Lions’ offence comes alive
VANCOUVER — Travis Lulay’s touchdown-passing drought did not last long. One game, to be exact. Lulay passed for three touchdowns as the B.C. Lions beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27-20 in CFL action Monday.
The Lions improved to 4-2, while the Bombers (1-5) suffered their fourth consecutive loss.
The Lions quarterback got his team back in the end zone after it was held without a TD for the time since 2005 — a span of 131 games — in a loss to Toronto last week. He rebounded strongly six days after seeing a 36-game touchdown-passing streak come to an end.
“It feels great to get a win,” said Lulay. “To come home and bounce back was important for us. As a group, any time you’re coming off a tough loss, [and] you’re coming home, you need to find a way to win those games, because it’s a long season.
“Mentally, there are some ebbs and flows. To go into the bye week with a win, to overcome the red-zone demons that we’ve been talking about all week, and find a way to put some sevens on the board this week, those are important things for us.”
The Lions extended their redzone woes early as they failed to score for the fifth straight time after advancing within their opponent’s 10-yard line, dating back to last week. But the Lions quarterback, who was hurried much of the game, still managed to hit paydirt.
“I don’t care how we score the touchdowns as long as we score the touchdowns,” said Lulay. “Last week was the first time in a long time that this offence hasn’t scored an offensive touchdown. It’s important to us. We take pride in being better than we were a week ago.”
Lulay’s third touchdown pass of the game, to Courtney Taylor with just over six minutes left in the game, clinched the win for B.C. as it staked the Lions to an insurmountable 26-17 lead.
The scoring drive was aided by Winnipeg coach Tim Burke’s decision to have punter Mike Renaud concede a safety with 10:36 left in the game, giving the Lions a 19-17 lead and putting B.C. in good field position after an ensuing kick-off.
Shawn Gore and Korey Taylor also scored touchdowns for the Lions. Paul McCallum produced B.C.’s other points on a field goal and single off a miss. Lulay completed 28 of 39 passes for 268 yards.
Chad Simpson and quarterback Justin Goltz ran for Winnipeg touchdowns.