Photo credit: Steven Chang, BC Lions.
Vancouver– It was a night of missed opportunities for the 1-2 BC Lions as they fell behind early, couldn’t get out of their own way and ultimately had too many lapses in execution in a 27-14 loss to the 2-0 Winnipeg Blue Bombers in front of 20,138 fans at Save-On-Foods Field at BC Place. The Lions, as a result, suffer a sweep in the season series with the rival Bombers and have dug themselves an early hole in the airtight Western Division. The good news? It is far too early to write anybody off. It’s back to the drawing board ahead of a tough three-week stretch away from home. Now for some game takes.
Familiar Story | Behind The 8 Ball
Zach Collaros and the Bombers came out on fire, executing a 12-play, 72-yard touchdown drive that chewed up nearly the first eight minutes as the quarterback found his favourite target, Dalton Schoen, for an opening major. Jeremiah Masoli and the Lions were able to hit back with a long series of their own, but settled for a 23-yard field goal by Sean Whyte to open the second quarter. And that right there was the tale of the tape: lack of execution and playing from behind for a second straight outing.
The real turning point came later in that second quarter when a Masoli backwards pass failed to connect with the mitts of James Butler, resulting in a 57-yard house call for Jamal Parker that made it 17-3. The Lion defence played their role in keeping it close enough, as Cristophe Beaulieu’s first career interception late in the first half appeared to give them life. Masoli and company failed to capitalize and fell down a pair of majors at the break. It’s as close as they would come.
“We’ve got to be able to cash in on those versus good teams,” said the quarterback following the loss.
“Tough to see those (turnovers). First and second one, just not able to finish that throw, but that’s on me. I’ve got to either eat it or not make a bad throw. That’s the difference in the game. right? Red zone turnovers or wherever they’re at, that’s just a recipe for disaster. We’ve got to fix that. There are still some good things that we did that we can build off of and get better for next week, but like I said, marching down the field and not being able to finish, we’ve got to finish drives.”
Masoli finished the night 25/41 for 281 yards, a late touchdown to Jevon Cottoy and two crucial interceptions in addition to the second quarter lateral miscue.
Buck Pierce remained hopeful that Nathan Rourke would be good to go for next Saturday’s crucial game at Saskatchewan.
Key Numbers
20– The number of points collected off 5 takeaways by the victorious Bombers; the aforementioned fumble return touchdown, ten more that came as the result of interceptions by Parker and Evan Holm. The Holm takeaway occurred in the end zone in the fourth quarter with the score 20-6 and killed any chance of a Lions comeback. Then there was Sergio Castillo’s second field goal of the night that came after a fumbled punt by Seven McGee.
8– The number of turnovers committed by BC in these last two Bomber matchups. Not a recipe for success.
323- The Lions will be none too pleased with the fact they outgained the Bombers 323 to 255 in net offence.
86– On the bright side, they limited the Bombers’ rushing attack with Matthew Peterson at the helm to under 100 yards on the ground.
Quotables
“We talked about it all week, first down is the key. That first drive, we converted some second and longs and, stayed on the field, or at least got into wedge situations, some short yardage. But I mean, you’ve got to be able to finish those drives, too, right? Consistently move the football. You know, they do a good job defensively over there.”- Pierce on the result.
“Winnipeg made plays. Football is such a team sport, you can stop and stop and stop them at the end same time, the offence has to do good. It’s a team sport. It’s not basketball, where one guy or two guys can really control the game. You need all 12 on the field to make a difference. So, it’s one of those things, you know, Collaros and Winnipeg over there, you’ve got to give them credit. They make plays. The big guy, Eli, he’s a hustler, so hey, good on him for getting a touchdown. So, it’s one of those things, we just got to be positive, and we don’t. We’re going to look past that and just learn from it and move on from it.”- linebacker Micah Awe on the loss and offensive lineman Astoui Eli scoring a late major.
Next Up
The Lions begin a three-week stretch of road next Saturday, June 28, at Saskatchewan. Kickoff is 4:00 pm Pacific. The Roughriders improved to 3-0 with a 39-32 win at Toronto on Friday Night Football.