks, Lulay was noncommittal — but his recovery period
NEXT GAME
Saturday
Toronto Argonauts at B.C. Lions
4 p.m., B.C. Place Stadium, TSN, TSN 1040 AM
was originally listed at four-tosix weeks.
“I think it’s fair to say it will be closer to four weeks,” Lulay said.
“Jonathon is just one dimension,” Buono said about his starting quarterback.
“As a team we didn’t play well enough.”
ORANGE NOT JUICED ABOUT OUTCOME
If there was one play that epitomized this shellacking, it came late in the second quarter when the Lions still had a pulse.
With the score 20-3, Masoli threw up a prayer to wide receiver Mike Jones that Lions defensive back Anthony Orange was in perfect position to intercept.
Somehow, the ball went through Orange’s hands and landed in Jones’ lap for a 38-yard gain. Two plays later, Masoli hit Banks for his third touchdown pass of the first half and a 27-3 Ticats’ lead.
If the point about catching footballs needed reinforcing, Lions receiver DeVier Posey also dropped a touchdown pass on the final play of the first half.
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Buono said. “You just get one of these games every year.”