And all of a sudden, we’re down to three. The BC Lions (7-8-0) look to take a big step toward their immediate goal of a playoff spot when they welcome the Calgary Stampeders (4-9-1) to Save-On-Foods Field for the third and final regular season meeting on Friday. For the home side, it’s not as much about the complicated math needed to clinch their spot. More on that in extra yards below. Simply, it’s about just winning and letting it take care of itself.
“That’s the game of football. Win, or lose, you enjoy it or you soak in it for the next 12 hours after the game or the next day you have off, but then it’s time to get back to work once you get back into the facility and on to the next week,” said linebacker Ace Eley on this week’s edition of BC Lions On Tap.
“Like you said, guys are ready to go ahead and move forward and be the Lions team we know we are and put that on film and put that in front of everybody. These next games, we want to finish the season strong and go into the playoff race with a different mindset and determination; go get it done, each and every game.”
For Nathan Rourke and the offence, consistency is a major key as last week’s setback against the Tiger-Cats saw them convert only two of five red zone opportunities as they stunningly squandered a 16-point lead. They know they can ill afford to take their foot off the gas against another team with their backs against the wall.
“It’s certainly good for us when we haven’t been playing our best ball that we still feel confident that if we string a couple of good games together and get on a roll we can take a serious run at this thing. Hopefully, we can do all that starting on game day,” explained Rourke.
“I’d love to say there’s some kind of secret sauce that we haven’t pulled out yet, but we’re still figuring it out. We’ve had a lot of moving parts this year. It’s been an interesting year for us; a lot of guys in the starting lineup and a lot of injuries. We know we can do it, it’s just a matter of putting it together. And I’m confident we will.”
The last meeting between these Western rivals was a back-and-forth affair with Jake Maier and the Stamps prevailing 25-24 in week seven. The result started a downward spiral for the Leos who would lose four more in a row and endure an injury to Vernon Adams Jr. that set their map off course after a 5-1 start. With the Stampeders in search of their first win in seven, as they try to keep their playoff hopes alive, Eley and the Lions defence can expect another seesaw battle as they prepare to shut down the likes of Dedrick Mills and Reggie Begelton, Calgary’s leading rusher and receiver, respectively.
“The defensive unit, just to come out play hard and execute, play our style of football and let’s dictate the game,” added Eley.
“We’ve done the ability to do that, we’ve done it at certain times of the season in certain games. The challenge for us this week is to do it all game; from the first whistle to the last whistle, dominate the game. The Stampeders are going to come out and play hard. They’ve got a brand of football that they play as well. They’re professionals too and they’re going to come do what they’re supposed to do. Our job is to dictate the game and do what we’re supposed to do and at the end, come out victorious.”
The Quarterbacks
# 12 Nathan Rourke– is set to face the Stampeders for the first time since taking them down in the 2022 Western Semi-Final; a victory that came one week after his return from a foot injury that partially derailed his storybook 2022 campaign. Rourke’s full body of work as a starter can now be pro-rate to a full season as he has a career record of 11-7-0 in the regular season. He has won two of six starts since returning to the club in August and won his only regular season start against Calgary in July 2022 in a thrilling 41-40 comeback.
# 12 Jake Maier– gets a third straight start after being replaced by Logan Bonner in the Stamps’ Labour Day rematch loss in Edmonton. One of Maier’s best performances of the season came in the week eight win over the BC where he passed for 307 yards and three touchdowns as Calgary prevailed 25-24.
3 Lions To Watch
# 19 Ayden Eberhardt– has put in some extra work with Rourke week in and week out and you get the sense a big breakout game is coming.
# 41 Ayinde Eley- the man known as ‘Ace’ has been a solid replacement for the injured Josh Woods in the middle and brings a physicality this defence will crave come November.
# 8 Jalon Edwards-Cooper- makes his second start since returning to his original squad and appears to be the guy they’re going with at field corner the rest of the way, barring the unforeseen. ‘Coop’ will be counted on to cause matchup problems for Maier and the Stampeder offence.
Extra Yards
Viewers can watch this game on TSN in Canada while those south of the border and internationally can stream the action on CFL+. Bob Marjanovich and Giulio Caravatta call the play on 980 CKNW and province-wide on the Lions Audio Network beginning with the pre-game show at 6:00 pm. Harp Pandher and Taqdeer Thindal have the call on Sher-E-Punjab Radio AM 600 with pre-game coverage beginning at 6:30 pm.
Three roster changes for the Lions this week as Kory Woodruff returns at left guard in place of Tyler Packer (hamstring). The squad activates fullback Dylan St. Pierre in a special teams role while fellow newcomer Jeshrun Antwi dresses as a backup running back two days after his trade from Montreal. Wide receiver Jevon Cottoy (ankle) and defensive back Jordan Perryman (hamstring) join Packer on the one-game injured list. The full roster and position chart are available HERE.
The Lions’ playoff math remains a little murky after the collapse against Hamilton but here is the path to clinch a spot this week: by beating Calgary and having both the Elks and Tiger-Cats lose their games. Hamilton hosts Winnipeg earlier on Friday while the Elks welcome in Saskatchewan on Saturday. Should the Lions win and not get the out-of-town help, they would need just one more victory after this week to punch their ticket.
Club historian and CFL stats man Steve Daniel points out the Stampeders also control their playoff fate. They would simply have to win their last four games while also beating Saskatchewan by at least nine points in week 21 and they would extend their league-best post-season streak to 19 seasons. Ironically, they are in the midst of their first six-game winless streak since 2004, the last time they didn’t qualify.
Another solid nugget from Daniel: With 1,207 receiving yards, Justin McInnis trails Jason Clermont by only 13 for the third-highest single-season total by a Canadian in club history. The top three, respectively, are Matt Clark (1,530 in 1991), Jim Young (1,362 in 1972) and Clermont’s 1,220 in 2004.
Gotta finish: the Lions hold an impressive +53 point differential in the first half this season but are a dismal -52 in the second half. They were outscored 32-10 in the second half and overtime of last week’s loss to Toronto.