Lions promise to play with pride after elimination
After a glorious long weekend, here’s something else to be thankful for: the musings and meditations on the world of sports.
In looking over the still smouldering ■ ruins of their lost season, it’s hard to make complete sense of this B.C. Lions campaign but, with the team sitting at 5-11 and out of the playoffs, one thing is clear: When GM Ed Hervey backed up the Brink’s truck to sign Mike Reilly, there was a presumption the star quarterback would carry the Lions on the strength of his talent and indomitable will.
That was fine in theory and, in the CFL, when you get the quarterback right, you’re usually three-quarters of the way home. But Hervey and head coach DeVone Claybrooks miscalculated in so many other areas, they didn’t give Reilly a chance.
It started, of course, with the offensive line that was a complete disaster over the first 10 weeks and had to be remade on the fly, right down to the position coach. It’s still hard to conceive of how bad things got, but Hervey has to wear the huge contract doled out to Sukh Chungh and the miss on Brett Boyko.
Those were just some of the mistakes. Duron Carter was a complete bust at an important receiver position and it’s hard to understand why the Lions persisted in trying to make the mercurial one a key part of the offence. Hervey did well with the Lemar Durant signing and Jevon Cottoy is an exciting young prospect. But finding a decent import receiver for the CFL game isn’t that hard and the Lions essentially played one man short there for most of the year.
Defensively, sheesh, where do you start? For Saturday’s game in Edmonton, there were seven new starters over the group that began the season and while the defence has played respectably over the last two months, it gave away games in the early going when the Lions were desperately trying to gain traction.
True, Hervey plugged some of the holes and the Lions did make a faux charge down the stretch. But it was also a case of far too little and way too late. They got some bad luck in Edmonton on Saturday when Reilly fractured his wrist, but they’re fooling themselves if they think that’s why they missed the playoffs.
Football is a violent game and
■
Saturday’s contest was particularly vicious. But there’s still something about the men who play it and the respect they have for one another.
Here’s Eskimos head coach Jason Maas, who coached Reilly in Edmonton, on the injury to his friend.
“It’s tough to see him go down, that’s the toughest part about playing against someone like that who you care about. We made it hard on him for the three games he played against us this year. Coming into this game, he was as hot as anybody in the league, so I knew it would be a challenge.
“But to see him go down early, you never feel good about that.”
One final thing about the
■
Lions. Reilly’s injury gives them a chance to look at Grant Kraemer, the rookie quarterback who impressed during his one pre-season outing. As long as Reilly is here, the backup isn’t going to get a lot of work. But his presence also gives the Leos time to develop the next guy.
I know this is late but, in
■ his time with the Vancouver Canucks, Alex Biega made a lasting impression with his character and commitment to the game. The Bulldog is now 31 and he’s not long for the NHL as a player. But he’s the kind of person you want in your organization unless, of course, he wants to use his Harvard education in another field. If I’m the Canucks, I’m bringing him back in the fold at the first opportunity.
It’s a stretch to compare this
■ season’s Seahawks to Pete Carroll’s Super Bowl teams, but the mere fact you can go there without sounding like an imbecile says something. They have the same power running game with Chris Carson playing a lower-maintenance version of Marshawn Lynch. They have a big-play defence that isn’t as dominating as the Legion of Boom but tends to show up when the game’s on the line, and they’re getting Jarran Reed back next week.
The biggest difference is the Russell Wilson of 2019 is in the conversation for the best three or four players in the NFL. Four of their five wins have come by a total of eight points and you wouldn’t think that’s sustainable. But I don’t see a lot of super teams in the NFC this season. The Seahawks have as good a chance as anyone to win the conference.
And finally, the Canucks’ record
■ for points by a defenceman in a season is 63, held by Doug Lidster in 1986-87. In the franchise’s 50-year history, defencemen have recorded 50 points in a season just 13 times, including just once in the last 24 years. That belonged to Christian Ehrhoff, who tallied 50 points in the 2010-11 season.
As for the best offensive defencemen in Canucks’ history, that’s likely Jyrki Lumme, who had a couple of 50-point seasons in the mid-’90s and a couple more in the 40s.
Now along comes Quinn Hughes. After nine NHL games, it’s premature in the extreme to start projecting Hughes’ point total. But if he stays healthy, it also appears he has a chance to become the first blue-liner in Canucks history to be a consistent point producer. True the kid just turned 20 on Monday, but the skill set is there for everyone to see.
The Canucks have had some first-rate centres in their history. They’ve had elite goal scorers. They’ve had great two-way forwards. But they’ve never had a defenceman who can quarterback a power play, drive the offence and score 70 points in a season.
But they have the look of one now.