ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
Players To Watch:
QB Travis Lulay
RB Jamal Robertson*
RB Tim Brown
WR Arland Bruce lll*
WR Geroy Simon
WR Shawn Gore
OT Ben Archibald
DB Korey Banks
DB Ryan Phillips
LB Solomon Elimimian
DT Aaron Hunt
P/K Paul McCallum
Key Injuries:
CB Davis Sanchez
CB Stanley Franks
OL Jon Hameister-Ries
DT Eric Taylor*
Storylines:
– Can the Lione build on a huge one-sided win over the Eskimos?
– How will Arland Bruce fare against his former team, coming off his best performance of the season?
– Can the Lions take a firm hold on third place in the West and begin to move closer to the Eskimos for second place?
* = Former Argonauts
TORONTO — With a record of 2-6, it’s fair to say that the B.C. Lions are not where they expected they would be this season. It’s also fair to say that the Lions haven’t been nearly as bad as their record indicates.
From the first week of the season – a four point loss to the Alouettes – the Lions have been in plenty of situations to walk away with the win, but have been unable to get the job done. On top of their close opening week loss to the Als, the Lions have fallen to the Stamps by four points, the Ticats by eight and the Bombers by five. That makes four losses decided by one major score or less. On the flip side, the Lions were dominant in their two victories, defeating the Riders by 13 and trouncing the Eskimos 36-1 in Week 8. Based on their inconsistency, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the overall competitiveness of the 2011 Lions. It is easier to take a pragmatic approach and look at why the team has been plagued by inconsistency.
In football, everything starts, and usually ends, with the quarterback. In B.C., Travis Lulay bares the brunt of the heat for the Lions’ record. By looking solely at Lulay’s statistics, it seems reasonable to question his play. Lulay sits last in completion percentage (55.5%) and efficiency rating (82.3) among all starting CFL quarterbacks. He is also tied for second-last with seven interceptions. Yet, there is usually an underlying cause for such obvious struggles, and this case is no different.
The Lions’ running game has struggled immensely (85.9 yards per game), so much so that they rarely even try to run the ball anymore (128 rushing attempts, tied for fewest in the league). Therefore, Lulay is being forced to throw the ball more than most quarterbacks (303 passes attempted, second-most in the league). Not only that, but without a ground attack the defence can take more players out of the box. The strategy clogs up the secondary and makes it very difficult for Lulay to find open receivers.
According to reports from Vancouver, in an effort to remedy their issues on the ground, this week in practice the Lions have had rookie Jamall Lee and Tim Brown taking the majority of first-team reps. Andrew Harris has been practicing with the second team. The Lions’ leading rusher, Jamal Robertson, has practiced with the scout team and appears destined to stay on the sidelines for the second time this season. Until the running game can get itself going, it will continue to be difficult to judge Lulay as a starting quarterback in only his second year with significant playing time in this league.
While most of the media and fan attention has been directed towards the Lions’ offence, their defense has been very solid in 2011. Particularly, the defensive line and linebackers who have held teams to a league-best 4.9 average yards per rush to along with 25 sacks, good enough for second-best in the league. LB Solomon Elimimian has dominated during the first half of the season, making 54 tackles, nine more than the next best defender.
The Lions have the talent to beat anybody in the CFL. They simply haven’t been able to put it together for an entire 60 minutes. On Friday night, they’ll face another team in the Argos who have had their own difficulties finishing games. The matchup presents the perfect opportunity for one of these two teams to take a step forward and kick-start a win streak.