VANCOUVER, BC: JULY 7, 2017 - The Toronto Argonauts play the BC Lions at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada July 7, 2016. Photo by Jeff Vinnick
BC Lions players and coaches are back to the drawing board following their first loss of the season, a 25-14 setback to the Toronto Argonauts on Thursday night. You can bet they will be motivated to turn the tide, as a date with the West Division rival Saskatchewan Roughriders is on tap next, Saturday, July 16th. Despite the result against Toronto, there was some positives to build on. The defence bended, but didn’t break for much of the night and allowed their only touchdown following a questionable roughing the passer call on Bo Lokombo early in the 4th quarter, that kept the Argos drive alive. There was also the stellar play of Anthony Allen who rushed for 107 yards on 16 carries and also had a touchdown catch in his debut in place of the injured Jeremiah Johnson. That being said, a loss is a loss, and the club will admit it was flat out not good enough in a few areas.
“How many times did we get a penalty on a gain? How many times did we put ourselves in 1st and 20? That’s what changes. When you put yourself in those positions, you’re going to hurt yourself. How many times were we there to make a tackle and we didn’t? I’m never okay with losing. We played well enough to show hope, but bad enough to lose. We didn’t play good enough to win.”
“I feel like I got my feet up under me. But, it came in an effort where we lost the game. You never want to do that at home, especially in your first game back. That’s on us. Two most important things in football are focus and then re-focus. We wound up beating ourselves this game.”
“Tackling was huge. Penalties were huge. It’s a long season and at the end of the day we still have a lot more opportunity. You’re only as good as your last game and we have to go back to the drawing board and see how we’re going to get better, see how we can be more disciplined and we have a tough task ahead of us. We have three straight road games and that’s just the reality of it. We have to go to Saskatchewan, focus on the green and make sure we look at the film to get better and not make the same mistakes again.”
RELATED: Phillips talks about his near pick-six and the game-changing roughing the passer
“I think we kind of got away from who we were. We don’t miss tackles on defence, that’s something we don’t do. It’s problems that are fixable. As long as we go back to our fundamentals and go back to great technique and finishing plays, all that stuff will take care of itself. We have to learn from this loss. It’s not like they did anything that we didn’t know they were going to do. As long as we fix the problems within ourselves, the team as a whole will be a lot better.”
Bake’s Takes:
You have to admire Allen’s performance, especially after his training camp was cut short due to a knee injury that knocked him out of both pre-season contests and the first two regular season games. The Lions wasted no time in replacing Andrew Harris, and went about it the right way by bringing in two proven backs. The fact Allen and Johnson are embracing the two-headed monster approach makes it that much better for the club. These are two number ones on any team in the CFL, but they wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s also a credit to Buono and the staff for making depth in the backfield a priority in the opening hours of free agency.
Beginning from day one of mini-camp in Kamloops, the brass felt some of their defensive acquisitions would make them the deepest they have been in quite some time. One of those who has more than lived up to the hype: Loucheiz Purifoy. The Florida Gators alum has been a huge cog in the Lions stellar defensive effort through three games. His speed also makes him a force on the new and improved special teams coverage. The man known as “Louch” is proving himself as one of the club’s better offseason acquisitions.
Hat tip to both Manny Arceneaux and Shawn Gore who hit impressive milestones in the loss. “The Manny Show” surpassed 5,000 receiving yards for his career and Gore suited up for career game number 100. These are two players known for their hard work on the field as well as exuding themselves with class off of it. Arceneaux reported to his first CFL camp back in 2009 in Abbotsford and freely admits he didn’t feel like he stood out until his first pre-season action. The rest as they say, is history. Gore arrived in the den one year later following a tryout with the Green Bay Packers and has evolved into one of the go to leaders for this organization. The fact he leads Lions pass-catchers with 252 receiving yards in just one example of his value to the club.
Final take on Lokombo’s roughing the passer call: The Lions certainly have a case to be upset with both the on field officials and replay command centre. That being said, there was still plenty of chances to get off the field following that turn of events. Ricky Ray was able to march his offence down the field for eight more plays and 58 yards to pay dirt for a touchdown pass to Tori Gurley. A big backbreaker was the play before that when Ray escaped a Lokombo sack on 2nd and 8 and quickly tossed to Brandon Whitaker who would scamper down to the 15. That close to forcing another long field goal attempt and keeping it a 12-point game. You can look at any close football game and say the result came down to 4 or 5 key plays. Factor in that long Argos drive, as well as a sure pick-six dropped by Phillips and we are likely talking about the Lions first 3-0 start since 2007. Live and learn. On to the next one. The Lions return to the practice field on Tuesday in preparation for the July 16th visit to Regina. The Green Riders will also be looking for payback after falling 39-36 in Edmonton on Friday, dropping their record to 0-2.
Matt Baker: mbaker@bclions.com