They made a game of it in the late stages but ultimately, a couple of costly penalties and the odd lapse in execution sealed the Lions’ fate on Friday night in a 33-23 loss to the Calgary Stampeders. The result eliminated the 4-9-0 Lions from playoff contention while the 7-6-0 Stampeders clinched a spot in the Grey Cup tournament for a 16th consecutive season. Now for some game takes from Matt Baker after the squad dropped their seventh straight contest.
Offence Shines
Forgive us for waving the pom poms, but we’ll start with a positive: Michael Reilly and the offence had perhaps their best outing of this dreadful seven-game stretch where they dropped two games to the rival Stampeders plus two more to league-leading Winnipeg. The quarterback finished 30/37 for 340 yards, his second-highest total of 2021, and a touchdown pass to Jevon Cottoy that cut Calgary’s lead to three points in the fourth quarter. Dominique Rhymes was Reilly’s top target, hauling in six receptions for 111 yards.
Running back James Butler had his best game as a Lion, rushing for 89 yards on 11 carries and adding seven receptions for 36 yards.
Solid numbers all around, but finishing drives was once again a problem. A prime example was the opening series where they had to settle for a 13-yard Nick Vogel field goal.
Costly Sequences
This result came down to a pair of backbreaking sequences. The first came in the closing minutes of the opening half, which started with a Tim Bonner sack on Bo Levi Mitchell that forced Calgary into a 2nd and 17 on their own 46. What followed was a long completion to Kamar Jorden to give them a fresh set of downs followed by a too many men on the field penalty that gave the Stampeders new life when they were content with punting it away before the break. The infraction gave the visitors another first down and led to three key points on a Rene Paredes field goal to put them up 16-13 at halftime.
The other turning point came after a two and out by Calgary that followed Cottoy’s touchdown. Lucky Whitehead appeared to have an 86-yard punt return touchdown that would be wiped out by not one, but two Lions penalties that backed them up to their own seven-yard line. Oh, how sweet that major would have been. The offence was unable to recover.
Key Numbers
473- total offence for the Lions, more of an indictment that they could not finish a couple of key drives.
3, 283- Reilly’s passing yards total in 2021. He is now back on top amongst CFL quarterbacks, ahead of Zach Collaros who will not play this week.
119- receiving yard total for Reggie Begelton who just re-joined the Stamps following a stint in the NFL. He also caught a touchdown pass from Mitchell in the victory.
18-2– the Stampeders’ record coming off a bye since the start of the 2008 season when GM John Hufnagel first arrived.
Quotable
“We’re a team that does some good things but we don’t quite make enough plays to get it done. You’re right about those mistakes. We don’t want those mistakes, they shouldn’t happen. And on the flip side, when you become a good enough team you can be resilient enough to overcome some of those things. It’s two things. We want to stop doing those things and at the same time, if something bad happens we can withstand it and overcome it.”- head coach Rick Campbell on coming up short.
“I think there is a lot of very good football players that have a very bright future and have a lot of good fight to them. I think with some more experience and when we add a couple more pieces., I think all of a sudden we’ll come out on the right side of these games in the very near future. It’s tough right now and the name of the game is winning, but I view this team as a team that’s building with young people as opposed to an older team on the decline. I would say this is a team that has a chance to be on the rise and we need to be smart in the news we make going forward.”- Campbell on the bright future.
Next Up
The Lions will wrap up the 2021 regular season Friday, November 19th at home to the Edmonton Elks. Join us as we also induct late former owner David Braley onto the club’s Wall of Fame and also celebrate Fan Appreciation Night. Tickets can be purchased HERE.